Showing posts with label war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label war. Show all posts

Saturday, 4 May 2024

The Caine Mutiny

 Year:  1954

Director:  Edward Dmytryk

Screenplay:  Stanley Roberts and Michael Blankfort, based on the novel The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk

Starring:  Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray, Robert Francis, May Wynn

Running Time:   125 minutes

Genre:  War, drama, 

During World War II, the USS Caine, a dilapidated minesweeper, manned by a tired, disillusioned crew, comes under the command of veteran Captain Queeg (Bogart).  Queeg, a strict martinet, immediately starts whipping the crew into shape and instilling strict discipline.  Some of the officers on the Caine suspect that Queeg is paranoid, and, as he becomes increasingly unbalanced, decide to seize control of the vessel.  Soon they find themselves facing a court-martial.


This is based on the 1951 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk.  Humphrey Bogart gives a strong performance as the jittery, paranoid Queeg, who is forever rubbing together a pair of metal spheres.  He conveys Queeg's incipient madness subtly, with a slight tensing of his face, and shifting of his posture, as well as adopting a slightly staccato speech pattern.  Another strong performance comes from José Ferrer, who only appears in the second half of the film, as the Navy lawyer who defends the mutineers at the court martial, despite his own moral conflict over the case.  Considering the fact that the film was made in 1954 it is interesting that it focuses as much as it does on mental health and psychology.  Queeg, for all his paranoia and instability, is never an entirely unsympathetic character.  There is a lot of discussion in the film about Freudian psychology in regards to Queeg's paranoia, although the good Doctor might have something to say about the romantic subplot where the newly graduated Ensign Keith (Francis) has to choose between his nightclub singer girlfriend (May Wynn) and his domineering mother (Katherine Warren).  It is in the romantic subplot that the film is at its weakest, because it feels completely extraneous to the rest of the movie.  Lee Marvin and E. G. Marshall appear in small roles in the film.  Lee Marvin had himself served in the US Marines during World War II and was wounded in action during the Battle of Saipan, and was thus an unofficial technical adviser for the film.

The film moves from a Naval adventure film, including a sequence where the Caine has to escort some small landing craft during the invasion of a Pacific island, where Queeg cracks up, causing the ship to abandon it's mission before it's completed, and a sequence where the ship is almost destroyed during a fierce typhoon.  However the undoubted highlight is the climatic trial scene.



The Caine Mutiny

Saturday, 18 September 2021

Full Metal Jacket

Year of Release:  1987
Director:  Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay:  Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford, based on the novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford
Starring:  Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Dorian Harewood, Arliss Howard, Kevyn Major Howard
Running Time:  116 minutes
Genre:  War drama

During the Vietnam War, US Marine Private Davis (Modine), nicknamed "Joker" due to his wisecracking, endures the brutal basic training under tough drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Ermey), with a platoon of recruits including dim-witted, unfit Leonard Lawrence (D'Onofrio), nicknamed "Gomer Pyle".  Following basic training, Davis is assigned as a military journalist, and finds himself plunged into the horrors of combat in Vietnam.

Based on the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford, and co-scripted by Michael Herr, author of acclaimed Vietnam memoir Dispatches (1977), this is among the most acclaimed films about the Vietnam War.  One of Stanley Kubrick's recurring themes is dehumanisation and control: in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) the human characters are reduced to automatons and the most engaging and "human" character is the singing, killing computer; in A Clockwork Orange (1971) the lead character is "cured" of his violent ways by brainwashing at the cost of losing his humanity; in Barry Lyndon (1975) the characters are straightjacketed by the strict mores and manners of 17th Century society; in The Shining (1980) the main character is the tool of supernatural forces; and this interest in control is seen in Kubrick's films about the military, including Paths of Glory (1957) and Full Metal Jacket, where we see the recruits being turned into soldiers.   The film's first 45 minutes is devoted to the Marine's basic training where they are subjected to non-stop verbal and physical abuse by the monstrous Hartman.  Actor R. Lee Ermey was a Marine drill instructor during the Vietnam war and was originally brought on as an advisor, but impressed Kubrick so much that he fired the original actor and cast Ermey instead.  Ermey made such an impression in the film that he became something of a star, subsequently appearing in about 60 films, usually as tough authority figures.  Vincent D'Onofrio plays the pathetic Private Pyle, Hartman's favourite victim, and to be honest, it's hard to understand how a recruit like Pyle even got through the doors of the training camp, when he is obviously not up to it right from the start.  The bullying he endures begins with Hartman and then expands, with Hartman's encouragement, to the rest of the platoon.  D'Onofrio gives Pyle a real sense of humanity and tragedy, right from the moment he appears on screen you know that it will not end well for him.  The training passage of the film plays like a very dark comedy, mostly thanks to Ermey's endlessly inventive, foulmouthed insults and invective all delivered at maximum volume ("You're so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece!" is one of his more repeatable lines).  Matthew Modine plays the nominal lead and point of view character, Private Joker, although throughout most of the film he is more of an observer, however he is the only one who seems to have any real compassion for Pyle, although he does join in with the others bullying of Pyle, during a brutal "blanket party" scene, where Pyle is held down in his bunk, while the rest of the recruits take it in turns to beat him with bars of soap wrapped in towels. 
The scene then switches to Vietnam and the horrors of war, with Joker and rookie combat photographer Rafterman (Kevyn Major Howard) plunged into the thick of battle.  The focus of the film is more on the effects of war on the soldiers, few if any of whom seem to understand why they are there, or even to particularly care.  Military slang and terminology is used frequently which, similar to the "nadsat" slang in A Clockwork Orange, creates something of a distancing effect.  The Vietnam segment of the film, while good, doesn't have the power of the training aspect, but it still leaves an indelible impression, and the question remains of what is to become of Joker and friends when they "rotate back to the world" (return to civilian life)?    


"What is your major malfunction?" Private Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio) is berated by Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey) in Full Metal Jacket

Sunday, 21 February 2021

Alone in Berlin

 Year of Release:  2016

Director:  Vincent Pérez

Screenplay:  Vincent Pérez, Achim von Borries and Bettine von Borries, based on the novel Every Man Dies Alone (also known as Alone in Berlin) by Hans Fallada

Starring:  Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson, Daniel Brühl, Mikael Persbrandt

Running Time:  103 minutes

Genre:  Period drama, war

Berlin, 1940:  Otto (Gleeson) and Anna Quangel (Thompson) are an ordinary, working class couple.  When they receive news of the death of their only son in battle, the Quangels disillusionment with the Nazi regime increases, and they decide to take a stand.  The couple write postcards criticising the regime and distribute them all over Berlin.  Tenacious Gestapo detective Escherich (Brühl) is assigned to investigate and put a stop to the postcards.


Based on the acclaimed novel by Hans Fallada, this is loosely based on the true life case of Otto and Elise Hampel who wrote and circulated postcards criticising the Nazis throughout Berlin from 1940 until 1943, and the film is dedicated to them.  Given the subject matter you would expect this to be a dour, grim film, and it certainly is.  It is powerful though, and it's call to rebellion and protest, no matter how small it may seem, is still relevant today.  The film captures a grey, paranoid world where everyone lives under suspicion.  It features some great performances, and the story is an interesting one.  It's a small scale drama, that occasionally feels like a television film, and lacks the punch that the book had, however it is a strong and relevant piece of work.

Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson in Alone in Berliné


Sunday, 3 January 2021

Dad's Army

 Year of Release:  1971

Director:  Norman Cohen

Screenplay:  Jimmy Perry and David Croft, from an idea by Jimmy Perry, based on the television series Dad's Army created by Jimmy Perry and David Croft

Starring:  Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn, John Laurie, James Beck, Arnold Ridley, Ian Lavender

Running Time:  95 minutes

Genre:  Comedy, war


During World War II it looks increasingly likely that the Nazis will invade Britain, and so the British Government create a volunteer militia made up of those men who are unsuitable for drafting into the regular Army, mostly due to age (hence they were nicknamed "Dad's Army" by regular troops).  They were originally dubbed the Local Defence Volunteers, and later the Home Guard.  Their job was basically to be a last line of defence in the event of an invasion.  At the small town of Walmington-on-Sea, on the south-east coast of England, the local Home Guard, under the command of pompous bank manager George Mainwaring (Lowe) make up in enthusiasm what they lack in equipment, skills and common sense.

The television sitcom Dad's Army ran for nine seasons between 1968 and 1977 totalling 80 episodes, and to this today is still one of Britain's most beloved TV shows, and is repeated regularly.  It was inevitable that it would be brought into the 1970s vogue for adapting popular sitcoms as low-budget feature films.  This fares better than most, mainly because it doesn't stray too far from it's TV origins.  In fact the early part of the film is almost a remake of the first episode, and the things that fans expect are largely present and correct.  The main difference between this and the TV series is that there is a planned Nazi invasion of Walmington-on-Sea, which really only comes into play in the last quarter of an hour, and seems to be there just to give the film an ending.  The film is very episodic and feels like a kind of TV special rather than a feature film.  However the cast are all talented comedy actors and by this time their roles fit them like gloves.    Fans of the TV series will enjoy it, and if you've never seen the show than it is a good introduction.  The film was very popular, and as equal was planned but never made.  However the series was again adapted into a film in 2016 called Dad's Army, with a mostly completely different cast.


Don't panic, Mr. Mainwaring: Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier in Dad's Army
 


Friday, 13 November 2020

Jojo Rabbit

Year of Release:  2019

Director:  Taika Waititi

Screenplay:  Taika Waititi, based on the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens

Starring:  Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi, Scarlett Johansson, Rebel Wilson, Sam Rockwell, Alfie Allen, Stephen Merchant

Running Time:  108 minutes

Genre:  Comedy-drama, war


Nazi Germany:  Johannes "Jojo" Betzler (Davis) is an innocent ten year old boy who is nevertheless heavily indoctrinated with Nazi ideology, and is an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth.  His best friend is an imaginary Adolf Hitler (Waititi).  Jojo discovers that his mother, Rosie (Johansson), is hiding a young Jewish girl, Elsa (McKenzie).  Jojo is scared to turn her in, and he and Elsa begin a tentative friendship.  

In the wrong hands this film could be in hugely bad taste, however it is by turns hilariously funny and absolutely heartbreaking.  The film is anchored by young actors Roman Griffin Davis and Thomasin McKenzie  who move from mutual fear and loathing to a kind of genuine friendship.  To Jojo, fascism is basically adventure, friendship and acceptance.  He has swallowed the lies hook, line and sinker, but he remains at his core, an essentially good hearted little boy, who just believes what he's been told.  When he meets Elsa he begins to slowly realise that Jewish people are not the demonic, supernatural monsters that he has been told they are.  Thomasin McKenzie is intensely moving as Elsa, whose safety depends on trusting people who she has every reason  not to.  She is a survivor, in constant danger, but she is also a normal teenage girl.  The familiar faces in supporting roles are all very good, with writer-director Taika Waititi as an idiotic imaginary Hitler, who moves from childlike best friend, to an increasingly threatening presence, as Jojo becomes increasingly disillusioned with Nazism.  Scarlett Johansson is hugely impressive as Rosie, Jojo's mother, torn between her duty to fight the evil that she sees around her, and her duty to care for her child.  The film has a child's eye view of it's events, moving from childlike adventure and flights of imagination to fear and danger.  The use of German versions of anachronistic songs by The Beatles and David Bowie adds an additional fantasy element.  The subject matter of the film places it in very difficult territory, but it navigates it with barely a misstep.  It is among the best and most moving films of the past few years.




Taika Waititi and Roman Griffin Davis in Jojo Rabbit
 

    

Thursday, 16 July 2020

"If Not Now, When?" by Primo Levi

Year of Publication:  1982
Translator:  William Weaver
Introduction:  Mark Mazower
Length:  331 pages
Genre:  War

Set during the last couple of years of the Second World War, the novel follows a band of mostly Jewish partisans and resistance fighters, from Poland and Russia, as they survive in Nazi-occupied territory.  Always on the move, struggling against harsh conditions, often lacking food and supplies, and wracked by fear, personal tensions and rivalries, they try to sabotage and hamper the Nazis as much as possible, fuelled by revenge, loyalty, patriotism, and hopes for a life after the conflict.

Primo Levi was an Italian chemist and writer who is probably best known for his autobiographical works recounting his experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz, most notably It This Is a Man (1947), and his fiction was mostly in the form of short stories.  If Not Now, When? was his only novel, and this was based on his own experiences fighting the Nazis as a partisan and the stories he was told from partisans and resistance fighters that he met in the years immediately after the war.  This is a fantastic novel.  A gripping war story, full of action and adventure, telling an often overlooked aspect of World War II, it is also a story about ordinary human beings in the most terrible situations, told with empathy and compassion.  The characters are complex, particularly the main point of view character, Mendel, a Russian watchmaker turned reluctant soldier.  While there are moments of joy and humour, this is a dark tale, and touches on the emotional and psychological consequences of killing and surviving war.

   

Sunday, 5 July 2020

War Requiem

Year of Release:  1989
Director:  Derek Jarman
Screenplay:  Derek Jarman, based on the musical piece War Requiem by Benjamin Britten
Starring:  Laurence Olivier, Nathaniel Parker, Tilda Swinton, Sean Bean, Nigel Terry, Patricia Hayes, Owen Teale, Jodie Graber, Spencer Leigh
Running Time:  92 minutes
Genre:  Experimental, war

Tended by a nurse (Swinton), an elderly soldier (Olivier) is lost in dreams and memories.  This is an entirely dialogue-free film, the only speech we hear is Olivier reciting the poem "Strange Meeting" by Wilfred Owen in voice-over in the film's prologue.  The film features dramatised segments with Nathaniel Parker as Wilfred Owen, visions of home and family in grainy Super 8, and vintage newsreel footage of mostly World War I, and other more recent conflicts including World War II, Vietnam and Afghanistan, and I would warn you that the film does feature some graphic and disturbing documentary footage of wartime violence.  All we hear is a 1963 performance of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, which inspired the film.  While this is a difficult film, and full of distinctive esoteric images, particularly strong on religious and homoerotic imagery, this does have a strong theme about war, and works almost as a silent film.  It is also surprisingly emotional, and you don't have to share Jarman's unique vision to appreciate it.  This was Laurence Olivier's final acting role.

Sean Bean in War Requiem

Saturday, 18 January 2020

1917

Year of Release:  2019
Director:  Sam Mendes
Screenplay:  Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns 
Starring:  George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch
Running Time:  119 minutes
Genre:  War

France, April 1917:  The Germans have pulled back from a sector in the Western Front.  However, they have not retreated, and have in fact made a strategic withdrawal to a new defensive line form where they plan to overwhelm attacking British forces with artillery.  With the field telephone lines cut, two soldiers, Schofield (MacKay) and Blake (Chapman) are ordered to undertake a perilous mission across No Man's Land to hand deliver a message ordering a battalion to call off their attack which is planned for the next morning, and which could potentially cost the lives of 1,600 men, including Blake's brother.

This film is made to look as if it has all been shot in one continuous take, which sometimes seems frustratingly gimmicky, but sometimes is really effective.  The soldiers trudge along seemingly endless stretches of blasted, desolate country, with sudden bursts of dynamic action.  There are moments of real teeth-grinding suspense, and some breath-taking images, particularly the nighttime trek across a burning ruined city, that looks like a journey across Hell, and the scenes in the trenches are extremely claustrophobic.  There are dull moments, and sometimes the real-time approach means that you never really see much about the character's past and personality, and this does have the problem that a lot of films have when they are sold on the back of one particular technical achievement, in that it becomes more about the technique than the story.  However, more often than not it succeeds as a powerful, harrowing war movie.

George MacKay in 1917

Friday, 23 August 2019

"Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Year of Publication:  1961
Length:  519 pages
Genre:  Satire, war, dark comedy

The novel is mostly set on a US Air Force base on the Mediterranean island of Pianosa during the Second World War.  Bomber pilot Yossarian and his comrades try to survive the horrors of war, not just from the enemy, but from the bizarre, contradictory, cruel and arbitrary military bureaucracy that controls their lives, and the inescapable, universal law of "Catch-22".

This is a long, rambling, episodic novel, shifting points of view between a large number of characters and jumping back and forth in time.  The novel deals with the absurdity and horror of war and of military life, but expands that to include modern life in general.  It's a deeply rich book that requires a lot of attention from the reader.  There are lots of seemingly throw away jokes and references earlier in the novel that turn out to be important later on.  A lot of it is extremely funny, but much of the comedy is humour of the darkest kind.  It's tragic, comical, cynical, satirical and endlessly inventive.  The book doesn't really have a strong plot, being more an account of various episodes in the lives of the characters. Heller revels in jokes, wordplay and paradoxes, which can make the book an overwhelming experience.  When the book takes a shockingly darker turn towards the end it hits the reader like a bucket of ice water.
It's widely acclaimed as one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century and, while it may not be that, it is still a great book.


   

Saturday, 27 April 2019

Paths of Glory

Year of Release:  1957
Director:  Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay:  Stanley Kubrick, Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson, based on the novel Paths of Glory by Humphrey Cobb
Starring:  Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris, Richard Anderson
Running Time:  88 minutes
Genre:  War

The film is set in France, 1916, during the First World War, and tells the story of Colonel Dax (Douglas), whose ambitious superior, General Mireau (Macready), orders him to send his men to take a well-defended German position, despite the fact that it is a suicide mission.  When the attack proves to be hopeless, many of the men refuse to continue, even when an enraged Mireau orders the artillery commander to open fire on his own men to force them out on the battlefield, which the commander refuses to do.  In an effort to save face, Mireau deflects the blame for the failure of the attack on to the men, and orders Dax to choose three men to be court-martialed for cowardice, to set an example.

This is one of the greatest war films ever made.  The generals sit in palatial chateaus drinking fine wines and  eating good food, calmly ordering the slaughter of thousands, while the soldiers are forced to live in squalid trenches and to lay down their lives on a whim.  There's a scene early in the film where Mireau tours a trench, making forced, rote banter with the soldiers and cruelly berating one soldier suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (or "Shell shock" as it was known at the time).  Mireau dismisses the existence of shell shock and says the man is a coward.  Kirk Douglas' Colonel Dax has a foot in each camp.  He lives and fights with the men in the trenches, but also visits the chateau and works directly with the generals.  The film also has elements of a courtroom drama, although it becomes apparent that the court-martial is just a show trial.  Visually the film is impressive, with the camera gliding in through the trenches in front of the soldiers, and every scene in the film perfectly composed.  Kubrick has a reputation for making cold, emotionless films, but this is anything but, it's powerful and devastating.
By the way, Susanne Christian, who plays the German singer at the end of the film, went on to marry Stanley Kubrick.     

Kirk Douglas and troops in Paths of Glory

 

Wednesday, 3 April 2019

"All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque

Year of Publication:  1929
Number of Pages:  200 pages

In 1914 a class of idealistic German schoolboys are goaded by their teacher to join the Army and fight in the "Glorious War".  After ten weeks of brutal basic training, and faced with the horrific realities of trench warfare, their youthful innocence and idealism is soon stripped away.  

This is one of the classic war novels.  It's seen through the eyes of teenage soldier Paul Baumer who, by the time we meet him is already a hardened soldier.  It moves from accounts of life in the trenches swimming in filth and swarming with rats and lice, and existing on a practically starvation level diet, to graphic and chilling accounts of battles, to lyrical descriptions of Baumer's impressions and emotions and dreams beyond just survival.  The book is more than just a parade of horrors though, it also describes the friendship and camaraderie among the soldiers, who do what they can to make life just a little more bearable for themselves, making the most of their time away from the trenches.  It also comments on the psychological effects of the war.  At one point Baumer goes home on leave, and finds himself completely cut off from his old life and his family, because they have no idea what he has been through and he can't connect with them at all.  The incidents in the novel are described purely as Baumer experiences them and there is no context of  the war as a whole, in fact the soldiers rarely discuss the war itself.  They don't even seem to care much about whether their side wins or loses, they just want it to be over.
It's a powerful and moving war novel.  
The book was banned by the Nazis and copies were publicly burned, which is yet another good reason to read it. 


Saturday, 9 March 2019

Rome, Open City

Year of Release:  1945
Director:  Roberto Rossellini
Screenplay:  Sergio Amidei and Federico Fellini
Starring:  Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani, Marcello Pagliero
Running Time:  105 minutes
Genre:  Drama, war

Nazi-occupied Rome, 1944:  Resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi (Pagliero) is being hunted by the Gestapo.  With the aid of Pina (Magnani), the fiancee of a fellow Resistance member, and Don Pietro (Fabrizi) a priest who aids the local Resistance groups, Manfredi struggles to evade the Nazis and the Italian Fascists.

This was filmed in the months immediately following the end of the Second World War, with scenes shot documentary-style on the still ruined streets of Rome mixed with more conventional studio-set scenes, and many of the cast being non-professional actors, alongside established stars Anna Magnini and Aldo Fabrizi.  This was the film that brought the movement known as Italian Neorealism to international attention.  While doubtless not as shocking today as it would have been to viewers of the time, it still has shockingly brutal moments, and still packs a real punch.  It features great performances, particularly Magnani and Fabrizi, who at the time were known as comic actors, and here playing against type in serious dramatic parts.

        Anna Magnani in Rome, Open City

Saturday, 22 July 2017

Dunkirk

Year of Release:  2017
Director:  Christopher Nolan
Screenplay:  Christopher Nolan
Starring:  Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D'Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy
Running Time:  106 minutes
Genre:  War

This Second World War film deals with the Dunkirk evacuation where 400,000 Allied soldiers were rescued from the beaches of France in 1940.  It deals with three narratives set over three different time frames.  British soldier, Tommy (Whitehead) is one of those waiting for rescue, constantly under threat from bombs and torpedoes. Civilian sailor Dawson( Rylance), his son and employee make the dangerous crossing across the English channel to help with the evacuation.  Two Spitfire pilots try to fend off enemy bombers.

This is a gritty, visceral, intense experience.  It's more like an experimental film with very little dialogue or even story.  It's all about the viewing experience, and this is a film that needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible.  The cast, which include pop singer Harry Styles in his first major acting role, are impressive with very little to work with.  Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance provide the noble stiff-upper-lip speeches. This is an unusual war film in that the enemy is barely glimpsed, aside from a fighter plane you never see a German soldier, or catch a glimpse of Nazi imagery.  The characters are under threat from an unseen enemy, with attacks coming out of nowhere.  Also the soldiers are not selfless heroes.  In fact, they are often decidedly unheroic and often unlikable.  I couldn't say I enjoyed this film, but I admired it a great deal.            


Saturday, 3 June 2017

Wonder Woman

Year of Release:  2017
Director:  Patty Jenkins
Screenplay:  Allan Heinberg, from a story by Zack Snyder, Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs, based on Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston
Starring:  Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen, David Thewlis, Danny Huston, Elena Anaya
Running Time:  141 minutes
Genre:  Superhero, fantasy, action-adventure, war

The hidden island of Themyscira is the home of the Amazons, warrior women who, according to legend, have been charged by Zeus to guard against the return of the war god Ares.  However the idyllic island life is shattered when American pilot Steve Trevor (Pine) crashes off the coast.  Trevor is rescued by Diana (Gadot), the daughter of the island's ruler, Queen Hippolyta (Wright).  In the world outside, World War I is raging, and Trevor reveals that he is a spy, who is trying to return to London with information about an experimental weapon that brutal General Erich Ludendorff (Huston) and scientist Doctor Maru (Anaya) have developed.  Convinced that Ares is behind the "War to End All Wars", Diana resolves to return with Trevor to find and defeat him, believing that this will end the war and restore world peace.  However she soon learns that things are not that simple.

This film is notable to be the first major superhero film to centre on a female character and the first to be directed by a woman.  Gadot debuted as Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and this movie is part of a linked series of films based on DC Comics characters, however aside for a brief framing sequence set in the present day, this isn't really connected to any of the previous films, and so can be enjoyed by people who haven't sat through the other DC movies.  The film mixes fantasy, period war film and some culture clash comedy, and works very well.  Gal Gadot is perfect as Wonder Woman, not only handling the action sequences but also a strong emotional arch, and Chris Pine also does well as the square-jawed Steve Trevor.  The film has an emotional core that is often lacking in superhero films, and, while there is a lot of darkness in the film, it leavens the often Bergmanesque levels of despair in the DC movies with a welcome level of hope and optimism.  Certainly this is one of the best of the recent glut of superhero films.


Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman

Saturday, 8 April 2017

The Keep

Year of Release:  1983
Director:  Michael Mann
Screenplay:  Michael Mann, based on the novel The Keep by F. Paul Wilson
Starring:  Scott Glenn, Alberta Watson, Jurgen Prochnow, Robert Prosky, Gabriel Byrne, Ian McKellen
Running Time:  96 minutes
Genre:  Horror, war, fantasy

The Carpathian Mountains, Romania, 1941, a German Army detachment led by Captain Klaus Woerrmann (Prochnow) take over a remote citadel (or "keep").  Two looting soldiers accidentally unleash a powerful demonic force which starts picking off the soldiers one by one.  A group of SS soldiers, under the command of the sadistic Eric Kaempffer (Byrne) arrive at the keep as reinforcements.  When strange messages appear written on the walls, the Germans force a Jewish historian Professor Theodore Cuza (McKellen) to decipher the messages and find out what is killing them off.

This odd curio from a director best known for glossy crime thrillers (such as Manhunter (1986) and Heat (1995))  is a good movie hidden inside a bad one.  The original director's cut ran three and a half hours, but director Michael Mann was contracted to deliver a movie no longer than two hours.  However the studio, Paramount, were unhappy with Mann's two hour cut and took the film out of his hands, cutting it still further to 96 minutes.  This accounts for the many continuity errors and plot holes.  For a film set in 1941, this is a very '80s movie filled with billowing dry ice and a synth-heavy score from Tangerine Dream.  The production design is impressive and there are visually striking moments, however some of the visuals just don't work.  The film's creature is never particularly convincing or impressive.  It never particularly works as a horror film, because it isn't very scary and too confused, but it does have an eerie, dream-like atmosphere in places.  It does have some interesting ideas, and the central story is novel and interesting, and the central theme equating the real-life horror of Nazism with fantasy horror, is interesting if in kind of bad taste.  It's frustrating that so much of the film is never really explained, and the climax is practically incomprehensible.
On it's original release the film was very badly received (including by F. Paul Wilson, the author of the original novel who strongly disliked the film), and flopped commercially, but it has since become something of a cult film.  It's worth seeing because the good bits are good and it deserves points for originality.

         Ian McKellan explores The Keep

Monday, 8 August 2016

Ivan's Childhood

Year of Release:  1962
Director:  Andrei Tarkovsky
Screenplay: Vladimir Bogomolov and Mikhail Papava, based on the short story Ivan by Vladimir Bogomolov
Starring:  Kolya Burlyayev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeniy Zharikov, Stepan Krylov, Nikolay Grinko
Running Time:  94 minutes
Genre:  War, drama

This is the astonishing debut film from legendary Russian film-maker Andrei Tarkovsky.  It's set on the Eastern Front during World War II.  Twelve year old Ivan (Burlyayev) is used as a scout by the Russian Army, and he is very good at it, being able to infiltrate enemy lines fairly easily on account of his small size.  However his commanding officers, who are fond of him, want to send Ivan to a military school, where he will be safe.  Ivan however, is desperate for revenge on the Nazis who killed his parents, and wants to fight on the front line.

This is a war movie where very little combat is actually shown.  It mostly consists of long conversations in grimy makeshift military bases and burned out buildings, and long shots of nature.  There are several, flashbacks and dream sequences to Ivan's earlier life with his mother, shown in shimmering silver with beautiful full, leafy trees and blooming forests and meadows.  His real life, however is grimy, dirty, dangerous, desolate, and bleak.  However, it is all shot very beautifully.  Few directors have captured the natural world as beautifully as Tarkovsky, or have found such poetry and beauty in desolation.  Tarkovsky believed in the power of long takes, that after boredom comes curiosity and a deeper connection to the audience.  This is not really a film to be enjoyed.  It is very slow moving, as you may have already guessed, and very bleak.  It is also a very beautiful and important film, and is a startling piece of art, and this really is film as art.  Those familiar with Tarkovsky's later films will see many of his hallmarks on display here:  such as ruined buildings, nature, bells and water.

I would not recommend seeing this if you just want to be entertained on a Friday night, however if you want to see a real, beautiful piece of art, that will trouble you, haunt you and stay with you long after the end, than this is thoroughly recommended.

           Kolya Burlyayev in Ivan's Childhood

Sunday, 10 July 2016

The Imitation Game

Year:  2014
Director:  Morten Tyldum
Screenplay:  Graham Moore, based on the book Alan Turing:  The Enigma by Andrew Hodges
Starring:  Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Mark Strong, Charles Dance
Running Time:  114 minutes
Genre:  Period drama, thriller, war

This film is a historical drama based on the life of mathematician Alan Turing (Cumberbatch), who was the head of the team of code-breakers at Bletchley Park who worked to decrypt the German Enigma codes for the British Government during the Second World War.  The movie moves back and forth between three key periods in Turing's life: His time at boarding school in the 1920s, where the teenage Turing (Alex Lawther) first develops an interest in codes and finds respite from frequent bullying in his close friendship with a fellow pupil (Jack Bannon); his downfall in 1951 where he is arrested for "gross indecency" due to his homosexuality (which was a criminal offence at the time); and, by far the most extensive section of the film, his wartime experience trying to decode the Enigma codes.

I don't know much at all about the life of Alan Turing or how historically accurate the film is, so I'm going to be talking about the film as a drama.  However I have heard that it is not particularly true to the facts of the story.  However it works as a drama.  It is well made, well acted  particularly by Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing, and Keira Knightley as fellow code-breaker Joan Clarke.  It also does well at making Turing's work as accessible and possible for the general audience.  The recreation of the 1940s is fascinating.  The difficulty with a lot of biopics is that they can tend towards shapelessness, but this film structures it as a compelling thriller.  There could have been more about the tragedy of Turing's later life, however, if it encourages people to learn more about a man who has pretty much shaped our lives today with his contributions to computer science, and a shameful period in the history of LGBT rights, than it is a success.



 Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch  in The Imitation Game

Wednesday, 3 August 2011

Captain America: The First Avenger

Year: 2011
Director: Joe Johnston
Screenplay: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the comic book Capatin America created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
Starring: Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Neil McDonough, Derek Lake, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones
Running Time: 124 minutes
Genre: Superhero, action, fantasy, war

Summary: In the present day a team of researchers in the Arctic discover a strange craft buried in the ice. Investigating it they discover a circular metal object with a distinctive red, white and blue insignia.
New York, 1942: Steven Rogers (Evans) is a frail, sickly young man who is nonetheless desperate to sign up for the Army and fight in World War II, like his friend Bucky Barnes (Stan). Unable to back away from a fight, which results in him frequently being beaten up, Rogers persists on trying to join up, even though he constantly fails the medical. His perserverance and strong code of honour attracts the attention of Doctor Abraham Erskine (Tucci) who allows Steven to join up as part of an experiment run by the US Military's Special Scientific Reserve to create a "super soldier". The operation is being run by Colonel Chester Phillips (Jones) and British agent Peggy Carter (Atwell). Steven's bravery marks him out as the right person for the procedure, which consists of him being injected with a special serum and doused with "vita-rays". The experiment leaves Steven with superhuman strength, agility and speed.
Steven becomes a public hero after catching a murderous spy. As a publicity stunt for the war effort, Steven is sent to tour the US in the guise of costumed super-patriot "Captain America". The Captain America character is an instant hit and he soon becomes the star of movies and comic-books.
However, Steven Rogers was not the first person to try the "super-soldier serum". Johann Schmidt (Weaving), head of the sinister HYDRA organisation, underwent an imperfect, experimental version of the serum and suffered horrific side-effects which earned him the sobriquet of "Red Skull". Schmidt is searching for a mysterious tesseracht which is rumoured to contain vast supernatural powers.
Soon Steven Rogers is forced to become Captain America for real in order to save the world.

Opinions: This is an entertaining blend of superhero action and war movie. The World War II setting not only works for the character, who was originally created in 1941 and usually pitted against the Axis powers of World War II, but helps to set it apart from many of the current superhero movies. The film really goes back to basics with a storyline which harkens back to the early days of comic books and their roots in pulp fiction, and provides plenty of action.
In many ways this is a companion piece to Thor (2011), Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010) and The Incredible Hulk (2008), for example Dominic Cooper plays Howard Stark (father of Iron Man Tony Stark) and the object which the Red Skull seeks in this film references Thor. All the films also feature appearances by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. Fury is scheduled to unite Captain America, Thor, the Hulk and Iron Man in The Avengers which is due for release in May 2012.
The Summer of 2011 has featured so many superhero movies that there is real danger of overkill. However, this one is still worth checking out. The film features some great performances from a very strong cast and the whole thing is played seriously enough to be dramatic while still maintaining a sense of playfulness and humour. It also features some spectacular action scenes.
The film suffers from being fairly predictable, and the contemporary bookends, while understandable from a narrative sense, feel slightly redundant.
By the way, stick around until the end of the closing credits for an additional scene and a trailer for The Avengers.


"Why someone weak? Because a weak man knows the value of strength, the value of power..."
Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) explains his choices in Captain America: The First Avenger




Chris Evans is Captain America: The First Avenger

Saturday, 23 April 2011

All Quiet on the Western Front

Year: 1930
Director: Lewis Milestone
Screenplay: George Abbott, Maxwell Anderson, Del Andrews and C. Gardner Sullivan, based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque
Starring: Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, Ben Alexander
Running Time: 138 minutes
Genre: War, drama

Summary: Germany, 1914: World War One has just begun and people are swept up with patriotic fervour, believing that the war will be over within a few months. Among those caught up in the excitement are a class in a boy's High School who, egged on by their teacher (Lucy), decide to enlist in the Army en masse. After surviving basic training under the sadistic Sergeant Himmelstross (Wray), the boys are sent to the front line in France. Once there, their patriotic fervour and enthusiasm for warfare is quickly crushed by the brutal realities of trench warfare.

Opinions: This film is a powerful anti-war statement and has influenced war films ever since from Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957) to Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers (1997) and Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998).
The film is a real epic following a large number of characters over a long period of time. At a time when sound cinema was in it's infancy, many early "talkies" were noted for being very static, due to the problems of recording sound, but this film uses a highly mobile camera. The battle scenes which proved to be hugely influential are still powerful, intense and genuinely shocking, even if some of the techniques used in them, such as speeded up film don't really work.
The film also depicts the hardships, drudgery and sheer boredom and stress of the soldier's lives in between the battles. Enlivened only by grim humour and the occasional periods of rest and recreation, they live in miserable, rat filled conditions usually with nothing to eat.
The acting is good from all involved, even if it is jarring at times to hear the German characters speaking with American accents. Milestone direction is impressive, with the battle scenes in particular handiled with great skill and sensitivity, however he was also as sure with the quieter scenes
The movie was hugely acclaimed on its inital release and was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning two (Outstanding Production and Best Director). On it's release in Germany the film was heavily criticised by the Nazi Party who disrupted screenings by releasing rats and throwing stink bombs into cinemas. When they came to power they banned the film outright and it wasn't released in Germany again until 1956.
This remains one of the great anti-war films and a classic of the genre and it has lost none of it's power to move and shock.




Lew Ayres and Raymond Griffith in All Quiet on the Western Front