L’eau des collines

I’ve just been watching the duology Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources for the first time since my second year in high school. It’s a duology made by Claude Berri, after Marcel Pagnol’s novel(/s). I remember that back when I first watched it, when I had just seen the end of Manon des Sources, I had tears in my eyes and thought to myself that this had to be one of the best movies ever made. Then I saw a lot of other good movies, and basically forgot almost all about it, until the death of Claude Berri two months ago. Then I decided I had to see it again. This evening I did.

I didn’t remember the whole story well, only bits and pieces, and luckily I didn’t remember the ending. Therefore the emotional impact of the two movies was at least as big, if not bigger, than the first time I watched them.

My message is simple: Watch these two wonderful movies! You won’t regret it.

Eraserhead

I recently saw the movie Eraserhead for the first time. This movie is, just like most of Lynch’ movies, not for everyone. How many people ie. have the patience to watch a movie that goes on for ten minutes before you hear the first sound of a human voice?

I did not enjoy watching it – yet I couldn’t look away. The “enjoyment factor” is irrelevant: David Lynch has rightfully described the film as “a dream of dark and troubling things”. This movie was never supposed to “give you a good time”. It’s one of – if not the most troubling movie I have ever seen, and I can only imagine how much more horrifying it would have been to watch it thirty years ago.

If you like Lynch’ movies, this is a must see. A few of the effects could have been done better, but it doesn’t really matter.

V for Vendetta

First of all, I have switched to the new version of blogger! The most important change will probably be the introduction of tags (that is, if I ever bother to learn how to display the tags in the sidebar).

This Christmas, I got a very nice gift from my big brother: The DVD-version of V for Vendetta. I did see the movie when it came out, but I still had to have it. It is a good film overall, although I know that some people disagree.

It’s rather late to do a review now, so this post will only include a few thoughts about what I find problematic about the movie. Normally I’m quite selective when analyzing political material – few people if any escape confirmation bias – however, even through my tainted spectacles, there are some problems.

The most important problem I have about this movie do matter somewhat to me, and it has to mentioned, as it is also one of the reasons why I am not a revolutionary (or anarchocapitalist, if you like this term better). It is a problem I find very hard to ignore.

Why does the movie stop where it does and the way it does?

I know what my answer would be: Probably because most of the time, everything does not turn out great after a revolution. Sometimes it just takes a few years and you’re rigth back where you started. The creators of the movie know this, or at least they should know this. By implying that everything is only going to get better from now on, the ending distorts reality. It is intellectually dishonest. As the link provided above also notes, this is not the worst part of it.

The movie tries so hard to sell the idea that it is liberal and open-minded – yet the ending is not exactly open-minded. We feel certain after having watched the movie that things will get better after the revolution. But how is it openminded to only criticize the viewpoints of your opponent, while ignoring the chinks in your own armor?