This is my review of War Horse [DVD] [2011].

The actress Emily Watson has observed that, in “War Horse”, Spielberg has made an anti-war film for children. To some extent this excuses the undeniably sentimental tone of the film together with some improbable coincidences.

Films of successful books are often failures, but despite some carping from the critics, Spielberg’s version seems to me to work well. Against the striking backdrop of Dartmoor, we see how the young farmer’s son, Albert, breaks in the beautiful thoroughbred Joey, purchased in a rash moment by his drunken farmer. When the horse is purchased by the army on the outbreak of the First World War, we trace Joey’s adventures through some technically brilliant battle scenes. Once Albert is old enough to join up, how will it be possible for the two to meet again? No doubt for practical reasons, Spielberg dispenses with the book’s central device of seeing the world through the eyes of the horse.

Views of life and warfare in the trenches which may be all too familiar are offset by the less well-known focus on the use of horses in this war, mainly to carry soldiers in an antiquated cavalry charge or to haul heavy artillery up steep muddy slopes, with a high death rate due to sheer exhaustion. Impressive skill is used in training the horses to take part in these scenes, or creating convincing images of this, apparently with minimal use of computer graphics.

The film is entertaining with a few low points , such as the scenes between the besotted French grandfather and his pert daughter both speaking English with strong accents because apparently American audiences prefer this to subtitles. Yet there are also some moving incidents, as when an English soldier collaborates with a German in No Man’s Land to save a horse, an act of humanity over a symbol of beauty in the living hell of war. There is plenty of violence, but it is portrayed as folly, or waste, rather than glorified or dwelt on for its own sake. Examples of the class divide in Britain a century ago are also quite telling.

Overall, it may prove a welcome break to leave the normal cynical, corrupt world of “feel bad” adult films to watch this.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

 

This is my review of The Descendants DVD.

I came to this film with no great expectations, having heard it panned by some critics, apart from praise for George Clooney’s strong presence to carry it. In fact, I found an absorbing, often amusing tale, and, if I was not deeply moved as I perhaps should have been, the story has stayed in my mind, and my opinion of the direction has risen on reflection.

What could be a morbid or mawkish tale is saved by humour, often at unlikely points, and by some excellent acting from the whole cast, not just from George Clooney. He plays Matt, a workaholic lawyer who has to cope with his two difficult daughters when his wife is left brain-damaged in a coma following an accident water-skiing. To cap it all, his elder daughter Alex reveals that her mother has been having an affair with an unknown man. Appalled that he had no inkling of this, Clooney is at once consumed with the desire to discover the man’s identity, and confront him.

A further twist is Matt’s role as trustee for a family landholding in one of the few remaining unspoilt stretches of coast in Hawaii. Passed down through the generations from a marriage long ago between a Hawaiian princess and a western missionary, this land is now seen by the descendants, (hence the film’s title) who have mostly blown all their wealth, as an opportunity to sell to developers for a fat profit. What will Matt decide, and why?

The Hawaiian setting, with the need to hop round between islands by plane, Clooney sporting a succession of flowery shirts, adds character to the tale. The lush green hills, vividly blooming shrubs and the beautiful sunlit coastline are offset by the American influence which has spawned ugly concrete urban tower blocks, commercialised the local food and made the traditional music sound like country and western, and by the evidence of a poor underclass such as you would find in other places which make no claim to be paradise.

Perhaps it is a weakness in the plot that the sick wife, indulged in the past by her domineering rough diamond father, evokes so little sympathy, while Clooney always appears decent and principled, although largely clueless when it comes to managing his daughters who run rings round him to get their own way, until the reality of their mother’s illness undermines their self-absorption.

I was not bored by the slow pace but felt that some of the final scenes could have been cut.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

 

This is my review of The Artist [DVD].

Entirely in black and white, and largely without speech, this modern film made in the style of a silent movie is a clever and entertaining take on the effect of the arrival of the "talkies" on "George Valentin", the over-confident established star of Hollywood silent films of the 1920s. Just as these did, it relies heavily on appropriate musical scores – at one point we see an orchestra playing just below the screen, as a rapt audience watches the wordless drama.

It made me realise how much can be conveyed simply by facial expressions and body language, although all movements need to be slightly larger than life.

As we watch George disintegrating, forced to observe the mercurial rise of the vivacious, yet kindhearted Peppy Miller, and to realise too late that he has made a fatal mistake in laughing at talking films, we expect a happy ending, at least of a sort. However, there are also many humorous touches, striking visual effects, such as when George watches himself on film from behind the screen, or is sucked down very symbolically into filmic quicksand, and there are even some genuinely moving moments on the way, assisted by the best actor of them all, George's performing dog. As someone quips, if only he could talk!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars

This is my review of The Iron Lady [DVD].

Meryl Streep lives up to expectations with her strikingly accurate recreation of Margaret Thatcher, at least as she has appeared in the media. It is interesting to be reminded of the violence of the 1980s – the Poll Tax riots, the IRA hunger strikers and bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton, the bitter Miners' Strike, the tensions and mishaps of the Falklands War offset by the exaggerated euphoria over the eventual victory. However, all this is covered so quickly that I am not sure what those too young to remember will make of it.

The best yet most controversial aspect of this film is the portrayal of the former Prime Minister as an old lady suffering from dementia, often imagining that her husband Denis is still alive, a dramatic ploy for remembering her past life and revealing her personality through imaginary exchanges with him, ably although perhaps too sympathetically portrayed by Jim Broadbent.

These scenes of dementia about a person still living left me feeling a little uneasy. Perhaps they are based on a recent book by Carol Thatcher, but I understand the family has not given their approval for the film. Maybe the "Anyone for Denis?" stage show paved the way for this kind of intrusion into their lives. I noticed that Mark Thatcher has a remarkably low profile in the story, possibly with avoidance of lawsuits in mind.

There is perhaps too much focus on Thatcher as an elderly lady, giving too little time to develop past events. The process by which she becomes Prime Minister is rushed through, perhaps so as not to bore the audience. Some important aspects of her premiership are neglected. I would have liked more about her famous lack of humour, more on her relationship with Ronald Reagan and her dealings with EU partners – "We want our money back" – possibly a bit, not too much, about monetary policy. Her cabinet ministers come across mainly as grey ciphers, and perhaps more of them could have been clearly differentiated for the benefit of those who remember them.

Thatcher is shown as descending into megalomania, largely responsible for her downfall. Yet, the film does succeed in arousing some sympathy for a woman who had to overcome the snobbish prejudice of the old style Tory party to become the first female British head of government.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars

This is my review of The Well-Digger’s Daughter [DVD].

Set in the sundrenched Provence countryside near the town of Salon at the outbreak of World War 2, this soft-centred but often surprisingly moving tale follows the well-worn trail of the innocent young girl who falls for a wealthy cad. In this case, Patricia, daughter of a simple but fiercely proud well-digger finds herself pregnant after Jacques, spoiled son of the owner of the local hardware store, has been sent off to fight at the front. How will her father react when he learns that his "angelic princess" is no better than other girls? Will Jacques's doting mother feel her son should "do the decent thing" and marry the girl? As the well-digger observes, "You can't trust people who sell tools but don't use them."

Patricia is more than just a pretty face. In addition to receiving a period of education in Paris with a wealthy benefactor, she has a strong sense of honesty and integrity which may pierce Jacques's worldly cynicism, although you wonder whether he would be capable of being faithful to her in the long run.

There are some entertaining further plot twists in the dogged devotion to Patricia of Félipe,assistant to the well-digger Pascal. In turn, Félipe is loved in longsuffering silence by Patricia's younger sister Amanda. Then there is Pascal's blend of shrewdness and stubborn stupidity, his rueful shouldering of the burden of six daughters after his wife's death.

We see an exploration of some of the dilemmas of French rural society. It is shameful for a daughter to have a bastard child, yet a man's dearest wish is to have a boy child to bear his surname, even if at one remove as a grandson….

The film is well-directed by the respected French actor Daniel Auteuil who also plays the role of the well-digger, apparently drawing on his native southern accent. Although his acting may seem a little over the top at times, I have met Frenchmen prone to the vivid expression of such deep and rapid shifts of emotion.

Recommended as a watchable and entertaining if lightweight drama.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

This is my review of We Have A Pope [DVD].

During the film the audience around me laughed continually, the opening scenes of red-robed cardinals filing in to vote on the next pope are very striking, and the end of the film is well-judged and moving. The basic plot idea is good: an unassuming old prelate, sensitively played by the octogenarian Michel Piccoli, prays not to be elected pope, which seems unlikely in view of the odds. When his worst fear is realised, he suffers a panic attack on the famous balcony, seconds before his announcement to a vast, eager crowd. A celebrated psychoanalyst, who happens to be an atheist, is called in to cure him, but the reluctant pontiff succeeds in escaping into the Rome crowds.

At this point, the plot loses its way. Despite the many amusing incidents and some expressive acting, it is unclear whether the film is meant to be pure comedy and farce – as in the overlong and therefore tedious scene where the psychoanalyst organises a volleyball championship to keep the cardinals occupied while held in seclusion pending the pope’s reappearance – or an attempt to explore deeper issues beneath a light-hearted veneer. It therefore misses the mark on both counts. What is the director’s intended message? He portrays a church steeped in magnificent but archaic and empty ritual, bedevilled with cynical politicking and obscene wealth, not to mention the self-indulgent, elderly male cardinals, yet I don’t think the film is meant to be anti-Catholic.

The film is certainly about a simple man’s sense of unworthiness but fails to develop this. The unwilling pope demonstrates himself time and time again not to be up to the job, which makes for a thin drama. I expected that he would show himself to be a truly good man, assisting the ordinary people he encounters with his wisdom. Instead, he appears self-absorbed, petulant under pressure and clinically depressed. Far from experiencing the lives of ordinary, real people, he gets mixed up in a theatrical troupe spouting Chekhov and it turns out he would really like to have been an actor but was rejected for drama school – another jibe at the catholic priesthood, it seems.

I do not object to the prominent role the director has given himself as the flamboyant psychiatrist, but it might have been better if he had remained in the wings to take stock of the film’s intended and actual impact.

This is my review of Les émotifs anonymes (FR IMPORT).

Titled “Romantics Anonymous” in English, this short film introduces us to Jean-René, the chronically shy owner of a failing chocolate factory who pays regular visits to a shrink in an attempt to overcome his inability to relate to others. He hires Angélique, a hypersensitive young woman, as a totally unsuitable sales rep, not realising that she possesses a rare talent for making irresistible chocolates which can save his business. Unable to cope with personal recognition and being the centre of attention, she has managed to pass herself off as a mere go-between ferrying what have become widely celebrated chocolates made by an imaginary elusive “hermit” to a confectioner who is “in” on her secret but whose death has forced her to seek another job.

In this short, lightweight comedy, much of the humour revolves around Jean-René trying to fulfil basic tasks to develop his social skills: steeling himself to touch people, or to take Angelique out for a meal. We realise why he brings a suitcase to the restaurant and hides it in the gents: he needs to rush off every few minutes to change his shirt, as he is “burning up” over the stress of the meeting.

Similarly, we see Angélique taking her problems to a support group full of ironical situations, such as when the girl who “can’t say no” proudly tells the others that she has managed to resist a man’s advances, only for it to become sadly apparent that she has destroyed what sounds like a genuine relationship which she should have encouraged.

The incidents are too exaggerated for anyone to take offence over laughing at what is in fact a real problem for many people. Overall, the film is quite well-made, and it is all “wonderfully French” apart from the jarring, glaringly inappropriate English pop music inserted to cover some scenes.

Can Jean-René overcome his gaucheness sufficiently to stop driving Angélique away because she thinks she has “done something wrong”? Can two such emotional people find happiness together? The outcome is not really in doubt. If it all sounds too trivial, you can at least take the opportunity to practise your French comprehension.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars

This is my review of The Deep Blue Sea [2011] [DVD].

Although I was expecting a brittle and dated unhappy love affair, this remake of Rattigan's play proves quite moving up to a point. Set around 1950, the film starts with the attempted suicide of Hester Collyer, privileged wife of a high court judge who has sacrificed her reputation and material comforts to live in a dreary flat with Freddie, a former wartime pilot who beneath his charming veneer is finding it hard to adjust to a mundane life in civvy street .

The plot gradually reveals through a series of flashbacks how Hester has been reduced to despair. At first, it is hard to understand how this beautiful young woman could have married such a stiff man as William Collyer, not to mention the fact he is old enough to be her father. Then we wonder how such a cultured woman can be so infatuated with a man like Freddie who, apart from his thoughtless neglect of her, prefers downing pints and singing along in a working class pub to visiting an art gallery with her or listening to classical music. Is it just a question of passion and lust, applied through fate to a man who cannot make her happy in the long-term?

Although acted with great sensitivity by Rachel Weisz, Hester is an odd mixture of sophisticated self-possession and neediness, and comes across at times as just a "poor little rich girl". By contrast, the two men, ably played by Simon Russell Beale and newcomer Tom Hiddleston reveal complex reactions in a way that eventually arouses as much, if not more, sympathy.

The set plays close attention to period detail, although the Barber score at the beginning is too loud and intrusive, as is too often the case with films, and the flashback to people taking refuge in an underground station during the Blitz is too much of a romanticised tableau.

A modern version of the theme of a married woman forming a passionate physical attachment to an "unsuitable" man is covered with more depth and subtlety in "Leaving", the French drama starring Kristin Scott Thomas. "The Deep Blue Sea" left me feeling rather sad, but a little dissatisfied as if Rattigan's drama had not achieved its potential.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars