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johnrobie
Reviews
The Thin Red Line (1998)
One of the greatest films ever made.
The Thin Red Line is, quite simply, one of the greatest films ever made. It is astonishing - and I can't believe it isn't on more people's cinematic radars.
I was looking at the beginning of the film last night on DVD and it is just so beautiful. I think The Thin Red Line is one of the most gorgeously photographed films I've ever seen (along with Apocalypse Now, Tess, The Conformist and The Virgin Suicides) - cinematographer John Toll truly deserved an Oscar for his work. So many images haunt the mind afterwards; the shots of the soldiers creeping through the grass as they try and take the hill, all of the scenes at the beginning of the film, where Jim Caviezel seems to have found paradise on the Pacific Island, the scenes where the American soldiers are silently passed by the indigenous people of the Pacific Islands.
If you have no interest in the movie, see it anyway for the beautiful cinematography.
The themes of the film are amazing - the violence inherent in man and nature, the destruction we wreck upon our planet, nature and each other - all these ideas are explored. The cumulative effect is stunning.
I find it very interesting that this film polarizes so many viewers: some find it boring, elusive and pretentious. Others say that Saving Private Ryan (released around the same time) is the better film. Well, I'm the biggest Steven Spielberg fan in the world and I love Ryan - but the two films couldn't really be more different. It's like comparing the Beatles to Mozart. Both make music, but the results are markedly different. Also, I think the comparisons are lazy - people only compared the two because both are World War 2 films. The directors could not be more different.
Ryan is a more immediate, commentary-style, narrative-driven film. The Thin Red Line is often described by people who have seen it as a meditation on war - and i think that is completely accurate. There isn't a single strong narrative thread in the film, characters come in and out of focus, as does the use of voice-over, but if you just let this film flow over and into you, you'll enjoy an intensely rich experience.
The use of music is also wonderful - particularly Faure's Requiem, which is gorgeously deployed at the start of the film, where Jim Cavizel and and his buddy are AWOL on the Pacific Island.
Terrence Malick is, undoubtedly, a genius. I'm a huge fan of both Badlands and Days of Heaven, but The Thin Red Line is my favourite of all his films. His new movie, The New World, also looks wonderful - and judging by the trailer, it revisits many of the themes explored in The Thin Red Line - nature, destruction, war, love and the primal violence of man.
The Thin Red Line is a ravishing, haunting film, loaded with meaning. Like Kubrick's 2001, it is endlessly open to debate. If you haven't seen it, then get your hands on the DVD, the biggest widescreen TV you can find and enjoy. Better still, see it on the big screen.
A gorgeous work of genius.
Screaming Night (2002)
A cult classic in the making
Screaming Night is a stunning, hugely disturbing horror film. In a world of identical horror movies, Screaming Night deserves greater attention - it is far better than the recent dull remakes House of Wax and The Amityville Horror.
This is an original, bravura little horror flick. Much of the credit for the film's success must lie at the feet of up-and-coming screenwriter Andy Briggs - surely a name to watch. He is a genius! Try and see this great film if you can - it's already achieving something of a legendary cult status amongst knowing discerning horror fans. And see if you can keep watching during the notorious heart scene with Dr. Horvath!
Amistad (1997)
Perhaps Spielberg's most underrated film.
As a lifelong scholar and fan of Steven Spielberg's work, I'm always stunned that his 1997 film Amistad is never given the kudos it so richly deserves. Perhaps the films was 'lost', as it was made and released in-between the twin giants of the popcorn friendly Lost World and the more socially conscious Saving Private Ryan - a film Amistad resembles closely in terms of tone and style. Amistad does not represent the popular Spielberg of ET, Jurassic Park or Jaws, rather the work of a mature film-maker, whose boyish preoccupations have given way to a thoughtful, politically astute adult who - in spite of what many of his critics say - isn't afraid of tackling darker themes.
Following the real-life plight of a group of African slaves who, in 1839 committed violent mutiny aboard the eponymous Spanish slave ship, Amistad is unlike anything Spielberg has done before. Only the similarly adult and underrated Empire of the Sun and The Color Purple (which also deals with issues of race and freedom) share such social and political concerns. The freedom of the slaves, represented by their hugely powerful leader Cinque (an almost wordless yet towering Djimon Hounsou) is bitterly contested by their Spanish "owners" and the Americans who salvaged the ship. With the help of two anti-slavery campaigners, Theodore Joadson (the always brilliant Morgan Freeman), Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgard) and idealistic property lawyer Roger Baldwin (an excellent Matthew McConaughey) the slaves case eventually engages the the services of former President John Quincy Adams (a masterful Anthony Hopkins), who argues brilliantly on their behalf in the Supreme Court.
During the trial of the slaves, Spielberg shows us their capture in Africa and subsequent horrific journey to Africa aboard La Amistad in unflinching detail. The brutality and sense of injustice one feels as we watch slaves being drowned by their captors is as powerful as anything in Schindler's List. The cinematography, by Janusz Kaminski, is stunning throughout, leaving permanent images in the mind - the slaves drowning in the water, Cinque literally trying to swim back to Africa rather than face capture and the stunning opening mutiny set-piece. There are none of the huge, sweeping camera moves that we usually associate with Spielberg in Amistad; instead, he employs an almost static camera throughout (albeit with beautiful lighting) - the better to focus on the human drama.
Every performance in the film is exemplary, the screenplay (by David Franzoni) literary, intelligent and compassionate. Overall, Amistad adds up to one of the best films Spielberg has ever directed. The fact that it is not more widely known is criminal - hopefully it will be rediscovered, reassessed and given the acclaim it deserves. If you are even remotely interested in American history, slavery, African-American issues, Steven Spielberg or just great cinema, you really must see Amistad. One of the greatest - and most underrated - films about freedom ever made.