Into the Wild

April 26, 2008 · Filed Under Films · Comment

Well, I saw the film Into the Wild the other day. Oddly enough, years ago, I don’t remember when or where - but I think it was in a magazine, I read about this guy who took off into the Alaskan wilderness and appeared to have died from eating the wrong kind of plants, even if this Wikipedia entry appears to indicate that the lad died of starvation.

Did I like the film? Yes, but it’s a little long and quite slow moving.

What did I think of the story? Nice, but a good example of how to end up in big trouble as a result of a) being a townie b) not being at all well prepared for such a harsh environment. I was a still little surprised that the guy ended up dead though. A great shame and sad waste of a young, and promising, life.

As a matter of interest, and as a result of reading about it, I discovered that the unbeknown to McCandless, at the point where he discovered that the river he had initially crossed had swollen so much as to make it impossible to cross, a quarter of a mile further downstream there was a hand pulled ferry - scroll down to Cultural Legacy. Alas the young lad did not even think to take a decent map with him, such was his desperation to escape from the materialist society he so detested.

That he died of starvation surprised me a little - considering he had a gun with him. He must have been neither a good shot nor much of a hunter, is all I can observe - confirming that he was too much of a townie. Anyone thinking about doing the same needs to watch this film, at least so they can understand what not to do.

I know this incvident happened before the web exploded on the scene, which is also a shame because there are some great resources which can allow one to find out about many of the potential pitfalls involved in going it alone in the middle of nowhere. You can even learn how to deal with big nosey, and dangerous, bears. One thing you can do is to lie down and play dead. Then big ted will decided that bear hugging you won’t be much fun and lollop off somewhere else. Maybe for a spot of salmon fishing.

So, I suppose the qustion is: Was McCandless a hero or a fool? I don’t think he was either really. Basically he was killed by that most dangerous of traits: ignorance.

Would I have done any better? I like to think so, but then I didn’t grow up in a town. And I can shoot.

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Tags: film, into the wild, McCandless, story

Man of the Year

October 24, 2007 · Filed Under Films · Comment

I saw Man of the Year on Monday evening, which is a film starring Mork, sorry Robin Williams. It’s about a comedian who almost manages to get himself voted in as president of the USA, but it is not really a comedy. In fact, it is part thriller. I’m not going to tell you the plot and spoil it, because I think the film is worth watching, especially for Italians or those who know Italy.

Why do I think this? Well, I’m not sure, but it almost looks as though the writer, Barry Levinson (he directed Rain Man), may have heard about Beppe Grillo’s exploits in Italy. Beppe Grillo, an Italian comedian, is potential example of a comic who could end up becoming a politician. I wonder if Mr Levinson read something about Grillo in the international press, or came to Italy on holiday and met up with some Italian Grillo fans. I doubt it, but then you never know. If you do see the film and your are either Italian or live in Italy, let me know what you think. If there was no Grillo influence, then the film is just yet another example of how the populations of the world are becoming fed up with the superficiality of politicians.

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Tags: Barry Levinson, Beppe Grillo - in English, comedy, evening, film, Grillo, holiday, influence, interesting, Italia, Italian, Italians, Italy, Man of the Year, Robin Williams, USA

Apocalypto - the film

June 17, 2007 · Filed Under Films · Comment

I have to admit that this film intrigued me. First, I heard that it was shot in an obscure South American language. Then it was said that it was horrendously violent. But various reports also said that it was visually stunning.

All these, what were for me, rumours, piqued my curiosity, so I blockbustered the film on Saturday (if you can google, you can blockbuster!!).

Well, it is true that the language in which the film was shot is odd - Italian subtitles helped me out with this though. The film is stunning, and it is violent, but not horrendously or needlessly so in my opinion. Sometimes violence, in films, can be appropriate. I’ve seen much worse and much more extreme violence in other films - the Kill Bill series, for example. And often the violence is just there for the sake of it, and not much else. (Kill Bill was a bit ott, but the way in which the violence was presented seemed, in some way, to reduce the brutality, which, in turn, makes the violence more palatable. At least it does for me.) Or maybe it is just that I have seen so much violence that I am numb to it. While this could be argued, I like to think that I am still able to differentiate between reality and fiction.

Anyway, back in the days of human sacrifice in South America, levels of violence were much higher than they are now. After all, killing your own food was a pretty violent act, but with no hypermarkets, these people had little option. So any accurate portrayal of the people of these times has to include a certain degree of violence.

Talking about the people, the film’s portrayal of jungle dwelling Indians was excellent, with life being shown to be both basic, brutal and tender.

Some aspects of the plot were a little hard to swallow, but I’ve seen much worse.

Nope, I’m not going to give any more away because all in all, I reckon Apocalypto is worth seeing - but not with little ones present. Please.

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Tags: Italian

Udderly daft

May 17, 2007 · Filed Under Films · Comment

I got the one of the latest digitally animated movies out on DVD from Blockbuster the other evening - Barnyard. It’s not too bad, not in the Shrek league by a long chalk, but I was a little surprised to see male and female cows, which both had udders! Maybe the cows in the US are different from European cows. The male cows had strong masculine jaws and spoke with strong masculine voices, but they had udders. I was waiting for some explanation for the transex cows, but none was forthcoming, or maybe I missed it. All the udder animals displayed no genitalia, as one would expect in a film aimed mainly at a young audience, so why did the male cows have udders? Why not just leave their nether regions nice and smooth, like the other animals? No idea. Hollywood’s mad idea of political correctness, I suppose.

My advice: See this film and make up your own mind, or go see an udder film.

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