Week 33 Preview: Schindler's List
There can be no true good without true evil. We must see the horrors of life to truly value what we have. Here is a picture that explores the depths of evil more than any other while still being a tale of hope, survival and pure human goodness. It is a movie that causes us to be thankful, appreciate the lives we live and strive to be better human beings than those that have come before us- all values fundamentally tied to this time of year where we should give unconditionally and be thankful for all that we have. It is a difficult film with a message and historical context that make it quite possibly the most socially important movie ever made. This week’s picture is Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List.
Cast and Credits:
Oskar Schindler: Liam Neeson
Itzhak Stern: Ben Kingsley
Amon Goeth: Ralph Fiennes
Universal Pictures presents A Steven Spielberg Film based on the novel by Thomas Kennellay.
Screenplay by Steve Zallian. Cinematography by Janusz Kaminski. Music by John Williams.
Running Time: 195 minutes. Rated R: For realistic graphic war violence, nudity and sexual content.
Return Sunday, December 11th for a full review and analysis
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Week 32 : It's A Wonderful Life
True traditions are simply habits that we love so much we want to do them on an annual basis. They are the things that are important because we consider them so. Without them our lives can become empty and hollow. Movies give us a unique opportunity to have a communal experience with a work of art. When we see a truly wonderful film we want to immediately see it again and share it with those we love. It takes a special kind of movie to become so engrained in our culture that it becomes a yearly event for millions of people. Even the greatest of all films- pictures such as Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Vertigo or 2001- often fail to meet this ultimate honor of becoming a true American tradition. It is one thing to be a masterpiece. It is another to be loved by virtually everyone. It’s a Wonderful Life is one of those glorious experiences. It is not a movie but an American tradition. Like baseball in the spring or fireworks on the Fourth of July, It’s a Wonderful Life is something that tens of millions of people share every year at Christmas time. The Godfather is just a movie. It’s a Wonderful Life is a national treasure.
More than perhaps any other, Frank Capra’s film is the story of the American dream. Quick- close your eyes. Go on, close them. What does the phrase “American dream” mean to you? If your interpretation of the dream involves owning your own home, making a name for yourself on your raw talents and effort, settling down with those you love and leaving a lasting impression on the world. I suppose it also involves living in a neighborhood where people work together, your children are safe, and you can keep your doors unlocked. Now picture Bedford Falls from It’s a Wonderful Life. It could be called the perfect town, could it not?
Now let’s take a moment to examine George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart). His dream is to become a world traveling explorer for many years before building great skyscrapers that tower indefinitely into the sky. He wants to get out of his hometown and make a life for himself on his terms. This is his American dream. Instead- he simply falls in love with a beautiful woman, makes an impact on his community by offering low cost homes to the poor, becomes a good and loving father while standing up against the oppressive forces of Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore). Of course the film’s irony (the message that it does nothing shy of beat us senseless with) is that everything George wants doesn’t matter and everything he ignores is all that matters. We examine a man’s life- with his hopes and dreams in mind- and then explore what actually happens to him. George does not do a single solitary thing that he dreams of in the beginning of the picture- but he plays the hand he was dealt and becomes loved for it.
This is what makes the film’s message universal: we all know a George Bailey. Half of us have been him at one point or another. We want to break free from our confines, explore the unknown, live life to its fullest, make a name for ourselves and all the other countless pieces of bullshit we feed into our minds. Often even when we achieve our dreams (particularly the dreams based on career status, money or power) we feel empty and wonder “what next.” Some of us buy stuff we don’t need- filling our lives with material possessions. Others eat to much, drink too much, use too much, gamble too much or screw too much. George Bailey is all of us in many ways but so few of us learn the lessons that he learns on that faithful Christmas Eve where Clarence the Angel (Harry Travers) comes and shows him what his would life would be like if he were never born. I suppose if we all had an experience with Clarence it would be much easier to be like George, running down the streets joyously screaming to the town.
Some claim the film has too much naïve innocence and blatant sentimentality. This may be true but I will take a happy tear over a sad tear any day of the week. Many of us have seen it more times that we can count and know its scenes by heart. Yet- how often do we forget its message? The film has been labeled a “Christmas movie” for decades but it really has nothing to do with the holidays- other than the night of Clarence’s visit just coincidentally falling on Christmas Eve. We don’t all have a Clarence- but most of us have a mirror and our memories. I am a poor hack that likes to write about movies on the internet. I have not achieved most of my dreams but I have a home with heat and air conditioning, a woman and three children that love me. I have some friends and who knows maybe this review will reach them somehow when they are faced with despair. Hell, don’t even read the review- just watch the movie if you haven’t seen it with someone you love. Share it with your kids. With all of the bad that is in this world its nice to know that there are some things that are still pure and good- even if it a cheesy little movie from the 1940’s.
In re-reading what I have written so far, I realize that I haven’t really talked much about the film itself. I haven’t said a word about its beautiful black and white photography, its wonderful performances or iconic imagery. I haven’t said a damn thing about a bell ringing and an angel getting its wings, or the Charleston, or the song Buffalo Gals. I have used Capra’s name only a couple of times in this review and have failed to mention the perfect performance of Donna Reed (Mary Bailey in the film). I suppose I know why. The film is not about what takes place on the screen but how it makes you feel as a human being. We relate to it on a subconscious and deeply emotional level. I think of It’s a Wonderful Life and realize that I can summarize the entire movie in about a paragraph but cannot do justice to the way it makes me feel. I could give damn if this makes me a sap. I watch the movie with the woman I love on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket with a bowl of popcorn and a tear in my eye. I examine my dreams, smile, and wish I was more like George Bailey. How often I forget the many ways that I am.
-It’s a Wonderful Life has been registered at the United States Library of Congress as a national treasure. It has been named the most inspiring film of all time by the American Film Institute and it is the only film that has been shown on television annually every year since 1969.
Review and Analysis by Shaun Henisey
Cast and Credits:
George Bailey: Jimmy Stewart
Mary Bailey: Donna Reed
Mr. Potter: Lionel Barrymore
Clarence: Henry Travers
Republic Pictures presents A Frank Capra Picture. Screenplay by Frank Capra, Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett
Running Time 130 Minutes. Not Rated (Suitable for All Audiences)
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Week 31 : 2001: A Space Odyssey
I frequently catch myself looking up at the stars at night. I will sit quietly on my porch and look up at the sky, soaking in its beauty. Sometimes if there is a tree or something obstructing my view I will get out of my seat and walk until I come to a position where I can look up at the sky from all directions and see nothing but stars, clouds and the moon. I think of those stars dotting the landscape of space. I realize that each star is another solar system's sun, and each solar system could have an earth. I sit begin to contemplate things on a metaphysical level. To me, looking at the stars is a type of prayer. I ask- "what is my place in this universe?” Cosmically speaking, I am a ant among ants. I look at the sky and I wonder what's up there. I have never seen a painting, film, or photograph that is more beautiful than the Kansas night sky I have looked upon so frequently since I was a child. It is a thing of beauty. I get the impression that Stanley Kubrick may have felt the same way.
Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is a film that understands the questions that drive us and explores them in a manner that is unparalleled in the history of the cinema. It is not a movie as much as a full blown experience. In fact, as millions of people (my significant other included) can attest, even trying to watch 2001 in a way one watches any other movie will simply lead to frustration and annoyance. People expect dialogue, plot, humor and resolution in their movies. The want a narrative that they are familiar with and that they understand. Kubrick's film is an experience more like watching a ballet or opera than actually sitting down and watching a movie. It is a movie that takes work, concentration, and patience. You soak in its images in all of their beauty and think about what is on the screen. Eventually the picture grips you on a subconscious level and speaks to you in the same way any great art does- personally. Once you get the message that Kubrick is trying to give, you can't necessarily verbalize it- you just feel it and are in awe.
I have referred this film to countless friends and loved ones. The first question I get any time I recommend a movie is almost always the same.
"What is it about?"
Most of the time I can give a pretty simple synopsis of what a movie is about and why they should watch it. I can't do this with 2001. I simply smile and say “it's about everything.”
A lot of people don't like 2001. Hell, a lot of people flat out hate it. I get it. People expect easy entertainment that they can watch while playing on their laptops or texting their friends. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I know that if I was expecting one kind of movie and I popped it in and it began with 20 minutes of silence and monkey's screaming, I might get upset too. This is a two and a half hour movie with less than 40 minutes of dialogue. There are a lot of moments where viewers may scream “what the hell is going on?” Other moments are so slow and deliberate that they may put some to sleep. These are not criticisms of the film but an observation of how viewers handle it. In my opinion this observation best explains why Stanley Kubrick is arguably the greatest filmmaker of all time. He was bold and uncompromising in his vision. He told stories in ways that were unique and completely 100% his own. All of his work does nothing short of examining the very nature of our humanity. He was a genius that, with a legendary partnership with the studio's that financed him from Dr. Strangelove on, had complete and total creative control of his pictures. Executive's did not edit Kubrick's work, they didn't suggest the scripts be rewritten or alter the content of the film just because of the feedback of test audiences. The studio executive's understood that Kubrick was not a commercial filmmaker, but an artist painting masterpieces using film as canvas. Stanley Kubrick never gave a flying shit whether or not you “got” his work and for that he deserves a lot of credit.
Before writing this review I thought a lot about what I wanted to say in it. In some of my prior reviews great amounts of time were spent discussing the plot of the movie. I am not going to give you a report of what happens in the movie, you can watch it yourself. I will only say that the film begins with humankind's first step of evolution and ends with an artistic expression of what our next step is. It features one of the greatest villains in screen history with HAL 9000 (brilliantly voiced by Douglas Rain) and possibly the most influential and technically accurate special effects in the history of the movies. I will point out that when real astronauts have been asked what the moon looked liked several have responded with “like in 2001” even though this picture was released a full year before Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon. I suppose I will also say that in true spaceflight actions are slow, deliberate and taken with great caution, therefore several long scenes of silence (such as the pod sequences) are slow for a reason.
I refuse to mention anything about the end of the movie, which may be one of the most dazzling and spectacular experiences of my film going life, because I simply cannot put those experiences into words. Nor will I comment on the concluding appearances of astronaut Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) as he evolves in the bedroom at the end of the proverbial rainbow, or the star child that forms thereafter. I shall not explain the black vertical monolith that appears at key moments of the film.
The final line of dialogue in 2001 (which comes about 30 minutes prior to the end of the picture) tells you all you need to know:
“Except for a single, very powerful radio emission aimed at Jupiter, the four million-year-old black monolith has remained completely inert, its origin and purpose still a total mystery.”
In Arthur C. Clarke's strongly inferior novel he explains the monolith to be extraterrestrial in nature, but this commonly known fact does not matter in relationship to the film. The film acts on its own. It shows what it shows and nothing more. Kubrick rejects Clarke's cookie cutter explanations and intentionally leaves the monolith ambiguous. Maybe to you, the monolith is the coming of God. Maybe it is simply a symbol of intelligence, or the driving force of the universe. The beauty of the picture- the transcendent quality that makes it perhaps the greatest film ever made, comes from it's ambiguity. The monolith is whatever you want it to be.
Asking for an explanation to the monolith (or the entirety of 2001 for that matter) is the equivalent of asking why the Mona Lisa appears to be smiling. I take comfort in the fact that Da Vinci never showed us what was off in the distance because it makes the possibilities endless. I don't need to know what she is smiling at, or what Kubrick was really trying to say with the monolith. I know what my interpretation of the film is. That's all that matters. In my opinion, the message is a positive one- a prayer for humanity and a hope, even a call, for evolution. As the star child approaches our earth it looks at us from above with a sense of wonder. The star child questions our planet's place in the universe and asks: what is next? I stand on my lawn quietly at night, gazing up at the stars and their unimaginable beauty, and question the same thing.
Review and Analysis by Shaun Henisey
Cast and Credits:
Dave Bowman: Keir Dullea
Frank Poole: Gary Lockwood
Dr. Haywood Floyd: William Sylvester
Hal 9000 (voice): Douglas Rain
Metro-Goldwyn Mayer presents a film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. Based on the story "The Sentinel" by Arthur C. Clarke
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke.
Photographed in 70mm Cinerama by Geoffrey Unsworth.
Featuring Special Photographic Effects by Douglas Trumbull and Stanley Kubrick
Running Time: 141 minutes. Rated G. This film is acceptable for all audiences.