Silence

Posted on January 5, 2017 at 5:27 pm

Like Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam-era adaptation, Apocalypse Now, Martin Scorsese’s “Silence” is the story of men who take a journey to find a former leader who has disappeared into the untamed natural world.

It is the mid-17th century. Two Portuguese priests, Father Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Father Garrpe (Adam Driver) go to Japan in search of their teacher and mentor, Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson). After receiving disturbing reports that he has publicly abandoned his faith, they say, “We have no choice but to save his soul.” They leave with “no luggage except our hearts.”

Ferreira had gone to Japan as a missionary and he and his colleagues had some success in converting Buddhist peasants. But Japan has now outlawed Christianity in any form, and as we see immediately, the officials have decided that the best way to eradicate it is to torture believers, forcing the priests to watch. Early efforts to fight Christianity failed because killing the priests made them martyrs, showing the strength and power of their faith when they refused to renounce it, even under torture. So the officials responsible for eradicating Christianity have had to develop a more subtle approach. Instead of torturing the priests, they torture and murder their followers, telling the priests that all they have to do to stop it is recant. It can be as simple as putting a foot on an icon of Jesus. “It’s a formality,” the Japanese official says in a soothing voice. “You don’t have to believe it.”

The priests have a choice: deny their faith in Jesus and Christianity or allow the suffering and death of innocent people. What should they do? Who has the answer?

For Martin Scorsese, who co-wrote and directed, this movie has been a passion project for three decades, since he read the award-winning novel by Shusaku Endo, inspired by the true stories of 17th century priests in Japan. Scorsese, who once thought of becoming a priest grapples here with the big questions about the letter and the spirit in the context of a time and a faith that traditionally has put a lot of emphasis on the letter as a frame and a discipline for the spirit. It is also a faith tradition that understands suffering as a part of faith practice, whether a way to appreciate the suffering of Jesus or to test one’s faith or to better understand others’ experiences, or to earn the rewards of heaven. The gorgeous visual scope and striking images are as powerful in telling the story of the clash of culture and religion as the narrative.

When it comes to performances, the film is off-balance, probably unintentionally, as the Japanese characters are more complex and completely realized than the one-dimensional priests. Garfield seems at sea as an actor, not just as a character, except in a few scenes where he has a chance to debate the “Inquisitor” (a wry, clever Issey Ogata). This movie about silence is at its best in the verbal jousting on faith, culture, truth, and power.

Translation: Extremely tense scenes of torture and brutality with some very disturbing graphic images, characters injured and killed

Recommendation: Mature teens-Adults

Family discussion: Were you surprised by the final shot? In the debate with the Inquisitor about culture and faith, who was right?

If you like this, try: “Unbroken” and “The Last Temptation of Christ”

Hacksaw Ridge

Posted on November 3, 2016 at 5:39 pm

Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) called himself a “conscientious supporter.” He wanted to support the troops fighting in WWII; he just would not touch a gun. And so, after brutal bullying and assaults and a court-martial, he was permitted to “go into battle without a gun.” And so, as a part of the “Liberty Battalion” of Army’s 77th Infantry Division, he went into one of the most dangerous battles of the war, with no weapons, just a Bible and some syringes with morphine.

Mel Gibson‘s first film as a director in a decade combines themes he returns to again and again: personal courage in the face of overwhelming odds, sacrifice for others, inspiration, faith, and very graphic, agonizing mortification of the flesh. The first half of the film introduces us to Doss, growing up in Lynchburg, Virginia with an abusive, alcoholic father (Hugo Weaving), falling for a pretty nurse (Teresa Palmer), and wanting to help the war effort without killing anyone.

Then there is an extended section covering basic training, with a tough but not humorless sergeant played by one of the few Americans in the cast, Vince Vaughn. It sweetly and sometimes amusingly harks back to the classic WWII films, with assorted characters from very different parts of the country are thrown together and a tough sergeant who whips them into shape with insults and threats, but everyone knows it is really for their own good, to teach them what they need to know to survive. There is no category for a regular army guy who says he cannot even touch a gun. They do everything they can to get him to change his mind or leave the military, but he will not give up. He’s a guy who will walk an extra two miles because he likes the woods. He knows who he is and what he believes.

And then, he is in battle. And again, he will not give up. “Just let me get one more, Lord,” is his prayer as over and over, 75 times, he heads back into enemy fire to pick up wounded men — including two Japanese soldiers — and carefully lower each one over a sheer cliff with an improvised pulley.

The scenes in battle are as harrowing as any ever put on screen. We are in the midst of utter carnage and chaos. Gibson knows how to create a visceral experience to make us understand just how extraordinary the rescue mission was. In an interview, he once said that he hates war, but loves warriors. Both are evident in this stirring tribute to a true hero.

Parents should know that this film includes extremely graphic and disturbing wartime violence with grisly images of wounded and dead soldiers, bullying and a brutal beating, domestic violence, and a car accident. Characters use some mild language.

Family discussion: How does the sergeant prepare the soldiers for war? How does he promote teamwork? What should the military do with “conscientious supporters?”

If you like this, try: “We Were Soldiers” and “Sergeant York”

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New Film About WWII Hero Desmond Doss: Hacksaw Ridge

Posted on July 5, 2016 at 11:43 am

Mel Gibson’s new film is “Hacksaw Ridge,” the true story of WWII medic Desmond Doss, played by Andrew Garfield (“The Amazing Spider-Man”), who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, miraculously saved 75 men in a matter of hours without firing or carrying a gun.

He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon. He single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, under constant enemy gunfire and artillery bombardment.

Doss was a Seventh Day Adventist and a man of deep faith who saved the lives of men who had harassed him for refusing to carry a gun. He believed the war was just, but to kill under any circumstance was wrong. Doss was labeled the first conscientious objector (he called himself a “conscientious cooperator” as he volunteered) to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The film also stars Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths and Vince Vaughn and is coming to theaters nationwide November 4th, 2016.

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99 Homes

Posted on October 1, 2015 at 5:22 pm

It’s not called “99 Houses” or “99 Foreclosures,” though that is how they are seen by some of the characters in the film. The banks and the predatory dealmakers may think of these buildings as “assets” or “derivatives” following the 2008 subprime financial meltdown as buyers swoop in, buy them out of foreclosure, take government money to fix them up and then flip them for a profit. But for the people who live or lived in them, they are homes, they are sanctuaries, they are personal treasures filled with memories. They are the fortress of the people who call them home, and when that is breached, the family hardly knows who they are anymore.

Single dad Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) does not just live in a home. He works in construction. His job is building and fixing homes. But after the subprime meltdown, there is no work. That means no money and soon that means no home. One of the cruelest consequences of the financial crisis was that in order to meet the pressure from Wall Street to keep producing subprime derivatives, mortgage brokers pushed loans on people who could not afford them, creating the notorious “liar’s loans” for people whose financial qualifications would not be adequate for a traditional mortgage. And so people like Dennis were thrown out of their houses by people like the appropriately named Rick Carver (Michael Shannon), who show up moments before the house will be foreclosed by the bank to buy the house from the owners, who really have no other choice.

Dennis makes the deal with the devil and that turns out to be just the beginning. Carver offers him a job. He begins with construction work but shows an aptitude for hard work, following orders without asking questions, and willingness to do whatever it takes to make enough money to get his mother (Laura Dern) and young son back home. He is determined to restore what they lost and bring them back to the house Carver, the bank, and the Wall Street derivative brokers took from them.

Writer/director Ramon Bahrani (“Goodbye Solo”) has an extraordinary gift for making intimate dramas that do more than exemplify complex and murky issues; they illuminate them. A thousand headlines and think pieces could not do as much to bring, well, home, the real-life impact of the failures of bankers and politicians than a movie like this one. As specific in time as a mix-tape featuring Flo Rida with T-Pain and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, it approaches epic, even operatic scope as Dennis gets pulled, sometimes yanked, deeper and deeper into becoming what he most despised. He does not realize that he is giving up something much deeper and more visceral than his home and belongings.

Michael Shannon, master of volcanic anger, is mesmerizing as Carver, rough charm and brutal fury. As Dennis gets pulled deeper and deeper into Carver’s way of doing business, and then his way of thinking, we see how seductive corruption can be, and how, after a point no matter where you live, it is not a home.

Parents should know that this film has constant very strong and aggressive language, crude sexual references and some situations, severe family distress and homelessness, threats, illegal activity, suicide, and brief violence.

Family discussion: Who is responsible for the foreclosures? What does Dennis admire about Rick?

If you like this, try: “Sunshine State” and the upcoming film “The Big Short”

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FREE Tickets to “99 Homes” with Laura Dern and Andrew Garfield

Posted on September 25, 2015 at 4:51 pm

I have 40 pairs of ticket to give away to the outstanding drama “99 Homes,” starring Andrew Garfield as a construction worker who loses his home in a post-subprime meltdown foreclosure. Desperate to support his mother and son, he takes a job with the man aptly named Carver (Michael Shannon) who is making a fortune from the foreclosed homes.

The screening is Monday, September 28, 2015, in Washington DC. The first 40 people to respond through this link will each get two passes. NOTE: Seats are not guaranteed. They given out first come, first served, so get there early. Enjoy!

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