Django Unchained

This season has actually been a pretty good one for movie watching.  After a dry spell, I found mainstream movies released around these holidays that I actually wanted to pay to see.  Still waiting to see Les Miz, I just want to mention in passing that I liked the Hobbit.  Is it overstuffed?  Yes, but that's like complaining about too much of a good thing.  We saw Django Unchained on Christmas day, and it was a lot of fun.

Leave it to Tarantino to create controversy, much has been written about this movie, there's not a lot I could say that would be new.  I have always wanted to see a film version of the Confessions of Nat Turner, which I consider a nearly perfect novel.  Maybe Spike Lee could direct it.  This film isn't that, but it approaches themes that most movies do not touch, so for that alone it has my admiration.

There are things I just like about Tarantino.  One has always been the dialogue.  I wouldn't consider it nonstop action.  Mostly it's just people hanging out an talking, and this is a remarkable thing since they say interesting things.  They fully inhabit their world, anachronisms and all, it is a world.    Some find the dialogue overly pat, but I find it liberating.

Another thing I like is the seventies.  There's a rawness to that era, slick and gritty.   Newer movies are more slick in terms of sleekness.  ADHD riddled.  Frenetic.  No appreciation for the finer things.  Django Unchained tells a good story, with good performances playing good characters.  It's a simple combination for success.  I find it old-fashioned, somehow.

I previously wrote praise for Black Dynamite, but noted it didn't really contain the anger of those older films.  Machete bashed you on the head with that kind of anger.  I think Django does, but it's a slow awakening, in a way that seems authentic. Yes, we're reveling in a somewhat juvenile state of enlightenment, but there's something more going on.  It isn't about degradation as much as retribution, and the power of film to create and alter our iconography.  Here's to the movies. 

"Zero Dark Thirty"

http://www.zerodarkthirty-movie.com/



I wasn't, for some reason, able to post a picture to go with this review. For that I am sorry. Instead here is a hyperlink to the Official Website.

Now, I had heard a few things about this movie prior to making the choice to go see it. I noticed that a few of the so-called reviews and/or negative press was also coming from those who had not even seen the film. I also have not put a whole lot of stock in, what those who have formed an, opinion(s) and yet haven't seen the movie. This goes both ways. I have heard it from those on the left and those on the right.

 "Zero Dark Thirty" is a film that takes us through the CIA intel gathering process of the hunt for Al-Qaeda terrorist and murderer Osama Bin Ladin.

This film is directed by Kathryn Bigelow who also directed "The Hurtlocker" which I loved. Its stars Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, and my favorite Chris Pratt. Pratt is a cast member on Parks And Recreation. Anyway, I digress.

The film opens with black screen, and we hear audio from various actual 911 calls from that fateful day 09/11/01.

The sound of these calls and the panic in some of the voices are heart wrenching, sad, and I think a little manipulative as, I , became instantly pissed off.

I think this is a fabulous way for the director to exploit this emotion and to somewhat put viewers in a place to say, 'Yeah, torture the bastards'. I think this was the prevailing winds after 9/11 and which whisked in 'enhanced interrogation techniques'. I have to say I too had a visceral response to the sound of anguish in the callers voices, knowing that they were terrified and alone. That a group of evil human beings could hijack planes and then fly them into buildings senselessly murdering 3,000 plus people. After a while I became upset with myself for being duped. Again, I digress.

Say what you want about the success or failure of torture as an information gathering tool. Say what you want about the rightness or wrongness (if that is even a word). What I liked about the film was it showed it. It showed it in all of it's brutality. It also showed the toll and emotional cost that torturing people takes. The price tag is shown.

This film also explores the fact that some information was gained. Some of the information that was gained was useful and productive.  On the flip side, the film also shows the errors of these techniques. It shows that not all the information gained is correct.

Now does this make it (torture) okay? I would say the film is silent to this. It leaves it to the viewer to make that call for themselves. This is what I thought interesting about it. The film lays out the risks vs the rewards (if any). After that, it is up to the viewer to make their own choices as to what or how they feel about it (torture).

After watching this film I intend to read the book in which this is loosely based. There is also a well received documentary "Manhunt" in which I intend to catch up with.

Whew, now that we have the torture stuff behind us, lets get to the rest of the film. I always enjoy films where I know what happens, and yet the film makers are able to tell the story in a way that makes me look forward to how they will "do it".

The beginning is mostly about the 'Enhanced Interrogation" techniques and the information or misinformation gotten. We meet Maya (Jessica Chastain), who later comes to think that a key to the puzzle is a simple Currier. She becomes obsessed with finding this Currier as she believes it is the way to Bin Ladin.

Most of the rest of the film is a cat and mouse style chase of anyone and everyone who has ever had anything to do with Bin Ladin.

The film explores the tense feelings of failure within the CIA, and the intel community. The sense of helplessness, and utter dread for not being able to find a break, or a clue, while hunting Bin Ladin; all while Al Qaeda continues to pulls off attacks in Saudi Arabia, Britain, and Pakistan. 

Slowly the puzzle comes into view and  Maya is able to convince the CIA Station Chief, or rather brow beats him into just letting her follow her gut.

Without spoilers, or going into the nuts and bolts of how it was done; Maya is able to track down the Currier, which leads her to the compound that she believes Bin Ladin is holed up in.

The last third of the film is then an exercise in politics and the stupidity of it. The frustration that Maya feels in the uppers within CIA, and the Administrations' dragging of their feet, and the unwillingness to pull the trigger so to speak. James Gandolfini as the CIA Director Penetta is dead on. He seems to really push the idea that Bin Ladin is there and goes out on a limb as he seems to like Maya. This is speculation, but it seems Penetta is the force that gets President Obama to act on the intel.

At the final act of this film we turn to the Navy Seals. The intel is gathered and now Maya must sit back and watch. We see her painfully turn over control, and the Seals take it from here.

Chris Pratt plays Justin, the goofy Seal who is our comedy relief. At this point in the film there has been very little to laugh at and I enjoyed the casting choice. We needed a laugh, and we got that in the form of Justin.

We all know how the raid ends, so I will not go into this. Suffice to say it is suspenseful and good macho fun.

The film also, again, shows the toll and emotional cost of killing. Yes we got Bin Ladin, but we also leave in the wake of this a group of women and children traumatized. 

What I found very interesting and valuable is the very last scene. If you don't like spoilers STOP READING. If you don't mind then scroll down:

We see Maya aboard a military cargo plane. She is the only cargo, and she is informed as such. She thanks the airman and he leaves. The film ends with a long closeup of Maya beginning to let out ten years of emotions. Ten years of frustration. Ten years of death and destruction. We see Maya with tears streaming down her cheeks. A very true statement as to the cost of killing Bin Ladin. Was it a win? Did it matter? Are we safer? Was it worth it?

I liked this film very much. I liked that it wasn't a pro or against anything. It simply showed the realities of a ten year manhunt for the most wanted terrorist in the world. It let the viewer at each point decide for themselves the morality, and the worthiness of the entire event(s).