The first movie we saw was not part of the festival but was shown at the National Film Archives, another great resource here in Wellington: "The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy". While this not a particularly well made film, the real life story is terrific, and one of the turning points in modern NZ history. Apparently there is a much better film called "The Rainbow Warrior" with Sam Neill and Jon Voigt.We went to the opening night showing at the film festival of "Bright Star", directed by Jane Campion, who also introduced the film. It is a beautifully made story of the love affair between John Keats and Fanny Braun, and also the friendship and working relationship between Keats and another, much lesser poet, Charles Brown. As Fanny tries to educate herself to understand Keats poetry, the audience is also drawn into its beauty and rhythm. Of course, the movie ends sadly with Keats' early death from TB. Instead of music during the credits, the Keats character recites "Ode To A Nightingale", which certainly kept me in my seat.
The next movie was also very well made. Called "Firaaq", it examines the after effects of the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002. Hundreds of Muslims were killed in rioting in retaliation for a presumed Muslim attack on a Hindu train. The film follows a number of different people of varying backgrounds along intersecting story lines, trying to put their lives back together, living in fear, seeking revenge, justifying violence, hoping for peace, racked with guilt. It is disturbing, and not very optimistic about breaking the cycle of violence.
"Our Beloved Month of August" was a very quirky film from Portugal. We went because it was supposed to have lots of music. Indeed, the story follows a family of musicians traveling among various small town festivals in the mountains of Portugal, singing pop/traditional love songs. I felt like I could feel the heat and smell the dust and pine trees. It reminded me of summer fairs in Oregon and Ontario. But it is also about the making of the movie. Every once in a while there is a break, and the producer comes in to complain that the director is not following the plot, or he hasn’t cast some of the characters, or some such thing. Then lo and behold, some folks show up to audition, and then they appear in the story, which now continues along its plot line. Over the ending credits there is a very funny argument between the director and the sound engineer about sounds that have magically appeared on the tape.
On my own, I went to "Birdwatchers", an Italian/Brazilian film about the Guarani Indians of the Amazon. Aroused by a rising tide of suicides among their young people, one tribal leader takes a group to try and reclaim some of their land outside the reservation, even though the forest has been cut down and the land plowed into farms. More and more people join him. The other plot line follows one young man who is learning to be a shaman. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end any better than most stories about the fight for indigenous rights; although the credits do tell us the fight is still on going.
Ron went to see The "Baader Meinhof Complex", which he said did a good job of showing the conditions that led them to form a terrorist organization. It also showed the downward spiral that resulted from using such violent tactics.Again on my own, I went to see a collection of short NZ movies. They were ok. The funniest/scariest was "Careful With That Power Tool" about a kid who finds a nail gun while exploring his dad’s workplace. No one was harmed in the making of the movie, but I had to close my eyes at some spots.
The most disappointing of the big budget movies we saw was "In The Loop". It is a fictionalized version of concocting the evidence in Great Britain to justify the invasion of an unnamed country by the US. Perhaps our problem was that we really needed subtitles to understand all the various British accents. Although since every other word was f**k, maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference. Much of the satire about politics was spot on.
"Unmistaken Child" is a really interesting documentary about trying to find the reincarnation of a deceased Tibetan lama. The person charged with searching is his young disciple, who clearly misses his master very much. He is also quite uncertain of his own ability to discern his reincarnation, although he seems quite satisfied in the end. Indeed, the transfer of his affect to this new child is quite sweet.
"Theater of War" is a great documentary about the staging of "Mother Courage and Her Children" in NYC in 2006, with commentary from Meryl Streep and Tony Kushner, among others. The most interesting footage, however, was from the original production in Berlin after WW2. I learned a lot about Bertolt Brecht and the play.
Another lovely period costume drama was "Cheri", starring Michelle Pfeifer. It is based on two novels by Collette about a Belle Epoch courtesan. Ready to retire, she takes up with the 19 year old son of a colleague. They are both so used to a world where love is for sale that they don’t recognize the depth of their own affections for each other until after they have irrevocably split up. There is a very annoying and intrusive narrator in order to drive the cynicism home.The top New Zealand film that we saw was "The Strength Of Water", which had an introduction by the director and the screen writer and a panel discussion afterwards. It is a leisurely story about ten year old twins. The sister dies in an accident, but the brother continues to see and interact with her until they are both ready to let go. It is a lovely film.
That was the last film we saw together. Ron also went to see "Balibo" about five Aussie/kiwi TV journalists who were murdered in East Timor while covering the Indonesian invasion in 1975. No one has ever been prosecuted for their deaths.
