#91- Monsieur Verdoux

Quick recap: Charlie Chaplain plays Monsieur Verdoux, a perfectly charming gentleman.Faced with the difficult situation of caring for his wheelchair bound wife and young son after losing his job at the bank, Verdoux does what any stand up man would do-he becomes a mass murderer.

I’m going to murder you all!

Fun(?) fact: Chaplain bought the idea for the movie from Orson Welles for $5000

My thoughts: City Lights is one of my favorite movies, and so I was hesitant to watch Chaplain in a ‘talkie’. In all honesty, I had kind of assumed he had retired once the era of silent films was over. Apparently not, and it was quite a relief to see how easily he had transitioned, yet still keeping his over the top expressions he was known for.

The film apparently takes place in France, although everyone has an english accent. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves in movies- when the accent doesn’t match the region (I’m talking to you, Tom Cruise). There were a lot of characters thrown in at the beginning of the movie, which was confusing at first, until I learned to just focus on Verdoux. Chaplain’s character is a little guy, but an expert at wooing women. He is supremely charming when he needs to be and has to summon up a lot of patience for some of the women he deals with. I especially loved the little quirks of his, such as how quickly he thumbed through the money and his continually failing to kill one of his wives. Hilarious!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself until the end of the movie, when Verdoux is finally caught and sentenced to death for all the murders. In his speech to the court, Verdoux basically says that everyone finds him horrible, yet bombs are killing women and children every day and no one cares. It’s not that I disagree with the message, but I don’t like having to sit through a movie only to realize it was political satire this whole time. And I do love me some satire, but not in this way. If the speech had just been edited out, it would’ve been a perfectly fine comedy. Satire can be subtle but not so nonexistent so that the main character has to make a speech about the point of the movie. Chaplain was apparently extremely left-wing and felt this film to be one of his best. It was controversial when it came out and was the beginning of the end of Chaplain’s career.

Final review: 3/5. Still a nice little gem of a movie, if you take away the ending.

Up next: Star Wars: Episode IV

#90- Seven Samurai

Quick recap: A group of farmers, tired of being pillaged by bandits year after year (and really, who isn’t?) ,decide to hire samurai to keep their town safe. Seven samurai, to be precise.

Fun (?) fact: Seven Samurai was the first film to showcase a ‘reluctant hero’, as well as the gathering of the heroes, now common in a film like Ocean’s 11.

My thoughts: Nothing can kill my excitement for a movie quicker than ‘3 hours and 27 minutes’. I have heard people talk how amazing this movie is, but I just can’t see anything being worth 3 hours and 27 minutes. Except for Jeanne Dielman, but that was an action filled time watching her cook dinner and wash dishes. No way Seven Samurai could top that.

From the first scene, when the bandits decide to save their pillaging for another time when there will be stuff to pillage (common sense), there was non stop action. Maybe not action in the sense of fighting, although there was plenty of that, but action that drove the plot. I can’t think of a single scene that was unnecessary to the story, or a time that I felt bored. In the same respect, there wasn’t so much going on that I was confused. Although it is a long running time, it is well justified.

I think my favorite aspect of Seven Samurai and the part I was most surprised by, is the emotion. As the villagers and samurai became used to one another and started to work as a team, I became more invested in each character and although I knew that the ending would be sad, it still took me by surprise. I think most of that stems from watching how kind the samurai were to the entire village. Save for Katsushirō, the samurai who fell in love, everyone respected the farmers and went to great lengths to prove they weren’t all that bad. But in the end, samurai are warriors and they had to do what they were hired to do.

The final scenes in battle and the final moments with the samurai are some of the more emotional I have watched. The final scene especially: the 3 surviving warriors watching the happy villagers plant their crops and sing, almost as if they had forgotten all of the violence that led to their freedom from the bandits. Instead of being angry at the seeming callousness towards the fallen men, the samurai note that it is the villagers who are the victors and so should be celebrating. They have done their job.

Final review: 5/5. Watch this movie. Doesn’t matter if you dislike war films or having to read subtitles or whatever the excuse- watch this movie.

Up next: Monsieur Verdoux

#89- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Quick recap: Two warriors go in search of a stolen sword, only to find out the skilled master they pursued is really a nobleman’s daughter who totes doesn’t want an arranged marriage. Her parents are so uncool, probably not allowing her to get on Snapchat or Instagram. She was right to pursue a life of crime, in my opinion.

Fun (?) fact: ‘Crouching tiger, hidden dragon’ is a Chinese phrase, basically meaning to hide your strength from others. I’ll file this phrase away to remember the next time I become entangled in a duel.

My thoughts: I vaguely remember watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when it was in theaters . This occurred during my sophomore year of high school, when I went out of town to an academic meet. The truth is, everyone else was old enough to watch the new Morgan Freeman film, Along Came a Spider, and I was stuck watching something ‘cultural’ and ‘sophisticated’. So that explains why I remember the experience and not much of the movie itself, because all I really wanted was a good murder mystery.

Watching the movie again as an adult was much more satisfying, I’m glad to say. 15 year old me was much more focused on the subtitles and not so much the detail, and so I missed out on how beautiful the film is. It’s one of the reasons I enjoyed Brokeback Mountain so much- because the scenery and setting is as vital to the story as the characters and plot. Several points in the movie I had to remind myself that this was shot in modern times and I wasn’t actually watching footage from ancient China. After the movie ended I found myself with a sudden urge to visit China and see all the places Ang Lee showcased.

One of the most surprising parts of the film was the theme of strong women. So much so that in the years since watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, I had completely forgotten that there was any romance. The young girl, Jen , is the secret warrior and far more advanced than most adults who have been studying this form of martial arts their entire life. The argument she has about not wanting to marry comes partly from her love of a another man, but also because she recognizes that marriage will end most freedoms she currently enjoys. When her former love, Lo, comes back and tries to take her away, she refuses. It isn’t until the end of the movie that she accepts her feelings and goes to him. The other female character, Yu Shu Lien, is in the same boat. She has strong feelings for Mu Bai, a famed warrior, but has never mentioned anything because kicking ass for a living is kind of fun. So although romance is involved, it is not a driving force in the movie. Also worth mentioning, the main enemy,Jade Star, is also a woman.

The one part of the movie that didn’t work for me were the scenes that involved flying. I get the idea that fighting is really a dance and when the characters were in combat with one another, I was interested. But the scenes where the warrior flew over buildings in a single leap or ran up the wall felt sort of silly. It was easy to see that everyone had been hooked up to wires which had been edited out, instead of trying to convey that this was a magical part of the story. I enjoyed the fight scene in the trees because even though they were in battle, it was peaceful.

Final review: 5/5. The soundtrack was as beautiful as the rest of the movie. I would definitely watch this one again

Up next: Seven Samurai

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#88- Salt of the Earth

Quick recap: A union group decides to go on strike against a zinc mining company in the early 50’s. The men striking face jail time, violence, scabs, and worst of all- women, who take over after the workers are barred from entering the picketing line. Women are the WORST, you guys. The WORST.

The communists do have a point- children in jail are adorable.

Fun (?) fact: During filming, immigration officials arrested the lead actress, Rosaura Revueltas. She was deported to Mexico and a double had to be put in place to finish the movie. She was labeled a communist and couldn’t find much work afterwards.

accurate depiction of a modern day public school classroom, amiright? High five, anyone??

My thoughts: It’s really hard to go wrong with a movie that has the distinction of being the only movie ever blacklisted. On the other hand, being brainwashed with propaganda gets tiresome after awhile. Salt of the Earth was basically made as a big ‘screw you’ to the US government, after its director, producer and writer were blacklisted for being alleged Communist sympathizers. In retaliation to the charges, the men set out to make the most Communist film ever created, so that they might have a movie ‘to fit the crime for which they were accused’.

It would be really silly of me to waste time critiquing a film that is by all accounts, propaganda. It would be like me holding the Taco Bell Twitter account to some literary expectation, when all they are there to do is sell waffle tacos. I could really use a waffle taco, by the way. Back to Salt of the Earth, the acting is stiff in some scenes and over emotional in the others. The plot, while based on a true story, was overall unbelievable and silly. The union workers were painted as full of hope and blameless while the police and owner of the plant were the very definition of evil. But none of this matters as long as the message is understood.

My husband watched the movie with me and afterward we had a discussion.

A: I’m pro-union, but at some point, after a year, it would be time to find a new job.

Me: But if everyone gave up, nothing would ever get done! Companies could get away with murder! And anyway, the union pooled its resources and shared with each other so everyone was ok.

A: I think you just argued in favor of communism.

Me.: Oh my god. I’m a communist.

Ok, so it didn’t go exactly like that, but I do admit to falling for the message a little bit. So in that respect, Salt of the Earth was a wild success. And when I look into the history of this movie, the government agrees with me. They ordered a boycott of the film and it was virtually kept hidden for 10 years, until women got wind of it. Although this wasn’t the main message, the feminism viewpoint is for me, the most interesting part. Esperanza, the main character, is married to a union leader whom many people look up to. Yet, after all the protesting he does, goes home and treats his wife pretty badly. He forbids her to participate in the picket line, even though she was the one who got it to happen. At some point, when things gets bad, she gets involved and transforms into a strong character. Her husband is left at home to watch the kids and take over housework duties. By the end of the film, he realizes how amazing his wife is and is truly grateful for her strength. Propaganda aside, I can get behind that.

Fight the man!

Final review: 3/5. An interesting part of history, but not so interesting to sit through it again. I’d also prefer not to be blacklisted by liking this film in any way.

Up next: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

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