ZERO TO 60

US, 1977, 97 minutes, Colour.
Darren Mc Gavin, Denise Nickerson, Joan Collins, Sylvia Miles.
Directed by Don Weis.

Zero to 60, as it sounds, is one of the many road films from the United States in the '70s. While it has a focus on youngsters, the film seems to be much more aimed at adults. The star is Darren Mc Gavin, a divorcee who needs money, has his car stolen and is caught up in the repossession industry. This provides for all kinds of stunt work, a strange relationship with a young girl who has left school and has put up her age and is skilful at repossessing cars and driving. There is a focus on romance and Mc Gavin appearing as substitute father. There is also a romance between Mc Gavin and Joan Collins as Gloria, trying to elude the repossessors with her flash car.

There are some guest roles led by Sylvia Miles as the hard-bitten owner of the repossession firm. The Hudson Brothers sing and perform some goonery as her assistants with Vito Scotti. There are some momentary appearances from stars as Dick Martin, Lyle Waggoner as the barman of a gay bar and Gordon MacRae? as a policeman.

The film is fast and inconsequential. Direction is by Don Weis who directed a number of comedies and musicals in the '50s e.g. I Love Melvin, Remains to be Seen and some of the beach party films of the '60s. He worked constantly in television.

ZEPPELIN

UK, 1971, 97 minutes. Colour.
Michael York, Elke Sommer, Peter Carsten, Marius Goring, Anton Diffring.
Directed by Etienne Perier.

Zeppelin is about Zeppelins. The World War I setting is now part of history and as time passes World War I becomes a setting for costume and action adventure. This is straight-forward. action packed adventure that doesn't really suggest any message. The Zeppelin is making a daring attack on Scotland. Although the Germans lose in the end, they do do a massive amount of damage on the way. Michael York is his usual self in the starring role, the Zeppelin is quite spectacular, battle scenes are effectively staged.

1. How enjoyable a film was this? For adults. younger audiences? Why?

2. How much of a "Boys' Own" adventure was this film? Why? Its heroism and story. adventures. war-style. conventions of action, how well were they used. and what response did they elicit from audiences?

3. How well was the budget for this film used? How impressive was its use of colour. Panavision. sets. music? The re-creation of the Zeppelin itself. both outside and inside? The filming of the raids? The aerial photography?

4. What was the atmosphere created by the Zeppelin itself? Its importance for this film? The menace at the start. the raids, the German owning the design of the Zeppelin? Its visual presentation (and musical accompaniment?), the experiments? The Zeppelin in flight and the way it was photographed? Was it a benign instrument of war or a hostile one? Its use in the raid? Its final burning? - the preparations of the British to destroy it. the shooting, incendiary bombs etc.?

5. What attitude towards war did the film have? What response from audiences did it expect? Its treatment of questions of patriotism? Response to the Germans in the First World War? Response to the English? Geoffrey as a focus for the war issues and the patriotism issues?

6. Did Michael York make Geoffrey an attractive hero? In the army? Scotch background? His behaviour and attitude towards war. relationship with fellow soldiers? The way he was used by the higher command? His volunteering. his skill, that he achieved so much in a short time. his amount of luck? How much was due to his ability, how much to luck? His behaviour during the flight, his behaviour during the raid, the risk to his life, his heroism? How heroic was he meant to be?

7. The film's portrayal of the British: as in the right, as good, some of them very slow. the use of the woman spying, the use of Geoffrey, their response to the raids?


8. The portrayal of the Germans - the spy at the beginning, the professor and his wife, the way the Zeppelins were used, the German Commander and his mode of command. the leader of the expeditionary force and his final self-sacrifice, the captain of the Zeppelin, the young soldiers? The use of gas, the skill in the planning of the raid with the refuelling etc.?

9. How much did the success of the film rely on the details of the plot, the details of the Zeppelin, the details of the mission and our being able to follow these? How successful was this?

10. Was the film for or against war? Its attitude towards violence and wars? Or was it just meant to be entertaining and was it successful in being an entertaining adventure?

ZELIG

US, 1983, 75 minutes, Colour and Black and white.
Woody Allen, Mia Farrow.
Directed by Woody Allen.

Zelig is one of Woody Allen's great comedies. However, it is not talked about as much as so many of his lighter comedies. He portrays a character called Leonard Zelig who seems to be present at every significant world event but who always remains anonymously in the background. Woody Allen uses a technique for imposing his presence in historical footage, a device that was used to great effect in Forrest Gump over ten years later.

1. Entertainment? Interest? Impact? Americana? '80s comedy? An exercise in technical expertise?

2. The work of Woody Allen? His comic gifts: verbal, visual? Imagination? In film technique? A woody Allen comedy? A personal statement? The quality of imagination in covering America in the 20th. century? The American Jew? The American Jew adapting to all American situations - and the consequences? Allen's contribution in writing, directing, acting?

3. The relationship of Zelig to other Allen characters? How autobiographical? Similarities? Differences? The Woody Allen character in middle age? Allen's creative interpretation of middle-age crisis?

4. The style of the film as documentary? Audience familiarity with the documentaries of the '70s and '80s? Cinema documentaries? Television documentaries? Allen's imitation, homage, parody? Documentaries as records - and their reliability or lack of it? The importance of editing material - even though presented as objective record? The documentary as interpretation - arbitrary, sound? The message of documentaries? Viewpoint? The range of techniques used for documentary? Strengths, pretensions? Allen mocking the pretensions of the documentary? Allen using the documentary as a device for Zelig's biography and study? Using all the genres in a clever way?

5. The range of technique? A bravura effort - and its effect? The importance of black and white footage - the way that it was used, placed in settings, altered. parodied? Newsreel material? Allen's inserting himself into this material? The silent period and the early sound films re-created with the black and white styles of the times? Speed, movement? Decor. quality of black and white photography? Allen looking at the range of film-making through the decades? The styles of the silent film? The '30s and sound? Official material, archives? Home movies? The Warner Bros. film style with the alleged movie based on Zelig? Clarity, grainy material. archival material ageing? The sequences e.g. with Pius XII, Hitler? Zelig and the chameleon effects - the special effects for him to change? Newspapers? The colour photography for the contemporary interviews - with the television interview style? The psychology interviews and the hidden cameras for the session? Photos, records? Editing. pace, the titles? A feel for American film-making?

6. The use of music: the range of songs, indicating period? The new songs - the Chameleon Song? The record?

7. The contribution of the voice-over: the sound of the voice and the tone, the serious tone, supplying information, giving comment, explaining the action etc? The documentary technique? As a technique for moving the film forward?

8. Woody Allen as Zelig: small. weedy? Offbeat character, the ordinary neurotic, the man who took the shape of those with whom he came in contact. his desperate need to be liked? The nature of the changes - and the political, social, racial range? Zelig as a victim of the 20th. century? The Jewish victim - adapting to all things American? The victim exploited - and then redeemed by Dr. Eudora Fletcher?

9. Zelig presented as facets of the United States: the history of the 20th century, the range of periods, his voice recorded, his shapes photographed? A mirror of America - without explicit judgment? Exploited? The background of his being celebrated -with the echoes of William Randolph Hearst and Citizen Kane? America's needing to be loved - and adapting to those it had need of?

10. How well did the film communicate the atmosphere of the early decades of the century, the migrants,, life in the American cities? The zaniness of the '20s? The financial crash? The Depression? The war?

11. Woody Allen's interest in psychology: using it, its language, the Freudian background? His mocking psychology? His presentation of experts? Faith in experts? Their self-importance? The nature of neuroses and normality? Faith and love curing neuroses? Dr. Fletcher and her interviews with Zelig - and their being filmed and recorded?

12. Allen's tongue-in-cheek parodying of and homage to other film: Reds and the various experts interviewed and their memoirs of Zelig? Citizen Kane and its search for an identity? Bringing Zelig into the life of Hearst? The Warner Bros. films? Allen's own films? Moby Dick? The experts and their witness? The fictionalising of documentary? The comment of real experts -and their playing the game: Irving Howe, Susan Sonntag, Bruno Bettleheim, Saul Bello? The serious-faced authenticity of their comments with irony?

13. Zelig's early life: victim. Jewish. anti-Semitic feeling, persecuted, his parents' dislike of him e.g. locking themselves in with him? His sister and her lover, their exploitation? Deaths? The running joke about Moby Dick? Zelig's gradually taking different shapes? Seeming heroic? The use of the symbol of the chameleon? Crowds for him. his tours. carnival? Public feeling for him? Against him? Stunts? His going and coming in popularity?

14. The comment on the various shapes he took: various historical personages, the fat man, the Chinese, the negro, Indian, Rabbi? The humour of the incidents of his changing shape? The various jokes? Appearing in photos?

15. Zelig as victim: personality-less. corridor. shapes. needs, treatment? The psychological routine. shock treatment, Dr. Fletcher and his becoming a psychologist. a loser, exploited. loved, reverting, saved? The incidents dramatised in the alleged Warner Bros. film?

16. Dr. Fletcher and her memoirs from the present? Her being seen as a historical personage in the silent footage? The comments on her work? Character? The filmed and recorded interviews? Her insights into helping Zelig? The romance? The rescue? The times at San Simeon? Happiness? The humorous irony of the sister as a flier, the dramatic plane rescue? The photography and its use later? Her mother and the humorous comments on her growing up, the sense of the ridiculous in her comments on her daughter? Mia Farrow's presence, entering into the humour and tone of the film?

17. The significance of the Hitler segments? In relationship to the United States, appeasement? In relationship to the Jews? The mockery of Hitler? The use of archival footage? The insertion of Zelig and Dr. Fletcher? The heroic rescue? The clever use of film techniques as well as comment?

18. How well did the film work as entertaining story? As symbol? As fable?

ZAPPED

US, 1983, 93 minutes, Colour.
Scott Baio, Willie Aames.
Directed by Robert J. Rosenthal.

Zapped is an example of American film-making designed for the teenagers of the early '80s. It has the campus setting (echoes of Grease and less reputable campuses as those where you have Fast Times at Ridgemont High). The teenagers in this school are more clean-cut than many others - especially in the form of television's Scott Baio and Willie Aames. The girls are attractive - but probably older. The teachers are the usual inane crowd - with Sue Anne Langdon making a daffy reappearance.

The content of the film is minimal ~ Scientist Scott accidentally discovers a power to un-zap things, especially girls' clothes. It is used against bullies and to win baseball matches. This is the kind of thing that was popular with Disney films - variations on The Invisible Man and Flubber. The tone of the film has an emphasis on sex. In fact, Willie Aames is a real Don Juan round the school with teachers and pupils. He upstages a Robert Redford lookalike. Scatman Crothers is also there to give some black rhythm and Elderly jokes to the proceedings.

All in all, an example of briskly-made inane shenanigans - with a snicker.

ZAZIE DANS LE METRO

France, 1960, 88 minutes, Colour.
Catherine Demongeot, Philippe Noiret.
Directed by Louis Malle.

Zazie dans le Metro is one of Louis Malle's earliest films. One of the New Wave directors, he made a number of significant films in the '60s: The Lovers, Le Feu Follet. He then moved into international productions with Viva Maria. In the 170s he made the striking Murmur of the Heart and Lacombe Lucien before moving to the united States for Pretty Baby, My Dinner with Andre, Atlantic City (Oscar nomination).

With his New Wave films, he mirrored the despair, self-probing and bleak outlooks of French cinema at the time. With this film, he uses all the devices of cinema techniques, homage to many films (including La Dolce Vita, Hiroshima Mon Amour as well as echoes of such comedies as the Marx Brothers, Mack Sennett - and especially cartoons). The effect is still quite dazzling.

The film shows the myriad capabilities of cinema techniques and editing. The star is Philippe Noiret, a very young Noiret who was to make an impression in many French and Italian films over several decades. The young Catherine Demongeot is the precocious Zazie of the title - a very blunt and direct young lady who speaks her mind and acts quite wilfully. The film is an interesting contrast to the more ponderous and solemn French cinema of the early 160s.

1. An entertaining film? A tour de force of film technique and film-making and editing? French cinema in the '60s? The New Wave and its style, content, probing? The humour of the film - French but universal?

2. The work of Louis Malle and his role in the New Wave, the Gallic touch? His serious movies - black and white, sombre, slow moving? The contrast with fast-paced comedy techniques? The film in retrospect of Malle's career for more than two decades?

3. The New Wave and changes in French cinema: content and technique, entertainment?

4. The film's display of technique: colour photography, special effects, screen compositions, pace and editing, humorous devices? The cast and the dramatising of stereotypes, the highlighting of idiosyncrasies? Postures and poses? Farce and the influence of silent comedies? Imagination? Verbal bluntness? Visual jokes? The influence of cartoons? The range of genres - comedy, farces, domestic dramas, chase films, gangsters etc and audience expectations?

5. The background of comic strips and cartoons? Characters and caricatures? Swift changes, multi-appearances, chases? Oneupmanship?

6. Paris as setting: the trains, the strike in the Metro, the cars jammed in the streets, hotels, the streets, people, nightclubs, the Eiffel Tower, tourist buses? The joke with the same building reappearing? The joke about Parisians knowing their city or not? A delightful city, an exasperating city?

7. Entering the action via the train and leaving Paris? The mother and her boyfriends? The skit on the wild weekend of the mother? Zazie as daughter of her mother? Zazie's two days in Paris? Her wanting to ride the Metro - and her frustration? Zazie and her uncle discovering her? The pace of her visit, expectations - an ironic tourist trip?

8. The character of Zazie: small, her dynamic arrival, her dislike of the Metro being on strike, banging the gates etc., causing trouble, her strong determination, loud and blunt? Charles and his woebegone taxi? The hotel and her irritating Turandot? Albertine and Gabriel looking after her? Meals? Sleep? Giving cheek? Wandering in the morning? Turandot following her and her setting the crowd on him as if he were a child molester? The encounter with Trouscaillon? Accusing him of being a molester? Buying the blue jeans? The Meal and splashing him with mussels? The long chase and the cartoon devices? The encounter with the wealthy lady and the car pursuit? Questioning her uncle about his homosexuality? The Eiffel Tower and the encounter with Charles and her attack on his manliness? The club - the chaos and her sleeping through it? Audience expectations of the child and her behaviour? Her reaction to adults? A funny performance?

9. Philipe Noiret as Gabriel? His fussiness at the film's opening, the emphasis on the stink? The encounter with Zazie? The taxi? At home and his being waited on by Albertine? His meals? Reaction to Zazie's bluntness? Trying to reassure Turandot and the others? The sleep-in and his talking to his friends about the good old days of the war? The police finding him in bed? Searching out Zazie? The humorous interlude of the Eiffel Tower and his losing his glasses - the collage of his dangerous routines and his incessant talk? His wanting to get to the club, the widow infatuated with him, the rehearsal for the show? Albertine and the dress? The telephone calls and Charles' proposal? The final chaos? The poking fun at masculine images -his impersonation in the club, the macho image as he is waited on by Albertine? Albertine

10. Albertine and her relationship to Gabriel? Waiting on him hand and foot? Making his dresses? Her appearance and mode of speaking and walking like a model for a shop window? The policeman attracted to her? Her attraction for the girl at the hotel? The motor cycle ride to bring the dress? Chaos in the club and her helping people to escape?

11. Charles and his taxi, his infatuation with Mado in the hotel? The Eiffel Tower and Zazie’s provocation? The phone calls and the engagement?

12. Turandot and his anger? Chasing Zazie? The comedy of the chase? Her turning the tables on him, accusing him of being a molester? People passing on the gossip from ear to ear?

13. Trouscaillon and his fussiness, the encounter with Zazie, buying the jeans, talking frankly with her, the meal and his being splashed (and Zazie throwing away the pearl as irrelevant)? Talk, the chase and its myriad detail? His being a policeman? Chasing Albertine? The widow and her infatuation with him? His leading the attack in the chaos at the club?

14. The widow and her fashionable dress, old style, the car and her leaving it, the pursuit of Gabriel and Zazie's question about the homosexuality? The various visuals for the car in the traffic? The final chase in the end?

15. The bus, the tourists, the variety of tourists and the jokes, the Eiffel Tower, the three girls chasing Gabriel - in the bus? The crashes?

16. The chaos at the end - farcical, symbolic?

17. The humour, the innuendo, bluntness and directness? The attack on hypocrisy?

18. The overall effect of the cinematic experience - and the humour?

ZATOICHI

Japan, 2003, 116 minutes, Colour.
Beat Takeshi, Tadanoubu Asano.
Directed by Takeshi Kitano.

Zatoichi is a popular legendary figure in Japan. He was the focus of a television series in the 70s and 80s. Takeshi Kitano is one of Japan's best known directors, celebrated right around the world. His is especially noted for his violent films about crime (although he can also do comedy). His best known and acclaimed work is Hana-bi, which won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1997. Kitano is also a strong actor and an illustrator as well as a television personality.

Some of this is evident in his choices of how to portray Zatoichi. He has platinum blond hair, he is blind, he has a red-lacquered cane. He is a remote kind of character, a masseur who wanders the countryside and yet who is a master swordsman. He finds a village which is terrorised by gangs and, staying in the house of a simple woman, he emerges to confront the members of the gang (with computer-generated blood effects which are more than a touch gory) and to save the day by freeing the village of the tyranny of the gangs. In some ways, the plot is reminiscent of Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (and the American version, The Magnificent Seven). Zatoichi, although he has some help, is the magnificent One.

The film takes up familiar themes from the Samurai days, especially the victimisation of poor people in the countryside and their need for some kind of hero to save them. There is a subplot with two sisters wandering the countryside trying to avenge the leader of the gangs who killed their parents. These combine with Zatoichi for a grand finale.

Kitano is very interested in music and with a scene of farmers working in the field, he choreographs their movements to the sound of the background music, giving a humorous but striking effect. He does it again at the end when we see the builders at work on a new house. This then makes a transition into an extraordinary finale, like a Japanese Riverdance, with a whole troupe of people in festival clothes tap-dancing on a stage. It rounds off a very interesting and spectacular Samurai action adventure film.

1. The popularity of Takeshi Kitano as director and actor? Writing his own screenplays? His presentation of himself in centre screen and imposing characters?

2. The Japanese legends of Zatoichi, the master swordsman, going around the villages helping people? His appearance, his hair, his red cane? His being a gambler? His being blind? The opening and his sitting on the rock, the little boy taking his cane, his confrontation with the gang and destroying them?

3. The musical score, the particular sequences in the field and in the building with the choreography of movement and sound? The impact of the grand finale with the tap-dancing?

4. The presentation of the village, the gang members demanding protection money, the people unable to pay, the violence of the gangs? The bosses and their control? Their greed? The arrival of the Ronin in the village, his rapid swordwork, the demonstration for the boss and the sword between his toes? The woman in attendance? Her illness? Her devotion and not wanting him to take the work? His being employed as a bodyguard?

5. The effect on the townspeople, the old woman and her being harassed by the gangs? Her return home? Her meeting Zatoichi, his carrying the load, her inviting him into the home, his making it his base? Her gambling nephew and his friendship? The young fat man who ran around the houses trying to be a warrior?

6. Zatoichi and his gambling, his going into the town, watching (though blind) the results of the games, his participation, his winnings? His staying with the people and learning of their difficulties?

7. The two sisters, their sitting at the resting place, their sudden killing of the gang member? Their staying in the town, their ability at dancing, their charming the bosses, their waiting their move for revenge? The scenes of dancing, the young girl dancing with them? The irony that one of them was a man? The discovery by the nephew - his questions, the bath, his even trying makeup himself? The finale and the two women going to dance for the bosses, knowing their identities? Their having been tricked, the gang surrounding them, their possible deaths, Zatoichi arriving and saving the day?

8. The bodyguard and his role in the town, his encounter with Zatoichi, Zatoichi fending off his sword? His woman and her continued pleas for him to stop? His wondering whether he could beat Zatoichi?

9. The gang bosses, their ruthlessness, their wealth? The members of the gang and their loyalty, their brutality? Zatoichi and the various confrontations with the gang members, the massacres?

10. The build-up to the confrontation, Zatoichi and his always arriving on time, his swift swordwork? The scene where he was set upon by the gang member to test the sword and his breaking the sword and besting him?

11. The deaths of the gang leaders, his searching out the bosses of bosses, the confrontation, their deaths after taunting him?

12. His return to the house, its being burnt down by the vengeful gangs? The death of the Ronin, his woman killing herself?

13. Japanese tragedy, deaths, fatalism, suicide? The ancient days and the rules of the gangs and the bosses, the impotence of ordinary people? The need for heroes?

14. The scene of the building, brighter, a new life for everybody, freedom? The music to the beat of the builders, the stage, the troupe coming on and tap-dancing, a zestful finale to the film?

ZANDY'S BRIDE

US, 1974, 116 minutes, Colour.
Gene Hackman, Liv Ullmann, Eileen Heckart, Susan Tyrrell, Harry Dean Stanton, Sam Bottoms.
Directed by Jan Troell.

Jan Troell made a number of significant films in his native Sweden, especially the epic films The Emigrants and The New Land starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. These were sweeping sagas of Sweden in the 19th century and migration and hopes in the new land of the United States.

He returns to something of the same themes, on a less grand scale, with Zandy’s Bride. Zandy Allen is a pioneer in the 19th century America and purchases a mail-order bride from Sweden. The film shows the male attitudes of the 19th century, the domination of the male, treating his wife as a mail-order response, as a possession. The film is ugly in its presentation of the lack of respect and humanity for the woman. However, Liv Ullmann portrays Hannah Lund as a strong woman and the film shows the interaction between the two. Gene Hackman, of course, is persuasive in the central role of Zandy. The film also has a strong supporting cast with character actors like Eileen Heckart, Susan Tyrrell and Harry Dean Stanton.

The film is interesting in its presentation of rugged pioneer life, of battles between the sexes, of the need for humanity, love and respect.

1. Who was the central character in this film - Zandy or Hannah? How important is the answer for a perspective on the film?

2. How enjoyable? How beautiful? How real? The basic message?

3. How well did the film use location photography? colour and beauty? The sense of reality of the Big Sur countryside? the mountain during the credits? use of the musical commentary (the fact that the film was made by a Swede and not an American?

4. What kind of man was Zandy? Could audiences identify with him? Could he be explained by the rugged environment in which he grow up? Why did he want a bride? Why did he want someone to work and be a sex object? Did he have any idea of love? How masculine was he? How male dominating? How selfish? Why was he at a loss how to communicate with Hannah? Why was this unrelenting and that he could not learn? The sequence of his raping Hannah and the results of this? What good qualities did he have? Industry, the building up of his farm?

5. How attractive was Hannah? Our first seeing her? Comparison with Zandy? background from the East? the lies about her age, her desire for marriage and having a house of her own, her response to Zandy, credible? Why did she resisted him sexually? How important was the value of love for her? Was she selfish in any way? Did she do her duty? What attractive qualities were there about her?

6. How well did the film portray the isolation of this pioneer age? The background of settling in California, the hard work and courage necessary? The value of owning one’s own things and building a life? What values were being explored here? Well?

7. Comment on the portrayal of the Big Sur society - in their isolated farms, the gathering at the picnic. the bar-b-que, the clothes that they wore, the food, the ship coming in and getting supplies, the shops in the town, the dances, the spirit of this society, their sharing and supporting of one another, and yet so primitive? Values presented and explored?

8. The importance of Zandy's father for the film? Their relationship and marriage as model of marriage for him? The harshness of their relationship, yet its moments of tenderness? The relationship of each to Zandy? The fact that he ran back to them? The advice they gave? The contrast of Zandy and his brother? The importance of Zandy's eventually supporting Hannah? Why not sooner? The mother as a help in the
reconciliation?

9. The dramatic importance of Maria for the film? In herself, Mexican, slatternly, as a sex object for Zandy and model for his relationship to Hannah? encounter during the dance? the relationship between Maria and Hannah? Her going?

10. The importance of the separation for Zandy, for Hannah? What did it effect? Hannah’s ability to support herself, especially the garden? the emotional impact of Zandy, running the cattle through the garden? How central for the theme of male/female relationships and love and exasperation?

11. What did Zandy learn in San Francisco? How was he changed by being away from Hannah? Repentance and remorse? The importance of the gifts? his change of heart? Why?

12. The importance of the babies for Hannah? For Zandy? the support of the family in the birth of the babies?

13. The importance of love as it eventuated from this? What insight into relationships did it give?

14. What future did Zandy and Hannah have?

15. What ware the most important themes explored in this film?

ZAMAN, THE MAN WHO LIVED IN THE REEDS

Iran/France, 2003, 75 minutes, Colour.
Sami Kaftan.
Directed by Amer Alwan.

An Iraqi/French co-production, filmed in January, 2003, as America and the Coalition prepared to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein. The director has stated that he wants his film to be a message of love to all people and he avoids blaming Americans or the former dictatorship. He wants to show images of Iraq and its people, other than those so often seen in the media. Of course, his film takes on an added significance in the hindsight of the war and its aftermath..

The film is simplicity itself, a film about goodness. Zaman is a man of the marshes, a long-believed location of the garden of Eden, the marshes at the junction of the Tigris and the Euphrates. It is a striking land and waterscape, all the sadder for its drying up and the people being relocated. It was a favourite place of the director who offers a prologue to the film, introducing us to the marshes, their wildlife and their beauty.

Zaman wakes, goes about his river ablutions, greets his ailing wife, the boy he has adopted after his parents were killed in a bombing raid, goes about his work with thatching the reeds and takes his wife to the doctor and learns that he needs to travel to Baghdad for medicine. His journey takes him into the bustle of the city, to pharmacies that do not stock what he wants and to the Catholic hospital where Allah and providence and a kind assistant get him the medicine rather than the cavalier director. Then back again.

Sami Kaftan's Zaman is a man of bearing and dignity, of faith and prayer, of a tradition of workers who do not deserve to be caught up in the oppression of Saddam (whose pictures appear frequently but which soon will be torn down). We hear snippets of news from the radio, about Congress and its budget allotments for the war. We hear the jets flying overhead. But life must go on and it is to the credit of this film that it offers a picture of a traditional and simple way of life, of basic values and humanity in a land that was headlines at the time of filming and continues to be.

1. The impact of the film? Made just before the outbreak of the war in Iraq? Life in Iraq, the marshlands, the city, the anticipation of war?

2. The location photography, the marshlands? The prologue, the director and the commentary, his own personal love for the terrain? The land, the reeds, the water?

3. The people who lived on the marshes, their way of life, homes, work in thatching the reeds? The women and their keeping care of the house? Friends, neighbours, care? The adoption of the boy whose parents were killed in the war? The children in the village?

4. The contrast with the city of Baghdad, the bus ride, the crowded streets, the markets, the traffic? The shops, the hospital? The people, unfriendly? Friendly?

5. Zaman and his age, experience, long life in the marshes? His tender love for his wife, his adopting the boy, his work? His dignity, the daily routine, washing, breakfast, the talk with the boy, work?

6. Taking his wife to the doctor, the need for the medicine? His decision to go to Baghdad? The experience in Baghdad, the trip, walking the town, asking at the pharmacies? His going to the hospital, the attendant, her attitude, his returning to get the medicine, his gratitude, his prayer for the director? His return, the gifts that he brought back?

7. The morning, beginning his routine, his wife not up, discovering her dead? His silent grief, going out to the boy, their sitting under the tree, the boy repeating his words about the palm tree, still there, fruitful? Feeding people? The advice that he had given to the boy?

8. The portrait of the wife, getting up in the morning, the mirror, her illness? Getting the breakfast? The doctor? The neighbour taking care of her? The return, his gift, the medicine? The pathos of her silent death?

9. The boy, his background, grieving, sullen, with the other children? In the household? With Zaman, Zaman giving his advice - and the boy giving him his advice back?

10. The attendant at the hospital, the regulations, her compassion for Zaman, her interactions with the director, his wanting to cover up things, her decision to give the medicine to Zaman, even without cost? Zaman never knowing the actions of the director?

11. The atmosphere of prayer, the daily prayer, Zaman in the morning, the God-language of blessing? His visit to the mosque in Baghdad, the beauty of the mosque, the people praying? His sleeping the night on the mat? The permeating of Iraqi society by Islam? Surface, depth?

12. The intimations on radio about the war, the American Congress, Jacques Chirac and other nations? The planes flying overhead?

13. Audience knowledge of what happened in 2003, the toppling of Saddam (and all the photos of him and pictures of him in Baghdad)? The change of regime? The occupation? The people in the marshlands? The drying up of the marshlands and the moving of the people?

14. A chance to see the people of Iraq?

ZACHARIAH

US, 1971, 93 minutes, Colour.
John Rubenstein, Barry Melton, Patricia Quinn, Don Johnson, Country Joe Mc Donald, Dick van Patten.
Directed by George Englund.

Zachariah is a somewhat surreal experience. While the film is set in the 19th century American west, replete with gunfighters, it is also about music groups and electricity and electrical guitars. The 19th century with a 20th century touch!

Zachariah is a 20th century antihero, rather in the vein of the late 1960s. The film emerged in the aftermath of action in the Vietnam War and the peace movement as well as the hippie movement. In this sense, it is a picture of the mentality of the times but now appears somewhat dated and very eccentric.

The film uses the conventions of the west as well as the conventions of rock concerts to make its point about peace, violence and relationships. The film stars John Rubenstein as Zachariah and features a role early in the career of Don Johnson.

The film was directed by George Englund who is better known as a producer (Shoes of the Fisherman). He directed comparatively few films but made the significant The Ugly American with Marlon Brando in 1963 and Signpost to Murder in 1964. His subsequent career included several telemovies including A Christmas to Remember.

1. The purpose of this film, Western, musical, look at the traditional western? For what audience was it made - 1970,71? Now? A film of its time?

2. The theatrical background of the screenplay, improvised script, theatrical sketches and parodies etc.? Musical concerts?

3. How well did the film use the Western setting for contemporary issues of making love and not war, the difference between the generations, seventies' values?

4. The importance of the music, the electrical musical equipment and electricity in the 19th century? The 19th century with a 20th century touch?

5. The film's use of colour, Western settings, the ranches, the mountains and the desert, the town and its artificiality?
The continued contrast of naturalness and artificiality? The environment as a comment on the American West and its heritage?

6. Audience involvement in the conventional structure of the film, the ranch, the family, heroes, the arrival of the gun and its leading to violence, the taste for adventure, Western gangs, the old man as a recluse, the contrast with Belle Starr, Matthew and his involvement in violence, the inevitable shootout? how did the film use these conventions, for what purpose were they changed, how were they parodied, even condemned?

7. What kind of person was Zachariah? How sympathetic, a 20th century anti-hero in the 19th? The traditional background in the ranch, his work and his friends, the mail order gun and his fascination with the gun? His ambition to be a gunfighter? His name? What did he experience as he went through the West? Was he a strong or a weak character? The encounter with the gangs, with the old man trying to persuade him not to be violent, the involvement with Belle Starr and sexuality, the men in the town and violence? His looking for his identity through his adventures? Relationships and friendship? His friendship with Matthew, losing him, the confrontation? The meaning of his life, its futility? What did he learn ultimately from the old man? As a character of the West, a type?

8. The character of Matthew? The potential for good, the fascination with violence, sharing Zachariah's ambition to be top gunfighter, involvement with the gangs, his shooting of Job Cain, the inevitable confrontation with Zachariah? as the Western hero gone to the bad?

9. The contribution of the members of the gang, Job Cain as the black gunfighter, Belle Starr an the sex symbol with her Wild West style, the old man of the desert and his window? What did Zachariah experience with him out in the desert at the end? The contribution of the musical groups in the country?

10. How effective was the parody of Western figures?

11. The irony of the final confrontation, the build-up to violence, the fact that the two men could not be involved in violence, their reconciliation and going off at the end? The film's comment on man/woman relationships, men/men relationships?

12. Many commentators saw the film as a 20th century fable about the West. How accurate in this comment?

X2 / X MEN 2

US, 2003, 130 minutes, Colour.
Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian Mc Kellan, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn- Stamos, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Bruce Davison, Anna Paquin, Sean Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Kelly Hu.
Directed by Bryan Singer.

For those who thought that X Men was one of the great comic-books-into-movies entertainments, this is not only more of the same, this is Xtra, so to speak. The first film introduced a world of mutants who have superior powers to those of ordinary mortals. This made them look bizarre, sound bizarre and have capacities that were often aggressively bizarre - an evolutionary leap. And they had names to match, like Wolverine or Magneto. As with all comics adventures, there were good and bad mutants and life and death struggles to save the world.

This time the cast seems very relaxed. They know their paces. They can take for granted the eccentricities of the appearances and superhuman powers. Wolverine is once more the leader of the pack. Jean Grey is self-sacrificing. Storm can create - a storm. There is also a new creature, a German circus character, Nightcrawler. Professor Charles Xavier still runs the school for the mutants. However, there is a new villain, played by Brian Cox, who has conducted experiments which have led to the mutant transformations and which have destroyed his son. He now wants to rule the world (as is wont with such villains) and his only hope is to have the now-imprisoned Magneto escape and lead him to the power. It is not important that we know what is going to happen. It is important to see how it happens.

Brian Cox is menacing as the villain - and so is Ian Mc Kellan as the supremely self-confident Magneto. Patrick Stewart has to look anguished as the Professor. The rest of the cast are mainly familiar, although Alan Cumming is intriguing as the Nightcrawler. Plenty of action and effects, exactly what fans would hope for.

1. The popularity of the original film? The popularity of the sequel? Developing the original? The key ingredients, development of fantasy, development of the characters? Futuristic situations? Humanity and mutants? Political conspiracies? Power struggles, destruction of humanity and of the world? Heroes and the combating of evil?

2. Action sequences, special effects, costumes and décor for the mutants, the locations, the school, the facility? The musical score?

3. The plot, the comic strips, the highlighting of characters and types, extraordinary situations, heroism, the struggle between good and evil?

4. The American situation, politics, the president? The US policy against mutants? Their appeals, demonstrations, rebellions? The Night Crawler and his teleport movements, his attack on the president? His attack being thwarted? The White House meetings, the president, his advisers, Stryker and his stances? The capture of the Night Crawler and imprisonment?

5. The character of Stryker, the revelation of his influence on the mutants, especially Logan? His anti-mutants, his political advice? His relationship with his son, his son and mutation, taking the drug from his son? Its use, applying it to Magneto? Getting information about the school, about Cerebro? His fights, his treatment of his son, the build-up to the confrontation with Wolverine? His death?

6. Magneto, the villain from the first film, the elaborate imprisonment? Mystique and her ability to change shapes? Her infiltration into the prison, exercising her powers? Magneto and the imposition by Stryker, the revelation of the truth about Professor Xavier? His getting out of the prison, Mystique and her assisting him? The alliance with Xavier - and Magneto's hypocrisy? His desire to get power over Cerebro and power over the whole world? Mystique, her ploys, her appearing to Wolverine as all the women in his life? The final confrontation, the defeat of Magneto and Mystique?

7. Professor Xavier, his care for the mutants, his school, its location and style, syllabus, the students at school and their activities? His being captures with Cyclops? His being imprisoned, controlled? The confrontation with Magneto? His mind being affected by Stryker, Cerebro and his locating of all the mutants, his being manipulated in order to destroy the whole world?

8. Wolverine as the hero of the film? Exploring the dam and its facilities, his mission, the faint memories? His returning to the school? His relationship with Storm and with Dr Jean Grey? Romance? His own powers, his knives? The memories of Stryker and the confrontation with him? With the students, the escape? The attack and capture? At the facility, exercising his powers, the dangers, the growth in awareness of his identity, the confrontation with Stryker and Stryker's death?

9. Dr Jean Grey, Storm, their place with Professor Xavier, taking the plane? The encounter with Night Crawler? Jean Grey and her self-sacrifice, prepared to die? Her relationship with Logan? Storm and her relationship with Logan?

10. The Night Crawler, his appearance, being manipulated, his abilities, teleport movement, the religious overtones, his true identity, his work in the circus, his helping in the confrontation with Stryker?

11. Cerebro, its location, its capacities? Xavier and his control? Magneto and his desire to control it for power? World domination?

12. The characters of the other students, at the school, Bobby and his family, his brother betraying him? The relationship with Pyro? With Rogue?

13. The final confrontation, the conspiracy theory? The domination of the world? The American president? The future? The pro-mutant appeal? The mutants symbolising any oppressed minority in the world? Their identities? Uncertainties? Persecution?