Kodi [2016]

MPAA (UR would be PG-13)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
FilmiBeat listing**

FilmiBeat.com review**
IndiaGlitz review**
KollyTalk.com review**
OnlyKollywood.com (Surendhar MK) review**
TamilGlitz review**

Indian Express (K.R. Manoj) review**
Hindustan Times () review**
The Hindu (S. Ramanujam) review**
Times of India (M. Suganth) review**


Kodi [2016] [IMDb] [FiBt] (written and directed by R.S. Durai Senthilkumar [IMDb] [FiBt]) is a Indian (Tamil) film that opened both in India and across the world for India's Diwali holiday weekend.  It's a political thriller, which while having its action / comedic elements is really a _scathing denunciation_ of _systemic_ political corruption in Tamil? / Indian? politics today.

The film is about two sons, twins, of a humble "sound-man" (played by the Tamil actor Karuunas [IMDb] [FiBt]), who would help set-up the microphones at political rallies (though, poignantly and perhaps at least in part symbolically, HE HIMSELF WAS "MUTE").

Touched by the vow of a local politician that he and his Party (colors green and gold) would "fight to the death" to close a local factory which was poisoning its workers with mercury, the father takes his sons to a Party rally in front of said factory.  However, to the father's dismay, as soon as the Politician appeared to believe that there were enough photographs taken of him and his Party "protesting in front of the factory," the Politician called the rally-off, saying "their work was done" and began sending the gathered (Party) protesters home.  The father of the two sons, himself, again mute (perhaps as a result of some kind of poisoning in his family's past), can not let himself "just go home" like that.  So the father PICKS UP A CAN OF KEROSENE, pours it on himself and sets himself on fire in protest.  The Politician had promised that they would "fight to the death" to close the factory.  Now the Politician was packing-up to go home after hardly exerting himself at all.  This poor / sincere father WITH A WIFE AND TWO YOUNG SONS, was NOT going to "just go home as well."

... the story resumes 20 years later.   The two young sons Kodi and Anbu (both played by the Tamil actor Dhanush [IMDb] [FiBt]) had grown up, though the two had taken very different paths:  Kodi, whose name apparently meant "Flag" had therefore pursued a life of political action seeking to in effect "partly redeem" (and perhaps even "avenge") his father's death (to make it mean something), while Anbu stayed closer to his mother (played by Saranya Ponvannan [IMDb] [FiBt]) who was angered to current day at her husband for having so pointlessly left her a widow to raise two young sons in poverty.  Growing-up in precarity, both sons nonetheless were educated.  When the film resumes those "20 years later" we find that Kodi has just been promoted by the "Green and Gold" Party as the "Regional Head" of its "Youth Wing."  Anbu, on the other hand, has gotten a job as a mathematics instructor at the local university.

Both would basically live rather "small" yet _happy_ lives if ... not for the return of a crisis resulting from that cursed (20-years closed) mercury factory.  Yes, apparently IN PART due to their father's sacrifice ... officials HAD TO SHUT THE PLANT DOWN.  But now, twenty years later ... the plant was found LEAKING mercury into the local water supply.

When Kodi finds-out about the new situation, he immediately carries the news to his Superior, who ... tells him TO SIT ON THE INFORMATION UNTIL "AFTER THE ELECTION" promising him "WE'LL DEAL WITH THE SITUATION 'RIGHT AWAY' ... AFTERWARDS.

Well, intelligent enough to see a lie being told to his face ... he goes to the OPPOSING PARTY (their banner was RED with a HORSESHOE and A STAR.  Guess what Party, THEY represented? ;-).  Even though the GREEN-GOLD and the RED-W-HORSESHOE-AND-STAR parties were "sworn enemies" of each other, HE HAD "A FRIEND" THERE ... a young lady, HIS AGE named Rudhra (probably meaning "Red" and played by Trisha Krishnan [IMDb] [FiBt]) who he'd known all his life because they'd always go to the same rallies, just on opposite sides and who, like him, had "risen through the ranks" of her, the RED-W-HORSESHOE-AND-STAR party.  Indeed, though not openly, the two had become "lovers" of sorts, having "a lot in common" actually.

Anyway, Kodi tells his friend / lover Rudhra (from the opposing Party) the news about the closed but now found to be still leaking mercury factory.  Perhaps THEY could do something to save people's lives, BUT ...

... And that's then the story.  NOBODY SEEMS TO CARE.  Kodi and Anbu's father DIED to shut that plant down ("so that others may live.")  Now Kodi finds that the plant is yet again a problem but NEITHER Party wants to do anything about it (AGAIN).  He himself DIES, is MURDERED (by whom? ...).

And it's left to mild mannered brother Anbu ... who just wanted to stay home, live a nice simple life taking care of his mother on behalf of his more politically conscious father / brother ... BUT NOW HOW CAN HE "JUST SIT THERE" AND DO NOTHING ...?

And yet it is SO CLEAR that NEITHER PARTY GAVE A DAMN ... AND BOTH EVEN PUT OBSTACLES IN THE WAY of others TRYING "to do the right thing."   Indeed, BOTH PARTIES are shown solemnly having pictures of India's founder, the former living saint, M.K. Gandhi, piously hanging BEHIND THEM at their rallies and in their offices.  AND YET, NONE OF THE CURRENT POLITICIANS DO ANYTHING EXCEPT SEEK _random_ / _trivial_ POLITICAL ADVANTAGE OVER ONE ANOTHER.

Indeed, the film becomes a damning story about "one little family" that "cared" surrounded / embroiled in a system that CLEARLY "didn't give a damn at all." 

I would close here noting that out of four Tamil films (coming from India's state of Tamil Nadu) that I've seen here in the United States since beginning my blog, THREE had as a good part of their theme POLITICAL CORRUPTION.  These films become a reminder that India is a diverse place and that even if Bollywood tends to produce "lovely romances" at one end of the country, at its other end, in Tamil Nadu, the film-makers clearly have "other stories" that they want to tell.

Good job folks, very good job! ;-)


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Ae Dil Hai Mushkil [2016]

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

IMDb listing
FilmiBeat listing**

AccessBollywood (K. Gibson) review
FilmiBeat.com () review**
iFlickz.com () review**
IndiaGlitz review**

Hindustan Times (S. Kushal) review**
Indian Express (S. Gupta) review*
The Hindu (N. Joshi) review**
Times of India (N. Bhave) review**

The Guardian (M. McCahill) review
The Variety (J. Leydon) review 

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil [2016] [IMDb] [FiBt] (story, screenplay and directed by Karan Johar [IMDb] [FiBt] dialogues cowritten by Karan Johar [IMDb] [FiBt] and Niranjan Iyengar [IMDb]), opening on 300 screens in the United States (hence basically in every major U.S. city) on the same day as it did in India, this Diwali release -- India as well as China have their own "Holiday Seasons" ;-) -- this really should be a MUST SEE in the West for contemporary film-lovers, ESPECIALLY FOR COLLEGE AGED YOUNG ADULTS.  I say this because there is simply NO WAY that a Westerner could see this movie and NOT have his/her view of contemporary India (and contemporary Indians) significantly, even _radically_ changed / deepened.

Indeed, this past summer, still living in Chicago, I had embarked on a self-plotted "Indian Film Tour" because I was simply exhausted with the extremely _limited_ portrayal of India / Indians IN WESTERN FILMS (seem Slumdog Millionaire [2008] or even the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel [2011] [2013] movies.  In Western cinema, to this day, India is almost _always portrayed_ as CRUSHINGLY POOR and Indians as "nice, perhaps even 'bright people' WHO WE SHOULD SIMPLY FEEL SORRY FOR."  NOT seeking to negate _at all_ the CRUSHING POVERTY of perhaps today 80% of India's ONE BILLION PLUS POPULATION, there are still 200-300 MILLION INDIANS today who are NOT POOR, often NOT EVEN CLOSE TO POOR, indeed RICH and even at times (as in one of the most memorable lines in the dialogue of the film) not merely "First Class Rich" but "PRIVATE JET RICH."

And so then it is, this film is UNAPOLOGETICALLY / BREATHLESSLY about the "Richer India / Indians" -- again 200-300 million of them -- WHO _even to this day_ (save for the occasional "Harold and Kumar" movie) GENERALLY DON'T APPEAR IN WESTERN FILMS (except perhaps as an occasional exotic oddity / villain).  

The film is about a circle of bright, educated, rich Indian young adults, all in their mid-late 20s, all living / having grown-up in London (many Western young adults would see them in, or even _teaching_, their classes), all of them feeling very much Indian both in language / custom even as they've naturally seen / incorporated various expects of their "life outside the old country" into their lives.

Notably when the story begins, the two central protagonists in the story Ayan (played by Ranbin Kapoor [IMDb] [FiBt]), Hindi, and Alizeh (played by Anushka Sharma [IMDb] [FiBt]), Muslim, are involved in relationships that previously, "in the old country" would have been seen in somewhat "simply not done" scandalous light: Ayan was in a casual relationship with a Western, (half)-Brazilian girlfriend (of two months) named Lisa (played by Lisa Haydon [IMDb] [FiBt]), Alizeh, okay had been set-up by her family "with a good catch" Dr. Feisal (played by Imran Abbas [IMDb] [FiBt]), a medical doctor, but actually was very much in love with an Indian born DJ (!) named Ali (played, notably, by Pakistani actor/heartthrob Fawad Khan [IMDb] [FiBt]).

Meeting randomly one night in some London hot-spot, Ayan and Alizeh quickly fall very much for each other -- he in "love", she in "like."  And the rest of the story unspools from there ... a story that could HONESTLY BE CALLED a CONTEMPORARY / INDIAN "JANE AUSTEN-ISH" TALE.  For remember folks that in Jane Austen's stories, the main characters were ALSO _breathlessly_ / _effortlessly_ / perhaps as one thinks about it _obscenely_ WEALTHY.  But the characters were, of course, MORE than "just their money," with quite relate-able concerns, THAT ALL OF US COULD UNDERSTAND. 

And here it is as well.  HE _loves_ HER, SHE _really likes_ HIM (as a Friend) ... and the Story, which follows them for a number of fairly significant years of their lives, asks the famous / perennial question: Can two young attractive people, male and female, find happiness ... being ... "just friends"?

A lovely, lovely story and again one that young Westerners REALLY OUGHT TO SEE.  You'll never see your Indian friends / classmates (even if you "thought you knew them") the same way again ...

Great job!


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Inferno [2016]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RogerEbert.com (2 Stars)  AVClub (C+)  Fr. Dennis (2 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (K. Turan) review
RogerEbert.com (C. Lemire) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review


Inferno [2016] (directed by Ron Howard, screenplay by David Koepp based on the novel [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] by Dan Brown [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb]) while not awful, awful and honestly giving Viewers lovely tours of Florence, Venice and finally Constantinople/Istanbul _often_ feels like Austin Powers' Dr. Evil [wikip] [IMDb] meets The Da Vinci Code [2006] [IMDb]. 

This is because the while the plot is James Bond-ish in quality -- a crazed billionaire bio-technologist named Bertrand Zobrist (played actually _quite well_ but not to Javier Bardem-levels by Ben Foster) decides that he's going to invent a viral plague that would kill half-of-humanity in order to save the planet -- he decides to partially hide his plot EVEN FROM THOSE WHO WOULD PRESUMABLY CARRY IT OUT in riddles decipherable only by Dante enthusiasts (!)

Enter then Dan Brown's Harvard "Symbologist" Robert Landgon [wikip] [IMDb] (played again quite competently by Tom Hanks though even he must have found his role here increasingly preposterous) "to save the day" RATHER THAN more conventional "save the day heroes" like Ian Fleming's James Bond [wikip] [IMDb] or Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan [wikip] [IMDb] or even Steven Spielberg's / Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones [wikip] [IMDb].

Honestly only Austin Power's Dr. Evil [wikip] [IMDb] would be so stupidly esoterically weird as to HIDE his FIENDISH über-modern PLOT in ESOTERIC RIDDLES playing-on / riffing-off of Medieval texts:  HE ARGUABLY CONFUSES HIS OWN PEOPLE :-) who actually come to NEED poor Professor Langdon THEMSELVES to HELP THEM FIGURE-OUT WHAT THEIR EVIL MASTER HAD ACTUALLY WANTED THEM TO DO ;-) ;-)

But it is one heck of a ride ;-) ... and for a $10 (or so ...) price of admission Viewers do get to see some of the most beautiful (and fabled / history laden) cities in the world.  And yes, if it gets at least a few of said Viewers to pick-up Dante's Divine Comedy (and PLEASE DEAR READERS DON'T JUST FOCUS ON DANTE'S "INFERNO" ... PURGATORIO (especially the first chapters) and even PARADISO are true joys to Read / Bask In ! ;-) or learn about Marco Polo (who was a son of a 13th century trader from Venice and knew Constantinople as well as, of course, China) then this film would be well worth its being made.

Most of us CAN'T AFFORD to go to the places shown in this film, but through the wonders of Film (and wikipedia / the internet) we can choose to "travel" VIRTUALLY to these / other places, "for a while" ;-) and then ... blissfully "return home again" :-)
  
In this regard -- thanks Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, etc (and even Dan Brown) for helping us to want to stretch our minds a little and want to dream again ...

The film, if nothing else, was "one heck of a trip" ;-)


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These Daughters of Mine (orig. Moje córki krowy) [2015]

MPAA (UR would be PG-13)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
Filmweb.pl listing*

Dziennik Łodzki (D. Pawłowski) review*
naEkranie.pl (A. Siennica) review*
oNet.pl (D. Romanowska) review*
TeleMagazin.pl (K. Polaski) review*
wPolityce.pl (Ł. Adamski) review*

CinEuropa.org (V. Scarpa) review
Eye For Film (J. Kermode) review
Pop Matters (A. Ramon) review


These Daughters of Mine (orig. Moje córki krowy) [2015] [IMDb] [FW.pl]* (written and directed by Kinga Dębska [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) though with a rather strong, arguably somewhat off-putting Polish title -- literally "My Cow-like Daughters" (Note here to non-Polish speaking Readers that the the film was written and directed a woman) -- is actually a quite endearing bitter-sweet "dramedy" about two grown women in their late 30s-40s, sisters, though quite different, suddenly facing the impending deaths of their aging parents.  The film played recently at the 2016 Polish Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Marta (played by Agata Kulesza [IMDb] [FW.pl]* who'd be familiar to many Viewers / Readers here as she played the role of the strong willed "Aunt Wanda" in the Oscar winning film Ida [2013] of a few years back) was strong willed / no nonsense forty-something year old "career woman" / actress.  Though never married, she did have a daughter Zuzia (played by Maria Dębska [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) in her late teens.  Interestingly enough, though "never married," it wasn't as if she wasn't against marriage per se.  But she did have her standards, AND, even more interestingly, it was _her dad_ Tadeusz (played by Marian Dziędziel [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) who had driven off pretty much every serious suitor that she ever had.  In the film they talk about this at one point: "Dad, you know that you drove away every guy that I ever brought home."  "But you wouldn't have been happy with any of them."  "[Laughing], you're probably right ... [but ...]" 

Marta's younger sister Kasia (played wonderfully by Gabriela Muskała [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) was quite the opposite of her.  Simpler though no dummy, she was a 2nd grade elementary school teacher, married to Grzegorz (played by Marcin Dorociński [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) naturally unemployed, and with a son, Filip (played by Jeremi Protas [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) in his early teens.  Though not strictly necessary (Kasia was working, and Grzegorz would have presumably been on some kind of public assistance) Kasia and her family had been living with (and "looking after") Marta's and her parents -- again Tadeusz (played by Marian Dziędziel [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) and Elżbieta (played by Małgorzata Niemirska [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) -- in the parents' quite nice home in basically "suburban Warsaw" (Tadeusz had been some kind of an architect) while Marta and her daughter lived in a quite nice apartment somewhere in the city.

And such pleasant "stasis" had existed for some time: Marta dedicated more to career, Kasia more (perhaps somewhat superficially) to family.  Both felt basically happy / fulfilled / needed.

Then ... while "luckily" actually visiting a local hospital for a routine medical exam, mom has _a massive stroke_, right there in one of the hospital's bathrooms.  Since she was "right there in the hospital," she did not die, but needless to say, her prognosis was not good.  The stroke was massive, the damage was massive, her and her family's lives were now massively changed.

What now?  Marta previously could focus primarily on career.  Kasia, yes, "was there" to "take care of her parents" BUT, "it had been sooo easy" when ... they still _didn't really need_  "to be taken care of" ...  Then Tadeusz, "no spring chicken" also with his own previous health issues suddenly faced the previously inconceivable prospect of losing his wife of many, many years (before he was to go...).  Indeed, with her first in a coma and then with massive neurological damage, in many respects his previous life with her had already ended or certainly had radically changed (and he / nobody had had a real chance to say goodbye ...).  What now indeed?

The rest of the story ensues ...  

Honestly, this proved to be a remarkable film about death and dying and the changes that happen within a family when suddenly "the statis" (the way "things always were") in a family's life suddenly changes.

Subtitles and somewhat difficult for an American to understand original Polish title notwithstanding, this is an excellent grown family film!  Good / great job!    


* Reasonably good (sense) translations of non-English webpages can be found by viewing them through Google's Chrome browser. 

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El Jeremías [2015]

MPAA (PG-13)  Fr. Dennis (4+ Stars)

IMDb listing
FilmAffinity.es listing*

TeleMundo.com coverage*
Univision.com coverage*
ViveLoHoy.com (G. Orozco) review*

CineEnLinea.net (K. Raisa) review*
CineScopia.com review*
El Especial (G. Reyes) review*

Austin Chronicle (C. Moore) review


El Jeremías [2015]  [IMDb] [FA.es]*(directed by Anwar Safa [IMDb] [FA.es]*, screenplay by Ana Sofía Clerici [IMDb]) is a lovely Mexican family film about a little kid, Jeremías (played by Martín Castro [IMDb] [FA.es]*), growing up in a very average family in a non-descript town in the northern Mexican state of Sonora who from the beginning thought that somehow, for some reason, he "never really fit in."

To be sure his parents Onésimo (played by Paulo Galindo [IMDb] [FA.es]*) and Margarita (played by Karem Momo Ruiz [IMDb] [FA.es]*) both in their mid-twenties, he working as a cashier in a convenience store, she a stay-at-home ma, were _definitely_ "buena gente" (nice, gentle, salt-of-the-earth people).  So were more driven / still working 40-something grandma Audelia (played by Marcela Sotomayor [IMDb] [FA.es]*) and bis-abuela (great grandma) Hermanina (played by Isela Vega [IMDb] [FA.es]*).  Bis-abulelita Hermanina just stopped talking some years back.  No it wasn't that she had a stroke or something.  Indeed, she spent most of her days knitting. It was just that one day she just came to the conclusion that she really didn't have really much more to say ;-).  There was also a 15 or so year old tio (uncle) to Jeremias, who, well like a 15 year old anywhere, had the concerns of a 15-year-old ... sports (soccer) and music (he had a 15 year-olds dreams of "forming a band").

How could one _not_ like a lovely family like this?  And 6-7 year old Jeremías _loved_ his family.  It's just, honestly, he _always_ thought he never fit in.

Well, after _repeatedly_ and honestly quite unintentionally proving that he was smarter (at 6 or 7) than his 1st-2nd grade teacher (played by Alexia Sobarzo Rosas [IMDb]), they give an IQ test and little Jeremías proves to have an IQ of 160 (!).  OMG ... no wonder and "now what?"

A professor / child psychologist named Dr. Federico Forni (playe by Daniel Giménez Cacho [IMDb] [FA.es]*) flies up from Mexico City and offers Jeremías' parents a new life for their son (in the D.F.) in an environment where he'd be surrounded by other really, really intelligent kids.  But would little Jeremías be happier living with "really smart people" or with _his_ people? ;-)

HONESTLY, A LOVELY, LOVELY AND GENTLE STORY ;-)  Certainly one of the best kids movies of the year and possibly of the decade!  Great job!


* Reasonably good (sense) translations of non-English webpages can be found by viewing them through Google's Chrome browser. 

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Boo! A Madea Halloween [2016]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RogerEbert.com (1 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (D+)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (K. Jensen) review
Los Angeles Times (K. Myers) review
RogerEbert.com (O. Henderson) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review


Boo! A Madea Halloween [2016] (written and directed by Tyler Perry [wikip] [IMDb]) continues the gleeful and sometimes instructive silliness of the tough / no nonsense / streetwise auntie Madea (played by Tyler Perry) who with all her quite ahem, "varied," experience just keeps _slapping_ her more dignified, better educated (and frankly _luckier_) younger relatives into shape.

Honestly, _most_ Readers "of a certain age" (I'm beginning to be "of certain age" ;-) _regardless_ of race, gender or ethnicity would both enjoy and understand / "get" Perry's Madea [wikip] [IMDb] movies (this is the third one I'm reviewing here since beginning my blog six years ago [1] [2]).  This is because, Madea's fighting / trying to make sense of and "trying to bring sense _to_" some of the main cultural shifts in Our Time ... notably the near universal breaking-down of discipline in the home:

Honestly, pretty much ALL of my (still late baby-boom) generation still remember _being whooped_ by our folks, when we did something wrong at home.  But nowadays, it would seem that ALL of us "just want to be friends" with our kids / young people today.  And yet, sometimes Parents / We "Older Folks" need to "draw a line" (and do so EVEN FOR THE SAKE OF THE YOUNG).

So that has been Madea's perennial battle ... knocking some sense into the young(er) folks -- BOTH middle aged and their kids ;-).

In the current installment, Madea's quite well educated, State Prosecutor nephew Brian (played also by Tyler Perry), well-to-do but now divorced, was having difficulty keeping his rambunctious 17-year-old daughter Tiffany (played by Diamond White) in line.  They were living in an upscale, presumably quite liberal (and even libertine) neighborhood, near some College of sorts, and there's "a Frat" down the street.  The Frat boys, not really realizing that Tifanny and her friends were "only 17," invite them to their Halloween Party.  And the girls SEVENTEEN after all, REALLY WANT TO GO ;-).  It was a "big deal" for them, OBVIOUSLY, OBVIOUSLY, SO, SO WRONG -- and ILLEGAL.  But to them, to be "validated" (not violated but validated) "by an older boy" AT THAT AGE, was "a big deal" ... and yet again NO.  THE REST OF US, SEE THIS AS OBVIOUSLY A REALLY BAD IDEA, putting ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE, the girls but EVEN THE FRAT BOYS at risk.

So what to do?  Well, desperate Brian, thinks of calling Aunt Madea to come over ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT, to BABYSIT (!) his SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD DAUGHTER (!) :-).  Well, THAT'S "not gonna work" ... 'cept ... ;-) ... this is Madea that we're talking about ;-) ;-) and ... much, much, much ensues ;-).

HONESTLY, this is a VERY FUN, and in Madea's strange sort of way WHOLESOME FILM.

I love Tyler Perry, and I find Madea "with a story for everything" _always_ a kick ;-)

Great / fun, fun job!


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Hacksaw Ridge [2016]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (L)  RogerEbert.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McAleer) review
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review 

Hacksaw Ridge [2016] (directed by Mel Gibson, screenplay by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan) I recently had the opportunity to see at an early screening held at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange Pastoral Center here in Southern California.   The auditorium which seated several hundred people was packed, and the film about WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss (played in the film by Andrew Garfield) was enthusiastically received by the audience even as it depicted quite graphically the close-quarter battlefield violence of the Battle of Okinawa.

About the violence.  Yes, PARENTS this is a legitimately R-rated movie (for said violence).  But this portrayal of battlefield violence DEFINITELY HAS A POINT.  IMHO it _certainly_ serves to further / deepen the point / message of the story.  Yet, dear Readers, the portrayal of violence in this film is definitely NOT inconsequential.  (A close friend of mine asked subsequent to the screening how the violence in the film would compare to, for instance, the Omaha Beach landing scene in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan [1998].  I'd honestly put it closer to the violence depicted in video games like Grand Theft Auto, THOUGH AS I CONTINUE TO STRESS _WITH A POINT_).

What would be the point?  Well first the film certainly does not diminish the heroism / sacrifices of the others, combatants, in Doss' unit (portrayed, among others, by Vince Vaughn playing Doss ' sergeant and Sam Worthington as his unit's commanding officer).  This was War.  In the War in the Pacific during World War II, the U.S. Army was fighting a determined, arguably fanaticized enemy that (1) did not respect the humanity of their opponents and (2) was TRULY willing to fight to the very last man rather than surrender to them.  In this context, Doss was honestly (and IMHO honestly portrayed) as at least initially _at minimum_ "an oddball."  After all, there's the famous American Army motto: "Lead, follow, or get the Hell out of the way..."   AT MINIMUM, Doss who was "willing to serve (as a medic) but NOT willing to take up arms (fight)" seemed ... "in the way."  But ...

... that's of course the Story ;-).  After a particularly gruesome battle on top of "Hacksaw Ridge" there, on Okinawa, (I _don't_ wish to get into SPOILERS ...) Doss DID IMHO TRULY _EARN_ his Medal of Honor, the first of only three ever given to non-combatant "conscientious objectors" in the history of the United States.

And, of course, his Conscientious Objection was rooted in his Christian Faith.  It does make for _a remarkable story_ and I do believe that the story was HONESTLY PORTRAYED.

Honestly Good to GREAT job to all ;-). 


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