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Reviews
The 13th Warrior (1999)
The 13th Warrior is the best action adventure movie ever, bar none
The story is based on Eaters of the Dead, by Michael Crichton, who intended it as a revisualization of Beowulf. Indeed, I can easily imagine it as an intermediate legend from which Beowulf sprang. (Crichton actually took a hand in directing some of the film.) This is one of the few movies that is much better than the book.
The adventure aspect of the film is a lushly photographed north land, an unspecified region of Scandinavia, actually shot in British Columbia. Not the travelogue of many adventure movies, here the weather varies rapidly from brilliant sunshine on verdant forests to gloomy, drenching rain to haunting mist, which becomes a major plot element.
For action, imagine an Arabian poet, exiled as Ambassador, having to join a band of warriors led by Buliwyf, i.e., Beowulf, in defending King Hrothgar against a large army of "Wendol", the "eaters of the dead", which the Northmen fear are demons. (The suggestion from the book that the Wendol might be Neanderthal is never mentioned in the movie except through the casting of the extras that portray them.)
What makes this movie riveting is the acting of the ensemble. Antonio Banderas gives one of his best performances as the Arabian poet. Vladimir Kulich makes Buliwyf, i.e., Beowulf, a brooding but powerful leader. And Dennis Storhøi delivers an Oscar-worthy supporting performance as the Northman who befriends the Arab. Throughout the movie, the viewer sees not mere characters, but people, men who depend on one another, who live and fight together with all their bravado and superstitions, fears and faiths. Together the actors enable us to witness the birth of myth.
Mother of George (2013)
An intimate study of challenges of motherhood
An intimate study of motherhood, and fatherhood, within an alternative culture transplanted from Africa to America. As everywhere, cultural pressures lead to choices that have consequences far beyond hopes.
To be a mother is the most important duty of a wife; so she is told. When Danai cannot fulfill her duty, she seeks solutions both within her heritage and from Western medicine. When she finally succeeds, the choices she has made threaten to destroy her.
This film is exquisitely photographed and remarkably well acted, especially by Adenike Balogun in the role of Danai, trying her best to do when she believes is right for the husband she loves.