Bernadette is a 1988 French film directed by Jean Delannoy. It tells the story of St. Bernadette Soubirous (Sydney Penny) and the miraculous apparition of Our Lady to her at Lourdes, France.
It is interesting to compare this film to The Song of Bernadette which I reviewed last year. This film is more historically accurate and also less dialog driven, preferring to let the simplicity of the story speak for itself instead of using it to explore issues of faith and rationality as the King film did. It's also less comprehensive. Where Song covered her life in the convent and her death after a long-term illness, this film ends with her entering the convent, leaving the rest of the story for a sequel, The Passion of Bernadette. On the other hand this film gives a little more insight into the political background than the King film did. The authorities in Lourdes, being republicans, are shown to be initially afraid that the apparitions are a royalist scheme. Perhaps the main reason for these differences is that The Song of Bernadette was based on a novel, while this movie is based simply on the historical account of the story, which the director Jean Delannoy wanted to follow as closely as possible.
Because of this historically accurate approach, and perhaps also due to budgetary constraints, the movie has a fairly realistic tone and minimalist style. The Blessed Virgin is never seen, only Bernadette's transfixed reaction to her. This is what impresses me most about the film. It allows the viewers to judge the truth of the events largely by themselves.
The cinematography is restrained and unobtrusive as,again, Delonnoy prefers to let the events speak for themselves. The acting is generally strong from Sydney Penny's forthright, humble portrayal of Bernadette to Jean-Marc Bory's ill tempered and firm-but-kind, Father Peyramale. The score, though clearly low budget, effectively evokes the mysterious aura of the apparitions and miracles.
The film is not without problems. The pacing is sporadic at times and there are characters and subplots that feel underdeveloped. But overall I really appreciate the directors restrained, reverential approach to the story and would certainly recommend this film to any one interested in the Lourdes apparitions.
I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy with Christmas and school (and the flu season :P). Lent is upon us once again and I'll be posting (or trying to at least) my usual weekly religious film reviews between now and Easter. Expect the first one some time next week.
On another note I've been helping my brother build up his youtube channel theBrotherThre3. To tide you over ;) and make up for lost time here are some reviews I've participated in one there over the last month or so. WARNING: The Sin City review contains some (very little) profanity (as well as some Frank Miller bashing from yours truly).
I was so excited about this movie that I bought the tickets in advance and went to see it Thursday night. It's hard to temper expectations going into a movie as big as this but I tried my best to keep an open mind...
The best thing about this movie is the characters. Rey and Finn immediately come to life and have great chemistry with each other and with Han Solo and all three main characters have really solid arcs as does the new villain Kylo Ren. The writing in the film is generally quite strong and there is a lot of fun humor. The film also looks really great with a lot of practical effects and cool creature and environment design. With that said I do have some problems with the film. There is a major plot point borrowed from the original Star Wars film that I found rather derivative. In addition to this the pacing is somewhat rushed and erratic at times especially toward the end. I also have mixed feelings about this film's place in the overall Star Wars canon that I won't get into here. Overall though The Force Awakens is a pretty strong film with solid writing acting and direction. Perhaps the best complement I can give it is that I feel anxious to see it again.
I've done a few things to update my blog this past week. These include reformatting old posts, adding a featured post and external links (which you'll see over to the right), and and tagging (or labeling as Blogger calls it) all of my posts to help you find similar ones. You can scroll down below and look through the tags under Labels. On another note, I recently saw the Force Awakens and will try to get a review up for it in the next few weeks...
For a long time now I've wanted to write reviews for some of my favorite films. Since I'm trying to post on this blog more I figured now was a good a time as any...
When I was growing up my parents were generally opposed to works of science fiction and fantasy though there were notable exceptions like Mary Poppins and The Princess Bride. As a result of this I didn't watch Star Wars until I was 16. In many ways this was my entry point into the world of sci fi and fantasy. I had always been intrigued by Star Wars, pretty much all of my friends and relatives had seen it and I would often discuss it with them. As you might imagine I was very curious to finally watch it for myself. However seeing it for the first time was somewhat underwhelming. Perhaps it was partly the fault of the poor quality Youtube video I watched, but I initially thought it was somewhat hokey and dated. What did strike a chord with me was it's world building and sense of scope. To quote Obi Wan Kenobi, I'd taken my first step into a larger world and in many ways I think that was Lucas' intent in making the film. To recapture the magic and adventure that he himself had experienced as a kid in the old Flash Gordon serials.
As time has gone on I've come to appreciate many other aspects of this film. For one thing it has pitch perfect pacing. The film wastes no time establishing the plot which is basically laid out in the opening crawl. It starts out with a bang, showing an Imperial Star Destroyer chasing down the rebel blockade runner but, after this, slows down for a while to focus on R2D2 and C3PO. From here the movie gradually increase the pace as the stakes get higher and the action ramps up. This culminates in one of the most exciting climaxes in cinema history.
Another thing I love is that Star Wars pretty much stands on its own. Though the sequels continue the story and flesh out the universe more, Star Wars has the distinction of being the only film in the series to have a self contained beginning, middle and end. The prequels aren't really needed to understand where these characters are coming from and really, the way the film ends, there's no reason to think that the rebellion won't easily triumph over the empire and that everyone will live happily ever after. In other words it doesn't feel the need to end on a cliffhanger or spend time setting up future films, though it does subtly (and at times inadvertently) lay the ground for them.
Bruce Campbell once said that "a movie that is hard to make is a lot easier to watch." This is another reason I really love Star Wars. As someone who's been involved in some amateur film-making myself I can really admire all the hard work that went into making every aspect of this film and the more I've learned about it's plagued production the more I've come to appreciate it. Star Wars is an example of collaborative film-making at it's best. George Lucas had a rather brilliant concept for a story but it took a whole host of people (and compromises) to bring that vision to life. Whether it's Ralph Mcquarrie's concept art, Ben Burtt's sound design, ILM's revolutionary special effects, strong performances from Harrison Ford and especially Alec Guinness, or John Williams majestic score, they all combine to make a truly special film.
My admiration for Star Wars has only grown over time. In many ways it's impact on cinema can still be felt today. It's made me into something of a geek, it's inspired a whole generation of filmmakers and I can only imagine that it will continue to do inspire future generations for as long as people go to the movies.
The recent terrorists attacks on Paris have caused alot of controversy. I am very troubled by these developments and wanted to say something. As I tend to focus on movies and popular entertainment on this blog I decided to write about this issue by making an analogy to The Dark Knight and, in particular, by applying the writings of French philosopher/literary critic Rene Girard to both the movie and to this current crisis.
Disclaimer: I don't claim to be an expert on Girard's writings nor do I fully subscribe to his theories. I'm also not aware that his writings had any direct influence on Cristopher or Jonathan Nolan when they wrote the screenplay for The Dark Knight. My intention with this article is to use his writings to challenge people to think a little deeper about this issue. It's not meant to proselytize and or to offend anyone.
According to Girard all history can be boiled down to a series of conflicts springing from what he calls mimetic rivalry. These conflicts come to a head with the victimization of some innocent individual or group whose death is perpetuated by the rival parties. The death of this victim puts an end to the conflict. Because the involved parties deny the innocence of the victim in order to justify their actions this is known as the scapegoat mechanism. This occurs multiple times in the Dark Knight,when the Joker demands the death of some victim (Batman, Coleman Reese, and the people on the barges) in order to stop him from killing people. Notably this is forestalled all three times. Once because of the ultimate good conscious of the people on the barges, once because of Batman's intervention, the other time because of the Harvey Dent's sacrifice. This sacrifice once again recalls Girard's writings, in this case his assessment of Christianity. For Girard Christ is the one figure in history to subvert the scapegoat mechanism. Like so many other victims he is sacrificed to bring about peace under the pretext of a supposed guilt (blasphemy and rebellion against Caesar). However, rather then accepting this lie, the gospel writers proclaim Christ's innocence and his willingness to be sacrificed, thus attacking collective ignorance and destroying the myths that had shaped society up to that point. Harvey Dent (and at the end of the film Batman himself) follows Christ's example by allowing himself to be sacrificed for the greater good. The key difference of course, is that each of their sacrifices is based on a lie which brings us again back to Girard. If Girard is right and Christ revealed the lie behind the violent sacrificial order of society why hasn't this order come to an end. Girard says that this hasn't occurred because truth requires a receptive listener in order to have a real impact and the masses of men are not receptive to the truth. The people of Gotham (accepting those on the freighter) do not appear to be receptive to the truth either.
So what does this have to do with the crisis in Syria? Fearful of another terrorist attack like the one that occurred in Paris many want to deny the entry into our country of hundreds of innocent victims because some of them might be terrorists. Some justify this by claiming that the Muslim religion is inherently violent and those who profess it are inherently dangerous. Others want to ignore the conflict altogether and stand by while innocent people are slaughtered because its none of our business and the middle east will always be a violent place so why bother. In both cases sweeping generalizations are used to justify abandoning innocent people in need. Meanwhile, the slaughter continues. Have we learned anything from Christ's sacrifice? A sacrifice that was performed, by the way, just as much for those who hated Christ and wished him dead as those closest to him? Or are we, like the people of Gotham, motivated more by fear than reason? Are we all to willing to feed the innocent to the dogs as long as we ourselves aren't put in harm's way?
Well I'm back (again)! With the imminent release of Episode 7 I have been re-watching the first six Star Wars films. Since my very first review (though not my first post) on this blog was for Revenge of the Sith I thought this would be a good time to go back and review the first prequel. I would like to try and post more regularly for the time being, at least a few times a month, but will see how it goes...
The Phantom Menace is a film I feel somewhat reluctant to review as so many others have picked it apart that I'm not sure if I have anything new to add. However there are certain things that stuck out to me in my most recent viewing, so I'm going to try to present my own personal perspective on this as much as possible without rehashing many of the common complaints most people have with it.
The biggest problem this movie has is it's badly written characters. You would think that Obi Wan and Anakin's relationship would be the focus, but Obi Wan has almost nothing to do here other than spout expository dialogue. The few character moments he does get are with Qui Gon and not Anakin. In fact I don't think they speak to each other even once in the entire film. This becomes especially problematic in later installments as their relationship is so crucial to the saga as a whole. Anakin himself has is pretty much reduced to a savoir stereotype. He's a kind of child prodigy capable of building his own protocol droid and pod racer. With that said, he does have a few genuine character moments. In one scene some of Anakin's friend's (at least I think there his friends) taunt him about his rather low prospects for winning the pod race. This is basically your classic underdog scenario. It might work ok if it wasn't for the rather poor acting from the kid's in this scene, though I do think it create's a little sympathy for Anakin and increases the investment in the pod race slightly. The other important scene is where he leaves his mother. Again this works ok, thanks in no small measure to John William's score and also to Pernilla August's performance, but the film hasn't done enough to make me care about Anakin for it to move me very much. Then there's Qui Gon Jin. Now I like Liam Neeson as much as the next guy but Qui Gon is not a very well written character. His only noticeable trait is his occasional stretching of the rules. He and Obi Wan's relationship is reduced to him giving out generic sagely advice and Obi Wan occasionally making a dry joke like "the negotiations were short". Finally there's Padme. In some way's she actually the most developed character, she clearly feels alot of responsibility for her people but seems to lack the experience to really effectively lead them. She also goes through an arc of sorts, gaining a certain amount of humility through her experiences on Tatooine. With that said, Natalia Portman's performance is really stiff and lifeless. Her range of emotions are basically stoic, vaguely cheery, and pouty. As a result of this her character is not ultimately very likable. As far as her relationship with Anakin goes it comes of as more creepy than anything considering how much younger Jake Loyd was than Portman (eight years to be precise).
The other big problem The Phantom Menace has is the way it's shot and edited. If I learned one thing from my most recent viewing it's how sloppily edited this film is. As shown in the video below, the transitions between scenes are particularly bad. Many scenes end with a character saying a line of dialogue and the camera awkwardly holding on them for a second or two before a wipe to the next scene. In addition to this many scenes, particularly those involving the Trade Federation, are really brief, giving the film a rather disjointed feel. Another result of the sloppy filmmaking is that most of the action scenes lack any tension. This is partly because I'm not invested in the characters or the story. More importantly though these scenes aren't set up well. Most of them occur rather at random. The first light-saber battle happens when Darth Maul attacks Qui Gon as he's about to board the ship. I have no idea why he choose this specific moment instead of attacking him when he's more isolated in the middle of the desert but it's probably because the writer (aka George Lucas) needed to give him and Anakin a quick and easy escape route. This is rather typical of the action scenes in this film, they come out of nowhere and end quickly with little or no real threat to the characters involved. Another issue is that, half of the time, the characters act really nonchalant during these sequences, like they don't really care. The only two sequences where these problems aren't present are the pod race and the final battle, though even these scenes have some major problems. The climax in particular is way overstuffed jumping back and forth between four different action scenes with very little connecting threads between them.
I could go on and on about the problems with this film. As many people have mentioned the political machinations are confusing and boring, though I think they could have worked if they were better explained and presented with better dialogue and more lively shooting and editing. I won't even get into Jar Jar or midi-chlorians but suffice to say that one is incredibly irritating and adds alot of really low-brow, childish humor to the film and the other reduces the mystical force to a measurable scientific quantity. I also think its telling that both elements were greatly reduced in the other prequels.
So is there anything I like in this movie? Not much. Ewan Mcgregor was a good casting choice even if he has nothing to do. Ian Mcdiarmid is appropriately menacing as Palpatine/Darth Sidious. The duel of fates is really cool, if a bit disconnected from the rest of the climax. Once he is finally allowed to go all out, Ray Park gives a energetic physical performance as Darth Maul. There are some cool sets and the costume and makeup design is top notch. Ben Burt's sound design is great as always. I do like the pod race even if it is basically CGI Ben Hur. The CGI itself holds up better than I thought it would, though the excessive use of green screen is really off putting. And of course John Williams score is awesome.
Unfortunately none of this is enough to save the movie, so The Phantom Menace remains a clunky, tedious mess albeit one with lot's of eye candy and a killer soundtrack.
