Consolation Champs

The Alzheimer Case (De Zaak Alzheimer) (Belgium, director Erik Van Looy): Although based on a novel, this stylish police thriller’s main conceit (“hitman has Alzheimer’s”) could have been lifted from a Hollywood film executive’s idea of “high concept”. Except that it would have made a forgettable Hollywood picture. Instead, director Van Looy sets this story in his native Belgium. Police detectives Vincke and Verstuyft are like a modern day Starsky and Hutch, without the bad haircuts. Who knew that Antwerp even had police, never mind such cool ones? Their job is to track down the man who’s killed several high-profile politicians and a young child prostitute.

Reminding me a lot of Terence Stamp in The Limey, veteran actor Jan Decleir portrays aging hitman Angelo Ledda, whose refusal to kill the young girl leads him to seek revenge on the people who want her dead. His deterioration is a cause for sympathy as well as a plot device. He must complete his “mission” before he forgets his reasons for carrying it out. He also plays a cat and mouse game with the police who are trying to solve the killings, staying one step ahead until he can no longer think clearly.

Van Looy admitted his fondness for “police thrillers with a soul” and especially for the work of Michael Mann, and the influence of Mann is everywhere. If you like Mann, you’ll like this film. Well-developed characters, moody cinematography and fine acting didn’t completely save this film, though. I thought the plot was a little too straightforward, and the film itself was about 20 minutes too long, with a couple of false endings that could have been re-cut. I think I would have given a shorter version of this film an 8, but even if it was a slightly derivative cop film, it was a slightly derivative cop film in Flemish!

Film’s Web Site: ms.skynet.be/alzheimer

(7/10)

Salvador Allende (Chile/France/Belgium/Germany/Spain/Mexico, director Patricio Guzmán): September 11 will forever be remembered in this country as the anniversary of the attacks that brought down the World Trade Center. But it’s also the anniversary of the death of Salvador Allende, the democratically elected president of Chile whose government was brought down by a CIA-backed coup d’etat in 1973. Director Guzmán has spent his entire filmmaking career documenting and exploring the tragic recent history of his country, and with this film he finally turns to Allende, a hero to Chile’s political left. The coup that resulted in his death led to 18 years of brutal dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet, a dark period from which the country hasn’t entirely emerged.

A deeply personal portrait, the film probably makes more sense in the context of Guzmán’s other films. For someone who doesn’t have much background on Chile, it can be a bit maddening since it assumes a familiarity with the history of Chilean politics. Early film of Allende campaigning for president is quite moving, though. The director has mostly been based in Paris since he fled Chile after the coup, and it’s clear that the Chile to which he returns doesn’t have much time for him. His interviews with old Socialist Party members are touching, but seem only nostalgic. He doesn’t talk to anyone from the current political scene, and an interview with the former US ambassador appears to have been conducted by someone else, a long time ago.

The fact that no official biography of Allende has ever been published in Chile is remarkable. It’s almost as if Chileans want not only to forget the nightmare of Pinochet, but also the dream of utopia that Allende offered beforehand. Sadly, at this point in Chile’s history, Guzmán seems a bit like one of the old comrades he interviews: condemned to irrelevance.

On the other hand, the parallels between Allende and current Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez are remarkable, including the opposition’s tactics of strikes and economic protests. It is no wonder that Chavez suspects US involvement in the coup that nearly toppled his government in 2002. In that coup, while Chavez and his ministers were holed up in the presidential palace, the army threatened to bomb the building, a threat that was actually carried out by the Chilean military in 1973. The footage shot by Guzmán of that event is particularly chilling. My hope is that Allende’s idealism and commitment to peaceful change are a beacon for Chavez, and indeed for all the people of Latin America and the rest of the world. He was one of the first heads of state to warn about the dangers of multinational corporations, for instance, and it is clearer than ever that the struggle of the world’s people is no longer about Cold War allegiances and ideologies, but against rampant global capitalism and the consumerism that feeds it. Guzmán said he wanted to make this film for young people. Perhaps in a few years’ time, he can make another film in Chile, not about old soldiers, but about young ones.

Related Web Site: www.salvadorallende.com/

Related Web Site: www.neravt.com/left/allende.htm

(8/10)

Ferpect Crime (Crimen Ferpecto) (Spain, director Álex de la Iglesia): I knew I was going to enjoy this film from the moment a large rumpled man in a Misfits t-shirt lumbered onto the stage to introduce himself. “Hola, amigos. The person who is supposed to introduce me is not here. I am here but she is not here. She is in the bathroom.” Director Álex de la Iglesia had us laughing even before the first frame of his film. While admitting that Ferpect Crime was just about the worst title for a film ever, he told us that this film was about a man who was so obsessed with living a perfect life that it was bound to cause problems. It’s no surprise to learn that the director has a degree in philosophy.

Rafael works as a salesman in the ladies’ wear section of an upscale department store. He’s very popular at work, especially with the ladies, and he’s very very good at his job. So good, in fact, that he considers himself a lock for the position of floor manager. But after losing the promotion to his hated rival Don Antonio, things take a turn for the worse and pretty soon Rafael has a dead body on his hands. His only help comes from the one woman he hasn’t already bedded, the unattractive Lourdes. Before long, Lourdes has Rafael wrapped around her finger and his life is far from the model of perfection he has always pursued. As the plot thickens, the comedy becomes much darker and the film almost turns into a thriller. There is also a strong element of satire, making this much more substantial than the laughs would indicate. The conclusion (“lesson” seems too strong a word here) is that it’s only after we give up our unrealistic expectations of living a perfect life that we can really begin to live at all. But if that’s too heavy for you, then go just to see the scene where Rafael goes to meet Lourdes’ parents. This film makes me want to see every other film by this warm and wickedly funny director.

Film’s Web Site: www.crimenferpecto.com

Director’s Web Site: www.alexdelaiglesia.com

(9/10)

Drum (South Africa, director Zola Maseko): Drum is the story of Henry Nxumalo, a journalist for South Africa’s pioneering Drum magazine. Set in the mid-1950s, the film attempts to recreate the ambience of Sophiatown, an area of shops and nightclubs in central Johannesburg that has been compared to Harlem during its Renaissance. Henry is at first content to write sports stories for the magazine, until the gradual encroachment of apartheid laws threatens his beloved neighbourhood. Henry’s politicization leads to confrontations with the authorities and to a predictable end.

Overall, I don’t feel like I have much to complain about. It’s just that, well, I think I expected more punch. I’m a veteran of many films and plays dealing with South African history, but most of them (Cry Freedom and the underappreciated Barbara Hershey vehicle A World Apart, for instance) deal with the political awakening of white liberal South Africans, and have been directed by white, often foreign, directors. Even so, I found them powerful and inspiring. Naturally I expected that a film about a genuine black hero directed by a young black South African director would be even more powerful and affecting. And this one just wasn’t. Clearly, the casting of American Taye Diggs in the role of Henry has a little bit to do with it. His casting tells me that the director wanted to make a commercial film, and with that comes some inevitable tradeoffs. The film feels too short and hurried to make Henry’s transformation convincing. His relationships with his wife, boss, and colleagues were surely an integral part of the story, and yet they feel superficial here. At the Q&A after the film, Diggs even admits that he still feels the part should have gone to a South African actor. The director countered that “women dig Taye Diggs” and that his presence would “put bums in seats.” Enough said about that.

The music, though, stands out and almost succeeds in elevating the film. Granted, it is pretty hard to mess up the music in a South African film, and here there is a fine mix of township jazz and mournful hymns that hints at what life in Sophiatown must have been like.

Overall, the film was competently written, directed, shot and acted. But it feels a little bit like a missed opportunity. Apart from the two films I mentioned above, you really should see the one-woman play The Syringa Tree (by Pamela Gien) if you ever get the chance. That play, performed by one woman on a nearly bare stage, has left indelible images in my mind that no film can ever match.

Related Web Site: Drum Photographer Jürgen Schadeberg — check out the film on this page entitled “Have You Seen DRUM Lately?” which sounds like a nice companion piece to this film.

(7/10)