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Reviews
La ville est tranquille (2000)
Agit-prop. Perfected.
A socialist indictment of capitalism, this study of the downtrodden is nevertheless worth your time for its' superlative acting, veracious settings and pedestrian direction. Taking the perspective that the overwhelmed are symbolic of the public and thus indicative of the status quo in contemporary France, this film takes great pains to prove its anti-nationalistic viewpoint. France for the French is faux pas. Multiculturalism is magnifique, and those that disagree are canaille.
Negligent of the notion that France might suffer under a socialist regime plagued by rampant third world immigration the director seeks to engender compassion for the afflicted. The idea that even a stifled laissez-faire market economy might be the cause for the employment of the remaining ninety-percent of the population and the incentive for such mass immigration is ignored so that the viewer can focus without distraction on those caught in the crossfire of free trade with other 'unfree' nations.
For all those who understand why market economies give rise to the greatest good for the greatest number, La Ville est Tranquille is fundamentally instructive of the socialist mind-set. Pointing solely to failure, coincident with its' expert use of emotional rhetoric, score a powerful tool for the manipulation of even the most scholarly of audiences.
Viewed as a work of art this film will not disappoint. Taken without Cabernet you may be cross.
Central do Brasil (1998)
'Gloria' meets 'Merchant & Ivory'
Central Station is one of the most poignant films I have seen in a long time.
There are two reasons I prefer to rent at the video store: being of typical English stock I loathe to show emotion in public, and second public theaters can't afford to play movies that don't pander to the lowest common denominator. That said, you won't see this film in an American theater; be glad then, because its too emotional and simply stated it emanates a core emotion too personal to be shared in public.
I almost didn't rent this film. It's a subtitled Brazilian film, and having lived in Central Florida half my life I've become a bit biased toward rude Brazilian tourists. Then I noticed that my favorite video store carried over fifty copies of 'A Civil Action' and only four copies of this film. Only then did I know it had to be a good movie.
First off, see this film under the right conditions. Preferably alone, with a plate of pasta and good bottle of cabernet. Second, turn up the color on your TV set. This film is a visual treat. Once you get over your western prejudice of all that which isn't new and gleaming and begin to pay attention to the beauty of the indomitable human spirit your exuberance cascades back onto what you initially presumed to be the ugly decay of poverty.
This film is great exactly because I can't express in words the manifold emotions expressed through the eyes of a mature woman and a brutally honest child caught up in a city of people just trying to cope. If you live in a big city you'll surely understand why this woman doesn't just keep walking. Cities are full of cruel people who don't care to help themselves and aren't deserving of yours. This kid doesn't want her help and what's more he can see straight through all her city mask pretensions.
There's an ineffable quality here. The milieu of poverty contrast so well with the richness of emotional honesty. If you were poor in your youth and now middle class you'd do well to consider seeing this. "Don't trust anyone over thirty", because most have sold there soul to 'get by'. Dora redeems hers by becoming the savior of this diamond that refuses to tarnish.
My vote: 9 out of 10.
A must see!