Of late, I find myself enjoying movies from the '70s and earlier decades on streaming services. In this phase, I watched Satyajit Ray movies, an underrated black and white Hollywood movie called "The night of the hunter" and an Italian movie, "The hand of God". I find now that "The night of the hunter" is regarded as a precursor to horror movies of a later age. It is a good thriller.
This blog post is on three other movies though, one of which is a Kannada movie that my wife and I watched in a multiplex near us.
The first movie I want to write about is "Judgement at Nuremberg". I stumbled upon this movie unexpectedly on a streaming service. For an English movie, it is a long one lasting around three hours. It is based on the Nuremberg trials, which is discussed at https://www.britannica.com/event/Nurnberg-trials and https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/judwarcr.asp#general. The brutality of Nazism is brought out in the latter link. The movie also shows videos of atrocities which are scary to see: how does humanity stoop to such levels of cruelty?
The movie begins with a judge Dan Haywood from Maine played by Spencer Tracy arriving for a trial of four German judges, who are accused of crimes against humanity during the Nazi era. Nobody wants to lead this military tribunal, since it is judging colleagues in the legal fraternity, but Haywood is aware of this delicate challenge. He arrives, conscious of the fact that he is being entrusted with a serious responsibility. The movie goes into court scenes, compelling arguments and the dilemma of whether the German judges were truly unaware of the cruelty of the German government when they made their judgements. The arguments for and against the accused lend a sense of drama to the movie.
The Academy Award for best actor went to Maximilian Schell as the defense attorney Hans Rolfe. It also won the best adapted screenplay award. These are all the known merits of the movie, but Spencer Tracy also turns in a first class performance as Dan Haywood. To me, the icing on the cake was William Shatner playing a captain! Shatner was Captain James T. Kirk in the iconic Star Trek series of the '70s, but Judgement at Nuremberg showed that he was not playing a captain for the first time! Shatner looks young and capable as the captain and aide to Judge Dan Haywood. The movie has a nice touch that he is in a relationship with a girl whose parents were Nazis. Haywood also tries to understand the people in Nuremberg and their sentiments during the second world war, whether it is by roaming about the city or by treating the caretakers of the house that he stays in with respect. The pain associated during the second world war is brought out well as incidents from the lives of the accused are shown. "Judgement at Nuremberg" is a rare movie that made me think: it made me look at parallels in today's world, it made me think how people can be swayed and it made me realise that we are all fallible. The movie made me reflect, one of the aims of art. The meaning of law, justice and right and wrong are all explored in this movie.
The second movie that I want to write about today is Martin Scorsese's movie "Hugo". Scorsese is known for the depiction of violence in movies like "Gangs of New York" and "Taxi Driver". However, "Hugo" is a completely different type of a movie. I say that it is a tribute to movie making: the review of the movie by critic Roger Ebert at https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hugo-2011 provides a synopsis of the movie and its importance. What I liked best is that Scorsese also doffs a hat to books. Hugo wants to create an automaton based on his father's notes, but his notebook is taken away by an angry old man, a pioneer director. Isabelle who lives with the old man promises to help Hugo. She tells Hugo about the library being like Neverland, Oz and Treasure Island all at once! What a superb description it is for a person who likes books!
"Hugo" shows how a movie is made, through the experience of George Méliès, the angry old mean. As a layman, I understood the principles of cinematography, continuity and editing better after watching "Hugo". These aspects of film making along with script writing and direction are as applicable now as when film making was a novelty. The early movies of the Lumiere brothers and George Méliès must have been wondrous to the audiences at that time! Thanks to the movie which has clips from historic movies like "Le Voyage dans la lune" and the reconstruction of the audience reaction by Scorsese, I feel some of the excitement and thrill of the audience at that time. It was when I read about "Hugo" that I learn that Scorsese has picturised it in 3D. I wish I could have watched this movie in the theatre!
A few weekends ago, my wife's brother recommended the Kannada movie "Blink". My wife and I watched the movie and came back admiring a complicated science fiction tale, well told. https://youtu.be/QmmfQLWZ6xA?si=PFMxdO_Oe1XOwASi is the trailer of the movie. There is time travel in the movie and also paradoxes, but what ties this movie with "Hugo" is the tribute to movies. https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/reviews/blink-kannada-movie-review-time-for-time-travel/articleshow/108335909.cms describes the story in brief. Apoorva meets an old man who claims to know him. Later Apoorva sees the old man with another man who could be his (Apoorva's) twin. The mystery of these two men is unravelled thanks to the elderly man, who lives in a small house whose walls have film posters. This is where Srinidhi Bengaluru the director pays a tribute to film makers and directors. I could see posters of "Pulp Fiction", "Citizen Kane" and "Le Voyage dans la lune" (yes!), a link to "Hugo" again. Kannada film makers are also honoured, I saw a poster of "Ranganayaki". There are references to Rumi, the playwright Sophocles and the poet Baudelaire. I saw Apoorva wear a T-shirt that played upon Schrodinger's cat being both alive and dead, which has loose parallels in this science fiction movie. It looks like Srinidhi Bengaluru wanted to create a stimulating movie that honours movies and film makers! I feel that he has succeeded admirably.
When my wife and I returned home that evening, I watched the final episode of "Dark" again, a series on time travel that had interested me thanks to its story, the opening introduction and the manner in which the bleakness of the town Winden is shown. The stories of "Blink" and "Dark" are somewhat similar, but I enjoyed the movie better for its brevity (compared to the show "Dark" of three seasons).
Among these three movies, I find that "Judgement at Nuremberg" is the one that captivates me most. I feel that it has a relevance in today's age also, though it was shot in 1961. The other two movies are equally worth watching though!
This blog post is on three other movies though, one of which is a Kannada movie that my wife and I watched in a multiplex near us.
The first movie I want to write about is "Judgement at Nuremberg". I stumbled upon this movie unexpectedly on a streaming service. For an English movie, it is a long one lasting around three hours. It is based on the Nuremberg trials, which is discussed at https://www.britannica.com/event/Nurnberg-trials and https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/judwarcr.asp#general. The brutality of Nazism is brought out in the latter link. The movie also shows videos of atrocities which are scary to see: how does humanity stoop to such levels of cruelty?
The movie begins with a judge Dan Haywood from Maine played by Spencer Tracy arriving for a trial of four German judges, who are accused of crimes against humanity during the Nazi era. Nobody wants to lead this military tribunal, since it is judging colleagues in the legal fraternity, but Haywood is aware of this delicate challenge. He arrives, conscious of the fact that he is being entrusted with a serious responsibility. The movie goes into court scenes, compelling arguments and the dilemma of whether the German judges were truly unaware of the cruelty of the German government when they made their judgements. The arguments for and against the accused lend a sense of drama to the movie.
The Academy Award for best actor went to Maximilian Schell as the defense attorney Hans Rolfe. It also won the best adapted screenplay award. These are all the known merits of the movie, but Spencer Tracy also turns in a first class performance as Dan Haywood. To me, the icing on the cake was William Shatner playing a captain! Shatner was Captain James T. Kirk in the iconic Star Trek series of the '70s, but Judgement at Nuremberg showed that he was not playing a captain for the first time! Shatner looks young and capable as the captain and aide to Judge Dan Haywood. The movie has a nice touch that he is in a relationship with a girl whose parents were Nazis. Haywood also tries to understand the people in Nuremberg and their sentiments during the second world war, whether it is by roaming about the city or by treating the caretakers of the house that he stays in with respect. The pain associated during the second world war is brought out well as incidents from the lives of the accused are shown. "Judgement at Nuremberg" is a rare movie that made me think: it made me look at parallels in today's world, it made me think how people can be swayed and it made me realise that we are all fallible. The movie made me reflect, one of the aims of art. The meaning of law, justice and right and wrong are all explored in this movie.
The second movie that I want to write about today is Martin Scorsese's movie "Hugo". Scorsese is known for the depiction of violence in movies like "Gangs of New York" and "Taxi Driver". However, "Hugo" is a completely different type of a movie. I say that it is a tribute to movie making: the review of the movie by critic Roger Ebert at https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hugo-2011 provides a synopsis of the movie and its importance. What I liked best is that Scorsese also doffs a hat to books. Hugo wants to create an automaton based on his father's notes, but his notebook is taken away by an angry old man, a pioneer director. Isabelle who lives with the old man promises to help Hugo. She tells Hugo about the library being like Neverland, Oz and Treasure Island all at once! What a superb description it is for a person who likes books!
"Hugo" shows how a movie is made, through the experience of George Méliès, the angry old mean. As a layman, I understood the principles of cinematography, continuity and editing better after watching "Hugo". These aspects of film making along with script writing and direction are as applicable now as when film making was a novelty. The early movies of the Lumiere brothers and George Méliès must have been wondrous to the audiences at that time! Thanks to the movie which has clips from historic movies like "Le Voyage dans la lune" and the reconstruction of the audience reaction by Scorsese, I feel some of the excitement and thrill of the audience at that time. It was when I read about "Hugo" that I learn that Scorsese has picturised it in 3D. I wish I could have watched this movie in the theatre!
A few weekends ago, my wife's brother recommended the Kannada movie "Blink". My wife and I watched the movie and came back admiring a complicated science fiction tale, well told. https://youtu.be/QmmfQLWZ6xA?si=PFMxdO_Oe1XOwASi is the trailer of the movie. There is time travel in the movie and also paradoxes, but what ties this movie with "Hugo" is the tribute to movies. https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/reviews/blink-kannada-movie-review-time-for-time-travel/articleshow/108335909.cms describes the story in brief. Apoorva meets an old man who claims to know him. Later Apoorva sees the old man with another man who could be his (Apoorva's) twin. The mystery of these two men is unravelled thanks to the elderly man, who lives in a small house whose walls have film posters. This is where Srinidhi Bengaluru the director pays a tribute to film makers and directors. I could see posters of "Pulp Fiction", "Citizen Kane" and "Le Voyage dans la lune" (yes!), a link to "Hugo" again. Kannada film makers are also honoured, I saw a poster of "Ranganayaki". There are references to Rumi, the playwright Sophocles and the poet Baudelaire. I saw Apoorva wear a T-shirt that played upon Schrodinger's cat being both alive and dead, which has loose parallels in this science fiction movie. It looks like Srinidhi Bengaluru wanted to create a stimulating movie that honours movies and film makers! I feel that he has succeeded admirably.
When my wife and I returned home that evening, I watched the final episode of "Dark" again, a series on time travel that had interested me thanks to its story, the opening introduction and the manner in which the bleakness of the town Winden is shown. The stories of "Blink" and "Dark" are somewhat similar, but I enjoyed the movie better for its brevity (compared to the show "Dark" of three seasons).
Among these three movies, I find that "Judgement at Nuremberg" is the one that captivates me most. I feel that it has a relevance in today's age also, though it was shot in 1961. The other two movies are equally worth watching though!
Comments
Post a Comment