Fallen

(2004)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.geocities.co.jp)

An even-handed, subtle and low key movie that manages to convey the boredom, the conflicts of duty and the sheer life affirming terror of combat – from the points of view of American, German and Italian troops in Italy in 1944.

The mundanities of soldiering are well presented, as are the necessary sacrifices; particularly poignant in the case of the Axis forces since, for them, they were so much in vain. The movie does not spare us the pain of seeing our favorite characters killed as we are never watching a typical Hollywood film where we are pretty certain – because of the star pecking order - which will survive by the end. This fits in well with the basic theme of the fallen being more important than those that survive.

A film that suggests the true horror of war lies in the sheer banality of the whole enterprise.

Copyright © 2013 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.

This is England (2006)

RATING:	100%
FORMAT:	DVD

(www.cinedelica.com)

An exceptional work; proving White people can understand the complex issues surrounding White supremacy with subtlety.

Post-imperial England is shown as ethnically self-loathing as a minority of Whites easily leads the majority towards an ethnic blame culture. The real sadness is that the Saint George’s Cross could become emblematic of racism.

(www.cinedelica.com)

The performances are all excellent, particularly the precocious Thomas TURGOOSE and the superb Stephen GRAHAM - who gets under the skin of the racist mentality, brilliantly. You feel oddly sorry for the fact his father never loved him and that his idea of love is drunken fornication. He is constantly on the edge of another violent outburst because no one really likes him as he increasingly traps himself within his self-isolating delusions. Self-hatred positively oozes from the screen: A loser never seemed more lost.

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Copyright © 2013 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.

I’m All Right Jack (1959)

RATING:	100%
FORMAT:	DVD

(www.paperblog.fr)

Not in the least dated exposé of UK industrial relations and their inevitable filtering through the British national obsession with social-class origins and their consequent (false) loyalties.

The playing of all concerned is faultless. From the smallest parts to the largest – making this that rare thing, a truly ensemble movie with no one overweening ego getting in the way of the themes explored. Peter SELLERS is particularly memorable.

(www.paperblog.fr)

The generalized parasitism of the middle class in their dependency on the lower classes to do the work they will not do - leading to a desire to keep the poor permanently separated from access to capital - is well sketched. Along with the chip on the shoulder mentality of the lower class in their desire to similarly obtain something for nothing – or, at least, for as little effort as possible.

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Copyright © 2013 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.

Take (2008)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.allmovie.com/)

Despite the directorially-technical cleverness, this is not as clever a movie as it thinks it is.

The acting is melodramatic and serves up some of the necessary emotional pyrotechnics in detailing the travails of an ordinary man placed in a difficult situation by a robbery that nearly leaves him dead. Yet this is still a rather meagre look at the psychological mechanics of revenge, that merely pits what one could lose from taking the revenge against the pleasure of the revenge, itself.

Not profound enough to genuinely engage our empathy despite the ciné-vérité family shown. The characters are flat and underwritten – especially the chief villain who is nothing more than a cynical, death-dealing cipher.

This film cannot decide whether it is a potboiler or something more serious and so suffers from aesthetic schizophrenia.

Copyright © 2013 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.

When We Were Kings (1996)

Similar to: Soul Power ()

RATING: 80%

(Image: http://www.thatfilmguy.net)

Insightful documentary about the Black experience in America as regards the unwillingness of Blacks to play the White man's game.

Muhammad ALI was a political athlete who refused to serve in the US military in Vietnam because the Vietcong never called him a 'Nigger'. Also, of course, Blacks are largely denied a share of the American Dream - despite paying taxes - so have less reason to be patriotic. This stance made ALI a hero for Blacks and somewhat less popular with Whites.

The irony of this movie is that it focused positive attention on Africa - and the achievements of Blacks - in a way that the White media rarely shows, yet Zaire was a dictatorship that does not make Africa look good - especially in terms of human rights. This issue is largely unexplored here.

This film is also about the positive mental attitude necessary to overcome apparently insuperable odds. ALI was a beautiful fighter because he was intelligent and used that brain to beat a boxer (George FOREMAN) who should have beaten him - at least on paper. Yet loving boxing as much as ALI did is tempting the fates to destroy him if he stays in the ring beyond his sell-by date.

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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.