Battle of Algiers

Battle of Algiers

Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Silk

Homeward Bound

The Battle of Algiers. Incredible movie. Filmed two years after the Algerians finally became independent from France but during a coup that removed one Muslim ruler for another. The director, Gillo Pontecorvo, had been asked by the Algerian revolutionaries to make a film about their struggle. He agreed, but only if it was kept neutral in regards to how either side was viewed. Since he was a committed Marxist (although he quit the CP in 1956) he still had a bent towards the people and put it in at the end with a graffiti sign in French reading "Only one hero-the people" (thank you to a web site which I can't remember and don't have to since no one is paying me for this). Pauline Kael called him "the most dangerous kind of Marxist, a Marxist poet." Roger Ebert saw it in 1968 and thought it was good and presented without too much bias but then he saw it in 2006 after it got re-released in DVD with better sound and he said he could tell that the music was definitely composed to favor the Algerian side. Since Pontecorvo said he used music as the driving force in the movie it seems reasonable to agree with Ebert. Now, do I really care? I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I hadn't done this exhaustive and back-breaking research on the web and saved you, the dear reader, the trouble of doing it yourself..

Pontecorvo was a friend of Jean Paul Sarte. During the movie a character mentions that Sarte favored the Algerian revolutionaries. Sarte did favor them and was influential in changing public opinion in favor of independence. Several years later, Sarte went to visit Andreas Baader in prison. Baader was a member of the German Red Army Faction and had said that the Battle of Algiers movie was his favorite. Sarte came out of that prison meeting and said Baader was "incredibly stupid and an asshole." Just thought I would throw that in but of course I have no idea what web site it came from nor what relevance it has with anything.

Ralph, did you ever think about doing a little web page linking?

Linking? Isn't that what my sister, Tish, was talking about when she made the snide little insinuation that I don't know what a link is?

Yes. Do you? And she wasn't insinuating.

No. What?
Moving on; Pontecorvo's obituary in the UK Guardian (2006) mentions that he was the fifth child in an Italian Jewish family of 8, none of whom were interested in being Jewish. He wound up having to leave Italy because of Mussolino's racial laws and then working with the Italian resistance during WWII. (link would go here if I knew what it was; golf? sausage?)

The Battle of Algiers is also famous for being screened by the Pentagon in 2003 and by the Black Panthers and every other revolutionary group. Of course, the Berkley crowd was reported to have applauded hysterically in 1968 whenever a Frenchman was killed. Little did they know that they were only planting the seeds of anti-french fry mania after we went into Iraq. But the main discussion seems to be how the movie got made without using any newsreel footage or actual documentary film and with only one professional actor. Apparently, the bomb scenes would be illegal to shoot today and since Pontecorvo used Algerian citizens for the crowd scenes and bombings maybe he was trying to send a message.
A major reason to see this movie, however, is to be grateful for the evolution in burqa fashion. And also grateful that more men don't try to model the burqini like they do here.
Also, it shows how true it is about the French only winning wars that they fight against themselves.

Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Beautiful movie. Very, very slow. Good way to fall asleep in the first half-hour, but you would miss a great story and movie. Don't prematurely judge all the characters in the movie since in real life some of the roles weren't the way the movie presents it. I will see it again, but after reading the book he wrote.

Silk
Even slower than Diving Bell and even more beautiful. Just feel it, don't try to understand it or critique it. The music, the actors as they change physically and emotionally, the visual poetry. Watch it with someone you really like and who will appreciate the beauty of feeling.
Several reviewers who had read the book said it is a good adaptation. The long letter that is read by the brothel owner is much longer and more detailed and erotic in the book excerpt that I found on the web.
I really liked not having the Japanese dialogue subtitled and having the American and English actors play French parts without using French accents.
The director also did the Red Violin which we loved.
Albert Molinas is in this. He's always great. Watch him in Chocolate and in Not Without My Daughter. Also, the second Spiderman if you have nothing else to do or if there are young children around.
And yes, my expert research reveals that Japan did really have ice cubes in the 1800's.

Homeward Bound (the 1993 version)
One of my students brought this in so we watched it since it's May and I stop teaching until September. Disney does do well with these feel-good movies. Very good. I even stopped writing my customarily detailed lesson plans to watch it. Don Ameche voices the older dog. His voice makes you want to adopt him. Sally Field and Michael J. Fox are also good. If you've ever seen Sybil then listen for the possibly unintentional joke Sally Field makes about a bookcase.
The cat does not drown. It's a sock and special effects in the river (in case anyone thought otherwise).
I rarely write lesson plans. That was a joke.

I'm falling over laughing, Ralph.