Universal Language Part I

Authoritarianism, Freedom, Movies

 

Recently, I reviewed all 10 films nominated for Best Picture of the Year by the Academy of Arts and Sciences.  I saw some great films in the process, and some that were less than stellar.  Now I want to talk about the film I thought was the best film of the year, but it was not on that illustrious list. This film was called Universal Language and it was made by a Winnipegger Matthew Rankin. Can you believe it?

 

It was selected as the Canadian entry of the Academy Award for the Best International Film at the 97th Academy Awards earlier this year, but it was not chosen by the Academy for the nominations. It did receive 13 Canadian Screen Awards and won 6 of them including best Director.

 

Rankin was originally from Winnipeg and his father was Laird Rankin a long time executive director of Canada’s Historical Society. I think it was a very funny film when I watched it in Victoria earlier in the year.  Let me acknowledge however, that although my friend Ralph Friesen and I giggled throughout the film, but not that many other chuckles were heard in the room. It was an “off-beat comedy.” The film is set in Canada, but one very different from the Canada you know. It is a Canada in which Farsi is the main language. That is the language of Persia or Iran. The comedy takes place somewhere between Tehran, Quebec, and mainly Winnipeg. It tells two stories that eventually converge. One is between Negin and Naxgol who find money frozen in the ice in Winnipeg and try to claim it. The second story is about a tour guide who brings a group of tourists from Iran to Winnipeg.

 

The Winnipeg they see is unlike any Winnipeg I have ever seen. Understandably, the tour group is constantly confused, but largely obedient to their guide. Added to that, is the tale of Matthew (our Matthew Rankin) who quits his job in Quebec to come to Winnipeg to see his mother. Amazingly these stories do actually merge together to make some semblance of sense.  A semblance is all you get and that is enough.

 

In the opening scene an image of a school on a cold winter day in Manitoba where students are running wild in a French emersion class, for Iranian students, because the teacher is late.  He arrives and runs as fast as he can into the class and is really angry with them, but he is particularly angry that they do not have “the decency to  misbehave in French.” He reminds the students that he is not like other authority figures they know. “I wear an ear ring. And a turtle neck sweater. I’ve played my electric guitar for you more than once. And still, you behave like brats. I have devoted my life to making you better human beings. But look at you now.” The students are clearly rebels. And who doesn’t love rebels? The authorities of course hate rebels, in Iran, or in Canada.

 

 

One student in the class is dressed like Groucho Marx.  He is sent to a closet where he can still hear the teacher. The teacher stands beneath a portrait of Louis Riel the Metis rebel. Another student incurs his rile because he claims to want to be a tour guide when he grows up.  The teachers says, “in this town.” Another student wants to breed donkeys. The teachers says all the students will fail because of “REALITY.” The teacher says, “When I look at you I see little hope for humanity.” The students must say, in unison, “We are lost forever in this world.” Now they are not rebelling, they are following instructions from their authoritarian teacher.

 

He tells all the students in the closet even though they obviously can’t all fit.  It is their problem, not his. He expels all the students from class until the one student who could not read his notes from the class figures out how she can see the blackboard.  Arbitrary punishment for an arbitrary non-existent crime.  There is no justice in this Canadian autocracy. He lights a cigarette in the class room. After all he is the lord in the classroom. All-in-all as absurd as any authority figure.

 

As the students go out to play in the snow, in perfect order, they encounter another authority figure—their fellow student in a Groucho mustached and glasses.  He directs traffic to the one swing. Students line up and each get 3 swings. No more. then they must go back to the end of the line and wait again while each student has their turn. No questions allowed. Everyone must follow the rules in this authoritarian regime.

Meanwhile, a “real tour guide’ shows up, holding a small white flag, so his 3 tourists, in the middle of a yard of snow, can see him clearly, even though there are no other tourists and white might not be the best colour for the flag.   The guide who is the next authoritarian leader tells the tourists  if they don’t follow him they will miss the “jewel of the Grey district.” It is the Centennial Parking Pavilion in the winter. Nothing else. They stand in in the snow in front of a bare grey cement wall. Is this the best thing to see in Winnipeg? But the authority says it is the highlight of Winnipeg. And thhe must be right. Not? He has to end the tour, but he has hired students to re-enact “the Great Parallel Parking Incident of 1958.” What could be greater or more interesting than that? One tourist asks, “since when is a parking lot of great importance?” Well, of course, since the authority says it is.

Teh authorities must be right. Just like authority always works. Even in Winnipeg.

 

[to be continued}

F1

Movies

 

 

Veteran driver, Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) , wakes up from his nap, sticks his head in ice water, gives it a shake, takes a pill, and re-enters the race. And as the announcer said, “Sonny Hayes may have left his brake pedal at home.” This is racing. With great film work too. But, this is not just about car racing. It’s about miracles. Sort of.

Sonny Hayes, a man who just won Indy 500 and doesn’t bother touching the trophy. He doesn’t need to. So he doesn’t.  In a Wash and Fold Coin laundry in Arizona, he is approached by an old pal, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) who offers him a job to work on a driving team  with a talented young rookie driver without much experience in a F1 racing. To Sonny, F1 racing is the real thing, but he quit it. Years ago.

 

Reuban’s problem is that his best driver left his team, because, he said, “the car is a shitbox.”  After 2 &1/2 seasons he has no victories. And the third season is half over and there are 9 races left. He knows he will lose his team after the season unless he does better and wins. Ruben says, “Some people see Sonny Hayes, they see a guy who lives in a van, a gambling junkie who missed his shot.”   Hayes responds, “Wow Ruben, you’re really selling this.”  Ruben replies, “But I see a guy who makes teams better. I see experience. I see know-how.” Sonny’s answer, “you’re off your meds.”  Ruben adds, “My rookie’s a phenomenal talent. Phenomenal. But he’s young. You know what he lacks? Maturity. You plus him? Boom I got a team.” Like so much of life, it is about teams.

 

Ruben shows Sonny an old photo of himself and a very young Sonny Hayes  and asks, “What  would he want?” Sonny, “Join a boys’ band? Seriously I’d ask what he’s smiling about.” Ruben, “He’s smiling at the possibility.”  But Ruben doesn’t quit. He offers him a first-class seat on a flight to London. “I’m offering you an open seat in Formula 1. The only place you could say for one day, if you win you are the absolute best in the world.” In the end, Ruben  and Sonny agree. Neither has ever seen a miracle. They separate. Maybe it is time for a miracle.

Brash and over confident rookie driver, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) is the young driver who stands to lose his career if he doesn’t win. And it has hardly begun.

Sonny asks his waitress: “A good friend makes you an absolutely too good to be true offer? What do you do? “ She asks, “How much is it about?”  He says, “It’s not about the money.”  She asks a good question, then what is it about? That’s obvious. It’s not about a miracle. It’s about the possibility of a miracle.” Who else gets chances like that. Sonny is Ruben’s “Hail Mary.”  Very appropriate for the possibility of a miracle.

 That’s what this movie is about. The possibility of a miracle.

The team’s technical director, Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon)  is the first female technical director of an F1 team. And of course, she and Sonny get involved. He wants Kate to give it to him “straight as an arrow. No sugar.” Kate tells Sonny, “Everyone thinks Ruben has lost it. That he’s clutching at straws. They’re saying he lost a bet. Ran over your dog. They’re saying Sonny Hayes isn’t a has-been. He’s a never was.”  This cuts deep. Sonny says, “Yeah, when I said I like straight talk I meant me. From others I mostly prefer praise, flattery, hero worship, at times straight up bullshit.”

Sonny then tells Kate to win he needs a way to chase through the dirty air. Get closer to the car ahead. He must follow close—dangerously close—in order to have any chance to win against the establishment who are all way ahead of their team. She asks, “How can I make that safe?”  He then asks, “Who said anything about safe?”  This sets her off: “You want me to redesign so you can follow closer?”  He nods and says, “We need to design for combat.” Her answer comes swiftly:

 “I say that when you look in the mirror you see this rough-and-tumble, old school, no bullshit cowboy. Doesn’t take orders. Goes his own way. Huh? A lone wolf? Well, I have news for you. Formula 1 is a team sport. It always was. And maybe that’ why you failed at it. The only question here is why did Sonny Hayes come back to F1? I’ll start listening to you when you finish a race.”

 

Like so many of these films the protagonist here is infused with insane goals. Racing cars and no interest in safety?  That’s insane. Chasing miracles? That’ insane. Ruben realizes this after Sonny crashes the car. In the hospital. Ruben realizes he and Sonny are insane.  Ruben reads a report in the hospital: “blunt force impact trauma likely to result in vision loss, paralysis death.”  But this was a report from 30 years ago. And Sonny never told him then.

Where are those miracles possible? Somewhere insane.

 

Frankenstein

Moral Humility, Movies

 

 

What is a monster?

As I have been commenting on how in nearly all of the films I have been reviewing that were nominated for Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts, and Sciences for 2026 I have been struck by the fact that many of them depicted insane devotion to unreasonable goals.  The film Frankenstein certain complies with this analysis.

 

In 1857 a large ship is entombed in the ice of the far frozen north. In a very cold hell. No other word captures the utter madness of the endeavour. It was bound for the North Pole, on some mad chance for no rational purpose other than to be the first crew that accomplished this insane goal. The men are muttering, sensibly, because it seems hopeless. Only mad men would continue. And, of course, the Captain insists that they do what they signed up for. The men shout their compliance. Just as insane as the officers. Why do men do it? Why are men blinded by their goals. I do not have the answer to this question, and never will.

 

But there is an even madder goal in this film—creating a human life from dead parts.  How sensible is that?

 

The ship is surprised by an explosion a mile or so further out on the frozen sea.  A man near dead is seen freezing to death. The crew of the ship rescue the man, but a monster of a man or beast, comes out demanding Victor. Victor is the beast’s creator. He “made” him.  The monster kills 6 of the crew whose rifles are ineffective at killing the giant. 6 sailors die in the attempt. Victor wants the Captain to promise to release the monster to him. Why would he recklessly invite such danger? The only reason is men are mad. And watching this film will make you believe exactly that.

 

 

The man introduces himself as Victor Frankenstein, and tells the Captain, “I had determined that the memory of my evils should die with me. Some of what I tell you is fact. Some is not, but it is all true.”

 

He says his name means “conqueror. One that wins it all.”   He says, “Yes. It all started with me.” But what is he winning?

 

Young Victor, named after victor his Father, is punished by his Father with a whip against his face. Victor’s mother dies. And young Victor says, “she who was life was now death…her smile feeding the cold earth. Part of the universe had been hollowed out and the firmament was now permanently dark.”

 

Victor’s younger brother, William, grew out of sunshine and smiles. He was of a calmer, gentler, disposition, clearly favoured by my father… He was the breeze; I was the storm cloud. He was all laughter; I was all frowns.”

 

His mother died while being attended to by the finest surgeon in the land, his father.  Victor blamed him for failing. His father said, “No one can conquer death.” Does that not seem totally rational?  But young Victor, says, “I will, I will conquer it.” One more mad goal.  Among so many mad human goals.  Victor says I saw for the first time that night, “Dark Angel.”

 

He had a vision that he would be given the power over life and death. The vision was clearer than anything he had ever seen before. But it was made, of course, like so many human goals.  It was monumentally mad.

 

He told a group of scientists:

 

“We are not gods, are we?  But if we are to behave as immodestly as gods, we must at least deliver miracles. Ignite a divine spark in these young student’s minds. Teach them defiance rather than obedience. Show that man may pursue nature to her hiding places and stop death. Not slow it down. Stop it entirely.”

 

The young students clapped and cheered madly. Yes truly, madly.

 

One of the lords asked the question: “How exactly do you propose to teach what is impossible?”  The lords of the court declare his task, “unholy.” “An abomination.”  One Lord tells Victor that “God takes life and God takes it.” But Victor is not dissuaded. He says, “Perhaps God is inept.” Men should correct God’s mistakes. He urges the students, “Don’t let old fools extinguish your voice. The answers only come when coaxed by disobedience, free of fear and cowardly dogman.”   I actually agree with that. To some extent. It was the voice of every stroke of genius. But also, the voice of madness. He demonstrates to the Lords and students that an electrical current can bring life to a dead body.

 

 

Frankenstein’s brother comes to visit him with his lovely fiancé, Elizabeth.  She is not, as one might expect, and as Frankenstein suspected, a dimwit. She has bought a book in a bag and he guesses it is a romance. But it is a book about insects. She is interested in science for see wants to see and learn about the “The Rhythms of God.”   For the first time Frankenstein became a little more interest in life, and a little less interested in death.

 

Frankenstein was working hard on his research until “life interrupted.” Elizabeth showed up. He tells her that they both have “a belief in the marvelous.”

 

He believes that they have a bond between him, but she says, “believing it does not make it so.”  Now there is wisdom. Elizabeth says choice is from God. And she has chosen, and her choice is not him.

 

The creature said, “I want to know who I am. Where do I come from?”  The old man says, “Forgive. Forget. The true measure of wisdom to know you have been harmed by whom you have been harmed, and choose to let it all fade.” Don’t become a monster.

 

Frankenstein had never considered what came after creation. He created a creature. What now? Too often great minds ignore the consequences of what they do. Madness again. Elizabeth tells Victor, “Only monsters play God.” This is a film about monsters. Ordinary monsters. People like us. The essence of his story is that he is not a monster.  His maker, Frankenstein is the monster.  As Gary Kasparov said, “humans have a monopoly on evil.”

Only humans are monsters. Don’t be one. Be humble instead.

Hamnet

art, Drama, Movies

 

 

Hamnet is actually the same name as Hamlet in England at the time of Shakespeare. So we are told right at the outset. This is confusing. Maybe it is meant to be confusing. Is Hamnet really Hamlet?

 

Agnes was reputed to be the daughter of a forest witch.  She asks William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) to tell her a story that moves him.  Will writes Romeo and Juliet: “What light through yonder window breaks?”  That’s a pretty good response.  He also writes about “the envious moon.”  He tells her, I must be handfasted to you. No one else will do.” That means sort of stuck together. Lovers.  Both are rebels feeling constraint by conventional rules. Will knows her family won’t approve to a marriage but he doesn’t care, because “I have no talent for waiting.” He can’t wait to make love to her either.  And when his family finds out about it, because Agnes is pregnant, he insists “there is no sin in it.” How could there be?

 

Agnes’s mother came out of the woods. Like her mother and her mother’s mother before her. Agnes says, “The women in my family see things that others don’t.” as a result, she is a pretty good match for Will. Meanwhile Will gets her pregnant and her brother, Bartholomew, wonders why she wastes time on a pasty-faced scholar. “What use is there in that?” Agnes says, he’s got more inside of him than any man I’ve ever met.” She asks Bartholomew, “What would our mother say to us if we were afraid or uncertain. He replies, “To live with our hearts open. To shut it not in the dark but turn it to the sun.”  That is living.  Agnes adds, “He loves me for what I am, not for what I ought to be.” He responds, “Then marry him you shall.” Seems simple doesn’t it?

 

Nothing is simple in the land of Shakespeare.  Her mother tells Agnes: “you defy the horror that stalks the land.” Wow. Don’t we all wish we could do that?

 

In the pain she remembers her own mother who died when she was young. The second child, a girl, dies. Agnes vowed when her mother was dying that she would go to her church but would not say a word there. She feeds her son. She is told her daughter went to heaven but she does not believe that. She nurses both to life.

 

Will and his father argue and the father hits the son.  Then makes it clear to him, “that is the last time you ever hit me.”  It turns out his father is a brute. Will is afraid he is also a violent and dangerous man like his father, but Agnes insists he is a good man. He says, “I’ve lost my way.” It sure looks like Shakespeare has lost his way, but not really.   Agnes knows that he needs distance from his father. She wants him to go to London. Will needs the world. He’s got a lot inside of him, as she knows. And he needs his art.

Will got a job making gloves for the theatre. Not good for the finest writer in English history, but it’s a job and Will turns out to be a good business man as well as a great playwright. How is it possible to be both a great businessman and great playwright? Shakespeare did it. Meanwhile the kids are running around yelling, “Fair is foul and foul is fair”, sounding like one of Shakespeare’s witches.

Later as Judith, the second daughter lies sick with the pestilence, Hamnet gives his life to save his sister. He promises that he will be brave and save her. Like he promised his father, Will. In the morning Hamnet is sick and Judith is better. He blows into his hands and sees the hawk up high. But it is too late for Hamnet. But he was brave. As he promised he would be. He tricked death by changing places with Judith when it came for her.  A true tragic hero. He uses his talent to defeat death. Some say artists can do that too.

Agnes thought Will was wasting his life because he was missing his children’s lives. That might be true. It could be one those insane goals I have been talking about as I posted about the 10 films nominated for best picture this year. But a man who can write Hamlet deserves some slack. But how much?

Will said he is “crawling between Heaven and earth?” No perfection there. But sometimes life requires hard choices. Don’t make bad ones. You may regret them.

When Agnes goes to see Will’s home, she expects a mansion. She was told he had the largest house in the city? But he lives in a hovel of an attic. Why is that?

A man who has lost his son to death when he was not there to comfort him or say good bye to him, cannot live in a mansion. Just like my great Uncle Peter could not go to LaBroquerie to hang out in a bar when he had lived through the Russian Revolution. Both would be desecrations. Shallow responses won’t do.

When Agnes sees the play he wrote after his son died, she begins to understand. Her husband is not a dud. It was hardly a waste.

Will has brought Hamnet back to life. He has shown him. This reminded me of what Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco said, “Creativity eats darkness.” That is what art can do. It can trick death.

After the play is over, and Hamlet is dead, first Agnes, his mother, and then everyone wants to touch and connect to Hamlet before he dies. Perhaps he lives on through them “The rest is silence.” Maybe they can trick death too.

Agnes smiles at Will. She has seen her son again, through the miracle of art. Her Hamnet has tricked death again.

 

Marty Supreme

Movies, The American Dream

 

 

The film goes from the mundane to the ecstatic in the first 2 minutes—from selling shoes and dealing with an unhappy customer to joyous uninhibited sex.  From low to high in a flash.

 

This film is about the American dream. Winning it all. Or not. This is sort of a sports film, but really unlike any sports film you have seen.  Marty Mauser played with boundless energy by Timothée Chalmaet, is supremely confident; supremely arrogant.  He claims to be “Hitler’s worst nightmare” because he is Jewish and on top of the table tennis world.  It’s only a start according to him and no one else. Ignoring his girlfriend for the moment, he meets Kate a famous movie star much older and more famous than he is, and thinks she will want to go out with him, even though he is a pimply faced 23- year-old obnoxious kid. Extremely obnoxious. But extremely confident. In fact, he is supremely confident. He is American brash. He invites Kay the star to his penthouse Royal Suite and amazingly, she accepts. Even though she has a wealthy husband and family that chain her down until she bursts out of those chains.

 

Marty  cons everyone. Friends, relatives, loved ones. It makes no difference in the insane pursuit of his goals he cons anyone who stands in his way or could help him out, voluntarily, or not. This is what happens when we have insane goals. Like becoming the best surgeon in the world and bringing dead people back to life, as in Frankenstein. Or a revolutionary, as in One Battle After Another Or becoming the world champion table tennis player as in Marty Supreme. Or a secret agent as in Secret Agent.  Ora racing car driver long past one’s best by date. Our goals and desires can kill us.  Lying going to war in Iran without a hint of a plan. Insane, but Americans, or at least a lot of them seem to like insane.  That’s for sure. Supremely insane.

 

But Marty is nothing if not brave. He is a rebel. He is lightning that refuses to stay where it belongs. Which is true. He is disgusting. And he is what he said he was—a confidence man. He sells confidence. Supreme confidence.  He sells faith. People believe. So it must be true.

 

Marty is playing in a world championship, and of course expects to win. The American is a lout. A poor sport. Sort of like their current President. The Japanese player is stoical. Humble, gracious.  The Japanese  player with a very unusual serve, that mysteriously he is unable to return. Now he is no longer supreme. Only very good. How will be handle that?

Watch the film!

 

 

Sentimental Value

art, Movies

 

 

There is a character in the film Sentimental Value that is an object. A House actually. A house with a deep flaw. A crack that runs right through the house. It is a house in Norway. But the crack is important. Nora Borg (Renate Reinsve) lived in the house. The director of the play goes to coax the nervous Nora to come and perform. He assurers her she knows her lines. Like the house she is damaged. But she is too scared to go on stage until the director persuades her to come to the theatre. Nora is backstage but too nervous to go on.  At Nora’s request a backstage staff person slaps her. It does not help. Finally, she runs away, too stressed to perform, but staff run after her. The audience is restless. Nora says she is ready. She goes on stage. She looks terrified. No one knows what she will do. There is a long moment of very awkward silence. Nora performs brilliantly and the audience gives her a standing ovation at the end. Art cures all.  End of story. Right?  Not quite.

 

 

Agnes Borg Petersen (Inga Ibsdott)  is the sister to Nora Borg. Their father Gustav Borg ((Stellan Skarsgård) a film director shows up and wonders why the funeral of their mother was in a church.  Did his wife find religion before her death? No, the children just thought it would be nice. A dead parent and religion. Now we are clearly in the realm of Swedish cinema. But this is Norway. Aren’t things more sunny in Norway? Sometimes.

 

The father tells his daughters that their mother was “as sharp as hell.”  How sharp can that be? And she was beautiful like her daughters. And “she was always right.” Perhaps that is the first crack in the house. Just like a wife to be right all the time. Right?

 

Gustav is a film maker. Is he God? If this was a Bergman film he would be God. He shows Nora a play he has written for her. He wants her to be the lead? The film will be made in their old house. She won’t accept the role, she says, because her father and her can’t even communicate.  How would it work if he tried to direct her? She won’t even read the screenplay. She wants no part of it.

 

 

Rachel Kemp is an American  actress who says she will play in the film, but at the last minute backs out. She said, “praying isn’t really like talking to God. It’s acknowledging the despair.”  Things are too weird for her after all.

 

The father and two daughters own the house with a crack, but no one can afford to buy the others out. So it will have to be sold.  Agnes who is occupying the house, tells Nora she can have anything she wants from the house. There are many things in the house with sentimental value. Nora wants nothing. Nothing has sentimental value for her.

 

The Mother was imprisoned for 2 years during the war. Gustav used to say, “There is nothing more beautiful than shadows.”  And he imagined his childhood home filled with shadows. Like Swedish film makers he seems to be allergic to the light.

 

Gustav’s wife was Sissel who was a therapist and mother of Nora and Agnes, but they had many fights.  After the divorce Gustav moved out. Then the house grew lighter and lighter.”

 

 

Gustav and his daughters argue at a party while he is making his film he wrote for Nora.  He suggests she should have children because his 2 daughters were the best thing ever in his life. Nora asks why wasn’t he around then? She has obvious resentments about her father and his chasing actresses around and disconnection from his daughters. He tells them, “It’s hard to love someone who’s so full of rage. It’s not good for the art either.” He also thinks she is wasting her time playing roles written centuries ago. So, he puts her down. A hard way to get love. But fathers do that sometimes. Like so many films I saw this year, he too might have irrational goals. He seems obsessed with art.

 

 

The father also wants his grandson to be in the film but Agnes does not want her son to be a part of it. She stood up to her father and was proud of that, but then she read the script and realized it was great. Gustav sits in the rain and gives the finger to God. So it seems to me at least That’s what characters do Swedish films. Maybe Norway is like that too.

 

 

Agnes wants her sister Nora to read screenplay because the  story is about her. After a lot of coaxing from her sister, she reads the film script and realizes it is good.

 

I think the film is really about art. This is a very artistic and dysfunctional family. Cracked like their house. But, surprisingly the film script wakes them up so they see each other for the first time.

 

Nora realizes, that maybe, just maybe, for the first time her father saw her. And she saw him.  That is what art can do. It can open the heart. Art can help us see.

 

The art also helped Agnes and Nora to see each other for the first time. Nora realizes that Agnes created a family and a home, while she, Nora was screwed up.  Agnes explains to Nora that the one difference in their being brought up was that Agnes had Nora her older sister who helped her and cared about her. Nora though had no one. Nora thought she was always selfish and alone but Agnes tells her she was a big help for her. And now thanks to the art they can see each other too. That is what art does. It helps us to see the world as human. As something we are a part of. Even a cracked-up family can benefit from art.

 

There is a brilliant scene at the end that I do not want to give away. All I will say is that I wondered if was real or is it part of the film. You decide.

 

 

The Secret Agent

Movies, Revolution

 

This Brazilian film is set in Brazil in 1977, “a period of great mischief.” In other words, a time of revolution and counter-revolution when up is down and down is up and reality is on vacation. Armando stops at a gas station in rural Brazil and finds a dead body lying under a carboard cover with his feet sticking out. He is told by the owner not to worry about that because the man came to steal oil and “got what he deserved.” The body smells because it has been out in the sun for a few days. No one comes to clean it up. The owner says, “I’m almost getting used to this shit.”  Who would want to get used to it? He had phoned the cops and they said they would come by Ash Wednesday, but they are too busy because of carnival.  First things first in times of revolution or counter-revolution. Mongrel dogs show up and the owner at least gets rid of them. Finally, the police show up with horns blaring. Why? After not being there for the better part of a week why are horns necessary now? This is the higgeldy piggledy world we are in. The time of Carnival and revoloution.

One member of the police has a blood stain on his shirt that looks like a bullet came into his body where his heart would be. Maybe he doesn’t have a heart. Neither police officer pays any attention to the corpse. They want to see Armando and his car. One cop just smokes nonchalantly. He has no interest in any of this. The other is very interested in the fire extinguisher in the car. Why? One cop asks if he has drugs or a gun? “Nope”. Then asks for a donation to the police force carnival fund. Armando says he no money left he said. He offers a couple of cigarettes instead. Is it that easy to get rid of corrupt cops?

Flies buzz around the body. Dogs return sniffing around the corpse which no one else is interested in.

Armando passes a truck with sign: “Driven by Me. Guided by God.” Could these be one of the revolutionaries? Or counter revolutionaries? Another truck has sign “Macumba is the Poor Man’s Twist.” What does that mean? Then we see a man dressed in costume of a dog with lots of fur who tries to bite the car.  Must be from Carnival. Or perhaps from the revolution.

A white man, the Chief of Police, with blood on his lip, meets his 2 sons. One is black. The other white. They stop at a school where there is a body of a shark on a desk and its mouth is crammed with leftovers of a human body and its bloody intestines while the human’s feet are  hanging out. This story has been creating a frenzy in the public. The revolution not so much. Perhaps this is all created by the political leaders to distract the public from the revolution. In a dream-like sequence corpse of the dog rises up and

The Police Chief’s sons dump the human leg into the river. Later it rises up from the water and becomes a walking leg that kicks a number of people in public carnal acts presumably to stop them. The  Police Chief and his son’s pick up the two hit men. In a park there is a walking leg and a woman walks by a number of couples engaged in carnal acts. The leg goes after some people and begins kicking them, presumably to stop the carnal acts.  Maybe it is just a story in the newspaper. It’s the hairy leg that is all the rage around town. But is it true? Obviously not. Remember, truth is on vacation.

There is a cat with 2 faces. Like a political leader? The two hitmen hired to kill  Armando sub-contract to a 3rd man who is so incompetent he kills the wrong man.

Dona Sebastiana tells the group during the War she lived in Italy where she claimed to be an anarchist or communist who was fighting fascists.

The men contracted to kill Armando killers hire a local impoverished killer to do it for them, but he is incompetent and kills someone else by mistake.

There are protesters in the street who “hail procrastination,” and “long live collective idleness!” Another says, “Paid love is cheaper than love for free.” “Glory means nothing. Neither does the skyline. What I see is an alley. Books, books for floatation. Take care of what’s yours before it runs away.”  This is the Orwellian language of revolution and its opposite?

Fernando tells his son Flavio that when he was young he wanted to see the movie Jaws, but his grandfather would not allow him to see it because the posters gave him nightmares. Then when he finally saw the film the nightmares stopped! Reality was less scary than the story. Art can do that.

This is another film with people with crazed goals where all sense and logic disappear in the violent uprising. I guess that makes sense. Not so sure about the film that apparently was well-received by critics.

I must admit I found the scenes of the revolution amusing, but as you might be able to tell, completely confused by the film. I guess that is the goal. Perhaps this movie without sense somehow makes sense of revolution? Sometimes no sense, makes a lot of sense.

Bugonia

Movies, Polarization, Rebellion and Resistance

 

 

In the film Bugonia, Teddy and his cousin, Don, who don’t appear to be very bright, have done something amazing. Based on stellar Internet research, they believe they have kidnapped someone from the Andromeda constellation and as a result, like so many whacky conspiracy theorists, they are going to save the world.  The constellation is a mere 2.5 million light-years away so to kidnap someone from there is a very big deal and yet, Teddy and Don, dropouts from the local high school, have done it! But before they start the rebellion to save the planet, they each chemically castrate themselves so they won’t be tempted by any Andromedan female look-a-likes. Like their captive.

 

To us, this alien looks like a pretty regular modern business woman. Beautiful. Smart. Sassy. Corrupt. And not very smart.  Her name is Michelle. She is part of a system of abuse and exploitation and Teddy believes her corporation has caused his bees and mother to die. She is the CEO of that business. A modern female executive. We don’t really have much sympathy for her, but Teddy and Don are not very sympathetic either. All the characters are flawed. OK, worse than flawed.

They kidnap her on her own yard, a long way from Andromeda, but they are sure that is where she is from.  They sedate her, grab her, and put her in their vehicle. They tie her up.  Treat her like an alien in other words.

She is upset. How dare they do this? They cut her hair and tied her to the bed. Teddy tells Don that “It is not in control any more. We are.” She is not human so is not treated like one.

All of this does not satisfy Don. He thinks he looks stupid in a suit that is too tight for him and was last worn by Teddy’s father.  He is right. He looks very stupid. When she wakes from her sedative, Teddy tells Michelle, shortly before torturing her,

“Welcome to the headquarters of the human resistance. Despite our general suspicion and disavowal of all extant governing bodies and despite the fact that you as an Andromedan are not subject to the human rights guidelines, detailed in the Geneva Conventions we nevertheless attempt to adhere to those guidelines out of humanist principles to which we aspire.”

 

They want her to bring them to “the Mother Ship” so they can stop the people from Andromeda from destroying our planet. From here on there is a battle of wits (or is it dimwits) between the 3 of them. They tell her “nothing you say is true.  Objective human truth has no value in Andromedan cognition.”  Unlike the world of whacky Internet conspiracy theorists of course. Teddy tells her,

“You are a high-ranking official in the royal Andromedan  court and you’ve aided your species in the techno-enslavement in the agro-corporate disintegration of planet earth. OK And we need you to bring us to your mother ship on the night of the lunar eclipse.”

 

Teddy points out that she has killed his family, his community, and his bees. “So given that, you should appreciate how super professional I’m being right now by not gutting you.” Teddy, the brighter one (or not), assures Don that she is not a human woman so they need not sympathize with her.  Even if she was, she is “pure corporate evil. It’s killing our planet, cuzzie.” They are cousins in the midst of an insane conspiracy. “It only knows cruelty.” It is an alien, Teddy assures Don. She just looks human. “It’s trying to gain your sympathy.”

But, Don, supposedly the dumber of the pair, was having understandable doubts about what they had done. So, Teddy assured him that one day the world would see him as a hero, for kidnapping the executive. That was good enough for Don.

 

n the battle of the dimwits, we see a battle of a dim-witted capitalist and dim-witted rebels. The liberal at one end of the universe. The revolutionaries at the other, staring at each other over a continent-sized abyss. Yes I know that is the modern world.  She says there are options.

He disagrees: “There are no options. There are no rules. There are no deals. There’s no payoff. There is no money. There is no legal system. There’s no Congress. There is no America. There is no global democratic order.”  This conversation ends with her saying he is mentally ill and him smashing her in the face. This is the new world order the film portrays. Not that far from the truth. Isn’t that the American way?

But there is one thing Michelle and Teddy both agree upon. Earth’s most admirable creatures are honey bees.  Based on what we see here that’s probably true.

 

As Tim Jonze a reviewer for the Guardian who likes this film more than I did, said in his review: she some redeeming value in the final collage of Earthlings dying, perhaps from the  poisons from Michelle’s corporation, including lovers in the middle of intercourse, dead drivers in cars, and school children dead in their classroom. But nature survives. Nature always bats last. Great. Jonze said  this  was perhaps the most straight-forward of the films of the director Yorogs Lanthimos,  for

“It addressed very modern ailments, from corporate ecocide to the people on society’s fringes being sucked down the worst wormholes of the internet. The only question you’re left wrestling with is not how to save humanity from itself, but whether human beings are really worth saving at all.”

 

After watching this film, I think the answer is obvious. And as far as I am concerned, Jonze can have this film. I have had enough.