Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The One That Got Away
The first thing that struck me about this movie was what a likable rogue Franz von Werra was. Considering the destruction and death German bombers were wreaking on British Cities the relationship between these prisoners of war and their captors was all very polite and civilized. How much this movie version varies from reality I’ll leave to the reader to judge. The second impression is of the aplomb with which the British Guards ignore air raid sirens and the fact that bombs are dropping all around them.
Von Werra was a confidence man par excellence whose determination to escape brooked no consideration for the consequences his actions might have for his fellow prisoners or the dangers he might encounter on the lam. His first attempt ended in a mud hole with the exhausted prisoner lying in the pouring rain. What strikes me is the massive numbers of men mobilized to recapture one man. After his second escape he is shipped by boat to Halifax and thence via train to the wiles of Northern Ontario. Nothing daunted our intrepid Franz forces open a frozen double window and leaps onto a side bank of snow from a speeding train in sub-zero conditions.
What follows is a struggle of gargantuan proportions in which the lightly clad Franz struggles across the frozen St. Clair River only to discover that the river current has kept a lead open. He then stumbles back to the Canadian Shore and finds a heavy skow which he proceeds to single-handedly drag across the ice and hummocks until he reaches open water.
It was only after the movie was nearly ended that it struck me that although this last section took place at night I could not remember seeing any colour. After reviewing earlier chapters I finally discovered that I’d watched the entire movie in Black and White and had not missed the lack of colour. One other observation about which I’d appreciate comments from anyone more knowledgeable of architecture. What is it with the popularity of buildings shaped like the letter “E” in institutional architecture? I’m most familiar with St. Mary’s University in Halifax but that shape crops up often in this and other British films.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
In the first place this is not intended nor does it result in being a feel-good movie. Although the Iraq war is the back-drop and the fruitlessness of that enterprise is implied this is a one-issue piece that single-mindedly polemicizes the unjustness of the policy that gives the movie its title and in doing so tends to overstate its case. Wrote to a friend this past weekend that I was interested in seeing what kind of sparks two such hunks as Channing Tatum and Ryan Phillippe struck off one another but I had not seen sufficient plot details to be prepared for the knock em down drag it out fight the two friends have near the end of the film. Somehow I'm not convinced that the older and smaller Brandon would have been able to best the taller and heavier Steve nor have I taken the time to read sufficient trade gossip to learn what the actors thought about the affair or the nature of their off-screen relationship.
Let it be said that a female director appears to be at pains not to exploit the studly nature of her two stars. Despite many scenes shot in southern Texas and Iraq we get only fleeting glimpses of well-developed pecs through open shirts. What is very apparent is the gun culture that seems to pervade American society. Gun racks grace living rooms and the rear windows of most trucks. Despite their recent return from conflict these 'good ole boys' treat their guns like toys they unwind with using bottles as target practice. As his buddy reads the greeting cards a jilted newly-wed blasts away at his wedding presents. In the final analysis this movie ends up being a fruitless road trip during which Abbie goes along for the ride in an attempt to keep Brandon from going off the deep end. If there is a second theme here it is the traumas of war and post-stress syndrome.
