Miracle at St. Anna
Oct. 2nd, 2008 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sereneWow, I really liked this movie.
What a sweeping, ambitious, and really well done movie this was. The acting was top drawer. The cinematography was beautiful. The plot holes were large but didn't matter in the scheme of things. The MacGuffin is unapologetically absurd. But basically, wow, I liked it a lot.
Some thoughts, without giving away any plot:
1) It is SO nice not to have a "the only significant black person in the film is one of the two or three high-grossing actors we all have seen four thousand times" kind of deal. There were many standout actors, most of whom I had not seen before, many of whom are African-American (or, in one case, Afro-Cuban-American). I just hate that feeling I get with so many movies that the filmmakers think I can't handle more than one black character per film, or I might not pay ten bucks to see their story.
2) Spike Lee. Touchstone. Let me say that another way. Spike fucking Lee made a Disney movie. Did I think this would happen in my lifetime? No, I did not. (If he's made a bunch of other films for Disney, tell me, but break it to me gently, okay?)
3) The person who plays an eight-year-old Italian boy reminds me SO much of the little boy in Cinema Paradiso, and that makes me wonder if I'm doing that obnoxious "they all look alike to me" thing even though I come from Italian stock.
4) There were moments in the film where Lee slipped into his preachy, let-me-lay-out-racism-for-you-in-tiny-words,-okay? tone, and while they were verging on melodrama, it was the kind of melodrama Lee does well, and he has my permission. That there was a joke. Don't hurt me.
5) This is a very violent movie, and all of it made sense in context. I really did love it.
6) He definitely didn't make THIS movie by maxing out a $10,000 credit card, or whatever it is he did to make "She's Gotta Have It". Four locations in three countries, lots of amazing sets and costumes, genuinely wonderful actors in three languages. This thing had to cost a bundle.
7) I loved the look and sound of this. I loved hearing all the dialogue in English, German, and Italian. I loved the acting. I really loved feeling swept away by a movie for the first time in a while, even though I had a complainy teenager with me. The movie is 160 minutes long, and it didn't feel too long to me at all.
[Note: I've since learned of some pretty serious controversy surrounding the story the movie tells, but I wasn't aware of that while watching, and I will wait to see what pans out before deciding how that affects my opinion of the film.]
What a sweeping, ambitious, and really well done movie this was. The acting was top drawer. The cinematography was beautiful. The plot holes were large but didn't matter in the scheme of things. The MacGuffin is unapologetically absurd. But basically, wow, I liked it a lot.
Some thoughts, without giving away any plot:
1) It is SO nice not to have a "the only significant black person in the film is one of the two or three high-grossing actors we all have seen four thousand times" kind of deal. There were many standout actors, most of whom I had not seen before, many of whom are African-American (or, in one case, Afro-Cuban-American). I just hate that feeling I get with so many movies that the filmmakers think I can't handle more than one black character per film, or I might not pay ten bucks to see their story.
2) Spike Lee. Touchstone. Let me say that another way. Spike fucking Lee made a Disney movie. Did I think this would happen in my lifetime? No, I did not. (If he's made a bunch of other films for Disney, tell me, but break it to me gently, okay?)
3) The person who plays an eight-year-old Italian boy reminds me SO much of the little boy in Cinema Paradiso, and that makes me wonder if I'm doing that obnoxious "they all look alike to me" thing even though I come from Italian stock.
4) There were moments in the film where Lee slipped into his preachy, let-me-lay-out-racism-for-you-in-tiny-words,-okay? tone, and while they were verging on melodrama, it was the kind of melodrama Lee does well, and he has my permission. That there was a joke. Don't hurt me.
5) This is a very violent movie, and all of it made sense in context. I really did love it.
6) He definitely didn't make THIS movie by maxing out a $10,000 credit card, or whatever it is he did to make "She's Gotta Have It". Four locations in three countries, lots of amazing sets and costumes, genuinely wonderful actors in three languages. This thing had to cost a bundle.
7) I loved the look and sound of this. I loved hearing all the dialogue in English, German, and Italian. I loved the acting. I really loved feeling swept away by a movie for the first time in a while, even though I had a complainy teenager with me. The movie is 160 minutes long, and it didn't feel too long to me at all.
[Note: I've since learned of some pretty serious controversy surrounding the story the movie tells, but I wasn't aware of that while watching, and I will wait to see what pans out before deciding how that affects my opinion of the film.]