The Wave

The Wave is a German film that will knock your socks off!

What's it about?  This reviewer will never be a spoiler, so I think it best to focus only on the opening scene of the movie:

The film begins in a high school class in Germany.  Germany...pertinent fact!  The teacher is obviously a real favorite with the kids.  They actually call him by his first name!  Quite a marvel in the stodgy environment of the typical European classroom.

Mr Popular Teacher works his magic (the way we used to, Valerie) to settle the students down.  Once he gets their attention, he says that they will spend the next week studying a fascinating topic: autocracy!

Fascinating? the kids ask.  Who cares? they shout out.  The teacher of course tries to get them interested...the old teacher hook, so to speak.

The students say, "Oh no, not that German-guilt trip again!"  The kids are referring, of course, to the Holocaust, about which they have already learned.  They naturally declare, "That was another generation.  We weren't even born.  Germany is different.  We're different."

OH REALLY?  the clever professor asks.

What follows is an extraordinary experiment.  The teacher does not tip his hand.  But he will try to show the kids, over the course of the week, how he can turn them into good little Nazis!

Well, readers, the teacher has the kids' attention.  Do I have yours????

Enjoy this wonder of a film.  You'll get insight into authoritarianism like you've never had before.  You'll think Lord of the Flies is a walk in the park.

You may have your first real insight into how groups can turn evil.

Winter's Bone

OK, better late than never.  This amazing film came out more than a year ago, and Jennifer Lawrence was nominated for Best Actress at a disgustingly young age!  Jennifer is the star of The Hunger Games, which releases on DVD soon.  I lauded her work in the scifi dazzler a while back in this blog.

The Winter's Bone is so great, in my mind, that it defies superlatives.  The plot is threadbare, so I can reveal it without being a spoiler: a seventeen year old living in poverty (probably in the Appalachias) must find her father, who fled after he posted bond for a crime, putting up his house as collateral.

Not very interesting?  Wait!  This film is not at all about a plot. It's about flavor!  Not since Deliverance has a film taken us so convincingly into the backwoods, where disgruntled, coarse, illiterate folks struggle to make ends meet and interact with cold detachment.

With the "twang" of the midwest hills, and a vernacular replete with the word "ain't" and double negatives, the hillbillies (yes, the perfect use of the word) engage in dialogs that sear deeply into the viewer's psyche.

The destitute heroine, who valiantly steps into the role of mother to her two very young sibs, goes out in search of her father.  In doing so, she meets the inhumanity of neighbors and eventually experiences the brutality of life in a world where there's little food on the dining room table and everyone is desperate.

As in The Odyssey, the burdened teen ventures out and faces obstacles wherever she goes.  She's skilled at survival.  She's a tough, empowered girl who lives in a dog-eat-dog place where only the strong and thick-skinned can make it.

Oh, don't miss the very woodsy bluegrass scenes too.  As a banjo player, I loved those film moments.  BUT:  Please do not get the wrong view of bluegrass.  Between the music in Deliverance and this flick, folks might visit one of my banjo jams and deem me a "good ol' boy!"

Yes, this flick is a marvel.  It's one of a kind.  You will never, ever forget a backwoods world that exists right here in this rich country of ours.

If you see one film this year, this is it!

Ruby Sparks

If you've ever written a piece of fiction, even a short story, where you've created a character, this film is for you!  Think of the wonder of forming a person out of the written word:  in a sense, you give birth to a human being who becomes so real in your/our minds, that he/she seems to be real!

Isn't Emma real?  How about Jean Valjean?  Or Mme Bovary?  We actually SEE these characters.  They are real, in our minds.  So real, in fact, that we wonder if we might meet them in the street some day!

Ruby Sparks focuses on this wonder.  No spoiler, as usual, but the film centers on a writer who describes a character, Ruby, in his latest book.  Suddenly, the girl is in his dreams.   OK, no big suspension of disbelief so far.

Now imagine if the girl suddenly shows up in his kitchen!   She seems real enough.  But is she?

Cute idea.

The film takes us into a very deep realm.  To what extent do we, as humans, have the ability, or perhaps the right, to be promethean?  Can we truly "create" another person?  If so, do we have the right to control them?   Zola grappled with this concept.  He described forming characters who, once formed, became independent of the author and acted according to nature and nurture.  He tried to create personalities who moved about in the fictitious world of their own volition.

Is this possible?

The film abounds in humor, and it is lighthearted in spirit.  But do not for one second think you can see this flick and not ponder its very deep messages for a long time to come!

A MUST for an English teacher, Valerie!  A MUST for anyone who thinks creatively.

Grade:  A.    This one is a winner.

The Intouchables

See these two men?  They will make you glad you sat down in a cool theatre to watch them.  And, after all, as our temps. in Phoenix soar to 115* this week (pray for us), why would you need any incentive to go to the movies, hmmm?

This is a wonderful, wonderful French film.  Just overlook the lame title. Based on a true story, one of these men is an aristocratic quadriplegic, one is an urban soul going nowhere.  Guess which is which.  From there, all cliche and predictability end.  Masterful performances tell a story we should all hear.

I enjoyed every minute of this film.  Go see it and we'll talk more.


P.S. The fact that it takes place in Paris, including two scenes in the very cafe in which hubby and I recently had breakfast, leaves me positively giggling, but in no way influences my endorsement.  -smile-