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ollyncfc
Reviews
Bros (2024)
Made no sense geographically
There's a sequence of scenes that make no sense...
1. The two main actors crash a car in Krakow.
2. They are next seen wandering around a wooded area after escaping from the wreckage.
3. They quickly come across some train tracks whilst wandering through the wood for what could have only been a maximum few hours as the sun is coming up and it was dark and very late at night when they crashed.
4. They follow the train tracks which lead them to the infamous train area at Auschwitz 2.
5. You see them looking at Auschwitz 2 from the woods and they start to sing.
This makes no sense at all. Kraków to Auschwitz is 70km and over one hour drive ( probably a couple of days on foot and they had no food or water). But, in the series, they have a crash in what looks very much like central Kraków, wander around woods for a few hours and then they are in Auschwitz. Utter nonsense.
Also, there is no wooded area in the direction from which they are viewing Auschwitz 2 from the supposed woods. If they were really viewing Auschwitz 2 from the direction you see them looking forward, they would be near the gift shop, cafe and toilets next to the car park.
I found it quite disrespectful to display the Kraków Auschwitz link in this way.
Holy Water (2009)
Enjoyable enough but confusing
Interesting plot, some good actors and a few laughs but not laugh a minute.
I also found it very confusing. It was supposedly set in Ulster but which side of the border was difficult to fathom.
Was it set in one of the six Ulster Counties (Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone) that make up Northern Ireland (NI) or one of the three Ulster Counties (Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan) situated in the Republic of Ireland (ROI)?
So many things contradicted itself...
1) All the civilian vehicles had NI number plates suggesting the village is in NI.
Yet, Podge The Postman lives in the village but drives a green ROI Post van as opposed to a red NI Royal Mail van. However, the green ROI Post van itself has an NI number plate??
2) The police cars also have Northern Ireland number plates with the logo 'Police' (as seen in NI) as opposed to Garda (as seen in ROI). However, the police officers themselves appear to wear Garda uniforms, made more confusing because they are emblazoned with the word 'Police' (as seen in NI) as opposed to Garda (as seen in ROI).
3) It is indicated the film is possibly set close to Derry (in the West) yet in one scene Podge is seen at Belfast Harbour (in the East) dropping off mail in his little green ROI Post van as if it just down the road from his village. Additionally, everyone at the harbour seems to know him as if he is a local even though the distance between Derry and Belfast is approx 75 miles and a two hour drive on a good day. None of that makes any sense whatsoever.
4) Almost none of the actors had anything close to an Ulster accent (whether that be a North, South, East or West Ulster accent).
They almost all had a wide variety of southern accents even though it was indicated the vast majority of the cast had all resided in the same Ulster village their entire lives. Again, this was very confusing.
5) No attempt was made to address the accent situation. Even brother and sister, husband and wife had different accents. It deserves brownie points for using an all Irish cast as opposed to English and American actors doing playing Irish citizens but the director could have at least asked the Southern Irish actors to try and sound as if they came from the same place in Ulster.
6) It was supposedly set in Ulster but there was not a protestant to be seen as was easily evident by the entire cast having Irish names. Even the police officers had Irish names and were good friends with everyone in the village. Given the history of the troubles and divided communities, this just would not happen in 2009 NI to the extent it is portrayed.
I have a feeling the film was made for an American/British audience as opposed to an Irish audience.
It's reasonably enjoyable if you can see past the glaring disparities but if you are going to make a film, don't make it so it's hugely incorrect and or confusing from a geographical, historical and cultural point of view. If you can't even get the basics correct, it's just lazy film making.