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Maktub (2017)
One of the best movies of "Radical Theology " I have seen in my whole life...
... other ones being "Shawshank redemption" , "Groundhog day", "midnight run", "ikiru" , "departures", "Being there" or "lilies of the field".
Although not all put in a religious setting, all those movies wrestle with the ground for a good life, in a world where "religious dogmatism" does not hod up, and/ or where the hero, initially on a trajectory ridden by self interest, reconstructs his identity along the lines of the "Christ archetype" (Taken here in an inter-faith denomination).
This includes sacrificing himself out of compassion for the other, taking responsibility for shortcomings that are not his own, and acting truthfully, in alliance with his emotion and conscience. It should be added that the particularity of this sacrifice is that it is both non-violent and life affirming.
The "Givedness of life" is the cathartic moment for the Hero in "Maktub". Grasping his newly discovered aliveness, he is able to reach out, open his hand, and bring about life, in the lives of others.
He is not the biological father, but the one through which fatherhood becomes possible. "He is not god", as he says himself. Still he will have been the very condition for generating Life in another beings, and redeeming the life, that here exists.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Anaximander meets Jung
The oldest saying of Western Civilisation, states that "things render justice (dike) to each other, and pay penalty to each other (tisis) for their injustice (adikia) according to the ordinance of time" (Anaximander 610- 546 B.C.).
C.G.Jung (1875-1961): Persona
Here "Frederick Chilton as archetype of "subjective cover-up" untruthfulness, in-authenticity.
Hanibal: Figure of "Dike": Truth maker
Truth here conceived as the ability to reveal one's hidden agenda, to come forth in truthfulness, the ability to carry one's lamb, one's innocence (christian figure).
Hannibal eating the tongues: The hypothesized inability of the person, after a certain state, after having hidden fully behind it's persona, to speak truthfully and in resonance with a christian, lamb-like, shadow integrated voice.
Our innocence is the heaviest burden to carry.
Gold (2013)
Why realism does not always pay off ;)
Gold is a beautiful, intricate, sound movie. A movie that just depicts us humans, in our epic quest, without any concessions. Driven by some ungraspable idea, we need groups, leadership, moral standards, intimacy and love. Not all of us will stay, at least, not to the end of the movie, but though, the movie will go on somewhere else. A great canvas of WE as WE ARE. And then still willing to strive and look forward, still in the need to move ahead. Thus the depiction is better than the feeling you will get at the end of the movie.
This might be because, we, as a species, are made to believe and hope.
8/10
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
The G.I. has no Jacket.
A schizophrenic movie...in the epistemological sense.
The first part not being connected to the second, leaves you a sorrow taste of disappointment once you finish watching the last scene.
Then Kubric's FMJ last quarter trods along paths of suspense- action dilettantism, having lost all it's central line and theoretical grounding.
From movies like " paths of glory" (1957) we know Kubric is able follow a central theme with brilliance and art. What happened here?
Then of course there is the message "first to act, last to think". Where are we going from there, what is the alternative...?
I am left speechless, puzzled and disappointed
5/10
Rush (2013)
the human condition
I was not very enthusiastic about a racing movie, but it emanated, once I finished it, the flare of an epic tale and the scope of the human condition.
Life is about speed; this allegory even has a name, namely 'red queen dynamics' (if you want to go forward in the biological realm, you need not to advance, but to advance quicker that you opponent).
We may look upon this fact with moral judgments and ethical concerns, but it is just a fact really. Now, this does not take away, but really engages, and especially for us humans, things like solidarity, friendship, family and respect for your opponents strength and dignity.
And also, on every round, the tough decision about getting into the fight, to take the race to pole position, or stepping out, putting at security not only our life, but also the one of those we love.
The Attack (2012)
Some things are beyond (but not yet behind) us !
The medium line is often difficult to walk. To me "the attack" is about a man trying to walk this line of truth without falling on any side of hatred and narrow minded feelings of bigotism or revenge.
Thus the theme of this movie is central to our time.
It shows religious fanaticism with a human side, not to undermine it, not to excuse it; but to show us it's true origins...between a desperate sense of meaning for one's one life, communitarian reverence of heroism, but also those moment of doubt that are well depicted in the movie (ex! last calling scene).
If, as the Doctor says,"those things are beyond us ", it just really leaves us with the question of how to put them behind.
This being said, the plot is halting a bit. The last scene, about departure and sadness, also fails to capture the movies core.
Thus good, but not parsimonious and focused enough to make it the great masterpiece it could rightfully have had a claim to.
Paradise Now (2005)
what is the kind of fight we want for this century?
I have given a 10 only to 6 movies in my life. This is one of them.
Fist of all, the urgency of the thematic; which is, so I see it, the big schedule of the 21st century; crossing boundaries, understanding that what glues us together is of the same kind than that which tears us apart; tying/ untying; Re- ligion / Dis- legion .
I believe it to be a major task of movies today to provide cathartic bridges and alternatives to this question; "Paradise now" nails the problematic on the head. This is just as far as movies were able to go until now; remember Spencer Tracey in the last scene of "Inherit the Wind", holding the bible in one hand, and Darwin's book in the other. In paradise now, a clear question is raised:
what is the kind of fight we want for this century?
Answers are for everyone of us to provide.
Then of course, the way the movie is treated. I am always fascinated at a how a film manages getting you up on your toes for more than an our, without even showing a drop of blood, physical violence or even a minor car crash. In this chez- d'oeuvre, Hany Abu-Assad provided just that.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
putting forward the victory over absurdity would have made it 9.
Generally speaking this movie has the favor of being able to captivate almost from the get go.
A interesting analysis of human greed. I would have preferred an ending cut on the "good laugh scene", which would have taken forward the real sense of absurdity of this movie, in the good sense of the term that is (cf. Camus, Sysyphus myth). Instead the ending scene with the cactus has a more back to earth, back to nature, which is less consistent with the rest of the movie.
Then another reserve is of course the way Indians are depicted; kind of stupid throughout - the white doctor scene, the gold to sand discovery scene- which makes also for lack of plausibility.
But still, the movie left me in a good spirit, and I had pleasure watching it. Because of the reserve I mentioned it should end up a 7/10. But something in it, maybe the time, and craft and "moral message" still pushes it towards 8.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
nice and simple....though not infinite.
This movie works and shows that plots do not always have to be complicated. Had the movie been cut 10 sec. earlier, I would have raised it to 8/10. The end touch about "feeling infinite" was, I felt, not in tune with the movie, which was much more about having courage to create yourself, and the quality of those rare moments, those rare fruits you ripe out of the tree of your own soul .
The growth of Charlie's Character from shyness to confidence was well established. Other parts of his mental instability and past history were more confusing to me.
This movie remains a nice message of hope for coming of age generations that are going through moments of hardship or suffering.
Amadeus (1984)
less is more!
I am both marveled and angry at this movie. Angry, mainly because it almost was the best one I have ever seen!
What kept it from getting there? Let's say those few Don Jovanni scenes that were neither important nor constructive to the plot as the whole. This makes for maybe 15-20 min. more in this movie...enough to prevent it being the greatest "chez- d'oeuvre" in film history.
It is funny that this is not about something lacking...it is about something more! What could have propelled this movie to first place was some courage in the cutting stage. Ask Frank Darabont; one of the reasons why Shawshank is still n°1!