M&M: The Kingdom

Dear reader,

The Kingdom is a movie from the year 2008. Whether a movie is good or bad is certainly always also a matter of taste. I found this movie, because I like the composer Danny Elfman, who wrote the soundtrack for this movie. More about the soundtrack below.

I don't find the movie as such particularly good, actually rather bad. It's been a long time since I've seen it and I had forgotten most of what happens at first, so I had to read up on some of the things. Why am I writing about the movie, if I didn't like it? At the end of the movie, two characters make a statement, which shows very clearly the absurdity of war. What they said was, at that moment, scarier and more frightening than any thinkable war scene. But let's start at the beginning. This is what the movie is about:

As an introduction certain key moments between Saudi-Arabia and their relationship with America are shown in a quick walk through history from 1932 up until the attacks from September, 11 2001.

The actual story of starts with a softball game of Americans in Riad, where a terror attack happens and Americans get killed. A female FBI agent gets note during a conference that her friend is among the dead Americans. A colleague whispers something into her ear, which makes her calm down. The two of them and other FBI agents go to Riad, to investigate the circumstances and to find the people involved in the attack. Towards the end of the movie the group gets in an ambush and one of them is kidnapped. The others follow the kidnappers to an abandoned house, where the showdown takes place. A grandfather is present on the side of the Saudi people and he gets a fatal wound. He whispers something into his grandson's ear. The case is closed for the FBI and they go back to America. One of them in the group asks his colleague and the woman, what he had whispered back at the conference. Meanwhile the aunt of the Saudis asks her nephew, what his grandfather had whispered into his ear before his death.

Caution: If you want to see the movie, you should make your own choice whether or not to read what they whispered.

Both of them reply with: “Don't fear them. We are going to kill them all.”

The way I see it, The Kingdom is a rather typical, American war movie. I personally agree with the negative critics that (once again) Americans celebrate themselves with with movie and lots of action and Islamic people, like so many times recently in real life as well as in movies, are used as representation of evil. There are exceptions in The Kingdom, but they are, in my opinion, almost meaningless. Americans are the greatest and Islam and Islamic people are the enemies. I find that very sad, unnecessary and needless in the end. That was the case back then when I watched it already and in sight of the current conflicts, in which America (once again) is involved, even more so. I watched the movie once, because I wanted to sort of see the pictures to the soundtrack and the last line impressed me a lot. It's the meaninglessness of war in a nutshell in a very good way, for me anyway.

A few final words now about the soundtrack: Danny Elfman is mostly known for his collaboration with Tim Burton and his movies. The soundtrack here is very different. Very electronic, mostly simply to be called loud pieces alternate with calm (electric) guitar sounds. The latter has much more melody and structure. A very unusual mix, which one would probably not necessarily listen to a lot. The electronic tracks fit probably mainly with the movie, than for listening to them just like that. The guitar tracks remind me personally a bit in their way they are of the soundtrack of “Thelma & Louise” by Hans Zimmer.

Until next blog,

sarah

A probably valueless statement

Dear reader,

I've been thinking for quite a while now about ordering a certain t-shirt on amazon. Years ago I've read a book which was set partly in the time of the Vietnam war. There were accordingly protests and I read for the first time the phrase “Fight for freedom is like fucking for virginity”. I liked that phrase, because it reflects the absurdity of war. Especially with the current wars now, a t-shirt with that phrase seemed a good idea to me. Granted, if t-shirts with phrases would stop wars or could change anything, that would be more than fine. I am aware that a t-shirt like that is meaningless in the end. On the same night when the attacks in Paris had happened, I checked amazon nonetheless and found the following one and as you can see, I've received it, too. Be patient about the picture of me. I rarely make selfies and it's even rarer I use delayed-action shutter release. I bought the t-shirt on the German amazon website and will give you the link to it below. I will also link you to the American amazon website for a similar t-shirt, if you like to buy it. The American amazon website doesn't sell the exact one I have. It's not exactly the phrase I have read, but it's close enough. Because the t-shirt reads: “Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity.”

Thinking about sense and senselessness of certain actions, I keep thinking about the following statement by the writer and political activist Ward Churchill, although it seems maybe somewhat contradicting the t-shirt phrase:

"What I want is for civilization to stop killing my people's children. If that can be accomplished peacefully, I will be glad. If signing a petition will get those in power to stop killing Indian children, I will put my name at the top of the list. If marching in a protest will do it, I'll walk as far as you want. If holding a candle will do it, I'll hold two. If singing protest songs will do it, I'll sing whatever songs you want me to sing. If living simply will do it, I will live extremely simply. If voting will do it, I'll vote. But all of those things are allowed by those in power, and none of those things will ever stop those in power from killing Indian children. They never have, and they never will. Given that my people's children are being killed, you have no grounds to complain at whatever means I use to protect the lives of my people's children. And I will do whatever it takes."

Until next blog,

sarah

did it with delayed-action shutter release, so be patient judging the photo

similar t-shirt on amazon.com and my t-shirt on the German amazon (sadly not available exactly like that on amazon.com)

M&M: The Devil's Backbone

Dear reader,

The Devil's Backbone from the year 2001 is another great movie by Guillermo del Toro. It's sort of the first part of Pan's Labyrinth, which I already wrote about. I saw Pan's Labyrinth first, so that's why I wrote about it “in reverse”, even though The Devil's Backbone came first. While Pan's Labyrinth was set shortly after the Spanish civil war (1936-1939), The Devil's Backbone is set in the time of the Spanish civil war.

The movie tells the story of Carlos, who arrives at an orphanage, which is far away from the city. He befriends some of the boys and learns that there's a ghost haunting the orphanage. The orphanage is led by Dr. Casares and Carmen. Both are Republican loyalists and keep gold for the Republicans. Jacinto working at the orphanage and was raised there. Now he wants the gold.

Over the course of the movie, we learn that Jacinto wanted to take the gold once before already, but one of the boys, Santi, caught him. Jacinto pushed Santi so hard that Santi fell and hit his head very much. To hide this act, Jacinto takes rocks and binds them to the body of the dying boy and throws him into a supply pool of the orphanage.

When the war comes nearer to the orphanage, Dr. Casares and Carmen decide to leave the orphanage with the children and the gold. Jacinto, who wanted to take the gold again, is chased away shortly before that. He comes back though and wants revenge by spreading petrol (gas) in the kitchen and setting it on fire. This leads to a big explosion in which some of the children as well as Carmen die. Dr. Casares is also injured and dies a short time later.

Jacinto comes back the next day for the gold. But the surviving children show a great amount courage and ingenuity, similar to Pan's Labyrinth, and fight against the adults. How and if they manage it, you'll have to see for yourself.

Much like in Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone is created in a visually very beautiful way, I find. Although Santi is a ghost in the orphanage, I wouldn't say that The Devil's Backbone is a ghost movie. For me, strange as it may sound, it's more a movie with a ghost than a ghost movie. The ghost in his appearance is somewhat resembling a zombie with its slow an, awkward looking movements. He's got very little of the otherwise typical soft coloured see-through features of ghosts, but has dark colours instead and blood is still streaming from his head-wound in a sort of cloud of steam. Although a ghost is not a solid figure and, in theory, could not harm a person, his looks and manners appear somewhat scary and menacing. This only changes when it's obvious that he isn't dangerous deep down. A refreshingly different ghost from what I'm used to otherwise. And anyway: who or what is a ghost? What is a ghost outside the traditional literature or movies? That's a question which The Devil's Backbone is about.

The Devil's Backbone is all around a rather quiet horror movie and is more about atmosphere than effects. Fans of pools of blood and slasher movies will probably be disappointed. The very real horror doesn't come from the ghost, but from individual adults and because of the war. This is seen in similar ways later in Pan's Labyrinth.

To stay with the subject of the movie: what's the meaning of a ghost for you? Write that to me in the comments, if you like.

Until next blog,

sarah

M&M: Wag the Dog

Dear reader,

especially with the crises and wars of the past months in several regions, we should, in my opinion, be more sceptical about the reports we believe and think how much and what to believe. Granted, the movie “Wag the Dog” from the year 1997 with Robert de Niro and Dustin Hoffman is satire and meant for entertainment. Maybe there's still a bit of truth in there also and could as well change your view of reporting and make you see it in a new light.

Imagine if you will that you're in America and it's shortly before a presidential election. Of course the current president wants to be president again. But suddenly he gets accused of having sexually harassed an under-age student. How could one lead the people away from this scandal? Conrad Brean (played by Robert de Niro) has an idea: a story, which leads to even more talking than a sex scandal would, which is a war. A war against which country though? Well, how much do you know about Albania? Probably as much as I do: which is nothing. So why not use this lack of knowledge and spread the rumour that America is at war against Albania. In a studio, with the help of Stanley Motss (played by Dustin Hoffman) some staged eyes witness reports are produced and get spread and the conflict with Albania is out on the news.

The CIA hears that the conflict is faked, and they go and have a serious talk with Brean, but he manages to talk himself out of it and save his own neck. Sadly, shortly after that news breaks out that the Albania conflict is solved. Brean and Motss however are enjoying their fiction so much and want to get the upper hand again. So they quickly invent a story about a lone soldier, who's still back in Albania and needs rescuing. His name is William Schumann, nicknamed “Old Shoe”. The story is supposed to be ending innocuously and sympathetically with the rescue of Schumann and return to America only days before the presidential election. Up until that point the movie is funny, entertaining and has moments of dark humour. It gets really exciting however when we learn that the actor, who is supposed to play Schumann, is in fact a high-risk offender. He gets flown in with a plane, to celebrate Schumann's triumphant arrival, but the plane crashes. Brean, Motss and the criminal survive the crash, but the psychotropic drugs that are supposed to keep him in check are slowly but surely wearing off.

How will the story of William Schumann end? You've got to watch it for yourself. By the way: it may be hard to believe with all the many similarities, but the movie was all finished when the ”Lewinsky scandal“ hit the news.

Until next blog,

sarah

M&M: Pan's Labyrinth

Dear reader,

children are often a symbol of innocence. But even though the children may fight to be good and do their best to help, that's by far not what their parents may be like at all. That's certainly and especially true for Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) in Guillermo del Toro's “Pan's Labyrinth” from the year 2006. Ofelia and her pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) are on their way to Ofelia's stepfather, the fascist captain Vidal (Sergi López).

The captain strives against the partisans and also shows no heart for Ofelia either. She realises that in their first meeting right away. In the night she can't sleep. An insect, which she has met on her way to the captain, comes up again. It's not a normal insect. Not just because it's so big. When Ofelia shows her fairy tale book to the insect, it turns into a fairy, like one out of that book. The fairy guides Ofelia to the near by labyrinth. In the middle of the labyrinth is a statue of a girl with a baby and Pan sleeping there is waking up. He tells Ofelia that she's a princess turned human and now that she's human, she lost all her memory of being a princess. Her father, the king, is waiting for her. She has to succeed with three tasks, to break the curse.

Doug Jones, who's playing Pan, is in full costume and mask, as in other Guillermo del Toro movies, like Abe Sapien in Hellboy. His character is a rather strange one. On the one hand he helps Ofelia, on the other hand the tasks he sets for her, lead her to be in trouble a lot. The tasks and troubles of the fairy tale world are certainly correlating with the dangers and brutality of the adult world. That's especially true for the stepfather. When he finds out that the housemaid Mercedes and the doctor Ferreiro are actually helping the partisans, the stepfather doesn't hold back at all.

Is Pan on Ofelia's side after all? Or did he use her for his own purposes all along? Does captain Videl have a heart for his stepdaughter in the end? Or did the war turn his heart to stone? See for your self and make your own decision.

I'm mostly impressed how the movie combines true history in a very intriguing way with elements of fairy tales. You can trust Guillermo del Toro with horror and fantasy anyway. The total love and care put into the movie comes through to me. Especially how the creation of the characters and portrayal of creatures of the fairy tales world. Even though the movie clearly uses elements of fairy tales, it's far from being a children's movie. At best it's an adult version of a fairy tale movie. A very intriguing movie, but nothing for the sentimental, squeamish minded.

Until next blog,

sarah