Reviews

This movie is for people who can tolerate introspection, meditation or a slow pace in visual art, and who want their intelligence and hearts challenged. The "saraband" is a dance between two people, revealing character and emotion, so the structure of this movie is a series of emotional and psychological sarabands. Bergman once again digs deep into human lives through his fictional characters to expose how the need for power destroys love, and the healing power of love. Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson give radiant, wise performances, with depth and compassion. By stripping the action down to the bare minimum, Bergman once again focuses his laser-view camera on the people and reveals his genius in showing us how we are responsible for our own pain and suffering, not others. It saddens to think that this is the last film from this master storyteller and director. This is what film storytelling is all about, not car chases and spectacular explosions and special effects; that is, the human heart and mind.

This is the kind of movie that Hollywood very, very rarely has the guts to make: thought-provoking, truly scary on a psychological level, that tells a story that could happen to anyone in the world. And I don't believe it came out of Hollywood, either. Christian Bale will get mega-attention for his emaciated body, but as painful as it was to see it,POSSIBLE SPOILER!!! his physical condition reveals the character's state of mind visually. Bravo to Bale for doing that, although I hope he's returned to a healthy state. Bale also carries this story as Trevor, and I was greatly impressed with the integrity and high level of craft with which he pulls the viewer into his character's story with his eyes, his voice, facial expression as well as his actions. He has solid support from the other actors. I also think the editing and writing was superb, and the photography and lighting perfect in setting tone and creating a suitably dark atmosphere. I would recommend this movie for anyone who's especially tired of the slick fare that comes out of L.A., and I would warn them to pay attention to details, from the very beginning.

Bravos to Mr. Winterbottom, his cast and crew for creating a future world through language and behavior as well as the usual hi-tech stuff, low-tech stuff and environmental devastation. I found it quite believable and fascinating, especially the language.

SPOILERS AHEAD!! The story also was quite believable, especially in terms of genetic manipulation, population control (after environmental devastation), and a governmental authority that wants to maintain control and stability in general. The fact that Maria and William have nearly identical DNA and therefore come from the same parents was confusing at first until William answered the question about how he was conceived -- in vitro. What I found heartbreaking was that the authorities couldn't let them be together as "family" because that's what they were -- and then memory eradication makes it all painless for William but Maria is left with her memories.

This is a movie I'll be thinking about for a long time. Very impressive, imaginative, and a movie I highly recommend for the thoughtful, forward-thinking film lover.

THE FOLLOWING DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS -- FAIR WARNING:

After listening to all the promo about how this movie wasn't really a "remake" but a different take on paranoia, I decided to see it. What a disappointment! I loved the original. This version was indeed a "remake" with changes to update the story: it's not communism that's the villain anymore but a global corporation that wants to control the American government (why not other governments, too?) and that captures a unit during Desert Storm, brainwashes them, etc. Screwing with the ending was a huge mistake and didn't make much sense. I like my paranoid nightmares straightforward and scary, not all messed up and unintelligible. (smile) Having said that, Meryl Streep provides work yet again that shows why she's one of the best actors around, and Liev Schrieber nails Raymond. Denzel is always enjoyable but I don't think this is his best work. I can't even say this was a nice try, although I admire Jonathan Demme's direction and his efforts with this script. Once again, an example of why the originals are just fine and there's no need to do remakes, especially when there are tons of fine, original screenplays out there just waiting to be found, bought and produced!

In the past Mel Gibson has proved to be a good storyteller, whether as an actor or director. With this movie he's created some stunning images at the beginning, used slow motion creatively to capture the tension in moments, and he cast the film masterfully. However, this movie was a disappointment and perhaps a lost opportunity.

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

Mr. Gibson seems to have made the assumption that he didn't need to tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth. All he needed to show was his arrest, beating, meetings with the Sanhedrin and the Romans, the mob, his scourging, walking up the hill and his public execution. What were the reasons for his arrest? What did Jesus do that was so wrong? What were the political and social contexts of the time? It was not enough for Abbas to say to Pilate that Jesus had broken Temple laws. Which laws? How had he broken them? The viewer needs to see these things for the story to be complete. Mr. Gibson needed to provide a context in which the other people, both Jewish and Roman, behave in this movie. He provides us with one-dimensional characters who are either all good and all bad, and it's uncertain which Jesus is. This type of extreme view fosters fundamentalism and exclusion.

Mr. Gibson needed to develop his characters. The story is incomplete without any kind of set-up which would give the viewer context and a chance to connect with Jesus. I felt more empathy for Mary than for Jesus as a result. She is really the main character of this story, the way that Mr. Gibson has presented it. With Mary, it's clear that she's Jesus' mother and the viewer can connect with a mother's agony over seeing her child treated in that way. I thought Pilate was far more human than Jesus. And for Jesus, Mr. Gibson presents a Kafkaesque situation by not showing us what Jesus did to prompt his arrest and why.

The black-robed figure that appears to be Satan also presents the opportunity to suggest that Jesus of Nazareth was delusional. He is the only character to see this figure, to hear what it says. At the beginning, we see Jesus in some sort of emotional or psychological turmoil that would also fit in with a mental breakdown. As he's beaten and tortured, he would experience tremendous psychological trauma that would add to his delusional state. The dialogue he has and the manner in which it's delivered also would suggest that he has mental problems. I wonder if that's what Mr. Gibson wished to show.

By explicitly showing the physical beating, scourging, etc., the viewer can see the inhumanity of certain people toward this one man. Without reason, the way Mr. Gibson presents it. The viewer can also see the psychological trauma through witnessing that Mary, Mary Magdalene and other friends of Jesus experienced. It's also possible that viewers could suffer psychological trauma by watching these violent scenes, just as people who witness violence suffer it.

I admire Mr. Gibson for putting up his own money for something he believes in. It is quite clear from this movie and various interviews that he's given that this project was deeply personal for him. It is, in the end, a visual documentation of Mr. Gibson's personal religious beliefs about Jesus of Nazareth's death and truly for Mr. Gibson alone. I hope that non-Christians do not see this movie as an accurate representation of the foundation of Christianity. If they do, they'd see Christianity as a profoundly violent and inhuman religion. And in this way, Mr. Gibson, with his highly visible public image and power in the film industry, lost an opportunity to promote knowledge and understanding of Christianity to non-Christians. And again, in this way, the movie becomes highly exclusionary. Without a story to illuminate Jesus' life, his beliefs and work, and without reasons for his arrest and public execution, the movie promotes a vision of a death without reason in the most violent of ways.