Munich

Day 345 - 12/11/09 - Movie #345

BEFORE: That's it for WWII films, but as long as I'm in Europe, I'll watch this film about the killing of athletes at the 1972 Olympics, and the aftermath - and I'm sort of bookmarking the week with Spielberg films...

THE PLOT: Based on the true story of the Black September aftermath, about the five men chosen to eliminate the ones responsible for that fateful day.

AFTER: I don't know, I wasn't really feeling this one. I don't know if I've become desensitized to war and violence, or I'm burned out on movies, or if my mind is just pre-occupied with my lack of progress on buying Christmas presents.

To believe in this film, I think you first need to believe that two wrongs make a right, and I'm just not sure that I do. Yes, it was terrible that Arab terrorists killed Jewish athletes at the Munich Olympics. It was a horrible, terrible, dreadful act. But I'm not convinced that the proper response is for the Israeli government to hire a squad of hitmen to track down the perpetrators and the planners of the attack, and gun them down or blow them up.

How do you condemn one act, but condone the other? At some point, shouldn't the members of the hit squad realize that they have become EXACTLY the type of people that they are trying to destroy? Maybe when innocent people start getting caught in the crossfire?

At one point, the members of the Israeli hit squad are holed up in a safehouse, and another team of professionals shows up, accidentally booked into the same safehouse - so after the Israeli squad pretends to be a German squad, they decide to share the safehouse for the night. The leader of the Israeli squad (Eric Bana) has a political discussion with the leader of the Arabic squad - and of course they disagree. But HOW do you proceed with killing people after you've shared space and had ideological debates?

Then again, I suppose we've all had roommates at one time or another who we would be happy to assassinate...

It was interesting to see a pre-James Bond Daniel Craig as a member of the squad, and it was interesting to see the role of the clean-up man, the man who swings by after each assassination and makes sure there are no stray cartridges or other evidence. Makes sense, as the gunmen are probably too frantic to think clearly at that point.

But other than that, I didn't find much here that I could really agree with.

RATING: 4 out of 10 detonators

Everything Is Illuminated

Day 344 - 12/10/09 - Movie #344

BEFORE: Three weeks left in the year, and I should be on the interwebs, ordering Christmas gifts - but instead I'm wrapping up my World War II themed movies with this one. We move from Poland to the Ukraine, where a man is searching for information about his late grandfather.

THE PLOT: A young Jewish American man endeavors to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II in a Ukrainian village, that was ultimately razed by the Nazis, with the help of a local who speaks broken English.

AFTER: Once in a while, not often, I come across a movie that really surprises me, that exceeds my expectations, like "Darjeeling Limited". This is another great example of a little uncut gem of a movie, one that I might never have watched - if not for my list.

It's funny that I was writing about my grandfather last night, because this film is all about grandfathers, and our connections (or lack thereof) to them. The title refers to how "everything is illuminated" by the past, by our experiences and the stories of our parents and grandparents. How many people can't name the town(s) where their grandparents were born? How many people have lost that connection, part of their history, because of war, or time, or lack of interest?

This is based on a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, and adapted and directed by the actor Liev Schreiber, who did a helluva job. Elijah Wood plays a young writer (also named Jonathan Safran Foer) who has an odd habit of collecting things in small Ziploc bags, and hanging them on a wall next to portraits of family members. Being a collector of sorts myself, I can get behind this guy... But after the death of his grandmother, he realizes that there's a big gap in his collection, relating to the story of his grandfather, Safran, and how he escaped the persecution of Jews in World War II.

So he hires a travel guide to take him to the location of his grandfather's village in the Ukraine - but gets stuck with the guide's teenage son and elderly father driving him around, looking for a village that no one seems to remember. The young guide, Alex, is a tall, lanky wigger who likes wearing chains and dressing like an American rapper - like Vanilla Ice, talking like Borat. And the grandfather is a cantankerous sort who claims to be blind (he isn't) and has a "seeing-eye bitch" dog named Sammy Davis Jr., Jr. who is "mentally deranged".

Jonathan is seen as a very unusual person - not just because of his huge Coke-bottle glasses, but also his lost puppy-dog demeanor, his vegetarianism, and his odd habit of saving things in little baggies. I sort of went through this myself, when I went to Germany on a high-school exchange trip. I looked up some of my grandmother's relatives, and sat in a cafe and spoke with them for a few hours. When my great-aunt learned that I couldn't swim, this baffled her - she was threatening to buy me a swimsuit and throw me into the Rhine river so I'd learn to swim...

What starts out as a lost-cause road trip turns into a journey of self-discovery for all three men. Saying what they find along the way, and how it affects them, would give away the plot - but they all manage to connect with their heritage in very profound ways. I get the feeling that if I were to watch the film again, I'd notice all kinds of symbolism that I didn't see before - like the grandfather's "blindness" meaning that he is blind to his own cultural heritage, and that's just one example...

It's also a "fish-out-of-water" story that highlights the cultural differences between Old World Europe and today's America. But as Jonathan and Alex spend time together, naturally their similarities are highlighted and their differences are minimized. When Jonathan returns to the U.S., he sees people in the airport who look EXACTLY like some of the people he met in the Ukraine. This is no "Wizard of Oz" hey-I-guess-it-was-all-a-dream moment, it's more of a symbolic realization that people are basically the same wherever you go - as well as a sign that his journey to Europe has caused him to look at the world in a different way.

Yes, it's the places that we go, and the people that we meet along the way, that help us define our story. But we should never forget that it's the stories of our parents and grandparents that determined where our own stories started.

RATING: 8 out of 10 packs of Marlboro cigarettes (very premium!)

To Be or Not To Be (1942)

Day 343 - 12/9/09 - Movie #343

BEFORE: I've seen the remake by Mel Brooks - damn, that would have been a great way to follow "1941" since both films starred Tim Matheson. But this is the original 1942 version starring Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, and Robert Stack (AHA! There's my connection, since Stack was also in "1941")

THE PLOT: During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

AFTER: Once again, I've made the mistake (?) of watching a remade film before the original - what can I say, I'm a product of my times...for me, the definitive version of "King Kong" will always be the one with Jeff Bridges, Jessica Lange and Charles Grodin, where Kong climbs the World Trade Center instead of the Empire State Building.

Jack Benny is more subdued than Mel Brooks, though he has great reaction takes - he's like a fine-point pen to Brook's giant paint roller. The plot is essentially the same, and the funny lines are the same ("So they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt, eh?") but in the original film, the acting couple's names are Josef and Maria Tura, and one of the actors in their troupe is named Bronski. In the remake, Mel Brooks changed the couple's names to Frederick and Anna Bronski - realizing, of course, that Bronski is a much funnier name...

Plus there's Prof. Siletsky, Lt. Sobinksy and so on - it's like that bit in "Miracle at Morgan's Creek" where the girl can only remember that the soldier's name was "Ratzky-Watkzy". Comedy lesson for the day - words with "K" sounds in them are funny, kids.

I'm amazed that they got away with making fun of Nazis the way they did in this film - this was 2 decades before "The Producers", even. The Germans are portrayed here as a bunch of bumbling, easily fooled yes-men. Why, because that's funny too - but this was made in 1942, right in the middle of the war - so does it count as comedy, or propaganda?

And that's THREE films this week set in Poland at the start of WWII - for those of you scoring at home...which reminds me that I did dedicate this year's efforts to my grandfather, who was of Polish descent (but his parents left long before WWII).

RATING: 4 out of 10 parachutes

1941

DAY 342 - 12/8/09 - Movie #342

BEFORE: And this comedy, which is set in the days just AFTER Pearl Harbor. Makes sense, right? I do have my fun...

THE PLOT: Hysterical Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion in the days after Pearl Harbor.

AFTER: By all rights, this movie should have worked, should have been hilarious. You take a comic situation, like college, or a sports team, or in this case the confusion and panic in the early days of WWII - cast a bunch of great comic actors like John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy and so on, plus some stuck-up straight men like Robert Stack and Christopher Lee to play generals, throw in the nostalgia of swing bands and dance contests, and let the fun begin. Hey, it worked for "Animal House" and "Stripes", right?

The problem here is that the whole film devolves into slapstick, which ends up being one of the lowest forms of entertainment. Tanks run over cars, dance-hall riots spill into the street, gas stations blow up - and there's very little rhyme or reason to it all. And someone forgot to make it funny.

Tim Matheson and Nancy Allen have a bit where they're trying to join the mile-high club in a borrowed plane, and John Belushi's crazy pilot, Capt. Wild Bill Kelso, mistakes them for a Japanese fighter. And he tries to shoot them down, over a crowded city full of people. Again, where's the funny part? And why can't anybody do anything without screaming?

This movie got bad critical reviews when it was first released, then got a little more respect over time - but I think maybe the first reactions were right.

Also featuring Ned Beatty, Treat Williams, Warren Oates (Sgt. Hulka from "Stripes"), Joe Flaherty, Wendie Jo Sperber, Lionel Stander (Max from "Hart to Hart") and Eddie Deezen (best known as the nerdy guy in "Wargames" and many other 80's movies...).

RATING: 2 out of 10 torpedoes

From Here to Eternity

Day 341 - 12/7/09 - Movie #341

BEFORE: See, there IS a method to my madness. Today is Pearl Harbor Day (a day which will live in infamy...) and I've already seen the movie "Pearl Harbor" - so I'll watch this classic film, set in Hawaii in the months leading up to the 1941 attack. One of the premium movie channels is running this film today also - so I guess great minds think alike.

THE PLOT: In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second in command are falling in love.

AFTER: See, now Pearl Harbor makes sense - the company captain was so busy putting his boxing team together, that nobody was watching out for those Japanese planes...

All I really knew about this film was that Frank Sinatra won a Best Supporting Oscar for it, and of course that infamous beach scene with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Karr kissing in the surf. But now I have a context around those two things...

Montgomery Clift stars as Private Prewitt, who's been transferred to a new base since they're in need of a middleweight boxer - but he refuses to fight since injuring an opponent months ago. So the officers set out to make his life miserable with extra drills and duties until he agrees to box. Meanwhile, Sgt. Warden (Burt Lancaster) begins an affair with the company commander's wife, leading to that famous beach scene. And Pvt. Maggio (Sinatra) has some barroom altercations with the sergeant who runs the stockade - gee, I hope that doesn't come back to haunt him later on...

It's funny to see the double-standard in the 1940's - a military man having an affair is acceptable, but if his wife has the affair - it's a scandal. It's also funny how unimportant everything else is once those planes come over the horizon.

There's a moment in the film where Burt Lancaster is on a phone call, and leans against the wall, which contains a large calendar showing the date December 6, 1941. This is the equivalent of showing a desperate person racing for an ocean liner - and pulling back to reveal that the ship is the Titanic...

Another moment that struck me was when a munitions officer wouldn't dispense any ammunition without a signed order from the company commander - even though Japanese planes were strafing the base. This is a great metaphor for the film's blanket question - what makes a good soldier? Is it blind obedience to regulations and one's superiors, or could there be a better way to measure it?

Co-starring Ernest Borgnine (a real Navy vet, and I don't mean "McHale's Navy"), a young(ish) Jack Warden, and Claude Akins.

RATING: 6 out of 10 Hawaiian shirts

The Pianist

Day 340 - 12/6/09 - Movie #340

BEFORE: Last night's movie, as I mentioned, was over 3 hours long. Yes, it's an important story, but how about a little editing? You know, tighten it up...but I guess that's what my weekends are for. Tonight's film is a slightly more reasonable 2 1/2 hours.

THE PLOT: A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.

AFTER: I admit I had this movie pegged wrong, I thought it was a concentration camp movie - but it's about Wladyslaw Spizlman (Adrien Brody) doing everything possible to AVOID being sent to a camp, after his entire family is sent to one.

There are a lot of similarities to last night's film, with Jews being first confined to a Polish ghetto, then shipped off as the Nazis build labor camps. But this is a tale of one man's survival, first in the ghetto, and then living in secret in various abandoned apartments around Warsaw. He becomes something of an eyewitness to history, watching from his window as the city is bombed, set afire, and eventually taken by the Russian army.

Various members of the resistance set him up in apartments, where he is locked in for weeks at a time, and unable to leave to get food or medical help. Irony comes when he learns that one of his safehouses has a piano, but he is told that he must not play it, for fear of being discovered.

REAL irony comes when you realize this film was directed by Roman Polanski, currently living under house arrest in Switzerland...

Another very powerful movie, one that I thinked worked better than "Schindler's List", because it found a way to narrow the focus down to one man's struggle to survive, from which we can extrapolate. The character's hunger, isolation and desperation really come across.

RATING: 8 out of 10 sacks of potatoes

Schindler's List

Day 339 - 12/5/09 - Movie #339

BEFORE: Let's take a minute to talk about lists - right now my life revolves around them, between a Christmas card list, gift list, and the list of over 400 movies that dominates my late nights. I'm also trying to catch up on the first season of "My Name Is Earl", since I didn't start watching that show until late in Season 1. I want to give a shout-out to this great sitcom that was cancelled last season (prematurely, if you ask me...). If you've never seen it, Jason Lee plays Earl Hickey, who learns about the concept of karma after winning the lottery, then getting hit by a car and losing his ticket. He makes a list of all the bad things he's done to people over the years, then sets out to find them and make amends as a way of improving his life. It was a madcap, often juvenile sitcom set in a town of rednecks somewhere in Middle America, but every episode had a life lesson that made me smile, as Earl (and his brother Randy and ex-wife Joy) learned that doing good deeds would bring good things his way. It's in syndication now, so check your DVRs and catch it if you can. Now, on with the countdown.

THE PLOT: Oskar Schindler uses Jews to start a factory in Poland during the war. He witnesses the horrors endured by the Jews, and starts to save them.

AFTER: Unquestionably a powerful film, and until now perhaps the most egregious omission on the list of films I'd seen. I've got no quips or jokes tonight - I'm inclined to just assign a rating and move on...

But thinking about the concept of karma, and how it applies here... Oskar Schindler was a German businessman who started a factory, and initially he was interested in the Jews from the Krakow ghetto as a source of cheap labor. His initial efforts to save Jews were done as a way of protecting his business, but the movie suggests that over time his motivation changed to a purely humanitarian one.

Well, he did make a fortune, but between the bribes to German officials, administrative costs, wining and dining his mistresses, and (one assumes) all that list-making, he was out of money by the time the war ended. But then, not all fortunes are measured in money.

Despite saving 1,100 lives from the concentration camps, Schindler was distraught that he didn't do enough. Yet the numbers quoted at the end of the film tell the tale - at the date of the film's release, there were about 4,000 Jews living in Poland, while those rescued by Schindler and their descendants numbered over 6,000.

If I have any complaints, they revolve around the length of the film, which clocks in at about 3 hours and 15 minutes. A large number of German atrocities are depicted, and instead of focusing on one man or a small group, the movie seems to want to tell the tales of thousands, which would be overly ambitious regardless of the subject matter. I have no doubt that the holocaust was a terrible, terrible time, and I'm left wondering at what point its depiction becomes overkill.

Starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes and a cast of thousands...

RATING: 7 out of 10 bottles of cognac