Noah [2014]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChicagoTribune (2 1/2 Stars)  RE.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing

CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review

Nat'l Cath.Register (S.D. Graydanus) review
         Q/A regarding controversies
         Interview w. Aronofsky/Ari Handel
         Vat. Radio Interview w S.D.Graydanus

ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RE.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review

First of all, I would like to complement the National Catholic Register's Steven D. Graydanus for his excellent reporting (above) regarding the hoopla / controversies surrounding the release of Noah [2014] (directed and cowritten by Darren Aronofsky along with Ari Handel, based on the story of Noah in the Book of Genesis).

I would also agree with the USCCB/CNS reviewer J. Mulderig's assessment that the film is NOT INTENDED FOR SMALL KIDS (Honestly, DON'T DEPRIVE THEM OF THEIR INNOCENCE.  Let them happily continue to imagine or even draw the animals -- giraffes, elephants, lions, racoons, ostriches, aligators, etc -- entering the ark "2 by 2" as most of us have done for generations ... There's absolutely nothing that this film adds that would help an 8 to 10 year old "better understand the story").

Teens and above?  That's a different ball game.  And here I would definitely recommend the reporting of Steven Graydanus, especially his Q/A article about the film.  Teens would certainly understand his explanations of some of the film's "surprises" (most notably the presence of those strange Tolkeinesque stone giants the film called "Watchers" (which are Aronofsky's depiction of the Biblical Nephelim (Gen 6:4).

Regarding the film's telling of Story of Noah, I personally didn't mind, and truth be told ENJOYED, the flourishes of the Stone Giant Nephelim and even the "magic ignitable stones" called sohars explained in Graydanus' interview with Aronofsky and Handel (there's also a footnote about the meaning of sohar in the the Catholic New American Bible at the appropriate verse Gen 6:16).  I LEARNED about God's apparent "pre-flood" instruction to both humans and animals to live as vegetarians (Gen 1:28-29) vs the  "post-flood" permission to begin eating meat (Gen 9:1-3).

I don't even necessarily mind Aronofsky/Handel's "environmentalist" theme -- that among humanity's (or specifically "The Sons of Cain's") post-Fall sins was the devastation of the Environment.  I just find the charge somewhat tendentious with regard to contemporary concerns as (if one insisted on taking the first chapters of Genesis literally) I'd find it hard to imagine that there'd be enough people around then to really devastate the world's environment.

My biggest qualm with Aronofsky/Handel's portrayal of Noah (played in the film by Russell Crowe) is with their Noah not wanting his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth (played by Douglas Booth, Logan Lerman and Leo McHugh Carroll respectively) to have wives and hence to have children.  Gen 7:7 reads "Together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, Noah went into the ark because of the waters of the flood." 

While in a sense, film makers (as all artists) can "do whatever they want," I nevertheless take issue with the contention that God would have wanted to destroy humanity COMPLETELY (even the obedient Noah and his sons and especially after they had completed their task of saving all the animals).

Fallen as we are, we're nevertheless told in the Bible's first creation story Gen 1:26-27 that we were made "in the image of God" and then in the second creation story (about the creation of Adam and Eve) that God created essentially everything else that there is, the trees/plants (Gen 2:8-9) and all the animals (Gen 2:18ff) to make us happy.

So to eliminate humanity COMPLETELY (and leave the animals / rest of Creation behind) just doesn't make sense to me.

Further it certainly goes against the Catholic Church's conception of both God's Creation and our place within it.  And note here that the Catholic Church in no way advocates a "disrespect" MUCH LESS "PLUNDER" of Creation: For the World Day of Peace in 1990, Pope John Paul II issued a mini-encyclical entitled "Peace With God The Creator, Peace With All of Creation." And the current Pope even took the name Francis after a Saint WHO LOVED ANIMALS and EVEN PREACHED TO THEM.

So I do have a real issue with the contention that God would want Noah and his sons to simply "die off" after effectively saved the rest of Creation for Him.

With regard to the rest of the film, clearly it's very interesting.  If nothing else it will keep both teens and adults awake and interested throughout. 

I'd also like to note that both Jennifer Connelly (who played Noah's wife, portrayed as something of the family's "herbalist" - she would have supervised most of the family's food prep - and who comes up with a incense concoction that puts the animals in the ark to a restful sleep for the duration of the ark's journey) and Emma Watson (who played Shem's future wife, the character around whom most of the above-mentioned controversy swirled) did excellent jobs in their roles as did the aging Anthony Hopkins who played Noah's ancient grandfather Methoselah.

I hope that in reading this review, that readers would appreciate the (at times surprising) insights offered in the film (even if one disagreed with them) and also would understand that while not necessarily for kids (they just wouldn't understand the film), the film could actually be quite interesting for teens, especially if they were encouraged to do "some homework" reading up on the film afterwards.

Finally, my hat off, once again, to National Catholic Register's Steven D. Graydanus.  You honestly did a great job in covering launch of this film, and made the work of the rest of us (including myself) trying to review this film, much, much easier.  You did all of us and then the ENTIRE CHURCH a great service! (And that's honestly SAYING A LOT ;-)  Thanks!


<< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

Our Women (orig. Nejem, nőm, csajom) [2012]

MPAA (UR would be R)  FT.hu (2 Stars)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing

HMDb listing*
Port.hu listing*

Magyarfilm.hu (Z. Aprily) review*
Revizoronline.hu (Z. Poor) review*
FilmTekercs (S. Esther) review*

Our Women (orig. Nejem, nőm, csajom) [2012] [IMDb] [HMDb]* (directed and screenplay cowritten by Péter Szajki [IMDb] [HMDb]* along with Adél Vörös [IMDb] [HMDb]*, story by Iván Angelusz [IMDb]  and Péter Reich [IMDb]) is a Hungarian romantic comedy/dramedy about the stories of four women living in contemporary Budapest.  Indeed, though they don't know each other (their stories are being recounted by two ladies working in a hair salon) the story plays-out like a contemporary Hungarian Sex and the City [IMDb].  The film played recently at the 17th Annual European Union Film Festival held at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago.

The lives of all four of the women (and their husbands / significant others) are totally relatable to an American /Western audience.  Yet they also have a distinctly Hungarian twist:   For instance, after the devastation of World War II and then 50 years of Communism, morals are on the one hand looser than in most of the U.S. On the other hand, Christianity -- Catholicism being the dominant form, but as this film shows Protestantism, most likely in the form of Lutheranism, is present as well -- still who holds some sway if for many in perhaps often limited to a nostalgic sort of way.

So what are the stories/trials of the four women?

In the first case there's Vera (played by Ági Gubik [IMDb] [HMDb]*) who's married to Attilla (played by András Stohl [IMDb] [HMDb]*) a medical doctor, but together they've had a great deal of trouble having children.  Well, 6 years ago, Vera got pregnant.  How after all those years of trying?  She tells him then that perhaps it was a miracle.  Not necessarily believing in "miracles" (Attilla's a medical doctor after all) he shrugged it off back then.  Now, seeing that their five year old son is not taking after _anybody_ in his family -- Attilla's family was one of athletes, soldiers and otherwise "macho achievers" and the son obviously going to be an artist -- he has renewed questions.  What happened back then?  And why?

In the second case, there's Szilvi (played by Rozi Lovas [IMDb] [HMDb]*) who's living with Bálint (played by Béla Mészáros [IMDb] [HMDb]*) who she'd love to marry and start a family with, but he's "not ready" and would first like to "swing" (!) "for a year or two."  At first she tries to go along, and they even find (in eminently "sophisticated fashion" ... over the internet) another (again "very sophisticated"...) couple to do so with.  But when it comes to the point of actually doing this, she can't bring herself to do so.  What now?

The third case involves Helga (played by Judit Schell [IMDb] [HMDb]*) a very successful now 40-something Hungarian TV personality, but one who's never been able to land a guy who's neither intimidated by her nor a jerk.  Well, she is now seeing someone, József  (played by Péter Rudolf [IMDb] [HMDb]*), somewhat older than her, certainly less successful than her, but at least "bag over the head" ugly or with some other more or less obvious problem.  But after two months, why is _he_ not interested in taking their relationship to the next level?  (No he's not gay, and yes he's had mutually satisfying relationships with women before... so what's the problem _now_?)

Finally, there's Flóra (played by Kátya Tompos [IMDb] [HMDb]*) a good dutiful wife of a seemingly good dutiful/humble Lutheran/Protestant (or otherwise some kind of lay Catholic) minister named Péter (played by Tamás Keresztes [IMDb] [HMDb]*).  Together they have several children and they are certainly of a more humble social class than the three other couples presented in the story.  Yet Flóra becomes convinced that Péter is cheating on her.  Well is he?  And if so why?  And if he is, what now?

All of these stories are IMHO surprisingly good.  I myself have had to deal with the "swinging" issue in Confession a couple of times over the years (nothing is new under the sun ...) with the partner confessing telling me exactly what Szilvi was trying to tell her boyfriend (who she wished would become her husband): "I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS" with the partner apparently having difficulty hearing (and more to the point respecting) that.  Then the episode with the self-evidently Christian couple is _surprisingly_ nuanced.

This is a very good story, and it'd be interesting if Hollywood or _perhaps_ the African American community (Tyler Perry, are you listening? ;-) would pick this one up.

In any case, very good job!


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser.  

<< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

Exhibition [2013]

MPAA (UR would be R)  IndieWire (A-)  TheTelegraph (3 1/2 Stars)  TheGuardian (3 1/2 Stars)   Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing

Cine-Vue (P. Gamble) review
The Telegraph (R. Collin) review 
The Guardian (R. Gibley) review

Exhibition [2013] (written and directed by Joanna Hogg) is a minimalist, visually elegant, experimental film from the United Kingdom that should interest visual artists, photographers and cinematographers alike, as well as those who enjoy "getting beyond the visuals, beyond the surface" and try to figure-out the riddle of "what's going on" (what's being told) here.  The film played recently at the 17th Annual European Union Film Festival held at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago.  And it does make for an amusing and insightful tale ...

The film is about a childless (by all appearances by choice though, both in life as in the film, the outsider could never know), early middle-aged couple, my guess in their 40s, H (played by Liam Gillick) and D (played by Viv Albertine), he an architect, she a fashion designer.  Both work (in their-made "offices") on separate floors... of their stylish modernist home (lots and lots of glass, the staircase between the floors, really, really elegant/cool, is arguably a third character in the tale).

During the day, H and D communicate with each other mostly by house-line/intercom.  And since both find themselves mostly "in their own little worlds" of their creative professions.  Inevitably when one calls it's "a bad time" for the other.  Since their home, modern as it is, looks/functions like an office building, it's visually amusing presentation of the "downside" of "working at home" or "bringing your work home with you."

But home it is, and particularly fashion designer D, who seems to enjoy the range/play of light available to her by this house full of glass with roll-up-able, roll-down-able curtains and blinds of every kind, finds herself rather anxious at the prospect that the two have "decided" to sell the house and move on.

Or did they "decide" at all?  I could imagine that husband H, an architect after all, had become bored with the house and would like (to build?) something new.  Besides, it's clear that he's frustrated that he rarely sees his wife in the current arrangement.  On the other hand it's clear that D "loves her space."

So this is honestly a fascinating film about "modern life" ... and about a modern couple that arguably "has it all" ... and yet ... doesn't.  Wow ;-)


<< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >> 

My Dog Killer (orig. Môj pes Killer) [2013]

MPAA (UR would be R)  CK.cz (3,5/10)  Idnes.cz (3 Stars)  Fr. Dennis-Zdeněk (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
CSFD listing*
FDB.cz listing* 

Hollywood Reporter (N. Young) review
Idnes.cz (M. Spáčilová) review*
Aktualne.cz (J. Gregor) review*
ČervenyKoberec.cz (J. Kábrt) review*
 
My Dog Killer (orig. Môj pes Killer) [2013] [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]*(screenplay and directed by Mira Fornayová [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]*) is a Slovak and Czech co-production, starring actors/actresses from both countries and even playing-out in rolling borderlands between the to countries.  It played recently at the 17th Annual European Union Film Festival held at Chicago's Gene Siskel Film Center and the film served as Slovakia's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the Oscars.

The film, definitely not for kids, is about a troubled Slovak teen named Marek (played by Adam Mihál [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]*) approaching adulthood living on the Slovakian side of the border with the Czech Republic with his uncle (played by [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]*) in a small house on a field that the two have been converting into a vineyard, the house and field owned by Marek's estranged parents.  Marek's father (played by Marián Kuruc [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]*) lives someways "down the hill" and "in town" (still in Slovakia), Marek's mother (played by Irena Bendová [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]*) living in another, still reasonably nearby town across the border in the Czech Republic.


What's Marek doing living with his uncle in a small house with an attendant small field that the two have been converting into a vineyard and NOT with either of his parents?  We never really find out.  But it's clear that Marek's parents had separated a fair number of years back, with Marek's mother eventually packing-up and moving across the border (why? That we do eventually find out, read on).  By the time of the beginning of the story, Marek hasn't been getting along with his father either, hence living with his uncle on this property "outside of town" and yet, strangely enough still owned by his parents, who weren't talking to each other either.  Sigh ... talk about "ties that bind."

Living in such circumstances could produce anger in a teen and ... well, we see signs of that.  Marek's shaved his head, wears a hoodie and has tried to join with a local group of skinheads.

SKINHEADS? one could ask.  There'd be Czech or Slovak "Supremacists"?  Who'd they feel "superior" to?  (When I first saw this phenomenon in Prague, oh about 15 or so years ago, I honestly "didn't understand" ...)  One would think that this would be primarily an "Anglo" / "German" thing.  After all, they're the ones who've had a _whole tradition_ of considering themselves as racially superior to others...  Slavs were not exactly high on _their_ racial totem pole.  But ... as we'll soon find out, "it all makes sense" unfortunately, BECAUSE there is racial group that both Czechs and Slovaks also have a _long_ tradition of feeling superior to ... the Romas (Gypsies).  (And in the U.S., Czechs and Slovaks along with most Slavs are often among the most racist toward people of color, even as we've been looked down-upon for centuries by the "true" white people of the west. To Neville Chamberlain, we were "a people _he_ did not know" and to the Nazis to whom he sold us out to ... we were to be "renationalized" (made German) or to be(come) slaves...).

Back to the story ...;-) ... So how's it been going with joining the local skin-heads?  Not particularly well.  Though Marek himself was "all white" (indeed ghostly pale in this movie filmed in late autumn, with snow / frost already on the ground), his mother (the one living across the border in the CR) had apparently left his father for a Roma (!) and had a second son, 10-y.o. Lukášek/little Luke (played by Libor Filo [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]*) with him.  This had caused enough scandal in her (and Marek's) hometown that she had to move across the border (not because the CR is any more "enlightened" when it comes to the Roma/Gypsies than Slovakia but because at least she and Lukášek's father would have been "less known" there).  So though Marek's mom had quite literally "fled the country" years ago because of this "scandal," everybody in town "knew" that Marek's mother had "run away with a Roma/Gypsy lover. 

On the other hand, Marek (and his uncle) had this dog, a pit-bull that they had given the English, foreign sounding name "Killer" (but again, the _right kind_ of foreign sounding name), guarding their house/field that they were developing into a vineyard, that, well, did impress those Skinheads, lead by their leader nicknamed Mobidyk (played by Jozef Hrnčirík [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDB]*).  Why a local Skinhead leader nicknamed Mobidyk?  Well, again it's an ENGLISH nickname and Moby-Dick was, of course a "bid white whale." ;-)  (Even white racists can have a sense of humor at times ;-))

Well, this then is the setup of the story.  It's about a confused Slovakian teen who's angry at both of his parents, is trying to join the local skin-heads, but has a 1/2 gypsy little brother that said local skin-heads would never understand BUT he also has pit-bull named "Killer" who his friends seem to really respect.

Everything comes to a head when Marek's uncle finds out that he needs some papers signed by both of Marek's parents -- mind you, they're not talking to him, to Marek or to each other -- to do something on that property on which both he and Marek are living (and de facto squatting). 

So what does Marek's uncle do?  He sends 16-17 year old Marek on a motor scooter to talk to both of his estranged parents (Mind you, they live in different towns and, though the distances are not that far, even in different countries ... and Marek's had difficulty with both of them as well).

Well, Marek, A SEETHING COULDRON OF ANGER ALREADY, BUT STILL _A DUTIFUL KID_ DESPITE IT ALL ... goes out to run the errands.

And ... at one point in the story, he finds himself with both his 10 year old 1/2 Gypsy little brother Lukášek/little Luke WHO ACTUALLY LIKES HIM / LOOKS UP TO HIM BECAUSE DESPITE EVERYTHING MAREK IS HIS "BIG BROTHER" ... and his dog named "KILLER" and MAREK HAS TO CHOOSE BETWEEN little Lukášek and his dog.

And sigh ...

This is one very, very sad film.  And if forces EVERYONE who sees the film to ask Marek: "How could you possibly choose that way?"

And yet, there'd be MILLIONS of Czechs and Slovaks (and there are not many of either, so we're talking about SIZABLE majorities of both populations) who'd, yes, probably would not want to choose at all, BUT if they had to ... would probably choose the way Marek did.

One heck of a film.


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser.  

<< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

Repentance [2014]

MPAA (R)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing

BET coverage
Ebony coverage
Essence coverage
TheSource coverage

TheSource (J. Kaye) review

Repentance [2014] (directed by Philippe Caland, screenplay by Shintaro Shimosawa, based on the film The Guru and the Gypsy [2014] by Philippe Caland) is about, well, ... Repentance.  What does it mean to Repent?

The film begins at night somewhere in the back-country of Louisiana with two young 20-something brothers, African American, Tommy and Ben Carter (played by Anthony Mackie and Mike Epps respectively), intoxicated, driving recklessly, indeed with abandon, down some country road, Tommy at the wheel, Ben riding "shot-gun."  Out of the darkness, an elderly African American woman steps onto the road.  Tommy can't do much other than hit her with their own car crashing then into a tree.  They're both knocked-out.

Older brother Ben wakes up first, attempts to wake Tommy up...  The next scene fast forwards to 4 years later.

Four years later, we're reintroduced to Tommy, who turns out to be (or have become) a successful spiritual writer.  It seems that both he and his wife Maggie (played by Sanaa Lathan) are very much into the power of various meditative and relaxation therapies.  Together they run a Yoga studio in New Orleans with Tommy writing about the spirituality of it all:  with "coming to peace" with who one is and with one's world. 

What happened to Ben?  We don't really know at first but later find out that he had spent some time in jail.  For the auto accident?  We're not sure.  Besides he hadn't been driving.  And what of Tommy?  HE HAD BEEN DRIVING.  What happened to him?  Why was he writing books about RELAXATION THERAPY??

Well, one day at a book signing, he meets an unusual fan, an older African American man named Angel Sanchez (played magnificently by Forest Whitaker).  He's still kinda from the countryside, which in Louisiana means the Bayou (swamps).  He comes across as being not particularly educated, but he's read all of Tommy's books.  And we learn that he's already had his little girl Francesca (played by Ariana Neal) participate in Tommy and Maggie's "children's yoga classes."  Why?  It's kinda strange.  Country bumpkin Angel lives kinda far from the center of New Orleans and doesn't seem like someone one would expect to be interested in Eastern philosophy or yoga.  But he _does_ seem tormented, like someone who has been desperate to find peace.  So ... perhaps for THAT reason, Angel stumbled upon Tommy's books and became an avid fan. 

Okay, Angel Sanchez asks Tommy for some personal counseling sessions.  Tommy tries to explain to him that he doesn't do that much any more, perhaps wondering if Angel would even have the money for that.  But Angel insists that he needs the help and that despite his somewhat rough looks and demeanor, as a former construction contractor, he would have the money to pay for such counseling.  Feeling compassion for the man (and perhaps not wanting to seem prejudicial, if not in terms of race then in terms of class) Tommy takes on Angel as a client.

But why was Angel so tormented?  Well ... that's the rest of the film ;-).

And by the end of it, the film poses some _very good questions_ about what is really required to "find peace with oneself and with one's world."

Excellent film!


<< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

Unit 7 (orig. Grupo 7) [2012]

MPAA (UR would be R)  SensaCine (3 1/2 Stars)  Fr. Dennis (3  1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
SensaCine listing*

Correo de la Andalucia (J. Gallego Espina) article*

CineParaLeer (F. Lopez Bejarano) review*
Cultture.com (S. Sanz) review*
SensaCine (A.G. Calvo) review*

Unit 7 (orig. Grupo 7) [2012] (directed by Alberto Rodríguez [IMDb] [SC]*, screenplay by Rafael Cobos [IMDb]) is a 6 Goya Award (Spain's equivalent of the Oscars) winning (largely fictionalized?) Police Detective Drama that played recently at the Chicago's 17th Annual European Film Festival held at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago.

The film's about a unit of anti-corruption police in Seville, Spain tasked with "cleaning up the town" in the years leading up to the 1992 World's Fair held there.  But how does one "clean up a town" of its vices to put on a "bella figura" without getting at least partly "tainted" in the process?  So this is about a unit of police officers that comes to realize that they really can "knock heads" and "do what they want" because the city's and indeed the countries' officials are willing to accept just about anything aside from "being made to look bad" at least "while the show's going on."  Afterwards?  Well ... who's gonna know ... or care?

The film's thematics are perennially current.  Last year, a film, Tlatelolco, Summer of 68 (orig. Tlatelolco, Verano del 68) [2013], played at Chicago's Latino Film Festival, about the Tienanmen style massacre of 300+ protesting university students in Mexico City in the run-up to the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.  Then consider recent years: The Sochi Winter Olympics just ended, the Men's Soccer World Cup is scheduled to be held across Brazil this summer.  Then in 2016, Rio de Janeiro will be holding Latin America's first Summer Olympics and four years ago, in 2010, South Africa hosted that continent's first Men's Soccer World Cup.  In each case, there've been plenty of government officials who desperately didn't want to look bad, even as they wanted their events to "run smoothly, without incident," and yet the temptation to "cash in ..."

So in the crucible of the lead-up to the 1992 World's Fair is this unit of four vice cops, "anti-corruption police" -- rookie Angel (played by Mario Casas [IMDb] [SC]*) with a young wife (played by Inma Cuesta [IMDb] [SC]*), the unit's head Rafael (played by Antonio de la Torre [IMDb] [SC]*), Miguel played by José Manuel Poga [IMDb] [SC]* and the pudgy middle-aged, oldest guy in the unit Mateo (played by Joaquín Nuñez [IMDb] [SC]*) who becomes enamored with a similarly aged Madam (they've both been "around the block") going by the name Mahogany (played by Estefanía de los Santos [IMDb] [SC]*).

With an ensemble like this much can happen, and neither the script nor the actors/director disappoint.  yes, the Unit-7 becomes remarkably successful in getting arrests and otherwise driving crooks out of town.  But how exactly do they do it?  And in the end, does it, ANY OF IT, really matter? 

A very, very interesting and thought provoking "gritty police drama" from Spain.


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser.  

<< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >> 

The Excursionist (orig. Ekskursantė) [2013]

MPAA (UR would be PG-13)   Fr. Dennis (4+ Stars)

IMDb listing
Forumcinemas.lt listing*
Kino-Teatr.ru listing*

15min.lt (U. Milkintaitė) review*
Bernardinai.lt review*
lritas.lt (E. Zabulėnienė) review*
Obuolys.lt (R. Jaščemskas) review*
 
The Excursionist (orig. Ekskursantė) [2013] [IMDb] [FC.lt]* [KT.ru]* (directed by Audrius Juzėnas [IMDb] [FC.lt]* [KT.ru]* screenplay by Pranas Morkus [IMDb] [KT.ru]*) is a Lithuanian historical drama that played recently to packed showings at Chicago's 17th Annual European Union Film Festival organized by the Gene Siskel Film Center.  (Seriously, it seemed that 1/2 of Chicago's substantial Lithuanian-American community was present.  And the Consul from Lithuania's Consulate in Chicago said a few words after the showing as well).

The film is set in the early 1950s during the period of mass deportations of Lithuanians from their native country to Siberia.   The film focuses on the story of a 12 year old Lithuanian-girl named Mariya (played by first time actress Anastasija Marčenkaitė [IMDb]) whose father had already been shot by the NKVD before her and her pregnant mother's deportation (in typical "cattle car" fashion) East.

Along the way, Mariya's mother expires as well.  After her mother's body was unceremoniously removed from the train by soldiers at a checkpoint en route, the distraught 12-year-old is helped, arguably pushed out of the still stopped train through a small window/air hole opposite the doors of the cattle car (police and dogs patrolling the train's other door-opening-side) by the other (Lithuanian) passengers.  They probably did this, in part to "help" her, to "give her a fighting chance to survive."  But they also probably did this in good part to simply get rid of her.  The stress of Deportation under such literally inhuman, cattle car, conditions would have been difficult as it is.  To have a hysterical orphaned 12-year-old bewailing the sudden (and total) loss of her mother (her body just ripped from the train at said checkpoint) would have been all but unbearable.

So the other passengers pushed 12-year-old Marija out the backside of the still-stopped cattle car with the words: "God be with you!  Find some way to live!"  And that was that.  The train soon started moving, the dogs started barking, and 12-year old Marija, had still the survival instincts TO RUN into the woods before the train passed away and the police dogs could go after her.

Now how could a 12-year-old survive out in the Siberian Taiga on her own?  The short answer ... she would not have been able to.  SO THE REST OF THE STORY is about A WHOLE LOT OF STRANGERS (MOSTLY RUSSIANS (!) HELPING HER TO SURVIVE AND OVER THE COURSE OF SEVERAL YEARS MAKING IT BACK TO LITHUANIA.  And indeed, some of Russia's MOST FAMOUS ACTORS (notably Raisa Ryazanova* [IMDb] [KT.ru]* and Sergey Garmash* [IMDb] [KT.ru]*) CHOSE to PLAY SIGNIFICANT ROLES in this mostly Lithuanian film about what could only be described as Soviet Russia's shame.

And to be clear, not every Russian in this film was "good."  There were a-holes including a Principal at a Siberian Reformatory School, where Mariya found herself during at least part of her journey.  The Principal did consider Marija, a 12 or perhaps 13 year old by then (and would have been only about 5-6 years old at the end of World War II) a "Fascist," and treated punitively at times sadistically her as such.

But there were also good people, including Baba Nadya (played by Raisa Ryazanova* [IMDb] [KT.ru]*) an old and believing Orthodox Christian woman who first nursed the Catholic 12-year-old Mariya (all Mariya has of her mother is the crucifix of her mother's rosary that she keeps through the whole of the movie) back to health after her daughter's boyfriend (played by Igor Sovochkin* [IMDb] [KT.ru]*) first found her after she had escaped from the train and brought Mariya to her.  And then there is an NKVD officer (played by Sergey Garmash* [IMDb] [KT.ru]*) who uses his position -- he was State Secret Police after all -- to help the girl (again more or less clandestinely) get back to Lithuania.  Why did he do it?  Well, though he was NKVD, it becomes _also_ clear that he had some life experience that made him perhaps more compassionate than others in his position to innocent CHILDREN like Mariya who were in need.

So this is a remarkable film.  It's about the horror of the deportations of the Stalinist Era.  BUT it's also about finding good people, often SURPRISING PEOPLE, in the midst of that horror.

Then from a technical aspect both the cinematography and the gentle if often very, very poignantly sad classical sound track are certainly of the highest caliber.  Westerners often think of Siberia as simply a frozen wasteland.  Actually the vast majority of it is Taiga -- seemingly endless coniferous forest.  Indeed, part of the HORROR of Siberia becomes: HOW COULD SUCH EVIL BE ALLOWED TO TAKE PLACE IN ENDLESS ROLLING FOREST LAND THAT OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCED AS BEING SO BEAUTIFUL?

Anyway, I just wanted to cry through almost the entire movie.  What this poor little girl went through, what her family had went through, what millions of others like them went through.  And then yes the existence of people who did try to help.

In the end, the film becomes a Lithuanian/Siberian "Saving Private Ryan [1998]" where "Private Ryan" is 12-13-14 year old Marija.  And yes, it's intended to make one want to cry.


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser.  

<< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>