The movie Z, which begins with the cheeky faux-disclaimer from its director Costa-Gavras that the events depicted in it aren’t coincidental or accidental, but intentional, remains as one of the most overtly and unapologetically political films made in recent memory. Though he used fictitious names for the characters and didn’t provide a name for the place, Costa-Gravas was in essence recreating the events surrounding the assassination of charismatic Leftist Greek leader Gregoris Lambrakis (Yves Montand) by the right-wing junta. The government complicity, and the unraveling of the state-sponsored conspiracy by an implacable mid-ranking magistrate (played with stoic fierceness by Jean-Louis Trintignant) and a seemingly opportunist photojournalist (Jacques Perrin), formed the crux of the storyline. The brilliantly composed, hyper-kinetic thriller, with the narrative moving at a pulsating pace and comprising of a number of brilliantly executed sequences (including an exciting chase scene), would provide for visceral and a thoroughly captivating watch even for viewers who aren’t politically inclined or aware of the events on which it was based, thanks to the excellent pacing, editing and suspense buildup; but the theme, which was one of political intrigue, paranoia and persecution against freedoms of speech and expression, made for a deeply cautionary tale against Orwellian States, and hence would appeal strongly to the discerning viewers, more so given the era of its release when mistrust towards governments was at its peak. The epilogue, narrated matter-of-factly, was both satirical and disturbing.
p.s. My latest review of this film can be found here.
Director: Costa-Gavras
Genre: Thriller/Political Thriller
Language: French
Country: France/Algeria
Rehashing of Satyajit Ray’s films seems to be the flavor of the season. The Ray masterpiece Nayak was given a reinterpretation a couple of years back in the largely mediocre Autograph, and now Charulata, Ray’s classic adaptation of the Tagore novella Nashtanir, has been transplanted to the modern era in Charulata 2011. Chaiti (Rituparna Sengupta) is the fiercely intelligent and well-read but lonely and sexually frustrated wife of Bikram (Arjun Chakraborty), the rich and soft-natured editor of a newspaper who’s perennially occupied with his work. Out of her boredom and loneliness Chaiti, using the profile name ‘Charulata 2011’, strikes up friendship and gets emotionally embroiled in a platonic cyber-affair with the London-based Sanjay (Dibyendu Mukherjee) who, incidentally (but not surprisingly), calls himself ‘Amal’ in the virtual world. However, when Sanjay comes down to Calcutta that things start taking complicated turns for all the three characters – not just because their relationship doesn’t remain purely emotional any more, but also because of a twist thrown in by the director. Given that the film is dialogue-heavy it demanded a better script as the dialogues often seem tad clichéd and labored – and the inclusion of risqué quips didn’t go well with the overall storytelling; further, the second half also dragged a bit unlike the more efficiently done first half. However, that said, the overall treatment of the movie, in terms of its photography, usage of music, décor, moodiness, etc., was quite good. Also, though unabashedly bold in its content, it still managed to evoke sensitiveness. And not to forget, Rituparna has provided a nuanced and effective turn of a sensuous woman torn between guilt and lust in her quest for love.
Director: Agnidev Chatterjee
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Romance
Language: Bengali
Country: India
Unlike most of his later works for which he is mostly renowned for, films belonging to the first half of Polish Master Krzysztof Kieslowski’s career as a feature film director were deeply political in nature – and this oftentimes resulted in them earning displeasure and even wrath of the country’s then censor board. Short Working Day, which Kieslowski made for TV in the same year as his masterful Blind Chance, faced a fate similar to the latter film; in fact, its official television premier happened a good 15 years later! This fictionalized account of real events chronicled the massive worker protests in 1976 through the eyes of a newly promoted Party honcho. Narrated in flashbacks, we first see the rise through the ranks of the seemingly apolitical and decent-natured protagonist to the position of Party Secretary of the city, and then the fateful “short working day” is chronicled where he, hitherto unaccustomed to such occurrences, must deal with the massive gathering of highly agitated blue-collar citizens through a combination of tact and patience. Though he does resort to providing assurances to pacify the crowd by thinking on his feet – assurances which he too knows in his heart are futile at best, and though the director’s underlying sympathy is with the proletariat, he is never shown as an opportunist or a heavy-handed person. Instead he has been portrayed as a sympathetic person caught unawares between the masses and his cynical bosses. Though an overtly political film with moments of wry satire (most notably in the flash-forward scenes), it also managed to be an engaging character study.
Director: Krzyzstof Kieslowski
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Political Satire
Language: Polish
Country: Poland
The second chapter in Eric Rohmer’s famed “Comedies et Proverbes” series, A Good Marriage is a charming and finely constructed film. Its beauty lies in the fact that, though Rohmer made some subtle observations on a sub-section of the French society and also raised an irreverent philosophical question, the film managed to retain a certain simplicity and light-heartedness throughout its crisp length. A young lady (played with spunk by Beatrice Romand) suddenly has a realization, while in the middle of a relationship with a married man, that she must get married. She immediately breaks off her relationship with the guy and starts searching for a prospective bachelor to act upon her whim. Her friend, who is a painter, attempts to set her up with her cousin who is a successful lawyer – however, despite her initial convictions as regards to her ability to seduce any guy to love her, she experiences major heartbreak in her journey as she starts falling for the man. Beautifully sketched by Rohmer, our protagonist is a naïve, impulsive, irrational and fickle-natured person and a child at heart, but she’s also a lively, endearing and an inherently “real” person. This breezy comedy of manners raised an interesting question – are the so-called ‘perfect marriages’ borne out of chance (or made in heaven, as some say, for their unpredictability), or can they be made to happen through willful acts and careful planning.
Director: Eric Rohmer
Genre: Drama/Comedy/Romance
Language: French
Country: France
Milos Forman, one of the most prominent filmmakers of the Czech New Wave movement, made his feature film debut with Black Peter, a delightful, low-key comedy with subtle satirical undertones. Like a number of movies belonging to that movement, this has at its core a delectable and oftentimes hilarious coming-of-age story with an inherently humanistic point-of-view. The titular character, Petr, is a young, naïve and bashful guy who works in a departmental store and his job there is to spy on people in order to detect thefts. This peculiar job, for which he’s obviously not suited at all, results in a brilliantly concocted and incredibly funny sequence when he ends up tailing a seemingly respectable guy who he suspects of shoplifting. Meanwhile, like any teenager, he’s more interested in being with the beautiful girl he likes, attending dance parties and getting drunk; but, unlike most, he has one hell of a domineering father to deal with who loves lecturing him on everything under the sun – and this too forms a terrific source of humour. Though this seemingly simple tale the director also provided a number of pointed but beautifully cloaked jabs at the communist regime in which this movie, filmed in cinema vérité style, was made. Be it Peter’s acting as a watchdog albeit in civil clothes in order to notice prospective thieves (who might very well be representative of dissidents), or the shop’s manager receiving paintings when what he needs more are more basic stuffs, etc. – its wry sociopolitical satire is unmistakable. Like Truffaut’s The 400 Blows and Ray’s Charulata, the movie ends in a freeze-frame, but in a gleeful display of rebellion against cinematic boundaries and norms, the image of only one of the two characters (the father) is frozen, while that of the other (the son) continues to remain 'live'!
Director: Milos Forman
Genre: Comedy/Social Satire/Political Satire/Coming-of-Age Film
Language: Czech
Country: Czech Republic (erstwhile Czechoslovakia)
Summer with Monika, one of the lightest and most accessible films belonging to Ingmar Bergman’s vaunted oeuvre, was possibly the first film that got the Swedish master international attention (albeit for the wrong reasons). The film was sensationalized as a frank and (for its time) promiscuous depiction of premarital affair between two teenagers, but in essence this was a simple, unobtrusive and beautifully constructed tale of love and separation of two young adults trying to gain footholds on the world. The two protagonists in question were – Harry (Lars Ekborg), a decent, lonely and naïve working-class guy, and the titular Monika (Harriet Andersson), a sultry, shallow, fickle-natured and hedonistic girl who too belongs to the blue-colored background. The two have an unspectacular first meet and soon enough they are dating each other. Purportedly unhappy with her family, Monika persuades Harry to quit his job and run off with her – the idyllic summer that they spend hopping from one isolated spot to another on Harry’s motorboat occupied the major screentime for the film. However, unlike what most romantic films would have us believe, life rarely follows the “happily ever after” adage, and so is the case for them. Upon realizing that Monika is expecting a child the two marry, but their marriage collapses irrevocably soon after – while Harry strives for long-term security for the family, all Monika is interested in is living in the moment and taking on other lovers if the need be. This bittersweet love story, which lovingly juxtaposed dreams with reality, comprised of a lovely but sparsely used organ-based score.
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Genre: Drama/Romance
Language: Swedish
Country: Sweden
