“Six Minutes to Midnight” was directed by Andy
Goddard. He directed some episodes of “Downton Abbey”. The story was written by
Eddie Izzard and Celyn Jones. It made only $2.4 million. The title refers to a
code used by the British agent played by Izzard.
It’s August, 1939 in Great Britain. War is on the
horizon. There is a finishing school for girls from Nazi families. A British
agent is working undercover as a teacher. When his cover is blown, he tries to
alert his handlers, but is killed first. British intelligence replaces him with
Capt. Thomas Miller (Izzard). He finds out the German government is planning to
bring the girls home. When he tries to pass the news on, a female teacher who
is actually a German agent kills his handler and frames him for the murder.
Miller goes on the lam. And it’s a race against time before the girls will be
flown out secretly, along with the woman agent.
“Six Minutes to Midnight” has too many contrivancies.
More than your typical espionage thriller where the hero is accused of a crime
he didn’t commit. It breaks the envelope of realism that these kind of movies
have.There are plot developments that make no sense. Why don’t the British want
the girls to go back to Germany? Holding them hostage surely would cause the
German government to retaliate by holding British citizens caught in Germany
when the war begins. Besides, if the Germans send a plane to pick up the girls,
isn’t that a warning that war is imminent? Seems like that would come in handy
for the British government to know.There are some interesting plot twists that make it fairly entertaining.
Izzard is solid as the protagonist. It was a pet project of his so he gives his
all. He wouldn’t be my first choice for a secret agent, but he doesn’t
distract. Having Judi Dench as the head of the school adds some gravitas to a
film that would be even more of a trifle if not for her.
“Redacted” was directed and written by Brian De Palma.
It’s a companion of his “Casualties of War”. This time the war crime occurs in
Iraq. He based his screenplay on the Mahmudiyah killings in Mahmudiyah, Iraq.
The movie cost only $5 million to make and it flopped, making only $782,000.
PFC Salazar (IzzyDiaz) enlists in the Army with the goal of eventually going to film
school. He plans on making a documentary that he hopes will get him into the
school. He carries a videocamera when he goes on patrols and other duties. One
day when on duty at a checkpoint, Salazar is filming when an Iraqi car comes
speeding up to the check point. PFC Flake opens fire, killing the pregnant
woman who was being rushed to the hospital by her brother. Flake did not fire
any warning shots, but the killing is declared justified by the rules of
engagement. Flake shows no remorse, even when interviewed by Salazar for his
film. Later, a popular sergeant is killed by an IED which puts the platoon on
edge and looking for payback. Flake and another soldier make plans to visit a
house where they noticed an attractive teenage girl. Salazar goes along to film
even though it is apparent a war crime is likely.
De Palma’s “Casulties of War” is a good movie with a
similar plot about an actual war crime in Vietnam. This movie is nowhere near
as good. It lays it on much thicker than the earlier film. De Palma has lost
his game. The screenplay is ham-handed and shrill. The acting is amateurish by
an unrecognized cast. It is supposed to be all footage from Salazar or a French
documentary crew, but clearly some of it is not. So much for the gimmick. The
raid is hard to swallow. Salazar comes along to film and Flake allows him to!
Clearly, De Palma was trying to shine a light on American
mistreatment of Iraqi civilians. God knows there was some, so the story is not
clearly fictional. However, the execution dilutes the message with overt
anti-Americanism. It doesn’t help credibility that the movie ends without a
conclusion. It is not a surpise the film made no mark at the box office.
HISTORICAL
ACCURACY:The actual incident was worse than the film depicted.
Flake was based on PFC Steven Green who was just flatout evil. He and four
others raped the girl and killed her family. The story was passed on secondhand
by a soldier who heard it from a soldier that Green told the story to. In a scene
reminiscent of “Casualties of War”, the soldier was reamed by his commanding
officer for ratting out other soldiers. He was told to drop it, but didn’t. The
five were eventually arrested and all got long prison terms. Green committed
suicide in prison.
De Palma was criticized for depicting American soldiers
in a poor light and conservatives encouraged Americans to boycott the film. The
movie certainly is not pro-American, but it does not exaggerate what bad
soldiers did in Iraq. And it is based on an actual incident. De Palma did not
make up the incident. He used it to shine a light on American actions. Were
Green and the other four typical? Of course not. But neither were the soldiers
in “Casualties of War”. The big mistake De Palma made was not mentioning that
justice was served in this case. Unlike in “Casualties”. And he may have had
blood on his hands because of that. Because one result was a gunman killed two
American soldiers in Frankfurt in 2011. He claimed he was getting revenge for a
YouTube video he saw of American soldiers raping a teenage Iraqi. The video was
a clip from the movie.
Three
years ago, I went to see a Finnish movie called “Sisu” in a local theater. I
was surprised a foreign film like it was playing near me. This time I was
surprised that a Finnish movie was playing at the same theater and doubly
surprised that the original had a sequel. It turns out “Sisu” did unexpectedly
well at the box office (if you can call $14 million as good box office with
today’s inflation), so a sequel was in order. Encouraging the sequel was the
positive critical response to the original. In fact, the response was
astounding. The film ended up with a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. To give you an
idea how insane that is, here are some of the war movies that did not reach
that level: Lawrence of Arabia (93), Spartacus (93), Last of the Mohicans (88),
Zero Dark Thirty (91), Letters from Iwo Jima (91), Full Metal Jacket (90),
Downfall (90), and Patton (92). If that is not mindboggling enough, I have read
articles claiming it is one of the best war movies of the 21st
Century!I have to assume whoever wrote
those articles has seen very few war movies. I rewatched it last night to confirm
my opinion that it was not anything special. I gave it a C-. It’s fairly
entertaining in a mindless way. I did not have high hopes for the sequel.
“Sisu:
Road to Revenge” is directed by Jalmari Helander again. Both movies were influenced
by Indiana Jones, James Bond, and Buster Keaton movies. However, the most
obvious link is to Rambo. Jorma Korpi plays Aatami Korpi who is a veteran of
Finland’s Winter War with the Soviet Union. In the first film, he is a gold
miner living a simple life after the Nazis murdered his family and after he
avenged them. This movie occurs two years later, in 1946. Korpi’s home is now
in Soviet territory, so he decides to rebuild in Finland. To do this he takes
down the house and carts off all the lumber in a truck. The war is over, so
this should not be a problem, right? Right? In order to get his sequel (instead
of the wiser decision to do a prequel), Helander comes up with the idea of the Soviets
wanting Korpi dead. They decide the best way to kill this unarmed old man is to
release a Nazi war criminal from prison to finish the job he started when he
killed Korpi’s family. Draganov (Stephen Lang adding some juice to the sequel’s
cast) is sent after less than a minute of set-up. Hey audience, just roll with
it. In fact, that is good advice for everything coming up.
The
sequel follows the same template as the original. It is divided into chapters
that give you an idea of what kind of mayhem is coming up. The set pieces
include a motorcycle chase reminding of Mad Max, strafing fighter planes, a
tank (this time driven by Korpi), and a train. In the first film, Korpi is
being chased for his gold, in this one he is trying to get his lumber to its
new site. Of course, it’s just an excuse to see Korpi kill bad guys in a
variety of gruesome ways. And survive a variety of deaths. I made a note every time
Korpi should have died. I counted 11. There were eleven times that either Korpi
should have died or the bad guys should have easily killed him. This is the
kind of movie where an opponent passes up the chance to simply shoot this
killing machine in the back in favor of tackling him. Or Korpi escapes certain death
through some amazing forethought. Don’t bring logic to this movie, if you want
to enjoy it. If you liked the first one, you can expect this one to top it in ridiculousness.
And graphic violence. And torture. And body count. And Korpi’s ability to hold
his breath under water.
I
predict film schools in the future will debate whether the Sisu movies are comedies.
As part of a larger discussion of whether combat porn films are supposed to
make you laugh. I can’t speak for Helander. He might be offended by the suggestion.
However, there is a scene where Korpi walks barefooted on broken glass, then
rolls on it with his bare, flogged back, and then gets his hand caught in a
mouse trap. Hilarious! And Draganov suffers a death that Bart and Lisa Simpson
would laugh at.
Is
it better than the first one? It does have a 95%on Rotten Tomatoes, so whether you think that
is incredibly overrated, it is considered to be equal to the first in the minds
of critics. If you want more brain rot, this one tops the first. They have
equal amount of dog. The hero is even tougher to kill and even more creative in
his killing. However, if you care about plotting (I know, just humor me here),
chasing a man and risking grisly death for gold is more compelling than
watching a guy try to get lumber across a border. The first had more and better
villains. If you are into dialogue, Korpi had one line of dialogue in “Sisu”
and zero in this one. Speaking of zero, there are zero women in this one. I
think most would agree that the female subplot in the first movie was a nice
touch. So much for giving machine guns to chicks who have more reason for
revenge.
Should
you go see it? Yes, if you liked the first one. Or if you think the critics are
good judges of war movies. No, if you are more interested in movies that make
sense.
”Two
Women” was co-written and directed by Vittorio de Sica (“Bicycle Thieves”). It
was based on the novel The Woman from Ciociaria. It was originally to
star Anna Magnani with Sophia Loren playing her daughter. Magnani did not want
to play mother to Loren and backed out. Loren was recast as the mother although
she was only 25 years old at the time. This means she would have been 13 when
she gave birth. Her performance was lauded and she became the first actress or
actor to win an Oscar for a foreign language film. Jean-Paul Belmondo was cast
because French investors insisted on a French actor playing a prominent role.
His voice was dubbed for the Italian release. The film was a big hit.
The
film starts in Rome in 1944. The Allies are nearing the capital. It is coming
under increased air bombardment. Cesira (Sophia Loren) is a war widow who runs
a shop. She decides to leave with her 12-year-old daughter Rosetta (Eleonora
Brown). The walk to Cesira’s hometown of Ciociaria which is in the mountains.
Along the way they are strafed by a plane, but the town is a calm in the storm.
She meets the local intellectual. Michel (Belmondo) falls in love with Cesira.
He is a pacifist, but will be dragged into participation with tragic results.
The war finally comes to the idyllic town and the two women decide to return to
Rome, which has been liberated by the Allies. That rape scene that the movie
has been forewarning about will occur on this journey.
“Two
Women” is a dominated by Loren. She is outstanding in what may be her best
performance. She won 22 international awards, including the best performance
award at Cannes and the Best Actress award at the Academy Awards (an event she
did not attend because she feared she would faint when her name was called). Belmondo
and Brown are fine. The film is best enjoyed as an acting showcase. It is very
much a woman-oriented war movie. Cesira represents all the women impacted by
war atrocities. In particular, Italian women who were commonly subjected to
rape by both sides. You also get a taste of civilian life in war-torn Italy. In
this respect it is a companion to “Rome, Open City” and gives the rural
perspective.
The
movie is appropriately titled because it is the story of the relationship
between two women and how they are impacted by war. Cesira and Rosetta are very
close, so you dread what is coming for them. It is clear that something is
going to happen to them because the movie is strongly anti-war. You just don’t
know when the trauma is coming or how it will occur. In fact, aside from two
strafings, the two manage to avoid the war until deep into the film. When it
happens, the movie takes a jarring turn. The two women react differently to the
trauma. One theme of the film is the loss of innocence as portrayed by the
Rosetta character.
Although
not a true story, the movie is based on the Maroccinate. This term applies to a
series of mass rapes by Moroccan Goumiers. They were French colonial troops who
developed a reputation for horrible atrocities against Italian civilians, women
and men. The most infamous incidents occurred after the Battle of Monte
Cassino. In the aftermath of the battle, the Goumiers took the harshness of the
battle out on villages in the vicinity. The movie comes nowhere near the
incredible debauchery committed by these undisciplined soldiers. While possibly
exaggerated, the atrocities undoubtedly occurred. The movie gives no context to
its rapes. It appears to be a wrong place at the wrong time situation. I
theorize that the French investors were not keen on financing a movie that
emphasized atrocities by French troops. But black French colonial troops…
