Thursday, January 21, 2010
In The Valley of Elah
Best Buy has deep-discounted this movie so I picked it up as it relates to The Hurt Locker and Stop-Loss.
This is a movie in which the chief character appears only in flashback. His father, Hank Deerfield spends the movie’s entire two hours searching for his son just returned from Bosnia. Being an army brat it seems in no way prepares one for the traumas of the real thing.
Just how indoctrinated and obsessive Hank is gets brought home emphatically when he checks into a motel and precedes to remake the bed in proper military fashion.
As with the afore-mentioned movies this one again is about post traumatic stress syndrome and the toll it exacts not just on the soldiers who serve in war zones but the poeple around them when they return and in particular their families and loved ones. It has been posited that the after-care of troops commited to war zones will be at least twice the cost of waging the engagement in the first place. At that rate the price of America’s present wars will be twelve trillion dollars over the next forty years. The price of neglecting to provide that care would be even greater. And as this movie demonstrates the costs spill over into society at large. There is an awful cost in human terms in forcing soldiers to adapt to inhuman circumstances.
The movie was intended and succeeds in making an audience feel uncomfortable. Those such as myself who have never experienced battlefield conditions could not possibly understand the mental and psychological stresses that led to the acts that are here-in revealed. Again, I say, the costs of war continue long after the wars are over. I, for one, question whether those costs can be justified on any terms.
Kyle XY Season 3
As this series began we met Kyle a fully-formed teenage boy who escaped butt-naked from the facility in which he was cloned posssessing extreme native intelligence and abilities but totally lacking language or social skills. When his case worker takes him home we are exposed to his wide-eyed look at the world and the interactions he has with his peers, adults and the world at large. When one can jump from a 10-storey roof-top without any physical trauma one must adjust to the fact that seeing that feat performed might ellicit extreme reactions from others and draw unwanted attentions.
Growing up is hard to do both for child actors and their imaginary counterparts. Keeping the storyline interesting as an individual approaches adulthood is always a challenge. Given its longevity the scripters of Smallville seem to have discovered the formula but those of Kyle XY fell down on the job and the series ends with the present episodes. Watching these episodes unfold one comes to understand why the series was not renewed. Somehow one finds that they drag and one loses interest. Once ratings drop series get canned.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The Hurt Locker
After watching this movie last night my first reaction was, “And why are we in Iraq?” Certainly not to make friends as the booby-trapped body of the urchin who got too close to an American demonstrated.
My second reaction was horror at the thought that the human psyche is capable of adjusting to such conditions and accept them with a sense of normalcy. Instructive is the fact that the only way Sergeant James could cope with life back home was to re-up.
What is it about padre’s and army psychologists along with guidance counsellors? The type of person who gets attracted to the job or the perceived uselessness of the task they perform? The embedded staff doctor gets blown up mid-way through the movie and made to look a fool in the field. This kind of treatment is almost cliche in the genre.
The director manages a truly ensemble cast, even known actors looking barely recognizable. I couldn’t possibly comment on the authenticity of the experience and wouldn’t want to have that capacity. The true star of the piece is the hot, rumble-ridden desert landscape. The pyro-technicians surely make it blow up real good. I would hope that unlike real life no one was hurt in the exercise. The movie was shot in the Middle East and Langley, BC, Canada!
Monday, January 11, 2010
The Tudors 3
On the home screen of each disk in this new season Henry is seated on a throne formed of human bodies. Seems only appropriate as underlings were drawn to court and positions of power in his realm like moths to a flame and as easily disposed of by hanging, decapitation, and burning at the stake. Basking in Henry’s reflected glory was irresistible even though many paid the ultimate price for invoking the King’s displeasure even when their offence was the carrying out of the King’s direct orders. His retainers often could not win, to argue with a despot was madness, to obey and fail because of bad orders incurred equal wroth.
Mid-season Henry loses wife number three to childbirth and sets out on the prowl for number four. Henry is an odd mixture of inconsistancies. Erudite on virtually any subject of the day but superstitious and conservative. Dependent on his advisors and retainers to accomplish his will, yet able to truly trust no one. Defender of the faith while at the same time bedding every desirable court maiden in sight.
Human nature being what it is the factor I’ve ignored to this point is intrigue. Jealousies and backbiting are a way of life thinly disguised behind polite and diplomatic gestures. There are always those who feel they have been overlooked for an appointment or plumb assignment and ever there is jockeying for position. Ability and the commonweal take a backseat to personal advantage. The position of Thomas Cromwell is a special case in point. His appointment by Henry as High Chancellor of England put more than a few noble noses out of joint as those of Noble birth resented this high position being held by a commoner. Pointedly, when Henry locks himself into secluded mourning after the death of Jane Seymour the council walk out on a meeting called by Cromwell to deal with civil unrest putting their own egos above the good of the country. When the nobles finally manage to discredit Cromwell in the king’s eyes in a final indigity they manage to ensure an incompetent executioner butchers his demise.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I’m sure everyone has read the reviews of this episode in the Harry Potter franchise. It does indeed mark the transition between the youthful wizards in training whose hijinks marked the movies based on the opening books in the series. Whereas the last couple outings have foreshadowed darker things to come the emphasis here is on the ultimate conflict that has been building since we first met Harry.
The mood is dark and the tonal palette of the movie is extremely dark and dreary. The focus of the movie is Harry and the friends who surround him. His buddy and roommate Ron Weasley has filled out and no longer looks a gangling awkward misfit but at times down-right hunky. Hermione has become a competent young woman. Although we return to Hogwarts little time is spent in the classroom with the exception of potions class with Professor Slughorn where Harry suddenly excels due to his possession of an edited version of the classroom text signed by the ‘Half-Blood Prince’.
As usual we have the impression that too much storyline is being crammed into the space of a two and a half hour-long movie. Despite this disquiet very little seems to happen until the culminating adventure on which Dumbledore leads Harry. The climactic scene in which Snape finally reveals his true colours leaves one oddly disquieted; as if the pieces don’t really fit.
