Across the Universe

I was blown away by this movie. The music! The music was incredible and made the movie that much more powerful. I already have the soundtrack on my computer. Its 31 Beatles songs performed by the actors in the movie each with their personal style wove onto the Beatles lyrics. Some bigger names cover songs and represent historic figures like Bono from U2 portraying Dr. Roberts and portrays the original LSD experiments. He does a great cover of I Am the Walrus. Joe Cocker comes out to play a pimp singing Come Together and comedian Eddie Izzard does his take on For the Benefit of Mr. Kite. The songs are great by themselves, but when you bring 10 musicians/performers together to pick and play a few songs and put it to a story on a big screen, it was unlike any movie I’ve ever seen. Jim Sturgess does an incredible job as a poor English boy named Jude roaming through America, meeting all kinds of great people and having some good times with drugs and music. The movie flows through events in Jude’s life, set to the music, while the 70’s unfold in the background. We see the transition from free love and peace to the civil rights movement and the violence that period of American history represents. Its interesting to see those songs performed not as a show or musical, but in a movie. It’s a musical yes, but this is much more than a musical. This is the embodiment of what the Beatles wanted to touch people with. This movie shows the reality about drug culture and how it is not limited to the degenerates of society. Across the Universe is all about the beginning of recreational drug use and its ties with music. I consider Across the Universe a must see, unless you don’t like the Beatles, and cannot wait to add it to my library.

American History X

American History X is a powerful film that examines the causes and consequences of racism and hate. Edward Norton does a great job creating a character that demands attention and drives the film with passion springing from his love for his Dad that sours to hate and rage when he is killed putting out a fire at a drug dealers house in a black neighborhood. Norton, Derek Vinyard, becomes a neo-Nazi and becomes a leader in the white power movement. The cinematography in this movie is amazing as we are pulled through the story from the point of view of Daniel Vinyard, Derek’s little brother. Danny worships Derek and gets caught up in the white gang when Derek goes to jail for homicide. American History X is so gripping because we see the ultimate white supremacist broken and humbled in prison. We share Derek’s pain as we see his rhetoric and beliefs fail him and he is attacked by his own Nazi brothers and we find hope watching this figure of hate embrace and accept the gift of safety and protection provided by a black man. The viewer is shown Derek’s direct punishment in his incarceration and treatment in prison. We also see Danny’s pain that Derek causes him and the family. Finally we are shown Derek’s pain as he must live with Danny’s murder and we are left in shock and disbelief at the tragic ending twist. The movie’s message is spoken by Danny in a voice over reading of his American History X paper; life is to short to hate, we’re never guaranteed another minute so we have to live and love to the fullest.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Dr. Strangelove is a weird and twisted movie. It is disquieting to think about our government and military leaders in this light but the film is driven by logic and procedure that is eerily familiar as we learn more of our nation’s dark secrets. I believe that this movie serves the specific and important purpose to make people weary of the government. This movie uses lighting and setting to highlight how the love of power is what will kill us all in the end. The crux of the story is that too much power is given to individuals and bad things happen and that is the case. Can you imagine if the United States sent troops to storm say, Barksdale Air Force Base because a renegade general decided he wants there to be nuclear war. Dr. Strangelove plays on one of the greatest fears America has endured collectively as a nation. During the cold war every nation had nukes pointed at everyone else, Americans were well aware of this fact and were deathly afraid of the bomb. We see how it all could end, on a breakneck mission to bomb people we don’t really know. We have to be careful about who we let have the power. Our hope comes from people like Jimi Hendrix who said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.”

Maria Full of Grace

Maria Full of Grace is a story of determination and survival. After being unfairly treated, Maria quits her job at the flower plantation. Maria has to work to provide for her family and now it seems she has failed. Along with the fact that she is now pregnant with her boyfriend’s, whom she doesn’t love, child. A friend slips her the idea of becoming a mule or someone who smuggles heroin pellets in their stomach into another country. Desperate for money, Maria gives in and swallows 62 heroin-filled pellets before being flown to New York City.
In the film, I found the motif of pregnancy to be extremely important. For example, when Maria arrives to the New York airport, she is immediately taken away by U.S. customs for suspicion of drug trafficking. After they have questioned her, they tell her that they need an x-ray just to be sure she is telling the truth. However, when they find out she is pregnant, they can no longer do an x-ray as it might cause harm to the child and she is released. Her pregnancy is what saved her from the disaster of being caught. Maria’s pregnancy is also the reason why she decides to stay in America. After having spoken to Lucy’s sister about the reason why she came to America, Maria realizes that her baby will have more opportunities if she stays in America. So then she stays and begins her new and better life.

Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell wants to be a bear and he believes that it is his responsibility to protect the bears in Alaska. The film is extremely entertaining watching Tim play with fox and interact with the bears. The film is comprised of footage that Treadwell shot himself mixed with interviews conducted by directory Werner Herzog. It follows Timothy's career of filming himself camping among the bears, and follows the attention he got with media and his outreach programs. Treadwell gets incredible footage of bears in their natural environment. The film also follows the emotional and psychological progression Treadwell goes through over the years. The film is a message, for the protection of the bears and for promoting Timothy's campaign of preservation and awareness. The film makes its point and is shocking in its explicitness. Timothy's profanities are poignant and compelling, as they come from a hippie like, "child of the universe" kind of guy. The film was political in nature, and does an excellent job of shocking viewers into connecting with his way of thinking.