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Reviews
The Counselor (2013)
Wacky and weird in its redemptive power
The Counselor (2013): Drugs, Love and Cross-Border Relations
To me the movie The Counselor (2013) – and probably Cormac McCarthy's original novel – is about the relationship between Mexico and the United States, with the Mexicans having the upper hand in the end, even if it comes at the cost of their own people. You can see this almost from the word go, such as the scene where the Mexican on the motorcycle (Richard Cabral) convinces an American women that he diets on dog food, in response to the fact that the obnoxious woman can't believe a Mexican has a pet dog. None of this should detract for what an exquisite movie-making, of course – the multi-track, loopy narrative, the gorgeous cinematography, nasty soundtrack, the depth of the characters, the sex scenes – but it's always prudent to highlight features of the movie that people, critics and viewers alike, probably haven't caught onto.
Colour contrasts By extension Ridley Scott seems to have it in for blond people (you see this in The Martian as well; see my review on Cairo Scene). Michael Fassbender is as Aryan as they come (he also has bad teeth here), and then there's Brad Pitt who plays a 'Canadian' and who eventually gets ensnared with the help of another ultra-blonde (played by British actress Natalie Dormer). Cameron Diaz does come out on top in the end but she has head off abroad to escape the wrath of the cartels. And it's also noticeable that the two goons who steal the truck with the drugs are blond themselves, but the Mexican cartel gets the consignment back nonetheless. (One of them decapitated Ruth's son – the motorcycle man – and you're really happy when he gets riddled with bullets). Even the European character in the movie, the Dutch diamond dealer, is a Sephardi Jew in origin (i.e. Spanish), if ironically played by a German (Bruno Ganz). The infamous counselor himself ends up having to take refuge in Mexico, coming to appreciate the people and their plight, while a Mexican friend of his is the one that finally gets him off the hook with the cartels. All his friend asks for in exchange a handshake, the classical symbol of honor and mutual trust. (It's actually an Arabic tradition following the signing of contracts). Why, then, the snuff movie murder of Laura (Penélope Cruz)? You know it's her body dumped in the garbage heap because of the red dress. She represents a healthy relationship between America and Mexico, since the counselor – as a lawyer he is supposed to fight for the rights of the downtrodden – picks her up off the street, so to speak, and lavishes her with precision gifts (the diamond ring). He's even willing to die for her, although he (sadly) never gets the chance. His ill-conceived foray into the world of crime is really for her, so he can afford to give her the style of life he thinks she deserves. That explains the scene where Reiner (Javier Bardem) asks the counselor why he decided to get involved in this racket. It wasn't greed because Reiner had tried to attract him into the business before, to no avail. Ironically counselor is trying to be a 'hero,' someone rescuing the damsel in distress and making her into a princess, but he did in the Greek way as opposed to the Biblical way – being a warrior instead of the penitent man, to quote the Dutch diamond dealer.
Consultancy fees Alas, the kind of people who preside over US-Mexican relations – drug lords and people traffickers on both sides – won't let such a relationship prosper, hence Laura's gruesome death. The counselor himself is partly to blame. You feel his decision to get into the drugs business is also partly driven by a sense of intellectual superiority vis-à-vis his clients. (There's a similar scene in Into the Blue with the equally corrupt and blond lawyer Bryce). Hence, the prison scene with Ruth (Rosie Perez). He gets humbled at the end but the price is harrowing. Note also that Diaz's character Malkina – I think that means 'cat' – isn't American originally. (She loves her pet cheetah and has a cheetah tattoo on her back). Note the confessional scene where she says her parents were illegal migrants who drowned in the Atlantic ocean. You also feel she's a fake blonde, and her greed and appetite for control makes her find Laura interesting and 'arousing'. (She only goes to confessional in mock imitation of Laura's good Catholic/Mexican upbringing). She's also the quintessential globe trotter, leaving her adopted country when things turn sour, stealing Westray's money from his London account, and planning to head off to Hong Kong with the help of a Latin accountant. Money is footloose and no longer respects national loyalties. Malkina's erstwhile boyfriend, Reiner, is busy trying to uproot himself from his Mexican or Latin origins himself. Reiner as a name doesn't sound Latin at all while he has an old American flag at his residence, like Southerners with Confederate flags to commemorate the Civil War. (He previously had a black girlfriend that also took an interest in women). The story has a very Catholic ethos, penance and guilt and finding grace or peace of mind. This isn't the most straight forward way of going about extolling those virtues, but if anybody can pull it off, it's Ridley Scott. Gangster epics are his kind of thing, as are cross-cultural relations movies (American Gangster, Someone to Watch Over Me, Black Rain). I'm just happy the Texan and Mexican setting of the movie counteracted Scott's Englishy preference for grays and dark greens!
By Emad El-Din Aysha, a freelance Egyptian movie reviewer with Cairo Scene and Mada Masr.
Doppelgänger (1969)
A forgotten minor classic that should be remade!
I watched this movie when I was a kid (on video in the 1980s) and it was a bit of a childhood favourite, but I couldn't remember some key points so watched it again just recently on the net. I'm disappointed, needless to say. The ending is 'too' convenient. All the evidence is destroyed in a very 'forced' accident. That being said, it's still a good movie and good science fiction, when you stop to think about it. The models are great and the casting and performances are very good, along with the music and set designs and the futuristic vision with all the nifty gadgets. All I can say about the movie philosophically is that the idea of a counter-earth is Pythagorean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Earth. Now as to the "point" the movie was trying to make. My guess, and this is only a guess, is that its about trans-Atlantic relations. You have the European space agency, led by a British guy (Jason Webb ) but with all the funding coming from the French and the Germans (who are very miserly), and the Americans only pitching in when it becomes discovered the Soviets are spying on the new find of a tenth planet (in the same orbit as Earth, but on the opposite side of the sun). The super secret nature of the mission to this new planet also stops the public knowing about the startling discovery and so all the evidence of of the new planet being an opposite copy of Earth. (This is a theme in 2001 A Space Odyssey since the Americans keep the discovery of the monolith on the moon a secret and it was the mistrust and paranoia that Hal Suffered from that made him kill of the crew of the Discovery). Note that the last scene has Jason Webb, old and senile in his mansion, crashing into a mirror when he remembers the mirror image Earth, taking the secrets with him to the grave.
There's also the American astronaut hero (Colonel Glenn Ross) and his annoying country-girl wife. She makes fun of his manhood, not wanting to have kids from him, saying he's sterile because of radiation from space, only to discover she's taking birth control bills behind his back. I guess she wants a domesticated husband she can control. Contrast this to the lovely security controller from the European space agency, Lisa Hartmann, a hint that the Americans should stick it with Europe (under British leadership of course) if they want to win the Cold War and explore the solar system. It's this over commitment that gets the hero killed in the end, despite Lisa's warnings that he no longer owed Webb anything. Note the colour contrast too, with the hero's wife being a (wild) redhead and Lisa being a decent blonde!
On a final plus note works of art, whatever their quality, are always ageless, gaining relevance when you least expect it. Hence the curious situation the UK is faced with now with the vote on continued membership in the EU. If you can't lead the Europeans, be a member on your own terms, you go it alone. So the movie is, tragically, quite prophetic. (Notice also the scene in Portugal, making Southern Europe look poor, primitive, not unlike the situation today with the debt crisis Spain and Greece have found themselves in).
So, all in all, I'd say it's a good movie and has stood the test of time, but nothing of course compared to '2001' or 'Alien', although it's still better than Prometheus!
Hope you aren't offended, Emad El-Din Aysha, a freelance movie reviewer in Egypt: