SHIVA (SEVEN DAYS)

Israel, 2008, 103 minutes, Colour.
Ronit Elkabetz, Albert Iluz, Yael Abecassis, Simon Abkarian.
Directed by Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz.

Shiva is a traditional Jewish mourning for the dead where the family comes to the house and sits for seven days on the floor to grieve the death of the family member.

This custom provides an opportunity for a large family to come together, be confined to a house, let the conflicts between the various members surface. This means some high drama and even melodrama at times. The dead brother is seen by different members of the family from quite different perspectives. There are financial problems, relational and betrayal problems, the older generation, the dominant matriarch, the younger generation not on the wavelength of the clashes of the older.

The film tends to be rather claustrophobic in its staying within the house, the various rooms, the larger-than-life characters who fill them. The film was co-written and co-directed by brother and sister Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz. Ronit Elkabetz has a strong reputation as an international actress in 2008-9 in such films as Fanny Ardant’s Ashes and Blood, Jaffa, Andre Techine’s The Girl on the Train. She and her brother also wrote the prequel to Shiva, with the English title To Take a Wife, in 2004. They had intentions of continuing the story of To Take a Wife and Shiva to a third film.


1.An Israeli family? Universal issues?

2.The film confined to the house and the rooms? The use of the rooms and angles, movement? The kitchen, the bedroom? The people living on the floor, the camera at floor level? The musical score?

3.The emphasis on dialogue, characters?

4.The title, death and mourning, at the cemetery during the credits, the close-up of the group, the mother as central? Prayer? Weeping, lament, stylised? The house and the rituals, the bedrooms, the furniture being removed, people on the floor, covering the mirrors and pictures? Not eating meat? Seven days in the house, everybody sleeping on the floor, communal living? Remembering and mourning?

5.The dead man and his impact, his mother’s grief, his wife and her accusations against the family? The wife staying in the room? Being persuaded to come downstairs? Her sons? The issue of the factory, business success and failure, the brothers and sisters, the loans, payments, bankruptcy? His dancing all night, the stroke? His affair with Lily?

6.The mother as matriarch, the professional mourners joining her, her son, presiding over the family, listening to the arguments, her anger, slapping Meir, going with the group to the cemetery at the end?

7.The brothers, their personalities, Meir as the oldest, his age, wanting to be mayor, David and his being a singer, the jingle for the campaign? Jacques, his dealings, more ruthless? Alitar and his concern? Charlie as young and angry, defying his brothers? Issues of finance? Simona and her not talking, her anger about her husband and his death? Chaim and his responsibility, discussions with his wife, her German background, lending the money? His pondering what to do about the finances, not wanting to be dependent on the brothers? The discussions about selling the houses or not? The meetings between the brothers?

8.The wives, Therese and her relationship with Meir, doing all the cooking and cleaning, with Evelyn? Meir and his relationship with her? Lily and Jacques? Her affair?

9.Simona not talking, Vivienne and her husband, the bitterness, the divorce, his insistence on religious rituals? Her not talking? Ben Lulu and his attraction towards Vivienne? The discussions about life, their arguments and resentments? Simona and her outburst, widow, the money, the family not visiting her, her anger at them all? The later reconciliation with Vivienne? Vivienne and her seeming haughtiness, the divorce, Ben Lulu?

10.Therese and Evelyn and their gossip in the kitchen, supplying the audience with information? Evelyn and her attraction to Ben Lulu, changing her clothes, makeup, people’s reactions? Ben Lulu not noticing her?

11.Ben Lulu, the factory, his management, helping the family, the attraction to Vivienne, kissing her?

12.Eliyau and his presence, the divorce, his religious insistence, pleading with Vivienne?

13.A film of family dynamics, quarrels, bitterness, possibilities for reconciliation or not?

14.The film as the second in a trilogy – and anticipating the consequences of the death and the mourning?

15.The background of the Gulf War, Israel and the attitude to Saddam Hussein, the bombing raids, the sirens, the gas masks even at the cemetery? The mother not wearing hers? The raid and the reactions during the days of mourning?

MEGANE (GLASSES)

Japan, 2007, 106 minutes, Colour.
Satomi Kobayashi, Masako Motai.
Directed by Naoko Ogigami.

Megane is very much a contemplative film, slow-burning, slow-smouldering. It is based on more eastern aspects of retreat from the world, meditation and liberation?

A professor, more detail not given, goes on a holiday in Okinawa. She feels that she is being imposed on by the rather genial staff as well as an elderly lady who is also staying there. She decides to move to another resort, only to find that it is a commune where she is supposed to work the soil for making the vegetables and food which the group eats. She returns to the original place – where she spends the time gradually getting to understand the proprietor, a high school teacher and a student who follows her there. She comes to appreciate the older woman.

The film shows some of the activities (perhaps too strong a word), her knitting, being by the sea, the old lady’s shack for selling crushed ice, exercises, fishing…

The symbol of the title is her losing her glasses as she drives back to the airport – and is able to see more clearly the whole world.

The film would be trying for most audiences – but is a film that asks to be surrendered to, going at a different pace, releasing oneself from pressures.

1.The audience for this film? A more contemplative audience? Eastern and Asian spiritualities and detachment?

2.The Okinawa settings, the beaches, the fields, the crops? The airport and the town and the shops? The natural beauty, the way that it is photographed? The musical score?

3.The title, the main characters wearing glasses, the professor and her losing the glasses – and the proprietor fishing them out of the water? Seeing more clearly?

4.The pace, the lack of action, the editing – and the audience surrendering to the pace of the film?

5.The professor, snooty, on the beach, going to the resort, her wariness of the people? The old lady welcoming her in the morning and her not liking this? Not wanting to eat with the group? Her leaving, going to the commune, her being frightened away? The long sequence of her walk back, being given the ride on the tricycle? Her becoming more adept at mixing with the others, the student following her? The lack of revelation about her past? Her curiosity about the others – and its not being answered? The exercises on the beach and her participation? The transformation? Leaving, coming back, going to the shack with the ices – and the old lady arriving wearing the knitted scarf?

6.The old lady, her arrival, dignity, the shack, selling the ice, greeting in the morning, participating in the cooking, the serving, the meals? The exercises? Her tricycle? Speculation about who she was?

7.The high school teacher, her attitude towards the professor? Participating with the group? Teaching biology? The fishing? The conversations, gradually mellowing?

8.The proprietor, friendliness, the cooking, the meals? Fishing? Helping the professor?

9.The student, his following the professor? His absorbing the atmosphere of the resort?

10.The tableau of the group, the five, the exercises, standing on the beach?

11.The visual presentation of the film, the characters, the landscapes as conducive to meditation?

LA HABITATION DE FERMAT (FERMAT’S ROOM)

Spain, 2007, 88 minutes, Colour.
Lluis Homar, Federico Luppi, Santi Millan, Elena Ballesteros, Alejo Sauras.
Directed by Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopena.

Mathematics has been making something of a comeback on the screens. There has been the popular series, Numbers, on television. Alex Iglesias made the thriller, The Oxford Murders, with philosophical and mathematical theory being discussion. Fermat's Room is another mathematical thriller.

After some discussion about prime numbers and various conjectures, we are introduced to four characters who eventually win a competition in solving an enigma and are invited to a special meeting of mathematical minds. Then it turns into an Agatha Christie-like situation, And Then There Were None. They find that they are trapped in a slowly diminishing room, pushed inwards by four pressure engines. They are given puzzles to solve – and, if they fail, the walls push in. Can they solve this puzzle? Who will survive? But... who is masterminding this situation and what are the motives?

AS the walls press in, so do the pressures on conscience. We find that the four have secrets that explain why they are trapped in this puzzle.

The young screenwriters also introduce some twists, especially concerning the identity of Fermat – which means that the audience makes assumptions that lead them away from the solution.

A canny thriller.

1.A film of enigmas and puzzles? Mathematics and science? Theory and application of mathematical theory?

2.The life situation, the mathematical puzzle, the threats, facing the threats, solving the puzzle? In the context of a thriller?

3.The Spanish setting: the university, the girls getting the young man’s autograph, the apartment and its destruction, the chess game, the office and the engineer? The setting for the characters? The meeting place at the river, the boat, the car and its lights, the drive, the warehouse? The musical score?

4.Fermat’s room, the claustrophobic sense? The interiors, the furniture and décor, the crowding? Angles, the walls, movement? The contrast with the outside scenes: Fermat’s car, the service station and the chat, the hospital, his carefree manner? The police, the seatbelt – and the sense of menace? The repercussions? For the group?

5.Mathematics and puzzles, the history of mathematics, theorems, the madness of the mathematicians, suicides? The codenames, their life-spans?

6.The puzzles in the room, the mobile phone, the time limit for solutions, anxieties, panic, the walls moving in?

7.The group: the separate introductions, their arrival, communicating, signs of puzzle? The professor knowing the student? The young man and woman kissing? The codes? The time, the blinking lights, the boat and the name Pythagoras, rowing across the river, the car, driving to the house? Fermat, his arriving, the meal – and the flashbacks to the meal, the phone call?

8.The variety of secrets, the man and his hit-run of Fermat’s daughter, his confession? Fermat and the plan? His being made the scapegoat?

9.The young woman, her breaking the puzzles, the separation from her boyfriend, the phone call, the sexual encounters, her return, giving the information to the professor?

10.The student, being feted as a celebrity, autographs, his talk about his solving the conjecture, his lie? The fake destruction of his room?

11.Their working out that the professor was the controller, his phone, absence from the room?

12.His motivation, the solution for the conjecture, whether he intended to die or not, to save himself?

13.The physical pressure of the walls, the machines, confronting the opposing machines with the desks? Working out an escape? Breaking the wall, the lift? Leaving the professor? Taking his manuscript?

14.The boat, the ethical issue for the student, the man throwing the documents away – and saying the world was still as it was rather than the young man’s claim of how important the solution was to the world?

15.The film as an intellectual puzzle, intuitions and ingenuity, maths and the cerebral aspects, the final ethical and emotional issues?

RAMCHAND PAKISTANI

Pakistan, 2008, 103 minutes, Colour.
Syed Fazal Hussein, Navaid Jabbar, Rasheed Farooqui, Nandita Das.
Directed by Mehreen Jabbar.

Ramchand Pakistani was filmed on the border between Pakistan and India. Its characters, unusual for a Pakistani film, are Hindu. They are of the lower caste, poor, eking out a living in the fields and in the towns.

The film is full of local colour. It opens in 2002 with tensions between India and Pakistan. A wilful little boy crosses the border out of curiosity and is taken by the military. His father goes in search for him and he too is arrested, tortured as a spy and the two are sentenced to jail. Overall they spend more than four years in jail. Meanwhile the mother has to pay off the debts of the husband working for an owner in the fields for three years.

The film is very well acted, especially by the younger boy as Ramchand. The older boy carries on this performance very successfully.

The film is strong about children’s rights, especially treatment by police and in jail for such a long period. The film is also strong on arbitrary imprisonment and treatment of prisoners. However, as the time goes on, the inmates become more sympathetic and the guards get used to their prisoners and are a touch more friendly. There is also a rather hard-headed woman policeman who tutors the young boy.

While the film takes an anti-Indian stance, it is designed for both Pakistani and Indian audiences – presenting dire situations but in a softer way, acceptable for a very wide audience.

1.Universal message about equality, classes, imprisonment, treatment of prisoners, treatment of children?

2.The border setting? The desert, the fields, the town? The police outpost? The prison sequences? The nature of the prison, the cell, the yard? The contrast with the town, the shops, the homes? The countryside and people on the move? The musical score and atmosphere?

3.The time span: 2002, tensions between India and Pakistan? 2006 and the change of attitude, exchange of prisoners? Possibilities of mutual understanding and peace? Or not? Ordinary people and their attitudes, bitterness, bigotry? The issue of caste and the lowest castes? The importance of the focus on Hindu characters? The contrast with Muslim characters? India and Pakistan and Hinduism and Islam?

4.The establishment of the family, Dalits? The lowest caste, Untouchable? The attitude of the people in the town? The attitude of the soldiers, of the woman policeman and her suspicions and disdain of Ramchand?

5.The family, the father and his teaching, working in the fields? The mother, uneducated yet loving? Their spoiling their son? His brattish behaviour, his attitude towards his father, the pen, not going to school? His demands to his mother? His wandering off, going across the border? His being taken by the police? His bewilderment, wanting his parents?

6.The father, his going in search of his son, crossing the border, being taken? Suspicions of being a spy, the interrogations, held upside down, the torture? The boy seeing this? The assumption that he was a spy? His imprisonment, their not being registered and so not on any list for exchange?

7.The mother, her grief, searching for her son, the family and their reactions? The sympathetic vendor, caring for the mother, finding the boy’s whistle? Her avoiding him, the gradual change, sympathy? The criticisms of her family? Her hiding, not going away with the family? Her husband’s debt, the loan, the demands on repayment, her finally selling the bull, working in the fields for so many years to pay the debt? Her final declaration?

8.The Indian soldiers, Hussein in charge, sympathetic or not? The various officers, Deepak and Lalu? The woman, her being assigned to tutor Ramchand? Their behaviour towards the Indian and towards the Pakistanis?

9.Life in the prison, crowded, the cell, sleeping on the mats? The variety of prisoners and their personalities – the mad man eating paper? The fat man and his growing sympathy? The old man and his death? The professor and his being a predator, his luring Ramchand, Ramchand’s refusal, his father attacking him? The variety of people and their backgrounds? Life in the prison, interactions, in the yard?

10.Ramchand, his age, in prison, his coping? His being trained by the woman, cleaning, protecting her and Deepak and their meetings? Learning English, drawing? The bond between the two despite her severity in manner and her disdain of the lower caste? The years passing, his admiration for her? Getting the videos? Her decision to leave, going to marry Deepak? The farewell, the embrace, the promise to write letters? The effect of this woman on Ramchand? A mother substitute?

11.Shankar, simple man, a good man, searching for his son, interrogated, in prison, his caring for him, wanting the best? His exasperation, blaming his son for all that had happened? The years passing? His son’s sympathy for him, riding the bike?

12.The false news about their being released, the hopes, return to prison, the mistake? The years passing? The final list, Shankar not on the list, Ramchand’s reaction? His being prepared to leave? His voyage home in the bus, going to find his mother, the reunion?

13.The comment on prisoners, treatment of prisoners? Prejudice?

14.Life in the village, the families, the work, support? The difficulties?

15.The final information, the family reunited? A traumatic experience for a young boy? The years of break for the family and their life? The film’s comment about Indian -Pakistani relationships?

ARRANCAME LA VIDA (TEAR THIS HEART OUT)

Mexico/Spain, 2008, 107 minutes, Colour.
Ana Claudia Talacon.
Directed by Roberto Sneider.

Based on a popular Mexican novel, and with a song that is sung towards the end of the film when the lyrics clearly indicate the life of the central character, this nationalist and feminist drama was one of the five final contenders for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, 2008.

It is quite a lavish production, considered one of Mexico's most expensive. It recreates life in that country in the 1930s and 40s with attention to design, costumes, sets and a sense of period, also with the music and songs.

At the centre is a very strong young woman, Catalina. As played by Ana Claudia Talencon (the star of The Crime of Fr Amaro), she has to age from 15 to 30, an uneducated but shrewd girl who is seduced by a violent and ruthless general from the Revolution but who is a match for him at every step of their marriage and his career as politician, governor of the state of Puebla and minister in Mexico City. She has a lot to learn when she accompanies the general to the ocean and then has to learn about sexuality, when she agrees to his brusque command to marry him, when she is pregnant and discovers his infidelities, when he makes her a minister for health care and she takes it seriously and listens to complaints about him. She decides at times to leave but does not. She knows she can do better things for people, but she doesn't. She falls in love with an orchestra conductor but, of course, it is ill-fated.

Nevertheless, as the film ends and she still has much of her life before her, all kinds of possibilities and freedom open up. She has triumphed in self-assertion in a macho culture.

The film plays like a lower-key saga because most of the violence in politicking and destruction of enemies takes place off screen because the story is that of Catalina. He cruel husband is the supporting character.

While the action takes place rather rapidly and the film is not overlong, we still get a sense of the crises that Mexico went through during this period as well as experience of a woman who is something of a Scarlet O'Hara survivor of her day.

1.Mexican history, a Mexican saga?

2.The production values, sets, period, the 30s and 40s, the cities, the countryside, wealth and poverty, politics, the arts? The musical score, classics and local music?

3.The title, the song at the end, the lyrics, explaining Catalina’s life?

4.Catalina’s story: the actress ageing from fifteen to thirty, credible? An ordinary Mexican young girl, her voice-over describing her infatuation with Andres, in the arcades? Love for him, her age, relationship with her parents, their keeping quiet, Andres being seductive? Ignoring the rumours about him, having him to a meal with her family? Going to the sea, the exhilaration at the beach, the sexual encounter, his reactions, her wanting to have feelings? Going to the fortune teller, the sex education? His not proposing, arriving, demanding to marry her? The marriage ceremony? Her not being educated, but shrewd? The wedding breakfast, demanding the orange juice, her father supporting her? Going home with Andres, life, the social whirl, wealth, her pregnancy, his arrest and the tension, his release? Her relationship with the young boy? Time passing, the children, the elections and campaigns, with Andres, his wanting to become governor? His bringing the other children, his sad story about their saintly mother, the lies? Accepting this? His naming her a minister after his election? Her meetings, encountering people, the social concern, the orphanages, the insane women? Complaints about Andres’ treatment of people? Her still campaigning, but his ignoring her? The arrival of the older daughter? Her seeing his mistress in the streets? Demanding to leave, yet not leaving? Going to Mexico City, her not doing the right thing? Andres and his being a minister? The woman complaining about her missing husband and his being discovered murdered? The music, Carlos, the appreciation, his talking with Andres and herself at the table, going to the rehearsals, falling in love, the sexual encounter, not reporting information to Andres? The concert, the murder of Carlos, the images of the marigolds? Going to the fortune teller, getting the poison, the daughter’s wedding day and the forced marriage? Giving Andres the tea, his dying later? The important declaration of her sense of freedom at the end, affirmation of her life at the age of thirty?

5.Andres: His place in the revolution, his reputation, as a general, ruthless? Talking with Catalina at the arcades, flirting, the beach, the sexual encounter, the brusque proposal of marriage, at the table at the wedding breakfast? His life, power, his associates? Murders, arrest? His land deals? As a candidate for governor, the newspapers and the death of the editor? Election, making his wife a minister? Seeing his hard work, administration, money and budgets? His whims? Personal behaviour? His reference to his associates, the rivalries? Catalina and her attitudes, the revelation of the children? Working behind the scenes, wanting the presidency, his manoeuvres for candidacy, losing? The clash with the union leaders? Carlos and the past, his being bored with music, going to the bullfights? His daughter’s arranged marriage? His being poisoned, resigned?

6.His associates, the power plays, money, violence, factions, spying on other factions, the conversations, ruthless action?

7.Carlos, the past link with Andres, conducting the orchestra, the rehearsals, in himself, the union contacts, the affair with Catalina, the field of marigolds, wanting to conduct in Vienna, his death?

8.The children, in this wealthy world, going to school, the arranged marriage, deceiving their father?

9.Catalina’s father, the parents keeping silent about her behaviour, his getting the job, Catalina forbidding it? The effect of his death on Catalina?

10.A portrait of a 20th century woman, women’s issues, strong, in a macho world, self-assertion, the possibilities of freedom?

12 LOTUS

Singapore, 2008, 121 minutes, Colour.
Mindee Ong, Ling Liu, Damos Lim, Hao Hao.
Directed by Royston Tan.

12 Lotus is an exotic Singaporean film. Royston Tan made a number of more realistic films about youth in Singapore, 15, 4.30. He then moved into musical presentations with 881.

12 Lotus is a mixture of Chinese cabaret with American television shows. The musical numbers are staged with American pizzazz even though the language and some of the melodies are Chinese. However, linking the various songs is a basic realistic narrative. The focus is on the getai clubs, the singers and performers. However, a little girl, Lian Hua, wants to be a singer but her gambling father is ruthless in training her, being brutal. She grows up to be a successful singer, encounters a little boy whose mother is just as severe and takes him under her wing. She also falls in love with a singing partner who is taken away to pay the gambling debts of her father. She is also attacked and raped. As she grows older, she does not take care of herself, grows fat and reclusive. Meantime the boy grows up. This is where the film moves between fantasy and reality – the singer in her old age wanting a comeback, encountering a young man (acted by the same performer who did her partner in singing) whom she mentors and who ultimately attacks her to get a jade necklace to pay his debts.

All this is to illustrate a song called 12 Lotus with the film indicating the twelve chapters of poor Lotus’s life, her struggles, her success, her failure, the tragedy of her last days.

The film is interesting as coming from Singapore, but is for tastes for more exotic Asian films.

1.The work of Royston Tan? Realism? Social observation of Singapore? The staging of musical numbers?

2.The settings, the theatres, the gambling houses, homes? The Singapore background?

3.The staging of the songs, costumes and décor, choreography? The mood of the songs, the response of the audiences? The lyrics?

4.12 Lotus as the basic song, an adult song, the child wanting to sing it, not understanding, understanding better as she grew older? The fatalistic development of the song and of Lian Hua’s life?

5.The setting of the getai, the theatre, the singers? Lian Hua’s father, his gambling, playing in the orchestra? His debts? The card players? Lian Hua wanting to sing, her lack of ability, her father beating her?

6.Her growing up, successful as a singer, performing, Ah Long and his attraction towards her, working with her, in love with her? His appeal to her father? Taking on his debts? The gamblers wanting payment, threatening Ah Long, beating him, taking him away? Raping Lian Hua?

7.Lian Hua and the little boy, his dominant stage mother? His nervousness? His performing, growing up, a skilled performer? The friendship between the two?

8.Lian Hua getting older, putting on weight, reclusive? In her home? Her encountering the young man? Reminding him of Ah Long? Taking him in, mentoring him, clothing him? The relationship and her tenderness? His gambling, in debt, the gamblers wanting the money, the threats, the beatings?

9.Lian Hua, her disappointment in the young man? His threatening her, the jade necklace, her refusal, reminding her of her father? His trying to choke her? Swallowing the necklace?

10.Lian Hua, being abandoned, the tragedy of her life? The finale and the flashbacks to the various stages, the chapters of the pitiful lotus’s life?

11.The overall effect of this kind of Asian musical and social realistic experience?

ELDORADO

Belgium, 2008, 80 minutes, Colour.
Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde.
Directed by Bouli Lanners.

Eldorado is a very brief Belgian road film. It is something of a lower-level Waiting for Godot. Ivan is a mechanic who imports cars and discovers a thief in his house. After threatening him, he actually drives him to his parents’ house. However, along the way, they have a breakdown, see a man who collects vintage cars which have killed people, find the addict’s mother and work in her garden, see a naturist who helps them with the towing of the car and the cleaning of the car, get information about their future lives from the collector who has psychic powers. When they arrive in the city, the addict disappears, Ivan buries the dog that they had collected – something which the psychic man had foretold.

The film will appeal insofar as the central characters appeal (and that is not guaranteed). Their meandering adventures are basically good-natured and Ivan is a man who wants to help those in need.

1.The popularity of this film in Belgium, at festivals? Existential? Road film? Buddy film?

2.The Belgian countryside, the fields, the gardens, the roads? The musical score? The songs and the lyrics and their commenting on the characters and actions?

3.The title, the overtones of the search for gold? An elusive goal?

4.Ivan, rough-looking, bulky, his hair? In the car? At home, knowing someone was in the house, threatening Didier? His getting him out from under the bed, not calling the police? Giving him something to eat? Not answering the door? Driving him to the French border? Leaving him on the road? His going about his business, trying to sell a car, the garage mechanics and their saying it wasn’t suitable? His finding Didier on the road, giving him a further lift, stopping at the service station, Didier taking the money and the goods, Ivan following suit? Criticism of the unseen woman who would not serve them? The continued journey, his tying his hair to the top of the car so that he wouldn’t go to sleep? The crash? Sleeping in the woods, in the old barn? The passing van, the help, the naturist and his help, cleaning the car? Continuing to Didier’s home, the conversations with his mother? Their digging the garden and helping? The information from the psychic about their futures? The conversations, revelation of Ivan’s character? Going to the town, dropping Didier, his disappearance? Ivan burying the dead dog? Waiting?

5.Didier, in the house, the reasons for burglarising the house? Giving up his addiction? Wanting the money for the bus? His fears? Bedraggled, thirty years old? In the car, conversation with Ivan? The bond? His being dropped, picked up, stealing the goods? The crash, helping with the car? His mother’s home, his love for his mother, the clash with his father off-screen? Their continuing on, his disappearing in the town?

6.The collector, giving them a lift, helping them with the car, his psychic powers? His collecting cars that had been involved in fatal accidents?

7.The naturist, unconcerned, his help, towing, cleaning the car?

8.The people at the garage, Ivan trying to sell the car, their saying it wasn’t worth buying?

9.Didier’s mother, her concern about her son? Her response to their digging the garden?

10.Except for Didier’s mother, the glimpse of the prostitute in the town, the unseen seller at the service station, a womanless film and world?

11.The road movie and its conventions, in the limited space of Belgium, the comic touches, the conversations – the existential meaning?

12.The meaning of the prologue and its tone, the vagrant who thought he was Jesus, the Messiah, but not coming to be crucified? In what way was Ivan a Christ figure?

THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE

Canada, 2008, 102 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Benoit Pilon.

A serious, worthy and impressive film.

Set in the early 1950s, it takes us into Inuit territory on Baffin Island, the world of snow, ice and hunting. However, TB has become rampant and the warrior, Tivii (a moving and natural performance from actor/sculptor, Natar Ungulaaq, who played the hero of Atarnajuat: The Fast Runner, 2001) has to travel to hospital in Quebec, leaving wife and daughters. He is overwhelmed by the city, buildings, even so many trees that he is not used to on the vast ice plains. He does not speak French. He is not accustomed to the food, the manners, the attitudes of the whites. While he does settle after trying to run away, his healing takes a long time.

The hospital is a Catholic hospital managed by sisters who are both stern and kindly. The doctor is harrassed with so many patients. However, Carole, a sympathetic nurse befriends him and transfers a young Inuit boy to his ward. At last he can communicate with words.

The film has something of a serious, documentary tone, indicating the background of the director. We are immersed in the hospital along with Tivii and empathise with his experiences and the strangeness of what he finds – which raises all kinds of questions of inculturation and respect for different races and cultures.

Tivii wants to adopt the boy when he goes home and is helped by a sympathetic priest with questions from the rather formal bishop. This more even-handed presentation of the Church of the period is something of a relief after the (necessary) stories of abuse and mistreatment by church officials.

This theme is reminiscent of La Neuvaine (The Novena, 2005) where its agnostic director wanted to indicate that French Canada too quickly let go of its long French Catholic beliefs and traditions and is the poorer, culturally, for that. In fact, The Necessities of Life as written by Bernard Emond, the writer-director of La Neuvaine.

The Necessities of Life was Canada's official Oscar entry for 2008 and was listed amongst the final ten. SIGNIS Commendation, Washington DC, 2009.

1.A Canadian film? French Canada? Eskimos? French- Canadian culture, traditional native cultures? The past? For the 21st century?

2.The period? Baffinland, Quebec, the hospitals, the TB ward? The more formal period? Costumes and décor, hospitals, the church? The solemn score?

3.The title, the necessities of life in general, for the Eskimo, material needs, seals, caribou? Or something deeper? Illness, life and death?

4.The introduction to Eskimo life: Tivili and the hunt, the flying geese, about to shoot, the sound of the boat? The Eskimos lining up for the x‑rays, the babies with the illness, Tivili and his having to leave his wife and children, the three months’ travel in the boat, arrival in Quebec?

5.Quebec, the car, Tivili looking at the buildings, the trees, getting out of the car? In the ward, the language difficulties, his bewilderment, his bed and pyjamas, the reaction of the others, not particularly friendly, laughing at his awkwardness, trying to eat the spaghetti, the cutlery?

6.The staff, the doctor and his hard work, sixty patients a day, saying he was not a missionary? The nuns, nice, stern? Carole and her friendliness? The cleaning of the beds when the patients died? The atmosphere of the ward? The audience being immersed in the life of the ward?

7.Tivili in himself, his age, family bonds, his illness? Having to stay a year or two, and the illustration from the calendar? The language and the impossibility of communicating? Having to cope, adapt? His illness and the treatment, the interviews with the doctor? The difficulties of eating, the food, so different from what he was used to? Difficulties in communication? Joseph appreciating his drawings? His ability with mending the watches? His leaving, three days in the snow, eating and collapsing? Carole and her bringing Kaki into the ward, talking with him, the language, the bond? Carole and her kindness? His asking her about sex and her angry reaction? Becoming more formal, for the injection? Her later getting over it, her kindness? Her smile? Kaki and his illness, the illustration of the string games and the mythology? The operation? Tivili wanting to adopt Kaki? The discussion with the priest, going to the bishop, the religious questions, the permit to adopt, his seeing through what the priest was doing in giving the bishop false information? His comment on Christianity – perhaps your tales are true? Kaki’s death and his grief? The funeral, feeling sad that Kaki was buried away from the open spaces of his own country? The farewell in the hospital, to the different people in the ward, the watchmaker giving him the present? His thanks to Carole? Back home, with his family, with his wife? A personalised story?

8.Kaki and his illness, in the ward, talking with Tivi? The white culture background, the meals, the radio? Yet his innate Eskimo nature? Sharing with Tivili, the string games, the operation, his growing ill, the issue of adoption, his wanting it, his sudden death?

9.The people in the ward, the fat man and his laughing, his escaping, his collapse? Joseph, his friendship, the drawings, his being able to leave? The old watchmaker?

10.Carol as a good woman, nurse, in the ward, skill at her work, language issues, her finding ways to explain things? Bringing Kaki, her reaction to the sex question, her later relenting? The operation? The funeral, her laying the wreath? The farewell?

11.The doctors, the nuns? The missionary priest, his background, the language, knowing Tivili’s relations, the cultural respect? The interview with the bishop, the shrewdness in giving the answers? The bishop and his formal Catholic questions? The funeral?

12.The background of the writer and of the director in documentary, fiction? The French- Canadian tradition, contemporaries losing that old Catholic tradition? Compassion, insight, for 21st century sensibilities?

MAN ABOUT DOG

Ireland, 2004, 85 minutes, Colour.
Allen Leech, Tom Murphy, Ciaran Nolan, Fionnula Flanagan, Sean Mc Ginley, Pat Shortt.
Directed by Paddy Breathnach.

Man About Dog is a brief Irish shaggy dog story – although it is set in the world of greyhound racing.

The film focuses on three slackers, Irish style, Northern Ireland style. They are portrayed by Allan Leech, Tom Murphy and Ciaran Nolan, three unemployed oddballs in their own way. One, Cerebral Paulsy, is genial but slow. Ciaran Nolan as Scud Murphy is luckless, accident-prone, but self-confident. The hero is Allen Leech’s Mo Chara, who has a feel for greyhounds.

There are various complications in this rather picaresque story including Sean Mc Ginley as a crooked greyhound owner and bookie and Fionnula Flanagan as a widow who wants to get revenge on the bookie. There is also a crowd of gypsies and their buying the greyhound from the slackers and the slackers taking it back – including threats of death from both sides in the greyhound should win.

Needless to say it all works out. The film is very Irish in tone, humour, the kind of swearing and profanity that one has become used to from Irish films like The Commitments…

The film was directed by Paddy Breathnach who made an impact with the Irish film I Went Down, who also made Blow Dry as well as horror films including Shrooms.

1.The appeal for an Irish audience? Beyond Ireland? Irish language, accent, humour? Swearing? Earthiness?

2.The Northern Ireland settings, the town, homes, the countryside? The racetracks? A realistic feel? The musical score?

3.The title, the phrase, dogs and men? Dogs as pets, the racetrack, greyhound racing, training, betting, fixing races? The emphasis on dogs?

4.Mo and his voice-over, commentary about himself, his family, his prospects? His comments on Scud Murphy and his lucklessness? On Cerebral Paulsy and his slowness? His comment on the events, his interpretation? His character, reliable or not? Slacker, with his friends? With J.P.Mc Callion and the fixing of the race? The reward of the dog, the scroungy dog? Their disgust? Olivia watching, contacting them? The proposal to beat Mc Callion? Their success?

5.Mc Callion, the bookie, his cohorts, fixing races, his own dog, the drugs, the substitutions? Getting the boys to do his dirty work? Tricking them with the dog? The clash with Olivia? His pursuing the boys, threatening them? His hold over them, the violence? The finale and his being defeated?

6.Olivia, the widow, her anger at being beaten by Mc Callion? Her inviting the boys over, promising them a dog, their achievement, her giving them the greyhound?

7.Cerebral Paulsy, drugs, slow, friendship? His being semi-stoned most of the time? His contribution to the action? The contrast with Scud, his van and selling goods, the seductive woman, in her house, the kids raiding his van, it being loosed, crashing down the street? Angry reactions? His run of bad luck?

8.The story: the dog, it being a failure, chasing rabbits, the hare, their wanting to get rid of it? Meeting the gypsies? The deal? The later change of heart, wanting to train it? Kidnapping the dog? The gypsies pursuing them?

9.The picaresque adventures, drinking, travelling, the encounter with the girls in the pub, the sexual encounters?

10.Realising the dog could succeed, training, the plan against Mc Callion, going to the greyhound track? The pursuit by the gypsies, the threats, at the clifftop?

11.Mc Callion and his threats, their being caught between the two groups, both to lose the match as well as to win it?

12.Their dog, its ability, its being hampered by Mc Callion, it chasing the hare, the way that the winnings were seen, turning the hare? The dog’s achievement, overtaking the favourite, winning?

13.The finale, people getting their comeuppance, people being successful? The Irish tongue-in-cheek tone? The tone of the language, the idiom, the humour? How well did it work?

ABBA THE MOVIE

Sweden/Australia, 1977, 100 minutes, Colour.
ABBA, Stig Andersson, Robert Hughes, Tom Oliver.
Directed by Lasse Halstrom.

ABBA the Movie anticipated the MTV and video clips from the 1980s. It is a combination of documentary, concert, interviews and observation of a tour of ABBA in Australia in the mid-70s.

At the time, it was very popular, as was ABBA throughout the world after its victory in the Eurovision contest in 1974 with Waterloo. Their style, their clothes, the popular music made an impact in its time. They were top of the charts for about ten years.

As time passed, other styles of music became popular and ABBA was sometimes parodied. This was very clear in some of the songs in Muriel’s Wedding as well as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. However, twenty-five years after the success in Eurovision, ABBA gained a new lease of life with the stage production of Mamma Mia. It opened in early 1999 and continued to run in London for more than ten years, followed by stagings around the world. It received an extra boost as it opened in New York and Broadway in September 2001 and was seen as something to cheer the New Yorkers after the disaster of September 11.

Thirty-five years after the success of Waterloo in Eurovision, the film version of Mamma Mia, with its top cast led by Meryl Streep, became a record-breaker (the highest-grossing film in UK history).

The songs have remained popular – and the play and the film seem to have ensured a long life for ABBA songs.

This film is a record of the four members of the group in the mid-70s, when they were in their early thirties. They appear as pleasant personalities, joking with each other, with the various people interviewing them. They don’t say anything particularly startling but seem to be pleasant types.

There is a thin narrative thread in the film where a young deejay from a country station is commissioned to get an in-depth interview with them. He is played by Robert Hughes. He is continually missing out on opportunities, arriving late, not having his press card – and has to follow them around Australia for their tour. Into this narrative are inserted a range of songs in concert. The journalist also imagines himself with the group and their singing to him.

Interspersed are scenes of the Australian landscapes as well as key buildings like the Opera House. There are also interviews with the general public – which don’t say anything particularly much but show a sense of how people responded at the time.

Swedish director Lasse Halstrom was in his early thirties when he made this film. He continued to make films in Sweden including My Life as a Dog. However, he moved to the United States and had a very successful career for more than twenty years, peaking at the end of the 1990s with such Oscar-nominated films as The Cider House Rules, Chocolat and The Shipping News.