Has a movie ever touched your soul?
My friends know that I like movies. I'm really critical of movies. I don't forgive things that other people willingly look past. I don't cry at movies. I appreciate moments of artistry that most of my friends wouldn't have noticed. I occassionally laugh at inopportune times.
In all the years that I have been watching movies I've been very critical, and very objective (or at least I like to think so). Putting movies on a scale of one to ten for IMDB usually results in very very few perfect scores. Great movies like Bridge on the River Kwai get a 9. Movies that challenge what I think movies should be, like Magnolia, get a 9. Movies that people seem to love, like Forrest Gump, which IMDB users have given an 8.2, get mediocre scores like 7. I don't always like big blockbusters, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King got a 9.1 from IMDB users but only a 6 from me.
The movies that had received 10 out of 10 from me were: Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Seven Samurai, and Requiem for a Dream. Casablanca needs no justification, it's just so watchable that I've actually watched it on DVD during the afternoon, and then caught most of it again when it was on TVO later that night. Citizen Kane changed the way that movies were made, but I'll admit that it hasn't aged as well as Casablanca. Seven Samurai is one of the greatest works of cinematic art that I have ever seen, it told a great story, had amazing direction, showed the genius of the director, and highlighted an amazing actor. Requiem for a Dream dared to be different and not give us a cliche-filled Hollywood ending, and it disturbed me.
Why should I be putting all this down? Because it helps frame the following.
I just finished watching Hotel Rwanda. I went to see it alone. I'm glad that I did. For the first time in ages I know what it's like to have a movie touch me. Don Cheadle was so amazing. Nick Nolte's character (apparantly based on Romeo D'Allaire) said things that I never thought that I would hear. I really hope that people are seeing this movie.
We have the ability to stand around and be proud of the fact that we're helping so much in the wake of the Tsunami (and we should be proud), but we seem to forget that we don't do anything about some of the terrors that are roaming on the face of the planet. We've let the perpetrators of genocide flee to other countries. We didn't take the responsibility that should have been taken. The difference between the sides in Rwanda was artificial, created by the west, for western interests. Then we did nothing as one side killed the other.
This is worse that that old Star Trek episode where there's a guy who's black on one side and white on the other persecuting a guy who's got the colour reversed (Roddenberry wasn't known for subtlety). There was a difference in the characters there. There may be no justification, but there was a difference. The Belgians artificially created a difference. The only way to tell the difference was to look at people's papers. When they started killing each other we did nothing.
This movie brought me to a place that I hadn't been in a long time. It is now officially the fifth movie that I have ever seen that has earned 10. It is rare that a movie is well done. When it is well done and goes that extra bit further it gets a 9. To get a 10, it must change things. Casablanca, Citizen Kane and Seven Samurai changed the history of movies. Requiem for a Dream changed my perceptions. Hotel Rwanda changed me.
Please go see this movie. If you see it and disagree with me I'd love to talk to you about it. I just don't think that the conversation will take too long. I simply doubt that you will dislike it.
--dilip
In all the years that I have been watching movies I've been very critical, and very objective (or at least I like to think so). Putting movies on a scale of one to ten for IMDB usually results in very very few perfect scores. Great movies like Bridge on the River Kwai get a 9. Movies that challenge what I think movies should be, like Magnolia, get a 9. Movies that people seem to love, like Forrest Gump, which IMDB users have given an 8.2, get mediocre scores like 7. I don't always like big blockbusters, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King got a 9.1 from IMDB users but only a 6 from me.
The movies that had received 10 out of 10 from me were: Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Seven Samurai, and Requiem for a Dream. Casablanca needs no justification, it's just so watchable that I've actually watched it on DVD during the afternoon, and then caught most of it again when it was on TVO later that night. Citizen Kane changed the way that movies were made, but I'll admit that it hasn't aged as well as Casablanca. Seven Samurai is one of the greatest works of cinematic art that I have ever seen, it told a great story, had amazing direction, showed the genius of the director, and highlighted an amazing actor. Requiem for a Dream dared to be different and not give us a cliche-filled Hollywood ending, and it disturbed me.
Why should I be putting all this down? Because it helps frame the following.
I just finished watching Hotel Rwanda. I went to see it alone. I'm glad that I did. For the first time in ages I know what it's like to have a movie touch me. Don Cheadle was so amazing. Nick Nolte's character (apparantly based on Romeo D'Allaire) said things that I never thought that I would hear. I really hope that people are seeing this movie.
We have the ability to stand around and be proud of the fact that we're helping so much in the wake of the Tsunami (and we should be proud), but we seem to forget that we don't do anything about some of the terrors that are roaming on the face of the planet. We've let the perpetrators of genocide flee to other countries. We didn't take the responsibility that should have been taken. The difference between the sides in Rwanda was artificial, created by the west, for western interests. Then we did nothing as one side killed the other.
This is worse that that old Star Trek episode where there's a guy who's black on one side and white on the other persecuting a guy who's got the colour reversed (Roddenberry wasn't known for subtlety). There was a difference in the characters there. There may be no justification, but there was a difference. The Belgians artificially created a difference. The only way to tell the difference was to look at people's papers. When they started killing each other we did nothing.
This movie brought me to a place that I hadn't been in a long time. It is now officially the fifth movie that I have ever seen that has earned 10. It is rare that a movie is well done. When it is well done and goes that extra bit further it gets a 9. To get a 10, it must change things. Casablanca, Citizen Kane and Seven Samurai changed the history of movies. Requiem for a Dream changed my perceptions. Hotel Rwanda changed me.
Please go see this movie. If you see it and disagree with me I'd love to talk to you about it. I just don't think that the conversation will take too long. I simply doubt that you will dislike it.
--dilip
posted by Dilip Andrade at
1:11 a.m.
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