The Man From Laramie

This old western (1955) stars James Stewart as Will Lockhart, a wagoneer who is out for revenge. His brother, a cavalryman, was killed when Apache's ambushed and killed his regement, using guns of unknown origin. So, Lockhart's mystery is, where did the guns came from? His search brings him to Coronado, a Wyoming town ruled by an aging rancher. When Lockhart's wagon and mules are destroyed by the son of the ranch-lord, the plot begins to get complicated.

This was a fun movie to watch. I am not very familiar with the western genre. But I can see how the mythology of the old west was appealing in the middle of the 20th century, when so many things were changing. It must have seemed like the wild wild west. And the theme of ilicit arms deals still resonates today.

Children of Men

The last child was born in 2009. In 2027, most societies have disintegrated and the last bastion of civilization is Britain. A man named Theo finds himself charged with guarding a west African refugee, who has the only baby on Earth, to the coast so she can link up with "the human project", a mysterious group who will apparently help her. Unfortunately, Theo must weave his way through a web of lies and deceit among secretive groups, corrupt police, and a British government intent on expelling every foreigner, known as "fugees" (refugees).

This movie is based on a novel by P.D. James, and is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. It is such a detailed and tragic vision of the future, and so convincingly portrayed, that you find yourself inside that world as you watch the movie.

To me the most compelling scene in the movie is when Theo rescues Kee and her child from a building in the refugee ghetto. As they leave the building, hundreds gaze at the baby with holy amazement, and then the British soldiers on the bottom floors and outside the building (who are laying siege to the building) stop their shooting and bombing to gaze on the baby as well. If only every child in the world today could have the same effect on violence... But the calm lasts only briefly, another shot comes from the building and the mayhem resumes.

I hope the odds of this specific dystopian scenario (100% infertility) are low. Still, with all the possible things that could go wrong with our world civilization, this story manages to deal with a lot of possible side effects that could arise such as xenophobia, totalitarian government, clanism, reactionary religion... And it does so in a lot more authentic way and with deeper portrayal of human behavior compared to other recent apocalyptic films like the Day After Tomorrow or Revenge of the Sith. Good scifi (and good comedy) is not really about the bizarre circumstances but about how people act in very odd circumstances, kind of imaginative anthropology. This film (and the book I expect, I will try to read it) definitely fits that bill.

The Good Earth

I remember watching this movie a long time ago when I was a preteen. So the other day when I saw it at the library, I had to grab it. It is the story of a farmer, Wang Lung, and his wife O-lan, in China near the time of the Xinhai Revolution.

The farmer starts out with just a small piece of land inherited from his father. His father secures him a wife from a great house nearby, a kitchen-slave-woman. She is extremely meek and almost never talks. The farmer though shows her much more respect than she expects. The film follows the growth of their relationship and the farmer's career. The farmer purchases more and more land, though for a while they must go south in the face of famine. While they are in a city in the south, the revolution begins, and while participating in a massive looting the wife finds some jewels. She brings them back to the farmer and they return north to their land. They become very wealthy. So much so that the farmer gets a second wife (!). But in the end, that new wife cheats on him (with his son!) and he sends her away. Finally Wang Lung respects and loves his O-lan again.

It is a very nice story, told slowly as in most movies of this age, but sweetly. One interesting thing is that the main stars (Luise Rainer and Paul Muni) of the film are very obviously not Chinese or even Asian. They have some poor eye makeup that may have fooled folks in 1937. But now it was almost humorous and slightly embarrassing that there was a time we didn't feel we could cast an ethnic actor in a starring role.

Also read "What's So Bad About the Good Earth?"

Flags of our Fathers

Salina and I watched this last weekend. We were both pretty tired and honestly I don't think I got as much out of it as I could have. I didn't get emotionally tuned into the story. I can't imagine the pressure of having the fundraising fate of the war on your shoulders. Still, something was missing in the storytelling.

But there are some amazing depictions of the fleet of naval ships sent to Japan. Hundreds of ships spread for miles through the Pacific. Now, i've previously kind of balked at labelling any generation "the greatest generation", but after some thought, it is a totally amazing thing that these guys did. These Americans pulled themselves out of a great depression and in the course of four years trained millions of soldiers, built huge amounts of military equipment and infrastructure, and defeated two massive imperial forces that had home field advantage and a motivation that was akin to fanatical religion. It is a completely mind boggling achievement. It is too bad that WAR is the only thing that has brought this level of effort out of us. But it is inspiring, and it makes me believe it is really possible for us to do some amazing things, like for instance, change course away from global warming catastrophe.

So, flat on the personal story. But the effects are so well done, and the feats depected by those effects so amazing, that it still had a personal effect on me-- reminding me that we've done great things and hopefully still can.

The Lifeboat - Alfred Hitchcock

We checked this movie out from the library. It is directed by Alfred Hitchcock and the story is by John Steinbeck (two huge pluses to me), and came out in 1944. Its about a group of people who were on a ship crossing the Atlantic during WWII and who’s boat was sunk by a German uboat (that also was sunk). They end up on a lifeboat together– and one of the castaways is a German Nazi. Throughout the story the rest of the survivors can’t decide whether to trust the Nazi or not. I thought it was pretty good, definitely worth watching. Salina says not so much. Definitely an interesting concept. I love Steinbeck and you can totally tell the characters are his inventions.