JUST THE WIND / CSAK A SZEL

Hungary, 2012, 91 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Bence Fliegauf.

A brief film about Hungarian prejudice against gypsies. The film says it is not a documentary about the recent attacks by local Hungarians in which quite a number of gypsies were injured and six were killed. Up to the making of the film, there had been no definite charges laid.

Basically, the film is a story in the quite humdrum lives of a gypsy family who live at the edge of a country town. Mother wakes early and feeds her ageing father. The daughter gets up and prepares for school which she likes. Her younger brother gets up late, skips school and wanders the countryside, going especially to his hidden cache of things he finds.

Mother has different jobs, scything public areas of long grass, doing menial cleaning. She is harassed on the way home. The daughter suffers insinuations from a teacher, but enjoys an afternoon near a lake. So does the son. Eventually, they are at home, go to bed. They hear noises in the night – and the family is attacked violently.

This is very plain, matter-of-fact film-making, almost documentary-like. While it is not exciting, deliberately so, it is a very worthy film, exposing bigotry against the gypsies which can boil up into violence, and asking for some sympathy and understanding for people who are targets of xenophobia.

1. The initial information about the crimes against the gypsies in 2009? The casualties, the deaths? The film as a story based on imagination about these events rather than a documentary?

2. The Hungarian countryside, the sense of location, the fields, the gypsy houses, the town, the school, the workplaces? Authentic realism? The musical score?

3. The title, its reference at the end – and the irony of the men coming to kill the family?

4. The opening, Rio and his walking through the fields, passing the funeral – anticipation of what was to happen?

5. The portrait of the family: the mother, getting up early in the morning, dressing, cooking the meal for her father, the cigarettes, going to work, mowing the grass, cleaning the school, the menial jobs? Her walking home? Her being accosted? The young girl, getting up, going to school, her sense of responsibility? At school, the comments of the teacher, her work on Lamguage and computers? The accusation about the computer parts being stolen? The afternoon, relaxing, with the little girl, collecting the flowers, making the crown of flowers? Rio and his not going to school, wandering, meeting the boys, his hideout, all that he had collected? The young man finding the hideout? Secrecy? Going for the swim? His sister and the men concerned about her, checking whether she had a mobile phone and keeping it on? The old man, wandering out of the house, his daughter bringing him back home? The ordinariness of the family – and the humdrum nature of their lives?

6. The local prejudice, against gypsies, against foreigners? Standover tactics, the bullying attitude?

7. The sense of menace? The family going to bed, hearing sounds, considering that it was just the wind?

8. The sudden attack, the panic, the men and their shooting?

9. The bodies at the morgue, their being tended, the many wounds, their being dressed for their funeral? Taken in the coffins? The mother, her father, the daughter? Rio absent?

10. The presentation of the gypsies, their trying to settle, settle in? The hostility towards alien people, erupting into violence?

TABU

Portugal, 2012, 110 minutes, Black and white.
Teresa Madruga, Laura Soveral.
Directed by Miguel Gomes.

By the time that the affair portrayed in the second part of this film as highly criminal and sinful, extremely scandalous, the world had moved beyond this kind of condemnation and language, the 1950s and 1960s. This moral stance of the characters is portrayed highly melodramatically and lacks a fair amount of credibility.

But, the film starts in an entirely different way, making a point about white colonialism in a bizarrely symbolic story of a great white explorer and his train of carriers in Mozambique, haunted by the death of his wife and leaping into a river to confront a crocodile and, probably, fulfil his death wish.

The fact that this (and the whole film) is shot in black and white on a box-formatted screen like the olden days’ movies and that there is no dialogue only voiceover makes it look experimental movie-making while, at the same time, with the elevated (‘poetic’?) voiceover from the director himself, it seems quite pretentious.

Then the first part of the film, box-format but with dialogue is set in modern day Lisbon, portraying a kind middle-aged woman who becomes involved with a dying woman from the Mozambique white elite and her black friend. The kind lady tracks down an old man, an acquaintance (more than that we learn in the second part) of the dying woman.

In the second part, back we go to Mozambique and the story of the woman, her growing up, hunting skills, marriage and, particularly her affair with a dashing, pencil-moustached Italian. There is another plot element with the Italian’s friendship with a former seminarian who creates a band and tours in Africa, moving from the songs of the 1950s to the 1960s (‘Be My Baby’) and the Twist.

But…, still black and white, back to no heard dialogue (we just see the characters mouthing) and an increasingly ponderous and pretentious voiceover from the director, even to reading their correspondence. So, it’s like a silent film in some ways with the voiceover doing most of the narrative and the emoting, the characters merely illustrating what is being said – it could be visual radio.

At one stage, there is mention that the heroine was an adviser on an RKO flop (whose producer killed himself) with a title like ‘It doesn’t snow on Kilimanjaro anymore’. The unkind thought arose that the RKO film used this kind of plot and dialogue… With acknowledgement to the experiments with technique but the laden Lamguage of the voiceover was far too much for the general triteness of the plot and characters before our eyes.

1. An experimental film? A Portuguese film – with colonial overtones?

2. The experimental style? The use of the box format? The techniques of silent films? No dialogue in the prologue and the second part? Captions and voice-over? The second part as a normal drama in the present? The style of acting and performance, speaking the dialogue but the audience not hearing it? The touch of the histrionic and melodramatic?

3. The prologue, the great white hunter in the dark of Africa, his helmet and uniform? The men and their carrying the boxes of ribbons and goods? The hunter being haunted by the death of his wife? Facing the river, the crocodile, diving in to confront the crocodile, his death? Death wish?

4. The second part, the 21st century? Black and white portrait of Lisbon? Pilar and her conference and her charitable work, meeting the student at the station, her being unable to come? The meeting with Aurora? Aurora and her age, her being next door, no gratitude towards Pilar for her help? Aurora and her mistrust? Her savings, the casinos? The housekeeper from Cape Verde? Her concern about Aurora, devotion? Aurora’s daughter and her not going to see her mother? The lead for the Italian, going to the address, finding him in the old people’s home? His character, age, his commentary?

5. Part three, the return to Africa of the 50s and 60s? The focus on the white people? The blacks in the background? The music of the times, the bands, Bye Bye Baby, The Twist? The focus on Aurora, her background, her father, the way she was brought up, able to hunt, her studies? Her marriage? Her husband and his debonair look and style? His being away? The arrival of the Italian, the matinee idol look?

6. The Italian, his voice-over (voiced by the director), pretentious and ponderous, elevated Lamguage? His perspective on life? His boasting of his adventures, relationships with women? His encounter with Mario, the seminarian, leaving the seminary, coming to Africa, setting up the band? Their friendship? The Italian and his meeting with Aurora, their falling in love, the various rendezvous? Their attitude towards their behaviour – melodramatic, comments about sinfulness? The passing of time? Mario and his disapproval of the relationship? The attempts to break the relationship – the Italian going on tour with the band? The letters – all read out by the voice-over? Trying to break the relationship, Aurora and her love? His return, the reunion, Mario and his disapproval? Their going to the border, Mario’s arrival, the gun, Aurora shooting him? The arrival of the husband, the confrontation? Aurora as pregnant, giving birth to her daughter?

7. The comment about the RKO film that flopped, the tongue-in-cheek title of Not Snowing on Kilimanjaro? The triteness of the story, the performance? This film illustrating that kind of film?

8. Critical acclaim for the experimentation? But the actual blend of the ponderous and the trite?

LA MER A L'AUBE

France/Germany, 2012, 90 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Volker Schlondorff.

Volker Schloendorff has made Oscar winning films like The Tin Drum as well as smaller films like The Ninth Day, the story of a priest in Dachau sent on mission to persuade the archbishop of Luxembourg to support the Third Reich. This is one of his smaller films, based on a story he heard when he was young and was learning French in France after the war.

In 1941, the Nazis with the help of the police of the Vichy regime had rounded up undesirables, suspects, Communists and interned them in local camps. When a prominent SS officer is killed by resistance fighters in the streets of Nantes, Hitler demanded 150 hostages be shot. The local commander was more humane and wanted to avoid such cruelty and explained that this was no way to win the hearts and minds of the people. A French officer working for the high command made some pleas. Local collaborators suggested names for the list.

The film introduces us to a range of undesirables in the camp, some younger men arrested because of their parents, older men who had a strong ideological stance. They are all on the list. While the film shows us some humane details (the 17 year old who flirts with a girl in the women’s internment camp), the main focus is on the choice of the hostages, their reactions, their preparation for execution.

The film shows the officer in the camp showing his men how the killing of the hostages is done – which gives the audience a great deal of time to identify with the hostages, observe their responses, empathise and speculate how they would act in similar circumstances.

The film also raises the issue of 150 hostages dying for one SS officer and whether this was sound Resistance strategy. There is also a small sub-plot of a German soldier who collapses rather than shoot. The author Ernst Junger is also a character, asked to write a personal account for the record of what happened. (He is played by Ulrich Mattes, the priest in The Ninth Day and Goebbels in Downfall).

The film is a German- French co-production, keeping alive the memory of war incidents seventy years earlier.

1. A story of World War Two? Seventy years later? Preservation of memories?

2. The French coastal setting, the city of Nantes, the streets, the camp for the interns, their huts? German headquarters? Sense of realism? The musical score?

3. A French story? French perspective? A German film? The memories of German supremacy? The role of the Nazis, occupation and oppression?

4. The introduction to the camp, the race, Guy and his flirting with Odette, his winning the race, the kiss, the soap as a prize? His boxing? Seventeen, his father arrested and under suspicion? His friendship with Claude, flirting with the girls? Claude, his wife, his pass to get out of prison?

5. The pLam, the conspirators, the communist party, shooting an officer, in the street, shooting the officer dead, the pursuit by the fellow officer, the escape? The role of the police, the search for the killers?

6. Paris and the occupation, the German command, the overall commander, his age and experience, respect? His unwillingness to carry out the reprisals? His sense of humanity, his sense of order? Attitude towards Hitler? Ernst Junger, his reputation as a writer, observing? The commander getting him to copy down all that went on, from his literary point of view, as a record? For the future? The agent from Berlin and his orders, Hitler and his demand for one hundred and fifty hostages to be executed? The French officials, the young man and his organising the list, the secretary typing the names? The work in the office, the list and the criteria? Advice?

7. The visit of the French agent to the camp, his antagonism towards the communists, past friendship, hostility? The older members being interned, communists, the MP, engineers? The agent and his reporting back, insisting these men be on the list?

8. Guy, his life, meeting with Odette, her being interned? A future? Claude, embracing his wife, the hope for the release?

9. The conspirators, the discussion about one death for one hundred and fifty? The man who wanted to tell the truth? The others forbidding him?

10. The German soldier, his bike, the cigarette to the owner of the bike, his being considered weak by the commanding officer, his experience in Russia, telephonist? His being mocked?

11. The selection of the groups, the list, assemblies in the huts, the reactions of the men?

12. The priest, his coming to support the men, not wanting to change their convictions? Delivering the letters to the family? The farewells – the respect of the communist, admitting the church had martyrs as well? A sympathetic presentation of a priest, his priestly role – to all who were going to die?

13. The commanding officer and his explanation of the routines for the executions, three groups of nine, the men being roped to the stake, three bullets for each group? Collecting the bodies, lowering them? The shot to the head? Covering the blood with sand?

14. The three groups, the voice-overs of what was on their minds, singing, slogans, shouting, personal memories?

15. The sick German, his fainting, inability to shoot, the doctor saying his collapse was authentic?

16. The film giving the audience time enough to identify with the men, their lives, their causes, facing the reality of dying?

17. The effect of telling this story in the 21st century?

SHADOW DANCER

UK, 2011, 95 minutes, Colour.
Andrea Riseborough, Clive Owen, Domnhall Gleeson, Aidan Gillen, Gillian Anderson.
Directed by James Marsh.

Andrea Riseborough has already played a young Margaret Thatcher for television, a worker in Made in Dagenham, the infatuated Rose in the remake of Brighton Rock and the Duchess of Windsor in W.E. Here she is the central character and holds the film together, a fine performance.

She plays Collette Mc Veigh? from a militant IRA family in Belfast. As a child, she has been selfishly but unwittingly responsible for a family tragedy, 1973. Twenty years later, with peace talks getting under way, she is a bomb carrier on the London Underground, part of an angry groups led by her brothers. However, the British government have been shadowing her – and make her an offer she can’t refuse, freedom to be with her son and be a ‘tout’, informer for the British.

Her minder is played in his often serious fashion by Clive Owen. The British head in Belfast is played by Gillian Anderson (doing seriously what she had to do for comedy in Johnny English Reborn).

Action is quite suspenseful at times in this narrow suburban area of Belfast, Collette’s ordinary life and the pressures on her to make a weekly rendezvous, her having to participate in an assassination attempt but escaping, coming under suspicion by a paranoid local boss who thinks she is a tout.

A quiet resolution of the proceedings seems to be emerging when the plot twists, sadly, and the ending is not what we are expecting at all. This is the Troubles in a more modest but deadly 1990s.

1. Ireland in the 20th century? The Troubles? Northern Ireland? Government, the British and the troops? Peace processes in the 1990s?

2. The London settings, the Underground, the contrast with Belfast, homes and pubs, streets? Funerals? The British headquarters? The sea? The musical score?

3. The title, the reference to the file? Tout activities? Government agents and their surveillance?

4. The stances on Northern Ireland, the IRA, the role of the government, the police? The administration?

5. The prologue, the Mc Veigh family, the father and mother, the boy, playing the piano, Collette and her selfishness, forcing her brother to go out, hearing the shots, his body being brought back, the grief of the family, Collette and her amazement, her guilt? 1973?

6. 1993. Collette, her age, appearance, the bag, going on the Underground, the exit, leaving the bag, the steps, the exit, her being caught?

7. Mac and his holding Collette, her resistance, his explanations of their surveillance, the need for information? Her brothers? The option of freedom, the option of going to jail, not seeing her son, the CCTV, the group watching her, her coming to a decision? The conditions?

8. Going home, seeing her son, her mother, brothers? Everything normal, going to the pub? Hearing of the plan for the assassination? Not going to meet Mac? His sending the police, her arrest, reading the riot act to her, her giving him the information about the assassination?

9. The head of security, the meetings, Mac and his role, his being excluded, his resentment after working for months on the Collette case? The reasons for his exclusion? The other tout, being discovered? Interdepartmental secrecy?

10. The raid, the plan, the risk to Collette, her being asked to accompany the killer? In the house, phoning Mac? The shooting and the target, the reasons, the family reasons? The death of the employer? The troops swooping, Collette escaping into the house and away?

11. Kevin, his paranoia, wanting to kill someone? His visits, suspicions of Collette, the interview with her?

12. Mac, the information about Collette, the killer in hospital, his death? Collette’s question? The funeral, the police and their upfront presence, the IRA and the masks and the shooting into the air? The dispersing?

13. Mac wanting to know the attitudes of Collette’s brothers concerning the peace process? The news clips with John Major and his announcements? Mac and his meeting with Collette at the sea, the mutual dependence, the emotional effect on him, the kiss?

14. The head of intelligence, her work at the office, her attitude towards Mac? His confronting her at home? Her wanting arrests, not interested in individuals? Mac following up his contacts, going through the files, the discovery of the tout, phoning Collette’s mother?

15. Collette’s mother, silent, the death of her child, her sons’ involvement, the IRA, wanting Collette to get out? Gerard and his harsh attitudes, and his being tortured by Kevin, under suspicion? The arrest, the shootings? Collette upset?

16. Mac going to the sea, the plan to get Collette and her son away, seeing the girl and the dog?

17. Going back to the car, the explosion? Collette and Connor in the car – having achieved freedom? Their future?

18. A sad film, full of ironies as regards the Troubles? The effect on families?

THE COW

Iran, 1969, 105 minutes, Black and white.
Ezzatolah Entezami, Ali Nassirian.
Directed by Dariush Mehrjui.

The Cow is the second film made by Dariush Mehrjui, his first being a spoof of James Bond. He studied at UCLA, on his return to Iran he made The Cow which was well received, then banned by the shah’s government because of the image it was said to have portrayed of Iran.

Mehrjui was a pioneer in the development of the Iranian film industry and was still making films at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. His films cover a wide range of themes as well as visual styles, but always a critique of the status quo, even of the Iranian government (both in the time of the shah as well as in the post-revolutionary period – his films being banned in both eras).

This film is set in a small village, the focus on a man who owns his pride and joy, a pregnant cow. When he leaves for a visit to Tehran, the cow dies. The villagers are keen to save him from suffering but build up a story that the cow wandered away and that they have sent someone to find it. In reality, they buried it in a disused well. When the owner returns, everybody keeps away from him. When he discovers the loss of his cow, it has such an effect on him that he begins to lose his mind, identifying with the cow itself, staying in the cowshed, eating the hay, saying that Hassam, himself, was on the roof to look out for thieves who would come to steal the cow.

The people in the village become desperate, their leader tries to work out all kinds of solutions – and they decide to take him to the city to see a doctor. As they travel up the hill in the rain, the leader starts to hit Hassan as if he were the cow, an animal. The others are shocked. Hassan then breaks loose and falls to his death.

While the film focuses on Hassan and his grief and identification with the cow, there is a great deal of observation of life in the village, from the role of the head man, to the religious chief, to the military policeman who enjoys provoking people, to a young man who has lost his wits and is tormented by everybody. There is a great deal of detail in the characterisation.

In some ways, this film and those like it set a tone for Iranian films with their focus on small stories within the community, focusing on the development of character – and with an austerity of film-making, especially initially in black and white.

The Cow won an award from OCIC in 1972 in Berlin.

1. Iran in the 1960s? Its cinema, Mehrjui as a pioneer? The ban on this film? The acclaim at film festivals?

2. The director and his work over forty years, the span of Iranian life, his critique?

3. The influence of Italian neo-realism, expressionism? Black and white photography, the landscapes, the compositions, the musical score?

4. The credits, the silhouette of the man and the cow? The cow itself, its importance to Hassan, in the village? Hassan and his meticulous care for the cow, affection? Its death, the burial? Hassan’s madness and identifying with the cow? Being seen as an animal – and his death?

5. Village life, isolated, small, the homes and streets, the windows and people peering out, the town square, the pool? The realistic presentation of the town?

6. The opening with the taunting of the slow-witted young man, smearing his face, the chase, the children, everybody joining in, the chief trying to stop the hurting of the man? This episode as an introduction to the village and the people?

7. Hassan, his wife, his love for the cow, its being pregnant? Taking it out, walking it, taking it to the water, washing it, the Bolouri and their watching, their reputation as stealing the livestock? Walking the cow home, sitting in the village, talking, the fears of the Bolouri, his decision to tie the cow in the shed, protecting it, the vigil? The images of the cow, content, eating? Hassan’s departure?

8. The transition to his wife, her screams and grief in the street, people gathering, the situation with the death of the cow, the concern about Hassan’s feelings?

9. Eslam and the others, the discussions, the plans, their taking their time to work out a strategy, the decision? The story of the cow running away? Dragging the carcass, digging out the old well, burying the cow and filling in the well? The man staying at home, allegedly searching for the cow? The woman and their relationship? The secrecy on the part of everyone? The slow-witted man, his being tied up, the rats, his breaking free? The military man and his taunts?

10. Everybody waiting for Hassan’s return, avoiding him, his worry, learning the truth, upset, the effect? His losing his mind, eating the hay, his eyes? Identifying with the cow, thinking that Hassan was on the roof on the lookout? His deterioration, the people trying to help, his hitting himself, injuries?

11. Eslam and the others, their characters, watching, worrying, the plan to take Hassan to the city and to the doctor?

12. Dragging Hassan out, tying him up, the rain, goading him up the hill, Eslam treating him as an animal, his rushing away to die? Eslam getting the cart to bring the body back?

13. The role of Eslam in the village, his leadership, the religious chief, the others? The military man? The mad man? The role of religion, prayer, superstitions? The evil eye?

14. The women in the village, out at the tombs, preparing the young woman for her marriage?

15. The Bolouris, the people’s hatred for them, their attack in the night? Their being beaten?

16. The picture of Iran and the countryside, the way of life, by the end of the 60s?

FRIEND

Turkey, 1975, 96 minutes, Colour.
Kerim Afsar, Yilmaz Guney, Azra Balkan.
Directed by Yilmaz Guney.

Friend was made in the middle of the 1970s, before the epic film of the whole of Turkey, from countryside to Ankara, The Herd (1979).

The first thirty minutes of the film don't seem typical of Guney films at all. They are more reminiscent of soap operas like Santa Barbara – people on holidays, affluence, the beaches, the swimming costumes and the sun, food...

With the introduction of the character played by the director, Azem, a more serious tone enters into the film. Initially the focus is on a man called Cemil, a friend of Azem. Cemil is rich, enjoys the luxury life, has a trophy wife who is unfaithful to him, has various sisters-in-law staying with him. When he receives a phone call from Azem, he goes to meet him, at a restaurant where they were friends seven years earlier, and they begin to talk and discuss their lives.

Azem decides to spend the month with Cemil and his family. However, Azem begins to talk to the servants, to the workers – raising the suspicions of the wealthy crowd. Azem asks one of them if she has ever earned any money for a day’s work – she hasn’t.

With the discussions, Cemil is forced to look at himself, his achieving wealth and leaving his roots behind, indulging himself. The subtitles of the film use the word ‘rotten’.

In the last part of the film Azem and Cemil speed out of the capital, go to their village, discover a man who has made a great success with gardens and vegetables out of the search for artesian water. Azem has helped him. This has an effect on Cemil, examining himself – with a glimpse of tourists going by, photographing the poor children. On the return to the beach, Cemil has a stand-off with his wife, Azem decides to leave. There has been talk of a gun – and people using it on themselves. As Azem leaves to meet a young man that he has been helping, there is a shot. Azem smiles. The question is whether Cemil has killed himself or not?

This film then fits into the social comment that is prevalent in all of Guney’s films, and his attack on the wealthy.

1. Turkey in 1975, prosperity, the poor? A message film – how didactic?

2. Istanbul, the holidays at the sea, affluence? The contrast with the poor countryside?

3. The title and its use, Azem as a true friend, the nature and influence of his friendship? The images of false friends?

4. The time spent on showing the holidaymakers, western style, the costumes, the sunbathing, the music and dancing? Adults, children? The play? Food and drink? Leisure?

5. The telescope, focusing on Cemil, his life, wife, the women on his boat? Cemil as the focus?

6. The phone call, Melike taking it, Azem and his wanting to meet Cemil? The restaurant, the past, the manager and the memories of the past, their lives, the relationship with women, Azem and the woman with the poem? What has happened to each of them?

7. Azem deciding to stay, his personality, appearance, experience, engineer, making roads, construction? The motives for his approaching Cemil?

8. Cemil and his idle life, putting on weight, gambling, rich, womanising? Achieving his goal? His gun – and not using it? The challenge to self-assessment?

9. Melike, her age, attraction to Azem, talking, watching him, the touch of jealousy, her character, finally frustrated?

10. The wife, with men, flirting, her affairs, with Celim? The other women on the boat?

11. Azem and his joining this lifestyle, the parties, dancing? Yet his observing?

12. The serious talk, the groups of workers, the young man breaking windows, his long hair, Azem’s criticisms and urging him to change?

13. The confrontation with Cemil, the fast drive into the countryside, their friend and his success, the irrigation, the achievement with all the vegetables and growth? The water for the poor people in the village, the children? Sense of achievement? With Azem’s help?

14. The people in the village, the children, poor, ordinary, playing? The tourists taking photos – and Azem’s reaction?

15. The return, Azem and his accusations? Cemil and his wife, Melika?

16. Azem leaving, the women looking, Cemil and his wife?

17. The shot, did Cemil kill himself? Azem’s smile as he walked away, greeting the boy who had had his hair cut? A future project?

18. The 1970s, Turkish prosperity – and seen in the retrospect of succeeding decades?

THE HERD (SURU)

Turkey, 1979, 129 minutes, Colour.
Tarik Akan, Melike Demirag, Tuncel Kurtiz.
Directed by Zeki Okten.

The Herd was written by celebrated actor and director Yilmaz Guney. However, he was in prison on a murder charge when this film was made and one of his assistants, Zeki Okten, stepped in as director. However, because of the screenplay and the issues, it is a Yilmaz Guney film.

The film is set initially in remote areas of Anatolia, focusing on the blood feuds between shepherd families. It then moves towards a town with an order placed from Ankara for several hundred sheep to be transported. A good half of the film consists of the journey, the antagonisms of the officials who want more sheep as bribes, the engine drivers who are also put out because of the bribes and the alleged stinginess of the shepherds and jolt the train breaking the legs of some of the sheep. Then there are thieves who chase the train, pull sheep from the carriages and escape in a car. There are also various passengers, a group crippled prostitute who comes aboard the train for the men. Eventually, they arrive in Ankara and the film changes mood, showing the enormous contrast between the Turkish countryside and the capital, the crowds of people, the modern clubs, shops, the refugees from the countryside trying to settle in the city.

Underlying this journey is the story of a man who has married a young wife from the opposite clan during a truce. This has not stopped the enmity, especially from the man’s father who is patriarchal, bigoted, blaming the daughter-in-law for every setback. The daughter-in-law has had three deaths of children, even though she is only eighteen, and is very sick, suffering during the trip, too shy and modest to be examined by doctors, ultimately dying.

Guney’s films are often pessimistic, especially such films as The Hope in which he starred as a poor cart driver who goes mad in his search for Treasure. At the end of this film, the old man has been cheated out of his money for the sheep, the daughter-in-law has died and her body is stranded in Ankara, her husband goes berserk, throttling a man who made a casual remark about everybody dying and he is led away by the police.

The film is considered something of a classic, a portrait of the wide range of Turkish experiences in the 1970s.

1. Yilmaz Guney and his status in Turkey, actor, writer, director? His portraits of Turkey, especially in the 1970s?

2. The scope of the film: the hills and the shepherds, the town, the train ride and the various landscapes, the small towns, Ankara and life in the big city?

3. The colour photography, the landscapes, the cityscapes, vivid? The musical score?

4. The opening with the horsemen the establishing of the enmity between the clans, the blood feud, the confrontations? The truce, the ethos of each clan? The marriage, its failure to heal the feud, the deaths, the intense hatred?

5. Sivan and his place in his clan, a good man, moderate in his words, actions, his marriage to Berevan, the deaths of their children, her illness? His frustration at her year of silence, pleading with her, hitting her? His defence of her from the attacks of his father? His father assaulting him, the brutal bashing? Berevan and her age, the deaths of her children, her illness? Her inability to articulate what she felt? Her response to Sivan’s defence of her, choosing to follow him always when her brothers wanted to talk to her?

6. The families and their bitterness, the various individuals in each family, the man who had the seizures, the young man and the sales of what he found in the cave, making money? The father, the severe patriarch, superstitious about his misfortunes? His attitude towards his son?

7. The sheep in the hills, the herd, going to Ankara, taking them down the hill, Sivan and his decision to go to help his father as long as he was paid for his services and to help Berevan?

8. The sheep, the walk, herded into the train, filling in the documents, the bribes necessary, the DDT and the carriage, the engine driver jolting the train and breaking the legs, the thieves boarding the train, driving past in the car, throwing the stolen sheep off, the sickness of the sheep, their having to be unloaded? The father and his woes?

9. The different landscapes, the greater number of people, passengers on the train, the episode with the crippled prostitute, her pimp, put on the train, getting off, getting the money from the boy and the promise of the woman coming to him?

10. The herd getting off the train, going through the streets of Ankara, the people all looking and gaping, going to the market, the business manager and his inspection of the sheep, refusal to pay because of lateness? The father and the group stranded and Ankara?

11. Sivan, his work, helping, Berevan and her illness during the journey, the father accusing her of what happened? Getting the money from his father to pay for the doctor?

12. His carrying Berevan, going to stay with friends, their talk, offer of help, the tour of the new building, the hopes, the socialist son and his criticisms? Prospect of jobs?

13. The visit to the doctors, the crowded hospitals and the lines? Berevan as shy, refusing to be touched, refusing to talk? The second doctor, the prescription, buying the medicine, her taking it, her dying, Sivan discovering her body? The father refusing to transport the body, coming to visit the corpse, cursing it? The friends dragging the body – and their caught in the dilemma of what to do?

14. Sivan, wandering the town, hearing the comment on people’s deaths, throttling the man, the crowd, the police taking him away?

15. The focus on Ankara, the people, the busy city, the clubs, the shops and their wares, the group from the country looking at these aspects of city life?

16. Portrait of a people, touches of hope – but more hopelessness?

TENTH AVENUE ANGEL

US, 1948, 74 minutes, Black and white.
Margaret O’ Brien, Angela Lansbury, George Murphy, Phyllis Thaxter, Warner Anderson, Rhys Williams, Barry Nelson, Connie Gilchrist.
Directed by Roy Rowland.

Tenth Avenue Angel was one of many star vehicles for Margaret O’ Brien at MGM, from 1942 to 1950. She won an Academy Award for outstanding juvenile performer of 1944, the year of Meet Me in St Louis.

The film is a typical vehicle for Margaret O’ Brien. She plays a young girl during the Depression in New York. Her mother is played by Phyllis Thaxter, her music teacher and absent father by Warner Anderson. However, she is devoted to Steve, played by George Murphy, who has been in jail for eighteen months, but she thinks that he has been in Australia. Angela Lansbury plays her aunt, in love with George Murphy. Rhys Williams plays a blind newspaper seller on the street corner. Barry Nelson plays a suitor for Angela Lansbury.

The film creates the atmosphere of New York during the Depression, very vivid scenes of the life on the street. However, the film was reworked in post-production and some scenes reshot – with the film getting comparatively little release. However, it was popular amongst Margaret O’ Brien fans.

1. An entertaining film of the 1940s? Memories of the Depression? Poverty? The focus on a little girl, her family? White lies and their consequences?

2. The black and white photography, the streets of New York, the apartments? The Fourth of July parade? The musical score?

3. The story of Flavia Mills? Margaret O’ Brien’s screen presence, assured presence? Her charm and attraction? Her home, her absent father and his music lessons? Her mother, her bonds with her mother, the poverty? Her mother pregnant? Her mother telling her stories? The little white lies about the mice turning into money, the kneeling cow?

4. Helen, devoted mother, wife, trying to make ends meet? Her stories to her daughter? Her support for Susan, Steve?

5. Steve, released from jail? Genial, taking the rap for others? Flavia’s devotion to him? Susan and her love for him? The difficulties of his getting a job, settling down? The decision not to marry despite the two being in love? The thugs approaching Steve, his need for money, his decision to help them? Going to the wharves? Flavia’s turning up, persuading him to back out?

6. Susan, at home, with Flavia, Helen? Her love for Steve? The difficulties of his past? Wanting to marry, the hindrances?

7. The father, his music lessons, coming home, support?

8. Blind Mac, his work in the streets, his being able to tell who was coming? His friendship with Flavia? The Fourth of July?

9. Al, his work with Susan, his courtship?

10. The ordinary life? The Christmas setting? Flavia and her prayer, her faith? The mice and wanting them to turn into money? Her taking Blind Mac’s money? In all innocence? Her hopes? Others being blamed, her telling the truth?

11. At the wharf, saving Steve? Her disillusionment about the mice and the money? People explaining it to her? Her seeing the cow bend at the wharf – restoring her faith? The sentimental ending?

HUSH

US, 1998, 96 minutes, Colour.
Jessica Lange, Gwyneth Paltrow, Johnathon Schaech, Nina Foch, Debi Mazar, Hal Holbrook.
Directed by Jonathan Darby.

One option for actresses nearing 50 is to play mothers. An addition to the option is to play Joan Crawford-like mothers. And Jessica Lange has taken the option. Nice and wealthy Jonathan Schaech, devoted to mother, brings home nice bride, Gwynneth Paltrow, and Jessica Lange acts nicely, emphasis on the acts, because it soon emerges that she is a scheming, possessive mother. An elegant-looking thriller of menace, that passes the time well enough. Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford!

1. An over-the-top melodrama, Hollywood style? For Jessica Lange? The credibility of the plot, the characters? The themes? The tone of realism for an unrealistic story?

2. New York life, the contrast with life at the estate in the country, the mansion?

3. The strong cast?

4. Helen and Jackson, their characters, relationship? Their love for each other? Helen becoming pregnant, the prospect of the baby? The build-up to the birth?

5. The film belonging to Jessica Lange, her role as a dominating mother-in-law? Her appearance, clothes, glamour? Her past, her husband, his accidental death, Jackson witnessing it? His mother caring for Jackson, protective, over-protective? Her wanting him to come and live at the estate, her wanting to continue the family line – why? Her external charm, smile? Her sinister behaviour? The scenes with Jackson, the touch of the oedipal? Her reactions to Helen, her treatment of Helen? At home, Helen getting out of bed and confronting Martha? Her behaviour with the people in the town, her place in society? Her relationship with Alice, her despising of her mother-in-law, putting her in an institution? The role of the doctor? The build-up of Martha’s character, her erratic behaviour, the audience seeing what she was really like? The build-up to the climax, her wanting the baby, the clashes with Helen, the violence, the attempt to kill Helen? Jackson’s reaction? The truth about his father?

6. Jackson, a weak character, his love for Helen? The dominance of his mother? At her beck and call? An oedipal complex? His father’s death – and his blaming himself? This being reinforced? Going to the country, his indecision? The life in the country, his mother wanting him to run the estate? Helen’s reactions? His disbelief about his mother? The attempt on Helen’s life? His changing his attitude? Learning the truth?

7. Alice, a strong character, her insinuations against Martha? Her talking with Helen, confiding in her? Helen depending on her for friendship? Her being in an institution? The confrontation with Martha?

8. Helen and her world, Lisa as her colleague, discussions with Lisa, getting advice?

9. The country life, the horses, the estate, riding? The possibility of sales? The differences with the New York lifestyle?

10. The sporting characters, people in the town, Martha’s society?

11. The build-up to the birth, Doctor Hill? The nurse? Protecting Helen? Martha and her contrivances, the violence? Her being exposed?

12. The aftermath – Helen and Jackson escaping? Martha’s future?

THE GREY

US, 2012, 117 minutes, Colour.
Liam Neeson, Dallas Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Nonso Anozie, Joe Anderson, James Badge Dale.
Directed by Joe Carnahan.

What could be worse than sitting through a horror film feeling scared?

The answer is sitting through a very well made film that has a group in a desperate situation that we can identify with and hope never to be in. But, just imagining it and seeing the terrifying experience on the screen means real horror, not make-believe ghosts and vampires. This is what watching The Grey is like. Praise to the skills of the film-makers and the performances. But, you may not want to stay.

Many decades ago, this reviewer read a book that has stayed in the imagination all these years. It was My Antonia by Willa Cather. The part that was terrifying in the book is where a married couple, travelling through a forest in the dark and the snow, is set upon by a pack of ravenous wolves and ravaged to death. Wolves are not to be danced with. They can be terrifying and their claw and teeth cruelty can be horrifying.

A group of rugged men on an Alaskan oil site crash land in the ice and snow. How can those not killed survive? Will they survive? They have landed in a wolf-infested area, huge wolves who are flesh eaters and pursue humans.

Ordinarily one would comment on the beauty of the Alaskan snowscapes, but we are too busy watching the men, on the lookout for the wolves and feeling the dread of their presence, their howling and the viciousness of their attacks on the men.

On board is Ottway (Liam Neeson), a hunter, a sniper for the company. However, initially we see him in despair because of his ill wife, writing her a letter and then contemplating shooting himself. However, after the crash, he assumes the leadership role and generally the men follow him – the man who doesn’t fights when taunted that he is afraid, and he finally admits that he is.

This is one of those ‘lost patrol’ stories where individuals are picked off one by one. During the attempt to reach an outpost, we get to know the men, some quite well. They also do a fair amount of reflecting on the meaning of what has happened to them and on questions of God. This reaches a climax when Ottway looks at the sky and challenges God to do something now – but the sky does not change and Ottway lets out a desperately angry and abusive outburst against God.

This means that there is some reflection during the film, moving it to a deeper level than just outwitting (or not) the wolves.

Co-written by director Joe Carnahan with the author of the original short story. Carnahan’s previous film (also with Liam Neeson) was the explosion-filled big screen version of The A Team. This film has more substance and requires more fortitude to watch it.

1. The impact? A film of endurance? Extreme? The existential philosophical dimensions? Human interest? Survival? Issues of God?

2. The location photography, Alaska, the mountains, cliffs, the open areas, the forest, the river? Snow and ice? Real?

3. The insertion of the flashbacks? The brevity? Father and son? Wife and husband? The respite from the endurance? Revelation of character? Warm light compared with the icy light? Relationships, sadness, Ottway, his wife’s illness? The presentation of the photos and the families of each of the men? Musical score?

4. The title, wolves, the leader of the pack, the pack itself? Attacking humans? Cruel, vicious? Claw and teeth? Mangling the humans? The realism of the attacks and the deaths? The title and its symbolic meaning? The grey, pursuing the men, the confrontation, the fight – and the finale, Ottway winning or not?

5. Ottway, his comments about life, his work on the oil site, the types of men, in prison, free? His writing the letter to his wife, heartfelt? Losing her? The nature of the illness? His tenderness in the letter, his sense of despair, sitting in the bar, drinking, the fights, his leaving, the memories of his shooting, the dead wolf, the grey? His hunting skills? His decision to die, the rifle in his mouth? The wolf breathing? His not killing himself?

6. The plane, the various men, their types, raucous, talks and jokes, Ottway wanting to sleep, Flannery and his youthfulness, talking, moving seat? The staff?

7. The trouble with the engine, the wings, the fire, Ottway and his waking from a dream? The panic, the crash, the darkness?

8. Ottway and his waking in the snow, alone? Audience identifying with him, the isolation, the experience of the crash, the implications of being alone, the vast terrain, having to cope?

9. The plane, the destruction, Ottway and his discovering the men, lifting the weight to free the man, the pain, survival, counting the men? His assuming the leadership? The men and the deaths at the plane?

10. The plan, to find an outpost, the reality of the wolves, Ottway supplying the information, the fear of the wolves, the endurance that would be needed?

11. Flannery’s death, the reactions? The need to build a fire? Talking amongst themselves, their reflections on what was happening, the reasons? The decision not to stay near the plane?

12. The walk across the snow, the hovering wolves, the beginning of the pursuit, the attacks, deaths? The man going out to urinate in the snow – and his being attacked?

13. Ottway as leader, his dealing with the situations, the information, the fire, gathering the sticks, hiding in the forest? The reaction of Diaz? His fears?

14. The character of Diaz, his background, the attack on Ottway, his masking his fear, the attack, surviving? His admitting the truth? His collaboration with the group? The climbing, the injury? His being unable to walk any further, sitting down to die, telling people his name was John, shaking their hands, the pathos of his death?

15. Burke, the black man, big, affected by the altitude, his collaboration with the group, his beginning to hallucinate, his death? Ottway and his wallet?

16. The wolf hanging, its destroying the men, the decision that the men should eat the food, the ironic comments about it, gristle? Diaz and his chopping the head, throwing it defiantly to the wolves? Their hostile reaction, baying?

17. Talget, his glasses, his hand and the attack, his reflections on the situations, his mediation? The collaboration for the heights(**??) , wanting to go last, his fears, his glasses falling, his own fall, the injuries, memories of his daughter? The wolves?

18. Hendricks, his being helpful, collaborating with the group, his diving with the rope, tying it to the tree, wanting to save everyone? Surviving with Ottway and Diaz, watching Diaz die, his name, the wolves, his diving into the river, his foot being caught? Ottway trying to save him, drowning?

19. The effect on Ottway, his being the lone survivor, his talk about death, God, Heaven? His reflections, his shouting abuse against God, challenging him?

20. Ottway’s father, the scenes of childhood, the flashbacks, the poem, going into the fray, living and dying? The best fight? His leadership, his help for the men, the final confrontation of the wolf – and the film ending? The post-credits of the glimpse of the wolf?

21. Audiences having to cope with the reality, the realistic horror, pain and death in such situations and terrains?