Movie Notes

A couple of disapointments, good films but not great.

Flags of Our Fathers
was such a disappointment, it had a complete lack of focus, there was no clear direction for the purpose or meaning of the film, it tried to be and do too much. It was not clear which story Eastwood was trying to tell; what happened on Iwo Jima (that was done loudly, dramatically, and graphically), or what happened to three survivors from that famous picture(only briefly heart renching at the end, and only well acted by Adam Beach), a son’s search for his fathers unknown war experience(which should have been edited out of the picture, or it should have been the core plot of the film.), the propaganda of selling heroism for profit (the hardest part to watch a bit of history that, I'm sure is little known to viewers).
There are moments in the film that rang true which were quite moving, which is usually the same in every war film made, about actual events. But still something was lacking, and one is confused after viewing the film about what heroism actually is and what we thought it was and what we want it to be. I was just more confused than when I went in there and disappointed. B+

Babel
As soon as Babel was over I felt a sense of satisfaction that comes from seeing a good film, I liked it very much. But someone brought up some things about the film that I felt were valid criticisms that had me rethinking my opinion. There was no meaning to the story, he said, it meant nothing, it was about nothing, it does not resolve anything, and he said that he didn’t care about anyone, there was not enough character development to make him want to care. I totally have to disagree with him on this, I thought there was enough, at least for one story, I was able to get enough for only one character, and that was enough for me. I felt moved by the story in Japan and the two young brothers in Morocco. Both outstanding performance by But it makes the rest of the characters almost insignificant. I did not like the story line in Mexico, that hit too close to home for me and I found it to be almost unbearable. I could have done without the whole sequence. I also do not appreciate the anti-American slant of the film. Sadly I am afraid that is how the world views us already and I feel ashamed, because I tend to believe that the American press and American foreign agents helping people like the Joneses in Morocco and the boarder patrol could all be a form of reality that is or could be horribly true. Technically there was nothing wrong with the film other than Brad Pitts’ makeup, which was sometimes just horrible. Other than that it was a very well made film, it just didn’t have enough significance to be a great film. A-