This was a week of wonderful, but sad movies. Most of them dealt with war in some manner, but all of them had themes that were much larger than simply war. This week, I got to watch The White Ribbon [IMC DVD 362.27 W582 2010], Life is Beautiful [IMC DVD 940.5317 L722 2000], The Hurt Locker [IMC DVD 355.1097 H967 2010], and Scarface [IMC DVD 364.106 S285 2003].
My first movie, The White Ribbon, was a German subtitled film. Before World War I, a small village in Germany begins to witness strange events, which seem to follow a pattern, but no one knows who is responsible. The movie was beautiful in its black-and-white, masterfully composed picture. It is rare to see a movie which keeps you engaged for its entirety, but The White Ribbon managed to make a mystery drama suspenseful and interesting throughout. Each of the townspeople have a secret, and it is thoroughly enjoyable to see it all play out.
Life is Beautiful was another movie which dealt with a war, this one being World War II. This movie starts out so whimsical, when the main protagonist, Guido, falls in love with a woman he keeps bumping into, Dora. He later finds out that she is already promised to another, but manages to win her with overabundance of humor and imagination. These same traits later become important when he and his son are taken to a concentration camp, and he helps to shield his son from the danger around them. As you watch Guido, you can’t help but laugh and smile as his antics, even as he puts himself in danger. It is easy to see why this film was rated so highly—it reminds us that each situation is what we make of it.
The Hurt Locker was a movie that I remembered being released but had never gotten to watch. Jeremy Renner does a wonderful job playing a bomb squad technician who gets assigned to a new squad. His squad members struggle with working with him, as he does his job without conferring with them, leaving them all in dangerous situations. I ended up enjoying this movie more than I thought I would, mostly because it was directed and written very well.
My last movie was Scarface, which I am willing to admit that I had never seen before. Since it is much quoted by movie aficionados, I felt like the time had come for me to watch it. As to be expected, it was a great movie, well-shot and extremely well-acted by Al Pacino. This movie is currently on our Organized Crime DVD display in the IMC, so if you (like me) have never gotten around to watching it, I highly recommend it!
It is an indescribable feeling, getting to watch a great movie for the first time, and this week I was lucky enough to have gotten to watch several of them. Follow along with your own film travelogue adventure at https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/ .
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