#388: The English Patient (1996)

Director: Anthony Minghella
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Kristin Scott Thomas & Willem Dafoe



A man with an indistinguishable accent has been found near a plane crash in 1944. His face is horribly burned, and he has lost his memory. His weakness makes it difficult for him to be moved with the caravan full of hospital workers, so a makeshift hospital is set up in an abandoned monastery in Italy. Hana, a Canadian nurse who has lost all of her relations in the war, stays to take care of him. A mysterious character named Caravaggio arrives at the monastery, and he is certain the patient still has his memory in tact. While Hana begins to allow herself to love an Indian bomb detector who arrives soon after Caravaggio, the patient begins to remember how he came to his current state. While working for the Royal Geographic Society in Cairo, he becomes enamored with a married English woman, Katherine. Their relationship unravels along with the patient’s memories, leading us to the striking final act.

With such a complex premise, this is one heck of a long movie. This seems to have turned off a lot of viewers, but for me, I was riveted throughout. The performances by everyone were outstanding.

Juliette Binoche doesn’t belong in our generation; she is so comfortable in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Fiennes exhibits an ambiguity that has become a trademark for his characters. He shows a great potential for malice, but all due to his love for a woman. Dafoe’s resentment towards the patient is also brilliantly unraveled throughout the course of the film, and it is hard to look at anyone but him while he is on the screen, never knowing when he is going to burst. And then there’s Kristin Scott Thomas, whose performance as a woman torn between two lovers shines.

This movie requires a lot of patience, but I found it to be well worth it.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• The Germans who shoot at Almazy's plane at the beginning were actually tourists roped into the production because they couldn't afford any more extras.
• Was the first digitally-edited film to win an Academy Award for Best Film Editing (Walter Murch). Murch began editing the film mechanically, but then switched to the Avid system after his son suffered a medical emergency so that he could work from his home while his son recovered. Murch writes about the experience in his book "In the Blink of an Eye (2nd Ed.)."
• In the scene where Hana is being pulled up to see the paintings in the church, the electric power and smoke for her "torch" was being piped through the seemingly real rope on which she was sitting.

#422: A Man Escaped (1956)

(Original Title: Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut)

Director: Robert Bresson

Cast: François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock & Jacques Ertaud

In April of 1943, French resistance member André Devigny was arrested by the German authorities and brought to prison in Lyon. In his cell, nothing but escape was on his mind. Using the bare furnishings inside his cell, he conceived a plan - but has to carry it out before August 28, the day set for his execution.

The film is designed for the viewer to be forced to endure just a glimpse of the patience and determination required to even stay sane while detained in such horrible conditions. We grow an understanding of how much we overlook the opportunity to treasure the smallest of things, taking full advantage of their uses. Much of the success of this film is thanks to the advice from the man himself, André Devigny, who gave many details of his travails to director Robert Bresson. The film gets even more credibility by having a majority of the piece filmed inside the actual prison, Fort Montluc.

The minimal use of music, script or even visual detail gives a sense of dread to this film, leading us to have just the slightest of ideas of the horrendous state of affairs in Occupied France.

You should most certainly watch this film, considered one of the classics of French cinema. Even Paul Dano agrees with me.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Bresson insisted on complete authenticity. Original author Andre Devigny served as adviser on the film, which was actually shot in the same Montluc prison where he was incarcerated. Devigny also loaned Bresson the ropes and hooks he had used in his escape.
• After seeing the film, Jean-Luc Godard said that Bresson was "to French cinema what Mozart is to German music and Dostoevsky is to Russian literature".
• Robert Bresson himself had been a prisoner of war during WWII.
• The first film of Bresson's where he used a completely non-professional cast.

#424: To Have and Have Not (1944)

Director: Howard Hawks

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Marcel Dalio & Dan Seymour

Just after the fall of France thanks to Vichy, the French Caribbean suffered under the new regime, though it often was overlooked. To Have and Have Not sets its tale in Martinique in 1940. American fisherman Harry Morgan (Bogart) finds himself in a pickle, trying to avoid allying himself with either the Vichy government or the French resistance.

This film is probably best known for one line, carried out by Lauren Bacall: "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? Just put your lips together, and blow." To Have and Have Not was Bacall's first role in a film, at the tender age of 19. And I'm surely not the only one to say, but my, girls just don't mature the same way as they used to. She has one of the most sultry voices you'll get from the leading ladies of the '40s. It comes as no surprise, then, that this is also the film in which Humphrey Bogart fell in love with her, leading to a marriage (despite the 25-year age difference).

The music by William Lava and Franz Waxman is phenomenal, particularly the songs performed on screen by Hoagy Carmichael. Carmichael has an incredibly impressive resume - take a look at his IMDB profile and glance at some of the songs he's written that have been used in films for decades.

Now here's the beef. I found this film to be pretty much identical to Casablanca. They both feature Bogart in a role where he's stuck in the middle of riots between the Vichy gendarmes and the French resistance in an exotic landscape, where he meets a beautiful and intriguing girl. The strange thing about this is that the story has been completely altered from the original novel by Hemingway to actually reproduce what had been done in Casablanca intentionally. Who does that!?

Still, the film is hailed as one of Bogart's finest, with a 100% rating on RottenTomatoes. I don't agree with it - it's certainly not as good as Casablanca... but it's still a very good, classic film.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall fell in love during production. Director Howard Hawks afterward said that it was actually Bacall's character Marie that Bogart had fallen for, "so she had to keep playing it the rest of her life." However, it has also been said that Hawks - who was something of a womanizer, and who had a fling withDolores Moran during the shooting of the film - was jealous and frustrated that Bacall had fallen for Bogart and not for Hawks himself.
• The setting was shifted to Martinique because the Office of Inter-American Affairs would not have allowed export of a film showing smuggling and insurrection in Cuba.
• The most famous scene in To Have and Have Not (1944) is undoubtedly the "you know how to whistle" dialog sequence. It was not written by Ernest Hemingway, Jules Furthman or William Faulkner, but by Howard Hawks. Hawks wrote the scene as a screen test for Bacall, with no real intention that it would necessarily end up in the film. The test was shot with Warner Bros. contract player John Ridgelyacting opposite Bacall. The Warners staff, of course, agreed to star Bacall in the film based on the test, and Hawks thought the scene was so strong he asked Faulkner to work it into one of his later drafts of the shooting script.
• The screenplay was rewritten to boost Slim's role to take advantage of the public interest in the real life romance between Lauren Bacalland Humphrey Bogart.

#457: Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Vincent D’Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Matthew Modine, Arliss Howard & Adam Baldwin

A classic among Vietnam War movies, Full Metal Jacket begins with the new recruits for the Marines at Parris Island. Among the recruits are Pvt. Pyle, the overweight and slow-learning innocent and Pvt. Joker, a man who’s all about getting a laugh and is assigned to help Pyle. Sgt. Hartman trains his soldiers to love their guns more than they love sex, having them sleep with their rifles and pray for their future victories. He is a strict instructor who is determined to get Pyle into shape to join the infantry, eventually having the other recruits punished for Pyle’s mistakes. After Pyle is abused at night for his continuous failures, he kills Sgt. Hartman and shoots himself in the head.

The second half of the film depicts the war in Vietnam, as Pvt. Joker, who is now a reporter, follows Pvt. Cowboy’s squadron. In a bombed out village, a sniper is taking out Cowboy’s men one by one, and the men struggle to move out of their cornered location.

It’s easy to see even from my brief synopsis that the heart of the film really is in the first half. In fact, I haven’t read any reviews that prefer the second half, and even many analyses chose to simply drop the second half and focus on the recruits’ basic training. Pvt. Pyle is by far the most memorable character in the film, and the image of him in the restroom has become iconic for the film.

In these first scenes, Sgt. Hartman dehumanizes his recruits. They are constantly suffering verbal abuse, and any sense of their old selves must be lost to become killing machines. In fact, we never learn any of the recruits’ real names, only the names assigned to them by Hartman. He glorifies all Marines of the past, including Lee Harvey Oswald and the sniper at the University of Texas, Charles Whitman. These scenes are absolutely horrifying, giving the American army a more Nazi-like feel. However, after losing all character in themselves, the audience loses all its compassion for the protagonist of the second half of the film.

In my opinion, it’s just not necessary to watch the second half. The first half, however, is worth the viewing. I’m surprised to see that despite a nearly universal agreement on this, the film still received 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’ll give it one thumb up for the first half – the other thumb is still disappointed with the second half.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Former US Marine Corps Drill Instructor R. Lee Ermey was not originally hired to play Gunnery Sgt. Hartman but as a consultant for the Marine Corps boot camp portion of the film. He performed a demonstration on videotape in which he yelled obscene insults and abuse for 15 minutes without stopping, repeating himself or even flinching - despite being continuously pelted with tennis balls and oranges. Stanley Kubrick was so impressed that he cast Ermey as Gunnery Sgt. Hartmann.
• According to director John Boorman, Stanley Kubrick wanted to cast Bill McKinney in the role of Gunnery Sgt. Hartman. However, Kubrick was so unsettled after viewing McKinney's performance in Deliverance (1972) that he declined to meet with him, saying he was simply too frightened at the idea of being in McKinney's presence.
• 'Vincent D'Onofrio (I)' gained 70 pounds for his role as Pvt. Pyle, breaking Robert De Niro's movie weight-gain record (60 pounds) for Raging Bull (1980). It took him 7 months to put the weight on and 9 months to take it off with physical training.

#467: The Deer Hunter (1978)

Director: Michael Cimino
Cast: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage & Meryl Streep

Considered one of the quintessential Vietnam films in the industry, The Deer Hunter depicts the lives of three men from western Pennsylvania and how the war affected their lives. The film is told in three clear acts.

The first act shows the lives of the three men just a day before they leave for Vietnam. It’s the wedding day for Steven, whose fiancée is just showing signs of pregnancy, though the groom had saved himself for the wedding day. The men and their friends decide to go hunting on the same day. Michael, the clear leader of the group, has a discussion with Nick on how important it is to kill deer with just one shot.

The second act is entirely placed in Vietnam. In a disturbing scene, the three friends are shown to have become POWs, caged in waste-deep water, only to be brought out when it’s their turn to be placed against each other in a game of Russian roulette. Upon their escape, they soon become separated from each other. Michael doesn’t know what’s happened to Nick, and Steven is severely traumatized by the events that passed while imprisoned.

The third act depicts Michael’s return to his hometown. The return is celebrated by the townspeople, but Michael is a changed man. When he goes hunting once again with his friends, his mentality of the sport has undergone a radical change. Just as it appears he might be able to settle into his renewed lifestyle, he discovers that Nick is alive and still in Vietnam. He remembers a promise he made to never leave Nick behind, and makes his trip back across the world to bring Nick home.

The acting in this film is really fantastic. There isn’t very much dialogue, though each character’s personality shines through with apparent ease. The acting hadn’t gone unnoticed, leading to an Oscar win for Walken and nominations for Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep (her first nod – and her second film).

The most interesting thing about the film is its ambiguous stance on the war. Cimino never declares himself as pro- or anti-war in this film, but simply remarks on how it influences the individual people, including both those who served in the war and those left behind. The thing that isn’t left ambiguous is Cimino’s prioritization of personal relationships over politics.

The Russian roulette scene is certainly the one which will stick in most peoples’ minds, though it’s become a bit of a cliché. Aside from that, and the films extraordinary length (three hours), this is a great watch, and a must-see for anyone interested in war movies.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Director Michael Cimino convinced Christopher Walken to spit in Michael's face. When Walken actually did it, Robert De Niro was completely surprised by it, as evidence by his reaction. In fact, De Niro was so furious about it he nearly left the set. Cimino later said of Walken: "He's got courage!"
• Meryl Streep improvised many of her lines.
• During some of the Russian Roulette scenes, a live round was put into the gun to heighten the actors' tension. This was Robert De Niro's suggestion. It was checked, however, to make sure the bullet was not in the chamber before the trigger was pulled.
• The slapping in the Russian roulette sequences was 100% authentic. The actors grew very agitated by the constant slapping, which, naturally, added to the realism of the scenes.
• The scene where Savage is yelling, "Michael, there's rats in here, Michael" as he is stuck in the river is actually Savage yelling at the director Michael Cimino because of his fear of rats which were infesting the river area. He was yelling for the director to pull him out of the water because of the rats... it looked real and they kept it in.

#483: The Big Red One (1980)

Director: Samuel Fuller

Cast: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Bobby Di Cicco & Kelly Ward

The Big Red One is one of the most celebrated war movies of all time. Directed by WWII veteran Samuel Fuller, the film chronicles his experiences in the First Infantry Division (aka, The Big Red One).

The thing that makes this film different from other war movies is that there is no arc bringing the film together. This was done intentionally, because according to Fuller, this is what being in a war is like. Soldiers don't think of their experience in the war as having a beginning, middle and end. They think to get through one day at a time.

One of the most poignant themes of the film is the difference between killing and murdering. Coming into the film, it is difficult to discern. I assure you, there is a very strong difference between the two, when one of our surviving heroes kills a murderer.

I've got to say, though this is a celebrated film, I've never been a war film fan. It was very, very hard to get through for me. I found that I was uninterested by the battle scenes, and not because of the lack of action, but because it was obvious our five survivors would manage to get through unscathed.

Ah, well. To each his own.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• The bulk of the picture was shot in Israel, and director Samuel Fuller remarked that it was unsettling after a scene was shot when the German soldiers and SS troops pull would take off their helmets and Fuller would see them wearing yarmulkes, and between takes they would be sitting around the set in full Nazi uniform speaking Hebrew or reading the Torah.
• The screams from the foxholes as the tanks roll over them seem strangely out of place, but actually happened. Samuel Fuller said, "When we were in those holes, and the tanks were rolling over us, it was our only chance to scream all the terror out and not be heard. We got it all out in those holes..."
• During the UK clampdown on video nasties in the 80's the film was briefly seized by Manchester Police who believed it to be a sex film.