Month: April 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Schindler’s List – 1993

There is so much to say about this movie.  Out of necessity, this is going to be a pretty long review.  This winner, in my opinion, was one of the big ones, up there on a scale matching Gone With the Wind, and Ben-Hur.  The film was huge in its sheer size and scope.  It was also an important movie that has a very powerful message.  But I must warn anyone who wants to see this movie: grab the hankies.  It is an emotionally wrenching film.

How can it not be?  It is, of course, about the Holocaust, and as such deals with some very disturbing and difficult subject matter in a graphic way that is sometimes very cold and dispassionate in the sense that it shows the atrocities of the Holocaust as they were carried out: very matter-of-factly.  This movie portrays the utterly dehumanizing and unbelievably horrifying treatment of the Polish Jews living in Krakow during WWII.  The movie was directed by Stephen Spielberg, a Jew himself.  As such, the telling of the story which was based on real events was told with a great amount of passion and sensitivity.

Interesting note:  The filming was done, as much as possible, in the actual locations where the real events took place.  As such, most of the time there was a feeling of solemnness and depression on the set.  The director felt the effects of this feeling very acutely.  On several occasions, Robin Williams called Spielberg to cheer him up and offer him encouragement.

The main plot told the story of one man, a Nazi supporting German, named Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson, an actor who was fairly unknown at the time.  He attempted to re-create the real man, which he did with respect, and I could tell, a certain amount of rare humility.  Neeson was incredible.  He was nominated for the Best Actor award, though he did not win.

Schindler started out simply as a supporter of the Nazi Party, and why wouldn’t he be?  The Nazis were his countrymen and the war was good for his business.  He became a very rich man.  But when he became a witness to the atrocities carried out by the Nazi soldiers against the Jews, he had a change of heart.  He conceived of a plan to help the Jews in his own way.  He used the money he earned, every last penny, to save as many lives as he could.  He brought them in to his factory, using them as slave labor on the surface, but actually saving them from Nazi death camps.  In doing so, he sometimes put himself under suspicion, but in that way he was able to save them.

In the end, he was only able to save just over 1,000 people, a relative few compared to the millions and millions of men, women and children who lost their lives.  But the emotional climax of the film, which brought me to tears, was when the end of the war was announced and those he did save tried to thank him.  All Schindler could to was break down into sobbing and tears because he had not been able to save more.  Even now, I am getting misty–eyed  just thinking about it.  Neeson was incredible and really drove that scene home.

But the film was not just about him.  The film was also a simple and honest testament to what happened, a statement that says we must never forget the truth, lest history be allowed to repeat itself.  Spielberg filmed it in black and white for three very specific reasons that I feel need to be mentioned.  First was that, as a director, he tried to be as objective about the subject matter as possible, even going so far as to make the film almost like a documentary.  In the 1940s, black and white was still the normal and most common film format.  Second, Spielberg said that the whole feel of the Holocaust was one of joylessness and death.  Having the film done in black and white emphasized this feel in a way that a color film could not.  And third, at four points in the film, color was used to show the importance and significance of a character or event.

The image of a three-year-old girl in a red coat wandering the streets during the Liquidation of the Krakow ghetto, one of several scenes in the movie that was horrifying to watch, was one of those four special scenes.  The little girl, played by Oliwia Dabrowska, was supposed to be a symbolic figure.  Spielberg said the scene was intended to symbolize how members of the highest levels of government in the United States knew the Holocaust was occurring, yet did nothing to stop it.  I didn’t exactly get that from watching the film.  However, I felt it was significant to the plot.  Later, Schindler sees the girl on a cart of corpses.  It a turning point for his character, the moment when, in his heart, he ceases to be a Nazi sympathizer, and starts his campaign to help the Jews.

Interesting note:  Spielberg asked the young Dabrowska not to watch the film until she was an adult.  However, she watched it when she was eleven, and was apparently “horrified” by the graphic content.  But watching it again as an adult, she was mature enough to understand what she was watching and was proud of the role she played.

As with most films, there were plenty of sub-plots and separate stories that were told.  The film also followed the lives of several Jewish families and people through the horrors of the war, and showed how they were saved by Schindler.  Several actors and actresses stood out to me as incredibly good.  Ben Kingsley, for one, who we remember from the 1982 Best Picture winner, Gandhi, played the part of Itzhak Stern.  He was Schindler’s bookkeeper, and eventually his friend who helped him in his efforts to save as many Jews as possible.  Kingsley turned in another great performance.  He was real and believable, as he always seems to be.  It was the character of Stern that actually typed the infamous list, dictated from Schindler, containing the names of Jews on whom the film is based.

Two women who did a fantastic job were Embeth Davidtz and Miri Fabian.  Davidtz played the part of Helen Hirsch, a young Jewish girl who is forced to work as a housemaid to a vile Nazi monster, Amon Goeth, superbly played by Ralph Fiennes. (I’ll get to him in a bit.)  He casually beat her and terrorized her according to his whims.  The actress was incredible, portraying the constant fear that Hirsch felt during her time in Plaszow.  Every day she lived with the knowledge that eventually, Goeth would murder her.  The scene in which she confesses this fear to Schindler is a powerful scene.

Fabian played the part of Chaja Dresner, a Jewish mother who desperately tries to hold on to her children, which would have been near impossible to do.  She goes from being the mother of a well-off family, to having everything stripped away, her possessions, her dignity, her family, and even her hair.  She, and the women with her are dehumanized and brought to the brink of death.  There is a scene in which the women are sent to Auschwitz.  They see the black smoke pouring out of the chimney of the furnaces.  They smell the stench of burning flesh.  They are made to strip themselves naked and are herded into a shower room, not knowing what will come out of the shower-heads – water or lethal gas.  Fabian, and the women with her, did such a great job.  Their stories were heart-wrenching.  They made me actually imagine myself in their shoes.  What must it have been like?  How would I have handled the fear?

Ralph Fiennes’s portrayal of Amon Goeth was incredible.  I can’t even imagine how an actor can portray such a role without being emotionally affected.  The character, based, of course on a real man, was accurately described as a monster.  What he was, really, was a fanatic who believed so completely in Hitler and his ideals, that he, like Hitler, no longer saw the Jews as human beings.  They were less than dirt.  He would stand on his balcony at Plaszow with his rifle, using the Jews for target practice.  Prisoners of the camp lived with the fear of instant and random death hanging over their heads.  Fiennes was such a great actor, and I have to applaud him for a job well done.   In the end, it was showed that he was hanged for his war crimes.  Before the stool is kicked out from under his feet, he utters a very telling, “Heil Hitler,” showing just how much of a fanatic Goeth really was.

Interesting note:  Ralph Fiennes actually looked very much like the real Amon Goeth, so much so that when one of the real Schindler Survivors, Mila Pfefferberg, was on the set and met him in his Nazi uniform, she actually trembled in fear.

As usual, when a film is based on actual events, I have to do a little research to find out if the film is loyal to the truth.  How much was realistic, and how much was invented for the movie?  This time, I really didn’t even need to look any further than the documentary that was included on the DVD.  Several of the real survivors of the Holocaust were interviewed and told their stories.  I watched and listened as the true facts came right from the mouths of the people who experienced it.  Spielberg’s film was spot on.  Every detail seemed to be adhered to.  A man described seeing the women, who had been on a train separate from the men, as they arrived in Brinnlitz.  He said that it was a night and it was foggy.  The women almost seemed like ghosts as they got off the train and were marched into the barracks.  Every one of those details was there in the film.  Everything in the film seemed to be just like the Survivors described it.

Interesting note:  A man who was interviewed told a story that was not covered in the film.  He described his experience in the Polish military at the start of the war.  He recounted his experience, marching out as part one of Poland’s first engagements with the German forces.  They had no idea what they were up against.  His regiment was massacred, starting with thousands, and ending with less than 300.

Now, I have to make special mention the music.  John Williams does it again.  But this time he got world famous violinist Itzhak Perlman to play the main theme.  The music really is something special.  The emotion that it evokes effortlessly tugs at the heart.  Williams took home his fifth Oscar for Best Original Score, the others being Fiddler on the Roof, Jaws, Star Wars and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.  Williams’ score was truly a work of art in itself and Perlman’s playing simply validated his status as one of the world’s greatest violinists.

There were so many powerful stories in the movie, and based on the documentary included with the DVD, they were portrayed pretty accurately, making them even more remarkable.  Spielberg did a fantastic job of bringing them to life in a way that only he could.  As a matter of fact, he was originally so daunted by the project that he tried to get other directors to take it.  He offered it to Roman Polanski, Sydney Pollack, Martin Scorsese and Billy Wilder.  But they each turned it down for similar reasons.  Spielberg finally decided to do it himself when Holocaust deniers were being taken seriously by the media.

Interesting note:  Studio Executive Sid Sheinberg green-lit the making of Schindler’s List on the condition that Spielberg first direct Jurassic Park.  While Schindler’s List was being filmed in Poland, Spielberg spent several hours every night editing Jurassic Park.

Another interesting note:  Schindler’s List was made on a budget of $22 million.  Spielberg refused to accept a salary, calling it “blood money”, believing that he should not profit from the tragedy of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.  He believed that the film would flop.

Oskar Schindler was a man whose business ventures before and after WWII were largely unsuccessful.  He actually died in poverty years later in Argentina, of all places.  It was only during the war, when his fellow human beings needed the help that he was in a position to give, that his business thrived, enabling him to do what he did.  I have heard his career described as one touched by divine intervention, a claim which is difficult to deny.

The emotional end of the film changes back to color, and shows a long line of real Holocaust survivors who were alive only because of Oskar Schindler.  Beside them are the actors who portrayed them in the film.  Together, they place stones on the grave of Schindler, who was interned in Israel.  The final image before the credits start to appear is Neeson placing two red roses on the headstone which is now crowded with stones.  It was a very emotional ending that left me in tears… again.

This was an incredible movie with some powerful performances, a profound and realistic script, a masterful score, and a deep, important message.  But it is not one that I will be rushing out to watch again.  It was depressing and difficult to watch, simply because it did not shy away from the evils that it portrayed.  It showed in graphic detail, some of the darkest years in human history.  As such, it made me reflect and turn my eyes inward, forcing me to embrace my own humanity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unforgiven – 1992

Unforgiven was a western starring Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman.  This was the second western to win the prized Best Picture award since Cimmaron in 1931, the other being Dances With Wolves.  And I should mention that, as a genre, I have never been a huge fan of westerns.

I should also mention that I have never been a huge fan of Clint Eastwood.  I have never actually disliked him, but I have never gone out of my way to see his films.  He is a good enough actor who generally knows what kind of role works well for him.  As such, he plays very similar characters in most of his movies.  This one was no exception.  Just change his name and insert him into any number of his other films and he would be right at home.

But, all that being said, this was still a good movie.  Hackman and Freeman are always good actors, the supporting cast did a fine job, and I had no problem with anyone’s performance.  Even the plot and characters were believable.  But if I sound like I am less enthusiastic about the film, I think I am.  And I think I know why.

It is because for the first three-quarters or so of the movie, almost nothing happened.  The plot just moved so slowly.  And to make it all the more sleepy, the music was like a lullaby, reminding me of the beautifully sweet soundtrack to the movie The Princess Bride.  The pacing was soft and gentle and un-hurried, which is in great contrast to the final quarter of the film.  Then, the action really ramped up into high-gear and it got exciting and engaging.

The film starts out in a whore house in the town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming.  A man gets angry with his prostitute, Delilah, played by Anna Levine, and starts to beat her.  By the time he is done, he has slashed her face to ribbons with a knife.  The town sheriff, Little Bill Daggett, played by Hackman, arrives but does little to the man and his partner.  They are not whipped, not put in prison, and not run out of town.  As punishment, they are made to pay five horses to the owner of the bar in which the whores reside and do their business.  But the women of the whorehouse band together and offer a bounty of $1,000 to anyone who will kill the two cowboys who hurt one of their own.

The Schofield Kid is a young man who looks like he is still in his teens.  He actually looked a little bit like Ricky Schroeder.  After hearing about the reward, he finds a gunman for hire named William Munny, played by Eastwood.  He asks Munny if he wants to partner-up with him to kill the two men and split the reward money.  Munny, who now has two young children, reluctantly agrees to go.  His son looks to be around 12 or 13, his daughter a few years younger.  Still, he leaves them on their own, saying he’ll be back in a few weeks.

Then we go traveling with William.  Along the way they pick up his old partner Ned Logan, played by Freeman.  Then they are traveling slowly.  Cut back to Big Whiskey as a few completely unnecessary characters enter the scene, another man with a gun named English Bob, hoping to collect the reward money, played by Richard Harris, and an author writing a book about him, played by Saul Rubinek.  But Little Bill beats up English Bob and runs him out of town.

And that is about the most exciting highlights until the last half-hour of the movie.  The main themes in the movie are the morality of violence, the difficulties of aging, and the consequences of ones actions.  But then finally, when that climactic ending sequence of events happens, you get to see just what kind of a hard-as-nails tough guy William really is.

You see, Munny’s partners spend most of the film making reference to how much of a cold-hearted and dangerous killer he used to be.  His only response is that he doesn’t remember much of that time in his life because he was drunk most of the time.  He has a very kind and gentle manner about him despite the mission of murder on which he is riding.  But in the end he is the first one to kill, and he winds up validating the dangerous reputation by becoming a cold-hearted and viscious killer.  He admits to having killed women and children, and threatens to do so again if driven to it.

And I have to admit, he actually becomes pretty bad-ass and scary when he lets himself go.  That part of the film was not slow, nor was it nice and easy and gentle.  It was violent, realistic, and exciting to watch.  As William’s old ways come back to him, you see how cold-hearted and frightening a man he really is.  You see, when the first cowboy with the reward on his head is shot, it was to have been Ned who did the shooting.  But he couldn’t do it.   Something in him knew that murdering for money was wrong and stopped him.  After William makes the kill, Ned says he wants out and heads for home.  But on the road, he is captured by Little Bill and his posse.

Little Bill tortures Ned to death and displays him for all to see as a murderer.  In the meantime the Schofield Kid makes the second kill and the reward money is collected.  But the whore who delivers the money tells William of Ned’s fate and he loses it.  Now it is personal and he wants revenge.

Eastwood played the old and gentle killer for hire well.  That aspect of his performance was enhanced by the gentle and easy sounds of the score, and maybe that is why such music was used, despite the fact that the entire movie was about his plan to commit murder for cash.  It also had the effect of making his change back to the deadly killer that much more shocking when it happened.  He was so mean and dangerous that after he killed Little Bill, he had the survivors of the massacre he enacted so scared of him that nobody even attempted to go after him when he left.  Some of his last words before leaving Big Whiskey were, “All right, I’m coming out.  Any man I see out there, I’m gonna shoot him.  Any sumbitch takes a shot at me, I’m not only gonna kill him, But I’m gonna kill his wife, all his friends, and burn his damn house down.”  And darned if he didn’t mean it!

Eastwood actually did a fantastic job, especially in that final scene.  But as I mentioned, it seems that this is the only kind of character he knows how to play, though I have to admit that I don’t know a lot about his career.  Maybe he is a much more versatile actor than I am aware of.  But his most iconic roles are from movies like Dirty Harry, A Fist Full of Dollars, The Good, The Bad and Ugly, Any Which Way But Loose, In the Line of Fire and Gran Torino.

Think about those movies and the characters he played in them.  Still, I can’t blame him for making a career on playing that kind of character.  He is very good at it.  And I have to acknowledge, he naturally has the perfect look for it.  But later on in his career, he started doing more work behind the camera as director.

Interesting note:  Eastwood not only starred in Unforgiven, he produced it and directed it.  He won an Oscar for his efforts as director.  However, he was not even nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of William Munny.  It was Gene Hackman that took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

And speaking of Gene Hackman, I must also mention his performance.  He was the bad guy, but not because he was an evil man.  He just had an unbelievable and uncontrolled temper.  But aside from that phenomenal flaw, the character of Little Bill was actually a nice guy.  There is something to be said for Gene Hackman, as an actor.  For me, he just carries himself like a good-guy most of the time.  But when Little Bill lost his temper, Hackman played the violent bad-guy very believably.

And lastly, I have to mention the leader of the whores, who were, after all, an important part of the story.  She was a woman named Strawberry Alice, probably on account of her red hair, played by Frances Fisher.  She was undoubtedly the mother wolf and not the mother hen.  She looked out for her girls and when Delilah got hurt, she went out of her way to incite the rest of the whores to donate their life-savings to supply the reward money.  She was very vocal in her hatred of the offending cowboys, and in her disgust at the lack of punishment inflicted on them.  Fisher’s part did not seem a difficult one, but I thought she pulled it off quite well.

Unforgiven was a great movie if you like westerns.  It was up against The Crying Game, A Few Good Men, Howards End and Scent of a Woman.  So did it deserve to win the Best Picture award?  I don’t know.  I have seen The Crying Game and thought it was also an excellent movie.  For me, it would have been a close toss-up.  So, why not?

Interesting note:  There were two little flubs in the movie that were obvious enough for even me to catch while I was watching.  First, there is a scene in which Little Bill is reading out of a book.  The camera shifts to an angle in which a bright white piece of paper can be seen taped onto the page of the book – clearly the actor’s lines.  Second, when the Schofield Kid shoots the second cowboy in the outhouse, he fires three bullets:  once in the shoulder, once in the chest and once in the gut.  But when the cowboy is found by the fat man, a gunshot wound to his head can be clearly seen.  When did he get that one?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silence of the Lambs – 1991

Oh My Goodness!  This was an intense movie!  My heart was beating fast at the end of the climax.  My pulse was racing!  Our two lead actors, Jody Foster and Anthony Hopkins both took home Best Actress and Best Actor awards.  In addition, the director, Jonathan Demme, and screenplay adaptor, Ted Tally, won Oscars, making the Silence of the Lambs the third film in Academy Award history to win “the big five.”   The other two were It Happened One Night in 1934 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975.

Foster and Hopkins were both brilliant in this movie.  Their performances were so intense and… merciless.  They never let up, never backed down, and never held back.  Foster is the kind of actress that typically throws her entire being into whatever role she is doing.  She is not afraid of getting physical and personal.  Hopkins created an iconic character that actually popularized the psychotic serial cannibal, causing Hollywood to spawn more movies about him.

Foster plays FBI trainee Clarice Starling, a young woman who pushes herself to unbelievable limits to prove that she can handle anything.  She is in the top quarter of her class at the FBI Training Academy at Quantico, but she is called in to the office of Jack Crawford, played by Scott Glenn.  He is a part of the Bureau’s Behavioral Sciences Unit.  He enlists her help in interviewing a prisoner in maximum security lock-up for the criminally insane.

The man she is to interview is Dr. Hannibal Lecter, played by Hopkins.  His nickname is Hannibal the Cannibal because he is known for eating his victims.  But aside from being this monster, he is also a brilliant man with a mind as sharp as a blade.  Crawford believes Lecter can offer insight on helping to catch a serial killer knows as Buffalo Bill.

The famous first interview scene in which Clarice questions Lecter is actually pretty early on in the film.  The Director used a lot of extreme close-up shots, putting everything right in the face of the audience.  You are able to focus on the actor’s eyes and feel the full intensity of their gazes.  Their back-and–forth conversation is quick and unnerving.  Clarice is obviously being affected and is struggling to hold her composure.  Lecter is relentless as he drills into her psyche, forcing her to lay the painful secrets of her life before him.  It is no surprise that after she leaves the cell block, she is in tears.  But in return, he has given her essential insights into the Buffalo Bill case.

Interesting note:  Hopkins won the Best Actor Academy Award, though he only had a little over 16 minutes of screen-time.

Now, here I have to mention two other actors who did their jobs well.  First there is Anthony Heald who played the part of Frederick Chilton.  This is the character you are really not supposed to like, and Heald really played it perfectly.  He was smarmy, arrogant, chauvinistic, mean, and just an all-around asshole.  He was Lecter’s jailer at the facility for the criminally insane, but he was such an idiot that he enjoyed torturing the inmates in subtle ways, making fun of them to their faces and treating them like caged animals.  This makes the end of the movie especially satisfying, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Next was Ted Levine, playing the part of Buffalo Bill.  OK, now this guy really played his part well.  He was the biggest creepy element of the film.  He was a serial killer whose particular kind of criminal psychosis was hard to define.  According to the director he was a man who hated himself so much that he had a desire to change himself as much as possible.  The most effective way he could do that was to become a woman.  However, the sex change clinics would not perform the operation for him because he was too unstable.  His solution was to abduct overweight women and remove their skins to make a “woman suit.”

“It puts the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again.”  We have all heard that famous line from time to time, usually followed by a brief but awkward chuckle.  But when put in the context of the film, it is a chilling statement.  He would put his victims in a deep well to prevent escape, starve them for three days to loosen their skin, and eventually kill them to remove their skin.  It is a horrible and disturbing concept, made even more terrifying because we know that there are actually people like that in the world.

Levine was wonderful in the role.  It was the way he talked, the way he moved, the way he was calm one minute and enraged the next.  The character was beyond unstable and was absolutely unsettling to watch, which was exactly what he was supposed to be.  When he forcibly abducted the main victim of the film, a character named Catherine Martin, played by Brooke Smith, his moans of pleasure as he looked at the skin of her back almost sounded sexual in nature, though going by the director’s explanation of his character’s motivations, it was really not.  But the sick excitement he derived from his actions was part of what made his character so disturbing.

Interesting note:  When it came to casting, we very nearly had a quite different movie.  Originally, Gene Hackman was supposed to play the part of Hannibal Lecter.  He withdrew from the project when the evolving screenplay started to become too graphic.  Michelle Pfeifer was the first person offered the role of Clarice Starling, but turned it down because she was uncomfortable with the subject matter.

The music and sets were all pretty much as you might expect.  Howard Shore wrote a score that was appropriately dark and suspenseful, enhancing the unnerving content of the film.  One of the best parts of the movie, and one of the creepiest, is the scene in which Clarice accidentally stumbles on to Buffalo Bill and follows him into his labyrinthine basement.  She finds the abducted girl who is screaming in terror to be let out of the well.

Trainee Starling has her gun drawn and is searching the basement for the killer.  She sees some of the most disgusting and horrifying sights she has ever seen.  But then the lights go out and she is left in absolute darkness.  Buffalo Bill has put on a pair of night-vision goggles and can see her just fine.  Foster was particularly fantastic in this scene.  The intensity of her performance doesn’t let up for a moment.  As she is feeling her way along the walls, we see her through Bill’s goggles.  At several points, we see his hand enter the picture as the reaches for her, almost touching her several times, and she obviously has no idea how close to her Bill actually is.  Oh my God!  My heart was racing!  Great film making!

As I mentioned earlier, the film had a very satisfying ending.  In order to explain that, I have to give away a little more of the plot.  At one point, in a particularly horrifying sequence, Lecter manages to escape from prison, mercilessly slaughtering several people.  And while I am on that subject, I have to say that I thought this a little unrealistic.  In the real world they would not have just two morons guarding a maximum security level, criminally insane genius.  Nor would they ever have him in any kind of public building which might give him any kind of opportunity for escape.  They just wouldn’t.

But never-mind that.

OK, so Lecter frees himself and disappears into the world.  He is gone, never to be seen again… or is he?  In the penultimate scene as Clarice is graduating from the Academy, and is now a full-fledged special agent for the FBI, she receives a phone call that takes her away from the party.  She picks up the phone and hears Lecter’s voice.  The look of terror that washes over her face was incredibly realistic.  Lecter speaks to her as if she is an old friend, saying, “I have no plans to call on you, Clarice.  The world’s more interesting with you in it.”  He also tells her that he is meeting an old friend for dinner.

However, as he hangs up the phone, leaving Clarice cowering in fear by the phone, the scene changes to show Hannibal the Cannibal in a wig, sunglasses and hat.  He is watching Dr. Chilton disembark from a plane in what looks like a foreign country.  It is obvious that he means to murder and eat Chilton.

Now, while we, as the audience, know that it is sick and twisted, we also have to own-up to the fact that we secretly want it to happen.  By this time we have come to respect the dangerousness of the genius, Dr. Lecter (doctor because he used to be a psychiatrist before becoming a serial killer) and learned to dislike the character of Chilton for a number of reasons.  As Lecter follows his intended victim into the distance, the credits start to roll and we breathe a sigh of relief that the movie has reached its unnerving conclusion.  I stood up and had to do a little pacing to shake off that horrified feeling.  Very effective story telling!

Interesting note:  Silence of the Lambs was the first and only Best Picture winner that has been categorized as a thriller/horror movie.  Most films are listed as dramas with a number of musicals thrown into the mix.  The only exception to this might be Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca in 1940, though I might call that one a mystery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dances With Wolves – 1990

I have been looking forward to seeing this Best Picture winner for a very long time. It is a movie that I have wanted to see for years. But now that I have seen it, I find myself a little disappointed, though only a little. This is in no way the movie’s fault. I had built it up in my mind to be a phenomenal film, so much so that reality could never measure up to my expectations. In reality, it was a very good movie – there is no denying that. I just need to let go of the unrealistic fantasy I had envisioned it to be.

This was Kevin Costner’s directorial debut, for which he won an Oscar. The attention to detail and the high production values were incredible. Many of the actors including Costner and Mary McDonnell had to learn to speak in the Lakota Sioux language. Doris Leader Charge, the actress playing the part of Pretty Shield was actually the dialogue coach for the production.

Interesting note: The original book on which the film is based had used Comanche Indians, but my research sources gave two different reasons as to why this was changed to the Sioux for the film. One source claimed that the change was due to the availability of native Sioux speakers. The other source said that because of the importance of the buffalo to the plot the Sioux were used because they used to live near the biggest buffalo heard in the country.

Costner did a good job playing the part of John Dunbar, a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War. He is first seen lying on a table, badly wounded as the doctors discuss amputating his foot. Instead, he runs away and tries to commit suicide by finding a battlefield, getting on a horse and charging the enemy lines alone. Fortunately he avoids being shot and inadvertently gives the Union Soldiers the opportunity to win the battle. As a reward, he is given proper care for his foot, the horse he had stolen to do his brave deed, and the choice of any post he wanted.
He chooses the western frontier, wanting to see it before it is gone. Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, he arrives at Fort Sedgwick, an abandoned post, and nobody knows or has any record that he is there. To make a long story short, he meets the Lakota Sioux Indians and befriends them, and this is really where the heart of the movie begins. This is what we have all come to see: the Indians. We learn how he becomes a member of their tribe, how he learns their language and customs, how he gets the name Dances With Wolves, and what happens when the rest of the white men finally do arrive.
Costner, as an actor, really did a good job, and of course, carried the lion’s share of the movie. The plot was told from Dunbar’s point of view, so Costner was in nearly every scene, which is saying a lot for a movie that was just under 4 hours long.
But honestly, I have always seen Costner as just a passable actor, though nothing I would call great. This film just reinforced that opinion. He always has a kind of natural calmness and, for lack of a better term, sleepiness about him that unfortunately often translates on the big screen as just low-energy. Obviously, he knows his lines and can run fast when he needs to, but I still found his performance a bit lack-luster.
Playing opposite Costner as the female romantic lead was Mary McDonnell. Her character’s name was Stands With a Fist. Like all Indian names for the Lakota tribe, hers was given to her and had a very personal meaning. Her story is interesting enough to mention here. She was the adopted daughter of Kicking Bird, the social and spiritual leader of the tribe, her parents having been slaughtered by the Sioux’s enemies, the Pawnee Indians. As a young girl, an older woman of the tribe would constantly call her names and beat her until one day she stood up and fought back. With one punch, she knocked the older woman out, thereby earning her name.
McDonnell did a fantastic job. She was integral to Dunbar’s integration into the tribe, as Stands With a Fist remembered a smattering of the English language from her early childhood. McDonnell turned in a very convincing portrayal of someone who is trying to remember a language in that way. The way she pronounced certain words, or the fact that some of her word inflections were just a little bit off made for a very realistic character. Well done McDonnell.
Among the Indians, there were a number of very good actors. Graham Green played the part of Kicking Bird, Dunbar’s main advocate among the Lakota tribe. He was a bit of a screen-stealer. When he spoke, his words always seemed to have weight and importance. Kicking Bird was a man of gentleness and wisdom, of quiet bravery and great honor. He was the kind of man anyone would want to know.
While Kicking Bird was the social and spiritual leader of the tribe, Wind in His Hair, played by Rodney A. Grant, was the military leader. I thought he also did an exceptional job. His character went through the biggest change of all, going from a position of great distrust of the white Dunbar, to becoming his greatest friend; who, when Dunbar was leaving the tribe at the end, stood on a bluff and shouted for all the tribe to hear, “Dances With Wolves! I am Wind In His Hair. Do you see that I am your friend? Can you see that you will always be my friend?” That was a very emotional scene.
Another honorable mention was Floyd Red Crow Westerman, playing the Lakota Indian Chief, Chief Ten Bears. He was the oldest and wisest of the Indians, often giving the most sage advice to Dances With Wolves. He did a good job, and I think I remember reading somewhere that he was the only member of the cast who was actually a native speaker of the Lakota Sioux language.
One of the iconic scenes in the movie was the great buffalo hunt. Taking over 8 days to film, it was a pretty intense and complicated sequence. It is important to note that this was done in the days when CGI was still in its infancy. There were no computer generated buffalo, though there were a few animatronic ones. This was a great scene which really drew you into the story. The buffalo were a very important part of the lives of the Plains Indians. In fact, the Sioux were also known as the Buffalo Tribe. The entire scene was done with a sort of reverence and joy that came across quite clearly. It was inspirational.
Interesting note: During the filming of the scene where a buffalo is charging at the young Indian Smiles a Lot, the buffalo was actually charging at a pile of its favorite treat: Oreo cookies.
A really great part of this movie was the soundtrack. Composer John Barry wrote what many consider to be one of the greatest film scores of all time. I know it is one of my personal favorites. John Barry also wrote the film score, and earned an Oscar for the previous Best Picture winner Out of Africa in 1985. He won the Best Original Score Academy Award for the Dances With Wolves soundtrack as well.
Interesting note: Pope John Paul II once mentioned that the soundtrack for Dances With Wolves was one of his favorite pieces of music.
One of the reasons that the soundtrack was so effective brings me to another wonderful aspect of the film: the cinematography. In a word, it was incredible. Cinematographer Dean Semler must have been given free reign when it came to getting shots of wide open country, nature scenes that would put most nature documentaries to shame, bright and brilliant sunrises, lush and vibrant sunsets, and everything in-between. Of course, Semler took home an Oscar for his work.
And finally, I have to mention that as tragic as the story ended, with Dances With Wolves and Stands With a Fist having to leave the tribe, I have to mention that the plot could have taken a much worse turn. Everyone knows that the American Indians were, historically, treated abominably. Most of them did not want a fight. They just wanted to be left alone in peace. The white man’s treatment of this country’s original inhabitants is a shameful part of our past. Costner and those who worked on this film with him portrayed the Indians in such a positive light, especially compared to the white men of the time. It was the Union soldiers who were depicted as the bad guys, and the Indians as the good guys. In fact, because the film was so uniquely positive towards Native Americans, the Sioux Nation adopted Costner as an honorary member.
Interesting note: This film was obviously a labor of love for Costner. The original budget for the movie was $15 million, but because of the high production values, the cost ended up going over $18 million. The extra $3 million was provided by Costner himself. Because of the film’s success, Costner reportedly took in over $40 million from his original investment.
If I had anything negative to say about the movie (aside from Costner‘s acting), it would be its length. Four hours is a long time to sit through a movie, and from what I have heard, there was even more footage that did not make it into the film. But the trick is that I can’t think of very much that I would have taken out. Everything seemed to be necessary for the in-depth character development and the realism of the plot. Not only did Costner know what he was doing in the director‘s chair, he stuck to his guns and eventually got the film he wanted.
In saying that, I have to explain that the original theatrical release was only about three hours long, but I watched the director’s cut. In general, I think that most movies should be seen that way with everything kept in that the director intended. It usually makes for a better film. And Dances With Wolves certainly was a good film that was well worth watching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Driving Miss Daisy – 1989

This was an excellent movie and quite honestly, I had my doubts from the beginning.  I went into it knowing very little, except that everyone I talked to told me that it was a really good movie.  But I kept thinking that it would just be old people talking.  I thought it was going to be slow and boring.  But thank goodness, I was wrong.

Driving Miss Daisy was so well done in so many ways.  First of all, the cast was perfect.  Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman played the two leads with Dan Aykroyd, Esther Rolle and Patti LuPone filling out the supporting roles.  They all did a great job.  Jessica Tandy won the award for Best Actress, and both Freeman and Aykroyd were nominated in their respective categories.  Having only known Rolle from her part on the television show Good Times, and LuPone for her many wonderful Broadway portrayals, I was pleasantly surprised to see them on the big screen.

Interesting note:  Tandy, in particular, should be commended for her work as she was 81 years old when she received her award.  She is the oldest recipient of the award in Academy history.

The plot is a simple one that can be summed up quickly.  Daisy Werthan (Tandy) is an older, wealthy, white, Jewish woman living in Atlanta, Georgia.  She is too old to drive, so her son Boolie Werthan (Aykroyd) hires for her a chauffeur named Hoke Colburn (Freeman).  Daisy doesn’t want to give up her independence, but eventually accepts Hoke’s service.  Over the years, a deep and lasting friendship develops between the two.  That’s it, in a nutshell.

Of course, the complexities of the story go much deeper than that.  Daisy is a widow who used to be a teacher.  Before that, she was a girl who grew up in a poor family that often had to do without the simple comforts of life because they couldn’t afford them.  It was then that she learned her fierce independence, adopting the adage that if you want anything done, you have to do it for yourself.

For many people, one of the difficulties of growing old is giving up independence.  Many things which were once as easy as driving to the super-market, are now difficult and cannot be done without assistance.  But as the body, and sometimes the mind, begin to slow down, such measures are necessary.  This can bring a certain amount of embarrassment or even shame, along with a hefty amount of frustration.  This is not really the point of the movie, but it does explain why she is so resistant to having a chauffeur.

At one point she is so dead set against having Hoke as her driver, she tries to catch him stealing from her food pantry.  She finds a can of Salmon missing and is all ready to accuse him of being a thief when he comes in and addresses the issue before she can make her accusation.  He admits to taking the Salmon and has already purchased a replacement can to restore the pantry.

Fortunately, everybody loves Morgan Freeman.  He just has such a likable persona about him that is hard to resist, and Miss Daisy is no exception.  Eventually she begins to accept him.  In one slightly amusing scene, Daisy refuses to let him drive her to the market.  She sets out on foot, walking towards a bus-stop.  But Hoke follows her in the car.  Embarrassed at being followed by a man in a car, Daisy breaks down and allows him to drive her.

Thus, an uneasy friendship begins as her personal barriers are broken down.  She claims to not have any prejudices, and yet, like many people, they are there.  Hers take a very subtle form.  She has nothing against colored people, but she employs them only as servants such as Idella, her cook, wonderfully played by Esther Rolle.  Miss Daisy has to get over her own prejudices, but she, at several points becomes the victim of anti-Semitism.  The worst of these instances is when her Jewish temple is bombed.  But even then, Hoke is there to offer comfort by sharing his own experience with horrible racism.

The intricacies of their friendship continue to grow and become much deeper.  The screen-writer, Alfred Uhry, did an excellent job of making it all believable, and the director, Bruce Beresford, did a great job of making the pacing a comfortable one.  What I mean by this, is that  Driving Miss Daisy could have been such a snoozer.  But it wasn’t.  The acting was top-notch and engaging.  The pace of the film was not as slow as you might think.  The film was only 1 hour and 49 minutes long but it felt even shorter.  Compare that to the running time of other Academy Award Best Picture winners of the 1980s  like The Last Emperor at 2 hours and 40 minutes, Out of Africa and Amadeus, both at 2 hours and 41 minutes, and Gandhi at 3 hours and 3 minutes.  Even Rain Man came in at 2 hours and 13 minutes.  Driving Miss Daisy was such an easy film to watch and enjoy.

Now, as to specific performances, Jessica Tandy did a fantastic job.  Her character started off at 72 years old and ended up at 97.  Interesting that even though the actress was 81, they had to put aging makeup on her to make her appear 16 years older.  Miss Daisy starts off as a crotchety old lady and through her interaction with Hoke, she softens and becomes a likable character.  When her dementia set in, my heart nearly broke.  She is so frightened, as anyone would be in her situation, and Tandy, the actress,  really had a lot to do with my emotional response.  But even through the onset of her illness, she holds on to the fact that Hoke has become her best friend.

I especially liked her in the final scene of the movie.  At this point, she is in a rest home and is about 97 or so years old.  She has difficulty even picking up a fork to eat her food.  Hoke is visiting her and continues to be her friend by picking up the fork and feeding her.  It is such a sweet and heartwarming scene, that even now, as I am remembering it, I am getting all teary-eyed.  The look of gratitude and love on her face as she eats from his hand is just brilliant.  Well done Jessica!

Morgan Freeman also did a fantastic job.  I have never seen him do anything I didn’t like.  I loved him in the Shawshank Redemption, which is one of my favorite movies of all time.  (The fact that it didn’t take home a Best Picture Oscar of its own is just a travesty!  But I digress…)  And who didn’t love just hearing his voice in March of the Penguins?  The character of Hoke, which he created for Driving Miss Daisy was wonderful to watch.  He is the kind of guy that we would all love to know.  He was honest, polite, gentle, pleasant, and thoroughly endearing.

Even Dan Aykroyd surprised me.  I am used to seeing him in comedies and it was nice to see him in a more serious role.  He even took on a Southern accent which he kept up perfectly well.

The costumes and sets were all perfectly appropriate, though that didn’t seem like an overly-complicated an achievement.  Everything appeared to be appropriate enough to the 50s and 60s.  Even the cars that Hoke was driving were from the right time.

But I have to mention one thing that I didn’t particularly care for, and I think this would be the fault of the director.  Often times, the story would skip ahead several years without letting the audience know.  It wasn’t always enough to require more age makeup on the characters, so it was hard to tell that any significant blocks of time had passed.  The result of this oversight was that by the end of the film you don’t really get a sense of just how long Hoke was Miss Daisy’s driver.  Apparently he worked for her for 25 years, though there was little to no indication of that much time having passed.  I think the director should have made it clearer when the plot jumped ahead like that.

Interesting note:  Driving Miss Daisy is the last film to win the Best Picture award with a G rating.  It is also the only film that was based on an off-Broadway production to win the Best Picture award.

And finally, I have to mention the music.  Hans Zimmer wrote the score that accompanied the film.  It was appropriately twangy for a film that takes place in the South, but I liked it anyway.  In fact, the score was nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition for a Motion Picture or for Television.  This is impressive since the score was performed entirely by Zimmer, using nothing but samplers and synthesizers.

I liked the film, despite myself.  It was very sweet without particularly trying to be, which made it work very well.  Sweet for the sake of being sweet is usually just nauseating.  But Driving Miss Daisy was nice and touching, and enjoyable to watch.  However… I looked it up.  It was running against some pretty great movies like Dead Poet’s Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot and Born on the 4^th of July.  Best Picture Against that kind of competition?  I’m not entirely convinced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rain Man – 1988

Rain Man brings us back down to earth.  The last four Best Picture Winners have been films that took us to the past and put us in foreign locations.  But here we are with Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman in a film that takes place in the year in which it was made.  I had seen bits and pieces of this movie, but never the whole thing in one sitting.

Finally!  Finally we get to see Hoffman turn in a performance that justifies all the accolades that have been given to him over the years.  This is the first time I have seen him play a character that was not so one note.  Now, I understand that anyone who has seen Rain Man might say that his character was VERY one note.  That was the whole point of his character.  But we’ll get into that in a bit.

Let me back up and start with a little plot, a few likes and dislikes, and then a word or two about costumes and music. Somewhere in there we’ll get into the characters.  There is a lot to cover.

The film opens with Tom Criuse playing the part of Charlie Babbitt.  He is a fast talking high-end car salesman who is selling cars to an interested buyer if he can get the vehicles clear of customs.  It promises to be a very lucrative deal if he can pull it off.  The complications start when he gets a phone call saying his father has died.  Without going too deeply into the story, he flies to Cincinnati for the funeral and the reading of the will.  He learns that aside from a fancy car and some rose bushes, he has been left nothing of his father’s considerable estate.  A sum of $3 million has been left to Raymond, his brother, played by Dustin Hoffman.

The problem is he had no idea that he had a brother.  Raymond had been hidden from him.  He is a patient at a mental institution, an autistic savant.  The autism means that his brain does not function in a way that allows him to competently interact with the real world.  He cannot take care of himself and needs constant supervision.  Savant means that his brain has highly specialized abilities that are far beyond normal human levels.  For example, he has a photographic memory that is 100% accurate, though he generally has little understanding of the subject matter.  He is also a human calculator, able to instantly count hundreds of objects at once, or do long multiplication instantly in his head, though again, he cannot understand what the numbers mean.

In order to get his hands on his half of the money, Charlie kidnaps Raymond from the institution and tries to take him to LA.  However, part of Raymond’s condition is that he needs routine in just about everything he does or he becomes deathly afraid.  He must eat the same foods, watch the same TV programs, and all on the tight schedule programmed by the institution.  And since Raymond will not get on an airplane (he can recall with perfect accuracy the dates, airlines, flight numbers, and number of fatalities of every airplane crash ever to occur) Charlie is forced to drive cross country with him.

In the mean time, Charlie’s car deal goes bad and he loses everything.  So what does he end up doing?  He takes Raymond to Vegas and uses his savant abilities to count cards at the black-jack table and make enough money to pay for his debts.

Cruise did a good enough job.  He was the perfect self-centered asshole precursor to the me-me-me yuppie of the 90s.  Honestly, as I watched the film, the thought occurred to me that Hoffman could have done the role justice in his younger years.  But Cruise knew what he was doing.  The official movie trailer described Charlie as a smooth-talking salesman.  But I think abrasive jerk would have been more accurate.  He was such an ass to the other characters in the film, he was starting to piss me off.

Interesting note:  Hoffman was actually originally slated to play the character of Charlie, opposite Bill Murray playing Raymond.

Hoffman, however was incredible.  He won the Oscar for Best Actor, and I think he really deserved it.  The way he behaved, the repeated and repeated lines and phrases, the autistic mannerisms, the dead, uninterested look in his eyes, the nervous rocking back and forth, the fits of terror when he lost control, all made for an unforgettable character.  This was truly the work of a master actor and in this case, I really have to tip my hat to him.  It is a performance that needs to be seen.

The film is an easy one to like, but not everything was perfect.  There was actually only one small thing I didn’t really like.  The only sizeable female character in the film was Charlie‘s girlfriend, Susanna, played by Valeria Golino.  I’m not sure why, but I have always considered Golino to be an unremarkable and average actress.  She is pretty enough if she doesn’t have to speak.  In fact, she has won numerous awards for Italian cinema, but her accent was so strong that I sometimes had difficulty understanding her.  And her character, which, I must admit, had nothing to do with her, was poorly written.  I mean, she is supposed to be Charlie’s long-time girlfriend.  But really, why would anyone with an ounce of self-esteem put up with such a self-centered jerk for that long?  The only intelligent thing she did in the film was to leave him, and there was no reason for her to come back later.

OK – maybe that wasn’t so much bad writing… just a character I didn’t like.

The costumes were very appropriate for the late 80s.  This was the era of Miami Vice, where shirts were buttoned all the way up without ties, suit jackets had very square shoulders, and sunglasses were worn even at night.  Put a gun in Tom Cruise’s hand and he could have joined Crocket and Tubbs.

The music was nominated for best Original score, though it did not win.   I actually thought the music was a little disjointed.  I mean, I felt that it sometimes didn’t seem to fit the movie.  It reminded me of the score to a 1992 movie called Medicine Man by Jerry Goldsmith.  Sometimes, I thought the music was a bit too… Rain Forest instead of Rain Man.

Now, here is something I have to question:  How accurately did the writers, and subsequently Hoffman, come to portraying actual autism?  Apparently, very accurately.  There really are people who are very similar to Raymond, having many of the same characteristics and abilities.  The problem comes when people see his performance and make the assumption that all autistics are just like that.  In fact, autism comes in many forms and is only rarely coupled with savant abilities.  So, in light of that truth, I don’t mind that they chose to use that rare combination to tell their story.  The movie never tried to say that all autistic people are like Raymond.

Interesting note:  Another misconception fostered by the film is that card counting is illegal in the United States.  In fact, it is legal, though it is difficult to do and frowned upon by casinos.

Now, all that being said, there was really not very much emotional depth in the film.  As you might guess, when Charlie and Raymond spend a week together, they get to know each other and they are both changed by the experience.  They form a connection and a bond.  The one most affected by this bond is Charlie, so the real main character of the movie is not Raymond, but Charlie.  He goes through the most profound changes and becomes a better person by the end.

And I really liked the tiny little sub-plot that explained where the title of the movie came from.  This was the story of Charlie’s infancy which also explained why Raymond was sent away to an institution.  The scene in which this story is told is one of real connection between the two brothers.  I wish there had been just a few more scenes like it to make Charlie’s emotional journey more substantial.  You see, though his character was more mellow by the end, and maybe a bit more mature, he still retained some of those negative qualities that made me dislike him at the beginning.  But I guess it just goes to show you that though a tiger can change his stripes, it doesn’t happen over-night.

Overall, this was a very good movie, and worth seeing.  Hoffman’s performance was amazing.  The film took home 4 Oscars.  Aside from Best Picture and Best Actor, it also won for Best Director (Berry Levinson) and Best Writing, Original Screenplay (Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass).

Interesting note:  That character of Raymond was based on real-life savant Kim Peek, the biggest difference being that Peek was not autistic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Emperor – 1987

The Last Emperor was a large movie.  It was nearly 3 hours long, a bit slow for my tastes, but visually stunning.  There is no doubt that it was a good movie.  The production values were of the highest standard.  There was clearly a great attention to detail in the costumes, filming locations, props and the like.  The casting was very good, though the only name I recognized was Peter O’Tool.

However, he was only a minor character.  The main plot of the film was carried by actor John Lone who played the part of the adult Puyi, the last Emperor of China.  He reigned from 1908 at the age of 3 until he was forced to abdicate the throne in 1912 at the age of 7.  He remained in the palace of the Forbidden City for the next 12 years until he was expelled in 1924.  The film continues to follow Puyi over the course of his life as he is re-crowned as a puppet emperor for Japanese invaders in 1932, captured by the Russian army in the Pacific War in 1949, and imprisoned for ten years in the Fushun War Criminals Management Center until his release from government rehabilitation in 1958.  At that point he was 53 years old.  Then a few brief scenes are shown of him just before his death in 1967 at the age of 62.  At that point, he was a simple gardener living the life of a peasant.

Of course those are just the bare highlights of his life.  There are, of course many more details that the movie covered and we’ll get to those in a bit, but something has to be mentioned first: The magnificent Forbidden City.  Apparently The Last Emperor was the first Western motion picture that the Chinese government allowed to film in the historical building.  The Forbidden City is a phenomenal palace that was built in the early 1400s for use as a residence for the Emperors of China and their families.  It was used as such for 500 years.  Located in the center of Beijing, it is an easily recognizable structure that is now a tourist attraction and museum.

Interesting note:  The Forbidden City is actually named Zijin Cheng which is translated as Purple Forbidden City.  Purple refers to Ziwei, the North Star, which in Chinese Mythology is the abode of the Celestial Emperor.  The Forbidden City was the home of his counterpart, the Terrestrial Emperor.

Director Bernardo Bertolucci spent the first 90 minutes of the film taking full advantage of beauty of the Forbidden City. The coronation scene was one of particular magnificence.  The film used over 19,000 extras, many of whom were in that scene.  Each one of them had to be clothed in period specific Chinese ceremonial garb, circa 1908, which must have been a pretty daunting task for costume designer, James Acheson.  He really deserved the Oscar he won for his work.  The costumes for the Emperor were gorgeous and regal.  Well done, James.

Interesting note:  Many of the extras in the film were drafted from the Chinese Army.

The Forbidden City is grand and ornate.  The architecture is exquisite and easily recognizable.  The throne itself is a work of art done in gold.  When Puyi took the throne he was too young to appreciate its splendor and kept begging to be allowed to go home, though this request was denied him.  His only friend was his wet nurse.  I found it a bit creepy, but strangely believable that he was still breast-feeding at age 10 or so.  The serving staff waited on him hand and foot, so much so that he had no idea how to take care of himself.  He couldn’t even tie his own shoes.

While Puyi still lived at the Forbidden City, a wife was chosen for him, and he was allowed to choose his own consort, or secondary wife.  His first wife, the Empress Wanrong was played by Joan Chen.  She was beautiful and played her part well.  Later on in the film, she becomes an opium addict and suffers a tragic fate.  I thought she did a good job.

John Lone, though, did a fantastic job.  As with most epics of this nature, he had to play the same character in different phases of his life – in this case, from around 21 to 62.  The makeup can only do so much.  As good as the makeup is, the actor has to act the part properly.  I have seen it done right and I have seen it done wrong.  Lone did just fine.  Of course, several other ages were needed for the film.  Richard Vuu was the 3 year-old Puyi.  Tijer Tsou played him at 8 years old.  And finally, Wu Tao was Puyi at 15 years-old.  It is the job of the casting director to find actors that look similar enough as to be believable as the same person.  There isn’t an Academy award for Best Casting, but whoever this person was, maybe he would have won.

Peter O’Tool played the part of Reginald Johnston, Puyi’s Scottish tutor.  O’Tool is generally a fine actor, and he performed the role passably well.  My problem with his portrayal was that they made the point of saying that he was a Scotsman.  But he had a distinctly British accent.  Only once did I hear anything come out of his mouth that resembled a Scottish accent.  However, it was only for one brief sentence and it never came back.  If you can get past that little detail, he did OK.

I have to give a special thumbs-up to the producer Jeremy Thomas.  The reason for this is that he independently funded the entire film.  On his own, he raised the $25 million needed to make the film without any studio backing him.  Once the film was made, he struck a deal with Columbia Pictures to distribute the movie in North America, but other than that, he did it all single-handedly.

Interesting note:  According to my research, (back to Wikipedia again…) I found that at some point, in order to raise money, Thomas was scouring the phone book in search of potential financers.

The soundtrack was very well done.  As you might expect, the music had a distinctly Chinese flare that did a great job of putting you right in the middle of the mysterious far-east.  The music made use of authentic Chinese instruments that traditionally have that high squeaky quality that should be annoying, and often is to my American ears.  But within the context of the film, it was appropriate.  I would have expected nothing else.  In fact, it was even very beautiful at times and had a certain ancient and timeless feel.

And that brings me to something that I was not sure I was going to mention in my review.  The opening credits.  Usually, opening credits are not particularly noteworthy, but they caught my attention in this movie.  All they did was show bright and colorful images of intricate and yet mostly indistinct backgrounds that were nonetheless very beautiful as the names of the actors were flowing on and off the screen.  It was very pretty and, I thought, somewhat reflective of the ornately beautiful traditional clothing of China.  And of course, the beautiful Chinese-sounding music that played over the credits caught my attention.

When I reflect on the life of Puyi as it was depicted in The Last Emperor, I have to agree with Johnston’s assessment in the film.  Puyi had to be the loneliest boy alive.  With all the servants and staff at his command, not one of them was allowed to be a friend to him.  They were all too busy falling all over themselves to serve him.  With all the power he had, the ability to have anything he desired, he had remarkably few opportunities to be in control his own life.  He was at the mercy of his position as Emperor.

And it was just sad that he ended up with nothing, no family, no servants, no money, no position, and no title.  But I also think that a small part of him must have been happier like that, happier with the freedom that the life of a peasant must have allowed him.  As Emperor, he was a prisoner.  As a peasant he was free.

Finally, I have to mention the Chinese Republic prison in which he spent ten long years.  In fact, the film opened with him being taken to the prison in 1950.  So really, the story of his life, the lion’s share of the movie, was all told in flashback.  Every now and then, to neatly divide up his life into its different eras, the story would return to the prison.  Here he ran into several people that he knew when he was the Emperor of all China.  Out of habit, he still treated them like servants until they began to complain both to him and to the prison guards.  It really brought home the fact that he was no longer Emperor.

One of the guards actually befriends him and helps/forces him to learn to take care of himself.  While in incarceration, he sees a propaganda film displaying Japanese war atrocities and actually repents, admitting his forced participation as a puppet Emperor for the Japanese.  He is released from prison in 1958.

The film ends in a very clever way.  As a simple tourist, at the age of 63 or so, Puyi visits the Forbidden City, his former home.  It is now a museum.  It is nearly deserted as he climbs over the guard rope to ascend to the throne upon which he once sat.  Before he can sit on the throne he is stopped by a young child wearing the red scarf of the Communist Pioneer Movement.  He tells the child that he was once the Emperor of all China.  The boy demands proof.  In answer, Puyi reaches behind the throne to a secret place where he had once hidden a small jar containing a cricket that had been given to him as a gift when he was a child.  Somehow, the 60 year old cricket was still alive inside the jar, but never-mind that.  The child releases the insect and believes Puyi, but when he looks back in wonder, Puyi is gone. Enigmatic and mysterious, to be sure.  Much like ancient China, itself.

This was ultimately a good movie.  It was a bit too long and slow for my tastes, but definitely worth watching, a worthy Best Picture winner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Platoon – 1986

Here we have another war film.  This is the first one that really dealt with the Vietnam War in a hard-hitting way.  Sure, The Deer Hunter took place in the Vietnam War and had a few scenes that took place in Vietnam, but it was more like fantasy than reality.  Platoon really took the war head-on.

The Vietnam War was unlike any other war in history in so many ways.  It took place in a time of great political, social and cultural upheaval leaving very few people in the United States unaffected.  The fighting conditions were unlike anything our soldiers had ever faced.  Warfare technology had progressed to a point where injuries and death were dealt more horrifically than ever before.

Platoon caught me off guard.  I went into it having never seen it before.  After all, I am not a huge fan of war films, especially not if they get too graphic or bloody.  Platoon was very violent and bloody, stressful to watch and heartbreaking at times.  But it was a film that also had a very deep emotional content and characters that were powerful.  It starred Charlie Sheen as the lead, Private Chris Taylor, an enlisted college drop-out assigned to Bravo Company, 25^th Infantry Division.  The story was told from his perspective.  In fact, a certain amount of narration takes place in the form of Taylor’s letters to his grandmother.

Oliver Stone directed this movie, and I have to make special mention of that because the advertisements and trailer really emphasized the fact that Stone had served in the Vietnam War with the 25^th Infantry Division.  He was wounded twice and received the Purple Heart with an Oak Leaf Cluster.  That really went a long way to validating the credibility of the film, and its excessive violence.  In fact some have called Platoon a semi-autobiographical film for Stone.

Either way, I felt he achieved a realism that is rarely seen in movies.  The dirt, the grime, the horrible jungle environment, the wounded men, the insanity, the loss of one’s sense and reason, and the ever present fear of pain and death were all blatantly displayed in harsh tones of green, black, brown and red.

Interesting note:  In order to get the most realism he could out of his actors, Stone forced them to go through similar conditions to real soldiers.  He made them carry heavy packs and provisions, dig foxholes, go on forced marches, and deprived them of sleep for two weeks before filming started.  This had the effect of making sure the actors looked as beat and weary as their characters were supposed to be.

Sheen did a great job.  These days, Sheen has been in the media and has become known as a crazy guy, a wild partier, and even pretty loony at times.  It is easy to forget that he can actually be an excellent actor when he wants to be.  His portrayal of Chris Taylor proves that point.  He was young and he had a look of naiveté about him that was essential for the character.  At least, that is how he started out.  By the end of the film, he was on the verge of madness and possibly even suicide, though we’ll get to that in a bit.

There was actually a fairly extensive list of actors that have gone on to prolific careers that were in Platoon: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Dillon, and John C. McGinley.  And those are just the ones I personally recognize.  The entire cast did a great job, but apart from Charlie Sheen, two of these actors had prominent parts.  Berenger played the part of Sergeant Bob Barnes.  He was the stereotypical macho asshole guy who thought he was tougher and smarter than anyone else.  He thought he was above the rules when in reality his humanity had sunk lower than anyone else’s.  Unfortunately, he was also the Platoon Leader.

Opposite him was Dafoe, playing the part of Sergeant Elias.  Elias turned out to be a good guy.  He became sort of a mentor to Taylor who was having a tough time assimilating the life of an infantry man.  Elias helped him out, stood up for him and became a kind of friend.  I have often been prejudice against Willem Dafoe, though I must admit, I always have difficulty explaining why.  Something about him as an actor just seems creepy to me.  But I also cannot deny that he is skilled at his craft.  More than once I have seen him turn in good performances in various films.  This was no exception.  He was a likable character and Dafoe did a good job.

But everything changes when the platoon is ordered to investigate a village of Vietnamese peasants suspected of harboring NVA (North Vietnamese Army) soldiers.  The men of the platoon go crazy.  Before this they had spent months in the jungles fighting the NVA, watching their companions die horrible deaths, and knowing that at any second, any one of them might be next.  Then they find one of their patrols mutilated and tied to a post.  The sanity of the platoon snapped as the villagers cowered in fear.  Even Taylor loses himself and starts shooting at the feet of a man and woman, making them “dance.”  This only stops when another member of the platoon steps in and bludgeons the man to death with his weapon.  After that Taylor finds several men trying to rape two young girls of the village and stops them.

While interrogating the village chief, Barnes, believing that he is hiding more NVA soldiers despite his protestations, loses control and shoots the chief’s wife in the head, murdering her.  But if that wasn’t enough, he grabs the chief’s daughter and threatens to execute her if the NVA soldiers are not given up.  Elias intervenes and gets into a fist-fight with Barnes.

Elias brings formal charges against Barnes, but before the case can be tried, the platoon is ordered back out into the jungle.  In order to stop the inquiry and subsequent court-marshal, Barnes murders Elias.  Taylor doesn’t see it happen, but he strongly suspects the truth.  Barnes tells him that Elias is dead and the two head back to the helicopters.  But as the helicopters are flying away, Elias runs out of the jungle being chased by a host of enemy soldiers.  This is where the famous shot of the dying man with his arms raised to the sky which is featured on some of the promotional posters for the film came from.  I thought it was an unusually over-dramatized death for a film which has gone out of its way to be realistic and somewhat matter-of-fact about death.

Now, I know I am simply spelling out the main plot, which I usually try not to do too much during my reviews, but I have a reason.  You see, the climax of the film depends on this and I want to comment on how the movie ends.  After a huge battle where the U.S. troops are defending against a major assault, Taylor and Barnes are fighting for their lives.  At one point, knowing that Taylor could still blow the whistle on him, and even accuse him of murdering Elias, Barnes tries to murder Taylor as well.  But they are both knocked unconscious before that can happen.

When Taylor wakes up the next morning, he finds an enemy rifle and points it at Barnes who is lying on the ground.  In his macho style, Barnes croaks something like, “Just do it!” not believing that Taylor has the morals of a murderer.  But my jaw just dropped when, without the slightest hesitation, he actually does it!  He shoots Barnes in the chest, killing him instantly.  I was shocked!  Most Hollywood movies take the high road, making the main character out to be noble and forthright.  The fact that Taylor actually committed murder, even though it was the murder of a man who deserved it, was a wonderful departure from the typical movie hero stereotype!

The tagline for the film in advertisements was a play on a famous phrase.  “The first casualty of war is innocence,” the original word, of course, being “the truth.”  This profound ending really drove that point home in a powerful way.  Taylor sheds the last of his innocence when he murders Sergeant Barnes in a very cold and casual way.  Of course, he is sent home after that, having been wounded twice during his time in service.

Interesting note:  The plot synopsis on Wikipedia says that after killing Barnes, Taylor actually contemplates suicide before he is found by U.S. troops.  This was not very evident in the film, though it makes perfect sense.

Another interesting note:  Oliver stone made a cameo appearance as the battalion commander of the 3/22 infantry in the climactic battle which was based on the historical New Year’s Day Battle of 1968.  Stone actually took part in that battle while in Vietnam.

Of all the other actors in the film, I really liked the character of Sergeant O’Neill, played my John C. McGinley.  He did a great job playing a character that, while not exactly likable, was very believable.  He desperately wanted to go home.  At the very least I think that would have been my attitude, had I been there and so I felt a tremendous amount of sympathy for his character.  In the end, he only survived the final battle by hiding under the body of a dead soldier.  In that way he escaped injury, but in doing so he got promoted to Platoon leader, thus keeping him in Vietnam while others were allowed to go home.  The look of horror and resignation on the man’s face when he received his promotion and realized that he couldn’t leave was almost enough to make me teary as well.  Very well-acted McGinley!

This was not exactly an easy movie to watch but it was very well done and I ended up liking it despite myself.  I appreciated the realism of the plot and the depiction of the horrors of the Vietnam War.  It was thought provoking and it stuck with me for several days after watching it.  The movie was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, winning 4 of them.  In addition to Best Picture, it won for Best Sound and Best Film Editing, and Oliver Stone took home the Oscar for Best Director.  This was truly a powerful piece of film-making.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of Africa – 1985

This was a good movie, though a slow one.  The plot was engaging, the acting was good, the music was gorgeous, and the themes grand.  The filming locations were exotic, the realism was very well done, and characters were subtle and believable.  I enjoyed watching it, well enough, though generally, I would say that it isn’t really my kind of film.  Meryl Streep and Robert Redford take the leads along with Austrian born actor, Klaus Maria Brandauer.  It would have been a great movie if it hadn’t been so slow.

Of course, Redford also did a good job, as he usually does.  He was good in previous Best Picture winner, The Sting.  But it seemed to me that he was playing the same character.  I’m beginning to think that he actually has a pretty limited range when it comes to acting.  True, he is very handsome and nice to watch, but I didn’t see him stretching himself as an actor.

But Meryl Streep can pretty much do no wrong in my eyes.  She took on a Dutch accent which she kept up very well throughout the entire film.  Accents are usually avoided for all but the most skilled actors because they are not easy to maintain.  Streep, however, had already proved that she was up to the task of carrying a believable accent, turning in a masterful performance in Sophie’s Choice three years earlier in 1982.  Again, she was wonderful to watch and she did a fantastic job.

Out of Africa was based on an autobiography written by Karen Blixen.  Streep played the part of Blixen, a Danish woman who has some money and is looking for a husband.  She ends up entering into a marriage of convenience with a good friend named Baron Bror Blixen, excellently played by Brandauer.  Together, they move to British Africa, what is now Kenya, with the intention of starting a dairy farm.  From then on, nothing goes right for Karen.  Nothing.  This is one of those plots that asks the question, “How much misery can we heap on our character without killing her?”

Interesting note:  Streep got the part by showing up for her meeting with director Sydney Pollack in a low-cut blouse and push-up bra, because he had originally thought she wasn’t sexy enough for the part.  Ironically, I didn’t really think that her character needed to be at all sexy.

Sure, Karen gains her husband’s title and is now the Baroness Blixen, but that is where the relationship effectively ends.  He takes her money and buys a coffee plantation instead of a dairy farm, which he has no intention of helping to run.  Instead, he wants to be a big-game hunter and leaves her alone to run the plantation alone for months at a time.  Unfortunately the coffee plants will not yield any kind of a harvest for four years, so he has effectively put them in financial difficulty right off the bat.  Add to that the fact that the marriage, at least for him, is a loveless one.  But she develops feelings for him anyway, and is surprised and hurt when she catches him cheating.  And how did she catch him?  Why,    he gives her syphilis, of course.  This does not kill her, but it does ensure that she can no longer have children.

Redford plays the role of Denys Finch Hatton.  He is a big-game hunter and friend of the Blixens.  As time goes by, and as bad things start happening to Karen, the friendship between her and Denys continues to develop.  Eventually the two become lovers.  The movie is billed as a romantic drama, and up until this point, there has been plenty of drama and very little romance.  But I must say that the romance, once it started happening, was very good.  The script was good, but it was made even more effective because of the good acting, especially Streep.

Sufficient time was given to the building of the relationship until it was natural that the two become lovers.  I’ve seen movies that are supposed to be romances that don’t do that, and the couple just jump into the sack together before you can turn your head.  But Streep and Redford had a nice on-screen chemistry that was nice to watch.

Interesting note:  The movie deviated from real life in several significant ways.  For example, Karen and Denys conceived at least one child together.  Unfortunately Karen suffered a miscarriage.  This doesn’t make sense, since the syphilis made Karen unable to have children.  So, in reality, she must have been cheating on her husband, Bror, before she contracted the disease from him.

The movie goes slowly on as more misfortune and tragedy are piled on top of Karen.  But the film also had the great English composer John Barry doing the soundtrack.  And let me tell you, it was an absolutely beautiful score.  One of my favorite scores to listen to is Dances With Wolves, another of Barry’s scores, and I could hear his personal style in the music for Out of Africa as well.  It was large and sweeping and very melodic.  Barry’s music has a feeling of simplicity about it that hides the true complex nature of the orchestral writing.  Just beautiful.

I also have to mention the costumes.  This was a period piece, taking place around the end of WWI.  Some of the scenes required period specific dresses for Streep and the other ladies to wear.  I especially liked some of the hats that she wore.  They even made a point of drawing attention to one of her hats in one scene, in which another woman mentions that she thinks the hat is hideous.  I actually liked that one.  Of course, the men were easy to clothe, for the most part.  Their tuxedos and safari clothing were comparable to anything that might be worn today.

The cinematography was also pretty noteworthy.  Pollack had some wonderful filming locations to work with.  Africa has some amazingly beautiful landscapes.  There were plenty of wide shots of the desert plains.  There was even a great sequence in which Karen and Denys went up in a biplane and looked down at the beauty of Africa.  They flew over herds of water buffalo and flocks of flamingos.  For anyone who has not seen these things in documentaries or videos, they are humongous.  It is actually surprising how large these masses of animals are.

Also, the depictions of the lions was pretty cool.  One thing I noticed that the director chose to do took place in a short scene in which Karen and Denys are attacked by lions.  Pollack showed the attack in slow motion so the audience could get a clear image of the charging beasts.  The large cats are beautiful when they are running and it was an effective little trick.  Unfortunately it took away the sense of danger inherent in the scene.  You couldn’t get an idea how fast the animals actually are when they attack their prey.  And the tension of the scene when both Karen and Denys calmly raised their guns and shot the lions down was undercut.  I think the sequence might have been better served if it showed the quickness of the attack and the calm-under-pressure reflexes of the characters involved.

But it also did something else that I didn’t particularly care for.  It just emphasized the slowness of the entire movie.  You see, as I was reading about the slow pace of the film, I found that it was a deliberate choice, and there was a reason for it.  Much of the film’s romantic subplot and the plot of the movie as a whole centered around Denys (and to some extent Bror as well) and his refusal to settle down.  Apparently life in South Africa moves at a slower pace than most of the world.  Denys loved the slower, calmer lifestyle that he had become accustomed to.  This was reflective of the South African natives and their nomadic ways.

And once again, I find it interesting that the British are there, trying to make the rest of the world like itself rather than leaving them alone and letting them live their own lives in peace.  For some reason the Brits have a history of arrogance, thinking that they are the only civilized nation on earth and wherever they go, they want to force the natives to adopt their civilized ways for their own good, whether they want it or not.

Well, by the end of the film, Karen has endured such loss, betrayal, sickness, and misfortune that it comes as no surprise that she loses Denys as well.  There was one line that she uttered during one of Denys’ brief visits which I found very telling of the entire film.  She said, “When the gods want to punish you, they answer your prayers.”  I’m pretty sure it meant that we never know what is really good for us.  As a result, what we want will more than likely be bad for us.  So don’t want anything too good for yourself.  It’s just going to get you into trouble.  A pretty pessimistic view, to be sure, but then look at what her character had already endured.  A bit of pessimism is understandable.

Still, the movie was very pretty to look at and very pretty to listen to, and the romance between Karen and Denys was pretty engaging.  But it just moved too slow for my tastes.  Pick up the pace just a little bit and I would have liked it even more.

Interesting note:  This is taken directly from Wikipedia.  “Among the various props used in the movie, the compass that Redford gives to Streep was Denys Finch Hatton’s actual compass. Unfortunately, it was stolen during the production. As guns (real, toys and replicas) are illegal in Kenya, Redford’s papier mache pistol was confiscated at the end of production and has since been seen as a rental item in subsequent stage productions in Nairobi.”

Another interesting note:  Supermodel Iman had a small role in the latter half of the film as Mariammo, the African lover of Denys’ friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amadeus – 1984

Right off the bat, I have to say that Amadeus was an incredible film.  Director Milos Forman had a clear idea of what he wanted and the ability to make it work.  He was able to get the perfect cast, permission to film in the right locations, which we’ll get to in a bit, a script that was beyond wonderful, and a realism that was incredibly believable, despite the almost fantasy-like nature of the film.  This movie truly deserved all the awards it won.

Amadeus is based on the stage play, using the same name.  It is a story told from the perspective of Antonio Salieri, masterfully played by F. Murray Abraham.  His portrayal was nothing short of genius.  The film begins with an extremely aged Salieri’s bloody attempt at suicide.  He claims to have killed Mozart, a lofty claim, to be sure, since Mozart’s death is believed to be of an acute case of rheumatic fever.
However, Salieri, having been locked away in an insane asylum, recounts to a visiting priest his reasons for driving the genius composer to his death.  The main body of the movie then begins, following Salieri during his tenure as Court Composer to Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, played by Jeffrey Jones.  Rumors of a child prodigy, now grown to manhood, named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, played by Tom Hulce, begin to circulate around the court.  The Emperor asks to meet this young wunderkind.

But here is the catch.  Salieri was so in love with music as a child that he prayed and made a deal with God.  In this deal, he asked to be a composer of skill and notoriety. In return, he offered his chastity, his enterprise, and his very soul.  And he remained true to his bargain.  He was the figure of piety, abstaining from sins of the flesh, and devoting his professional life to the glory of music, which he thought of as God’s answer to his prayer.

But then Mozart arrives in Vienna and Salieri sees him being a debauched and perverted man, the adult version of a spoiled child.  This incenses Salieri beyond sanity for one simple reason: because he has heard Mozart’s music and recognized the sheer genius of it.  At first, he thought that the music’s unearthly beauty was a fluke.  The little that he heard had to be a stroke of luck or an accident.  But the more heard, the more he listened, the more he began to realize that it was anything but.  And he began to think that God had cheated him.  Through Mozart’s music, he heard the very voice of God Himself, so exquisite were the young reprobate’s compositions.  He who had devoted his entire life to God and His glorification through his own music, which now seemed nothing more than mediocre when compared to that of Mozart, now felt like God was spitting on him and his paltry talents.  That was when hate began to grow in his heart, hate for Mozart, and eventually, hate even for God.

Abraham’s performance was incredible, mesmerizing, intense, and utterly believable.  Throughout the movie, the old Salieri, keeps returning to remind the audience that the story of Mozart is all a flashback in his mind as he confesses his professed crime of murder to the priest.  These little scenes were so well written and so well acted.  Abrahams won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, and it was well deserved.  He was phenomenal.

But I also have to give credit where credit is due.  The screenplay was written by Peter Schaffer.  The words he put into Salieri’s mouth were like poetry, powerful and profound.  The way he described music and its beauty, the way it can touch and move the souls of men was truly inspired.  But then, the way he described the depths of despair and hatred that the character of Salieri went through were also masterfully written.

Tom Hulce’s performance was also quite wonderful to watch.  He was also nominated for the Best Actor Award.  His portrayal of the tortured composer was wonderful.  He played the petulant, spoiled boy with what seemed like ease.  He played the great composer with real boldness and gravity.  Of course, the real man, Mozart, was not nearly as flamboyant as he was depicted in the movie, but it was wonderful for the drama, played against the dire motives of the character of Salieri.  But I believe that Abrahams won the Oscar over Hulce because Salieri was a much more complex character with infinitely deeper motivations.

Interesting note:  Kenneth Branagh was actually one of the finalists to play the coveted role of Mozart, but he was dropped when Forman decided he wanted an all American cast.

Another interesting note: Tom Hulce had to learn to play the piano for the part, and would spend hours and hours practicing in his hotel room during filming so that it would look believable when he was shown at the keyboard.  There is a scene in which Mozart has to play the keyboard backwards as he is held up-side-down over the harpsichord.  It has been noted that he actually played all the correct keys visually to match the music being played in the film’s soundtrack.

Other notable actors in Amadeus were Jeffrey Jones, playing the Emperor, Elizabeth Berridge as Mozart’s devoted wife Constanze, Roy Dotrice as Leopold Mozart, Mozart’s father, and Simon Callow as Emanuel Schikaneder, Mozart’s friend who ran the local vaudeville playhouse. They all played their parts very well, especially, Jones and Berridge.  Jones was always a delight to watch, he looked the part and played it very well.  Berridge was a bit of a screen stealer for me.  She was so common, not high born, and yet so earnest in her love for her husband.  I really enjoyed watching her.

Interesting note: Meg Tilly was originally cast in the role of Constanze.  Unfortunately for her, she was playing street soccer the night before filming was to take place.  She tore a ligament in her leg that forced her to relinquish the part to Berridge.

Another interesting note: Simon Callow played the part of Mozart in the stage version, but was given the part of Schikaneder, the librettist of The Magic Flute, in the film.

Part of the film was shot on location in Prague, Kromeriz, and Vienna.  Prague was a particularly difficult location since it is located in the Czech Republic.  Half the crew and even some of the extras were made up of the Czech Secret Police.  The main body of the movie was, however, shot in Vienna.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the costumes for this film.  Every single person had to be fitted and dressed for the late 1700s.  There were more wigs than one could count.  There were costumes for peasants and royalty.  There were theatre costumes for all the different operas depicted.  They had to dress lords and ladies, adults and children.  Theodore Pistek was the costume designer and though the task he took on was beyond belief, he really knew what he was doing.  He earned his own Oscar for his work and he really deserved it.  The costumes were simply fantastic!  Well done Theodore!

I also have to think that making this movie had to be a particularly special experience for the actors and the crew involved for a very special reason.  One of the authentic filming locations used in the film was the Burgtheatre in Vienna.  This was the actual theatre in which The Marriage of Figaro, one of Mozart’s most popular operas had its actual premier.  The theatre has had minimal renovations over the centuries and is in very much the same condition that it had been in 1786.  But to perform scenes from the beautiful opera in the very theatre in which it premiered was apparently an emotional experience for the cast and crew.

As director, Forman went out of his way to ensure that this somewhat biographical film was, first and foremost, a drama.  Some of the details were changed for dramatic effect, but I have no problem with that.  Hollywood does that all the time.  As long as the key points are maintained and no glaring untruths are told, then it makes sense that certain changes must be made when translating reality into a movie.  That being said, here are a few of the historical inaccuracies that my research has uncovered.  Time for a little history lesson.

Mozart and Constanze actually had 6 children, two of whom survived beyond infancy.  The film only showed one child.  The film also glossed over the fact that Mozart actually had a fairly respectable income and he and his wife enjoyed a plush lifestyle for a while.  But times became difficult for him and all composers in Vienna at the time because of the Austro-Turkish War.  Resources for his main patron, Emperor Joseph II, began to grow thin and paying a chamber composer became a secondary concern.  The film never mentioned the war.  Instead, it played into the drama of Salieri as he sabotaged Mozart’s career out of hatred and jealousy.

Also, the movie implied that Mozart’s last 3 operas were The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute.  Cosi fan tutte, another of Mozart’s famous operas, was written in 1790.  In addition, he wrote one of his lesser-known operas, La clemenza di Tito, which premiered in 1791.

And finally, it appears that the film was quite accurate in that Mozart had accumulated sizeable debts from borrowing.  What it does not mention is that near the end of his life he actually started making a lot of money selling his music and subsequently started paying off some of his debts.

Back to the film.  In a pretty minor part, Cynthia Nixon, famous today for her role on the TV show Sex in the City, played Lorl, Mozart’s maid.  Actually her character was fairly pivotal.  She was hired by Salieri to be Mozart’s maid so that she could be a spy, and even let Salieri into the apartment when the Mozarts were out.  I just found it a surprise to see Nixon in the movie.

And finally, there was the music.  Forman described the music of Mozart as an actual character in the film.  The music was scored and conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, who agreed to take the job on one condition: that not a single note of Mozart’s music would be changed.  Forman agreed and Mozart’s wonderful and beautiful music was used as the film score.  The movie’s soundtrack actually reached # 56 on Billboard’s album charts, making it one of the most popular recordings of classical music ever produced.

Interesting note:  In the beginning of the film, a snippet of the real Antonio Salieri’s music was used, though some of his notes were altered.

This was simply an incredible movie.  The attention to certain details was wonderful and impressive to watch.  But most impressive, to me was the music, the costumes, and Abraham’s phenomenal performance.  And the drama was gripping enough to make me emotionally invested in the plot.  It was a film that, even though I had seen it before, made me continue to think about it long after the final credits ended.  This was truly a great and worthy addition to the list of Best Picture winners.