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Reviews
La otra conquista (1998)
Conquest
I had the fortunate please of meeting the director (Salvador Carrasco) and main character (Damián Delgado) and watching the movie for the first time all in the same day. I must admit how ashamed of myself that I am. My mother who is completely Mexican from Mexico City bought this movie on DVD when it first came out and I have always seen the DVD lying inside my closet with other DVDs and I never decided to watch it until I took Mr. Carrasco's Film 7 class at Santa Monica College. And in a way I am glad I didn't see the film before taking his class. There was much about film I learned from him and his movie. The film was about the Spanish conquest of present day Mexico and the events leading right after. We follow the conflict from the native Topiltzin / Tomás perspective and alternately to Fray Diego de La Coruña a priest trying to convert these savages to Christianity. Tomás write codexs to keep his people's history for the later generations, but the Spaniards come and destroy them and replace their Mother Goddess with the Virgin Mary. Tomás's brother wants to worship their religion in secret but Tomás knows who he is and does not want to change. Hernando Cortez sees how insubordinate Tomás is and decides to whip him with leather and chains until he decides to convert. Tomás's brother tries to defend him and is beheaded for it. Slowly but surly Tomás learns the ways of Christianity and this new foreign language but his soul is tormented for fighting his natural beliefs. Friar Diego wants to help Tomás change his ways because of the human sacrifices and inhuman acts they engage in. We can already see the mentality of the native people valued as less or unimportant. Tecuichpo / Doña Isabel is able to convince Hernando Cortez to spare Tomás's life because he is her brother. (If its a lie or not, thats up to you to decide.) They are able to consummate in the shadows of the church to keep their blood alive, and not be uprooted by the Spaniards. Cortez finds out and has her killed. Tomás is locked up for many days by Friar Diego because of his unusual obsession with the Virgin Mary locked behind closed doors. One day, Friar Diego decides to unlock the door hiding the Virgin Mary and just hopes that Tomás's obsession is in good faith. Tomás Breaks free from his room and scales the walls and buildings to get into the church and find the Virgin Mary. He finds her and takes her back to his room. A very surreal ending his Tomás and the Virgin Mary falling op top of a table, killing Tomás. They lay next to each other, side by side. My interpretation is that Tomás was able to give his body to the Virgin Mary but not his soul.
White Dog (1982)
review
This movie left a mixture of tastes in my mouth. Personally I judge what a good movie is by asking myself if it is a movie I would pay to watch for two hours. This movie is not something I would consider good or even tasteful for its overly dramatic exposition of a White Dog viciously attacking black people. But this movie should not entirely be dismissed for audiences inability to digest racist embodied by a white dog. Watching this movie for the first time, I did not think that the title White Dog had anything to do with racism. I'm glad Sam Fuller expresses his view on racism where more filmmakers are no where to be found. Yes, we all know racism is bad, but Fuller personifies people's racist behavior into a dog who finds his way into a young actress's life after getting hit by said woman's car. The dog is rushed to a vet and given treatment to its wounds. The night of the dog staying at the woman's house, a Hispanic burglar breaks in and begins assaulting her. The dog rescues her and chases the man our through the window and into the back yard. The police come and take the man away. The next day, the dog escapes due to his curious interest in a dark brown bunny rabbit. The young actress looks for hours where the dog might have wondered off to. The following scene is at night time with an African American driving a street-sweeper down the road. The dog viciously attacks the man, who immediately afterward crashes into a strip mall. At this moment I still have the naive assumption that the dog is frightened and lost and acted on instinct. The most shocking thing I found the actress's oblivious expression to her dog returning home covered in blood. Later, the actress takes her dog along with her to shoot a scene to a movie she is acting in and the movie became as clear to me as it did to her: the dog is a White Dog.... meaning racist. The scene is arranged with the protagonist and a similar woman who happens to be African American. The dog leaps into the shot and proceeds to bite the crap out of her shoulder. Watching this movie, I couldn't help but think Fuller dwells on people's inability to do what is right when it is needed. After two African Americans get brutally attacked, our protagonist finally decides to seek help. This is not due to her intelligence, but her pity for poor dog. Fuller is quick to make sure our protagonist absolutely wants to keep this dog alive to cause as much possible pain to all the African Americans in this movie. She takes the dog to an animal trainer for Hollywood movies to see if she can UN-do what has been done to this dog. Again, she is determined to avoid everyone's advice, including the animal trainer's, to kill the dog. Beyond unbelievable, unforeseeable and unfortunate events, the dog escapes from the trainers cage to kill another African American in a church no less. At this point in the movie, character's roles switch. The protagonist wants to put the dog down, but the damn animal trainer is determined that he can recondition the dog to become a living example that his method works. So three African Americans were brutally attacked that didn't deserve it and one killed, AND no consequences followed. Even a police officer confronts the trainer and he fails to mention they are holding a wild dog who just killed a man. I should mention that the trainer's motivation is based upon his own skin color: black. He is so determined to prove the system wrong that he will neglect the death of a man to prove to the world that a black man cured a white dog. What seems like months that go by, the animal trainer finally gains the dogs trust and obedience to the point that the dog realizes that his owner was bad, and anyone who looks like his former owner must die. Fortunately for the dog and the plot of the story, the animal trainer's friend bares a great resemblance to the supposed owner that we are introduced to at the end of the film, justifying why the animal trainer finally decided to kill the damn dog. The film explores the idea of racism due to our conditioning and social construct. I want to believe that, but I can't help feel that this theory falls flat. If we were asked to follow the blame trail all the way up to the people who started hating people, we would be considered racist. People find racist thing to say and think from the people they are being racist towards. No one can claim that Hispanics are lazy or always late unless it happens enough to develop into a stereotype. I don't want to believe that humans do this on purpose but we do naturally. Any time we learn something or try and commit information to memory, we create categories to put said information. If we have a good or bad experience from someone or a group of people, we quickly, but naively, learn that all people of that group share that quality. That is my main complaint with this film; it didn't try to solve the problem it set out to solve.
La battaglia di Algeri (1966)
Great movie
I really enjoyed this movie. I would consider it equal with Spielberg's Schlinder's List. The reason why I compare these two films is they are able to take a large conflict and scale it down to size and give faces the the good and the evil. The film follows the resistance of the Algerian people with the French government who has been in power for over 130 years. The basic theme of the movie, (What I took away from it) is eggs must be broken to make an omelet and a whole lot of more eggs need to be broken to win independence from the French. ALI is one of the rebel fighters who joins an organized coalition to kill as many French civilians and ranking French officials. The brains of the rebellion Djafar organizes the killings of many French citizens. Col. Mathieu is part of the French military battling to keep peace among the conquered country. After the Algerian hit squads begin killing French police, innocent Algerians are targeted for the retaliation. After the French civilians retaliate, the Algerians dress their women to look like French women to plant bombs in densely populated clubs and bars. In response to that, the French civilians plant a bomb in a crowded ghetto, destroying houses and many many people. So its a very vicious back and forth with people. After watching the movie for almost two hours I began to get desensitized to the value of life and everyone getting brutally murdered. I don't know if that was the director's plan, but I was definitely feeling psychological strain. Why I think this movie is better than Schlinder's List is the fact we get to see all of the repercussions to every action. Everything that was destroyed had a equivalent disaster that built into a massive chain of events. Schlinder's list is really focused on Oskar Schlinder for the most part. Knowing nothing prior to France's occupation over Algeria, it was a nice history lesson that I would not stumble across unless I took film 7 at Santa Monica with Prof. Carrosco. I recommend him to anyone who enjoys movies and wants to expand their understanding of film as an art-form. Back to the review. In the end, ALI dies and Djafar turns himself in to save his own life. The only criticism I have for great movies that are epic is size is the amount of energy one must invest to get through the movie. Generally I like movies to metaphorically rock my world for the two hours that my eyes are open, but it feels like Godfather long and not more violent in my opinion. Take my advice, watch the movie expecting to see people die and many times.
Los olvidados (1950)
A heart warming story
In my other review of "Once were Warriors", I mentioned that I am a big fan of tragedies. This is is on my top 25 favorite movies list now. The story of Los Olvidados takes place in a ghetto of Mexico with the story focused actions of the antagonist, JAIBO (age 16 or so). When I first started watching the movie I didn't realize it at time, but every single scene that JAIBO was in, somethings got stolen or someone got killed or taken advantage of. I truly was in fear every time I saw JAIBO on the screen, and that is what a good movie is supposed to do to you. It is supposed to make the audience empathize with the characters and feel the pleasure and pain that everyone feels. Our less scary protagonist, Pedro (age 14 or so) leads us around this small city, showing us every possible horrible outcome imaginable. Pedro's mother doesn't feed him because he is always in the street with his bum friends causing trouble for everyone, including an honest blind man who plays music in the street for money. After JAIBO and Pedro are able to assault the blind man and take his money, later in the movie the blind man shows signs of a long term molestation relationship with a young girl living at his shed. One of the good side characters who is an honest man working for what little money he can earn, Pedro tricks him to come talk with JAIBO because it is important. Pedro has no idea what he has done until JAIBO pulls out a big rocks and smashes it into the unsuspecting honest work boy. This is great cinema. The boy is killed and the money is taken by JAIBO. Now Pedro responsible and JAIBO makes sure he will not tell anyone. Pedro returns home and asks his mother for forgiveness and promises that he will get a job. In between scenes JAIBO comes to Pedro's house and is able to seduce Pedro's mother into sex. The next day Pedro is working for a black smith who makes knives. And wouldn't you know it, like the plague JAIBO come in to visit Pedro to enforce his power over him and steal a knife from the stop. Pedro gets blamed for it and his mother and the state sends him to a boarding school. JAIBO has done more damage to Pedro's already broken family than I've seen in any two hour movie. While Pedro is at the boarding school, the principal of the school instills trust in Pedro and offers him the opportunity to run to the store and buy something for him. Finally! Someone is putting faith into Pedro's cookie jar. His friends never thought much of Pedro, his mother never wanted to feed him because he was a hooligan and JAIBO just uses him for his own gain. With the money in hand, Pedro take about ten steps outside the boarding school only to the the pending Apocalypse following behind him: JAIBO. At this moment I am still not prepared to see him on screen. JAIBO overpowers Pedro and takes all of his money that the principal gave him. Feeling conflicted, Pedro dose not want to return to the boarding school without the money because he dose not want to let down the only person who has ever trusted him: The principal. Pedro finally catches up with JAIBO hanging out with the guys and talking about Pedro's mother. Pedro and JAIBO physically engage one another only to find the knife that JAIBO stole fall onto the floor. Everyone finally sees who is the person to blame and JAIBO runs to hide from the authorities. Later that night, JAIBO finds Pedro and brutally kills him with a blunt object. I am so shocked at this moment that I cannot believe that Hollywood good endings have not stepped in to mess everything up. Pedro is dead in a barn to be discovered by a family and later thrown into a garbage pile outside of the small town. Pedro's mother walks right past her dead son hidden on top of a donkey and sheets. She senses something wrong but dismisses it. And now redemption time. The police get a tip from the blind man that JAIBO will be around this torn down building in the evening. JAIBO shows up and it shot and killed. The movie ends and the poor tormented souls of the town can rest easy now that JAIBO is dead. I understand why sad movies are not popular but the fact is people need that stimulation that they are too afraid to experience first hand. When I have kids I will show them all the rated-r movies out there because they need to feel sad, happy, confused, worried, and sometimes no closure; just like all of us.
Once Were Warriors (1994)
Unfortunate chain of events
I am a big fan of epic tragedy. The main reason is sitting back to see someone who does not expect to have their life turned inside-out for my pure sadistic entertainment. I was able to catch this movie in my film class with many people I would consider to have normal conformity to society's moral values. The story follows Beth and her family living in New Zealand. The husband, Jake the Muss a.k.a. Jango Fett from Starwars, who is an overly macho/abusive man who gets fired from his job to further torment his family from home. The two sons are drop outs from school, once of which joins a gang to get the respect from a family that he is neglected at home. And the only beacon of hope of the family resides in the heart of the daughter, Grace. If it is unclear to you what is going to happen, I will tell you: everything that can go wrong, goes wrong and the final objective is to destroy that dimly lit hope in Grace by rape and hanging. I was tentatively watching this movie expecting a feel good, sensational movie that would life my spirit into nirvana and the plants would align, bring peace to a once conflicted world. Fortunately I was wrong. The first plot point of the movie hits the audience as hard as a fist that hits Beth in the face. Jake the husband invites a lot of his friends over to his house and party, serving food and drinks for everyone. Everyone is singing and dancing until Beth refuses to make eggs for one of Jake's friends Uncle Bully (Hint: this friend later rapes the daughter Grace). Jake has a conniption and proceeds to physically assault Misses Jake the Muss. He then takes her to the bedroom and essentially rapes her with all of his blind rage. The sad part I believe is that this outburst does not seem like the first one this family has seen. The next morning Beth wakes with a badly bruised and bloody face. She is supposed to go to court in defense of her hooligan son, but decides it best that the court officials do not see her a victim of domestic violence. The shocking and almost comedic moment occurs when Jake finally wakes up to see Beth and mocks her appearance and tells her to wash up. In addition to his rude behavior, his discovery of his son being taken away into protective custody escapes his sympathetic ability. The second plot point hits a awkward cord for most still keeping their eyes open during this roller-coaster ride. The friend of Jake, Uncle Bully, sneaks into Grace's room during another of Jake's parties to rape 14 year old grace. This entire scene is shot with no cuts, and the audience really gets the sick, twisted and psychological torment that Grace is going through. At this moment in the film, I really was wondering if the director/writer invested in any redeeming moments by the film's end. Sadly for me, yes. Grace wrote of her unfortunate rape in her diary that turned into the reason why this movie did not earn a 10/10 for me. Grace wallows in her misery to her parents neglectful watch. Grace decides to take matters into her own hands and hangs herself on the backyard tree. When Beth discovers her daughter's body, the image is sickening and wonderful. The mother gets one of Jake's friends to cut her down and ends with Beth holding Grace in her arms, crying for failing her as a parent and a decent human being. I said the diary was the reason that this movie ended poorly in my opinion. The good old Hollywood ending finds its way into this film and the journal acts as the deciding factor of vengeance that the nearly guilt-free uncle Bully. Beth discovers the diary and shows it to Jake, causing his clockwork rampage, only this time directed towards uncle Bully. Finished tying up her lose end, Beth finally grows the confidence to leave her abusive husband Jake only after her daughter dies. That diary really prohibited this movie from becoming memorable. Because of the happy ending, I choose to forget it like ever other Spielberg, Michael Bay movie out there. This movie almost achieved greatness but tripped ten feet from the finish line. I did enjoy the ride while it lasted. How many movies can most people think of that makes them cry or upset or angry for a series for stills on a big flat scene?