In June of 1942 Germans and their collaborators decide to get rid of partisans and their stronghold in the woods of Mount Kozara in Northern Bosnia. They encircle the mountain and begin the mop up operation. Out gunned and outnumbered the partisans must not only take care of themselves but try to protect thousands of refugees too.Read More »
A vivid, visceral Macbeth adaptation, Throne of Blood, directed by Akira Kurosawa, sets Shakespeare’s definitive tale of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded landscape in feudal Japan. As a hardened warrior who rises savagely to power, Toshiro Mifune gives a remarkable, animalistic performance, as does Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless wife. Throne of Blood fuses classical Western tragedy with formal elements taken from Noh theater to create an unforgettable cinematic experience.Read More »
The Russian Descendant of the Snow Leopard is based on a famous Kirghizian folktale. Apparently the Kirghizian folks had plenty of time to tell this story: to print a full synopsis would result in a novelette. Essentially, the story involves a proud group of highland hunters called the Snow Leopards, who in order to survive a brutal winter must request help from the Lowland people. The price for this assistance is the hand of the Snow Leopard’s daughter, who is promised in marriage to a wealthy Lowland trader. During the Springtime wedding celebration, the trader becomes fascinated by a stranger who wins all the athletic contests. This “male” contestant turns out to be a woman, who has arrived to seek freedom for her imprisoned husband. The subsequent romance between the trader and the beautiful stranger results in disaster and bloodshed for both the Snow Leopards and the Lowlanders. Originally titled Potomok Belongo Barssa Descendent of the Snow Leopard won a Silver Bear award for director Tolomus Okeyev at the Berlin Film Festival.Read More »
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Virtually unknown outside of Italy, Messiah (Il Messia) is historically important as the last directorial effort of Roberto Rossellini. In retelling the life of Christ, Rosselini harks back to the humanistic style he’d utilized on his many Italian TV projects of the 1960s. The director has no intention of depicting Jesus as being the vessel of divine providence. The Man from Galilee is shown simply as one who is unusually moral and of spotless character — the sort of person who’d be a natural leader no matter who his Father was. Co-scripted by its director, Messiah was completed in 1975, but not given a general release until 1978.Read More »
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Gérard Depardieu and Wojciech Pszoniak star in Andrzej Wajda’s powerful, intimate depiction of the ideological clash between the earthy, man-of-the-people Georges Danton and icy Jacobin extremist Maximilien Robespierre, both key figures of the French Revolution. By drawing parallels to Polish “solidarity,” a movement that was being quashed by the government as the film went into production, Wajda drags history into the present. Meticulous and fiery, Danton has been hailed as one of the greatest films ever made about the Terror.Read More »
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An especially long film. And a special long film. An even more special detail is that, while watching it, the film gives you an inevitable feeling that it should last exactly this long, if not longer. The manner of production is also noteworthy. The film was shot bit by bit over a period of nine years, first on film and more recently on video. It is a method of shooting that was partly necessitated by financial considerations, but that also fits in well with the epic story that extends over a period of more than fifteen years. The film spans the Marcos regime’s state of siege in the Philippines (1971-1987). As the title indicates, Diaz follows the adventures of a family against the backdrop of the social and political developments in this crucial period in history. Read More »
Utilizing an exceptional international all-star cast and excellent special effects, Hallmark entertainment and American Zoetrope productions created this fun-filled adaptation of Homer’s most-famous epic poem. It was originally broadcast as a four-hour miniseries on the NBC network. The story faithfully chronicles the many adventures of sailor Odysseus (Armand Assante), his colorful crew as they encounter a variety of mythical figures, including Odysseus’s spiritual guide Athena (Isabella Rossellini), the seductive Calypso (Vanessa Williams) and the treacherous Eurymachus (Eric Roberts). Highlights include the Trojan Horse (made to original scale and filmed on location in the ruins of Troy) sequence. Much of the miniseries was filmed in Europe and on the Mediterranean, making it a feast for the eye.Read More »
TCM Review :
The story behind Abel Gance’s Napoleon (1927) is as exciting as the film. A masterpiece adventure originally running nearly seven hours, it breaks new ground with practically every shot, was filmed with techniques twenty-five years ahead of its time, and was rescued from oblivion by an obsessed teenager.Read More »
From awarded director Franco Zefirelli has been brought to screen this wonderful depiction of the greatest story ever to be told: the life of Jesus Of Nazareth, God became man. The One who came to earth to feed our faith; from the annunciation of archangel Gabriel to holy Mary, until the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, this narration reminds us of the greatness of a men who changed the world and granted light to mankind, light that presently lights up all of its pathways.Read More »