Wednesday, May 31, 2017

151 - The Taking of Power by Louis XIV, 1966, France. Dir. Roberto Rossellini.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

151 - The Taking of Power by Louis XIV, 1966, France.  Dir. Roberto Rossellini.

Cardinal Mazarin is sick unto death.  He has been running France for Louis XIV since Louis became king at age 5.  Now he is about to die and Louis is scared.  Terrified.

How will he run the country without his mentor?

So many people are vying for power.  So many want to use him for their own purposes.

They know he is scared.  They know he is weak.  Once Mazarin dies, they will swoop in like vultures for the kill.

This group includes his mother.

And his siblings.

But Louis surprises people.

When Mazarin dies he takes power for himself.  As he should.  And consolidates it.

And does good things for France.

People know about the great palace of Versailles.  And the costumes.  The feasts.  The hunts.  And the pageantry.

But could it have been more than just a reflection of a self-indulgent king?

Though this be madness, might there be a method in it?

Louis XIV makes everyone wear black.  Then he makes them all wear bright colors.

He himself dresses in fine red.  And looks foppish.

The courtesans follow.

He holds hunts and hosts feasts and invites thousands.

And people aspire to be near power and to please him.

Rossellini presents a biography of Louis XIV that suggests he was savvy.  Yes, afraid.  But capable of turning it to his advantage.

By keeping people distracted with clothing and food and games, he directed their ambitions towards objectives that did not threaten him.

He kept them fighting each other.

He turned them into subjects.

He won them by their vanity.

And he built a legacy.

Historians have praised this movie as one of the most accurate portrayals of history on film.

And Rossellini, in his fashion, cast a non-actor to play the role.

Jean-Marie Patte really was terrified.

He had never acted on camera before and never did since.  Except perhaps for a bit part ten years later.

He appeared nervous.  He read cue cards.  He was stiff.

Just what Rossellini wanted.  It portrayed the characteristics historians describe of Louis in their writings.

This is the kind of movie you watch in order to watch it.  To see it.  To behold it!

Rossellini spent years and plenty of resources to recreate the world in which Louis XIV lived.

And it shows up on screen.

It is like going to the museum and looking at a painting.  A picture.  Only it moves.

A moving picture.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

150 - Journey to Italy, 1954, Italy/France. Dir. Roberto Rossellini.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

150 - Journey to Italy, 1954, Italy/France.  Dir. Roberto Rossellini.

Uncle Homer was not a normal person.

So says Alexander.  Alexander Joyce.  To his wife.  Katherine Joyce.

Alex and Katherine are on holiday.  They are going to sell Uncle Homer's villa near Naples.  They are going to see the sites while they are there.

They are as happy as rotting wood.

Here is an exchange they have shortly after checking into the hotel.

Shall we have something to drink?
Yes.  But not here.  Let's go down to the bar.  At least there'll be some other people around.
Why?  Would it be so terribly boring if we were to remain alone?
No, I was thinking of you.  I don't think you are very happy when we're alone.
Are you sure you know when I'm happy?
No, ever since we left on this trip, I'm not so sure.  I realize for the first time that we're like strangers.
That's right.  After eight years of marriage it seems we don't know anything about each other.
At home everything seemed so perfect, but now that we're away and alone . . .
Yes, it's a strange discovery to make.
Now that we're strangers we can start all over again at the beginning.  It might be rather amusing, don't you think?
Let's go down to the bar.

They go down to the bar.

Alex gives his time and attention to another woman.  A woman they have just met in the bar.

And Katherine has to sit there listening to the live band, pretending everything is OK.

She returns to the room.

He sleeps in.

I must say, one sleeps well in this country.
I've never seen you in such good form.  Do you know her well?

They visit Uncle Homer's villa.  The Burtons show them around.

I never knew my Uncle had such good taste.

She brings up Charles Lewington.  And old friend.  He died two years ago.  He was a poet.  He was thin, tall, fair.  He was stationed here in Italy during the war.

Alex pretends not to be jealous.  Of a man who died two years ago.  As he lists Lewington's deficiencies.

The Joyce's end up spending their vacation separately.

She tours Naples.  He goes to the Isle of Capri.

They appear to be rushing headlong to disaster.

Or worse.  A lifetime of unending ennui.

If this all sounds dreary, consider this:

We are watching--and listening to!--George Sanders and Ingrid Bergman.

Two people you enjoy watching and hearing in everything they do.

So at least you can look at her face and listen to his voice as you sink into the doldrums for an hour an a half.

George Sanders had one of the most mellifluous voices in film.  And a stellar career to go with it.  He won the Oscar for his role as Addison DeWitt in All About Eve (1950).

Most fans begin knowing him with his 25th film, Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940).  We have seen him earlier this year in Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940).  He appeared in franchises such as Mr. Moto, The Saint, The Falcon, and The Pink Panther series.  His work in The Pink Panther series was in the 1964 film A Shot in the Dark.  He worked in dramas, Westerns, action, thrillers, horror, and historical epics.  You may have grown up knowing him as the voice of Shere Khan in Walt Disney's The Jungle Book (1967).  He was one of those actors who seemed to play himself in everything he did.  The highly intelligent, sophisticated cynic who seemed to have grown tired life years ago, because it is all so predictable and trivial.

Katherine goes to the Naples Museum.

Rossellini takes us on a tour with her, featuring statues each carved in intricate detail out of a single piece of stone.

And a tour guide who makes silly jokes.

Katherine is impressed.

To think that those men lived thousands of years ago and they are just like the men of today.  It's amazing.

But Alex rains on her parade.

This cycle will repeat itself.

She will go on a tour.  He will not go with her.  He will show no interest.

As you watch this film, you might think of Two for the Road, Stanley Donen's 1967 film starring Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn as an unhappiliy married couple on vacation.

We expect the film to end badly.

The only thing that could save their marriage in this land of volcanos is some kind of explosive miracle.

That could raise their love from the ashes.

Monday, May 29, 2017

149 - Europa '51, 1951, Italy. Dir. Roberto Rossellini.

Monday, May 29, 2017

149 - Europa '51, 1951, Italy.  Dir. Roberto Rossellini.

Irene loves her son.

At least when she has time for him.

Her husband George was away at war for five years, and she and her son Michele spent all their days together.

Michele misses those times with his mother.

Now George is at home and making a lot of money.

George and Irene live in a fine apartment in Rome and host great dinner parties.

Michele wants to talk to his mother.  Wants to spend time with her.  Tries to get her attention.  But she is just too busy for him.

She has dinners to plan, jewelry to try on, gossip to hear and tell, and assignments to give the servants.

When the guests begin arriving Michele is sent off to his room.

He is given a toy train.  A model electric train that should make any boy happy.

But Michele is not happy.  His parents do not have time for him.

He leaves the train in the living room and goes to bed by himself.

The adults see the train and take it to the model railroad tracks.  The adults sit on the floor in their fine clothes and play with the train on the tracks.

Without the son.

Without the son who lies alone in bed in his room.

Michele rings the buzzer.

The maid tells Irene.

She goes to his room.

He tells her he does not feel well.

She tests him.  Does it hurt here?  She rubs his belly.  Yes.  Does it hurt here?  She flops his ears forward with her hands.  He nods.

"It's nothing," she tells him.  You are just making it up.

He begs her to stay with him.

She cannot.  She has dinner guests to attend to.

Irene returns to her guests.

The buzzer buzzes.

It is Michele.

He buzzes and buzzes and buzzes.

Irene tells the maid to tell Michele to be quiet.

They get their quiet.

In spades.

Michele goes out in the hallway and throws himself down the stairwell.

People come running.

They rush him to the hospital.

He has only broken his hip.  He has not suffered a concussion.  He will be all right.

Or will he?

And will his mother Irene?

After the blood clot everything changes.

For better or for worse.

After all, that was the promise, was it not?

For better or worse.

Rossellini will now take this opportunity to use the film to recruit you.

To see the world the way he does.

Whether or not he succeeds is one thing.

Whether or not Irene will be all right is another.

After all, Irene loved her son.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

148 - Stromboli, 1950, Italy/United States. Dir. Roberto Rossellini.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

148 - Stromboli, 1950, Italy/United States.  Dir. Roberto Rossellini.

Ah, Stromboli!

One of your favorite Italian dishes.

Sweet bread flour coated with olive oil and topped with meets and cheeses--especially ham and salami, mozorella and parmesan--rolled into a wrap and baked.

Delizioso!

How wonderful that the great Italian neorealist director Roberto Rossellini would make an entire movie celebrating this legendary Italian cuisine!

Or . . . not.

This--turnover--did not exist when Rossellini made this movie.

It is also not Italian.

Stromboli is from the United States.  Invented in Pennsylvania.  Made at a pizza joint.

And named after this classic movie.

As stated yesterday, in the write-up for The Flowers of St. Francis, Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman were hot in the news at the time.

For indulging in some indulgences.

So when the movie came out, it got a lot of attention.

Because whether or not people knew about Rossellini, they sure knew Ingrid Bergman.

I mean, we are talking about Ilsa Lund from Casablanca, Maria from For Whom the Bell Tolls, Paula from Gaslight, Sister Mary Benedict from The Bells of St. Mary's, Dr. Constance Petersen from Spellbound, Alicia Huberman from Notorious, and Joan of Arc herself from Victor Fleming's Joan of Arc.  We are talking about a woman nominated for seven Oscars, who won three.

Without even being nominated for Casablanca!

The public was paying attention.

So when Stromboli came to the neighborhood theater, Nazzareno Romano of Romano's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria in Essington, Pennsylvania, was ready to name his new dish for it.

The name Stromboli had already appeared in the movies.  In Walt Disney's Pinocchio.  The great and terrifying puppet master was named Mangiafuoco in Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio.  Disney changed his name to Stromboli in his 1940 animated feature.

But this Stromboli has its own origin.

Stromboli is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea.  Off the north coast of Sicily.  One of the Aeolian Islands.  With an active volcano.

Mount Stromboli.  In a continuous state of eruption for two thousand years.

Kaboom!

Antonio is a fisherman from Stromboli.  He is a prisoner of war in a prison camp.  He meets Karin.  From Lithuania.  She is in the camp.  On the other side of the barbed war.  The men and the woman are separated.  But they can talk through the wire.

Karin applies for a release.  She is not granted it.

Antonio proposes to her.  Marriage will give her the release.  She accepts.

"Our Lord Jesus Christ elevated matrimony to the dignity of a sacrament.  This matrimony will produce divine grace."

Now she is released.  She moves to the island of Stromboli with her new husband.  To begin her new life.

Let us see how things turn out.

Sometimes living the married life turns out differently than one expects it will.

Sometimes the marriage gets rocky.

Hot molten lava rocky.


*                              *                              *                              *                              *


I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. - New Testament.  St. Paul's letter to the Romans.  Chapter 10, Verse 20.

Oh, God. . . . Oh, God. . . . What mystery. . . . What beauty. . . .

No.  I can't go back.  I can't.  They are horrible. It was all horrible.  They don't know what they are doing.  I'm even worse.  I'll save him, my innocent child.  God!  My God!  Help me!  Give me the strength, the understanding, and the courage!  Oh, God.  Oh, God.  Oh, my God.  Merciful God.



Saturday, May 27, 2017

147 - The Flowers of Saint Francis, 1950, Italy. Dir. Roberto Rossellini.

Saturday, May 27, 2017

147 - The Flowers of Saint Francis, 1950, Italy.  Dir. Roberto Rossellini.

Praise be to you, O Lord, and to all your creatures.
Especially Brother Sun, through whom you light our days.
He is beautiful and radiant and resplendent,
and derives all meaning from you.

Praise be to you, O Lord, for Sister Moon and all the stars,
which you cause to shine clear and bright.
Praise be to you, O Lord, for Brother Wind,
and for cloud and clear skies and all kinds of weather,
which bring sustenance to all your creatures.

Praise be to you, O Lord, for Sister Water,
so useful and humble, precious and chaste.
Praise be to you, O Lord, for Brother Fire,
with whom you light up the night
and who is beautiful and playful, robust and strong.

Praise be to you, O Lord, for Sister and Mother Earth,
who sustains, governs, and brings forth the various fruits
with their colorful flowers and leaves.
Praise be to you, O Lord, for those who forgive out of love for you,
and who withstand infirmity and tribulation.

Blessed are those who live in peace,
for they will be crowned by you, the Most High.
Praise be to you, O Lord, for our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no mortal man can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those who abide by your holy will,
for death shall not harm them.

Praise and bless my Lord.
Give thanks and serve him humbly.

So says St. Francis.

The late 1940s was a tumultuous time.

The War was over and Italy needed to be forgiven and loved again.

Robert Rosselini had been having an affair with Ingrid Bergman and it had caused an international stir.

News outlets around the world fed the fires of gossip.

The United States Senate weighed in.

Since it is the business of the United States Senate to comment on the private affairs of private citizens.

In other countries.

On the other side of the world.

Rossellini's 9-year old son Marco had died of appendicitis just a few years before.  Rossellini was still grieving.

And he was going through a divorce with his wife Marcella De Marchis.

During this time, when Rosselini made movies about contemporary affairs he could not help but express his own troubles and anxieties.

He needed another subject.  Something else to think about.  Another way of making films.

He turned to faith.

1950 was a holy year.  A year of Jubilee.

It was time to make a religious film anyway. 

And St. Francis was the most beloved of Italian saints.

Rossellini could create a circle of peace around himself.  And get away from the tumult.  And focus on another way of life.  From another time.

In 1946 Rossellini had made a film called Paisa, and he had worked with real Franciscan monks.

So when he made The Flowers of Saint Francis, he called upon the monks again.

The monks played monks.

And they played their roles with authenticity.

The light in their eyes showing the life in their souls.

Their playful innocence.  Their lack of fear.

Rossellini had the ability on this film to watch them patiently.  And to allow things to develop organically.

Normally when people make movies, they have to make their days.  This means they must shoot so many pages per day, as measured in eighths of a page.  If they have budgeted to shoot 5 and 3/8 pages, then they need to finish 5 and 3/8 pages before the day is over.  And each scene has so many set-ups.  Set-ups of lights and the camera and other equipment.  So in order to shoot 5 and 3/8 pages, the director may be required to complete, say, 24 set-ups.

If they get behind, they must catch up.

A lot is riding on this schedule.  This time budget.

Money.  The availability of everything from people to locations to equipment to vehicles to clothing to props.  Sometimes weather.  Sometimes light.

If a film goes over time it goes over budget.  Which could affect its release schedule.  Which could affect its bankability in the marketplace.  Or its timing in awards season.  Sometimes films are not finished and the investors lose their money.

So the director is subject to the Line Producer, who is the on-set money man.  The Line Producer is responsible to the other Producers.  The Producers are responsible to the Studio, and the Studio is beholden to the investors.

But Rossellini did not have to make this film in that way.

Instead, he filmed it like a picnic.

He showed up on set each morning with his monks.

They sat on the ground and ate.  They talked.  They watched to see what would develop.  They filmed it.

He did have a script.

He and his young assistant, the future master Federico Fellini, had written it together.

They based it on two books, The Flowers of Saint Francis and The Life of Brother Ginepro.

They wrote it in episodes.

Rather than containing one complete narrative story, the film contains ten episodes taken from Francis's and Ginepro's lives.  Rossellini filmed eleven but cut one just before the film's premiere.

The film lost money.

(See above!)

But over time its stature has risen steadily to where it has become regarded as a world cinema classic

Francis is nicknamed the Jester of God.

And he and his monk companions, somewhat like clowns from future Fellini movies, approach life with an innocent simplicity.

Love's joy.

Francis leads them with a strong and confident hand.  He gives them tasks.  He helps the poor.  He loves the leper.  He preaches peace.

And in the end he sends out his fellow monks in all directions--in a fascinating method of selection--to preach peace to the ends of the earth.

He practices humility.

And the "actor" who plays Saint Francis, the "star" of the movie, the real monk Brother Nazario Gerardi,

is uncredited.

Friday, May 26, 2017

146 - Bitter Rice, 1949, Italy. Dir. Giuseppe De Santis.

Friday, May 26, 2017

146 - Bitter Rice, 1949, Italy. Dir. Giuseppe De Santis.

Who was that man?

How should I know?  All I know is that he sure can boogie-woogie!

Silvana likes to boogie-woogie.  She is a dancer.

Marco is talking to her.  He is a soldier.  He is jealous.

He has been watching Silvana from behind the bushes.  As the women bathe.

She has caught him.  And come to talk to him.

He is jealous of a man named Walter.

Who indeed sure can boogie-woogie.  And who also likes to boogie-woogie.  A lot.

Marco met Silvana at the rice farm.  When the soldiers were shipping out and the rice workers were coming in.

He cleaned out his bunk as she was coming in to claim it.  He flirted with her.  He fell in love with her.

Francesca is one of many women who come to the rice paddies in northern Italy during the 40-day harvest.

The women arrive by train.  They sleep in bunks.  They stand in puddles.  They harvest the paddies.

They work in water.  They work in rain.

But Silvana met Walter before she met Marco.

She met him back in town.  In the square.  When she was dancing.  And he was trying to get away from the police.

He danced with her to hide from the police.

Walter is a thief.  Walter has a girlfriend named Francesca.  Walter has a very expensive bracelet.

Walter gave the bracelet to his girlfriend Francesca to put in her bandana to keep on her person at all times.

Then he saw Silvana dancing in the square.  And he joined her.

He put on a big hat and danced with Silvana so that the police would not recognize him.

Silvana bumped the hat while they were dancing.

And the hat fell off.

And the police saw Walter.

And Walter ran.

And as the women boarded the train to go to the farm to harvest the rice, Silvana befriended Francesca.

Of course she did.

Why would she not?

She saw that the police wanted Walter.

She saw that Walter embraced Francesca.

She saw that Walter gave Francesca something.

Something.

What could it be?

Whatever it was, it was something that the police wanted back.

How exciting!

A thrill.  An adventure.  A challenge.

Silvana wants the bad boy.

She wants to steal the bad boy from the bad boy's girl.  She wants to be the bad boy's girl.

She wants to have whatever he has stolen.

She wants to have it all.

Now here stands Marco, a good man, who wants to love her and take care of her, and she will have nothing to do with him.

Because he loves her.

She does not care for the desperate type.

Because that is not exciting.

Marco does not boogie-woogie.

"You'd better stop coming around the farm."  She tells him.

Walter is here now.  And she will go with him.

But Marco will not stop coming around the farm.

Silvana will not stop pursuing Walter.

Silvana has the bracelet.

She has stolen it from Francesca.  Because Francesca did not keep it on her person at all times.

But what none of them knows is that Walter has come to steal the rice.

He no longer cares about the bracelet.  Watch it to find out why.

He no longer cares about Francesca.

He now cares about Silvana because she is going to help him.  She can have the bracelet.  He wants the rice.

Is it possible that things might not turn out so well?

Bitter Rice is a juicy crime drama.

It is like an Italian version of an American film noir.

It was released in 1949, which is just the right time for film noir.

Giuseppe De Santis had worked with Luchino Visconti in 1942 on his first film.  Ossessione.

Obsession.

The Italian version of The Postman Always Rings Twice.  One of the hallmarks of film noir.

And there are moments here in the rice silo and the beef barn where the light shafts shift through the wood slats.  And the grain skids down through the wood chutes.  And the flood flumes down through the trough sluice.  And Miss Rice Worker of 1948 stands on the dock deck.  And climbs the clapboard platform like a gallows scaffold.  And the beef hangs down from the meat hooks.  And the slab drops down as the pulley turns.  And the rusty chain crawls across the sprocket teeth.

And the sciv stabs flesh like a butcher knife.

And the black guns come out in the dark shadows.

And lovers betray each other in the showdown.

Until the man hangs down like the beef from the meat hook.

And the woman falls from the clapboard platform like a gallows scaffold.

And rice is sprinkled like dirt over the body of the dead.

For everyone in film noir discovers that the scales will always balance.

That death is the wages of sin.

That crime must pay.

With bitter laughter.

Over bitter rice.

Until the bitter end.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

145 - That Obscure Object of Desire, 1977, France/Spain. Dir. Luis Bunuel.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

145 - That Obscure Object of Desire, 1977, France/Spain. Dir. Luis Bunuel.

A car bomb.

Terrorism is on the rise.

The terrorists are everywhere.

They do not do it for money.

They do it because they believe in it.  They love it.  They want the danger.  The adventure.  The risk.

They are willing to die.

Soon we will be reading about it on the Sports page.

So says Mathieu's friend at dinner.

They see bombs explode so often these days that it has become a commonplace.

A car will blow up in front of them as they are driving.  They simply turn around and take another route.

This is in 1977.  In France.  And in Spain.

Mathieu is rich.

His butler has recently hired a new chambermaid.

From Seville.  In Spain.  We are in Paris.

She is not very good at chambermaiding.

But she sure can turn Mathieu's head.

He shows her some affection.

The next morning she is gone.

He will run into her again later.  While she has another job.

He will pursue her again.

And the two will go around and around and around.

As he pursues her.  And she promises her heart to him.  And questions his heart for her.  And denies him pleasure.  And keeps him wanting.

This film is not a film noir.

But it may have more of a femme fatale than any film noir you have ever seen.

Apparently the secret to owning someone is to promise him what he wants, make him want it very badly, come so close to giving it to him, and then never give it to him.

And pull that carrot-and-stick in front of him for life.

Poor Mathieu.

Will he ever learn?

Fernando Rey plays Mathieu.

Fernando Rey has played in several Bunuel movies.

It is so great when an actor and director keep working together year after year.  They know each other's personalities, tendencies, and preferences.  They understand one another.  They communicate in a kind of shorthand.  They are on the same page.

We have seen only a couple of Bunuel-Rey collaborations, but they have been good.

Meanwhile, Conchita is played by . . . well, it would be a great experience for you if you could watch this movie without knowing ahead of time.

Try not to look it up.

It is a delightful surprise.

And one worthy of a surrealist.

With this movie Bunuel brings together a lifetime of filmmaking.

It is solidly of its time.  And of its place.

And yet is universal.

For all times.  And all places.

Because human nature does not change.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

144 - Belle Du Jour, 1967, France. Dir. Luis Bunuel.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

144 - Belle Du Jour, 1967, France. Dir. Luis Bunuel.

Severine loves her husband.

She just finds no pleasure in their love life.

It is not his fault.

He is doing nothing wrongly.

She just feels a little frigid towards him.

He is good to her.  He takes care of her.  He is gentle with her.  He attends to her.

He is a doctor, and he makes good money, and they live well.

She dresses like a fashion model.

She has freedom to do as she pleases.

Her life is good.

But she has these daydreams.

Fantasies.

Visions that take place in the previous century.  With horses and carriages.  And horse whips.  And cow manure.

She is not quite sure what to do with them.

One of their friends, Henri Husson, offers to help her.

Husson is played by the great Michel Piccoli.  His presence brings weight to this supporting role.

We have seen Piccoli in French Cancan (1955), Le Doulos (1963), and Contempt (1963).  He later appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz (1972).  He is one of those actors who improves a movie by stepping in front of the camera.  He is alive today at 91, and his credits span from 1945 to 2015.  Someone hire him!

One day at the tennis club Husson offers to have an affair with Severine.

She is disgusted.  She is a good woman.  Faithful.  Virtuous.

That virtue is what attracts him to her.

But she does not want to have an affair.

She loves her husband.

Her friend Renee tells her a little gossip.

Their friend Mathilde has started working.

Working at a house.  One of those houses that houses the oldest profession.

Severine is so virtuous that she did not realize that those houses still exist.

It takes four people to convince her otherwise.  Renee, the taxi driver, Husson, and her husband Pierre.

They still exist.  They have simply gone underground.

Severine visits a house.

She leaves.

She returns.

She leaves.

She returns.

Severine will work daily from 2:00 to 5:00.  Never after 5:00.  She must go home to her husband.

Her boss, Madame Anais, names her Belle Du Jour, "Woman of the Day," the opposite of a woman of the night, also meaning, "Beauty of the Day," a flower that blooms in the day time.

Severine grows used to it.

Her life at work begins to provide a release for the dreams she has been having.

The dreams begin to fade.

Her love life begins to improve.

She returns to her husband.

Things go well until two of her clients threaten to unbalance her world.

One is Husson.  Husson himself comes to call at the house.  Madame Anais and the girls recognize him as a former regular.  Severine suspects he somehow knew about her and has come on purpose.  He denies it.

The other is Marcel.  Marcel is a 23-year old gangster-in-training who has a volcano of danger bubbling beneath the surface, ready to erupt.  He grows a little obsessed.  She quits over it.  He no longer comes to call at the house.

So he comes to call at her house.

Uh-oh.

Bunuel the surrealist has made a mainstream movie.

With high-gloss production design.  Locations, set pieces, wardrobe, color.

While throwing in his surrealist touches in the dream sequences.  And in the ambiguous ending.

One scene fuses the dream and the reality.  Severine is picked up on a cafĂ© patio by a man who takes her to his country estate.  With horses and a carriage.  Is this the playing out of his fantasy?  Or is it one of her dreams?  Or both?

Severine is played by the one-and-only Catherine Deneuve.

Who looks fresh and pure as a daylilly.

She was already successful.  Along with the fresh success of Jacques Demy's The Young Girls of Rochefort, this movie hepled to make her an international star.

We have seen her in Repulsion (1965), The Last Metro (1980), and A Christmas Tale (2008).  She is now 73 and working very steadily.

At the end of the day we are not quite sure what is happening to the woman of the day.

Is it real or is she dreaming?  Or does she bring her dreams into reality with her husband?  Or does she bring her husband into her dreams?  Or was it all a dream?

Regardless, she appears happy.

Severine loves her husband.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

143 - Simon of the Desert, 1965, Mexico. Dir. Luis Bunuel.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

143 - Simon of the Desert, 1965, Mexico. Dir. Luis Bunuel.

Simon the Stylite lived on a platform atop a pillar for 37 years.

Near what is now Aleppo, Syria.

He was born in what is now Turkey.

He came along during a time of great change, when the Roman Empire was declining and Christianity was rising rapidly.

As a child he gave himself wholly over to God.

He lived in a part of the world and during a time that is difficult for contemporary Westerners to understand.

When we think of churches, we may think of the Roman Catholic and the Protestant traditions. 

Perhaps we also know something of the Greek Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Russian Orthodox.

But how much do we know of the Syriac, the Coptic, the Antiochian, the Oriental Orthodox, the Arab Orthodox, and the Eastern Catholic?

Along with their theologies and traditions?

We certainly do not know what it was like to live in the Middle East in the 5th century.

So it is difficult for us to understand the motivations of a man who chose to live out his life on a pillar in the desert.

On the surface it may seem like one of the most preposterous things we have ever heard.

We might think it is a great waste of a life.  We might think it is missing the point of grace.  We might believe he was motivated by a perverse pride.  We might believe he suffered from mental illness.

But do we know what he experienced in his heart?

It is certainly easy to make fun of something when you do not understand it.

I do not understand it.

And from watching the movie Simon of the Desert, I believe Luis Bunuel did not understand it.

But he had a good time making fun of it.

The cliché is that a critic of the church does not have a problem with God but has a problem with his "hypocritical" followers.

As long as the critic can keep saying that, he does not have to look in the mirror and deal with the condition of his own soul.

He does not have to do rigorous intellectual work.

He can stop thinking.

And point fingers.

And make fun of things.


Having said that, what if we watch this film without all that baggage.

What if we do not try to plumb the depths of Simon's soul or Bunuel's soul or our own souls.

What if we separate the film from the life of the historical person and watch it as a dramatic comedy.  Set in a historical period.

Simon lives atop a pillar.

His followers love him and want to bless him with a newer, taller pillar.

When he goes to mount the newer pillar they offer him priesthood.  He declines it, considering himself to be unworthy.

When his mother arrives, he asks that not even she stand between him and his love of God.  He hopes that if they are worthy they will meet again one day.

He climbs the pillar.

Various people come to him, including followers and curiosity seekers.

One man has had his hands cut off.  Simon heals his hands.  He slaps his daughter.

Others visit.  A priest.  A dwarf.  His mother.

Satan comes in the form of a woman.

Played by Sylvia Pinal.  A legendary Mexican actress.  In her third straight Luis Bunuel film we have seen.

She played Viridiana in Viridiana, Leticia in The Exterminating Angel, and now The Devil in Simon of the Desert.

She appears three times.  First, as an innocent little girl.  Second, as a woman dressed as Jesus Christ.  Third, as a toga-clad woman with a bared breast emerging from a self-moving coffin.

She does her best to tempt him.  To confuse him.  To make him deny Jesus.  But he remains steadfast.

Until finally an airplane flies overhead and she transports them to a discotheque where the hipsters are dancing the twist.

Simon wants to go home but she will not let him.  He is now stuck in this modern, wordly world.

The film is strengthened by the performance of Claudio Brook as Simon.

Brook also acted in all three Bunuel films we have just seen.

Here he plays it straight.  He does not wink or nod at the viewer.  He embraces his role with earnestness and sincerity.

The film is shot by Gabriel Figueroa, who lived to be 90 and had a long and prolific career--from 1932 to 1986--and who worked with Bunuel several times, including on his well-known film, Nazarin (1959).

I am curious where Bunuel will take us next.

Perhaps tomorrow we will find out.

Perhaps we will leave historical surrealist satires for awhile and enter the world of contemporary urban life.

With one of Europe's great stars.

Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Monday, May 22, 2017

142 - The Exterminating Angel, 1962, Mexico. Dir. Luis Bunuel.

Monday, May 22, 2017

142 - The Exterminating Angel, 1962, Mexico. Dir. Luis Bunuel.

Do you like action movies?

This is an inaction movie.

No actions were taken in the making of this movie.

Here is the plot:

A group of people are invited over for dinner.

When it is time to leave, they cannot leave.

And they do not know why.

That is the plot.

For the next hour-and-change they stand around, sit around, and lie around trying to figure out why they cannot leave.

The doors and windows are unlocked.

The people just cannot overcome the strange sense of lethargy that has overtaken them.

You may be the viewer sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to find out if they ever leave.

Or you may leave yourself before finding out.

The good news for you is that you can leave.

But wait!

I must tell you that this is Bunuel.

He is a surrealist.

So while they are unable to leave, a group of sheep walk through the house.

And a black bear.

And a human hand.

Yes, you read me correctly.

A severed human hand walks crablike on its fingertips through the house.

Thing from The Addams Family is making a cameo appearance!

A woman tries to stab it with a knife, but she has too much lethargy.

So it climbs upon her face.

And then disappears as quickly as it came so that we can get back to watching people unable to leave.

If only the hand had gotten a hold of the filmmakers.

If you want to know what happens in the end, you will have to watch this movie yourself.

If you can make it to the end without leaving.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

141 - Viridiana, 1961, Spain, Mexico. Dir. Luis Bunuel.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

141 - Viridiana, 1961, Spain, Mexico. Dir. Luis Bunuel.

A young woman is about to become a nun.

But first her Mother Superior has her visit a rich widower.

He falls in love with her.

No, this is not The Sound of Music.

That film came four years later.

And had different music.

This is Viridiana.  Directed by Luis Bunuel.  The Spaniard living in Mexico.  Making a movie back home in Spain.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.  Hallelujah.  Hallelujah.

George Frideric Handel's great chorus plays.

The beggars will form a picture of Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper.

Viridiana, the soon-to-be nun--if she can ever get there--tries to help people.

It is just that they do not seem to want her help.

When her Mother Superior has her visit Viridiana's uncle Don Jaime, he is struck by how much she looks like her aunt, his deceased wife.

He tries to get her to stay.

He resorts to tricks to try to keep her.

His tricks backfire.

And yet she stays.
                                                               
Luis Bunuel was an iconoclast.

Back when that term meant something.

He saw the world through amused lenses.

And was willing to poke fun at various institutions.

Viridiana's efforts become one of those institutions.

Viridiana's efforts do not turn out very well.

So she might as well play cards with her cousin and his mistress.

140 - The Kid with a Bike, 2011, Belgium, France, Italy. Dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

140 - The Kid with a Bike, 2011, Belgium, France, Italy. Dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne.

Every boy needs a father.

Just ask Cyril Catoul.

He is looking.  Searching.  Seeking.

More than one would search for lost treasure.

More than he would his own breath.

As though his life depended on it.

It does.

He skips school.

He goes to the last place his father lived.

He goes to all the people who knew him.

Samantha takes him in.

She becomes his foster mother.

It does not stop him.

He keeps looking.

Someone has stolen his bicycle.

Somehow they find it again.

It turns out to have been a boy.

A boy who is luring him into a gang.

By stealing his bicycle.

And letting them find it again.

And teaching him how to do the same.

Cyril discovers his father sold the bicycle.

For money.

For drug money.

The boys in the gang teach him how to ambush the innocent.

And hurt them.

To steal their money.

To deal drugs.

All he ever wanted was a father.

All he ever wanted was to be loved.

Friday, May 19, 2017

139 - A Christmas Tale, 2008, France. Dir. Arnaud Desplechin.

Friday, May 17, 2017

139 - A Christmas Tale, 2008, France. Dir. Arnaud Desplechin.

Family drama.

Begin with a great house.

With beautiful wallpaper, drapes, fabrics, furniture, light fixtures, artwork, music, food, drink, and of course bookshelves filled with great books.

Fill it with three generations.

And their compiled history.

Their family past.  Their individual memories.  Their collective unconscious.

Their native talents.  Their former hopes.  Their life choices.  Their disappointments.

Physical ailments.  The memory of the dead brother.  The life struggle of the mother.

Sibling rivalry.  A love quadrangle.  Financial challenges.  Lawsuits.  Mental illness.  Alcohol.

Bring in the spouses and the girlfriend.

Their struggles.  Their heartaches.  Their longings.  Their fears.

Their love and their hurt.

Their faith.

Roubaix.  A small city in northern France.

Abel and Junon Vuillard.  The patriarch and matriarch.

They had a boy.  Joseph.  He had leukemia.  They had another child to try to find a bone marrow donor.

Their son died.  At age 6.

His memory steers them.

Now they are grandparents.

With three grown children.  A daughter and two sons.

And a cousin.

And a son-in-law.  A daughter-in-law.  And a girlfriend.

And the friend of Abel's mother.  Rousaimee.

And grandchildren.  Basile and Baptiste.  Do you know our names?  Why do you keep getting it wrong?

And Paul.  16.  Mentally ill.

Now Junon has leukemia.  She tells them.  She needs a bone marrow donor.  Come for Christmas.

Elizabeth is married to Claude.  They have Paul.

Henri is dating Fauina.  She is Jewish.  And kind.

He faced bankruptcy.  Elizabeth paid off his debts.  Demanding he never set foot in her house again.

Henri drinks.

Ivan is married to Sylvia.  Henri once dated her.  So did Simon.  The cousin.  Raised in the home.

Sylvia loved Simon.

The boys decided Ivan was the right one to marry her.

She discovers this collusion now.

She is not pleased.

They get together for Christmas.  For Grandma.

At Grandpa and Grandma's house.

The family home.

Arnaud Desplechin traces the complex web of family ties in two hours and thirty-two minutes.

Catherine Deneuve plays the matriarch Junon.

The story is beautifully filmed.

And it feels honest.

He just places it all out there for us to see.

Just like our own families.

The messiness of our own lives.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

138 - Man Bites Dog, 1992, Belgium. Dir. Remy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoit Poelvoorde.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

138 - Man Bites Dog, 1992, Belgium. Dir. Remy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoit Poelvoorde.

Benoit is a killer producer.

Literally.

He kills to get money to produce a film about how he kills to get money to produce a film.

His fellow filmmakers, Remy the director and Andre the cameraman, follow his actions.

First they film him.

Then they help him.

Then they become like him.

No dogs were bitten in the making of this film.

No dogs are shown in the film.

The phrase comes from journalism.  From a phrase that says--

When a dog bites a man, it is not news; but when a man bites a dog, that is news.

We are not exactly sure what the man-bite equivalent is in the film, as the newsworthy events are not the unusual reversal of mundane events, but the relentless killing spree of an amoral cynic.

Perhaps it is that he is otherwise so pleasant.  Interested in classical music, poetry, architecture, and amateur philosophy.

The film was originally titled It Happened in Your Neighborhood.

I hope not!

The film was made by a group of Belgium film students who had no money, so they made a film about a group of filmmakers who had no money.

And they filled it with their own black humor.

It is filmed in grainy black and white and is replete with graphic violence, rape, and misanthropy.  In America it is rated NC-17.

Somehow the film got picked up by festivals, won awards, and received praise from critics.

It is understandable that some critics might find it provocative, "intentionally disturbing," and a statement about the depths to which man can go.

But it seems they give the young film students more credit than they have earned.

In film schools these kinds of films are a dime a dozen.

Many students have no money.  Many make films about filmmakers making films about filmmakers making films.  Many fill their films with their own black humor.

Posing.  Emoting their darker thoughts.  Trying to shock.  Claiming irony.

In an interview on the disc the three young men are asked if their film is a critique or an exploitation.  Naturally, they say it is a critique.  But they have a difficult time articulating themselves and they seem to have no supporting rationale for their claim.

Not that it has to be exploitation either.

They were simply student filmmakers making a film with no money.  And having fun with their dark humor.

My questions are, 1) Does the film stand on its own?  2) Does it show a burgeoning talent that will be developed in their upcoming careers?  3) Did these young filmmakers move into sustainable careers.

Whether or not it stands on its own is up to the viewer.  I found it trivial.

It is like a joke that once told belabors the punchline for another hour and a half.  Look!  He is a truly amoral man!  He does shocking and terrible things, but he feels no remorse and he is so charming!  Do you get it?  Do you get it?  Yes, I got it in the first five minutes.  Now I have 90 minutes to be subjected to more of the same.  With no character or narrative development.  Just a long series of shock and charm, shock and charm, shock and charm.

And of course they themselves die in the end.  Get it?  Get it?

It does show some talent.  The editing, for example, is good.  It has a feel for timing and effectiveness.  And Benoit plays his persona with charisma and panache.  He plays the sadism and violence in the same way he talks to his mother.

As for the careers of the three filmmakers, two have done little else and one of them has died.  The third, Benoit, has continued to work as an actor, and he has worked steadily.

His charisma has been rewarded.

I suppose one could make comparisons to Malcolm McDowell, who as a young man played the amoral Alex in A Clockwork Orange and has gone on to have a stellar career.

Not that one is equating them on the quality and quantity of their output, but on the trajectory.

This film appeals to a narrow taste.

And I want to encourage young critics that you do not have to be manipulated into a corner.  Where if you point out that the emperor is wearing no clothes you will be labeled as squeamish or prudish or square.  Where you feel you have to pretend the emperor is wearing clothes just to be accepted as sophisticated.

After all, the clothes may be metaphorical.  Or imagined.  Or microscopic.  Or in another dimension.  Or maybe others just do not see them!

So you had better play along!

Or maybe some films are simply just not that great.

And frankly, this kind of sudden fame can be unfair to the filmmakers as well.  They were kids in school making an assignment.  They had no money.  They were having fun.

They are not the ones claiming to be great auteurs.  The critics put them on that pedestal.  I can imagine they may have been scared out of their wits that they could not fulfill the expectations suddenly thrust upon them.

So what if we remove the pressure.

What if we remove the baggage that the Criterion label can bring to a film like this.

What if we let it off the hook of having to be important and allow it be cheap entertainment.

As if we had picked it up from the local drugstore bargain bin and watched it on a late Friday night with some beer and pizza and some easygoing friends.

Then maybe we can allow the film to breathe better.

And stand on its own.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

137 - Coup de Torchon, 1981, France. Dir. Bernard Tavernier.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

137 - Coup de Torchon, 1981, France. Dir. Bernard Tavernier.

Lucien Cordier is the local police chief of a French village in colonial West Africa.

Bourkasa.  Senegal.

He is weak.

His wife Huguette takes advantage of him.

She keeps her brother Nono at their house and shows him affection.  And more.

If he is her brother.

She takes Lucien's money.

She berates him.

Everyone in town humiliates him.

Vanderbrouck the businessman.

Le Peron.

The two local pimps.

Lucien is used to it.

He lets people push him around.  He offers to receive bribes, but people do not even do that.  They simply ignore him, mock him, kick him in the pants, shove him in the river, and laugh at him.

Lucien has his own mistress.

Rose.

Who is married to a man who beats her.

One day he decides he has had enough.

He rides a train to consult with his superior.

His superior advises him to toughen up.

He toughens up.

He meets Anne on the way back.

She is the new teacher.

She does not fit in this world.

She is good.

Good hearted.  Good minded.  Good souled.

Now he has a challenge.

Lucien is not good.

And he is willing to get his hands dirty to clean up the town.

He begins to clean up the town.

He gets his hands dirty.

Using his own style of justice.

He eliminates the pimps.

He removes Le Peron.

He drops Vanderbrouk in the pit of the loo.

He sets up Rose to take care of Huguette and Nono.

Nono Huguette.

Then strangely, he turns against Rose.  And sends her on her way.

And he chooses not to pursue Anne.

He knows he is not good.

Bernard Tavernier, the director, adapted this story from a Jim Thompson novel.

Pop. 1280.

Meaning it is about a town with a population of 1,280 people.

Or "1280 souls."

The town of Pottsville.  In Potts County.

In West Texas.

Tavernier had read the novel and loved it.  He wanted to make it into a film.  But he could not translate the small-town hardboiled American amorality into the streets of Paris.

When he thought about taking it to French colonial West Africa, he realized he could do it.

The rural setting.  The racial tensions.  The heat.

He films the setting in rich colors.  With Philippe Noiret as Lucien Cordier wearing memorable salmon-colored and yellow t-shirts with a khaki brim hat matching his pants.

Philippe Noiret plays his role with mysterious ambiguity.

Is he passive?  Is he broken?  Is he lazy?  Is he corrupt?

Is he stupid or does he know what he is doing?

You can watch this movie more than once and see different movies.  Different motivations.

You can see the heat rising from the earth.

You can see the dust in the air.

In a system that is broken.

Among people who are lost.

Some dead in the river.

Some dead inside.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Monday, May 15, 2017

135 - . . . And the Pursuit of Happiness, 1986, United States. Dir. Louis Malle.

Monday, May 15, 2017

135 - . . . And the Pursuit of Happiness, 1986, United States. Dir. Louis Malle.

Vasily Bolos.  Romania.

A man walks around Texas.  3,200 miles.

For the Sesquicentennial.  The 150-years anniversary of Texas.

For the love and respect for this country.

Vasily Bolos escaped from Romania a few years ago.

He walked over mountains.  He swimmed the Danube.  He found his way to America.

The land of opportunity.

"We come with a lot of dreams and we work hard to achieve it."

Louis MalleParis, France.

Louis Malle now takes a look at immigrants.

"My name is Louis Malle.  I didn't walk like Vasily Bolos, but for three months I rambled around this country, filming some of the millions who have come to America recently to fulfill their dreams or for other treasons."

Cambodian refugees.

January 1968, Kennedy Airport.

Survivors of some of the worst genocide this planet has known since World War 2.

These are among the happy few admitted to the U.S.

They come from camps in Thailand where thousands of their compatriots are waiting for a future.

Customs.  The customs official checks them through.  He is friendly.

D8-41.  They're coming from Rome.

All right.  They're all set.  Thank you.

He lets them through.

Admen Malaq.  A freedom fighter from the mountains of Kurdistan.

Now a taxi driver in Dallas.  Last month he became his own boss.  He and a group of drivers from Africa and the Middle East got together to form the Liberty Taxi Company.

Gideon OdjariGhana, West Africa.

The president of Liberty Cab.  He has a degree from the University of Michigan.

Everybody owns one share.  Each driver gets one vote.  They are entitled to a share of the profits.  They have 135 drivers.  Their goal is to get to 400.

Boris Leskin.  One of the best-known stage actors in the Soviet Union.

In Russia he was rich and famous.  He owned his own apartment.  He drove a big car.  He spoke no English at all.

Why did he come to America?

"Now is beginning of my second life."

He speaks to his students: "Projection through your body."

He wanted to teach Americans "the real Stanislavski" [the father of modern acting].

He says in the United States Stanislavski's method is not taught clearly.  They only teach part of it.  He wants to teach it properly.

He wants to be in the movies.

"There are not too many jobs in Hollywood for a 60-year old Russian genius with an accent."

Yet Louis Malle himself says he understands Boris Leskin's desire.

"I know exactly what Boris is talking about.  There is something irresistible about coming to America and starting all over again."

Public School 89Queens, New York.

Children of 17 nationalities taught American history by a woman born in the Philippines.

A woman on the street corner selling you the opportunity to take your picture with a cardboard cutout of Sylvester Stallone.

Where do you come from?

What's the difference?

I'm here now.

God bless America.

Sohpia EduarteCuba.

In 1980 she was one of the Mariel boat people.  She got a high school equivalency.  She went to Dade County Community College.  She took a two-year program to become a computer analyst.

She married another Cuban immigrant.  They live in Little Havana in Miami.

She brought her dog.

"He speaks English!  He loves America.  He loves the food.  He is a refugee.  But when his mother becomes a U.S. citizen, he will become a U.S. citizen."

"It was my dream to come to the United States.  The life in Cuba was so poor.  People had no ambitions.  In America you can have what you want."

Do you ever miss Cuba?

"Never.  Never.  And I think I will never be back."

Minh EnglesonVietnam.

Police officer for the Westminster Police Department in Santa Ana, California.

Almost 100,000 Vietnamese have resettled in Orange County, and most of them do well.

They shop at their own supermarkets.  The produce is fresher and cheaper.

During The Yellow Peril, there were riots in Los Angeles in 1871 and 19 Chinese were lynched.  The Oriental Exclusion Act shut off Asian immigration for decades.

But that is over.

Newcomer High SchoolSan Francisco.

Children from 34 different countries, speaking 22 different languages and dialects study here.

They are very motivated.  They understand that they have to work hard and study hard.

45,000 Chinese came to the U.S. last year.

They are learning math and English at the same time.

Jun-Yun KimKorea.

He has been in America four years.  He spoke no English when he came.  He goes to school for seven or eight hours a day.  He does homework for four hours.  Then he helps his parents at the grocery store.

He wants to go into medicine.  His grades are good enough that he has his choice of Ivy League schools.  He is interested in Columbia or Princeton.

Nick HaVietnam.

He escaped on a boat.  He wants to go to Stanford or Cal Tech.

Last year he won a national art competition.  His painting is hanging in the U.S. Capitol.

He wants to be an aerospace engineer.

B.J. Singh BindraIndia.

He is younger.  In elementary school.  He has won a limerick contest.  He wants to be a scientist.

Franklin Chang-DiazCosta Rica.  Roots in China.

His paternal grandfather was an immigrant from China to Costa Rica.

He is the first NASA astronaut not born in the United States.

When he was a child he created a makeshift training simulator in his backyard consisting of cardboard boxes and chairs.

He came to the United States at age 17 and through hard work and scholarships he graduated from M.I.T. and received his PhD.

Louis Malle shows footage of him in space.

He trains daily for future missions.

Dr. Nguyen Duc DiemSaigon.

He now lives and practices in Bridgeport, Nebraska.  He came on a program for Vietnamese physicians.  He chose Nebraska to give back.

Pete LapsorisGreece.

Pete is one of Dr. Diem's patients in Bridgeport.  They joke.  They play cards.  They eat together.

Pete is 93 years old.  He came through Ellis Island.  New York.  It was the only way to get in.

He came in 1907 at the age of 14.  He worked for a dollar a day.

Dr. Diem is married to Janet from Illinois.

She is a nurse.  They delivered all the babies together.  Now they are having their own.  They have two children and are expecting their third.

Two of Dr. Diem's brothers are in the United States and a third is in Malaysia, working on coming over.

Allen Parkway VillageDowntown Houston.

A Federal development going back to the 1930s.  Originally for blacks, now half of its residents are Indo-Chinese.

Lenwood Johnson.  Head of the Residents Council.

The Asians get away with things that the blacks are not able to get away with.

They dry their fish in the sun.

If we say something, they are offended.  If they say something, we are not allowed to be offended.

Mr. Johnson believes that the city moved them in in order to do away with the place and replace it with luxury apartments.  He says the Vietnamese do not know their rights or the laws, so they can come by and tell them to leave in two hours, and they do.

Now 30% of the units are unoccupied.

The JedatsEgypt.

Men pray in Arabic while kneeling.

The daughter says she does not want to go back to Egypt.  "It stinks!"

The Arabs are becoming doctors, scientists, teachers, and engineers.

But they are conscious of their image.

Mr. Jedat says people think of them as having been born in a tent and riding camels.  He is frustrated that people see terrorism around the world and think all Arabs are terrorists.  He and his wife want to have nothing to do with that.

"We try to blend in, as I'm sure most immigrants have done over the years."

Itzhiam Hassan.  Arab.

He prays at a mosque in Richardson, Texas.

He complains about the social problems in America.

Amina IsmaelPakistan.

She was a schoolteacher in Pakistan.  Now she is a beautician in America.

Louis Malle does not know the word beautician.  She explains that it means hairstyling.

She works with Elizabeth Arden.

Louis Malle imagines that for women "the freedom of choices must be thrilling."

Derek WalcottSt. LuciaWest Indies.

A poet and playwright.

Immigrants are constantly becoming American.

He says the downside is making every taste the same.

Meserite GazanEthiopia.

He started washing dishes in a New York restaurant.

Then he worked for Yellow Cab.

Then he worked in finance.

Then he trained at a technical school.

Texas Instruments recruited him there.

Now he works for Texas Instruments in the missile program for the Defense Department.

He says, "Hard struggle will be rewarded."

Sonja GazanJamaica.

Meserite Gazan's wife.  He is from Ethiopia.  She is from Jamaica.

They mix foods.

Ali Moutimizgan.

He owns a restaurant.

He says when he came to America he decided to forget the past.  He decide that he would stay here and therefore would do things the way people do them here.  He would not bring things here but leave them at home.

Jorge Alvarado.

Born Catholic.  Now Evangelical.

Pastors the Ministerio de Varones Spanish church in the Houston suburbs.

They worship.

He preaches the Gospel.

He prays for his people.

"O, Heavenly Father.  We need your power."

Kim PatamaruangLaos.

Her family escaped  Laos in 1975 when she was 7.  Now she is 18.  She teaches Laotian dance.  She eats pizza and hamburgers.  She says traditional Laotian dishes are "smelly."

Richard PatamaruangLaos.

Kim's father.

He was a Brigadier General in the Laotian army.

When he came to America he did not know what to do.  Since he knew guns, he began working at a gun factory.

He has a son and two grandchildren in Connecticut.

The grandchildren speak English.

Nila PatelIndia.

Now in San Jose, California.

He and his family own two motels, a couple houses, and condominiums. 

The Sands Motel.  Opened July 4, 1974.
The Park View Motel.

He and his wife worked 16 hours a day.

He is organizing his own bank.  The state has recently given him a charter.

His son plans to go to Stanford.

They are raising their children to keep their traditional language and customs.

He believes he has the best of both worlds.

Roger Conner works for FAIR--the Federation for Immigration Reform.

He says that not all immigrants realized their dreams in the founding of this country.  About one-third went back to their homes.

Illegal Immigrants.

Louis Malle spends time at the Mexican border.

Illegal immigrants are taking construction jobs.  Legal immigrants complain to him about it.

"The farmer knows if he can get an undocumented immigrant working for him, he can cheat him out of his money."

He shows Mexico as being in an economic crisis, so Mexicans try to get to America to get jobs to send money back to their people.

A man in Jalisco makes 900 pesos a day.  Around $2.00.  To provide for his wife and seven children.

The border is made of rugged canyons and is difficult to control.

Border Patrol Agent.

They patrol using helicopters, three-wheelers, and infrared telescopes.

He says that it is impossible to prosecute everyone, so they offer them a hearing or voluntary return.  Most choose voluntary return.

Ten years ago 10 pesos = $1.00.
Today 700 pesos = $1.00.

[The numbers are provided by Louis Malle.]

Francisco FloresMexico.

He crosses the border illegally.

Sometimes he pays people to carry others across.  Sometimes he asks them to do it without paying them.

He speaks to--

Hal Isel.  Border Patrol Officer.

Francisco and Hal talk like members of rival sports teams.

So you tried to cross the border?

And I promise I will try it again.

We always treat you like a human being, right?

How long until you come back?

Maybe half an hour.

Vaya con Dios.

Francisco is bussed back to the border two miles away.

He crosses again that night.

Hal Isel says, "The only way to stop the invasion is through meaningful immigration reform."

It is a myth that we cannot make it without them, just as we once said we could not make it without child labor in the fields.

Louis Malle shows more people on more sides of the debate, and whether he intends to or not, he makes the conservative case.

He shows that allowing people to cross illegally only hurts them.  Roger Conner calls it the importing of a subclass to do the dirty work.  To get away with creating slave-like conditions.  He states that the children of illegal immigrants have a 40-60% school dropout rate and make up the majority of the gangs of Los Angeles.

And that the very people who came over illegally to work below minimum wage end up unemployed here.

General SomozaNicaragua.

The General Somoza of Nicaragua.  The former dictator.  The head of the country.

The Somozas ruled Nicaragua for 40 years.  They were thrown out by the Sandinistas.  Yet they do not support the Contras.

They live in Miami.

They have a great house.  Their dining room seats 24 people.

General Somoza watches Mexican soap operas and tends to his garden.

His extended family lives with him.

The children treat him with formality.  He is General Somoza.

The grandchildren treat him casually.  He is their grandpa.  At first this was a shock to him.  It seemed disrespectful.

One of the nephews says, "To me this is more a natural life than what we had before.  I am able to take my life in whichever direction I want.

Now I am free.

I'm really happy."

Diane JonesTrenton, New Jersey.

Assimilation in reverse.

Diane is a black American.  She is the lead singer of a musical group of Russian Jews.

She sings in Russian at The Odessa.

The Odessa.

Brighton Beach.  Brooklyn.

The Russian Jews.

A man--

I love music.
I love jazz.
I love freedom.

A woman--

I love the United States.
I love the America.
It is my country.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

134 - God's Country, 1985, United States. Dir. Louis Malle.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

134 - God's Country, 1985, United States. Dir. Louis Malle.

1979

Louis Malle takes his cameras and microphone to Glencoe, Minnesota.

Apparently he was commissioned by PBS to document an American subject and initially set out to create a documentary about shopping malls.

But he gave that up and looked for another topic.

He was driving the roads of rural Minnesota when he saw a woman tilling her garden.

Miss Fitzhau tills her garden.  She is 84.

She wears a bonnet that stretches to cover both her face and her neck.

She has no family but has one boarder.  Otto Walters lives upstairs.  He rooms with her.

She likes gardening better than going out and gossiping.

She is open and warm and friendly.

Louis Malle takes to her.  He understands her.  He appreciates her.

When he drives away he tells us that it has been awhile since he was able to travel with a camera and meet people.  It feels good to be at it again.

He is grateful to Miss Fitzau for speaking to him.

Between her and the County Fair, he has decided to stay in Glencoe.

He takes up residence in the Star Hotel.

This will be his subject matter for awhile.

This will be his home.

He is "making friends."

Louis Malle goes to the county fair.  People dance.  They are of German origin.  They have brought over their music and dancing.

A man swings a mallet three times.  The onlookers heads bob up and down with the ball.  He rings the bell on his third try.  He celebrates.

We meet Rod Petticort at the fair.  He is drinking and enjoying himself.  He tells us he is the assistant chief of police.

Members of the Foreign Legion talk about their war experiences.

The Lions Club runs the BINGO game.

There are nine churches in town.  Seven Catholic, two Protestant.

Louis Malle visits one of them.  One of the Catholic ones.

The sanctuary is large and spacious.  The choir sings and the organist plays from the back of the sanctuary, behind the backs of the congregation.  The camera pans around as they sing:

". . . Perfect in power, in love, and purity. / Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty / All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. . . . "

He interviews the pastor.  He calls him open-minded and warm.  The pastor talks about how things are in the community and how the generations respond to change.

Louis Malle seems genuinely to love the people.

He is amazed by their lawnmowing.

He shows lots of people mowing.  It looks all very normal to us.  But not to him.

Apparently it is not such a thing in Paris.

He calls it "a vestige of the pioneering spirit."

The girls' softball team.  Glencoe versus The Valkyries of Hamburg, Minnesota.

Glencoe wins.  It is their second win of the season.  They are ecstatic.   They are going to the Pizza Ranch to celebrate.

We go to the Dairy Queen.  He interviews the owner.  It is a family business.  Run by him, his wife, and three of their children.  He says it is a good living.

We go to the drugstore.  It is run by Mr. Barnum, Sr., Mrs. Barnum, and Mr. Barnum, Jr.

We meet Rod Petticort again.  This time he is on duty.  He is dressed in uniform, driving his squad car.  He is all business.  He explains that there is little crime here, and they intend to keep it that way.

We meet Brian Fullman, a 10-year old boy who drives an 8-wheeled John Deere tractor, the largest tractor John Deere makes, the tires of which are taller than him.  He works on his dad's farm.  Driving the tractor is all in a day's work.

We talk to farmers.

The man who grows grain.

The local bank, started by Mr. Clayton Hoese's father in 1935.

Clayton Hoese is a both a banker and a farmer, so "people can't fool us when it comes to agricultural loans."

His son Dale Hoese is a loan officer.  He milks cows in the evening.

His eldest son runs his own farm.

His son David takes care of the hogs.  Processing the hogs into bacon.

Jim McIntire, 28, and his wife Bev run a mid-sized farm that belonged to his grandfather.  His father lives next door, and they are business partners.

Jim drives his tractor.  Cultivating corn.

Bev prepares lunch.  It means opening tin cans.  They do not eat the food they grow.  It goes to be processed.

Bev wants to be thought of as a homemaker and a partner with Jim.

Louis Malle loves Jim and Bev.  He says, "Jim and Bev's hospitality is so gracious, I feel I have known them my whole life."

They sit down to eat.  They pray.  "Dear Lord Jesus, be our guest.  Let this food to us be blessed."

Bev talks how times are changing.

You find now that young girls are waiting until they are 20, 21, 22 to get married!

Save your money so that you have something.

Malle interviews Arnold and Millie, a lawyer and local playwright.

Their son was arrested for burglarizing a draft office to try to burn the draft cards.  They were surprised, because they had raised him to be law-abiding.  But they have grown to accept his point of view about the war.

Steve, 31, is the town's most eligible bachelor.  He inseminates cows and performs in Millie's plays.  We watch him do both!

A young woman pumps gas.
 
Jean, who works at social security and as a bartender.  She speaks openly about her experience living with her boyfriend for three months, breaking up, and then discovering she was pregnant.  She gave it up for adoption.  Her experience in a small town was difficult.  Her interview is heart-felt.

She says, "I'm 26--I'll be 27 this month--so I'm getting up there."

We go to Glenhaven.  The nursing home

We see a wedding.

At the Emmanuel Lutheran Church.  Tammy and Robert are getting married.  Tammy is 17.

The bridesmaids wear pastel little-bo-peep dresses and hats.

They have a banquet at Pla-Mor.  He calls it Play Manor.

They go barhopping.

The groomsmen are wearing the bridesmaids' hats.  A groomsman tries to buy a beer without ID.  He tells the bartender it is for his mother.  The bartender does not give him the beer.

Dancing.  The polka.  The music is hot.

Accordion.  Trumpets.  Bass guitar.  Electric guitar.  Drums.

The band members are coordinated.  They move together.

They pass the Coffee Cup Café.

August 17, 1985.

Six years later.

Louis Malle is driving down the street.  He is nervous to be returning.  What will he find?

Miss Fitzhau!

She is still out in her garden.  Instead of her bonnet, she is wearing a wig.

She is 91.

The Dairy Queen.

Church of Saint Pius.

Lawnmowing.

Arnold Beneke.  The town lawyer.

His wife Millie has written five new plays.

Rod Petticort is now the deputy sheriff of the neighboring county.  He has put on weight.  He misses Glencoe.

Tammy and Robert are still married.  They have two girls and a "spacious six-room trailer."  They are watching TV.

Steve is now 37, still inseminating cows.  He has put on weight.  He is still single.  Now he is thinking of getting married at 40.

He inseminates about 7,000 cows a year.  He has inseminated about 50- or 60,000 cows in his career.

He plays softball.  He is getting older and he does not swing as quickly as he used to.

Louis Malle visits his friends, Jim and Beverly.

Jim has not put on weight.  He still looks thin.  They sit at the table.  Now they have three children.

"Dear Lord Jesus, be our guest.  Let this food to us be blessed."

Same prayer.

Bev works at the post office.

Jean has moved to Florida.

Clayton Hoese has died.

Louis Malle interviews farmers.  Times are tougher now because the prices have fallen and they do not get as much income for their work.

Some express it in political terms.

Louis Malle listens.

Watching Calcutta and God's Country back to back results in an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

Louis Malle is an empathetic interviewer.  He largely lets people speak for themselves, either by watching silently or by letting them talk.  He inserts his opinions occasionally, but his films are not overrun or driven by them.

He is kind to Glencoe.  Kind to the Midwest.  Kind to America.

Despite jabs at Vietnam and race and free enterprise, he seems to care genuinely about the people he interviews.

The people of God's Country are blessed.

The people of God's Country bless God.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

133 - Calcutta, 1969, France. Dir. Louis Malle.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

133 - Calcutta, 1969, France. Dir. Louis Malle.

Louis Malle turns his gaze to India.

Calcutta.

People in the river.

Herds of cows passing busses and trains.

Elephants in the streets.

Men rubbing the backs of other men.  Rubbing their faces.

People sitting on the sidewalks.  Lying on the side of the road.

People boarding busses.  Riding trains.  Walking.  Sitting on mats.  Lying down.

Calcutta is the city of Mother Theresa.  The Mothers of Charity.  Caring for the sick.  Providing for the poor.

The Dying Room.  Where people go to die.  Some survive and return to the streets.

Soldiers.  Marchers.  Protesters.

The United Front.  Composed of Center-Left to Communist.  Governed West Bengal after the elections of 1967.

Overthrown.

Martial law declared.

Assemblies of more than five people forbidden.

Every afternoon in front of the governor's palace, partisans of the United Front defy the law.

The police arrest them and take them away in vans without violence on either side.

Today it is the women's organizations who are demonstrating.  The orange flag and trident are symbols of a religious sect.

Slogans.

"They call that Ghandism.  We call it fascism!"

"Long live the revolution!"

"Bengal, another Vietnam!"

These women will spend three days in prison, some with their children.

Kumartoli.  In the northern part of the city.  Artisans prepare clay statues of naked women.  For the festival of Saraswati.  Goddess of Wisdom.  Wife of Brahma.  Protectress of Students.

They dress them.  They paint them.

The statues are expensive.

The people are poor.

Thousands of statues are sold.

A man drums with thin sticks.  Others join him.

The day before the festival, drummers drum on the sidewalks.  They are paid for their services.

Students dance.  Students from the University of Calcutta.

The statues are displayed for a week.  Before the houses and in the streets.

Then the statues are brought in solemn procession to the river.  And plunged in.

The horse track.  Horses race from right to left.  Clockwise.  Standing attendees dressed in white.  Those seated dressed in suits and contemporary dress.

The memorial to Queen Victoria.

Louis Malle tells us that Calcutta did not exist until the British built a fort on the site of a fishing village.  A trading post.

In the 18th century the British East India Company drew from the resources of Bengal.

The Royal Calcutta Golf Club.  Surrounded by high walls.  Filled with portraits of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Originally in Bengal, there were jute fields to the east and jute factories to the west.  After the partition of 1947, the jute fields ended up in East Pakistan and the jute factories in India.  India had to create new jute fields where there once were rice fields.

Bengal, once a rice exporter, now struggles to feed its people.

Workers in the jute factory in India are refugees from Pakistan.

Workers ride on top of trains.  And hang on the side.  They enter from the outskirts into the city.  To work or to sell their wares in the market.

Many manage to ride without a ticket.  The train is in debt.  The train might close.

Men carry large baskets on their heads.

Greater Calcutta has more than 8,000,000 residents.  (Today it is around 14,000,000.)

The population has tripled since independence. 

2,000,000 refugees have come from Pakistan.

Immigrants enter from the countryside.

Food is rationed.

Residents use ration cards for rice, sugar, and oil.

Today is the festival of the Chinese New Year.

50,000 Chinese live in Calcutta.

The dancing dragon.  Fireworks!

Sadhus.  Renunciants.  People who have renounced society.  They live in the streets.  They live off charity.

Flowers.

Every morning at the temple people buy flowers to lay as offerings before images of gods

Kali.  Wife of Shiva.  Goddess of Death and Destruction.

Every morning at the temple of Kali goats are beheaded in ritual sacrifice.

Burning Ghats.  Where cremation takes place.  The husband and the priest together.

Because the Hindus believe in reincarnation, death is not viewed as a beginning or an end but as a part of a cycle.

Verses are recited in Sanskrit.

The priest evokes the four elements: water, fire, earth, air.

The body is covered in wooden sticks.

Something is sprinkled over the body.

They light the fire.

They burn the body in the open street.

Shantytowns.

More than 500,000 have no home.

Immigrants continue to pour in.

A man sits on the street polishing somebody's shoes.  Men sit on the streets shaving other men.

Women carry stacks of bricks on their heads.  Big bricks.  One brick left-to-right across her head.  Three pairs of bricks front-to-back above it.

Construction workers.

A 25-story building.

Labor is cheap and abundant.

Twelve men are used to pull on a pulley.

The twelve men cost less than the pulley.

Sign: Scrap Automation.

Children pulled in rickshaws.

People pushing carts.

2,000,000 Bihari live here.

They are the sub-proletariat.

They work and save for 20 years in order to return to their families.

They complain that there are two men for every one woman in Calcutta.

A religious ceremony across from the train station.  Porters sing.  Ring bells.  Clap.  Light candles.  Dip sticks in flower bundles.  Place flowers on pictures.

Men pumping water at a water pump.

A leatherworker.

A cigarette salesman.

A book vendor.

The Marwari control parts of Calcutta.

They come from the state of Rajasthan.

A wedding!

An accordion plays all night for the guests.

They carry in the bride.  She is sitting with her legs crossed on a plank.

The father is rich.  A printer.  A member of the Rotary.  And the Congress party.

The ceremony lasts 40 minutes.

She has a large dowry.  Of cash.  And the jewelry she is wearing.

They part her hair with a red ribbon.  She will keep it until she dies or is widowed.

A thousand guests sit to eat in shifts.

No alcohol.

The cost--15,000 rupees.

Sitars.

Students study for 12 years.  With no professional ambition.  But the joy of playing.

Their teacher is Aashish Khan.  Son of Ali Akbar.  Nephew of Ravi Shankar.

Students protest in the street.

The governor has closed the university.

One student denounces the demonstration as opportunists from the United Front.

Another student says they are in solidarity with the peasants.  That they are following the example of the Chinese and Vietnamese.

They are not united.

They come from different groups.  They have different points-of-view and different goals.  It is not even clear most of them know what they want.

Or why they are there.

They march down the street with the energy and confusion of youth.

10,000 policemen and soldiers are waiting for them.

They protesters disperse.

A religious procession interrupts the demonstration.

The anniversary of the death of Rabidas, founder of a syncretic sect, composed of low-caste Hindus, untouchables, Sikhs, and Muslims.

Just as ragtag as the protesters.

And the soldiers shooting smoke bombs just as ragtag as the religious parade and the protesters.

No leaders among any of the groups.

Everything in chaos.

A sign in a window: "All reactionaries are paper tigers."

A Leper.  Reciting a poem in Urdu.  The disease cost him his job and family.

There are between 70,000 and 80,000 lepers in Calcutta.  Most beggars.

He explains that he cannot board a bus or tram.  That if he orders tea, he is asked to provide his own teapot.

"Our own people look at us with hate-filled eyes."

The nuns teach him to pray.

Our Father . . .

The nuns distribute soybean oil furnished by UNICEF.

The cans marked in 17 languages.

Donated by the people of the United States.

A Sadhu made a vow 7 years ago never to sit or lie down.  He stands night and day under a tree in a public garden.  Surrounded by his followers.  A few yards from the Grand Hotel.

The Maiden.  A huge public park in the center of the city.  Every Sunday it is filled with people.

Wrestlers.  Vendors.  Singers.  Story-tellers.  Musicians.  Priests.

All vying at the same time for the crowd's attention.

A man hangs upside down from a tall pole.  He spins around on his belly on top of the pole.

A man does a stunt with his toddler.  He ties her to a rope.  He pulls her up into the air, hanging upside-down from her ankles.  He swings her wildly, her head a few feet from the ground.  She seems to be a veteran street performer.  She acts like a pro.

People tell stories.  The themes are taken from the epics of India.  The Ramayana.  The Mahabharata.

Men who do not know each other pray and sing together all afternoon and evening.

Living conditions have eliminated religious taboos.  Muslims and Hindus share the same houses and wells.  Which would be unthinkable in a village.

Ten people live in two rooms.

Several thousand cows are housed in the slums with the people.  The excrement and refuse from the cows block the sewage canals and stand in the open street.

In the heart of the slums potters make clay cups.  Which they sell to tea shops.

Warthogs live among the people in the slums.  And eat from the open sewage.

In Howrah garbage has not been collected for several months.  The municipality is low on funds.

Balls made of coal dust and cow patties are used for fuel.

The beggars earn a better living than the workers.

Leprosy is not hereditary, but the children catch it from their parents through contagion.

Ragpickers.  Their children do not go to school.  They speak Tamil.  Their skin is darker.

"They are astonished to be filmed, to be pitied, to be a source of indignation."

A girl pumps a water pump.

She smiles.