new1sapi Reviews

Anywhere But Here (1999)

"Anywhere but Here" has something to offer in spite of itself.

[26 May 2000]

The main premise of Anywhere but Here is a parent's love for his child is a potent antidote against his own faults. In raising our children the key to success is that we have a genuine love for them. The best schools, discipline program, and diet will be to no avail without love. The corollary to this truism is just as beneficial. "And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing" (1Cor 13:2.)

When it comes to flawed parents, Adele August (Susan Sarandon) is the "poster mom." The film opens with Adele dragging her daughter Ann (Natalie Portman) across the country in her new Mercedes. They are traveling from Bay City, Wisconsin to Beverly Hills California with Adele's dream of beginning a more fulfilling life by upping the ante of her bourgeois lifestyle. Edele's personality is so endemic of the baby boomers of a previous generation. She is completely absorbed in her own fantasy world, self centered and seeking her own fulfillment, while almost completely clueless regarding the suffering of those she leaves in her wake. To her credit, she still loves her daughter as much as she is capable in her injured moral condition.

Her relationship to her daughter is not unlike our relationship to God. The daughter being God and Adele representing mankind. An interesting game to play, while watching this film, would be to pretend you are God and imagine that this may be the way God sees us. We all do love God and yet we can't stop pursuing our own will. True, if we love Him we will do His will but we are never completely successful at doing His will. Yet, it is my contention that we still love Him. If a person has no control of his passions he is still capable of loving God. It is an orientation we have towards our beloved even while in great sin. I'll not tread the theological implication of this concept since this is only a film review. I'll phrase it this way, the image of God can still be seen even in a narcissistic baby boomer like Adele.

Ann is really the one in which we place our hopes. We do this because she represents the lost generation after the excesses of the boomers. The generation X, if you will. This is where the art of film has the ability to open your eyes to see things from another's vantage point. One can truly empathize with Ann. Being totally dependent on her mother she is trapped and forced to endure all kinds of agonies. She is the Christ figure in this film because she is the one to bare the cross of her mother's ignorance and self-love. Still Ann loves her mother through thick and thin.

I doubt the director intended to be so insightful but one of the most moving parts of the film is when Ann attempts to contact her father by phone. He is yet another boomer who is seeking self-actualization while at the same time destroying the hope in his own daughter. He cruelly puts off his daughter in a disdainful way so characteristic of man at the close of the twentieth century. You want to scream out at him "she is your daughter!" Soon afterwards Ann begins having a sexual relationship with her admiring boyfriend. The talented Natalie Portman convincingly shows you that sex is not what she is truly interested in. It is so obvious she is looking for her father's love. She has mistakenly projected her desire for the love of a caring masculine father onto her boyfriend. When she embraces her boyfriend it is truly a heart-wrenching scene. That embrace was really meant for her father.

It was originally intended for Ms. Portman to undress in the scene that presents Ann's first sexual encounter. To her credit, Ms. Portman felt uncomfortable doing a nude scene and it had to be re-scripted at her insistence. Because of Ms. Portman's stance this is now a film I can recommend.

I believe that Ms. Portman was the only one who truly understood her character. Like so many post boomers the Ann character has rejected her mother's lack of values but hasn't rejected her mother. She understands that something went dreadfully wrong in her life but because of her lack of proper formation, she has no idea what values she wants to adopt. All she needs is Christ and this films shows the great evangelical opportunity that awaits all Christians. Her life is almost completely devoid of religion. Granted, her sad formation has most likely produced the fruits of skepticism and distrust of authority. She, representing the majority of generation X-ers, will not be an easy egg to crack.

I highly recommend this film especially for teenagers because it teaches not by telling us the right way but by showing the consequences of the wide or wrong path. The film also scores a point for the baby boomers by restating their mantra "all you need is love." As parents, we will make many mistakes, but if our children know that we love them very much this could be the ointment that will heal many wounds. Just as Mary Magdalene poured ointment over the feet that would be pierced by a spike. Though her sins were great and many it was her love for her savior that healed her.

The Winslow Boy (1999)

A Father Fights For His Son's Honor

[23 February 2000]

When director David Mamet created the new 1999 screen adaptation of the Winslow Boy I wondered if he took the advice I gave him in a letter after he directed The Spanish Prisoner. I advised him to continue making movies that are for the whole family, but with an appeal for adults. Well He did it! This is the first "G" rated film, intended for an adult audience, that I remember in years.

At the onset, Ronnie Winslow (The Winslow boy) has been expelled from a prestigious English Naval prep school. When Ronnie tells his father Arthur Winslow (Nigel Hawthorne) that he was innocent of any wrongdoing, Arthur begins a fight to restore his son's name.

The film is not a courtroom drama; it is more of an examination of characters that choose to make great personal sacrifices for a beloved. Interestingly the film opens with the family coming home from Sunday services. As they enter their house they chat about the scripture reading of the day. The reading happens to be from Gen. 41:18 about Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dream. In pharaoh's dream the seven lean cows eat the seven fat cows, foreshadowing the coming meager years in their own household.

The story mainly focuses on three characters, Arthur Winslow, his daughter Catherine (Rebecca Pidgeon, who also had a leading role in the Spanish Prisoner and is the directors wife), and the family attorney Sir Robert Morton (played by the handsome Jeremy Northam). Catherine is a liberated but temperate suffragette. Sir Robert is the cool and "apparently" passionless, self-interested lawyer who is opposed to feminism. The most fun scenes are when these two are juxtaposed. A little Pride and Prejudice without the pride. Once again we see the age-old dichotomy between the logical man and the intuition of a women; I never tire of it.

The film's premise is that justice and truth are worth sacrificing for. God the Father's Son was unjustly accused and was made to pay even while he was innocent. So to, we see this earthly father watch his son unjustly accused. Conversely, just as with Isaac and Abraham, our Father in heaven is often more gentle with us than He is even with His own Son.

Keep in mind while you watch the film that there are certain devices that David Mamet uses that give the film his signature; devices that make the films "Mametesque", if you will. The first thing to look for is how the characters will often rephrase their statements; they rephrase their statements. Get it. Another device he uses is omission. Characters may be talking to one another and you are listening just fine until they walk behind a wall and then you don't hear them any more. The thing omitted is always something seemingly important that you really wanted to know. Sometimes you find out later in the story and sometimes you don't. If it's important to understanding the characters you will find out, but if it is nonessential to the plot, i.e. how much money the process is going to make, you won't find out.

I highly recommend this film. My three and five year olds fell asleep. My eight and ten year olds enjoyed the film and I think they learned a lesson about telling the truth.

The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)

The film will be with me for a long time.

[7 May 1999]

An artistic masterpiece that almost any observant Catholic will cherish, especially an Italian Catholic. It is unclear how nonbelievers will connect to the film. By watching the film one discovers that while material possessions may make life easier they certainly can be a stumbling block on the path to sanctity. These peasants really put late twentieth century American Catholics to shame.

The film slowly unveils to the viewers one year in the life of Italian peasants at the close of the nineteenth century. That's about it. There's no hero, no antagonist, and no great wrong that gets set right; it's simply a slice of life. I do not want to reveal too much of the story because I think it will spoil it for the viewer.

The film can serve as an educational tool for viewers with children. It's like going to an outdoor historical museum, only the viewer gets to see everything that it would take one whole year to see at the museum (without the crowds). For example, the director takes the time to show painstakingly what it was like to wash clothes one hundred years ago. It's essentially a living documentary of late nineteenth century Italian provincial life.

Most American audiences will have to get used to the slow pace of the film. Even the humor is extremely subtle. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the pace. The pace was silent, peaceful, and steadfast just as the families are in the film. To me it is an escape (ironically an escape from an escape) from many of today's films that just explode with sound effects and rock music; films that move at blurring speed with scene cuts that are made with the intent to maximize audience stimulation but often with the result of increasing our stress level. This movie is a restful reprieve.

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)

Things I noted about the film.

[3 May 1999]

The film is Interesting. It has some worthy concepts in it and some I didn't care for. The film gives an account of the life of Christ as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. The director seemed to want to presents the story as if it were a pictorial or literal presentation of the gospel. Consequently, the dramatic aspects are played down. This seemed to have benefits as well as some disadvantages. The benefit comes from the fact that the film will play more to ones intellect and less to the passions. This will help to give the Gospel presentation a more lasting impact. The disadvantage is that the dramatization appears cold and makes it difficult to connect with the Jesus in this film (In a way that can be good because it emphasizes Christ's divine nature).

One gets the sense that this Jesus is here to do his work for mankind but it's as though he is doing the work as a "duty" of love. The best way I can describe it is as if I had to change my child's wet bed in the middle of the night and I am not happy about it yet I love my child too much to let him sleep in it. I think that idea also helped to bring out our Lord's divine nature better than other films have done.

The film employs an eclectic sound track. Some scenes have blues, chant, classical, and African music. I think he pulled it off only marginally. It kept causing me to remember that I was watching a film instead of entering more deeply into the action. Believe it or not, I think the African music worked well in the score. It was the American blues that detracted from the film. Maybe it doesn't detract as much to an Italian audience since they could not understand the words.

Satan, the angelic apparitions, and miracles are presented very simply and without special effects. It is not boring at all as one would be tempted to think. In fact, I can't figure out how this director was able to convince me, as he did, that this man in the desert with Jesus was actually satan. That image will be with me for a long time. Maybe the director simply relied on the power of the gospel itself. The angelic apparitions are also very suave.

Although the Pasolini film is superior in some respects to Zeffirelli's film "Jesus of Nazareth" it certainly is not as satisfying. It lacks the beauty of Zeffirelli's film. The actors are in a constant trance or zombie like state and I don't completely understand why that style is employed. The style is hard to get used to especially for a viewer who was raised on American film. Of all the films made about the life of Christ I would put it in second place with third going to none.