The Spider's Stratagem

Quite a film, combining lush photography with brilliantly realized scenes, one after another in fact, from the beginning arrival of the train to the ending, set on the waiting platform of the train station, with a story that weaves in and out of the present (1970) and past (1936) about fascism and the difficult and ambiguous forms the opposition took to combat it. Set in Italy's Po River valley in the town of Tara, it beautifully mixes the cinematic elements of plot, music, character, photography, etc... with a story about the well kept secret of how a man's father became a local hero in the struggle against fascism. Like any society caught in repression, the heroes we know today, who led the fight, maybe were forced by the circumstances of the times to take actions that could only be understood in the context in which they took place. Bertolucci does a great in dramatizing that inherent ambiguity that lies under the statue of the popular hero that is in the center of the town. There are some scenes that simply stand out, especially the outdoor dance (1936) where the hero and the fascists eye each other, and then he grabs the prettiest girl there and has all the dance floor while the camera goes from face to face. But in a film that is so well composed, this is but one of the highlights, none of which would mean much if the whole operation didn't have such an astute level of direction guiding it. For a film that relies so much on image, it says a lot, and doesn't squander any of its characters.

La Strategia del ragno is a beautifully shot, superbly acted movie with a lot of twists. At fist glance the story depicts a man, Athos Jr, who has to solve the murder on his father, Athos Sr. This is asked of him by his father's mistress. Later it becomes clear that that story is the strategy of the mistress to get him to replace his father (the two are identical). The third story that runs through the movie is why Athos Sr was in fact killed. It seems he's a traitor, but it's my guess that he staged his own death from the beginning (including his treason), without his friends knowing. The only one who finds out the whole truth is Athos Jr. The way these stories are told and how they interact is magnificent. There's nothing in the movie that shouldn't be there. Don't try to understand my very short summary, just watch the movie. The Last Emperor is not Bertolucci's best, although I like that one, too. This movie should be in the top of the top 250.

Borges' s short story, included in his classic « ficciones « , is par excellence , the work almost impossible to transfer to the screen ; the author wrote that his story could take place in Poland ,in South America ,you name it ;he opted for Ireland ,circa 1824 ;Bertolucci transposed it to the Fascist years in Italy;in fact ,in both the original material and in the movie, politic,unlike in say "Novecento" , takes a back seat to an universal subject : the frontier between hero and traitor is blurred, the vision they give to the crowds ; it was a challenge to film this five-page dense story ,and the director took it up with success. The bust with empty eyes is decidedly fascinating.

Ryan ,the murdered traitor/hero Fergus Kirpatrick's great grand son , becomes Athos Jr investigating on his father's murder ; influenced by murder mystery past master Chesterton,Borges ' pages are close to a labyrinthine detective story ,so it's only natural that Athos comes back to the place of the tragedy ,to be confronted with a harrowing contradiction : the clues which Ryan found in the manuscript (imitation of Shakespeare's plays) find an adequate equivalent on the screen. Smartly blending present and past , adding an ambiguous character -his father's lover ,played by the great Alida Valli-,and wandering through landscapes where time seems to have stood still , Bertolucci takes us through the garden of forking paths .Not a facile movie, but Borges' metaphysical vertigo is not either.

This may be Bernardo Bertolucci's best film. It is certainly one of his most assured and technically accomplished. The complex narrative is an exposition of the ideological uses of history (both political history and personal history). A young man returns to his "martyred" Father's village to discover the exact reasons for his father's death at the hands of Facists. He also discovers more than he may want to know about his father's personal life - including intimate details from his father's mistress. The supposedly heroic life and death of his father is greatly complicated by the actual evidence and suggestive clues he discovers. The editing, cinematography, mise en scene, and acting in this film are breathtaking. Yet the film's triumph lie in the philosophical and political suggestions provoked by the narrative. This is a film worthy of myriad viewings.

It's definitely true this movie is not just for everyone and you also really need to be in the mood for it to watch it. It's the more slower type of movie, that besides doesn't lay out everything for you. Sometimes you have to fill in the blanks and interpret certain sequences for yourself in order to keep following it and understand things.

However when you really take the time to sit down for this movie, it's definitely more than worth it. It's a pretty fascinating watch, with a good concept and story in it.

It's great to watch how the movie its 'mystery' slowly gets unraveled and the puzzle gets put together by the main character Athos Magnani, who returns to the town where his father got killed. Not only does he try to find out who killed his father but perhaps more importantly, also the reason why.

It's great to watch the dynamics between him and the townsfolk. Some are helpful, others reluctant. It gives the movie a great atmosphere of tension and mystery as well. You never know who is telling the truth and what the motivations and reasons behind it all are.

There are also some good twists in the movie, especially toward the end. The movie its ending does not disappoint!

Deinetely worth checking out if this looks and sounds like your kind of thing!

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/