Showing posts with label Political cinema. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Political cinema. Show all posts

Monday, December 19, 2011

Last Days in Jerusalem (2011) - Tawfik Abu Wael




Last Days in Jerusalem (2011) - Tawfik Abu Wael
 
When do you become an outsider in your own country? When you decide to leave, or only after you have taken the plunge, or never? And what if you don't leave after all? An interesting look at the Israel-Palestine situation via an Arab couple from Jerusalem on their way out of the country. The wall is everywhere in the background, but there is also a wall between them. On the surface, the film is about the couple, who keep separating from each other and keep coming back - not unlike some couple in some film by Michelangelo Antonioni. Deep within, it is also about separation from a country that is their homeland, but not quite theirs. It is not clear whether they belong together - neither the couple, nor them and the country they inhabit. And there are no solutions.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Family Life (1971) - Krzysztof Zanussi

A brilliant film from a brilliant director. The crumbling of a former oligarchy during the communist regime. The son is in denial of his bourgeois roots, but can't really escape who he is. Excellent performances by two giants of Polish cinema - Daniel Olbrychski and Maja Komorowska as the son and daughter of the oligarch.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Ivan the Terrible parts I and II (1944) - Sergei Eisenstein





Expressionist imagery. Breathtaking lighting, use of space, close-ups, Christian iconography. The black-and-white images shimmer in the high contrast to render characters larger than life.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007