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Reviews
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (1919)
Great movie
I watched "Birth of a Nation" yesterday and "Broken Blossoms" today, and far preferred this film to that one. I see just about all of the technical inventiveness here that "Birth of a Nation" is so praised for - intercutting during chase scenes, close ups, fade-out/ins... everything but the grandeur of the war scenes, but this is not that kind of movie.
And I see much, much better storytelling. Certainly it helps that our hero is a immigrant Chinese underdog instead of the founder of the KKK, but even aside from that, this movie takes the time to give us well-rounded characters we can sympathize with, and lets good actors and actresses turn in memorable performances. There is no scene in "Birth of a Nation" that comes close to the power and terror of Lillian Gish's closet scene. There is no villain as terrifying as Battling Burrows, especially in Griffith's vertigo-inducing closeups on his face of fury.
A truly great film, not just a technically or historically important one.
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Snore.
Well, I watched it. And while it may be on Roger Ebert's Great Movies list, it's not on mine. It falls into that category of "Movies That Are Technically Important but Hard to Watch," and that much smaller category of "Really Evil Movies." Every critic recognizes that, yes, this is probably the most racist film ever made, a terrible revision of post-Civil War history, and a glorification of the KKK - ah, but it's so innovative, and so wonderfully shot! Ho hum. What I notice -- after struggling to root for the heroes, seeing as they are self-righteous bigots - is that it is so incredibly, tediously, ridiculously LOOOOONG. Griffith could've been really inventive and created a miniseries, or a trilogy. As it is, by the time you get the "chase" scene near the end that Ebert goes on an on about, you're so bored out of your skull you hardly care.
If you decide, as I did, to try and set aside your feelings of outrage due to the racism, you'll find yourself feeling....nothing. Snnnnooooorrre.
Cabiria (1914)
A different way to tell a story
Everyone says the plot is convoluted, impossible to follow and boring, and that the only reason to watch this is for the costumes and set pieces. but I think they're missing something.
The plot moves forward on two levels - the personal and the political, so the real theme behind this movie is how the political affects the personal, and vice versa. Especially by the end of the film, shifting political alliances, military victories and defeats are clearly and dramatically affecting the fates of our heroes. And then, ultimately, Cabiria is freed because of the personal effect of a political move: Scipio takes Sophonisba away from Massinissa to eliminate the threat of rebellion, and in doing so, takes away the queen's reason to live.
Curiously, Cabiria, the center of the movie, is the most passive and perhaps least developed character in the film. She might as well be buried treasure. And yet she is the center of the movie, and sometimes we are reminded of her because the camera seems to forget her. Take the garden scene, when it is not at all clear what happens to her, and then we don't know for a good long time: she does not appear again literally for ten years, and then when she does reappear, it is with a different name, and we are not told it is her. She is there because she is not there; the fact that her fate is unresolved remains the central tension and dramatic force of the movie.
Ultimately, I think this form of storytelling - both the "big world/little world" plot development and the "unresolved character" issue work better in literature/theater than on film, and that's probably why, in retrospect, we watch this movie mostly for the costumes. But what I see is the developing language of cinema, and an experiment tried by a director and screenwriter in 1914 that would never be considered today.
Which adds up to a fascinating movie worth watching, in my book.
8½ (1963)
Women in 8 1/2
I am fascinated by Fellini's study of women in 8 1/2. Not women as they are, for surely no woman in the movie has much resemblance to a real woman -- but women as the symbols that a man often perceives them to be. There are three archetypal women in the movie - Luisa, Carla, and of course Claudia.
Claudia in introduced to us first at the spa, giving Guido a glass of healing water. This is who she is -- a healer. She appears later, in his bed, saying 'I want to set things in order -- I want to clean.' It's not a domestic vision, but a spiritual one -- she is the one who can forgive, absolve, and heal him. She represents his desire to return to the women of his childhood -- women who loved him by caring for him, making him feel safe, happy, and good. Claudia is the adult version of these women.
Carla is next introduced to us. Carla is carnal desire. She is unthinking lust, soulless appetite. She eats too much, drinks too much, and is literally feverish. She has no taste, no discretion, and no intelligence. Guido desires her, but is embarrassed of his desire. He wishes he could be free of her, but he can't. She represents his lust. Carla is the adult version of the Saragina.
Lastly is Luisa, Guido's wife. Intense and angry, she is a challenge to Guido, because she is his equal. She calls him out, demands that he be more than he's ever been. It is clear that he loves her, but does not know how to love her. He is doing a bad job of it. It will take everything Guido has -- all his energy, creativity, as well as complete honesty, authenticity, and nakedness -- to love this woman. Loving her will never be easy, but will be rewarding. If he manages it, it will be the greatest achievement of his life. In the middle of a conversation about Luisa, Guido speaks of wanting to do something truly honest, something that buries all the dead things in him. Loving Luisa, and earning her love, would be this achievement. But Guido is filled with self-doubt; he is not sure he can manage it.
What strikes me at first about this is how absolutely perfect Fellini's casting and costuming is in this regard. Claudia is the angel in white - the mythical woman who heals and cleans and forgives. With her easy smile, gentle demeanour and knowing look, she absolutely embodies this ideal. It's uncanny. Almost as uncanny is Luisa. She is beautiful, but her beauty -- as it should be -- is more challenging. This is the kind of woman you go to battle for. The kind you die for. Carla, as well, is lust embodied -- I think this is more about costuming and direction than casting, but it's clear. She's um, desirable, but in a sort of disgusting way. Just like the Saragina.
The end of the movie is the explosion of these ideals in Guido's mind. Of course he is forced to realize that Claudia isn't his salvation -- she's just another girl with a pretty face. But after that, in the dream sequence that ends the movie, we see Claudia dressed in white one last time -- she is walking left in front of the camera. In the next shot, everyone else is walking right, dressed in black. Suddenly, they are all around him, dressed in white. Guido's ideals have clashed with reality, and now he sees his salvation in all the flawed people around him. We never see Claudia again, but we see a much happier Guido. When the entire cast of the movie comes down the stairs, some are dressed in combinations of black and white -- Guido is able to see now not only their damning elements, but their saving ones as well. It seems significant to me that Luisa in all in white, for the first and only time in the movie. Perhaps Guido has realized that the salvation he is seeking is in giving all he has to this woman, that she is everything he needs, not because of what she is able to give to him, but because of what she is able to challenge him to be, and because of what he can give to her. If that is true, this is the most affirming movie about marriage I have ever seen, and that's just another reason why I love it.
I feel the inadequacy of this analysis. It is far from comprehensive; there are so many symbols, so many things to see and ponder in this movie. But that's just another reason to love it. It's relatively straightforward, and yet chock full of stuff. How many movies are like that?