Change Your Image
charliecrack
Reviews
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
The Crusades
This film by Ridley Scott seeks to make sense of an incredibly complex period in medieval history. Rather than a black and white version of Muslim Christian relations,he seeks to show the complexity of the politics of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.Both parties are guilty of barbarism and surprizing sophistication in their dealings with one another.As Jerusalem is wrested between Muslims and Christians there is an astonishing empathy between them. Both know the importance of the Holy City to each other and both respect that.Saladin is portrayed brilliantly by the Sudanese born actor.I read the eminently readable "Jerusalem" by Hugh Montefiore who interestingly enough comes from a Sephardic Jewish family and this I felt filled in any gaps I may have had in the history of this period especially concerning the strange and romantic figure of Baldwin IV The Leper King of Jerusalem.The portrayal of the Knights Templar as the shock troops of the Crusaders eschewing the quasi mystical reputation that they were to achieve later on in their development was a nice touch.For those who can grasp the fanaticism of medieval religions and the vital importance of Jerusalem as the centre of the medieval world this film is a real treat.It is curious that the power of the story of the Crusades still haunts both Christian Europe and the Islamic Middle East, indeed Osama Bin Laden often considered American and British incursions into the Middle East to be Crusading.Ridley Scott never fails to satisfy in my opinion and though this film wasn't a box office success in America, it was in Europe and the Arab Middle East which is interesting.
A Single Man (2009)
A Single man by Isherwood
What a film! I had read the book so was acquainted with the "Huxley" references.I was intrigued by the fact that Tom Ford was a fashion designer ( to be honest I had never heard of him) and now director of a film.I was pleasantly surprised, indeed more than that, amazed at his skill. The colouring of the film was exceptional: browns and blues, the sepias of the flashbacks.The clothes of Nicholas Hoult , the mohair sweater, in a pale beige contrasted with his blue eyes, a stroke of genius.The wall poster in the car park of the liquor commission of a pair of eyes, which were of course belonging to Sophia Loren. The chance meeting with the Spanish youth from Madrid who worn a James Dean outfit and was obviously a model rather than an actor.Julianne Moore was superb as a sixties rich dolly bird, all Green Onions and pop art dress. I really enjoyed this movie as much as I enjoyed the novella.Acting was superb, the cinematography a stroke of genius.
Cotton Mary (1999)
Anglo-Indians
This film suffers from the usual shortcomings of films about "The British Raj":it ignores the stories of a whole swathe of ordinary British and Anglo-Indians between the ruling Raj and the new Indians.I have the greatest respect for the two main actresses, Jaffrey and Scaatchi but it was a poor script and plot.The caricature of an Anglo-Indian woman was such a racial stereotype it is clear that Merchant/Ivory did little to acquaint themselves with the Anglo-Indian community either in India or in England.The idea that this community was such a self-hating hybrid of the British is short sighted in the extreme.Also the fact that the majority of Anglo-Indians didn't live in South India but in central India and the North which were "British India" is a glaring inaccuracy.Also another fact that by 1954 the majority of Anglo-Indians had emigrated to other parts of the old Empire including England to make a new life as they felt that they didn't have a future in an Independent India.Cotton Mary perpetuates an unpleasant stereotype projected on this community by British and Indians alike during the previous 200 years of Imperial rule.The film was eventually removed from circulation through the protests of Anglo-Indians worldwide.All in all this film was unworthy of Merchant/Ivory, a great disappointment.
Jinnah (1998)
Purporting to be the history of Pakistan
Filmed in Pakistan, this film suffers from the same censorship as "Gandhi" the director had to submit each reel as it was filmed for approval of the Indian Government.I presume "Jinnah" suffered the same fate as he is considered a hero in Pakistan. Gandhi did not want India to be divided along religious lines, Jinnah was pressured by various Muslim groups for a separate homeland.This film is biased in favour of Pakistan and grim scenes of massacres are highlighted as the work of Hindus and Sikhs no mention of the destruction of Lahore's tolerant society by the Muslim League.As Mountbatten said " If I had known Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis I would have delayed Independence for a further six months and left an undivided India".Jinnah was no Muslim separatist in fact the entire opposite, this is not brought out in this film.He comes across as a visionary leader of a new nation, not as an urban sophisticated lawyer from London who had no interest in religion.All in all a very disappointing film which was never on general release.
The Eagle (2011)
young adults book
I read this book as a boy of 11 or 12 ...and Rosemary Sutcliffe got me interested in the Romans.I was at boarding school and we read a lot and this author introduced me to historical fiction.So I went to see this film with baggage, as it were.I thought Jamie bell and Tatum Channing were the only ones in the movie, besides the cameo appearance of Donald Sutherland.The clash of cultures was very well represented and the use of Latin and Gaelic was a nice touch to a very good film.I liked it and I thought that both Jamie Bell and Tatum Channing are underestimated actors in the usual swirl of American cinema.Roman Britain was well represented and the cross cultural links that ensued.It was also nice to see the real weather of the British Isles with all it's changeable mists and fogs, the sky scape is amazing.All in all a good attempt at a difficult genre.
Borstal Boy (2000)
Wartime story of bad boys both English and Irish sent to borstal.
Two brilliant but under rated performances by Shawn Hatosy as Brendan Behan and Danny Dyer as Charlie Millwall.This film captures the pithiness of the original play but invokes the intense friendships of an earlier era when emotions such as these had no outlet which was positive.But the love and the pathos which is portrayed by these two brilliant actors is to be recommended.It is a travesty that such a film could not garner the appreciation it deserves on the world stage.The location is filmed just outside of Dublin, so it has the predominant colours of grey and green which enhance the drabness of the borstal scenes.Michael York although past his best, puts in a creditable performance as the Governor of the borstal.This film is a must see for aficionados of Danny Dyer.
Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977)
British Policy in India
The Chess Players is a curious film by the famed Indian director Satyajit Ray. Half in Hindi and half in English which is curious in itself. The story is about the take over of the Kingdom of Oudh, capital Lucknow, by the British. It shows the complete deceit of the British in their takeover of the Indian Sub Continent using underhand methods based in their emasculation of the Indian rulers. The Nawab of Oudh is a cultured Muslim ruler in the tradition of The Moghuls. The qualities admired by the culture of the time were not militaristic and patriarchal but cultural and aesthetic. The Nawab often sang songs to his people and danced for them or read poetry and wrote it of course. This was considered by the British to show signs of effeminacy and not good government. I fact the subjects of the Nawab who were for the most part Hindus, loved their Ruler for precisely these qualities and even though he was of a different faith, lived happily in a cultural paradise. The British represented by Richard Attenborough show a total lack of understanding of this culture and in a cynical move annex the kingdom and send the Nawab into exile.There was interestingly enough, no attempt at resistance but a bland acceptance of the will of God. Strangely sad and haunting film from one of India's greatest directors since Independence. Trivia. Lucknow was the city that Cliff Richard was born in and lived as a child before Independence.
Mat i syn (1997)
Visual Delight
This film is exquisite: it was like looking through the lens of Constable or Turner. The world is seen in a new way and the action takes place within it.I have read critical views on "painterly" films but I don't agree with them. Cinema is a visual experience , essentially and the plot etc. is a given. Russian films do express a strange dark beauty and there are lines in the film worthy of any great Russian writers: The Father's love crucifies the Son , and the Son allows himself to be crucified from "Father and Son" the same director, Sukarov.Another example of brilliant Russian cinema!The mother son relationship is almost brutally fragile but the devotion of the son, carrying his mother into the landscape provided the focus. Brilliant