Hey! Get Out of My Country, Ten Great Films Set in Europe During the Nazi Occupation

The Train

I recently noted that among my favorite films of all time are several that take place in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It’s not altogether surprising as there are so many excellent films that have been made about the war starting from while it was being fought through today — some eighty years later. Nazis themselves are cinematic being ready-made villains that everyone (well, almost) can root against. Occupation by an invading force is always fodder for films. The tension, the fear, the utter outlandishness of it all are all in place. Bravery and resourcefulness will be called upon while collaborators will be ever present. Lives and the future of one's homeland are at stake. Most of the stories told are true (who needs to fictionalize such escapades?) or based on actual events. Here are my ten favorite such films.  They come from varying times with the first made in 1942 and the last in 2009. There are four French films and one each from Italy and Czechoslovakia. There are nine different directors and among them are some of filmdom's best. Three of the films are in my top 100, four others just outside of it and three more I much admire.

Army of Shadows (1969) Melville. The best and most realistic fictional cinematic look at the French resistance ever made. Grim, cold bleak days with brave men and women going about life or death tasks with all the verve of accountants. There are no romances, no dashing figures, it’s too real to play to the audience like that. Collaborators are dealt with coldly and efficiently, lives are of far less importance than the cause. It is both a difficult film to watch and utterly compelling. 

Le Silence de la Mer (1949) Melville.  This is more about the occupation of a single house as a French family must endure a German officer who is billeted in their bucolic home. The family is cold to the intruder who seems a decent sort (well, aside from being a Nazi). He is a former composer whose very essence seems at odds with the uniform he wears. It’s a fascinating look at another of the many costs of war.

The Train (1964) Frankenheimer. Burt Lancaster saves precious works of art from the Nazis. While there is action aplenty, this is many respects a somber film. Lancaster plays a resistance fighter who also happens to work for the railroad. He leads an effort to thwart Nazi plans to take some of France’s most precious works of art out of the country as the allies close in. Christopher Plummer and Jeanne Moreau co-star.

The Pianist (2002) Polanski. Adrien Brody gave an Oscar-winning performance as Władysław Szpilman, the great classical pianist who somehow survived Nazi occupation and the holocaust in the Warsaw ghetto. By turns depressing and inspiring, the Pianist drew some of its inspiration from director Roman Polanski’s own experiences in the ghetto.

Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) Malle. For me one of the great films of all-time. Beautiful and heart-breaking. Julien is a tween student at a catholic boarding school who befriends a new student named Jean. Gradually Julien figures out that there is something different about his new friend, he’s a Jew. Indeed he is one of several hiding out in the school with the aid of the priest and headmaster. It’s a wonderful story of adolescent boys negotiating relationships; only in their case the Nazi occupiers form the backdrop to the story and ultimately bring it tragedy.

The Last Metro (1980) Truffaut. The story of a theater in the Montmartre section of Paris from early in the occupation through the end of the war. Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu star. The theater owner successfully defies the Nazis, fights censorship and shortages to maintain cultural integrity. The Last Metro was an awards season smash and deservedly so. As Vincent Canby of the New York Times wrote, “a dazzlingly subversive work.”

Inglorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds (2009) Tarantino. Quentin Tarantino’s fantasy alternate history of Jewish-American commandos going behind enemy lines to wreak havoc among the enemy. “We in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin’” says their leader Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). They ultimately go on a mission to kill the Nazi leadership — including Hitler — who are all in Paris. Shosanna Dreyfus owns the theater where they’ll be convening and as a Jew whose family was killed by the Nazis, she has similar inclinations. It's all makes for a magnificent movie. Christoph Waltz gives an iconic performance as the famed Jew hunter.

Closely Watched Trains (1966) Menzel. This is more the story of a young man coming of age as he embarks on a career in a cushy job as a train dispatcher. He also discovers love but finds the act of making love a challenge. Trains is perhaps the best known of the Czech New Wave. Nazis play a very small role in the film but as was the case in occupied Europe, their presence is constant and unpleasant backdrop to life. They end up being crucial to the denouement.

Rome: Open City (1945) Rossellini. The forerunner of the neorealism movement, Open City began filming only months after the Nazis fled Rome and as the war in Europe still raged. The war-ravaged streets of Rome provided the sets, which, along with the many non-actors appearing gives the film a documentary feel. This is a real, raw, heart-breaking look at the effect of Nazi occupation and the heroic individuals who defied it. Among the protagonists is the priest Don Pietro Pellegrini (played by comic actor Aldo Fabrizi in a masterstroke of casting) a real figure. His story is at the heart of Open City. The brilliant Anna Magnani also stars.

To Be or Not to Be (1942) Lubitsch. We close with lighter fare. The one comedy on the list and it’s an exceptional one. How can it miss under the direction of Ernst Lubitsch with Jack Benny and Carole Lombard starring? As one would expect there are laughs aplenty but they are somewhat muted by the reality of the setting being Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Benny and Lombard play a married couple who are part of an acting troupe. They use their dramatic skills to stymie Nazi efforts to root out the resistance movement. Amazing that it was made during the war.

The Films That Sustained During Recent Tribulations (Actually it Wasn't So Much Tribulations as Ten Days off From Work)

It's not that all I ever do is watch movies, it just seems that way to my family, friends and anyone with whom I have a passing acquaintance. With ten full days off from my labors and no trip to take, I was left pretty much at home to write, read, make trips to the gym and watch films. Not one to waste an opportunity, I managed to squeeze in 14 films. If you look very carefully you will find below a few comments on each of these movies.

The Departed (2006) This was my third time watching, I was showing it to youngest daughter whose cinematic tastes have greatly improved of late. I like it well enough but it represents a problem I have with the great director Martin Scorsese. Among his earlier work are some of the classic films of American cinema. Among his later work are some pretty good films but nothing to match the brilliance that was on display in Raging Bull (1980), Taxi Driver (1975) or Goodfellas (1990). The Departed is an example of how his raw, powerful and innovative story-telling power has given way to sometimes bloated over done star studded spectaculars. Departed has a big star or two or three in every scene and I believe that's part of the problem. There's Matt Damon, oh look it's Leo, now here's Nicholson, and Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Mark Whalberg. What Clark Gable wasn't available? They all fill up the screen with big star performances. The Departed is too much of what it is. Just watch Scorsese's first major film, Mean Streets (1973) and you'll see how story telling has given way to excess.

Adaptation (2002). I really like Charlie Kaufman the screenwriter. He doesn't just think outside the box he builds a new damn box and goes in there to think. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), which he wrote, is a brilliant film. Adaptation is the very clever story of a screenwriter struggling with a script and then becoming a character in it and yes of course Kaufman based it on his struggles with the screenplay. Although here he has a twin brother/doppelganger. Nicholas Cage plays the boys and Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper and Tilda Swinton head the rest of the gang. It's all a lot of fun and thought-provoking and clever but in a way that just feels too obvious for me. I like the film and appreciate the effort but I'm not gaga.

The Strawberry Statement (1970) This is the worst film that I love. While it is a generally shoddy bit of film making it also manages to encapsulate the campus unrest of the late Sixties/Early Seventies. It makes me damn nostalgic. The music, which includes songs from Neil Young, Buffy Saint Marie and those one hit wonders, Thunderclap Newman, is the perfect accompaniment to this story about a young man who falls into his university protest and falls in love in the process. There is every bit of the feel of that time and I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in the time period and what the protest movement was like. I would not however recommend it to anyone studying cinema. Look for a very young Bob Balaban in the cast and a pre Harold and Maude (1971) Bud Cort. Kim Darby (I had a crush on her at the time) is the love interest and Bruce Davison the star. Seeing this film upon its release was de rigueur in my circle and I reveled in it. All these years later it has a different but not less powerful meaning. Yup, those were the days.

Hearts and Minds (1974) Speaking of those times, if you want to understand American involvement in Vietnam you could do a lot worse than starting with Hearts and Mind which I consider the best documentary of all time. There is so much here about the experience of the US soldier in Vietnam, about the attitudes of the generals and political "minds" who crafted the war, about the feelings of those back home and most importantly about the impact of U.S. involvement on the Vietnamese people. An important historical document that of course our leaders haven't learned a wit from.

Blade Runner (1982). I not only love the look of this film from director Ridley Scott, but Harrison Ford's performance as the oh-so-vulnerable titular character. His name is actually Deckard but he is a blade runner, those brave souls of the future who go about terminating cyborgs who wander back to the planet to potentially cause trouble. Deckard essentially gets bested by them all in battle but wins out by luck, help from his friends and his foes' cockiness. Rutger Hauer is brilliant as public enemy number one and good gosh but I wish they still made Sci Fi films like this.

Inglourious Basterds (2009). What is most striking after repeat viewings of Tarantino's masterpiece is the theme of deception and pretending. The opening scene -- one of the greats in all of film -- sets the tone with the evil Col. Landa (Christoph Waltz) pretending he doesn't suspect there is a family of Nazis cowering below the floorboards. Meanwhile the interrogated farmer must likewise pretend there's no one below. In this film people pretend to be Nazis, Italians, gentiles, you name it. In the famous rendezvous bar scene people are playing a game in which they don't know who they are but everyone else does. We all pretend to be someone else except when we're the only one who doesn't know who we are. Most everyone pays for their lies including that evil Col. Landa. Brad Pitt's performance as Aldo Raines gets better with each viewing and director/screenwriter Quentin Tarantino's script is more brilliant with each viewing.

The Silence (1963). I mentioned The Silence in a post a few days ago and have written an entire piece about it as well. Ingmar Bergman is my favorite director and this film ranks in my personal top ten of his works. The child, the porter, the sisters the unnamed Eastern European country, the heat, the looming war, the sex. Sex. Sex and heat. The lack of communication. The symbolism. Oh yes and the circus troupe of midgets. I would never dare try to make sense of it all. Just bits of for me. Bits at a time are such a feast.

The Big Lebowski (1998). What a great re-discovery this has been for me. I've written about this one a couple of times recently and probably will again soon. My appreciation for the Coen Brothers has skyrocketed since I recently re-watched all their films and yes I should soon be writing a lengthy post about them. They of course write and direct as so many of the greats do. They write great parts too, sometimes for the wonderful John Goodman, as here. Jeff Bridges and Steve Buscemi and for that matter the rest of the cast got some juicy roles too and dove write in. The Coens, also like many of the greats, know how to use music not as part of the background to the story but as an integral part of it. But its the dialogue that keeps you coming back. The Dude: "Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not "Mr. Lebowski". You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing." You've got to love a movie with lines like that.

Synecdoche, New York (2008). Once again kudos to Charlie Kaufman in this case not only for writing but directing. Many people greatly admire this film, the late great Roger Ebert named it the best of the decade. Ebert argued that the film was about life itself. Well I for one admire the hell out of the movie but don't particularly love it. It's about as subtle as an electric guitar solo. While Bergman carefully crafted his stories with messages aplenty for viewers to wonder about and contemplate, this is one loud shout. Its a most worthy endeavor and I have no quarrel with those who love it. Just not my thing.

The Man Without a Past (2002). This was the first film from the great Finnish director, Aki Kaurismaki that I ever watched. I have since seen all that are available and he has become one of my favorites and no, not just because I am a fellow Finn. This is a good place to start with Aki. Like all his films it steers away from any kind of excess. The characters are placed in situations and work there way through. There is no glamour just honest stories with subtle humor but void of overt sentimentality. Understatement can be a most powerful kind of statement.

Joan of Paris (1942). This is one of a slew of propaganda pieces Hollywood churned out during the war. Some of them were great films like Casablanca (1942), some of them stunk to high heaven like So Proudly We Hail (1943) and many more were pretty good films like this one in which Paul Henreid and Michele Morgan star. Henreid was no stranger to such movies having featured in the aforementioned Casablanca. Morgan is best known for her role in Marcel Carne's Port of Shadows (1938). Henreid is nice enough but in Port she played upset the great Jean Gabin. Here she is a woman named Joan who is living in Paris (hence the title!) and she falls in love with Henreid and helps him and his fellow flyers escape from the evil Nazis. The Gestapo co stars as the evilest of the evil. Not a bad film.

Melancholia (2011) The apocalypse never looked so beautiful. Another of my favorite films of all time. It is so rich in themes and moods and talking points. Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg are sisters and the world is about to go kablooey. Although no one is certain that the planet heading in their direction will really wipe out Earth until the day the feared event happens. Dunst struggles mightily with sanity but then becomes both calm and omniscient and it is sis who is cracking up. Lars von Trier directed and did a superb job.

On Dangerous Ground (1951) We now live in a world in which too many people have never heard of Robert Ryan or Ida Lupino. The two star in this fine film from RKO, labeled a noir but not so easily classified. Lupino also did a bit of directing including filling in for Nicholas Ray on this one. This is one of those films from the time period which were short and sweet and for my money too short. It clocked in at 81 minutes and is a taut interesting story about a big city police detective (Ryan) struggling with the reality of his job and the lowlifes he sees everyday and his lonely home life. He's sent up into the snowy country to help with a murder investigation where he encounters the killer's sister (Lupino) who has her own struggles. Ward Bond plays the victim's dad and is quite good. But this is a movie that could have done with some fleshing out. Sitting through another 20 minutes or so wouldn't have killed anybody and in return the characters could have been more fully realized and the film so much better.

Where Eagles Dare (1968). This was my first ever viewing of the only collaboration between Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. There's a screen odd couple for you. Speaking of odd this is an odd one in that it has surprising  plot twists that can cause momentary confusion but make for a compelling storyline. But at the same time the action scenes are ridiculously excessive with stupid Nazis charging like Indians at a stagecoach in earlier film and getting gunned down ever so easily. Meanwhile our heroes seem impervious to bullets save one that nicks Burton's hand. I tell ya I would have loved this movie as a kid and can't believe I never saw it. While there is plenty of shooting and explosions and chasing there is an interesting story to boot. The locale is magnificent with all but a few scenes set in the the gorgeous Austrian Alps. Our plucky heroes are sent to a Nazi mountain stronghold for reasons that shift from time to time. This shifting is a good thing as it keeps this from being just another run of the mill World War II action/adventure flick as were so many in the Fifties and Sixties. It was a long film at nearly two and half hours but there's nary a yawn in it. A favorite of the Coen brothers and Steven Spielberg.

Not Seeing Ideas When They are All Around and Within and Not Even the Most Important Thing

My great religion is a belief in the blood, the flesh, as being wiser than the intellect. We can go wrong in our minds. But what our blood feels and believes and says, is always true. The intellect is only a bit and a bridle. - D. H. Lawrence.

A chap said to me that movies have to be about ideas.

Seriously.

I thought about the film I referenced in my last post, Elevator to the Gallows (1958). The scenes of Jeanne Moreau walking the streets of Paris at night with the strains of Miles Davis in the background. Was this a barren wasteland bereft of ideas? Or was this an example of cinema at its most beautiful with the perfection of mood?

Imagine dismissing the cello because it has no ideas. Imagine ignoring a scenic vista because it makes no intellectual argument. Imagine turning ones back on the ethereal beauty of Cocteau's La belle et la bête (1946) because it lacked a significant argument.

Intellectuals are right to seek new truths and strong statements in works of philosophy in novels and even in theater. But to disregard a film that is all about evoking emotion and touching our deeper self is to deny one of the great powers of art.

Hmmm watching a film as one reads a book with no spatial sense no angles but no effort to imagine. And to not feel? Quelle tristesse!

The movie in question was Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009). Of all the movies to assert has no ideas! A movie in which the director/writer makes a a revenge fantasy in order to promote a greater point -- as Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker put it -- "a larger point about the universal nature of heroism."

I offer this from David Bordwell co-proprietitor of the website Observations on Film Art: "nearly every scene is an interrogation. This entails that someone in authority (Landa, Aldo, Hitler, the Germans who question Archie’s accent in the tavern, Zoller) is trying to pry information out of someone else. Intimidation through interrogation gives every scene an urgent shape. Now Tarantino’s digressions (three daughters, rats and squirrels, a card game, the correct pronunciation of Italian) don’t read as self-indulgence, but rather as feints in a confidence game...." And this: "There is cinema that asks you to empathize with its characters. Then there is cinema that aims to thrill you with a cascade of vivid moments. There is How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Citizen Kane (1941). I think that Tarantino’s films mostly tilt to the vivid-moment pole, seeking to win us through their immediate verve, the way film noir and the musical and the action movie often do."

Tarantino is a fearless and manic film maker whose Pulp Fiction was not only one of the few bright spots of 90s cinema but set important trends in stylized post modern story telling. He subsequently lost his way with the overkill (no pun intended) of the Kill Bill films but the verve was back and then some with Inglourious Basterds. While not quite as poetic his latest -- Django Unchained -- is another fulfillment of a promise to make modern classics.

Of course there are ideas in Inglorious Basterds (not that we need them). Plenty. Questions are asked about our perceptions and uses of history and the audacious notion of re-writing it for artistic purposes. Ahh and revenge fulfillment as is also carried on in Django. Instead of robbing the hangman as Hitler did we see him blown to bits; just as Django blows away so many overseers. There is a visceral satisfaction there for those of us who've lived through endless renderings of the brutality of slavery and the holocaust. A curative. There are even moral questions and perforce intellectual ones asked by both films.

Tarantino's films are rich stews in dialogue tension action character and bravura style. It was said best in a comment left by Tudor Queen after my Django post -- he is sui generis.

As Camus said: "an intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself." Meanwhile we watch Tarantino. C'est Magnifique!

Touches of Evil, Interesting Movie Villains

Loathsome.

Awful people who you want to see vanquished, killed, put in their place, exposed, got rid of, reformed, defeated or just given their comeuppance.

Thankfully films are full of them. Sadly the vast majority are veritable cardboard cutouts. Sneering Simon Lagrees or moustache twirling Captain Hooks. Not really odious at all. The truly frightening or sickening ones feel quite genuine. They either recall actual people we have known or who are infamous enough for us to have heard of. Or there's something in them that strikes a chord. A chord of doom, disaster or dastardly diabolical deeds.

What makes a vivid film character, whether good or evil, is the same thing that makes  for a good movie -- truth. Art is best when it is shining a light on the reality of our existence. The truth is that evil, however we choose to define it, lurks everywhere. There are small doses of it in everyone. By infusing characters with a more evident evil, we can understand better that which we have experienced or even, perhaps, felt within ourselves.

I've been blogging frequently enough these past three years that I've actually already written a post on some of film's best villains. Indeed I followed up with another post focusing on evil women. Suffice it to say there are plenty more worth looking at, which this writing I hope will prove.

Bishop Edvard Vergerus as portrayed by Jan Malmjso in Fanny and Alexander (1982). Worse step father ever. Strictness squared. We come to love the title characters of the film. They are two children who excel at just being kids. Exploring, laughing, discovering and playing. Then their widowed Ma marries this repressive oppressive man of the cloth. He specializes in stifling imagination and meting out punishment.
Hans Landa as portrayed by Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds (2009). Nazis were some of the worst creatures to walk the Earth but they've been a positive boon to films. They're ready made villains. The evil Nazi has been a film staple since before the second world war even started. Remarkably, Waltz was able to bring the arch type to a whole new level. He was charming, intelligent -- spoke four languages -- and other than the uniform, a handsome bloke. That sort of skill set in the service of evil is particularly frightening.
Anton Chigurh as portrayed by Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men (2007). Glory be to first Cormac McCarthy and then to the Coen Brothers that they didn't kill him off. Chirgurh is ever so much more interesting still out there. He is also destined to be an iconic character for generations to come. What the deuce is he? A relentless, merciless and uncompromising killing machine for one. A killer with his own peculiar moral code who cannot be bargained with. He's like a great white shark: equally fascinating and frightening.

Hans Beckert as portrayed by Peter Lorre in M (1931). Like many of those who commit heinous acts, Beckart is pitiful. It doesn't serve to make him any less awful, just adds creepiness to the package. This is as bad a package as exists, someone who preys on little girls. An able bodied adult would have nothing to fear from Beckert, but it is our children he makes us fear for.
Done Lope de Agurirre as portrayed by Klaus Kinski in Agurirre: The Wrath of God (1972). A little megalomania brings out the worst in anyone. Kinski's Aguirre is utterly mad with evil. His lust for gold and power and his willingness to sacrifice others in the pursuit of it, make Aguirre deserving of the fate that ultimately befalls him.
Dan Logan as portrayed by Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast (2000). This is the same guy who played Ghandi, for crying out loud. It's a striking performance because it verges on being over the top. As a lesser actor would have made a meal of it. Sir Ben's Logan is one scary m*therf*cker and his raw anger and eccentric persistence is a personification of evil.
Marcus Licinius Crassus as portrayed by Laurence Olivier in Spartacus (1960). He may have plied his trade in Ancient Rome, but this is a textbook power mad dictator the likes of which still walk the Earth. He rules his people ruthlessly and cruelly. And Antoninus unhesitatingly exploits anyone at his disposal. For him, this is virtually everyone. Olivier gives the character dollops of rage to go with an articulate and even philosophical evil man.

Hank Quinlan as portrayed by Orson Welles in Touch of Evil (1958). The corrupt cop. There is very little in this world as distasteful. And my goodness Quinlan, the fat mumbling slob, is as noxious as they come. Welles the actor was surpassed only by Welles the director in this film.
Senator Ralph Owen Brewster as portrayed by Alan Alda in The Aviator (2004). There's one moment alone in The Aviator that qualifies Alda's Brewster for this list. Knowing that Howard Hughes, who he's about to have a business lunch with, is germophobic, he methodically places a large finger print on Hughes's drinking glass. What a rat. Brewster is of course based on the real Senator of the same name. He is portrayed as being in the pocket of a major corporation. Now I ask you, who ever heard of such a thing?
Judah Rosenthal as portrayed by Martin Landua in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). One of the worst things about Rosenthal is that he suffers no consequence for his actions. Indeed at the end of the film he is still a happily married wealthy and highly respected member of his community. With a clear conscience no less. He's the kind of evil who really commits only one horrible act (okay, two if you count the infidelity) and is otherwise clean as a whistle. Director/writer Woody Allen asks: How many of us are capable of the same? Chilling.

I Wish That Just Once I Could Say: "According to My Contacts in the Underground" Anyway, Herein is a Weather Report, Audience Complaints, and Discussion of Another World War II Movie

We've had a lot of rain here lately. Unlike most everyone else, I've loved every drop. I just now enjoyed some of the fruits of all that precipitation. I sat in the backyard under a clean blue sky. The ground was still damp from all the rain and the ground was a lustrous green. In spots bare of grass there was moss. Birds sang happily and a squirrel cavorted about. The air was warm and felt soft and caressing. I alternately enjoyed my surrounding and read Christopher Isherwood's Lion and Shadows, an autobiography as novel or novel as autobiography, I forget which.

This was time too perfect. So somewhere on our block a car alarm went off. Wonderful invention the car alarm. I wonder what the ratio is to the number of times they go off inadvertently to the number of times they prevent auto thefts. Anyway it was time for me to come in and write something. One occasionally just feels a strong urge to put pen to paper or rather to put finger to keyboard. So here we are....

Yesterday I saw Winter in Wartime (2008) a highly acclaimed Dutch film just now being released in this country. I hadn't been in a theater in a couple of months and forget how different it is to watch a film in public as opposed to the comfort of one's own home. A gentleman sat behind who insisted upon digging treats out of a large paper bag. Judging from the cacophonous munching, he had brought homemade popcorn. To my right was a couple who intermittently dug through a plastic bag for their vitals. In front of me was someone struggling to open a candy wrapper. Further back there was a couple who loudly whispered a few times until finally someone shushed them.

None of these vexations afflict the home movie goer. Then again the screen is bigger....

I believe it was Brad Pitt who said that Quentin Tarantino had effectively killed of World War II movies with Inglourious Basterds (2009). He, of course, meant it as a compliment and testimony to the exclamation point that Basterds put on the genre.

In fairness Winter in Wartime was released before Basterds and it's safe to assume that WWII movies will continue to be released (books on the Nazis alone had their biggest year in 2010, a testament to the everlasting fascination we have with Third Reich). But surely there's less and less material to explore. I felt I'd seen most elements of Winter in Wartime several times before.

Based on true events, the story revolves around a male adolescent in occupied Holland in January of 1945. The war was all but lost but the Nazis did a lot of their killing in the war's waning months, just ask any Holocaust scholar.

Our young hero, Michiel, becomes involved with the rescue of a downed British flyer. Indeed, after a series of arrests he's the whole show until he finally enlists the aid of his older sister.

There is much daring do, near escapes, mean Nazis (they really were, you know) betrayals, tensions and yes of course, our hero coming of age. This was a much celebrated film in The Netherlands and that's understandable. it's a compelling tale well told. For me it was just all a bit too familiar.

As I've detailed here any number of times, particularly in this post from several years ago, which I followed up with this post a few months later, the Second World War is a never ending source of films. The scripts write themselves. There are ready-made heroes and villains and all manner of dramatic material replete with explosions, gunfire and blood.

At this point, with so many stories having been told, one really needs something new, mostly in the way of telling it. As Tarantino did. He had the wonderful audacity to create a separate reality. It's hard to see anyone daring to try that again. Then again Hollywood is positively teeming with people who make a fortune recycling really good ideas and turning them into rot. I'd never underestimate those bastards with two"a"s.

I've spent a lifetime watching WWII films and reading non-fiction books about the Nazis. I'll reiterate a point recently made on this blog that its instructive for anyone to make at least a cursory study of the crimes of the Nazis and to engage in some serious reflection about them.

In terms of WWII films,  I can't say that I've had my fill yet but I rather doubt there's much else I can be moved by. Go ahead filmmakers, prove me wrong.

I Answer the Question: Is it Ever to Early to Talk About Next Year's Oscars? (Hint: YES!!!!)

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According to my calender today is July 2nd. Nonetheless in today's San Francisco Chronicle there is an article by film critic Mick LaSalle about the year in film's so far. Fair enough. But the article also includes numerous sidebars about which films have a chance at receiving an Oscar nomination.

With six months left in the calendar year.

Seven months before the nominations are announced.

Eight months before the awards are presented.

Is is ever to early to discuss the coming year's Oscars? I think the day before the show is too early. Eight months? Gimme a break....

I'm open to any discussion on the state of films over the last few weeks, months, years or any other arbitrary time period you care to introduce. While the fact is that there have been more than enough great films released over the past 100 years to keep me busy for as long as I inhabit this planet, I'm always willing to enjoy another terrific new film.

If new pictures had stop being released a year ago at this time I'd have missed out on Inglourious Basterds and A Serious Man, two of my all time favorites. So as much as it cuts into my valuable time, bring me more.

But please, once and for all can we put an end to this fallacy that the Academy Awards have the slightest thing to do with determining the best achievement in films over the course of a year?

And for God's sakes, we're stuck with enough Oscar hype from November through March, can we at least be spared from it in July?

While I'm badly beating a dead horse (God forbid PETA should find out) let me refer  you to last Tuesday's list on the wonderful website, Listserve. It is titled Top 10 Biggest Travesties of the Oscars. It only really scratches the surface and in fact I did a better job a couple of years ago, but it's worth a look in any case.

I better ask my daughters never to name any of their children, Oscar.

I Enter an Oscar Competition and You Get to See My Picks (Wish Me Luck)

My ambivalence about the Academy Wards has been well documented on this blog. But that doesn't mean I can turn away from the show when it rears its humongous head every year. Nor can I resist the notion of a little competition, especially when there's a gift certificate to Amazon to be won and nothing to lose.

The rules of the competition call for participants getting one point for every correct prediction but a minus one for every one that is wrong. I can make as many or as few picks as I want.

Please note that I'm in it to win so the following DO NOT REFLECT MY PREFERENCES but my best guesses as to how voters were thinking when they filled out their ballots. Here goes nuthin.'

Best Picture - Hurt Locker
Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz
Best Supporting Actress Mo'Nique
Best Foreign Language Film - Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschicte
Best Original Screenplay - Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay - Jason Reitman & Terri Tatchell, Up in the Air
Best Animated Feature - Up
Best Achievement in Visual Effects - Avatar

The *Cough* Films *Cough* That Got Me *Cough* Through My *Cough* Bronchitis *Cough*

Last Friday I finally returned to blogging after an unplanned and unwanted hiatus that had Streams of Unconsciousness fans all over the globe saying: "his blog isn't so bad when he's not updating it." I wrote about my horrific illness (actually it was just a cold that morphed into bronchitis) and also about the more serious health woes my big brother was surviving. I also mentioned that there were many films that helped get through and that I would write a word to two about them the next day. I didn't. Nor the day after that nor the day after that. But I am today as I'm finally catching up with my life (does that even make sense -- "catching up with my life"?). Here they are:

The Maltese Falcon (1941). Mary Astor's Brigid O'Shaughnessy is one of the most complex and interesting female characters of her era. She's a liar of the bald faced variety, can't contain herself. She's evil, a temptress, but weak and oh so vulnerable. You don't know whether to make love to her or send her to the gallows. But a man's parter has been killed and he has to do something. Has to do the right thing. Bogie's in all but one short scene of the film (Miles Archer's murder) yet I doubt this would have been a classic without Astor as Brigid. Astor was a delight in all manner of film. From Dodsworth (1936) to The Palm Beach Story (1942) from Red Dust (1932) to Midnight (1939). She made a lot of good films even better. Maltese Falcon is a -- pun intended -- classic example.

Army of Shadows (1969). Director Jean-Pierre Melville was the master of let us say French New Wave Film Noir. But his masterpiece was this story of the French resistance. Well after all the Nazis were criminals and in a sense so too were the Resistance fighters. They were playing their little games of hide and seek and kill and destroy. The stakes were impossibly high for the French. Cyanide tablet anyone? It's an utterly compelling film from start to finish because it all seems so damn real. You hardly need to embellish such stories. So Melville had his heroes as rather plain looking folk acting like middle management employees doing a day's work. Thus an inherently fascinating tale is allowed to stand on its own terms and as such is one of the great movies of all time. It's only been on DVD for a few years and not enough people are aware of it. If you're unfamiliar with Army of Shadows, do yourself a favor. I wrote about in July '08.

The Seal Wolf (1941) and Smart Money (1931). Back-to-back Edward G. Robinson. Smart Money is a relatively forgettable picture except for the fact that is the only film pairing of Robinson and James Cagney. Their scenes together do not disappoint, just the overall movie does, though its still well worth the time for fans of either or both stars. (Put me solidly in the both category.) Films give us a lot of what-ifs such as what if two stars had been paired on screen or more often? I don't know that Cary Grant and Bogie sharing the screen would have worked especially well but Cagney and Robinson were a good fit both being tough guys with smarts who were comfortable with physical movements. They, like Burt Lancaster and and Marlin Brando, are interesting to watch for every step they take, every hand gesture every punch thrown. Oddly, in Sea Wolf Robinson is a lot more self contained, his hands often in his pocket, his gestures small. But its one of the best of his many great performances. I love the film and see it more and more as warning against fascism. Robinson is in sharp contrast to co star John Garfield who I always find so wooden and uninteresting. Ida Lupino is in it too and she'll forever be linked in my mind with the word underrated. What an actress!

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). It might have been 20 years since I last saw this film. I was struck by how realistic it seems. I mean that of all the cinematic efforts to predict what human encounters with celestial beings will be like this one seems damn near scientific. (Maybe this speaks more to my peculiarities than to the film.) I'll have to watch it again soon to figure out why, but the movie comes tantalizingly close to brilliance and falls just short. I guess you could say that's praising it with faint damnation. It's of course elevated by the mere presence of Francois Truffaut who was an inspired choice as the French scientist (he wouldn't do as a Bolivian one). Dreyfuss was amid a run of great performances and the rest of the cast ranges from good to exemplary. As a story CEOTTK has all kind of elements and themes going for it, not the least of which is as a story of obsession. There are a lot of excellent films about obsessed people and sooner rather than later I'll devote a lengthy post to that topic. (Promise.)

Inglourious Basterds (2009). I've seen it four times now, twice in the theater and twice on DVD and it gets better with each viewing. Director Quentin Tarantino made this film like Michael Jordan scoring 56 points in a playoff game. Everything he tried was right on the money. The casting was inspired. There are so many roles that are and will remain memorable. Scenes resonate. The score was perfect and the whole audacious premise is inspired. Tarantino never needs to top this but if he comes close he'll have created a most impressive legacy. Hell, maybe he already has.

Foul Play (1978). I saw this in the theater shortly after it came out. I should have left it at the one viewing. How on Earth did Chevy Chase get any more film roles after his disastrous performance in this very foul movie? On the other hand the film launched the "Hollywood Star" portion of Dudley Moore's career and Goldie Hawn was as delightful as ever. It's one of those ridiculous crime comedies that somehow finds a large enough audience to make a buck and thus inspires other similar disasters. Real question is: why did I sit through the whole thing a second time? How sick was I?

Manhattan (1979). One of my top ten films of all time and the first I watched on our new DVD player. I never know what to say about it because if I start I may not be able to finish. To me it has the wittiest and most intelligent screenplay of the last 4,000 years. There are lines that I still laugh at loud (that's LOL to you kids) at. I think Diane Keaton is even more impressive here than in Annie Hall. The opening shots of New York with Allen's narration and the strains of Gershwin comprise one of the great starts to a film ever. Period.

Chinatown (1974). I watched it paying particular attention to Faye Dunaway. It's interesting to look at her knowing that the whole sister/mother business. We don't know but she does. It makes her performance all the more impressive. Dunaway had a great run from 1967 through 1976: Bonnie & Clyde (1967), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Little Big Man (1970), Chinatown (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975) and Network (1976). She played opposite Warren Beatty, Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford and William Holden. Not too shabby. Neither is Chinatown, one of those rare films that is not diminished the least in knowing its secret. In other words you could watch it again and again should you want to. Count me in. 

George Washington Slept Here (1942). The wife and I are were talking the other night about how there are always some movies that people like way more than they know they should. Not guilty pleasures really. It's more like how my discussion on this blog about how seeing a movie is like a date. Sometimes you fall in love, other times not so much. Sometimes the movie or date is great but there's no connection. GWSH is like a date with someone who's got flaws that are plain to see but you feel a connection and go gaga. Part of my attraction to GWSH is my attraction to Ann Sheridan who I'm nuts about (someone build me a time machine). There's also Jack Benny who I really like but in a totally different way -- like I needed to tell you. I'm not going to apologize for loving this film nor defend my love. It's just one of those things. Anyway, it was the perfect film to enjoy when I needed a little comfort from feeling like poop. Besides Sheridan and Benny you get Charles Coburn, Franklin Pangborn, Hattie McDaniel and Percy Kilbride. But mostly there's Ann.....(sigh)

Okay, Okay, My Top Twenty Films of the Last Decade

I'm yielding to overwhelming and unrelenting pressure (okay a couple of people mentioned it in passing) and publishing a top 20 of my favorite films from the preceding decade. The oughts.

Initially I had balked because I felt there weren't a score of movies worthy of a best decade list. But upon further reflection, there were some excellent efforts, surely enough for a passable top twenty. And indeed this past decade is probably far better than either the 80s or 90s. (Still, this list is in no way comparable to a list one could make of films from the 70s or 30s.

So here at last are my top 20 films of the oughts.

1. Inglourious Basterds (2009) Tarantino U.S.
2. The Aviator (2004) Scorsese U.S.
3. No Country For Old Men (2007) Coen Brothers U.S.
4. Barbarian Invasions (2003) Arcand French Canada
5. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) Cuaron Mexico
6. Zodiac (2007) Fincher U.S.
7. Minority Report (2002) Spielberg U.S.
8. A Serious Man (2009) Coen Brothers U.S.
9. Downfall (2004) Hirschbiegel Germany
10. City of God (2002) Meirelles/Lund Brazil
11. Lives of Others (2006) von Donnersmarck Germany
12. Wonder Boys (2000) Hanson U.S.
13. Gangs of New York (2002) Scorsese U.S.
14. The Man Without a Past (2002) Kaurismaki Finland
15. Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008) Allen U.S.
16. Amores perros (2000) Inarritu Mexico
17. Bamboozled (2000) Lee U.S.
18. Milk (2008) Van Sant U.S.
19. The Class (2008) Cantet France
20. Bad Education (2004) Almodovar Spain

Defending Our Movies, Defending Ourselves

Those of us with even the teeniest amount of self awareness all know one thing about ourselves: we are not perfect. We all have varying degrees of acceptance of this fundamental fact, but there is no getting around at least some of our imperfections. We therefore seek transcendence in other things.

Looking for it in other people is futile. Our most celebrated athletes, entertainers, politicians and writers may have a special talent but are, without exception, just as unalterably human as we are. In case this should be forgotten the media is always quite ready, willing and able to report blemishes as they become apparent.

So we look to things. Many people find perfection in their country. This is not patriotism but blindness. A nation state and its government is a construct that even in the best of circumstances will at some (or perhaps for that matter all) times will be exploited by the few for their benefit or in other ways not best serve the many. And of course countries rely upon leaders who are human... and well you know where this is going.

So we look to art. Through songs, paintings and films we can find beauty. Some works of art we enjoy or admire but acknowledge could have done with a change here or there. But others, albeit a precious few, we celebrate, revere, worship. Here at last is perfection. And we adopt it. It is part of our identity. It is of us.

No bloody wonder many react so angrily to criticism of their favorite movie.

The more fragile our ego, the weaker our self esteem, the more angrily we may react. Not surprsingly older teens and fanboys breath fire when one of their chosen ones is blasted by a critic. Film critics who dared question the perfection of The Dark Knight (2008) last Summer were vilified by angry emails, blog posts and the like. A few months ago the Transformers sequel was roasted by critics far and wide. The near unanimity of opinion of the film did not stop the films legions of devotees from screaming foul at critics. Teens and the typical fan boy is at a vulnerable age, struggling for identity. When something they love is not universally adored they feel the self they are just now forging is being questioned.

One would assume that an old coot like yours truly would gladly avail himself of criticism of a favorite film, want to entertain all views. One would be wrong. I have fallen head over heals in love with Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. If a writer has harsh words for it I don't want to know. And it's not just about current stuff. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) has been around for 79 years and if someone has written anything negative about it, whether upon its release or yesterday, I ain't interested.

So, how, you ask, am any different than those keening teens? By the very fact that I don't concern myself with attacks on what I love. If I happen to come across some harsh words for a favored film I hurry along to something else. Others will take the time to read opposing opinions and my even engage with civil debate. Bully! Depending upon how you look at it I either don't have the time, inclination or self security to hear what's wrong with what I find infallible. (Hey, I just assume not hear what you don't like about my wife and kids either.) On the other hand I'll gladly indulge every word of praise from others I can find. Let us share our love. Give me more insight into why I love this movie. Let me find new prisms though which to view and love it.

Of course this is movies. When it comes to political systems and philosophies, leaders, programs and aims, it is incumbent on all of us to remain detached and willing to hear all sides. Not that many people are capable of such rational behavior. The right has been particularly guilty of interpreting any dissent against government policy as sedition when it is in fact the privilege if not the duty of all citizens. Indeed some American patriots are quite evidently the most insecure people you'll ever see. The constant yammering about how great America is (Fox News' Sean Hannity even did a series of shows on how America is the greatest country in the world) is positively bizarre. Imagine a relatively young and successful person bellowing to one and all that he is the greatest person in the world and then brooking no criticism. Madness!

Let us all be willing to hear all sides on key issues of the day. Except of course if someone is talking mess about a beloved movie, them we can ignore.

Excuse My Continued Exuberance and How About Some Cake With Your Movie?

In writing about Inglourious Basterds (again) on his Scanners blog, Jim Emerson referenced an Alfred Hitchcock quote in which Hitch said that his films are not slices of life but slices of cake.

I am a big fan of neo realism and gritty tales of everyday life. Whether from the Pre Code Era or a recent independent film, I like a good movie that shines a light on life's truths, however unseemly they may be.

But I also like ice cream and dancing and raucous celebrations and a toe tapping rock songs from the 60s. Most of all I like art, in whatever form, that wakes me up, shakes me up and takes me up, up, up. Move me, man, move me. I don't always wanna just sit here, mind alert but feelings numb. A bite of good rich chocolate, The Who singing Behind Blue Eyes, watching His Girl Friday (1940) things that make my senses stand up and shout, "yipeee!"

Why am I addicted to working out? The endorphins, man. Totally high off them for hours after. I don't walk after a work out, I strut. Hear the music before turning on my iPod.

What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play. I don't know if life really is a Cabaret (1972), old chum, but it can be a real gas. Sometimes you've got to touch it. Grab it. Then hold on for dear life. Cool ride.

Tarantino totally did it. Right up there with his own Pulp Fiction (1994) and works of so many auteurs, he did it with Inglorious. Not off the high yet, 24 hours later. A work out in between so I'm buzzing. Bees be jealous. Oh sure I'll come down. Come down and sit for a bit. Gotta get a dose of reality. Read the news and see what...but not yet. Not now....

See, this is what movies can do. Be the cake. But no calories, no starch, no fat just the deliciousness. The yummy. You get it from the Marx Brothers, from Preston Sturges, Ernest Lubitsch, Cary Grant, Bonnie & Clyde (1967), Goodfellas (1990). The nerve and the verve. They dared to be different. They dared to be good. And they were. No they ARE. Great art is eternal. The paintings of Jan van Eyck and Sandro Botticelli ain't going nowhere. They, like ET are right here.

A terrific film like Inglourious Basterds will have me appreciating other films, and music, dark chocolates all kinds of stuff. It's like its contagious. Our senses are heightened and we want more. The soul is hungry and must be fed. Nourish it. With cake!

Great art offers the unexpected or gives you a different look at the expected. That's it! It's different. Sturges, the Beatles, Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Unexpected. Different. Not just rock n roll or vanilla or a comedy. Not just anything. You know where else you get that feeling? From love. That's why falling in love can be so scary. You've got the rush of the roller coaster and you're not sure its safe. It's actually riskier than a roller coaster, more danger of getting hurt. But the ride is sooooo fun. Thing with love is, that it may hurt you but the rewards! Love makes you experience your life. You're not walking by it anymore. You're in it. Deeply involved with your existence. Great art (and you and only you can be the judge of what's great) involves you. Can't just watch or listen or taste or feel. It's more.

Am I serious that a movie can be so profound? Maybe not for you. Maybe you don't like chocolate. We're all different. Me I don't go backpacking. I don't listen to punk. Don't do it for me. But a great film touches a part of me that's not easy to access. If you've spent some time on this planet and you've seen some difficult times (affirmative to both for me) then you really, really appreciate what you love. I mean it lingers after the moment. And I don't want to go all R rated on you but its the difference between making love and just having sex. Sex good. Love making goes beyond the moment of apogee.

So all this from a Quentin Tarantino movie? No, no, no that was the spark, great on its own terms but of a larger picture. One in which the senses are alive and enjoying. Let us eat cake!

The Glories of Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds

I saw Quentin Tarantino's new film Inglourious Basterds this afternoon. As you will read, I loved it. I felt compelled to write about forthwith but hardly am up to the task of a full blown review. The experience of this particular film is too immediate. To write anything truly meaningful of any sort of length would require more perspective and perhaps a second viewing (can't wait). There is quite enough about it on the internet to keep you busy anyway. However, I did want to share some scattered thoughts of mine and have done so below. Since the movie has only been in theaters for a few days I've been careful to avoid spoilers.

The biggest risk Tarantino takes in Inglorious Basterds is in the length of some scenes and the amount of dialogue in those scenes. It is a risk that pays off handsomely. Far too many modern directors like to jump hither and yon, not confident that they can direct a long scene or that their audience will sit through one. Tarantino has no such fear. In fact the movie's first scene contains a lengthy dialogue between two men, a French farmer and an SS officer. It is totally compelling because of the true nature of their discussion ( the farmer is hiding a Jewish family) and the bravura performance of Christopher Waltz as the officer.

Tarnatino is clearly a man very much in love with cinema. There is thus an exuberance to his film making and its never been more evident than with this film. He positively loves the story he is telling and the characters he has created. He wants us to love the film too but doesn't pander, he trusts in that story and in those characters. He doesn't manipulate scenes but let's them play out. I love it when a director trusts his story because it also means he trusts me. Tarantino is a true auteur.

The previews are misleading. The focus of the film in not on Brad Pitt and his merry band of Jewish American Nazi hunters. Their escapades are certainly central to the story but they are but one part. They in fact never even cross paths directly with a few other featured characters.

Roger Ebert had a great line about the film. He said the actors didn't chew the scenery but they did lick it. I couldn't have said it better myself but I sure as well wish I had said exactly that first. Waltz is especially mannered. It's one of those boundary pushing performances that is so good for being so daring. I love it when actors challenge conventions without lapsing into parody or caricature.

One of the things that I particularly like about Tarantino is that he is so good with his female stars. First Uma Thurman and Pam Greier and now Melanie Laurent and Diane Kruger. It's surprising to learn that he has only recently come to the films of Joseph von Sternberg who veritably made love to Marlene Dietrich with his camera in their many collaborations. Tarantino knows how to utilize, direct and film women. There are many great directors who never worked particularly well with female stars.

When going to see a film for the first time we cannot divorces ourselves from our preconceptions or current mood. Being exceptionally happy, anxious, sad or preoccupied can and often will be a filter through which we see a movie. I always go to a movie hopeful that I'm going to see something fantastic (seriously, who goes to a movie thinking they're going to hate it other than, perhaps, professional reviewers?). I was in a good movie viewing mood today, glad to be taking oldest daughter to a film. However I carried the burden of extremely high expectations. This is often death to a movie. Anything less than perfection can ruin a perfectly good movie saddled with unrealistic expectations. But Inglourious Basterds was so good it didn't matter. It's the best film I've seen in theaters since No Country for Old Men (2007).

Films based on actual events often get blasted for straying from those actual events. Inglourious Basterds doesn't so much stray from history as re-write it in toto. Don't know that anyone has squawked about it so far but anyone who does shouldn't be taken seriously. As Tarantino has explained, he was letting the story be driven by the characters. Good for him. Artists often feel too hemmed in by empirical fact. Live a little. There is a time and place for historical accuracy. This film was clearly not one of them.

Nice to see Mike Myers in something other than one of his own disasters. Maybe he'll settle in for awhile as a character actor. He clearly needs to stop writing and directing for a bit (he hasn't made a really good movie since the first Austin Powers film, though the second was passable). He's too good to go away entirely for any length of time.

There is the small part of a waitress played by a young French actress named Anne-Sophie Franck. She's got such a captivating face that I'll bet you a donut you'll be seeing her in more prominent roles in years to come.

I love the shot of the cream and the strudel. That was a nice touch that shows a film maker who is patient and meticulous. Reminds me of the Coen brothers shot of the uncrinkling wrapper in No Country.