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Reviews
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
See Lilja 4 ever instead
I say first: if you want to see christian movies see "Lilja 4 ever" and "Dogville"! I will explain later. First: the film music is a ripoff of Peter Gabriels "passion".The question that comes in mind is why this film was made. It is not a drama, rather an epic story. We know what will happen, what is interesting is how it happened. But is what is interesting how many ribs of Jesus the imperial soldiers managed to expose? Is the interesting thing that the soldiers torturing Jesus were beast-like? It would have been better to make a drama, to first explain why Jesus is "our guy", simply because now the focus is on who are *not* our guys. This is not at the heart of christian ideology, to define the bad guys, neither in its secular form, nor in it's religious form. The second thing is the portrait of satan: this is really cheap kitsch. I do not think evil should be portrayed as Mel Gibson's fear of anything that is not easily cathegorised as male or female, normal or abnormal. Why is "Lilja for (4) ever" a more christian film? Well, because it shows exactly what people on a daily basis bear the cross and die for our sinful society. Maria Magdalena is abused and stoned to death every day, by all of us, as a culture. And in the fairy tale, as in Dogville, she will come back after her meeting with the Godfather to judge the living and the dead.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Interesting environment
I enjoyed this film because I recently read about Darwin and captain FitzRoy on board of the Beagle (some decades later). I found it interesting to see this environment realistically presented in a movie, and the controversies between Darwin and FitzRoy were similar as in the movie.
Luther (2003)
Stereotypical and sentimental
Luther's life and time are of course interesting topics for a movie. However this one fails badly. List of minuses: Painfully predictable sentimental moments, the lack of historical reality-feeling, Luther too much a hero, stereotypical presentation of both revolutionary protestants and catholics. What is good in this movie is purely thanks to the historical Luther himself.
Fucking Åmål (1998)
Can be seen several times
I really like this film, not only teenage school experiences are realistic, but also the socioeconomic status of the parents in the different families are reflected by lifestyle in a realistic manner. I just saw it on DVD and, being the fourth time i see it, it is still moving and funny.
Independence Day (1996)
Boring propaganda for kids
I fear for the future of civilization when such infantile and barbarian
productions can evoke a sense of patriotism in citizens of a
country, that they (to an amazing extent) can not even localize on a
world map. Of course you need this type of childish matinées in
order to do that, because any movie that would demand
knowledge of the real world out there, would be doomed to fail. It's
sad but true, a propaganda movie for kids
and BORING
Human Nature (2001)
Extremely funny
This is an extremely funny movie, not only about culture versus nature, but also about over romantic views about "nature" as some ideal condition for human beings. I think the movie is like looking at the ongoing debates on sexism and biologism etc, in the distorting mirror. Michel Gondry has previously touched upon these matters in his brilliant music videos with Björk. But I guess, if you never have thought about these things, you might not be able to appreciate the quite intelligent irony in this movie.
Lilja 4-ever (2002)
Important, realistic and tragical.
This film starts with violent emotional attack, a desperate girl, obviously feeling very bad, running desoriented somewhere in Sweden accompanied by music by the brutal german group Ramstein. It continues earlier, with the girls life in what was the former Soviet Union. This film is about slavery that exists today, and it is about the people who became the real loosers of the cold war. This film is as tragical as "Dancer in the Dark", but it is realistic, it is reality.
Other films appear as being almost immorally unimportant in comparison to this one. We need more films that make the invisible victims of our societies visible!
Lilja 4-ever (2002)
Important, realistic and tragical.
This film starts with violent emotional attack, a desperate girl, obviously feeling very bad, running desoriented somewhere in Sweden accompanied by music by the brutal german group Ramstein. It continues earlier, with the girls life in what was the former Soviet Union. This film is about slavery that exists today, and it is about the people who became the real loosers of the cold war. This film is as tragical as "Dancer in the Dark", but it is realistic, it is reality.
Other films appear as being almost immorally unimportant in comparison to this one. We need more films that make the invisible victims of our societies visible!
Vor (1997)
One of my absolute favorites
This film takes place in an environment seldom depicted in movies: The Soviet Union during post-war stalinism. And I am so happy that this is made by russians!! This in itself renders it an epic value, but it has dramatic qualities as well. It is very emotional (it might make you cry) as well as extremely funny (it might make you laugh). Finally, it might also be seen as a poem about mother russia that was abused, the people that were betrayed, and the betrayer (stalinism).
Black Robe (1991)
Multiple cultural collisions
This is a great movie about the meeting, not only between europeans and indians, but also between different indian tribes and different european people making this part of history dealt with in a less dichotomizing manner than what is usual.