peter-legisa Reviews

Dark Eden (2018)

Sobering

[8/10 · 7 May 2020]

The film is telling the story of several workers, helping to extract oil from the tar sands around Fort Mc Murray in Canada. The author lets the people speak, offering practically no comments.

This documentary seemed pretty boring at the beginning. To me, the identity of the female narrator was not clear. It seems that actually two women were speaking, and only one appeared on the camera.

During the first half of the film we see the bright side: very high salaries. One of the skilled workers is able to enjoy extravagant exploits, once reserved for the aristocracy and the very rich.

Then the indigenous people begin to tell a troubling story about the wild animals in the area, the health of children... Watch the aerial survey of the extraction site... What happens if and when the oil price falls? You will see the answer. The authors of the film actually worked in Fort Mc Murray. A sobering film, worth watching.

I Am Not a Witch (2017)

A mix of reality and fantasy

[9/10 · 3 January 2019]

This film is a highly original and successful mixture: hard realities of life in Africa are interspersed with fantasy to make it less painful. Some scenes are unforgettable: the way a government bureaucrat behaves in the presence of a local queen; the prejudices people of both sexes have against people that look somewhat unfamiliar, the sneering position of the queen toward the education of girls. In light of these facts it is really strange that »patriarchy« and "misogyny" is mentioned in several of the (admittedly politically correct) reviews.

I could not understand one scene where a former "witch" chooses to test the reactions to her former figure in the public? But this is a minor issue.

I strongly recommend this touching film on the human condition.

Captain Fantastic (2016)

Father training his kids to be Antifa Special Forces

[2/10 · 14 January 2018]

The movie proved to be a waste of time. Some reviewers were hurt by it; I find it ridiculous.

We see a Marxist father of six kids age 8-18. He venerates Noam Chomsky and together with his Buddhist wife has led the family to live in a forest and kill animals for food - a typically Buddhist activity! He is drilling his kids to be something like Antifa Special Forces. This regime and the homeschooling without electricity has produced magical results: at least three of the children are geniuses; the 16-17 year old has mastered theoretical physics at graduate school level (the difficult mathematics behind it is not even worth mentioning), and so on. Really, this film is as anti-intellectual as it can be. (It is no exception in this regard to many US movies; I always laugh when, on screen, I see »Math professors« scribbling meaningless formulas, as if taken from American comic books.)

The 8 year old daughter of the family has built a shrine to Pol Pot; after all he killed millions of Christians and Buddhists, and the family despises Christians. I will not go on with the plot: I find it ridiculous, and shallow, and the same goes for the acting. The photography is good, though.

Calvary (2014)

The story makes no sense, but it has cruelty and violence, so it must be »deep«.

[1/10 · 14 January 2018]

The movie is based on the same formula as American Beauty, but works in higher gear: most characters are obnoxious, detestable ; the story hardly makes any sense; we have violence, drugs, homosexuality, extremely morbid dialogues. The »deepest part« is the execution of an innocent man and splattered brains. This Irish movie also turns around the well known paedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church, presenting it in the most brutal way.

It is interesting to look at the highly rated reviews: the titles often sound as advertisements. Calvary has not reached the rating of American Beauty though; the extra effort in nastiness did not pay off.

If you are a normal man or woman, this movie will most probably ruin your day.

I really do not understand the participating actors, who used their talent to make little bits and pieces more believable. Have they not read the whole script?

Seriously, if you want to watch a good, touching film about child victims of sexual violence, see the South African movie Little One.

Little One (2013)

Kindness can overcome evil

[9/10 · 14 January 2018]

The movie treats the theme of child abuse: the aftermath of two horrific cases involving very young children. We see the professionals trying to help the victim with limited success.

We also witness the redeeming value of compassion and good deeds done by a woman from a poor neighbourhood in South Africa. The helper hardly has any money to spare, but has a big heart. She also wants to heal her own loss.

The depiction of life in the neighbourhood was quite interesting to me. I do no travel any more, so this film was a good substitute for personally exploring other worlds. Characters include a sympathetic detective and appear very convincing. The dialogues are also good. And what is most important, the movie shows that human kindness can overcome even absolute evil.

Mumbai High: The Musical (2015 TV Movie)

Optimism

[10/10 · 11 May 2016]

This is the story of several children and the school they are attending - all in the biggest slum of Mumbai. The spectrum could not be wider. A fourteen year old girl comes from a family living in an open shack. The authorities tear down such dwellings on a regular basis. Regular, food is not guaranteed, water comes from a questionable source. But these people do not get discouraged: mother shares her daughter's ambition and combs her hair lovingly before school. The girl wants to get into a football (=soccer) team. A small clever girl has a sister with kidney disease. Although her father is a teacher, medical expenses force them to live in a cheap high rise in the slum.

A fifteen year girl dropped out of school for several months and lost a year when her mother died and she took three jobs to feed her brothers and sisters. The school encourages the students to pursue their dreams. Best students get scholarships to go on with their education. The optimism is unbreakable – but will all fulfill their dreams? The creators of the film say that the film is a documentary, with added musical scenes: professional music and simple dancing - beautifully performed by the kids. They probably selected those with natural talent for movement. One can really connect with the pains and dreams of these kids. The cinematography is very good and I watched it with real pleasure.

Devil's Town (2009)

Interesting, and some characters leave a lasting impression.

[8/10 · 18 February 2013]

I watched this movie on YouTube. At first, it was somewhat confusing. The scenes are rather short. There are many (in fact too many) seemingly unrelated characters and stories. But they all connect at the end. Some of the dialogues are hard to understand, especially for people not from SE Europe. I learned that the lonely man in the tunnel is »preparing to be? a monk with a vow of silence« only after reading a review. I do not like violence (that drives me away from many Balkan movies), and there is a lot of aggression and violence in this movie.

But, surprisingly, I watched the film, with interest, until the end, and it seemed to be getting better and better.

It is certainly not a feel-good movie and particularly the sex scene with businessmen\ gangsters is shocking. On the other hand, the characters who behave more or less decently, remain mostly unscathed. But there are also: the ambitious mother who tolerates and even excuses her daughter's violent, devious, vindictive and spoiled boyfriend - obviously because he has a rich father;

the attractive »Madame« of a luxury brothel, called Saloon (she accepts bank cards!);

the lazy unemployed man who feeds beer to his crying baby;

the girl, who fools around with two men... The movie shows the curious and unpleasant side of the human character in a penetrating way. Two schoolgirls are introduced at the beginning. Especially the rich girl's behavior seems to be based on the premise that one must be proud, tough. Saving the face justifies aggression - followed, if necessary, by lame excuses or bribes.

Several characters in this movie – the spoiled brat, the unemployed man, the two schoolgirls, the aggressive cab driver, the egocentric and megalomaniac filmmaker - are really well done and leave a lasting impression. There is a visually nice episode with lots of white rabbits. It connects some threads at the end, but it seemed a bit less convincing to me. For me, the film conveys a message: People have to face the consequences of their actions, and in the long run there is hope for those, who try to be honest.

Hannas Entscheidung (2012 TV Movie)

A moving story about women (and men) in postwar Germany.

[10/10 · 13 March 2012]

Hanna struggles, using any way possible, to survive and feed her two children and her rather domineering mother- in- law in a small conservative place in southern Germany after WWII. Her husband is a prisoner of war in Soviet Union. Hanna runs the family business, cabinet making, with a hired hand and the help of her children. The mayor of the place is a former Nazi, who spent just two weeks in jail for being the Kommandant of a nearby prison camp. He is now a successful conservative politician. He wants Hanna to sell the business to a competing company, in which he has a stake.

Hanna loves woodworking, is good at it, and wants to obtain necessary qualifications. If it were not for American Occupying Authorities, she could not run her business without her or an employee having a Meister certificate. The idea of a woman obtaining a degree in the dangerous craft of woodworking seems outrageous to almost everyone. She gets support only from another woman in a similar situation, a former pharmacist. Her husband, a physician, went missing during the war and she is reduced to working as a cleaning lady for the mayor.

Hanna writes all the time to her beloved husband. When he finally returns, there is the unexpected, as well as ghosts from the past... The film portrays vividly the harsh facts and consequences of the war, including a terrible war crime, without hurting the spectator. The heroine's energy and inventiveness somehow do not permit the story to slip in despair.

This is an excellent piece of work, with fine acting, good dialogues and a rich story. (I spent some time around a carpenter shop many years ago, and I must say that the atmosphere of the film is quite convincing.) The conclusion of the film is somewhat open ended, so there might be a sequel.

A Day for a Miracle (2011 TV Movie)

Much better than most Hollywood emergency room stories

[10/10 · 22 January 2012]

The film is, in my opinion, much better than most Hollywood emergency room stories. It flows naturally, but grabs your attention. Gerti Drassl, Leon Baumgartner and Erwin Steinhauer were excellent in their roles.

One piece of this story begins on a family farm in the hills of Carinthia, the southernmost province of Austria.

The other line of events happens in the local hospital. A provincial big shot probably needs a routine medical procedure. He expects a five-star treatment and immediate action. He also wants the procedure to be done by the chief surgeon, a university professor, but the latter left for a scientific meeting. The next best choice for him is a local medical doctor. But the procedure can only be performed by a young surgeon, who commutes every week from Vienna. One of the funny moments of the film happens, when the politician asks the second doctor on the team, if at least she comes from Carinthia. (Owing to a complicated history, and its exploitation by local politicians, Carinthians were - until recently - often wary of outsiders. This movie suggests that even people coming from the cosmopolitan Austrian capital, Vienna, were treated as outsiders.)

The two lines of the story join when the medical team faces a terrible dilemma that does not seem to go away: Do you try to save the life of a person, if, in the very slim chance of success, this person will almost certainly be totally handicapped and a burden to others? To make matters worse, members of the team have completely opposing views.

Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)

Ruined my evening

[1/10 · 3 July 2011]

Even though the basic plot is pretty strange, this film for me had some funny scenes in the first three quarters. The jealous husband was portrayed very well. So was his mother in law and her husband. The signature gathering committee was good, too. So this made the movie believable at first. But to me this funny beginning proved to be some kind of a trap. The last fifteen minutes or so were not funny at all. I found them illogical and distasteful. The pinnacle is the last line of the script, which really tests the tolerance of the viewer, with the premise that "anything goes". This juxtaposition of several good scenes, and the unconvincing and disturbing ending really ruined my evening.