5 Movie Reviews

I've seen a bunch of nominated films in the last 2 days. Here are some short comments.

Flags of Our Fathers - Clint Eastwood's first movie this year on the battle of Iwo Jima. It cuts back and forth between the battle (from the American point of view) and the aftermath where the soldiers who raised the flag were sent home to help fundraising efforts. The movie explains how "soldiers who raised the flag" is a misleading term. It's a good film but the back and forth bothered me. I was also mistakenly under the impression that it wasn't very bloody. It is. If you don't like war movies, you might want to stay away. There are a few references to Letters from Iwo Jima that I probably only caught because I saw them out of order.

Half Nelson - Ryan Gosling is up for Best Actor for this film about an inner city junior high school teacher who's also a drug addict. That might be enough to frighten away any parent, but this film is really good. Drey, one of his students catches him smoking crack and a relationship slowly forms. Gosling's whole life is about a dichotomy of trying to do the right thing (inspiring students on civil rights, saving Drey from his dealer's "friendship", writing a children's book) and often failing because he's an addict. I was a little distracted watching this and will watch it again. it plays out really well with subtle moments and serious emotional messages. Good stuff.

Marie Antoinette - is up for Best Costumes. It's sort of a Cliff Notes version of her life set to a modern sound track and edited like a music video (well not that bad). It did strike me as a bunch of scenes strung together and without much of a character arc. Pretty amazing given the subject matter.

The Lives of Others - Up for Best Foreign Language Film from Germany, this is set in East Germany in the 80s. It follows a playwrite who becomes a dissident writer after the suicide of his black-listed friend. We also follow the Stasi agent who's spying on him. There's a fair amount to the story and it presents a chilling view of life in a totalitarian society. The end goes on a bit long but works. it's the best argument for privacy I've seen and a really good film.

Days of Glory - Up for Best Foreign Language Film from Algeria. This is a WWII story of Algerian soldiers fighting for France. On the battlefield they fight and die like the French, but behind the lines they are denied leave, promotions, and even fresh tomatoes when they are available. About Letters from Iwo Jima I said "While not quite up to All Quiet on the Western Front or Paths of Glory, it can be talked about in the same conversation." This film is much closer to those great films. It's immediately engaging and you care about the soldiers (perhaps more than the French do). My only fault is that you don't learn much about the primary characters. They're not characatures but there aren't the conversations (like in Saving Private Ryan) to tell you much about them. In the first half I had trouble telling them apart but by the end they were all distinct. They actually represent all the possible reactions to how the French treat them. One hides his heritage, another demands equality at every turn. One wants to ignore the French and return home, another wants to move to France, and the last is willing to accept whatever the French tell him. Of all the war films I've seen recently, this is the best.