Change Your Image
jamespremier
Reviews
Kreuzweg (2014)
How to make a girl twice the daughter of hell
This exceptional movie graphically illustrates what religious indoctrination does to the mind and thinking of a child and is about as far removed from the Biblical manifestation of the LOVE of God as it's possible to get.
Based on Catholic theology, the story follows a teenage girl's idealistic pursuit to get to heaven by achieving religious purity through self denial and repression.
Her devout mother rules her family with an iron fist never passing up an opportunity to denigrate and poison her daughter with barbs of criticism and verbal flagellation.
Her father is depicted as weak and hen-pecked into a state of total submission.
Inevitably this results in a predictable breakdown for the vulnerable young girl and is heart-breaking to watch.
Yet, this is a compelling, almost necessary, story that is extremely well written and superbly acted by all the players.
This is well worth watching whatever faith or background you come from.
Thelma (2017)
A plot so subtle it almost fooled everyone
Psychotically-induced seizures brought on by repressed sexual desires that include manifestations of poltergeist activity has been a staple of many horror movies. Carrie being an obvious well-known example.
That's what I thought I was seeing for almost two-thirds of this movie.
But kudos to the writer who leads us up this garden path, then throws everyone off balance, beginning with Thelma's institutionalised grandmother.
Yes, she displayed similar symptoms but Thelma's GP father had had her sectioned. The subtle reference from the nurse that the father was over-medicating her.
The film has already portrayed the father as a religious zealot who controls and dominates both his wife and Thelma through suggestion. He peddles religious purity through repetitious prayers and hellfire dogma and hints at demonic influence at work in his own mother and now his daughter.
The subtlety that other reviewers appear to have missed was that the father was responsible for the death of his baby son, for his wife's disability and the disappearance of Thelma's lover.
Once Thelma realises this, she rejects her submission to her father for his constant approval and focuses her "gift" to remove this evil from their lives. The manner of her father's death reflects his own hellfire beliefs.
At that moment of release from his all-pervasive influence, Thelma heals her wheelchair-bound mother and her lover is restored to her.
Her "gift" remains, but has now become a force for good.
A very clever, beautifully-made movie. But you may need to watch it more than once to catch the nuances you might have missed in the first viewing.
Blackout Effect (1998)
An intelligent revelation about air traffic safety
According to Wikipedia, the writer of this movie invested as an executive producer in his own work. This normally means there was "resistance" about getting it made.
Why?
Because the story exposes fundamental flaws in America's traffic control systems. As a writer and journalist myself, I have to wonder where he got his information from. Probably a whistleblower.
Yes, the movie has its fluffy moments, but the story is technically accurate and the director and cast do a good job portraying a frightening public interest message that must have had the vested interests of Corporate flyers choking on their peanuts.
This movie is definitely a must-see.
I conclude by noting that, according to this IMDB page, the writer has no further credits after this movie.
I leave it to the viewers to judge whether that was a price worth paying to get this message out there. I think it was and kudos to him for doing so.