On Rwanda

The greatest challenge of the art of film is to help us share the human experience of people unknown to us. This is never nobler than with the examination and exposure of the tragedy of genocide. What happened in Rwanda in 1994 will no doubt be the subject of original work for decades, but three outstanding films are already testament to the horrors of that summer.
They are all excellent. They are all very difficult for those of us with conscience to watch.

Hotel Rwanda is perhaps the best known - it garnered three Academy Award nominations and was probably the first that many oblivious Americans had heard of the whole event. It is my least favorite for two obvious reasons; first, it wasn't filmed in Rwanda and second, because most of the film is contained in the grounds of the hotel, it was limited in scope. Don Cheadle was wonderful, and it also boasted Nick Nolte and Joaquin Phoenix.

HBO Films did a better job with Sometimes in April. They managed to film in Rwanda and used a lot of native talent although the principals are still American or British, ( the only big name was Debra Winger.) However, with this story we follow a family as it fragments and this brings home the power of the tragedy - families torn apart, neighbors turning on neighbors etc. This film also does a great job of pointing out the power of propaganda on a population steeped in fear.

But the best of the trilogy from my point of view is Beyond the Gates. A British film featuring John Hurt and Hugh Dancy, Gates was not only filmed in Rwanda but at the very site of the story, the Ecole Technique Officielle, a school run by a priest named Father Christopher. Cast and crew were largely survivors of the massacre, Belgian soldiers were played by Western expats, NGO workers and the like. All of this brings to bear an amazing authenticity. This film also frames a lot of the moral questions that the others try to soothe - what would you have done if you had been there?

All three are worth your time, but space them out or you'll run out of kleenex. But do watch. Those who forget the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. And if you want to know more, all three websites have lots of extra information.

In the Valley of Elah

I hate it when important films are overlooked and this is an important film. Although it was marketed by Warner Independent, they must not have tried very hard, cuz I sure hadn't heard of it until Tommy Lee Jones was nominated for Best Actor. But I suppose in our current climate of "don't ask, don't tell" regarding the Iraq war and it's cost in human misery, this film, with it's implication of no unharmed soldiers returning, is ... inconvenient.

In the Valley of Elah is loosely based on the true story of Richard Davis, a GI who returned from Iraq only to be murdered by members of his own company. In the fictionalized account, Jones plays Hank Deerfield, a tough ex MP who goes looking when his boy turns up AWOL four days after returning from his tour. When the body turns up, Hank is desperate for answers and goes looking with the aid of a local detective (Charlize Theron) who just doesn't like the look of the whole thing. As this dedicated military man tries to piece together what happened only to find his son further and further implicated in less than honorable behavior, all that he holds sacred comes into question.

Tommy Lee Jones is always impeccable, especially when playing the "everyman," and the rest of the cast more than hold their own. What makes this movie important however, is the story. This war is different and the war wounds our young vets come home with, including Post Traumatic Stress, we will be living with for some time to come. Paul Haggis (Crash) wrote and directed this film to suggest we take a look. There's no official website for the film, but check out the Richard Davis story here.

Juno

This was one of those films that I earnestly resisted just because everybody I knew was gushing about how "cute" it was. Yuck. But then it turned out to get that sort of honorary Best Picture nod that odd films are given by the Academy to acknowledge that everybody seemed to like them... you know, like Little Miss Sunshine last year. And the decidedly different Diablo Cody actually won Best Original Screenplay for the film. sigh. Okay, so I decided to suck one up for the team and watch it. What's an afternoon for the sake of enlightening you, and saving you from the horror yourownself?

SO, Juno is cute. In case you were on Mars or something, this is the story of nine months in the life of Juno MacGuff who finds herself preggers in high school after that one time of recreational sex with her not-boyfriend Bleeker. She wimps out of an abortion and gets on a mission to find the perfect parents for her little bundle of someone else's joy. Now neveryoumind that REAL teenagers don't talk or act like her, REAL parents seldom react to this kind of news in this kind of way and in REAL life, nothing, and I mean nothing, ends up tidily. The movie is cute.


Okay, that was harsh. Even if it is terribly contrived it was entertaining, primarily because of a good cast. Michael Cera was delightful with a complete deer-in-the-headlights sensibility as Bleeker and then of course there's Ellen Page and although she far more deserved a Best Actress nomination for Hard Candy (my review here,) Ellen is a rising star. We'll see more of her, mark my words. See the website here.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

I hate, Hate, HATE that Robert Downey Jr. is so flippin' talented. Just when I think I can safely put him on the short list of actors I will NOT watch, he does something brilliant and my righteous ethical distaste for him as a human being is slapped silly by my movie lovin' darkside. Saints is yet another one of those films in which Downey plays a role made for Downey. Damn it.

This is based on the memoir written by Dito Montiel about life growing up on the mean streets of New York. I mean 'based' as in Dito wrote the book about his youth, and then wrote the screenplay and directed the film (Trudie Styler produced.) This isn't a pretty story about coming of age - this is a real story about real, flawed people trying to make a life in a hard place. It's full of family crap, and fear based violence and love and taking care of your own. Senseless things happen. There's a lot of pain. It's quite brilliant.

Downey plays Dito the adult, but the ever impressive Shia LaBeouf fleshes him out as a punk kid with an eye on escaping the life he sees bleeding all around him. Channing Tatum is amazing as his doomed best friend Antonio. The story takes a while to get going, but you'll get hooked early on as you can only guess what finally makes Dito bail. There are some great special features including a scene from the film played out by the real Dito. It takes a lot of courage to take this kind of look at your life... Dito makes it worthwhile for all of us. See the website here.

Atonement

Well, we all know and accept that "the Academy" has an unrequited love affair with the serious film. Best defined as a period drama, complete with lavish settings and costuming; bonus points if it's based on something loosely described as literary, and starring really pretty people - Atonement fits the bill perfectly. Based on an Ian McEwan novel (that I loathed,) beginning at the gentrified country home of the well to do Tallis family and inevitably spreading to include the horrors of World War II and the beaches of Dunkirk; reeking with class disparity and sexual innuendo... this just about squeals, "Watch me - I AM EPIC!" It's little wonder that it was nominated for Best Picture.

Too bad. The story, set to the ingenious tapping of typewriter keys, is about the typical star crossed lovers - she's rich, he's the help - who are thwarted by the little sister who tells a rather unfortunate lie at a rather significant moment and spoils every one's fun. Then it's all a rather sad downhill slide into the abyss, of guilt and war. Uplifting stuff here. James McAvoy does a fair job as the noble servant, Keira Knightley looks stunning in 1940's attire (helps having no boobs to speak of,) and Saoirse Ronan rightfully deserved the nomination for Best Supporting for her Briony at 13. Vanessa Redgrave has a cameo near the end, and I dearly love Vanessa, but not even that could save this dismal mess.

So if you've just been too giddy and need a downer, enjoy this lovely little depressant and skip the cocktails. Unusually for an Oscar nominated film, Atonement has no official website, but you can check out Ian McEwan's here or another review here.