Khuda Kay Liye

(2007)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(http://uk.mubi.com)

[In the Name of God]

This film is far too long and so undermines its very important premise!

It critiques the tail-wagging-the-dog policy of religious fundamentalists who believe exterior shows count for more than a religion practiced sincerely. It covers all the bases: Torture, lumping all Browns together as Muslim literalists, forced marriage, fundamentalist brainwashing of susceptible youth, White supremacy, etc. Yet only the final impassioned courtroom-speech offers any real dramatic and metaphysical meat to chew on amidst all the fat.

Identity politics are at the root of the political issues discussed here, but the fact that those without an identity based on achievements can so easily become fundamentalists - serial killers, terrorists, White supremacists, etc - is not fully explored as a theme in the nearly three-hours’ running time. Its heart is in the right place but its mind is elsewhere.

Naseeruddin SHAH is excellent - as always - and provides the necessary ballast to make the all-important points that the rest of the film strives to make. His exegesis of the true nature of Islam is as welcome as it is compelling. Unfortunately, he is only a guest star and cannot completely save the film from nearly scuttling itself with the sheer weight of its own pomposity.

---

Copyright © 2014 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.

Lektion i Kärlek

(1954)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(http://ingmarbergman.se)

[Lesson in Love]

Very good, often hysterical, sex comedy along the lines of:

Do you have problems with women?

No. Not since I killed my fiancée.

Eva DAHLBECK is particularly good as the all-woman that her estranged gynecologist husband must win back after years of being unfaithful with his numerous, besotted female patients. The problem is that her husband does not understand that she wants to be married but does not want to be just a wife.

(http://ingmarbergman.se)

---

Copyright © 2014 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.

Long Dimanche de Fiançailles

(2004)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	Cinema

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

[Very Long Engagement]

Too gimmicky and overly stylish, this World War I melodrama lacks the emotional punch necessary to make it a classic.

Flawed by trying to be both a gut-wrenching war movie and a love story, the scenes of combat conflict with the more domestic moments to no dramatic effect since neither help us understand the other. Instead, we are presented with a mediocre amour in which sexual love is defined as merely an empathy between people whould could intuit the death of a loved one. The unbelievable coincidences add nothing to the film’s view of fate as random; being more the result of poor screenwriting ability.

The performances are excellent, however, and Audrey TAUTOU, Marion COTILLARD & Jodie FOSTER make clear this film was trying to be a war film told from a feminine perspective rather than just an explicit depiction of combat.

Copyright © 2014 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.

Short Cuts

(1993)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(www.cinemarden.com)

Bleak-but-honest portrayal of the fragility of White sexual relationships - and the resulting popularity of adultery as a solace - given the emotionally-repressed, insular and superficial nature of that culture.

This accurate depiction of the anger inherent in White male sexuality also shows White women as accessories in their own sexist and sexual oppression & repression. The pornographic elements reveal what White men really think about White women such that one wonders why more White women don’t sleep with male People of Color. The answer is that they believe that this is the only life available to them and so do not know any better.

Although somewhat depressing (& the screenwriter has nothing else to offer as a substitute for the moral crisis of most of the characters - as if it were, somehow, normal), the quality of the acting is second-to-none - and the characterization astute. The usual Robert Altman distanced bemusement with the characters of his films is well to the fore here - as is a meandering plot that sucks you in to the many absurd situations on offer. Perhaps the title refers to the shortcuts Whites take to get to where they think they are going?

Here, Whites are also shown attempting to inoculate themselves from reality by airborne spraying of an entire city in the hope that the outside world, they disdain, will somehow be kept at bay; taking short cuts.

Ultimately, the very nature of White culture leads to the inability to satisfy basic emotional needs; hence, the high mortality rate of the relationships on show and the undercurrent of immemorial anger and hatred of women that inevitably ensues.

An earthquake symbolises the repressed rage finally boiling over as characters’ true feelings erupt.

---

Copyright © 2014 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.

Water

(2005)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(www.bellbajao.org)

Human Wrongs

Slow-moving essay on widows’ lack of human rights in pre-partition British India – a problem still extant today.

Interestingly, water is used as a metaphor for both spiritual cleanliness and ethical uncleanliness in its being used for communal, ritual cleansing - with strangers. An analogy is also made between removing the British Raj with Passive Resistance and changes in their own – often hideously-discriminatory - Hindu culture.

The movie concludes, correctly, that the only real freedom comes from within - as well as from the courage to recognize this simple fact. Where the film falls down somewhat is in its preference for arrestingly-photographed images over thematic content.

---

Copyright © 2014 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.