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Reviews
Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage (2005)
a different Holocaust film
This is a downer film (definitely not a date movie). It doesn't have a happy ending. It is about the history of the White Rose, a student group in WWII Germany who opposed Hitler's killing of Jews and the mentally-retarded, and they paid the ultimate price. The interrogation sequences are riveting...not only as drama, but also because the story begs the question of what we (Americans) might do if we had to oppose a homicidal government (I fear we would not do as well). Given the "Star Chamber" sets, the movie is surprisingly colorful with very good photography and excellent acting. The subtitles seemed transparent to me and there was no sense of the film being a documentary or conveying a message. Sophie Scholl and her companions were true heroes and ten or a hundred movies would not be enough to commemorate them. Nevertheless, this one movie is a first-rate drama and definitely worth a rent. It should be included in every school curriculum and should be purchased for home and re-viewing (part of my collection!).
Zwartboek (2006)
WWII mystery/thriller
Head and shoulders above typical Hollywood fare. The photography was excellent, the plot was surprising, and the acting seemed very good. I was impressed that the subtitles seemed so transparent...so much so that I find it difficult to recall that the dialog was not in English rather than German/Dutch/Hebrew (although some of the dialog was in English). Black Book could be compared to other recent WWII films: Sophie, the Pianist, and Head in the Clouds. Of the 4, Sophie and the Pianist have to rate 10's both for the high quality of the films, and also for the consummate nobility of their (true life) characters. There was some concern about historical inaccuracies in the film; I've got a huge WWII and holocaust library and nothing seemed out of place to me. Carice van Houten was absolutely luminous (and she can sing!) which may not be among Charlize Theron's talents. Definitely worth a rent.
Sweet Land (2005)
real life can be beautiful
This is story of a non-English-speaking German bride who arrives to rural Minnesota without ever having seen her Norwegian husband-to-be. The story rings true. My own grandparents grew up on farms in Minnesota and my own grandmother endured some prejudice as the only Norwegian in a Swedish family. This is the real Lake Woebegon, without the disdain. The humor is authentic. The photography is first-rate, the acting and direction are also excellent. Most people, I suppose, will find it too slow. But what a refreshing offering from Hollywood: real people, real character (voluntary celibacy!), real drama, authentic sacrifice, a church that isn't just a Christian-bashing caricature, real romance (without the soap-opera dialog!!!)
Gawd I hope this film makes money!
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
The Excess Chenel-Scene Massacre
This a fictional, quasi-historical film beginning with the hero's hanging, then an outdoor fish market close-up birth scene where his evil mother drops him newborn into the mud and abandons him. For this Mom is hung and he is placed in an orphanage that makes Fagin's look inviting (his new brethren try to smother the baby). He is some sort of idiot-savant whose talent is being able to identify any odor. Next young Osmond is off to Paris where he catches a whiff of his first lady-love, who he runs down and strangles, and strips her while sniffing the corpse. There are lots more naked corpses (I think 12), the magic number he needs to scrape their odor-essences into a single potion that, when a drop is hoisted aloft on a handkerchief, causes the whole town instantly to disrobe and begin an orgy that makes Woodstock look sedate. The photography, both gross and beautiful, is very good. The music is excellent. The acting and direction are top-notch. But, to quote Luther as he debated Erasmus, the content is dung borne in a silver vessel. What is most disturbing is that the packaging has seduced anyone, other than Charles Manson and his girls, into thinking this movie is either Art or Romantic. Females under 18 rate this movie the highest (8.2); same with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (9.4). Why would young women want to see women like themselves murdered by a psychopath? Am I the only one who sees a problem here?
Weapons of the Spirit (1987)
The most significant movie in history
This is a movie about 5000 heroes. Not 300. 5000 men, women, teen-agers, and children, in a small mountain town in France, who saved 5000 Jews from the Nazis during WWII. That the story is not well-known is incredible. It is not the fault of this movie documentary, which is superbly-crafted. Excellent photography, editing, music...and the effect! Sadly, I know only one other person who has seen this movie, another 50-plus male. We both happened to tune in to PBS late at night, quite by accident, and saw Bill Moyers introduce the film and the filmmaker, Pierre Sauvage, who was himself saved by the people of Le Chambon when he was an infant, along with his parents. My friend and I both wept great hot tears of shame, astonishment, and joy as we watched and listened to these consummately unselfish people recall their service (in French, with subtitles!). We are not sissies. This is no ordinary movie.
As a film, it is far better than Shindler's List. I suppose the music of Shindler may be better. I doubt that Spielberg is a better filmmaker than Sauvage. I know that every single person interviewed from Le Chambon was a far more exemplary Christian than Shindler, if indeed he was anything other than the only WWII rescuer in all of Europe who was not a Christian. I fear that may be the problem: rescuers (especially Christian rescuers) are less popular subjects than scoundrels or killers. Sauvage is trying to complete a documentary about another rescuer, Varian Fry, who was in real history as daring as the "Rick" of Casablanca (Marseille). Despite the fact that Fry was apparently secular, it would appear Sauvage is unable to arouse any interest in this remarkable man and his helpers, who saved many of the Jewish intelligentsia.
Weapons of the Spirit should be shown annually, more times than "It's a Wonderful Life" or "A Christmas Carol" or "The Ten Commandments". It is a better movie, and it is a better example of altruism and the triumph of good over evil. It is a message movie: the message is effective, and the world desperately needs the message. Watch this movie! Tell anyone you can about it!
The Last Mimzy (2007)
Alice in Kundun-land!
I love science-fiction, and will watch almost anything in the genre (although so far have resisted seeing Battlefield Earth). I watched Attack of the Killer Tomatoes with enjoyment. Last Mimzy was supposed to be another E.T. However, although E.T. was not Shakespeare (remember "penis-breath"?), at least it had Spielberg. Mimzy's director made William Shatner the director look like Alfred Hitchcock.
Mimzy was humorless. E.T. had product-placement with Reese's pieces. Mimzy bludgeons with ersatz Tibetan Buddhism, crystal worship, palmistry, animal rights, and Silent Spring anti-pollution preaching. Alice didn't really go through the looking-glass, she had an abortive encounter with a vortex time-cloud hatched above some crystals from the future, presided over by a robot stuffed rabbit who is trying to get back to the future. Emma, the 21-st century Alice, is a "pure soul" who can help the future, perhaps because she recoils after learning the hamburger she eats was once a cow. At the end, the Gestapo FBI/Homeland Security forces, who track down Emma and her brother because they caused a multi-state power failure, instantly break off their pursuit and suddenly leave, immediately after witnessing Mimzy the robot rabbit disappear into the sky (a la E.T.?). I've never seen such a wooden scene in a movie. (Even Killer Tomatoes had a better ending!)
Speaking of ending, the dad in the movie gets to moon the audience while walking around the house wearing only his pajama top (Mom stays fully clothed) and trying to get Mom to break her diet. Kid's movie??
The Lost City (2005)
great film
I liked this movie a lot, as a movie. Great photography, fabulous music, good acting. But even if it was a dog, it took some professional guts to buck Hollywood, and it is magnificently politically incorrect. I'm surprised they even allowed it to be distributed. Bill Murray said it: (approx) "No one's going to see this movie, but I want to be in it." It's a shame how many can't enjoy this gem of movie, just for the joy and beauty of it. As for the truth of its political persuasion, I would find it difficult to resist Andy Garcia's vision of the loss of the old city of Havana: its people, its art, music, customs, education, religion. Who could possibly say it was not lost? I suppose Senores Guevara and Castro have made the trains run on-time.