Badlands

Terrence Malick is well known for being one the more reclusive personalities in the movie business. We have placed his most recent movie Tree of Life on our Netflix queue so when this movie appeared on television I decided it was a good chance to see another Malick flick.

Released in 1973 Malick's first film starred Martin Sheen as Kit a rebellious greaser type and Sissy Spacek as Holly, a teenage girl who becomes his girlfriend. Kit, as the movie begins, is working on a garbage route but then decides that is not for him as, as after meeting Holly who tells him that her father would not approve of her seeing a boy who works on a garbage truck.

Of course Holly's Dad would not approve of her dating a man ten years her senior, which at 25 Kit is. This does not stop the couple, they are soon finding places to meet in secret. Soon after their relationship becomes advanced Holly's father finds out and punishes her by keeping her home and not allowing her to see Kit. Kit goes to Holly's house one day to gather her things together, presumably to prepare for them to run off together, but is interrupted by Holly's father. As the man yells at Kit and goes to call the police Kit calmly shoots him. Kit is certainly a psychopath, he shows no emotion when he kills him, and Holly, under his spell, has a muted reaction herself.

Now on the run they move into the woods until they are spotted and a posse shows up. The movie is narrated by Holly who by talking in romantic notes about Kit and his reasoning for what he does provides a severe contrast to what we, as viewers, see on the screen. Kit continues to run, Holly becomes more and more ambivalent about their future, but still speaks lovingly of him as the body count rises.

The movie was loosely based on the Starkweather murders of the fifties, the same murders that set the scene for Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. Still the movie is fiction as the stories are not the same and while Holly in the movie eventually gets probation and Caril Ann Fugate, Starkweather's accomplice, served a long prison term.

Sheen and Spacek are top notch in the movie, Sheen especially adept at playing a killer so personally attractive with so much charisma that the police officer's who arrest him all shake his hand as they give him up to the South Dakota policemen who have come to extradite him. Malick shoots the film beautifully and one can easily see why right away he was known as a Director and Film Producer to watch. Malick has made fewer movies than one would expect, and his movies are rarely big hits. He does not do the most accessible movies but this one, despite the dark material, will hold you.

Not a great movie, but a very good one.

Seeking a Friend For the End of the World

Friday evening my wife and I, as well as her sister went to see the new Steve Carell movie. Carell is surely one of the more likable comedic actors these days and I thought the premise of the movie looked good.

The movie begins with Carell's character Dodge driving with his wife when a news bulletin comes on the radio advising that efforts by a space shuttle mission to divert the asteroid known as Matilda has failed. This intones the announcer was the last chance to prevent the asteroids collision with Earth.

As they sit there, stunned, Dodge's wife gets out of the car, evidently deciding that spending the last 21 days of her life with him is not what she wants.

One might expect the world would go crazy, and they would be right but for Dodge he just continues. He goes to work, selling insurance. Eventually even the silliness of this is apparent to him. He goes to a party at a friend's house. His friend's wife played by Connie Britton wants to fix him up. The woman is very willing but Dodge cannot make himself spend the last three weeks of his life getting to know someone. This scene is actually quite funny. With the world coming to an end there are no limits. The party progresses, the children are taught to drink alcohol, we hear someone say, " Hey everyone we are going to do heroin." In short a dark but funny view of the end of the world.

After Dodge arrives at home he sees a young lady out on his fire escape. As he opens the window the young lady embraces him in tears. He invites her in, she introduces herself as Penny who has just broke up with her boyfriend, they lived upstairs in the building.

Penny would like to get home to see her family in England, Dodge decides he would like to revisit his first love. Over time they develop a friendship. The truth is for a movie about the end of the world not as much happens as you would expect.

With all that however the movie is very sweet. I thought it was one of the movies that was just understated enough to be more than the sum of its parts. Penny, played by Kiera Knightly , accompanies Dodge as he travels back to find his lost love. Kiera Knightly has been in many movies, I cannot think of any of them, but I must say that I found her in this role to be very attractive and likable. Perhaps Carell's likability rubs off on her. In any case Penny is a joy.

Another fine part of the movie is when Dodge goes to see his father. His father, played by Martin Sheen, had left the family when he was a boy and he had not seen him since as he wanted no part of a reconciliation. After some talk it is agreed that sorry is sorry and they reconcile. The scene of them having dinner is more heartwarming than would be expected.

Eventually as they approach the current home of Olivia, the first love, Dodge realizes that his true love is right there with him. This is why he took her to his father, who has a plane and can fly her home to her family. After placing her asleep in the plane he goes home to his apartment. Soon thereafter however Penny appears, knowing that she only wants to be with him in this time.

By this time the end is near. They lay on the bed and as they speak of their love they hear the sound of the asteroid coming in and then the screen goes white.

My wife liked the movie, my sister in law could not get over the difference in the ages of Dodge and Penny. Seems kind of silly to me, with the end of the world weeks away I do not think an age difference really matters.

I liked this movie very much.

Apocalypse Now

I have heard many references to this 1979 film by Francis Ford Coppola. The story tells of Special Operations Agent Willard played by Martin Sheen. Willard is assigned the job of journeying up river into Cambodia, not a war zone at the time, and terminating a renegade Colonel who has established his own independent fighting unit of native tribesman.Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando, hovers over the movie.

As the story is set in Vietnam I was not aware that the film is based on the Conrad novel Heart of Darkness. Certainly however it does fit, the scene and century is different but the tail of going up river in a hostile area to find a white man gone power mad with locals as his army is one that transfers.

As Willard starts on his mission he meets interesting characters played by Robert Duvall and others including a very young Laurence Fishburne.

When he arrives far enough into Cambodia to reach the Colonel's stronghold he is allowed entry. There he meets a hopped up photographer played by Dennis Hopper, played very authentically I might add and eventually is brought into the presence of Kurtz.

Brando first appears on screen with his face hidden. His impact on the movie is severe. Though he appears in a limited way over the last quarter of the movie only, knowing that he will be in the movie makes one wait for the moment. Head shaved, voice a rasp Kurtz spins tales and lessons, soliloquy's only he understands.

At the movie's climax Sheen and the one survivor of his crew leave the village with Kurtz last words of " The horror, the horror" ringing in their ears.

I thought this was a good movie, but not a great one. Still some of the scenes are iconic and deservedly so. Brando was an amazing actor and Sheen does not overact in his role, in many ways his voice is in the narration advances the story as much as his actions on the screen.

Ghandi

In the last 10 years we have seen many very good biopics. Walk the Line and Ray telling the stories of Johnny Cash and Ray Charles are just two of those.

This movie, Ghandi, is a wonderful movie. It is, also, a great history lesson.

Ghandi was certainly not a figure that we learned about in school. Perhaps a passing reference but that was it. This man was incredible.

His influence on Martin Luther King is well known, and the fact is, that it worked.

My son was a little put off by the hunger strikes such as after independence when the Muslims and Hindus were on the verge of a civil war during the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan.

As India grows more and more into a power of the 21st century and Pakistan is one of the mote's in the United States eyes. So the history matters.

Ben Kingsley is wonderful in this movie. He won the Oscar and it was well deserved. Martin Sheen had a very good role in this movie. Candace Bergen also appears.

It is a bit over three hours but the story movies as did Ghandi's life. A very very good movie.