War Dance (2007)

The war stole everything. Except their music. [Tagline]

I just re-watched the 2008 Academy Award Best Documentary nominee War Dance, a film very close to my heart. The documentary follows the students of Patongo primary school from Pader district of northern Uganda. Children of the Acholi tribe at Patongo are training for a dance competition in Kampala and tell their own stories of displacement and loss as result of the decades-long civil war in the region.

War Dance is an amazing story that juxtaposes the beautiful traditional dances and music of the Acholi with tragic stories of northern Uganda's civil war with the Lord's Resistance Army. All the children in Pader have been affected by the brutalities of the LRA through loss of family, displacement, or abduction into the LRA as a child soldier. While this conflict has clearly had a great impact on the Acholi, War Dance was demonstrated that their tribal identity is not limited to their current struggles.

Students at Patongo Primary School have all been living in Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camps, since they were moved by the government in order to monitor and 'protect' them against the presence of the LRA. When they arrive in Kampala for the competition, the children face discrimination from the other tribes of Uganda. Since the LRA is made of Acholi, and Acholi children are often abducted as soldiers, they are perceived as "killers" by others in southern Uganda. But, taking pride in their tribe's traditions helps the students realize that they do not have to be defined as victims. One dancer stated in the film, "I feel proud to be an Acholi when I dance. You have to be fearless, like a warrior. In my heart, I am more than a child of war. I am talented. I am a musician. I am Acholi. I am the future of our tribe."

I had the honor of seeing some of these traditional dances and songs when I lived in Pader during the summer of 2009, and War Dance depicts the complex blend of horror, hope, tragedy and pride of the Acholi tribe in a way I wish was possible in words. Instead, maybe when people ask me about the time I spent in Uganda I should just tell them to watch this film...

When I dance my problems vanish. The camp is gone. I can feel the wind. I can feel the fresh air. I am free and I can feel my home.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Picture from http://bit.ly/94gVeO
I saw Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland opening night when I was in San Francisco and, despite the generally negative reviews, I was pleasantly surprised by its pretty overt feminist theme! In this version of Lewis Carroll's story, Alice is a 19-year old facing the prospect of marriage to a dry British man (lacking anything resembling a personality), pressured by her family and society around her to accept this "perfect match".

Right before she is supposed to accept his proposal, Alice is distracted by a familiar white rabbit in a nearby rose garden that leads her back into Wonderland. Alice is convinced her bizarre encounters with Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, and other old friends are part of a dream she's had since she was a little girl. Eventually, she realizes that everyone seems so familiar because those dreams were constructed from actual memories of Wonderland she kept from her childhood (its real name is Underland, but as a small child she had mistaken it for Wonderland). Alice is told by the inhabitants of Wonderland that an ancient scroll had foretold her slaying of the Red Queen's Jabberwocky (originally just part of an original poem by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass) on Frabbulous Day.

I won't go into detail with the rest of the plot (you can just read that on IMDB if you want), but right before her battle with the Jabberwocky, Alice reflects on some feminist concepts. Inspired by the blue caterpillar's cocoon-building and [somewhat cliche] speech about transformation into a butterfly, Alice accepts the scroll's prediction about her defeating the Jabberwocky and decides to become the White Queen's warrior. This is one of very few movies where I've seen a woman dressed up in armor and independently fighting a battle like this. "How's this for muchiness?" (Not to mention the fact that there are two female heads of state in conflict over land instead of the traditional kings.)

It was really refreshing to have a strong female lead like Alice. When she returns to her regular life, she denies her potential fiance, rebukes her overbearing parents, chastises an unfaithful brother-in-law, and becomes a business partner for a shipping company all in one fell swoop. There's no romantic subplot in Alice at all, unless you count that emotionless proposal or the Red Queen's strange fascination with the Knave. I know, a movie about a young woman who faces conflicts NOT revolving around a man? Crazy!

Even if there were no other great qualities about Burton's Alice in Wonderland, I would have at least been appreciative of his intentionality with Alice's feminist [correction from original "feminine"] message. However, I actually really liked how they created the surreal atmosphere of Wonderland, which was able to convey Alice's confusion over whether she was experiencing real life or a vivid dream. There's several parts that don't flow perfectly, questions left unanswered, and tension over Alice's control over events, all of which are pretty realistic components of people's dreams (well, at least mine). I thought Alan Rickman as the Blue Caterpillar and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen were both perfect casting decisions.

Overall, I would say technical aspects of the film are viable for criticism, but I think there was a lot of strength in the changes to Carroll's original plot. Creating a character like Alice was really encouraging to me as a female viewer (I've heard the same thing from other women that saw the film too) and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it!



The Mad Hatter: Have I gone mad?
Alice: I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.

Resurrecting the "Review"!

Well, it's been a long time!

I started this blog for a film class at Eastern, but I recently decided to start it back up! I was living in Uganda for eight months in 2009, so I got really behind on my movie-watching. But I feel like I'm finally caught up mostly on popular culture again and I would love to write about some of the movies I've seen. So, I hope you'll start following me again!

Coming Soon: The Hurt Locker, Up, and Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton-style)!

Citizen Kane (1941)

Well, we watched Citizen Kane in film class last night. I had seen the movie a couple years ago, but forgot most of the movie. Obviously, I had some pretty big expectations for the movie coming in, as it is considered to be the greatest American film ever made. I really enjoyed this movie on pretty much every level; the plot, the actors, the cinematography were all fantastic. I was completely wrapped up in the story, but sometimes there were unique filming techniques that jumped out at me. It wasn't distracting, but just made me appreciate the quality of this legendary film even more.

One aspect of the movie that I just absolutely loved was Orson Welles' creative ways of transitions between scenes. There was a ton of graphic matches, such as a closeup of Susan's eye fading into a stain-glass eye in one of Kane's mansion windows. Another example is the opening shots of different angles of Xanadu, with the window's light remaining in the exact same spot on screen during several dissolves. Some of the graphic matches are easily overlooked, but I just thought it was a subtle use of creativity to add a unique quality to the film.

Citizen Kane seemed to just get everything right. All the actors were perfectly natural portraying their characters. The plot was simple, a rich man's life, but contained complex emotional themes to make it interesting. There was a perfect distribution of subtle humor. Plus, there were ambiguous elements in the story that make you think and add your own interpretation. I can easily see how this film became known as one of the greatest, but it is not too pretentious to become alienated from casual audiences.

Side Note: During the film, I kept thinking that certain lines and songs in the movie (the big band singer: "It can't be love, for there is no true love", the dancers: " There is a man, a certain man, and for the poor you may be sure, that he'll do all he can") that sounded extraordinarily familiar. Walking back to my dorm I realized. They're all in a White Stripes song! Look up The Union Forever by The White Stripes. It's an homage to Citizen Kane, and every line of the song is taken directly from the film. Check it out!

Film Noir: The Elusive Definition

Film noir is an ambiguous genre that has a loose set of elements that, combined, give a film a unique style that is usually recognizable to general audiences. Many people argue over whether certain elements, such as the presence of water (i.e. rain, streams, etc.), are necessary to make a movie fit into the "film noir" genre. However, from the film noir movies I've seen, which are generally acknowledged as such, I can gather a few core elements that form at least a broad base. Here are some elements, divided into categories based on how necessary the elements are, that I think define film noir:

Vital to Film Noir
-Crime/Pursuit as the plot basis
-Emotionally dark
-Morally ambiguous
-Physically/Visually Dark
-Femme Fatale
-Dark Hero/Heroine

Important, Not Vital
-Smoke (i.e. cigarettes) or Smokey mis-en-scene
-Murder
-Detective or cop as lead character
-Intricate Plot
-Plot twists
-Heavy Shadows

Common, Not Important
-Dry humor
-40s-style banter
-Alcohol and cigarettes
-In modern film noir: anachronistic characters/elements

Blade Runner (1982)

Blade Runner is a more modern twist on the film noir genre, with the base elements (crime-based, detective as a main character, the femme fatale, smoky darkness) painted over in a color format. It was a fun film and I really enjoyed its timeless qualities (even in the midst of a futuristic setting), use of shadows and smoke, and the open-endedness of the plot.

The film was very entertaining, and Harrison Ford is a always an easy actor to watch. He may not have the greatest ability, and is often type-casted, but he's definitely fun to watch. Ford is definitely perfect as the stereotypical film noir detective-type.

Touch of Evil (1958)

I did not enjoy Touch of Evil as much as I had anticipated. I am a huge fan of Orson Welles, who both directed and acted in this film, but there were aspects of the movie which completely detracted from the cinematographic qualities which were so interesting. I admire the filming style and acting ability of Welles, but the actual plot was not intriguing to me at all, and most of the main characters irritated me to the point where I never felt emotionally involved in the outcome of the story.

The film was extremely interesting aesthetically, with unique camera angles that accentuate the tension and terror of certain scenes (i.e. the hotel room murder by Quinlan) and intricately long shots that cover movement down whole city blocks. Despite my appreciation for the camera work, I was completely distracted from enjoying the movie as a whole by my dislike for every character. Some are intentionally unlikable (such as Quinlan), but the completely unrealistic makeup on Charlton Heston trying to play a Mexican official, the overbearingly obnoxious Uncle Joe Grandi, and the helpless Janet Leigh left me no one to like or cheer for. I can't exactly pinpoint whether it was the character or actor that I disliked, but I know by the end I did not really care what happened to any of them.

Overall, there are redeeming qualities of the film, like the filming, and the film had potential to be intriguing and entertaining, but it fell short of exploring that potential fully.