Change Your Image
mdbento
Reviews
Ghosts of Cité Soleil (2006)
If you have lived this type of life you will recognize the veracity of it
It is simple--this is a story of of gang warfare. There is no truth--there is no right--there is no way out. It will only end when one side is wiped out. I commend the makers of this film on their documentation of the voices of all involved and this film should be viewed by everyone who is concerned about violence that springs up in the midst of poverty. It is not without reason--these people have a need for respect, they have family, they want the same things that every human wants/desires--if you don't care ... what do you expect. This is not only a film about Haiti, but about any environment in the world that faces the extremes that these people face...
A Day Without a Mexican (2004)
Don't pay attention to xenophobic reviewers
Really, it is a good film that seeks to raise questions while supplying some facts. Of course it asks you to take a leap of faith, but doesn't 90% of the films you watch ask the same thing of you? What we should ask is why is there such a virulent backlash against this thoughtful film? This film ranks with Bamboozled as a satire of the continuing racial fears that plague our country and how they are enacted and replicated through the mass media. Like Bamboozled, it also explores the lengths that minorities often go through to suppress their own identity. The film operates as if it was a documentary, and, it that mode, helps a critical viewer to think about the continuing representation of groups as minor or marginalzed in our society.
Kontroll (2003)
Its a B Film--That transcends it genre
Think about the typical workplace independent or Hollywood (schlock) film--pure crap... must we even list them? There are a few that are lifted above bullshit, waste my time level-- Office Space has provided me amusement and food-for-thought...
so, why?, does a first-time director from Hungary, who is obviously operating on a small budget, working within one of the US's most beloved B-movie genres (the film cheaply-made about disgruntled workers), able to make a film that will no doubt spark many meanings from any viewer (and you small budgeted souls seek out places like this and find open-minded officials who give the opening to this film)? It's still B movie stuff--but you know what on a scale of 1-10, I would place it as a 9, because it is powerful in the sense of people trying to make sense of their working conditions (and the movie draws you into any full group concerns and then leaves with an individual to see where he goes)... for awhile, I haven't seen such a movie, operating in any genre sense that explore worker anxiety. It has those B movie roots, but damn if it didn't make me think about a lot of important ideas--isn't this what we want from film?
I am still looking for my teddy bear!
Jarhead (2005)
Not Your Typical War Movie
I went to see Jarhead on Friday afternoon after reading the recent Harper's magazine profile essay on the film and the problems associated with anti-war films. I first became familiar with Swofford's memoirs about his service in the first Iraq War primarily because of Swofford's legendary party-session with University of Kentucky grad-students after a Lexington reading.
The setting: Melissa and I showed up at the 3:20 pm showing at the Regal theater (a typical shopping area multiplex). Arriving somewhat early, there were only two other people in the screening area and I thought that this might be a typical early-Friday screening (the last afternoon showing we had experienced was The Constant Gardener which had only six people in the audience).
Slowly groups of 2-4 people filed into the theater until there was about 20+ people. At about 10 minutes before the showing three groups of 12+ people showed up, obviously, from overheard conversation and their collective-huddling, they were the local fraternities come to check out the latest war film.
The audience was easily 90% male and, as Melissa noted, the testosterone blanketed the theater. One could sense that they were there for some action and some butt-kicking. In my imagination I heard them rallying the guys to go see the film: "Enough of the daily reports of violence and death in the current Iraq-war, lets go see a film about the one where we kicked some serious ass!" The film (general comments because I don't want to ruin the plot): This film is going to produce extreme reactions. It will be one of those polarizing films that will be an ideological litmus-test of the people who watch it (like Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing) because it doesn't make an explicit stand either way on this war, or war in general. It simply presents Swofford's personal story of training to be a Marine scout and his experiences in the first Gulf War.
A lot of commentary I have seen is that this film (and Swofford's book) is anti-military. I don't see it... yes it exposes the cruelties of collective male-bonding that is centered around the hatred of an "enemy-other," but is that really shocking to anyone? It portrays the insanity and dehumanization of contemporary warfare in which buttons are pushed and hundreds of people are immediately incinerated/blown-up, but is this unrealistic? It depicts the trauma experienced by those who serve in the military, but one only has to read studies of post-traumatic syndrome all the way back to WWI to realize this reality.
What I think is disturbing about this film for many of the people attacking it is that it de-mythologizes the glorification of personal combat--the individualistic hero-figure who rises above even the screwed-up absurdity of the military situation, bringing order to the madness. In this film there are no heroes. Even Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, perceived as anti-war films, allow us points of identification and characters we can "root" for in their quest to make sense of the insanity of war. In Jarhead, there are no places we can rest, we are kept disturbed, we are uneasy, we really don't know what is going on, perhaps the military terminology best suited to the atmosphere of the film is FUBAR.
The audience after the movie: As we walked out you could sense the frustration of the bands of fraternity-boys who had sought the glories of represented warfare. They complained loudly that the film lacked the spectacle they had come to experience. I wondered, how many of these boys, from their fraternity-association and position of privilege in our society, would ever have to worry about serving in the military. Why, if they were so lucky to escape this service, unlike their less-fortunate peers in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world, was it so necessary for them to feel a part of the rituals of war, even if it was through the spectacle of a Hollywood film. As we walked out many of them were on phones planning the night's parties, their frustration so evident, I wondered how it would manifest in the night to come.