Thursday, July 19, 2012

A Very Long Engagement (2004) by Mark Zuiderveld


Title/Year: A Very Long Engagement, 2004
Director/Birth Country/Year born: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France, born 1953
Budget: $56.6 mil
Gross: $90.1 mil (worldwide)
Synopsis: A young French woman searches for her fiancé who may or may not have been killed in the Battle of the Somme during World War One.
Political/Social Commentary: Exposing war as a negative event; exploitative of soldiers, conveying soldiers as victims instead of heroes. Favors romantic perspective of a woman in love during a horrendous and bloody war (the juxtaposition of these two different elements).
Narrative/Visual keywords: Melodrama, flashbacks, letter writing (correspondence), coincidences, trench warfare, ensemble cast, multiple character POVs, vigilante justice, dramatic irony, romanticism, eroticism, nostalgia, deception, gangrene.
Main character/Arc: Mathilde, a stalwart detective-type of person (diagnosed with polio) in search of her fiancé, Manech. She is romantic yet robust in her personality. She lives with her aunt and uncle in the countryside.
Notable collaboration: Actors from Jeunet's previous films: Audrey Tautou (Amelie, 2001), Dominique Pinon (City of Lost Children, 1995), music composer Angelo Badalamenti (City of Lost Children)
Historical relevance/recognition: Nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography Oscars for year 2004 (77th Academy Awards). Received positive reviews from critics worldwide. Roger Ebert, film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote in his 2004 review, "…we have an idea of the trench warfare that makes WWI seem like the worst kind of hell politicians and generals ever devised for their men. To be assigned to the front was essentially a sentence of death, but not quick death, more often death after a long season of cold, hunger, illness, shell-shock and the sheer horror of what you had to look at and think about. Jeunet depicts this reality as well as I have ever seen it shown on the screen, beginning with his opening shot of a severed arm hanging, Christ-like, from a shattered cross." 
Etc. It's interesting to note Jean-Pierre Jeunet's visual style; his colors are traditionally faded brown and green, giving an eerie decayed interpretation of the world.


Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Very_Long_Engagement#cite_note-3
               http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=verylongengagement.htm
      http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041216/REVIEWS/41201006/1023


Mark's answers to A Very Long Engagement:


1.  The higher ranking French General (rank?) is portrayed negatively b/c he himself is overlooking his duties. He receives a correspondence (the pardon of the 5 prisoners) and purposefully ruins the letter by putting in the bathtub that he’s in, thereby muddying the ink on the letter and destroying the duty he is to carry out. He also overlooks the letter of pardon by ripping it to shreds while he is ogling pictures of naked women at his map table. Social class is evident here b/c it shows the upper class as the villain.



2.     Manech and the four other prisoners are primarily portrayed as victims. On the battlefield they are conveyed as being surrounded by death and destruction. One man escapes through a trap door in the ground; he later takes food from the dead man’s coat and feeds himself. In another scene a dead body is used as a shield against being hit by bullets. In the beginning a soldier pisses into another soldier’s helmet and covers up the evidence; this shows the deceptive attitude of soldiers and portrays military duty as a form of perversion instead of noble authority. Jeunet (and most French people I would argue) take stock in portraying the controversial aspects of human nature and showing flaws in behavior.



3.     Yes, the film’s cinematography paints a romantic picture of the time period and blends well the flashbacks of the battlefield with the present action of Mathilde travelling to the city in France for seeking information. The visual strategy is romanticized. The music enhances the melodrama, as well as the sweeping shots of the train going by (the camera angle and movement seems computer generated, but Dutched to give a sense of fast movement for the metaphor of gaining more knowledge about Manech and his whereabouts). The flashback scenes of Manech on the battlefield is a good spectacle b/c it shows him in the middle of cross fire; the grenade being tossed and landing in the Jerry plane.



4.     The enemy (the higher ranking official) is portrayed a bit exaggeratingly. The Marion Cotillard character is originally portrayed in an evil way, but her actions are justified, seeking vengeance. The German enemies are portrayed as neutral. The enemies that are conveyed are deceptive and on the same side of the French, giving the idea that soldiers and heroes on the same side are backstabbing each other and the cause (in a civil war type sense).

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Week 2 Reaction Questions - WWI



Choose One of the following films to analyze and create a post on the blog about. The post should include a completed template --see link to the right, as well as thought out answers to the questions below IN ADDITION to the template. Please cite any sources that you use & remember to include an image.


Theme One – The Hero
Lawrence of Arabia – David Lean
Sergeant York – Howard Hawks
Gallipoli -  Peter Weir
The Blue Max – John Guillermin

Theme Two - Melodrama
Oh what a Lovely War – Richard Attenborough
Doctor Zhivago – David Lean
The African Queen – John Huston
A Very Long Engagement – Jean-Pierre Jeunet




1. Did you find any evidence of ineffective military leadership (associated with upper-class ineptitude) that is compensated for through hard work and commitment of the lowly infantryman? Any scene where difference in social class is evident? Describe the dynamic or scene in which this theme is portrayed.

2. Does the film show a suffering soldier as a victim of war rather than exposing the structure of violence and presenting soldiers as elements in it? Or does it portray the soldier as a strong individual following codes of honor and duty How does the film achieve this point of view?

3. Does the film offer the audience the familiar pleasures of cinema – the romantic scenarios and melodramatic poses woven into a more direct and immediate sense of war? What elements of spectacle in the story (battle scenes or otherwise) achieve a sense of melodrama? 


4. Is the enemy portrayed as neutral or through hysterical exaggerations of atrocity? 



Answer each of the questions above in addition to completing the template. Depending on the theme you choose (The Hero/Melodrama) certain question will have more lengthy responses than others.

Good Luck!



Sunset Blvd. - by Julie V - Example of basic template



Title/Year : Sunset Blvd, 1950
Director/Birth Country/Year Born: Billy Wilder, Austria, b.1906
Budget: $1,752,000 (estimated)
Gross: $5,000,000 (Worldwide) ( January 1960)
Synopsis: A former silent-film starlet entangles with a young screenwriter, a tale of exploitation unfolds, humiliation and failed dreams.
Political/ Social Commentary: Self- reflexive in its relationship to Hollywood. Critique of censorship.
Narrative and Visual Keywords: survival, narcissism, melodrama, noir (solely stylistically), borders on black comedy, grandiose, decaying, cynical, love triangle, crime of passion, illusion, jealousy, prologue informs the ending with posthumous voiceover.
Main Character/Arc: Norma Desmond, simultaneously a sympathetic and villainous figure. Completely histrionic. Loses touch with reality.
Notable Collaboration: Cecil B. DeMille plays Cecil B. DeMille. As a director he himself was in the spotlight continuously from the early silent period to the age of CinemaScope and stereophonic sound. On set DeMille sported high boots, riding breeches, even twin pearl-handled revolvers.
Historical relevance/recognition: In 1989, the film was among the first group of 25 deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Etc.Louis B. Mayer allegedly said of Director Wilder, "You have disgraced the industry that made and fed you! You should be tarred and feathered and run out of Hollywood!" Also, "I'm ready for my close-up Mr.DeMille" is a commonly re-appropriated quote from the film.


In addition to filling out the template you will always be asked a number of specific questions pertaining to the weeks lecture/discussion.

Basic Template - Required for Every Entry

Label the Title: Film by Your Name

First upload a single image that you feel encapsulates the film ( click on picture icon right of "link" in post dialogue window)

Title/Year
Director/Birth Country/Year Born
Budget
Gross
Synopsis
Narrative and Visual Keywords
Characterization/ Dialogue
Camera/lighting/editing technique
 Political/ Social Commentary
Historical Relevance/ Recognition
Notable Collaboration
Random fact, Etc.

Plus 3-4 reaction questions that rotate each week, depending on themes we explore


** remember to cite the sources you use, for both the template or your reaction questions if they require research **


Homework Screening Options


Screening Options
Each week there will be different reaction questions posted to the blog to consider when watching the film. Please take some time and research the different films to find one that best suits your interests.
Always opt for a film that you haven’t seen over one that you have. You can always pitch me a film you’d like to watch if you think it’s relevant to that week’s discussion.

Week Two – WWI
Theme One – The Hero
Lawrence of Arabia – David Lean
Sergeant York – Howard Hawks
Gallipoli -  Peter Weir
The Blue Max – John Guillermin

Theme Two - Melodrama
Oh what a Lovely War – Richard Attenborough
Doctor Zhivago – David Lean
The African Queen – John Huston
A Very Long Engagement – Jean-Pierre Jeunet


Week Three- WWII

Theme One – The Unit
Paratroop Command – William Witney
Kanal – Andrzej Wajda
The Big Red One – Samuel Fuller
The Thin Red Line – Terrence Malick


Theme Two – foreign experiences of WWII
Grave of Fireflies –  Isao Takahata
Rome Open City – Roberto Rossellini
Das Boot – Wolfgang Petersen
Come and See – Elem Klimov





Week Four- Vietnam
Full Metal Jacket – Stanley Kubrick
Platoon – Oliver Stone
The Deer Hunter – Michael Cimino
Hamburger Hill – John Irvin
The Boys in Company C – Sidney Furie
Rescue Dawn – Werner Herzog
Good Morning Vietnam – Barry Levinson
Casualties of War – Brian DePalma
The Hanoi Hilton – Lionel Chetwynd
M*A*S*H – Robert Altman



        ***Weeks 5 & 6 – Your group will be assigned a film at random for your midterm review “Anti-War Films” during class in Week 4



Week 7

Any contemporary war film (made in the last 20 years)

Some Suggestions:

The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow
Three Kings – David O Russell
Empire of the Sun – Steven Spielberg
Inglorious Bastards – Quentin Tarantino
Ride with the Devil  - Ang Lee
The Sun – Aleksandr Sokurov
Black Book – Paul Verhoeven