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bfeinberg65
Reviews
También la lluvia (2010)
Brilliant premise... cliched ending
This really struck me as two separate movies, a thoughtful reflection on the continuity of exploitation and the paradoxical politics of representation for most of the movie, and then a cliched Hollywood white savior final half hour.
The Bolivian indígenas are never real characters; they are merely one-dimensional plot devices for the White protagonists inner struggles and, perhaps, redemption.
Maybe this is intentional; after all neither Columbus nor Las Casas represented natives as much more than signs (of the opportunity for gold and glory, for Columbus, or of Spaniards' ultimate sinfulness, for Las Casas). But I think that would be giving it too much credit. It goes from exposing and revealing stereotypical representations to indulging them.
Hotaru no haka (1988)
Original and timeless
I have seen thousands of soldiers shot and blown up in war movies, yet suffering in war takes many forms. Until Grave of the Fireflies, I had never seen a depiction of the slow starvation of children -a less dramatic, but equally prevalent and ubiquitous form of violence. Perhaps mercifully, the film tells you the ending in the first shocking scene, so the sense of dread and doom pervades the whole movie, even in its lighter moments. The characters' gradual collapse is only noticeable in certain, poignant moments, as when a group of children discover their shelter, which to them is a whole living world, and we see it through their disgusted eyes.
This is one of the three best war movies, up there with Come and See.