Synopsis: A film made as a companion piece to Flags of our Fathers, this tells the story of the battle for Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. It depicts a battle they were destined to lose, denied the arms and men required to mount a reasonable defense. As with Flags, it also depicts these men not as monsters or as heroes, but as men with loved ones that fight for their country, but that also hope to see home again one day.
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine
Synopsis: The first movie to come onto our screens in a long time where the audience really has no idea what to expect. Who am I to destroy this opportunity by filling in plot points here???
A review by Film Nerd.
Okay, so it was only a week ago that I complained about the stresses of reduced disposable income, restricting myself to writing reviews for my DVD collection for the near future. But I am not a self-declared film nerd for nothing. Hence, the allure of this film was too strong for me to resist. This is one of those few occasions I actually feel rewarded by a lack of resolve.
Well, a reward in entertainment that becomes a hell to review. About as much plot as I am willing to give away I can provide from the first 5 or 10 minutes of the two and a half hour running time. DiCaprio’s character Cobb is an extractor, able to enter the dreams of people and extract information they are trying to keep secret. That is until he is hired to plant an idea in a target’s mind rather than steal one, which many say can’t be done.
So clearly, we are in the world of the mind, with the only limits to the visual spectacle on-screen being imagination. So why all the fuss??
The fuss is because we are in the world of the mind, combatting between conscious and subconscious thought. It is a dream world that eschews the classic hazy edged image and grasps the fact that dreams have their own internal logic, that in terms of the real world makes no sense whatsoever. Dreams are not linear, your location can change in a blink of an eye and yet all this is unnoticed by the dreamer. To portray this on-screen successfully requires grasp of the material and a visual style that can pull it off. This is the great success fo Nolan’s film.
Which could have gone to mud if the cast could not handle it. DiCaprio has really reinvented himself over the last few years, and his trajectory continues its exponential climb here. The film hinges on him and his relationship with Marion Cotillard, another absolute class performer who can do no wrong. Watanabe has always impressed me (see my review for The Last Samurai), and both Page and Gordon-Levitt have both only recently hit star status, but have not put a foot wrong in their comparatively short careers since. Then of course we have Nolan veterans Murphy and Caine, their standard never to be disputed. For me though the performance that surprised me was Tom Hardy. Last time I saw him in a major role, it was as Praetor Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis. I was not a big fan of the film, being a lesser addition to the franchise, and in particular I had issues with the character Hardy played. I am now tempted to rewatch it though and determine whether the mis-steps observed could have been more faults in direction than in the choices of the actor.
There is little left to say. Prepare for a mind-blowing, and what at times feels like a mind-altering, experience. You leave the cinema thinking, or even proclaiming, WTF??? But don’t get me wrong, it is WTF in a good way!!
Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, Mia Wasikowska
Synopsis: During World War II, Belarussian Jews are hunted down by German patrols. A group of brothers, the Bielskis, hide in the forest, protecting a large band of their Jewish kin from 1941 until the war’s end. This film depicts their true story.
A review by Film Nerd.
Upon the realisation that there are still untold stories like this from World War II, it almost seems ridiculous that fictional films are still being made about the period. That is not to deny the power and impact of many of these fictional WWII films, however with true stories like this left in oblivion, it is a crime they are not being told.
What these men achieved is beyond belief. Tuvia (Craig), Zus (Schreiber) and Asael Bielski (Bell) never set out to be heroes, their only goal was survival. The fact that they managed to do so under the circumstances they were in is incredible enough. Hidden in the forest, food scarce, and constantly being hunted, they somehow managed to remain ahead of their pursuers. But they also were unwilling to see fellow Jews suffer, and so they led a band of 1200 Jewish men women and children. They made camps, established defences, and survived.
Once again, the parallels with Glory, The Last Samurai, and Blood Diamond are obvious, tracking the fate of a marginalised people in a war-torn nation. However, it remains different to all of these films. Even though there is yet another scene depicting training in fire-arms, it remains fresh in comparison to those Zwick has directed before. The general tone of the film is different too. These people were not trained to fight, they were no soldiers, separating it from both Glory and Samurai. It also lacks the darkness of Blood Diamond, the take home message being one of inspiration and hope as opposed to shame and despair.
The performances are each and every one of them brilliant. Craig has alway been a true chameleon long before his association with 007, and that talent is once again on show here. Schreiber I have rarely seen give anything less than a top performance, also being one of the better elements of X-men Origins: Wolverine, which was released the same year. Jamie Bell in the past I have found hit and miss, but here he convincingly traverses a character arc from naiveté through to a silent but undeniable strength.
If the film does have a flaw, it is in pacing. Sometimes scenes of building camp and debating the next course of action can get a little tedious. Also, when some of these decisions are made, they do not sit comfortably with the viewer. That said, it is entirely feasible that each of these moments would genuinely portray the hardships being experienced by these survivors. So, though it may detract from the point of view of narrative at times, it does lend a realism to the setting.
This however is the type of film I keep returning to Zwick to see more of. It had a limited release in Australia at cinemas, so it would not be surprising if much of the Australian public missed out on this one. Hunt it down on DVD though, you will be glad you did.
Cast: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, Timothy Spall
Synopsis: Cruise plays the fictional character of Nathan Algren, a former American soldier haunted by memories of atrocities he was ordered to commit when fighting against Native Americans. He is hired to train the new Japanese military arm, which seeks to eradicate a rebel Samurai clan which resists the modernisation of the nation. When Algren is taken prisoner by the Samurai, he gains insights into a rich and beautiful culture, which may even offer him a chance at redemption.
A review by Film Nerd.
In many ways, this film is a master stroke. Zwick has found another fascinating story to tell, even if it is only loosely based on history (some of the events depicted in truth actually occurred over the course of a number of generations). Like the classic film Kurosawa film The Seven Samurai, it features many different personality types within the culture united by a sense of honour. Like Glory, it provides insight into a maligned culture which is in reality much more beautiful than that of its more civilised neighbours. However, perhaps by comparison to both these films, in the end it seems to fall a little short.
Unfortunately, part of that is down to Cruise’s performance. Top a modern audience, this may seem no surprise, but given that Cruise can show some great skill when paired with a good director, it is a curiosity that he and Zwick did not mesh more. A great pity, as Watanabe was a true revelation in this film. His character Katsumoto is the chief Samurai, and lives and dies by his code of conduct. He still retains a sense of humour, and can be quite whimsical, giving the character true charisma. It is easy to understand that his samurai are not only bound by honour to defend the Japanese way of life that they love, but that they would also follow Katsumoto to whatever end.
Perhaps another failing is the previous comparison I made to Glory. The stories are very similar, and at times it feels Zwick is repeating himself, no time more so than in a fire-arms training sequence, where some dialogue was even repeated from the earlier film.
These mis-steps aside though, the Samurai are treated with a great deal of respect, and if there is a true star of this film it is the depiction of their way of life away from battle. They may live by a warrior code, but it extends way beyond this. It focuses on how honour determines their actions. It emphasises the strength of the bond of family. Even Cruise’s hamming is overshadowed by the family with which he stays… the family of a man whom he himself killed in combat. The conflict they experience caring for a man who caused them so much pain is handled with delicacy and heart, and it is moments like these where it escapes the Glory parallels that it really shines.
If you are somebody so over Tom Cruise and you cannot separate his acting from the couch jumper on Oprah, I would advise you avoid this. But for anyone else, walk in knowing that there are flaws, but that the plotting and the characterisation of this film still make it well worthy of a viewing.
