spanixtan Reviews

For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada (2012)

Little historical background

[3/10 · 12 February 2021]

This film becomes a story that mislead peopl's vision of the situation in Mexico. The Mexican Revolution had started in 1910 and after the 1917 constitution the situation was becoming almost normal. However, the Presidential power remained strong and with little checks and balances. President Plutarco Díaz Calles in his short term used some constitutional laws repressed freedom of cult to the very limit.Historians point to his past as an unrecognized child in the eyes of the Catholic church. The guerras cristeras were rebellions in some of the Mexican states, fighting for freedom or Christian traditions. They were over by 1929: the next prseident cancelled the abusive laws and an agreement was soon reached. The overall situation in the country is not reflected by this film. While the 1929 Wall Street Crash led most counties to the Dark thirties, with increasing poverty and dictatorships, Mexico's society, on the contrary, grew even more stable, economically sound, socially advanced and living in in justice. The film openly hides the whole process. You can see the forest for the trees.

Nazareno Cruz and the Wolf (1975)

The Argentinian werewolf

[4/10 · 12 February 2021]

The werevolf superstition in Argentina became a real national problem. The seventh son of a couple was believed to become a "Lobisón", and the seventh daughter, a witch. It caused trouble in a nation that needed population. The average number of children until the 1950s in the rural areas was over 10. So, there was no worry until the 6th boy or the 6th girl was born. In rural areas people avoided a seventh child of the same sex. It is said that there was even cases of infanticide. President Irigoyen issued a decree to end that superstition: from then on, the President of the Republic becomes the godfather of that sixth son/daughter. In many Northern provinces, the "Lobisón" was not believed to turn into a wolf at midnight: he turned into any animal, sometimes at will. And returned to his former state shortly after. So there was little or no harm done. The murderous werewolf belongs to the traditional European belief.

Tieta of Agreste (1996)

A symbol of Brazil's telluric forces

[23 February 2020]

Jorge Amado shows us a common trait in Brazilian psyche. The strong influence of that lush country in its inhabitants. Actress Sonia Braga (born 1950) is a perfect choice; she still represents that role in "Dona Clara" (2016) "Dona Flor e os seus maridos" (1976),"Gabriela,cravo e Canela" (1983) "Tieta do Agreste" aka "Tieta do Brasil" (1996) Nature-based freedom and sensuality stem from the main character; who seems to be a creature born from the wilderness and whose barely tamed natural instincts clash with a social façade. A civilized pose shown as hypocrite, unable to resist its own nature. "A luz de Tieta" is the ideal song by Caetano Veloso that denounces that hypocrisy in a quick rhythm, like a stream that washes away that makeup in an ectasy of joy and freedom.

A Hidden Life (2019)

true events in Austria or mainstream movie?

[8/10 · 28 January 2020]

Some people still reject the translation of German parts in this film. I´ve decide to create subtitles including all languages. Otherwise the film becomes riddled by incomprehensible dialogues and, in my own view, shows an open disregard for the real facts and protagonists. Austrian people. The tradition in WWII mainstream movies is not to the translate German military voices, as a way to dehumanize the enemy. This movie is out of that tradition. Its aim is to reflect the suffering of the German people, through a well known Austrian historic figure that represents a personal stance of radical (religious based) peaceful disobedience against Hitler´s regime. The movie is long, really hash and desolate. Full with both Bible quotes and inner reflection. Many parts are voiceover letters.The soundtrack is mixed with a masterful use of total or partial silence; different mixed noises; sometimes crafted with literary like W. Faulkner´s "The sound and the Fury". It's essential to change mainstream mindset and watch this as a movie that demands a real effort from viewers. It also asks us to take sides and get involved is a real non-fiction pathos, suffering. We are, however, free to decide for ourselves and not just stick to the protagonist's morals, ethical tenets or religious beliefs.

Dear Elza! (2014)

Quotation

[7/10 · 25 January 2020]

"The different between reality and the hallucinations of a man who has lost all hope, is only revealed in hindsight.That is the difference: his thoughts" Kolia: actor and clow quote [35:47] Resumes an essential question in the story. It might be a quote by Nikolai Gogol. Perhaps from "A diary from a Madman. It's just a guess: I was not able to find it. I hope someone knows about this.

A Hidden Life (2019)

A German movie in English

[8/10 · 19 January 2020]

The story is a harsh reflection of real events: a religious conscientious objector persecuted and in jail. The letters (in voiceover) between the protagonist couple go on through the long movie in a sad lament. The reflections of the protagonist are also internal monologues. Therefore, the aren´t many dialogues, and the story becomes languid and oppressive all along the first hour. Besides, dialogue among villagers and jail guards are in German. In these kind of movies, non-English parts are omitted or badly translated. People who download the movie find subtitles with all German parts missing, without subtitles, and there are a lot of a long scenes only in German that become blank spots for non German (and also Italian) speakers. This makes the following the long and languid story even more difficult. The movie is , however, a very rich and ellaborate work of art. Historically interesting, as there are no war scenes, just the village conflict and the jail oppression followed by a gloomy trial.

Orozco the Embalmer (2001)

Real life turned into a gore documentary

[10/10 · 17 January 2020]

A small film crew. Mr. Orozco, a real man is shown working on his corpses in a tiny and nightmarish one-room workshop with a stained glass window. We just hear him talk: no music or questions. The embalmer describes his routine and sometimes adds a comment about the poor conditions of the neighborhoods around, reflected in his job. The crew is in complete silence and Orozco seem to be speaking to a corner or just to somebody while he goes on with his task. We can realize that sometimes the old embalmer is answering to a question that has been cut off from the footage. He is aware of the crew, but his tone is not mother-off-fact or aloof; on the contrary: Orozco has a calm, sometimes merciful tone, of a normal man working in conditions unimaginable in most developed areas and complaining about it.He never rambles or drones on, but explains and answers questions of the film crew that the viewer can´t see or hear; just guess, because there must be someone recording, dealing with the sound and directing.The effect is an experimental documentary-movie edited to be shocking and limited to gore features: no way to show it as mainstream or horror in most countries. Maybe even forbidden in many places. At the end a humane note is added regarding Froilán Orozco, who no longer lives, but is remembered by some neighbors.

Panfilov's 28 Men (2016)

trite storie

[1/10 · 14 January 2020]

As expected, a trite movie. Russian adaptation and revival of the WWII issue. The same Hollywood already did during the post war. Only the point of view changes: decades ago it was abou US saving the world; now the savior is Soviet Russia. Haranges and speeches about defending not only the motherland but the whole world. And the same sort of action. Thi is, by no means, a movie where you can see and hear the soldiers from both sides.

Child of God (2013)

"Tell me, if you can: what makes a monster and what makes a man?"

[7/10 · 29 December 2019]

Cormac McCarthy's novel taken to the screen. Wild Appalachian landscape. Matching it, a lonesome character abandoned and barely cared for since birth. Now with no human ties or affections. Regarded from outside as a dangerous semihuman creature of God with a retarded mind. Lester Ballard. For him, all seems to be "sound and fury". Soon, he crosses the fringes of ruthless manmade law ; an order imposed on dubious moral grounds. Lester goes on surviving while chased like a forest vermin. A realistically brutal story of deprivation and loneliness in well defined setting: a region accursed in the minds of some national (USA) mentalities. Lawless rednecks, unsocial hillbillies...and al the tags they carry as a burden, deserved or not; reality or commonplace.

The Book of Eli (2010)

The post apocalyptic prophet

[8/10 · 26 December 2019]

The film is clearly symbolic. Eli is a chosen man, who after a global war has to deliver the book (The only Bible not burned in the war) to a western and unknown place. Prophet Elijah and a post millennial society are evident.The story is set somewhere in the United States, now a wasteland. The US a symbol of the whole world. Going west was always the American way to rebuild one's life when the colonized cities become hostile. Therefore, it´s an all USA film: a new America as the new post millennial order. Eli has to go through an area ruled brutally by a man:he sends hunting gangs around terrorizing and killing; taking him all books they find. He knows the power of the Bible; it contains the texts and wording that once again can be used to convince and rule. Eli's book is discovered. He escapes without the book (which is written in Braille, a language the wicked man of the town can´t decypher) and goes on west until the coast. There´s an island where civilized and wise men rule. Eli knows the Book by heart and begins to dictate it to a wise well-intentioned man representative of the island, while lying fatally wounded. At the end the Book is placed in a library among others whose titles we can just glimpse for a second. They have a printing press.We suppose that it will be the source of the newly reborn world. The movie is not just that millennial tale; there´s a lot of action and violence; evil characters and few individuals that could be redeemed. Road ambushes; bar fights; chases and hunting. Fight with guns or just blades and blunt weapons... The prophet is an amazingly lethal fighter; ready to raise hell when he has no other peaceful way out.

Kóblic (2016)

Predictable. Just a testimony of the "Death Flights" and the dictatorship.

[4/10 · 16 December 2019]

1976. Andrés Kóblic, experienced pilot in the Argentinian air forces, is about to retire. But can no longer cope with flying planes used in the "flights of Death", where regime opposers are dropped down to the Atlantic. Kóblic seeks refuge in a small village, helping a friend of his father as a crop duster. We see in his nightmares what has happened. A phone call in a public place is the clue that he local sheriff uses to find out who the unusual foreigner is. Meanwhile, Kóblic and a local woman fall in love and a new danger sprouts: the brutal man who keeps her. Soon a military man shows up and gives Kóblik a new opportunity/ ultimatum. Kóblic puts on his old uniform and after leaving kills the corrupt sheriff. He has also tied the commandos sent to take him back by force. Now Kóblic flies straight into the ocean with his "captives". He jumps before the small airplane reaches the Atlantic; the parachute is supposed to land in a place where his lover waist for him. The psychology of the characters is quite shallow and predictable, without hues: just goodies and baddies.

A Friend of Mine (2006)

Brühl and Vögel in their stock roles

[7/10 · 16 December 2019]

Karl (Daniel Brühl), a painstaking worker and model employee, meets Hans (Jürgen Vogel), a happy and carefree foolish man who will make Karl change his ways and open his mind. The predictable world Karl used to live in shows a complexity he can't handle. Hans, although a pain in the neck, will show him a way to cope with his old life and become "a friend of his". Both actors play roles that fit them quite well.

Habermann (2010)

Europe's wounds

[7/10 · 16 December 2019]

Based on many real events. As one ethnic group prevails any of its members becomes an enemiy to the others.In 1938 August Habermann and his family run a mill in their native Sudetenland, recently annexed by Hitler.Even if he is a good natured and reasonable man, war stirs emotions in mean individuals; the ones who, when the tide turns again, spare no members of the other etnia. There are Czechs or Germans: nobody stands aside. It was like this for centuries and it will be so until...

Pope Joan (2009)

Adventure, protagonist, background...A complete movie

[10/10 · 14 December 2019]

This is a fascinating story about the life of a woman with a special character and psychology. Indeed, the movie has its foundations on the kind of role usually played by Johanna Wokalek. But besides the protagonist and the role of a woman, the events are in themselves thrilling, sometimes even riveting. The background is rich and attractive: we are able to witness peasant life at a time and era quite unknown in history, reduced to kings, popes, battles... and little daily life of the topical feudal pyramid society. Imagination plays a major role. Could it have been a real event, one more of those astounding facts lost among the chronicles of the dark ages?. Possibility is evident; probability is high.

The Magic of Belle Isle (2012)

A Morgan Freeman style film

[8/10 · 11 December 2019]

The Magic of Belle Isle Belle Isle is a quiet spot on the coast where a small group of characters are bound to spend the summer; all them feeling kind of stranded there. Monte, a wheelchair ridden old writer of western novels, creator of a legendary saga, feels down and gets off the waggon. His neighbours,a divorced lady and her three daughters are also going through a bad spell. The place will make get them together and develop relationships based on imagination and the power of inventing little worlds and feelings. "Small emotions are the real great captains of our lives..." ( Vincent Van Gogh, letters to his brother ) Literature and the ability of storytelling...are shown as the way of... not making one's dreams true, but to create dreams for ourselves. Morgan Freeman and his somewhat idealized neighbours are of course a rich ground where i's easy to build a nice story, full with hopes and invigorating . Away from city challenges, Belle Isle becomes a sort of ''locus amoenus" for both characters and viewers.

Yojimbo (1961)

Kurosawa. Yojimbo- A new antihero for the westerns

[8/10 · 9 December 2019]

Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998)and Yasujirô Ozu (1903-1963) are the two giants of Japanese cinema.Their work appear on top ten lists of greatest films ever made. Both disctinctly Japanese but deeply connected to world cinema, especially by American filmmakers. Yasujirô Ozu's movies are influenced by Buddhist insights; Kurosawa's, on the contrary, are action films on bit sets with swordplay and violence. Toshiro Mifune is his main actor. Rashômon (1950) and The Seven Samurai (1954) were finantial and internationally successes. Yôjimbo(1961) (El mercenario) is sometimes considered ashis best film. It was small but greater and best considered in Japan. Unlike the massive undertaking, years of work , huge cast and budget, of the Seven Samurais, Jôjimbo was a simple, quick, and cheap film. Influenced by American films it influenced also greatly them. Kurosawa admired John Ford. He said "My Darling Clementine is a model of what cinema shoud be" . Also a cosmopolitan men, several of mis films were based on Shakespeare´s plays. Russian literature (Dostoyevsky) and crime fiction (Dashiell Hammet) Yojimbo (El mercenario), is based on Dashiell Hammet´s novels "The Glass Key" and "Red Harvest". John Ford´s influence is evident throughout the movie. The Ronin tradition is the Japanese root. Detective fiction, American western and Japanese Samutay tradition. The story is secondary to the visual part and the acting. Plot: In 1860 a nameless Ronin runs into a village taken by two rival gangs at war. The villager ares paralized by fear. The ronin, hired by the Seibei clan finds out that they intend to stab him in the back after the fight is over. He decides to have some dark fun and set both gangs to kill each other. They are beyond redemption in the eyes of the viewer. The inkeeper says it to the ronin, who, despite his appearance has a moral side. One gang has kidnapped a farmer´s wife, and he frees her using a trick; but is exposed by a thankyou note from the woman. Beaten up, he escapes with the help of the inkeeper, who then is kidnaped. Time to kill everybody. Spectacular action scenes like in a John Ford western: the wide empty main street; wind and dust; the gangs walking towards each other from opposite sides; even with pistols. The bad guys are killed. But unlike John Ford´s westerns, the hero doesn´t glow. He´s ragged, unshaven, unkempt, silent, smirking, sees everything with ironic detachment. He gets the gangs to kill each other: nothing noble. So he is an antihero. His final lines: "It´ll be quiet in this town now". Then frees the inkeeper with a slash and walks away with a "Seeyah!" leaving a town strewn with the bad guys corpses. This changed movies. "Sanjuro "(1962) was a sequel. The new kind of antihero would son appear in Sergio Leone´s "A fistful of Dollars" (1964). The Dollar trilogy and the Spaghetti western, featuring Clint Eastwood as the new antihero. The many legal issues about copyrights were settled quietly

Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

a rediscovered movie

[8 December 2019]

Make Way for Tomorrow is brutally unsentimental. It´s a cold hard look at how American families deal with aging and economic harshipo . A Today rediscovered as a forgotten Hollywood masterpiece maybe because Yasujiro Ozu 's Tokyo Story (1923) was inspired on it. Barkley and Lucy, and eldely couple, after losing their home to floreclosure, ask their five chidren for help. Only two of them assist their parents; but, unfortunately, neither has space for both.