The Wizard of Oz

Understandably, after watching Clockwork Orange, I had to pick a less traumatizing film. Wizard of Oz (1939) seemed to do the trick. Story is fairly simple. Dorothy and her dos Toto live in Kansas with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. During a storm, her house is blown away and she is taken to the Magical Land of Oz. To return home, she must find the Wizard of Oz, the only one able to help her. On her way, she meets a Scarecrow looking for a brain, a Tin Man looking for a heart and a Lion looking for courage. 

This is a short musical for children, starring Judy Garland, very fresh and cute.  The costumes  and decor are a bit out-dated, but it is not a deal-breaker. II liked that we move from sepia to full colour once we enter the dreamland of Oz, that allows for a better differentiation between  dream and reality. A bit of a lesson, as Dorothy was unsatisfied with her life in Kansas and,,after many adventures, realises she wants to go home, and, as the with says to her: "you've always had the power to go home".

I was surprised to hear the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and even more when I found all the versions I have heard originate from that movie! Even better, when the Munchkins tell Dorothy to “follow the yellow brick road”, I finally found an explaination for Elton John’s Yellow Brick Road: Dorothy follows the road to find her destiny, the singer draws a parallel between his life, that is unsatisfying, and decides to take another path, “beyond the yellow brick road”.

A good film, a good moment, that does not require the viewer to be extremely attentive, it is easy and pleasant.

 

A few quotes that I liked, that add a bit of humour:

 

Auntie Em: Almira Gulch, just because you own half the county doesn't mean that you have the power to run the rest of us. For twenty-three years, I've been dying to tell you what I thought of you! And now... well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it!

 

Cowardly Lion: All right, I'll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I'll tear them apart. I may not come out alive, but I'm going in there. There's only one thing I want you fellows to do.

Scarecrow: What's that?

Cowardly Lion: Talk me out of it!

 

And to conclude:

A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.

 There’s no place like home.

A Clockwork Orange

So I made the terrible mistake of watching violent A Clockwork Orange after sweet Casablanca. No, let me rephrase that: I made the terrible mistake of watching A Clockwork Orange. Or is it an error? I cannot say. It is definitely part of the culture. Based on a novel by Anthony Burgess (written in 1962) and adapted by Stanley Kubrick in 1971, it is both revolting and fascinating.

Alex is the narrator of the story. He is a teenager who is a fan of Beethoven (or “Ludwig van”, as he refers to it) and ultra-violence. Followed by his “droogs”, they go on raping and molesting until Alex is arrested and sent to prison for 14 years. Two years into the sentence, government officials are looking for volunteers to try the controversial Ludovico Technique, a trial method supposed to rehabilitate criminals in two weeks. Alex jumps at the occasion in the hope of shortening his sentence. Subjected to violent image while his eyes are forced to remain closed, he is programmed to have a negative physical reaction to violence. He is then released but suffers from the vengeance of his victims. In a terrifying end though, it appears he is back to his old ways, saying sarcastically and menacingly:”I was cured all right”. 

This is a story about violence (duh). But it also reflects on the never ending cycle: victims become tormenters, tormenters become victims, and so it keeps going. Thankfully I did not watch it alone, I am not sure I would have been able to keep going. First we put the language to English, and the subtitles to English as well. After 10 minutes and not understanding anything, we switched to French subtitles, which were no better. After 30 minutes though we were able to figure things out. The accent and the language used give an additional aspect of unreality and weird atmosphere, and the designs of the place where Alex lives with his parents adds a psychedelic feature to the movie. One thing is for sure, I will never hear anything from “Ludwig van” in the same way, ever!

 

Stanley Kubrick described the movie as “a social satire dealing with the question of whether behavioural psychology and psychological conditioning are dangerous new weapons for a totalitarian government to use to impose vast controls on its citizens and turn them into little more than robots” and as “a story of the dubious redemption of a teenage delinquent by condition-reflex therapy. It is at the same time a running lecture on free-will.” I am not able to comment on this – I was just waiting for the end, to check this film off my (long) list, but I can honestly say I will not watch it again – it left me too uneasy, too sickened. And the actor, Malcolm McDowell, OMG, not sure where they found him but he is so credible in this role it is almost scary. As it turns out, after that film, he was only seen and cast as a psychotic villain. No surprise there. Years of drug abuse and alcohol put an end to his career and he was then reduced to playing secondary roles in The Mentalist, or the infamous Linderman in the first season of Heroes. No surprise there – I guess it is one of many actors who get the role of their lives once, and nothing significant afterwards.

Nothing funny about it, nothing particularly enjoyable, however a reference and a must. Glad it’s done.

And in case you are not sure you want to see this movie, well, here is a humouristic summary:

Casablanca

It is almost mandatory to watch Casablanca at least once in one’s life. Released in 1942 and directed by Michael Curtiz, the movie stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. I do not know what to say to do it justice, it is such a beautiful story I was left speechless.

Rick (Humphrey Bogart, magnificent) is a bitter, cynical man who owns a café in Casablanca in 1941. The city is controlled by the Vichy government, and is a platform where people can escape Europe and go to the US. He finds himself at odds when former love Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and her husband Victor, a pillar of the resistance, show up in his café, needing his help to escape. It has all the elements for a great movie: romance, love triangle, danger, suspense, drama, humour. Bogart and Bergman are just amazing, although I have to confess a slight preference for Bogart’s character, more subtle, deeper. Paul Henreid (Victor) plays a hero and seems pale in comparison to Humphrey Bogart. Poor guy does not stand a chance!I A fun fact: apparently Ronald Reagan was briefly considered to impersonate Rick - thankfully, briefly!

It seems the movie was filmed with a half scenario, written by the Epstein brothers, with no specific end in mind, up until the very last moment – at first the end disappointed me but, thinking about it, it was the only logical choice, and very likely what makes this film unforgettable.

I loved that there is so much subtle, clever, funny quotes in the movie, that release the tension

Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?

Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!

[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]

Croupier: Your winnings, sir.

Captain Renault: Oh, thank you very much.

 

Rick: And remember, this gun is pointed right at your heart.

Captain Renault: That is my least vulnerable spot.

 

Also, in spite of the fact that it is war time, I loved the atmosphere at Rick’s Café, to the point where I almost wish it still existed: Sam is a great piano player and the general spirit is fantastic.

On Rick’s character, I could see some parallel with Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind: a cynic, still able to show a human side. Here the similarity is obvious:

Casablanca / Rick: I'm the only cause I'm interested in.

Gone with the Wind / Rhett: I believe in Rhett Butler, he's the only cause I know

 

The second confrontation between Rick and Ilsa particularly caught my attention: I remember being shown this scene a few months ago as part of a class, and the only thing we were asked after was: “Did they do it?” – strangely enough not everybody agreed! The DVD supplement (narrated by Lauren Bacall, Humphrey “Bogey” Bogart’s wife in real life) tells us that all explicit sexual references have been deleted, to be just hints and innuendo.

 

Some more intense scenes include the scene with The Marseillaise, beautiful and very emotional, especially when placed back in the context of WWII – remember, the film was released during the war! 

 

The movie has an incredible amount of quotes that everybody uses at some point, some times without quite knowing where it came from:

-          “Here's looking at you, kid.”

-          "Usual suspects", from Captain Renault's phrase: “Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects”

-          “Play it once, Sam. For old times' sake.”

-          “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine”

-          And a personal favourite: “We’ll always have Paris”

I just could not put every scene, every quote, every picture in this post, otherwise the entire movie would have been shown here!

To finish on a less serious note, Casablanca was such a success that it was imitated many times, without success. However, a funny version is the Looney Tunes’, Carrotblanca:

When Harry met Sally

Let’s step away from violence for a little nice and go back to a nice and feel-good love story: When Harry met Sally, released in 1989, directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan (pre-surgery). 

Before / After

This romantic comedy follows Harry and Sally from the time they meet as graduates through several encounters over the years, and asks whether men and women can ever just be friends.

I probably saw it 6 or 7 times, but still enjoy it.  The most famous scene of course is at the beginning, while Harry and Sally are having dinner. Sally argues that men cannot recognize whether a woman is faking and orgasm, and proves her point right in the middle of the restaurant, before proceeding with her meal as if nothing happened. A nearby customer then asks the waiter : “I’ll have what she’s having”. 

This is a movie that I think aged well, one of my favourite quotes is the following, that I relate to more and more as I get older.

Sally: No, no, no, I drove him away. AND, I'm gonna be forty. 

Harry: When?

Sally: Someday. 

Harry: In eight years.

This film, for me, is the pioneer of all romcoms, and a pioneer in addressing the typical men/women relationships – when you take He’s just not that into you for instance, still the same theme! Meg Ryan is stuck-up, eccentric yet traditional, yet still loveable. I loved the many many different hairstyles she has throughout the movie, just to highlight time is passing. I liked the part where they are trying to set up their best friends with each other and, as always, it does not go as planned. A classic, a good moment!

Battle Royale

The only things I know about Japan are sushis, sake, Miss Kitty and what Bridget Jones’ mother tells her about Mark Darcy’s ex-wife: “His wife was Japanese. Very cruel race”. I cannot judge on this, but it is true that Battle Royale is not exactly a feel-good, nice and sweet movie. Released in 2000, it was directed by Kinji Fukasaku, who is, as I heard, one of Tarantino’s inspirations: indeed, one of the actresses plays in Kill Bill – Volume 1. Battle Royale is his favourite movie, to the point he even said “If there’s any movie that’s been made since I’ve been making movies that I wish I had made, it’s that one”.

It starts with the following opening:

At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence and, fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act, AKA the BR Act....

So…. Battle Royale Act explained: a class is kidnapped and sent on a remote island. Rule of the game:

Today's lesson is, you kill each other off till there's only one left.

No escape possible as each student has an electronic device around the neck, set to explode if he or she does not want to play the game, or if there is more than one person left at the end of the game. 

It is gripping, very violent, but somehow I was hooked from the start, dying (ha ha) to know what would happen: because, of course, the twist is that you will find some love stories / triangles in there. The beginning is almost funny: the teacher explaining the rules of the games and killing a couple of students for good measure, the video explaining the rules of the games that is presented by a cheerful girl, dressed in bright colours and just saying, basically “have fun!” is a sharp contrast with the reality of what is really happening:

Kyouichi Motobuchi: If I survive, can I go home?

Teacher Kitano: Yes, but only if everyone else is dead.

So basically for about two hours we watch people fighting while, in sharp contrast, music by Bach, Verdi, Schubert and Strauss is playing in the background… To some extent this film reminded me of two books: The Long Walk, by Stephen King, where 100 guys are selected to participate in The Long Walk and maintain a constant speed of no less than four miles an hour or risk being shot by soldiers monitoring the event. Up until there is one winner. The second one is Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, where schoolboys stuck on a deserted island try and govern themselves, without success, and fall into savagery.

Loved it, loved it, loved it. And to conclude:

Life is a game. So fight for survival and see if you're worth it.