Monday, July 29, 2013

Movie - Modern Times (1936)

Charlie Chaplain wrote, directed, and starred in this movie, which may be his magnum opus. It is not only about the struggle of people trying to survive the Great Depression but also about the relationship between mankind and technology, about women in society, and so on. Today (2013, 77 years later) I see small children using iPhones and navigating the internet before they can read a book, and using a mouse and keyboard more intuitively than a bike. I can only imagine what the next generation will see. However, we sometimes forget that it wasn't always this way. Mankind has had to grow into technology and integrate it into our lives, or our lives into it, defining and redefining, constantly, the role it plays in our everyday lives. There are some poignant moments in the film where Charlie Chaplan's character encounters new technologies, and we see how he is at odds with the invasion of his natural, physical behavior. Man's oldest defining qualities come into question in modern times when machine's threaten to perform his labor and replace him in the work force, and even feed him.

It is also worth noticing the character played by Paulette Goddard. In modern times, the role of women has changed, something else that we sometimes forget. In the beginning, her father is unable to support the family, so she takes matters into her own hands and behaves unlady-like in order to feed them. Later, Charlie Chaplan is unable to find work, but she gets a job. Joining the workforce, she achieves what was hitherto thought of as a man's role in society.

The plain truth is that this movie has so much to offer that I could go on and on, seemingly without end. Instead, you should watch it for yourself and enjoy. The way that he treats severe and deep subject matter with respect, while immersing them in comic relief, is something that very few comedians/entertainers have the skill to do. It reminds me of Cervantes' Don Quixote. 

Summary from IMDb:
The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.

IMDb

Movie - Taxi Driver (1976)

This movie is so amazing that I don't feel like I should even attempt to write any kind of review about it... Someone else did, however, and you can read about it below or on IMDb.

I would, however, like to draw attention to the disclaimer at the end of the credits.
     TO OUR TELEVISION AUDIENCE: In the aftermath of violence, the distinction between hero and villain is sometimes a matter of interpretation or misinterpretation of facts. TAXI DRIVER suggests that tragic errors can be made. The Filmmakers.

I was as impressed with this statement as I was by the movie itself. However, I would like to add that it's not only in the aftermath that the distinction is vulnerable and subject to interpretation. Often times the people that commit terrible acts, such as this, believe, whether they are justified or not, that what they are doing is the ethical, moral, and/or responsible thing to do. Like other works, such as Se7en, Taxi Driver places the audience between the possibility that the main character is the good guy and the possibility that they are the bad guy. One asks whether Travis Bickle is the antagonist or the protagonist. When the moral fabric of society has degraded to the point that almost everyone is the bad guy, they seem like the good guy because they are living the status quo, and Bickle seems to be the bad guy because he refuses to conform, to not submit to the status quo. His character reminds me of Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye. Because he recently returned from the war in Vietnam, he fights that battle at home in the only way he knows how to fight battles. Or perhaps he is simply suffering from post war mental instability, unable to separate who he was in Vietnam from who he is at home. Perhaps he is nothing more than a psychopath, disconnected from society as a result of the things he saw people do to each other in war.

IMDb Summary:
A mentally unstable Viet Nam war veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process.

IMDb

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Movie - Silent Running (1972)

There is a lot of that fantastic 1970s hippie propaganda in this movie - the gloom and doom about how mankind is destroying the world and the Joan Baez songs about how we can be one with nature. That aside, because it really can be as amusing as it is obnoxious, I thought it was a pretty enjoyable film.

You learn later that, in their attempt to create a comfortable utopia, humanity has, once again, created a distopia when mediocrity is the result. The main character, however, has a dream - he sees a great value in preserving and restoring the Earth's flora to the Earth. He tries to get the others on his ship to understand, but they just mock him and his vision. When the guys in charge on Earth send orders to blow up the flora pods attached to the spaceship, he does what he has to in order to preserve them.

I think that what made this movie enjoyable for me, other than the robots and Bruce Dern's robe, were three very important themes:
1. Even if all of humanity says that something is right or wrong, valuable or worthless, that doesn't mean that they are correct.
2. Both technology and nature have value for us. We shouldn't live in caves, but, a. there are great lessons to learn from interacting with nature, b. a lot of health and enjoyment comes from being outside, and c. without a healthy ecosystem, we cannot be healthy.
3. There is a scene where Bruce Dern's character is arguing with his shipmates about the food that they are eating. He asks them how they can eat it, it's not real, it's synthetic, it doesn't come out of the ground like what he eats. They mock him, of course, and say that they like their synthetic food. As a foodie, I appreciate this scene because the food that too many people eat is garbage, tasteless, and boring. I make a conscious effort to find and eat, what I believe is, real food, packed with flavor instead of preservatives, and from all over the world, the more authentic, the better. So many people mistake familiarity with quality. They enjoy it because it's familiar to them - the same options and the same ingredients. I suppose that there is a little bit of Heidegger's philosophy of authenticity in this perspective of mine... The best part is that at the end of the movie, he catches himself eating the synthetic food. Authenticity is an ongoing battle, one that the weary, ill, and complacent lose.

Summary from IMDb:
In a future where all flora is extinct on Earth, an astronaut is given orders to destroy the last of Earth's plant life being kept in a greenhouse on board a spacecraft.

IMDb