Review of The English Patient

The English Patient won the academy award for best picture in the year it was released. This epic romance, historical drama has all the elements of a great film. It has a great cast of stars; Ralph Fiennes, Willem Dafoe, Juliette Binoche, Kristin Scott Thomas, and a young Colin Firth. It also has a great crew in director Minghella, a great musical score, and a fantastic film editor in William Murch. Producer Saul Zaentz who has done numerous films that give meaning to the words cinematic art is at his best yet again in The English Patient.

            The narrative qualities of this film stand out the most. The multiple plot lines drive the film forward. It is hard not to become engrossed in the story lines of the film. Based on a very popular novel, the film is based around a love story set during World War II. Amidst a geographical expedition a group of geographers is attempting to map out North Africa. Sweeping scenes of the desert follow the action as Ralph Fiennes and Scott Thomas become romantically involved. Trapped inside of a truck by a sandstorm, Fiennes’ character gives into Mrs. Clifton’s charms. Mrs. Clifton shows up at Almasy’s apartment and after resistance from Scott Thomas’s character they make love. Yet, there is obvious disagreement between the two. He is Hungarian and she is British, enemies during the War.

            After much sneaking around, the two part ways as tensions between Britain and Germany rise. In analyzing the film I got the sense that the writer wanted to convey the perception that British Aristocrats were flawed. Scott Thomas cheating on her husband is a clear sign of moral weakness surely criticized by the British upper class. Yet, this is not a story about the decline of the British Aristocracy. I think it is more of a story about love and tragedy. About how important and visceral war experiences are. War is brutal.

I think it exposes our superficial notions of class, race, and nationality and how they come between people who are in love. Almasy and Mrs. Clinton are divided by nationality and Binoche are Kipp are divided by race, and neither resolves their conflict. The director leaves us heartbroken at the end of the movie; Almasy and Mrs. Clinton are dead, and Binoche and Kipp have split up. The experiences of war are tragic and not to be forgotten.

            The way the film is shot is also something to be commended. The use of temporal editing is abundant and well-conceived. The film cuts back and forth from the pre-war period in North Africa to the end of the war in Italy. This use of temporal editing is a unique and fabulous way to reveal the narrative. There are frequent dissolves throughout the movie and numerous close-up shots of the actors. All this leads to the tragic, romantic style of the film. There are also numerous aerial shots of the desert that have a hypnotic quality to them.

            I think the English Patient deserved to win the academy award for Best Picture. It is a grand tragic, romance. It is a love story in a time of war tying together people and places until all plot elements are resolved. The literary quality of the film is high and the adaptation has done the novel justice.

Review of George Lucas's THX 1138

In this short review I will discuss George Lucas’s production THX 1138. This film was made in 1971. The idea for the film grew out of a student film of Lucas’s when he was a graduate student in film. THX is a science fiction movie about a negative utopia sometime in the distant future. I will first review the film in terms of plot, characters, and other content. Then, I will talk about the formalistic, stylistic qualities of the film.

            The story is simple and has been told by other authors before. Robert Duvall plays an engineer of some kind. His wife changes his medication which causes him to feel emotions. In this futuristic society emotions are banned and sex is outlawed. It’s citizens take medications to keep themselves contented. Without sedation DuVall and his roommate fall in love with each other. In a memorable scene DuVall and his wife lie naked together. She whispers to him that “they” can see us. He tries to reassure her that no one can see us. Yet, the two are as doomed as Romeo and Juliet. Soon DuVall’s wife is taken into custody for medication violations and DuVall is arrested and put on trial.

            At his trial, which I think presents the most exposition to explain the government’s rational for medication and outlawing sex, the prosecutor shouts that “we must exterminate these erotics.” There are several references to religion throughout the movie. I think Lucas presents a society that is, perhaps, an ultra- religious society comparable to the Puritans. I also think THX 1138 is comparable to George Orwell’s 1984. In both stories there are lovers who get together despite the outlawing of intercourse. Sex is a crime.  In this negative utopia, perhaps a modified version of American society, everything is surveilled and emotions will get you into trouble.

            The narrative is nothing spectacular. The will of one person against an omni-potent state to find freedom leads to the questions about the power of the state to determine what is legal and illegal, ethical and unethical. These conflicts are clearly portrayed.

            If the story is one that has been told before, it has never been told with such great visual and audio language. The scenes of the future are incredible, almost hallucinogenic, like a vast agglomeration of futuristic paintings. The white clothes against an all white background create a stunning visual setting. I thought the prison scene was mesmerizing. The audio is commendable too. It constantly creates a premonition of action.

            I think this film is a foreshadowing of what Lucas would do with the much more commercially successful Star Wars. I think it takes the Science Fiction genre in new stylistic and technical directions. Even today the scenes are futuristic. From his beginnings we can see Lucas’s creative genius at work in the visual language of film.

Review of Rossellini's Rome Open City

I first became interested in film history after taking a Contemporary Film Analysis course. Through the books I read for that course I received an introduction to Cinema History. One of the major European Cinema movements grew out of post-war Italy. This movement was called neo-realism. Now what neo-realism means is too vast a subject for me to discuss in this short review. However, the film that I will review, Roberto Rossellini’s Rome Open City is viewed as the first neo-realist film, and, perhaps, the best film of the movement. Rossellini began making films immediately after the fall of the fascists in Italy and this film, Open City, presents the struggle of the Italian resistance against the Fascists and Nazis. I will review the films narrative qualities, and then I will review the film for formalistic, stylistic qualities.

            The film takes place in Rome, shortly before the American led liberation. Open City is divided into two parts. The first part introduces all of the characters and ends with Fascists and Nazis storming the apartment building. The second begins with Manfredi and Francesco on the run. It ends with the execution of the Priest.

            The narrative starts out tense. There is always the foreboding of doom about to happen to the characters in the film. From the outset we see the secret police tracking down Manfredi who has various aliases and is a political operative for the Italian resistance. Through him the narrative begins. The audience also follows the story of a couple to be married the next day from when the action takes place. Soon Manfredi shows up to Francesco’s apartment and meets his fiancé. Eventually, a priest is summoned and brought into the action. Crosscutting is used throughout the film to connect all of the characters to the plot. I don’t know exactly what is meant by neo-realist, but the film is shot in black and white, the characters are emotional and aware of life. Especially the two women characters; Francesco’s wife and the traitor who turns in Manfredi. Francesco’s wife is portrayed as an honest woman who is not well off, but is looking forward to marrying Francesco. It is her murder at the end of the first part that is, perhaps, the most astounding scene. She runs after Francesco only to be gunned down by the Nazis.

            Manfredi’s girlfriend, on the other hand, is the epitome of traitor. She is a drug addict, materialistic, not hard working, and, in the end, she betrays Manfredi and the Priest which occurs in the second part. The major action of the second part surrounds the torture of Manfredi and the execution of the Priest. Throughout the film the Nazis are portrayed as barbarians; committing acts of shocking behavior. The Nazis cruelly torture Manfredi and, at the end of the film, at the execution of the Priest, a Nazi shoots the Priest in the end in an act of utter barbarity.

            The movie has not traditional archetypes of Cinema. The heroes are the resistance fighters. The Fascists and Nazis are evil. The Priest is good. The audience is well aware that Italy will be liberated. But, we are reminded of the human cost of the resistance by this film, of the brutal violence used to enforce the rule of the Nazis and Fascists.

            The stylistic elements of the film are simple. The film was made in the 1940s immediately after the end of WWII, so with whatever resources Rossellini had, he made the film. It uses rhythmic editing throughout. There is a tense, somber musical score that keeps building tension and reminds us what it was like to live under constant terror. There are some camera angles that are revealing; an aerial shot showing the police arrive to search the apartment building where Francesco lives, a from the ground shot of the Priest walking. Yet, in my opinion, even though I’m no expert on film styles or aesthetics, this film is shot in a barebones manner, revealing reality as is.

            Open City is praised by critics as one of the landmarks of Italian Cinema. In Martin Scorsese My Voyage to Italy, he proclaims the film as one of the best neo-realist films. He goes on to say that Rossellini couldn’t live up to the reputation that Open City gave him in his subsequent film productions. I would agree with what Scorsese says about Open City. The shot where Francesco’s wife goes running through the street after him is a scene of shock, anguish, and pain. The audience feels the devastation that the Fascists and Nazis have brought upon Rome and its people.

Review of Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900

My initial reaction to the film directly contradicts what the New York Times reviewer says in his review. The reviewer calls the film a "failure" and I certainly disagree with this opinion. I think the film is an epic of first rate kind. The story is compelling. The performances are great and thephotography is astounding another great picture from the renowned cinematographer Vittario Storaro. Many of the scenes left me astounded. Another triumph for Bertolucci.

Certainly one of the best depictions of twentieth century Italian history, 1900 begins with two boys born on the same day. One is of peasant stock, the other of the gentry. Through them the audience experiences the major theme of the film, that of class conflict in the Italian countryside. In the small, rural village, we see Italian history on the micro level. WWI, industrialization, the rise and fall of the fascists, are all context for 1900.

Perhaps the best performance is played by a villain. Donald Sutherland who plays Attila, the head of the fascists in the village. I thought his portrayal of Atila was compelling. Bertolucci's depicts the fascists as devious, evil, child murderers and rapists, engendering a hatred for the blackshirts.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The audio was spotty in some scenes. The length, about five hours, was not a hindrance. 1900 was an epic story about Italy comparable to Gone With the Wind or Brideshead Revisited; all tales of change, loss, and history. Like Scarlett's family after the Civil War, the Padrone's family has to endure change, hard times, and eventual loss. The story of the two boys growing up together is similar to Brideshead Revisited in that the two characters of both productions come of age together dealing with the tumultuous times of the World War, Depression, and changing social class structure. Yet Bertolucci alludes to the debate about class conflict in the final scene of 1900. He shows De Niro and Depardieu fighting as old men. In the end De Niro's character committs suicide by lying in front of a train. Perhaps this is Bertolucci's statement about change coming to Italian society. That technological change as embodied by the train will forcefully change the class structure of Italy.

Great Film! Bertolucci is one of the best directors!

Review of Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story

My first Ozu film. I thought this film is a great story about generational change and conflict in Japanese society. Filmed in a simple, minimalist style, the themes which it deals with are definitively trademarks of Ozu's style.

The story begins simply enough in a village outside of Tokyo. An elderly couple plans on making a trip to Tokyo to see their children who have all moved to Tokyo. One by one the children refuse to show the elderly couple around Tokyo

Eventually, the mother dies and the children are forced to come back to the village. In the climax of the film,. the death of the mother, the children are confronted about their lack of respect for their dead mother. Still, the children pay little head to mourn their dead mother. They leave and head back to Tokyo as soon as they are able.

I think Tokyo Story presents a contradiction to what is traditionally percieved to be Japanese society. Most people think of Japan as being very traditional and that the young always honor their ancestors in the confucian way. Perhaps this film serves as a reminder to it's viewers to honor your parents and ancestors. It also shows how Japanese society was changing, Tokyo Story was released back in the 1950s, when Japan was modernizing and changing into a pluralistic, democratic society, leaving behind its medieval, Imperialist past.