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ethan-orwin
Reviews
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)
An honest, and therefore supremely uninvolving, portrayal of 70's Eurotrash Terrorism
The creators of this well-made and well-acted film forgot a cardinal rule of narrative art--in order for the audience to remain engaged, some sort of sympathy with the characters has to be created from the outset. That is how so many films about terrible people (The Godfather, The Long Good Friday), or even psychopaths, can still leave us on the edge of our seats wondering about the fate of the protagonists.
Therein lies the problem for "The Baader-Meinhof Complex." It portrays the members of the most violent of the European Marxist terrorist groups of the seventies, the Rote Armee Fraktion, exactly as they were--as self-important, incredibly irritating middle-class scumbags, fighting ultimately for no cause beyond, well, being cool. As they prance around with their sunglasses and tight jeans, playing revolutionary to shock their former NSDAP-supporting mommies and daddies (a cause that doesn't quite merit killing legions of innocents), the viewer finds them as shallow, pathetic and despicable as they no doubt were. On this point, I'm shocked by some of the fools on this board, no doubt oh-so-hip do-nothing Marxists in their own college days, who agonize over whether these sociopaths were terrorists or freedom fighters. Please--East Germany tried socialism, and you had to wait in line for two hours to buy state-produced pickles. That's why the flight of people from West to East Berlin was, shall we say, none too common.
Anyway, since the characters make the viewer want to smack them in the face from day one (especially Gudrun Essling--kudos to that actress for the fist-clenchingly irritating portrayal), we stay engaged in the action-packed first half of the film, but lose interest completely once they're captured and the trial begins (the film is two and a half hours and far longer than it needs to be). Because at this point, the center of gravity of the film shifts toward the main characters' introspection regarding their own fates, and, well, I for one really didn't care. I just wanted them to shut up and kill themselves already.
Final note: The best scenes by far are those in the Palestinian training camp. The revolutionary culture clash that results as these utterly bourgeois, 60's counterculture wannabes attempt to train with real revolutionaries who, whatever one thinks of the Palestinian cause, are at least fighting for a real political goal that has some potential resonance, is handled perfectly and hilariously by the directors.
Rang De Basanti (2006)
Just Brutal
I bought this movie in Little India in Penang, Malaysia for about 2 dollars. This was money poorly spent (that could have bought me several delicious fish curries). I tried to watch it with some friends; I'm actually pretty surprised that we made it to the end. For some reason, Indian cinema seems to always fail at the strong characterization and evocative dialogue that render Iranian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and other Asian films such good alternatives to Hollywood. Every single character in this film is incredibly annoying... from the idealistic, brainless, self-hating British wannabe filmmaker (whom we're apparently supposed to admire) right down to the painfully clichéd, and indistinguishable, 'handsome party dude who only needs to be inspired to fight for freedom' types. Bogart in Casablanca these guys ain't. The constant and unnecessary 'cool' montages of partying, motorcycle riding, dances and so on are actually much more annoying than your standard Bollywood musical set-piece. Finally--and most importantly--what exactly is it that these morons are fighting for? Capitalist modern India, which the wealthy leftist filmmakers naturally s**t all over, is massively superior to the socialist basket case that came before, as demonstrated by the untold millions lining these actors' and directors' pockets. So there's corruption, obviously, but this isn't quite a reason for a bunch of indolent college students to attempt to take over the country through murdering ministers (as well as one guy's evil capitalist caricature father? why?). Anyway, at this point I'm rambling. This award-winning film (very perplexing) is right up there with "You Got Served.. Again" and "The Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift" in my book. Cheers, big ears.
The Boondock Saints (1999)
Five years after Pulp Fiction, a director tries for the same result...
Like Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," "Pulp Fiction" is a great film. This movie is to Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs what "Slumber Party Massacre 2" is to Psycho. It is a sad attempt to remake the whole "cool and tough criminals kill bad guys in a really cool and tough fashion while saying cool and tough one-liners" genre. Unfortunately, it lacks all originality and the script is far from clever. Every character is one-dimensional; the so-called organized criminals are just a bunch of morons who get slaughtered in their hundreds by two meat packers from Southie. Meanwhile, entire scenes are lifted from Pulp Fiction: the cat accidentally being killed (paralleling Marvin's unfortunate fate in Pulp Fiction), the bible quotes before executions, and the constant oh-so-cleverly random conversations that don't come close to stuff Tarantino probably wrote in Grade school. By the way, the acting sucks. Finally, the message that it's good for vigilantes to kill the brainless ethnic stereotypes that pass for mafiosi in this movie (as well as random guys at a strip club; I guess they're criminal scum as well) whenever they feel like it will appeal to armchair suburbanites scared of those big city lowlifes whom they've heard about on the news--it will seem ludicrous to anyone else. Skip this and throw on "Air Bud 2: Golden Receiver"... or practically anything else you can think of.
La battaglia di Algeri (1966)
War Without a Name
The War in Algeria, like most revolutionary wars, was surely a tragedy for all concerned... for the Algerian people, for the French soldiers who fought and died bravely in yet another war they were not allowed to win, civilians on both sides whose lives were destroyed by the carnage and upheaval. This landmark film has the interesting distinction of being at once a propaganda piece and somewhat even-handed. Despite being commissioned by the Algerian FLN government, and certainly ultimately siding with the rebels, it presents the French commander Colonel Mathieu (a stand-in for real paratrooper commander Jacques Massu) in a sympathetic light, and the horror brought on by FLN bombings is in no way minimized. This film achieves a chaotic, tense feel that conveys the essence of the people's war in the Casbah. The characters, almost all of whom display some nobility, commit terrible acts against their enemies, and we see an almost chivalric battle of jaded, duty-bound warriors against fiery nationalist rebels. Above all, the film showcases how the French won the battle of Algiers military but lost the war politically.