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House of Sand and Fog (2003)
A Greek tragedy
The story could have been written by Sophocles. While none of the personages does anything extraordinary, the tragedy unfolds above and outside them. Everyone is merely acting out his or her role in this chain of events that must lead to disaster; nobody actually goes beyond what can normally be expected. Here, the catalyst is a discrepancy of cultures (American and Iranian), with a moral undertone (loyalty to the Shah, once honorable, has now become politically incorrect); however, any other parallax view would have done the trick just as well. A strong sense of honor is present in all personages but it has a different base in each of them : the imperial colonel, the dispossessed owner, the righteous policeman, the litigation-bent lawyer, the nostalgic wife, the proud son ... none is intrinsically evil, and yet, all perceive evil motives in the other or others. A strong and compelling tale of confrontation, in which all perish or are doomed, except the one who innocently set everything in motion.
Spinning Boris (2003)
Satire, documentary, or both ?
There is a french saying, "la réalité dépasse la fiction", truth beats fiction. Think about it. The reason why Spinning Boris rings so true, including seemingly trivial details, is that things can happen this way - I know from personal experience with both politics and Eastern Europe. Nobody would be foolish enough to present this movie as a documentary (and by the way, why wait until Yeltsin was completely out of the picture ?), but insiders will wink at each other. Remember Primary Colors - and think about it.
Spinning Boris (2003)
Satire, documentary, or both ?
There is a french saying, "la réalité dépasse la fiction", truth beats fiction. Think about it. The reason why Spinning Boris rings so true, including seemingly trivial details, is that things can happen this way - I know from personal experience with both politics and Eastern Europe. Nobody would be foolish enough to present this movie as a documentary (and by the way, why wait until Yeltsin was completely out of the picture ?), but insiders will wink at each other. Remember Primary Colors - and think about it.
Blow-Up (1966)
Blowup was entirely created with scissors
Many clever, relevant comments are put forward in the reviews written thirty years later. How short is memory ... In fact, this much-applauded Antonioni masterpiece is a masterpiece of cutting and pasting. The maestro set out to show that he could create a thriller - thence the murder plot. After months of shooting, money ran out and eventually, funding was halted; Antonioni was told to assemble something from the huge quantity of footage he already had. Presto ... and Blowup was born from wind and waves. A masterpiece, no doubt, but not the one he'd planned. To the disbelievers : check out your Cahiers du Cinéma collection of 1966-67 (can't remember which month, sorry) and find the article that revealed the truth.
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Don't even think of Spielberg
If you thought you'd seen the anti-war movie topping all anti-war movies when Saving Private Ryan was released, think again. The Thin Red Line is far more powerful when it comes to dissecting and analyzing the devastation war inflicts to the human mind. Pure horror.
La victoire en chantant (1976)
And the officer wasn't even British
Fall of 1914. French and Germans, living in colonies side by side (Togo or Cameroon, take your pick), feel compelled to be at war with each other since that is what's happening back home, too. Naively and almost playfully at first, until the game starts getting uglier and they experience the horror of casualties nobody had really wanted. Both sides get professional help and they become hardened by the everyday routine (the Germans winning, because their officer studied in Heidelberg...)and start killing each other more efficiently, until finally the war ends and the British arrive to restore law and order in the territories. The long column of British troops, all Africans and Asians, is led by one junior officer on horseback - who when his face is eventually revealed, turns out to be Indian.
Annaud shot the film in the Ivory Coast, then a very staunchly pro-French country. He refused to show anybody the script and pretended he was shooting a very different type of movie. At the gala premiere performance in Abidjan, when the French officials realized the entire picture was a spoof on French colonial policies, they walked out, much to the embarrassment of the Ivorians, who were just as unaware of what Annaud had been up to...
Hikayatul jawahiri thalath (1995)
A pure and gentle depiction of growing up in an unusual place
A little boy and a young woman go through several portals of life, depicted as initiations, to learn that life and dreams are but aspects of one and the same, seen from different vantage points. This very classical tale unfolds against the background of occupied Gaza, where everyday life, though difficult enough, still has enough of a cultural backdrop to allow the musings of growing up to reflect a rich inner life. The film carries no political message except for those who seek it between the folds of the settings, and it is marvelously pure and gentle.
Yeelen (1987)
Secrets and initiation in the day to day life of Peulh society
This fascinating and esthetically moving film should be seen by all who want to understand the deeper meaning of initiation and its role in a not-so-primitive society. It is useful if not indispensable to have some knowledge of sub Saharan Africa, and to realize that these Dogon and Peulh people not only have a detailed cosmogony but believe in reincarnation and know of stars we only see through a telescope. Their metaphysics were so powerful that one of the first Islamic universities, in Timbuctoo, was created for them. Aside from this, the directness and superior acting make Yeelen one of the Eighties' best cultural products.