Movie Review: "Forgiving Mengele"

[Thanks to my new Kindle Fire HD, I'm on a Netflix kick these days.]

This film* focuses on a Holocaust survivor who now lives in Indiana. The woman was one of the twins that Joseph Mengele used in his human experiments at Auschwitz. Her twin sister survived the war, but died later due to complications of those experiments.

Like many Survivors, Eva speaks in schools and community groups about the Holocaust because she believes that the Holocaust must never be forgotten. However, unlike many of her peers, she believes that the Survivors should forgive the Nazis. That did not go over very well with a group of other Auschwitz survivors who traveled to Germany on the anniversary of their liberation. Most of them were still bitter and even angry. Even Eva slipped up once when she expressed her loathing for the German language. Still, she insisted that forgiving the Nazis was the only thing that would allow her to live as a full human. Carrying around anger and hatred would give the Nazis victory over her soul. She would not permit that.

Instead, she chose to forgive them, and to live in peace.

In one particularly moving scene, she walked through a part of the camp in the company of the doctor who had been Mengele's assistant. They chatted like old friends, and it was clear from their body language that they were enjoying the conversation. It was a little creepy that they could seem to be enjoying themselves in that dreadful place, but it brought tears to my eyes to think of the incredible healing in her heart that made it possible.

Survivor stories nearly always leave me sort of emotionally breathless. It never fails to astonish me that a human being can be tortured and abused and still end up living a more or less normal life. This film shows Eva going about her regular duties as a real estate agent. She's the typical Midwestern real estate lady: a little too much makeup with kind of gaudy clothes and jewelry, but very outgoing and friendly. She seems like a hard worker who genuinely wants to do a good job for her clients.

The Nazis, especially animals like Mengele, reveal that the human spirit has almost limitless capacity to do evil. Survivors like Eva demonstrate that the human spirit also has the capacity to resist that evil and to overcome it. Somehow, by some miracle, humans can not merely survive such horrible events, they can thrive. 

For me the Survivors are, both individually and collectively, Messiahs. They are messengers from the gods, living among us, demonstrating merely by their ability to live and work and find some enjoyment in life, that there is something both powerful and holy about being a human being on this good Earth.

Buy it here*.

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Movie Review: "The Impostor" (2012/Documentary)

This movie* is an example of why I love documentaries! It is a British film that focuses on a blue collar American family and a French con man.

In the late 90's a thirteen year old boy disappeared from a playground near his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three years later his family received a call from Spanish authorities informing them that the child had turned up in Spain. In actuality, the person claiming to be Nicholas Barclay was a con man, an impostor.

On the one hand, as a movie, this documentary had all the ingredients of a first rate thriller. The cinematography, score and the way the film was edited all added to the mystery, revealing layers of information incrementally, each revelation often creating more questions than it answered.

The movie doesn't explore the question of what happened to Nicholas Barclay, whose whereabouts remains a mystery. The film zeros in on how and why his family accepted an impostor into their midst, despite numerous red flags that should have made them suspicious.

I found it interesting that a British film maker was able to treat a family of Texas rednecks (who may have actually had something to do with Nicholas' disappearance) with such respect. He doesn't gloss over their faults, but he also doesn't make them out to be either cartoonish or potentially evil. He reveals a family that has suffered a terrible tragedy and each of whom wants the impostor to be their child so badly, they let themselves believe the lie.

What made the movie so creepy, however, was Frederic Bourdin,  the con man who posed as Nicholas Barclay (and many others). The video makes it very clear how easy it might be to be taken in by this man. He has both wit and a sleazy kind of charm. Every now and again, he shows another side, however. It is a dark, almost evil, pride in his ability to outsmart others. He says he impersonated lost children because he was looking for a home where he could be loved. That may well have been true when he was in his teens. By the time he impersonated Nicholas Barclay, he was an adult. It seemed that by then, he was doing it for the thrill of and screwing with others' lives.

As entertainment, the film was awesome. It was as taught a nail-biter as a Hitchcock flick, but, by the end of the film I was left feeling disgusted by this person. As entertaining as the movie was, I rather wish that the filmmaker had not given such a horrible man a forum to brag about his exploits as a con man. 

Buy it here*.

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Movie Review: "The Hours"

Friday nights are movie night for me. On the weekends I write. Most weeknights I read. Friday night is time to crap out, eat junk, drink wine and curl up with Netflix on my laptop. Usually I watch documentaries or stand-up comedy. Occasionally, I opt for a movie.

I had heard about The Hours* but I could never figure out from the reviews exactly what it was about.  Having watched it, I understand why the reviews don't tell you what it's about.  I actually almost gave up on it before the opening credits were through, but I love all actors in the film and I was blown away by how Nicole Kidman transformed her looks, so I hung in there. I think I'm glad I did. Friday night movies for me are not about thinking and pondering and following a complex and layered story, but this movie was so well done, I had to stay with it.

It wasn't so much a story as it was exploratory surgery into psychological pain over a period of three generations. None of the characters (except Clarissa's daughter and Sally) was very likable, but they were so tortured I felt sorry for them and wanted them to find a way out of their pain.

The score was almost a character itself. It spoke when the characters were silent. For me it was so painful to listen to, I found myself wanting the characters to speak over it -- even though what they had to say was so tragic.

You'd think that such a film would leave the viewer feeling depressed, but for me when it all came together at the end, I felt comforted by the hopeful note of tenderness among the four women. I knew that they all still carried their pain and pain that was dumped on them by others they loved. Somehow they seemed strong enough to bear it, and both loved and loving enough to help one another as much as possible.

I loved the ending. It reminded me of the end of The Sixth Sense. I absolutely love it when a storyteller can take me right up to the final chapter and then smack me with a surprise.

Buy it here*.

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"Les Miz" - A Rambling Reaction to the Movie

I have never had the opportunity to see the play Les Miserables. I still hope to see it one day. I had mixed feelings when I heard they were making it into a movie. As a general rule, I prefer live stage productions to movie musicals. So it was with some trepidation that I went to see the movie.

From the beginning, I could feel my resistance to the singing threatening to ruin the experience for me, There is just something that doesn't work for me when I see a musical on the big screen. It doesn't seem "natural,"  Also, they used movie stars instead of opera or musical theater singers. I suppose that made sense.  Movie actors use subtle expressions, where stage actors (and especially opera singers) have to make grand gestures. The biggest problem with the casting was that, while they are both amazing actors, neither Russell Crowe nor Hugh Jackman has the pipes to stand up to their roles. For me, that almost ruined the whole thing. The other singers were for the most part very good. I was surprised that Ann Hathaway has such a lovely voice. Samantha Barks (Eponime) and Daniel Huttlestone (Gavroche) stole every scene they were in. Aron Tveit took my breath away as the rabble rousing Enjolras; I'd follow him into battle any day.

Only a few minutes into the film, I decided I either needed to leave or I had to put all my quibbling aside, lock up the Inner Critic, and simply let the story and the music wash over me. Once I did that, I enjoyed the movie.  And, yes, I cried. (Not as hard as the man behind me.)  It is a positively magnificent story. It is at once heart-rending and inspiring.  It is amazing that Hugo could craft such an uplifting story out of the vile cruelty that was 19th century French culture. I thought the film makers did a good job setting the stage at the beginning, showing the filth and degradation of the underbelly of France, with occasional glimpses of the grandeur in which the nobility lived. (I could not forget that the story is set only a few years after the Revolution that was supposed to do away with the monarchy and the class system. The response to the Terror had ultimately been to restore the monarchy, so the people were basically back to living in the mud where they had been before the Revolution.) The thing that really worked for me was the close ups of the filthy and diseased people of Paris. I can't imagine how they accomplish that on the stage.

Visually the movie is incredible. The scenes where Javert walks on the ledge on the rooftop of the building, made me close my eyes (I don't like heights, and the camera had me right on that ledge with Javert). It almost looked like 3-D. The battle scenes were very effective. The film makers managed to take advantage of the opportunity to show up-close, intimate details, and also pull back and let the grandeur of the story unfold. The funeral procession and the finale were fabulous.

Then there is the magnificent score! Even if the principal singers fell short, the music itself is positively fabulous. Snippets of similar melodies weaving in and out of songs throughout the show. The simple and lovely Castle on a Cloud sung by a child. The use of operatic trios and quartets was amazing.  The choral songs gave me goosebumps. The next day I downloaded the album featuring the original Broadway cast. It is truly amazing.

I could not help but think that a book as dense and complex as Les Miserables probably could not get published today. There are too many characters. There is too much overt symbolism. It's too preachy.  It's too melodramatic. It's a very complicated story and some important plot points hinge on unlikely coincidences. You have to pay attention. All of that is antithetical to contemporary story-telling which is supposed to be directed at people who skim and who want to find out what happens next, not wallow around in detail, no matter how beautifully written.

It's hard to sit through a  movie that is more than two hours long. The lady in front of me left about a half hour before it was over. I was definitely tired of sitting by the end. Perhaps it should have had an intermission, like the play would. (That said, I hate intermissions, however, because they break the suspense.)

All in all, it was a very good movie. This play has so many fans already and there are millions more like me who've longed to see it and never had the chance: it was going to be a hit no matter who they cast. They didn't need superstars like Crowe and Jackman in the lead roles. They'd have done better to cast lesser known actors who are better singers. [But if they had done that, people would have bitched about their acting. So, the poor film makers can't win.]

Buy it here*.

Note:  Tom Hooper did an amazing job reining in the epic that is Les Miz, but I think The King's Speech* really shows what the man can do with a good story.  He's going on my A-list of directors whose movies I'll look for regardless of who stars in them.

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Recommended Movie: "Mao's Last Dancer"

I recently signed up for Amazon Prime and have been watching free streaming movies on the weekends. Recently I enjoyed Mao's Last Dancer*.  I highly recommend it.

The story is based on the autobiography of Li Cunxin, who was a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet and, later, the Australian Ballet. When he was a very young child, Li was taken from his large family in a tiny rural village to live in Beijing and train as a dancer under Madame Mao's cultural initiative. He didn't show much promise initially: he was skinny and weak, and terribly homesick. The only thing he had going for him at first was his flexibility. One of his teachers saw his potential and encouraged him to work hard and dream big. Upon watching a clandestine tape of Baryshnikov at the height of his prowess in human flight, Li had an epiphany, which ignited his passion to become a great dancer. A few years later, he was a principal dancer in Beijing where he was spotted by a visiting group of American artists. The Houston Ballet invited him to study with them as a cultural exchange student. The Chinese government agreed to let him go to America for three months. Before the three months were up, he stood in for the troupe's principal dancer who had been injured during practice, and a star was born.

At the end of his three months, he decided to defect because he said he danced better in America, where he felt free. After a few tense days, the Chinese agreed to let him stay in America, on the condition that he would never be allowed to visit China again. He went on to a stellar career with the Houston Ballet, while at the same time suffering remorse over his decision to abandon his family and leave them at the mercy of the Chinese regime.

The film is beautifully told, visually and musically. The dancing is incredible, and the acting better than I expected for this type of movie. Interestingly, there are no really evil characters, except perhaps Madame Mao (and she's only really evil because I know a little outside-the-movie history about her). The Chinese government, is, of course, the villain. Virtually all the other characters are basically good people, who support Li to a greater or lesser degree. Even the mean Chinese dance teacher gave his support at a critical moment. I enjoyed watching  the friendship develop between the naive Chinese dancer and the Texans. The artistic director is generally a good guy, except for his willingness to send Li back to China at the end of the specified three months.

This story is about the emotional and physical labors of the main character to grow into a better dancer than his raw talent would have allowed, and the personal cost to him of following his dream to the end of the rainbow, where he achieved spectacular professional success, tempered by personal grief and guilt.

It seems to me that the dictatorship of Art is every bit as enslaving as a the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Buy it here*.

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