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Reviews
Cobra Verde (1987)
A lot of ado about nothing
Africa and Brazil, cast of thousands, and all really amount to nothing with some half of the film filled with ridiculous dances and aerobatics of the African aboriginals and the other half with "significant" closeups of Kinski's face and some poorly cobbled "significant" atmosphere.
In the hands of a master like Luis Buñuel a similar plot could have been a masterpiece - just compare this film to Buñuel's Death in the Garden (and not even his best movie). Here too we are seeing a decent into horror and madness, we see the abrupt changes of plot and locations, the semi surreal quality - but what a difference!
If you still insists on watching this fiasco, bring earplugs; the sound levels are unbearable.
Warning to Wantons (1949)
A sophisticated satire
The major problem (for the audience) with this movie is that the "sophisticated satire" is hidden behind what might appear on the surface as a series of puzzling, random events: this might be one of the most underrated and one of the least understood movies.
Most (of the very few) reviews of the movie describe it as comedy. Hardy a comedy. Rather a sad, almost tragic, story of social injustice, human cruelty and envy and the hopeless struggle of those less wealth and less lucky in this society that values money and pedigree.
In many ways this movie reminds me the 1951 Luis Buñuel masterpiece "Susana" - a tragic film described - again - as comedy and depicting the hopeless efforts of a young women to be admitted into the "charmed lives" of the affluent society using the only assets she possesses; her youth and her beauty. In both films she is only betrayed by those who claim to love her and to do anything for her.
Just as in Buñuel's film, the "happy ending" is in fact a masterly veiled indictment of our society.