Friday 29 July 2011

City of Life and Death
(2010)

RATING:100%
FORMAT:DVD



Difficult to describe this intimate and exceptionally-good war epic in words because director Lu Chuan is such an original talent.

The "Rape of Nanking" is described in horrifying emotional detail that disconcertingly sucks you into the terror without disgusting you into being distracted from the essential drama. The individual stories shine through loud and clear and we are never sure who is going to survive the ordeal, which makes a refreshing change from the Hollywood convention that the highest-paid actor is supposed to be the last man standing. The black-and-white photography also helps focus our attention on the strongly-realized characters and away from the vivid, but potentially-distracting, battle scenes.

Like the equally-compelling Schindler's List, the photographic appearance of the film is integral to the telling of the story whose theme is common humanity in a civilized world.


Copyright © 2011 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
Posted by Frank TALKER™ at 09:33
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Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.



Albert Camus… (1913-60), French-Algerian writer & philosopher. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt: New York: Vintage Books, (1984; page 182.)