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Reviews
Amazing Grace (2006)
Hero of British Abolition Movement
According to director Michael Apted, this biographical film was meant to demonstrate to a perhaps politically dispirited American public that engaging the democratic political apparatus in the service of a great cause is highly worthwhile. It is worthwhile even when it involves a long and harrowing struggle against the corrupt powers-that-be. Amazing Grace accomplishes this end quite nicely even if much of the real-life political wheeling and dealing had to be left out.
As the film opens in the late 1700s, we find William Wilberforce in mid career. The Yorkshire minister has been working tirelessly for years to end Britian's slave trade only to see his latest bill voted down because four allies had been absent from Parlaiment on the big day. Tired and ill, perhaps even beaten, he retires to his cousin's country estate to consider his options and is then further burdened by his relatives' attempts at match making.
Through a series of flashbacks, we are filled in on Wilberforce's Parliamentary career, his friendships with Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and various abolitionists, as well as his long-standing addiction to opiates.
As it turns out, though, the young lady who has been presented to him proves a good match and through their romance, Wilberforce finds the strength to go on fighting the good fight.
Though perhaps not destined to be a classic, Amazing Grace has all the right Hollywood touches. And while Apted's approach is a highly romanticized one, this is most appropriate to its subject who, after all, lived out the ideal in the early days of the Romantic Era.
It is amusing to sift through various professional reviews in both the mainstream and alternative presses and find one critic calling this film too simplistic while another says it is overly complicated. One writer derides the love story as "boring" while another says it is the only emotional hook in the film. (Everyone agrees, however, that the two main actors, Ioan Gruffudd and Benedict Cumberbatch, turn in wonderful performances.)
Heed not the sourpusses - this is a good film with a worthy subject. The legal manoeuvrings are indeed played down, so as not to bore the mainstream audience, but this is a small speck in a generally good historical drama. Most viewers will enjoy Amazing Grace and doubtless it will leave some wondering what great cause they should be devoting their own lives to.
Charlotte's Web (1973)
Much Achieved With Inadequate Budget
True, the movements of the characters (especially human ones) in this film are often stilted and awkward. But it is abundantly clear from the painted backdrops, and "special effects" scenes (strands of web swaying and glistening with the music, dandelion seeds floating away on the breeze, etc.) that the artists working on this film were deeply committed to creating a beautiful work of art -- and despite the obvious constraints of the budget, they succeeded.
However, there was no skimping in other areas of production. The song lyrics are wonderful, the tunes sophisticated, catchy and nicely arranged, and the casting is absolutely perfect (there never could be a better Templeton than Paul Lynde!)
Furthermore, the spirit of the book comes through intact. The nature themes and the rhythm of a farm animal's life are nicely conveyed and there's none of Disney's sugar-coating. Wilbur ages like a corpulant porker and Charlotte dies in the end.
So overlook the stuff that's reminiscent of Saturday-morning cartoons and revel in this trip down memory lane!
Eréndira (1983)
A Thing of Beauty
Although this lovely work of art does use some of the cinematic vocabulary of surrealism, it is in fact nothing of the sort. It is a political and cultural allegory of Mexico's post-Columbian odyssey, as even a passing glance at Mexico's history will attest.
In contrast to "Like Water for Chocolate," "Erendira" expects the viewer to meet it at least half way so that understanding it takes a little work. (A good starting point is to see the grandmother character as Spain: proud, aloof, sorrowful and, above all else, weighed-down-with-history.)
The ultimate actions of the heroine are obscure because the "outcome" of history (i.e. the present) is always obscure, since we are too close to it for honest evaluation. Refusal to neatly tie up loose ends is the only real choice available to the director, given the ambitions of the film.
"Erendira" is gorgeous. A big-screen experience would be ideal, if you can catch it at a local art house or university screening. But if not, VHS is better than never seeing it at all.