Return to other movies | Dean's Home Page.

SPRING 2004 MOVIE REVIEWS

Dean's rating scale:  **** Exceptionally good, ***Quite good indeed, ** I liked some things about it, but found it to be something closer to average,* Not recommended.

I need to point out that I am not really as critical as my reviews sometimes sound.  Generally, anything two stars or better is something I have enjoyed, and even those to which I only give one star have some aspects I find redeeming, though obviously less so than others.  Anything with less than a star (that is 0 or 1/2) is a nearly absolute thumb’s down.  Four stars are given less often and only to those that have most moved me, most effectively depicted believability and/or given me the most food for thought.

Barbarian Invasions

***1/2

Osama

***

Passion of Christ

**1/2

 

 

 

 

Barbarian Invasions – (In French and English with English subtitles) – The Golden Globes and the Academy Awards are in disagreement about what is the year’s Best Foreign Language Film.  The Globes went with the Afghani film Osama (reviewed below), and the Academy went with the Canadian Quebecois film Barbarian Invasions.  Both are highly worthy candidates, but I believe the Academy made the right choice with this one -- hands down.  Thoroughly brilliant, provocatively amusing and hauntingly touching, this is one of the more intelligent scripts to come around in a while.  The story follows the last days of a terminally ill man, his enterprising son who moves mountains to make his father’s last days comfortable, and the man’s phenomenal collection of extraordinarily dedicated and loving friends.  While being terminally ill, the man is also terminally arrogant and outspoken about all matters of sex, politics and philosophy, as is his collection of snooty, liberal, intellectual friends.  The commentary pokes subtle fun at a range of easy targets, from Americans to the Catholic Church, likely to offend some, but hey, that’s what provocation is all about.  I found its Islamaphobic strains a little annoying.  At times, the film may make some feel it is talking down to them, but all of this is more than counterbalanced by the basic humanity of the ensemble cast of characters, particularly by the lead character as he fights his fears and faces his own mortality.   The film offers a noble example of active euthanasia and dying with dignity, though I’m not sure it will sway anyone who’s already in one camp or the other.   The audience will leave wishing they could be so lucky to have such a loving set of friends.   (Kids – perhaps not; Teens and adults – yes, but the movie demands patience for rapidly moving subtitles and includes adult themes and scenes of illicit drug use)  ***1/2 

 

Osama – (In Afghani with English subtitles) -- Across the political spectrum from George W. Bush to Hillary Clinton are politicos talking up this Golden Globe winner for Best Foreign Film, though I suspect their reasons for wanting you to see it are somewhat differently motivated.  W. wants you to see it as an affirmation for his decision to invade Afghanistan, whereas Hillary suspects that W. has come lately and only through political convenience to something she’s been raising awareness about for years – the plight of Afghani women.  Based upon a true story, Osama in this case is not Osama bin Laden, but rather a young Afghani girl living under Taliban rule who gets dressed up as a boy by her mother and grandmother so that she can earn a living for their desperately poor family.  The girl first appears like the famously mesmerizing National Geographic cover photo of an Afghani girl.  Upon cutting her hair short, she makes a fully believable cross-gender transformation and spends much of the remainder of the film with fear or terror etched into her face.  Director Siddiq Barmak escaped Afghanistan when the Taliban first came to power, but returned after their demise to make this first ever Afghani film entirely with amateur Afghan actors, including the girl played by Marina Golbahari, whom he discovered on the street.  He shows the Taliban as cardboard cutout bad guys, but as much sympathy as he evokes for Afghani women, one cannot help but feel in some ways similarly for the men he portrays -- sometimes even for the Taliban -- who themselves are captive of their own desperate poverty and righteous terror.  It’s tragic that now again in many rural areas of Afghanistan many women are being forced back under the cover of burqua dress and into their old roles, unable to attend school, unable to leave home -- faceless slaves.  The oppressive Taliban have been replaced with oppressive war lords implementing the same old rigid rules.  To me, this level of subjugation of women, which extends well beyond Afghanistan and the Arab states, remains the biggest crime on the planet today.  Perhaps it’s entirely unrealistic to think there is anything we can do about it, but in any case, as with so many other things that need doing, I don’t suspect it will ever be sufficiently high on our nation’s agenda to bring an end to it.  (Children – not recommended due to some frightening scenes; All others – absolutely)  ***

Passion of Christ – (In Aramaic and Roman with English subtitles) – The most hyped and controversial movie of the season seems more of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the faithful.  Rarely have I seen more gratuitous violence since the original version of the horror satire Dawn of the Dead (coincidentally now reappearing on the big screen).  I tend to stay away from blood fests, unless they are based on historical accuracy or are done for satirical purposes (as was Dawn of the Dead).  Director Mel Gibson claims that his vision of the Passion (in the traditional meaning of suffering) of Christ strives for historical accuracy, and although the bible records but a few sentences regarding the suffering Christ endured, who can argue with the faithful that it doesn’t warrant such emphasis on the big screen?  Unlike other matters of intellectual discussion, faith, after all, is unarguable.  However, the emphasis on suffering comes at the expense of Christ’s message and at the expense of the notion that he rose from the dead, which one would think would be somewhat counterproductive for many of the faithful.  But then, many who call themselves Christians are surely divided on this point.   As for historical accuracy and allegations that the film has an anti-Semitic message, I’d say there’s plenty of room for controversy, and people are going to read into it what they will.   I can understand the fear of some in the Jewish community based upon the sorry history of how Passion Plays were sometimes used to stoke hatred in Europe.   Gibson does seem to believe that Pilot, otherwise brutal by all accounts, truly had a reluctance to crucify Jesus and wouldn’t have done so had the Jewish crowd not vociferously demanded it; but then, so can one find this in a plausible interpretation of words from Mathew, Mark, Luke and John -- themselves Jewish, as was Christ.  If the film is anti-Semitic, so too perhaps is the Bible.  Hey, I’m an agnostic … both religiously and on most questions regarding the film’s historical content.  As an agnostic, what do I know about anything?  Maybe a lot, maybe not much – I’m not sure.  You can burn a question mark on my front lawn if I had one – a lawn that is.  Much of the film’s controversy I believe – and hope -- is overwrought.  It’s easy to suspect that the controversy was at least partially designed to stoke megabucks for the studios and for Gibson’s wallet.  I suspect his encore presentation will be a film about the Rapture, with him seated on the right hand of God and infidels like me in the eternal fire.   As for good cinema, I much more prefer the recent relatively uncontroversial made-for-television movie about Judas, which covered some of the same themes, but I believe did a better service both to Christ’s message and to his followers flocking to Gibson’s film.  It was a noble gesture to put it in Aramaic and Roman and for the actors to mouth those dead languages.  As for edification, I’d say that if you’re a masochist, go … or just stay at home and read the book.  (Kids – not recommended; Teens -- Actually, the film is probably no more brutal than what they’ve seen elsewhere, just more relentlessly so)  **1/2

 


Return to other movies | Dean's Home Page.