zangorn Reviews

Achtung, fertig, Charlie! (2003)

Great comedy

[8/10 · 18 August 2006]

I have no idea why the Swiss themselves seem to dislike the film. I work in the industry, and when saw this, I was very pleasantly surprised. I only understood the subtitles, as is the case for almost all foreign films with me, and this was by far one of the funniest.

So, I'm not really doing a fair comparison to Hollywood films. But if I was, I'd say it was somewhere between Eurotrip meets American pie in terms of quality and comedic value. In terms of Swiss films, its by the far the best and only Swiss film I've ever seen.

Its the closest I've ever been to the Swiss army, but from what I understand, its a joke. And this film makes a great parody of it. Plus there is a token romance in it, Romeo and Juliet style, very tense.

Alexander (2004)

Great Political Commentary

[28 November 2004]

I found the plot remarkably reflective of the current political situation here in America. The first half or so basically summarizes our last four years, then it goes on to make predictions. I'll let the viewer/reader make their own analysis.

Plot Summary -- CAUTION SPOILERS BELOW

Alexander leads an outnumbered army of 40,000 into, what is probably now Iraq, which defends with 200,000 or so people. The motivation for going to war is ambiguous, but loosely based on revenge. Because they have better technology, more war experience, and because they are following an eagle, they chase the evil leader out of Babylon. When they march into the kingdom of Babylon victorious, the citizens rejoice and celebrate, cheering for Alexander. Then they continue into the mountains to the northeast, most likely present-day Afghanistan, where they are only a few hours too late to capture the war-lord leader they were chasing. They find his body, presumably betrayed by his followers. Alexander continues to kill off the remaining rebel armies in the mountains of afghanistan, before continuing to India.

In India, they flashback 8 years to when Alexander was made King, after the previous King was killed, and nobody really said anything about it. His becoming king is very conspicuous, as he is declared king at the moment by the people around him, not by the previous King himself. Back in India, (8 years later) his followers turn against him twice in protest for ongoing wars. Once, in front of the Indians, he has his homosexual experience in public, and contrasted with the Indians, he and his army look stupid. Later, he makes a speech rallying people together for another war and asks that they follow him for another month. He kills everyone who speaks out against him. Then leads them into another war, this even more meaningless than the others. Only there, are they beaten so badly, that Alexander has a change in heart. They return home, where his right-hand man is killed by poison.

He mentions going back to war in Arabia. The people rally behind him for a while, before he is finally killed. Some years later his successor is also killed, along with his family. At this point, the empire collapses into several fighting factions, as nobody is appointed to take the throne, and there is no existing leadership that people all agree with.

Great film, wonderful parody. I laughed several times. And unbelievably timely.