Monday, February 28, 2011

"Metropolis" directed by Fritz Lang

My assigned film was “Metropolis” directed by Fritz Lang. It was released in 1927 and is a science fiction German expressionist film. The film takes place in the future of 2026 amidst a social crisis between workers and owners in a capitalist society. The owners enjoy the futuristic city of convenience and luxury ran on the backs of the poor workers that live underground. Mistakenly the son of a wealthy owner, Freder, discovers the underground world and the terrible living conditions of the workers. Freder then abandons his entitled existence and joins the oppressed workers in a revolt, against the owners and technology that controls their lives.

The films main theme is the conflict between the working class and the repressive social controls of the wealthy. In this case the use of technology is the repressive social control. I think Fritz Lang uses this film to comment on the abuse of technology as well as a cautionary to expedited technological development. Also, it demonstrates that no advancement goes without sacrifice, and in this case it is the sacrifice of people. Furthermore, being a German expressionist film, it could be negatively commenting on the beliefs of the futurists, who celebrate technology, force, power, machine aesthetic, and industry.

I did like this film. I thought it was an interesting concept and the special effects were great considering the time period this film was produced. The action was relatively fast paced which I liked and it had an emotional component as well. I can see why it was a pioneer of its time.

Das Leben der Anderen

My assigned film was The Lives of Others, an Academy Award winning German film. It takes place in East Berlin and chronicles the Stasi’s surveillance of a playwright. The playwright, Georg, is in a relationship with an actress, Christa-Maria. A party leader covets Georg of Christa, and orders the Stasi to bug his apartment in attempt to destroy him. The captain who runs the operation begins to feel sympathy for his subjects.

The film deals with the struggles of an artist living under a totalitarian regime. It explores how an oppressive government will stifle creativity while a subversive subculture takes route, creating a national cognitive dissonance. Even those who are part of the regime are not satisfied with their lives. This results in the death of Christa toward the end of the film-the end of the feminine, the artistic, the left. There is a part in the film where the Stasi discuss the torture of writers by depriving them of human contact and any sort of sensory stimulation. This also leads to an expose regarding suicide under an oppressive regime, and how it is the abandonment of all hope.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Movie Blog-Apocalypse Now

Short Overview of Movie

I really liked this movie a lot. It was full of action and very good actors like Harrison Ford, Marl en Brando, and Mike Sheen. The movie was about a military captain named Willard (Sheen) that after coming home from a mission and drinking away his problems was asked to do another mission. Willard's mission was to find a general in Cambodia, that had abandoned the US military, named Kurtz(Brando) and stop him from making his radio broadcasts. Willard, after getting into some gun fights with his friend nicknamed Chef and Lance ends up finding Kurtz and his men. As they approached Kurtz hiding spot, Willard tells Chef to call in the order for an air strick on the location and leaves him behind. Willard gets detained by Kurtz people and Kurtz tells him that he is nothing but an arren boy. Then Kurtz holds Willard hostage and shows him that he had found Chef and had decapitated his head. After a while Kurtz let Willard free in his base and Willard ends up killing Kurtz with a machete. After this all of Kurtz men drop there weapons and Willard sails away.

Themes with in the movie

The first theme that is trying to be represented in this movie is life in Vietnam during the war. This movie shows the dark sides of the Vietnam war and how soldiers lose there lives. The use of shadows depicted the unknown/ununderstood things. An example of this was when Willard talked to Kurtz. Also there is a lighter twist on this movie as well because when the soldiers were not fighting they were water skiing and having fun. I think the message it was conveying at this time was that war is a negative thing with all the death around. Also at the same time that being a soldier is not a bad thing. Another message was that it is bad to go against your country. This is depicted by the outcome of Kurtz at the end of the movie.