Welcome to the latest edition of the Dailies. I went to the local cinema since the last column and viewed a couple of films through the magic of Netflix. Let’s take a look.
Trailerz
The Conversation (1974) – Dir: Francis Ford Coppola. Principles: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Harrison Ford
The Conversation features Gene Hackman in one of his finest roles, that of surveillance expert Harry Caul. Hackman’s character is tasked with recording the conversation of a young couple, and he soon realizes that his work may bring them into great danger. The Conversation has some tremendous scenes of great power, including a memorable finale, and Hackman’s performance as the low-rent spy alienated from pretty much all human interaction is more than a winner. It’s a bit too obtuse, however. It’s very slow and the material between the film’s stronger scenes isn’t very captivating. A lot of people whose opinions I trust love this film, so perhaps I need to see it again, but outside of Hackman’s performance nothing jumped out at me as being very special. B-.
Inglorious Basterds (2009) – Dir: Quentin Tarantino. Principles: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent, Eli Roth
This summer’s foremost revenge fantasy film (the one where the Jews turn the tables on the Nazis) is a bit of a departure for its auteur, Mr. Tarantino. His customary over-the-top violence and scenes of squirminess are largely replaced in Inglorious Basterds with more scenes of sharp dialogue. This dialogue is often brilliant, and when it fires on all cylinders, the film benefits greatly. An opening scene of a French farmer being quizzed by an SS officer about the Jews living under his floorboards is incredible. Tarantino has a gift for creating tense moods and uses his words to create uneasy feelings of foreboding between various sets of characters. The acting is very strong, as well. Brad Pitt continues to be likable as Lt. Aldo Raine, a Southerner with Apache blood who lives to kill Nazis. Christoph Waltz plays the aforementioned SS officer to perfection. The problem with Inglorious Basterds is the same problem that affected The Conversation. There are many great scenes, but the material in between them cannot sustain the momentum. Add in a nearly three hour length and there are extended periods of relative boredom which hurt enjoyment of the film greatly. B.
Feature Presentation
The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Principle Actors: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington, Simon McBurney
Movies about ruthless dictators are way too easy. They usually take place in some godforsaken corner of the world, where the masses live in squalor and dead bodies line the streets. The dictator is usually demented and paranoid, and his subjects completely powerless to stop him. Obligatory scenes of the dictator performing some horrid act on a woman or child set the tone of the film: he’s a bad guy.
I resent films that simplify these situations so much because there are actual people like this that have existed and continue to exist. Showing the dictator cutting a child’s ear off takes the thought out of the film; I’m much more interested as to why he’s compelled to do that. Most films are content to show us that warlords and dictators are psychopaths by their actions and expect us to instinctively loathe that character without really getting their motivation. This type of approach can indeed be effective; Lord of War took this approach and worked quite well. In The Last King of Scotland, however, it was nice to finally see a film that tried to tackle the man and not just his deeds.
The man is former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin (played with gusto by Forest Whitaker), and The Last King of Scotland follows the relationship between he and his Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan (McAvoy), who comes to the position largely by happenstance. It’s loosely based on a true story, but that’s not important. The film volunteers to show us what a man like Amin is like, whether or not he actually was like how he is portrayed here.
For a film about 1970s Uganda, The Last King of Scotland isn’t very violent. Reprisals and consequences for those who dare oppose Amin are carried out behind closed doors and in dialogue between the dictator and his doctor. The film doesn’t feel the need to delve into the customary shots of mountains of dead bodies or kids being gunned down. Only once do we see a particularly brutal image, of a corpse with all of its limbs severed, and that is done at the perfect time and to great effect. The film doesn’t rely on shock value and works much better because of this.
Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Amin. He plays him straight. He’s not an over the top nutcase. He’s friendly, polite and generous, though we sense there’s something lurking under the surface that isn’t so nice. McAvoy plays a good foil for him and never gets swallowed by Whitaker’s huge performance. The film follows their relationship as it moves from initial highs to total disintegration; Amin’s gradual lunacy and Garrigan’s guilt and feelings of complicity toward Amin’s atrocities make up the brunt of the film.
I’ve always been interested in colonialism and African history. Though The Last King of Scotland takes liberties with real events, it was refreshing to watch something that at least attempted to give me a view of the psyche of a man like Amin. It’s not a terribly complicated film; it’s easy to follow and the important themes are right there to see. But it’s truthful, and it takes a unique approach to an interesting subject. I can’t fault it for that.
B+
John Lacey
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