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Reviews
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
An ambitious film
There are three films that come to mind while watching The Da Vinci Code: "Citizen Kane", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".
This film mixes fact and fiction in much the same way that "Citizen Kane" portrayed the life of William Randolph Hearst: it's not close to being accurate, but there is enough truth to be compelling.
The film is really an adventure/mystery in the style of "Raiders": An expert in history becomes part of history itself. This film is a nice travelogue. You find yourself wanting to visit Paris, London and the Holy Land.
What makes this film unique is that it ties together two of the most fascinating and extraordinary figures in history: Christ and Da Vinci.
When people use the term "Renaissance Man", they are referring to someone who is extremely accomplished in many fields, and the archetype is, of course, Leonardo Da Vinci. Not only did he create two of the greatest paintings ever ("The Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper"), but he was a great inventor and excelled in many other fields.
You leave this film with a yearning to learn: about Da Vinci, history, religion, symbology, cryptography and cinematography.
The plot and character development is convoluted, but you find yourself constantly saying: "I hope it doesn't end here!"
Admittedly, this film doesn't flow like "Raiders", but would you call "The Bible" anything less than great because you think some of the passages are slow?
Le retour (1946)
Liberation and repatriation of concentration camp survivors
This documentary is in French without English subtitles, but none are really necessary, the images are powerful and speak for themselves. This is a poignant film showing the closing days of World War II. The film starts off showing the Allied armed forces taking German soldiers prisoner without much of a fight, then coming upon concentration camps.
This film is different than most in this genre in that you don't see dead people or gas chambers - this may be due to the fact that the people liberated were in concentration camps, but not the full-blown death camps. Some of the people are so healthy that they attack their former tormentors who act very passive now that the shoe is on the other foot (there are armed American G.I.'s shown observing the scene).
Some of the people saved from the camps are the living skeletons we are used to seeing: some can walk with someone supporting them, others have to be helped into a truck because they don't have enough muscle left to walk. It is surprising though, how many appear quite healthy and seemingly need just a spritz of de-lousing spray from the G.I.'s.
The film shows a mass exodus of refugees returning to their home countries, and the ending shows concentration camp survivors on a train pulling into a French railroad station and being met by (it appears) friends and relatives who either survived the camps and arrived earlier, or evaded the Nazis the entire war.
The film that most resembles this documentary is "The Truce", starring John Turturro. Turturro plays an Italian Jew who survives a concentration camp in good condition, but he has to endure a lengthy odyssey to get back to Italy once the camp he is in is liberated by the Russians.
Alphaville: Une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)
Sci-Fi meets Film-Noir with Humor
Jean-Luc Godard directs a film that is very humorous. This is a Sci-Fi film with few special effects; although Alphaville is supposed to be a colony far away from "The Land Without" (similar to the western lands in the novel "Brave New World"), it is obviously a gloomy Paris. Godard obviously made this film on a shoestring budget, but that is compensated for with good wit.
Although Godard's usual left-wing rhetoric and social commentary is present ( The secret agent, Lemmy Caution's cover job is as a reporter for "Figaro-Pravda"), it is much more palatable here than in "2 or 3 Things I Know About Her" or the diatribe at the end of "Weekend".
There are numerous parodies present. Lemmy Caution is Secret Agent # 003. The arch-enemy of his government is Professor Von Braun aka Professor Nosferatu. Professor Von Braun's henchmen are Heckel and Jeckel. Lemmy Caution slaps his "dames" around and drinks his whiskey straight.
This film was clearly an inspiration for 2001, with the Alpha 60 computer controlling society and feeling that it is superior to humans. The film draws inspiration from the novels, "Brave New World" and "1984". The Alpha 60 decides when words should be removed from the dictionary every month because they are no longer needed.
Lemmy Caution meets the beautiful Natasha Von Braun played by Godard's real-life girlfriend, Anna Karina. She has no memory of her past, but Lemmy believes she may have been created by IBM. Shades of Blade Runner.
Not an easy film to watch, but important and seminal in the Sci-Fi genre.
7/10
Gosford Park (2001)
Upstairs, Downstairs meets Rules of the Game
Gosford Park is beautifully filmed and well acted, but it falls short of being a masterpiece...the script isn't as compelling as "Upstairs, Downstairs" and the images aren't as memorable as those in Jean Renoir's "Rules of the Game. Nonetheless, Robert Altman has put together an extremely strong cast for a movie in the Merchant-Ivory mold.