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Reviews
La Habanera (1937)
Aryan Propaganda
If you want to see a melodramatic love story, see The Notebook [2004]. This film should be seen for its stereotypical portrayal of non-Aryan people. After all, the film was made in Germany at a time when spurious theories of racial superiority were being concocted by the leaders of Nazism. The moral of the story is that a Nordic woman should never dare to marry or get involved with anyone not from her own race because she will be victimized in the process. In the end, the nobler northerners get it their way against the weaker southerners. This is so even when an argument could be made that don Pedro was simply the victim of a typical pattern of racism for ten very long years. In fact, he couldn't even teach his son Juan to love the culture of San Juan because his mother brainwashed him to long for snow in the middle of the Caribbean. Hard as he tried, don Pedro could not overcome the iron-will of his wife. In hindsight, should the story be true, the ones making a grave mistake are the arrogant people who go back to Sweden before the outbreak of World War 2.
Sous le soleil de Satan (1987)
Love It or Prepare to Fall Asleep-or Both
As with countless other fine and well-meaning French productions, this one has plenty of intricate dialogue-which is seldom translated in whole. As a result, I am sure that for some people the narrative barely makes any sense; for others it will be unjustifiably dense and even lyric. I am sure some people must love the slow pace and the religious subject matter to the point of exaltation. As it happens with the immensely frustrating film Therese [Alain Cavalier, 90m, 1986], this one never really delivers on its premises/promises. I do not want to give away its really simplistic plot, so won't get into the details of its many faux pas dealing with the simple life of a country faux naif. That said, I just want to add how the film manages to elevate its pretentiousness to the level of art! The viewer is left to feel below the film's main theme and message, mainly on account that it deals with mystical matters not to be understood by the viewing masses-especially by those who watch the film. The point is lost in the main character's constant self-flagellation-physical and spiritual. The, in short, viewer can never identify with Donissan or with Mouchette-or with anyone else in the film. Even Buñuel's The Milky Way [1968] is easier and more fun, and this is a stretch. To be sure, we know what is going on at all times, but it is hard to imagine why is there so much ado about matters that are best left untouched. For a more vivid portray of the struggles of religious significance see Agnes of God [1985], The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ [1988], or El crimen del padre Amaro [2002]. Should you insist in seeing this uneven production, which is only available in a very poor VHS format, go on at your own peril. At least-if it is any consolation-it isn't that long!
Morocco (1930)
This Film Belongs in a Museum
This film should be seen strictly as a dated example of the beginning of what by now is film's long history. It represents more than anything a period piece when the talkies were just developing. As with other films of the day, this one represents a stereotypical, overly exotic land in the northern of Africa, namely Morocco, where the Europeans rule with unquestioned superiority.
The colonizing aspects of such event are simply taken for granted. Spanish women, for example, are treated like garbage; Arabs, too, are simply disposable. No attempt what-so-ever is made to show what the culture of the country is like other than through the romanticized and distorted points of view coming from the denizens who inhabit the local cabaret. These men cannot help but drool at the sight of a recently arrived Parisian cabaret singer appropriately named Mademoiselle Amy Jolly. How can Gary Grant [Tom Brown] be believable in his role? He looks and talks every bit like a nice blond boy from Iowa, instead of the rugged Frenchman he is supposed to look like. His very height betrays him as not belonging to the area! A man so tall would definitely be an easy target for any attacks! Needless to say, it can be argued that he could have been a hired as a mercenary working for the French army. But if the critic Leonard Maltin found the character of Marlene Dietrich `improbably stuck in Morocco,' what can we say about Gary Cooper dressed up in a the wrong size uniform, while drinking, smoking, and shamelessly womanizing his way around?
The only rescuable parts of this dated film are the cabaret scenes in which Marlene Dietrich dresses up like a man, while captivating her audiences with her mere presence. Her acting is all right; her singing is also all right. But what she does to take control of her public is what may amaze even contemporary viewers. At one point-beware of a small spoiler coming-she even kisses another woman in the mouth! Now, that is daring continental cinema, even though this was her first Hollywood feature. See this film only if you love to see a sentimental story of love in the grand style of the ninetieth century, which by now is all but alien to our contemporary sensibilities.