Category: REVIEWS

Cordillera of Dreams Artful Dive into Chilean Identity. By Brandon Topp.

Cordillera of Dreams is the first Patricio Guzman film I’ve ever seen, which is a backwards introduction to the Chilean documentarian’s rich list of films. 

On the one hand, he made his mark with the expansive and groundbreaking film series The Battle of Chile, which The Hollywood Reporter says, “Made him synonymous with political filmmaking in Latin America.” Additionally, this film I just watched is the cap on a trilogy, which began with Nostalgia for the Light, and The Pearl Button. 

While my lack of context is doubtfully recommended, the positive thing that comes from it, is that I can say with fresh eyes that Cordillera of Dreams is a striking work, and it gave me as an outsider what feels like a wholesome sense of Chile’s complicated, yet interconnected identity. The most interesting and creative move by Guzmen throughout the documentary is his use of parallels. 

From the outset, we spend time drifting through the sky overlooking the cordillera—a term that carries a broad definition in the film, and is even explicitly said to transcend definition. Most simply described as the mountainous regions of the Andes, the cordillera represents both Chile’s most breathtaking beauty, and its most enduring struggles. 

Guzman not only shows is these epic visual portrayals of the mountainous snowy wilderness, he also educates the viewer on how many of these magical natural locations are inaccessible to the people due to privatization. That conversation leads into the country’s wealth gap, which the filmmaker explores by looking back to the 1973 coup, and Pinochet’s lasting influence in the decades since. 

The approach comes full circle drawing numerous parallels. For example, the film mirrors the bubbling discontent of the Chilean people over decades with mesmerizing and powerful volcanic eruptions in the cordillera. It also makes note of a 20,000 year history of native Chileans, and how their history and culture is embedded into the rocks of the mountains. The intertwining themes of culture and nature play off one another with systematic poetry. 

The most impressive instance of this cinematic use of metaphor and physical relationship inside the country draws a map from the stones of the Andes mountains to the value of recording of Chilean history. Including footage from The Battle of Chile, alongside interviews and clips with documentarian Pablo Salas—a collaborator of Guzman’s when they were filming the Chilean revolution—it becomes clear that capturing these moments, and recording the country’s history is a vital part of its evolution from tyranny. 

Guzman also makes note of how he believes the mountains overlooking the country remember its history. He tracks how stone from the mountains has been used to create walkways and streets in Santiago, and throughout the country. He talks about how the stones will always remember the blood that was spilled on them during the country’s most tumultuous times. 

The film is showing at as intense a time as any, as Chile has been rife with protests and frightening government crackdowns lately. The citizens are fighting the wealth inequality, and demanding large-scale systematic changes, which are major themes of Cordillera of Dreams. Recently, Santaigo saw the country’s largest protest in history with around 1.2 million people participating. There have been reports of human rights violations and homicides by law enforcement. It’s very real, and emblematic of similar struggles of political power taking place around the world today. 

I’m not an expert on the situation, but Guzman’s film, though a late addition to a series of many that seem to have done so, seems to give a wholesome perspective on how this vibrant country has been fighting to preserve itself for generations. It’s visually magnificent, educational, and a worthy watch for all those capturing the real-time unfolding of the next chapter in Chile’s history. 

A Hidden Life

Terrence Malick is a filmmaker who never fails to inspire debate. His films, while aesthetically pleasing, are often just impressionistic enough to cause a stir, and yet, A Hidden Life still had one of the longest queues at this year’s London Film Festival; for many reasons, filmgoers are always drawn to his work.

Malick’s latest picture is the true story of Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter, who spent most of World War II under threat of execution for treason, after refusing to fight for the Nazis. With all the ingredients of a potential powerful and moving piece of cinema in place, it’s sadly disappointing to see Malick once again fall prey to the usual tendencies that have failed his works in the past; an unnecessarily padded run-time, an over-reliance on repetitive and frankly uninteresting voice-over, and countless pretentious shots that serve nothing outside of his own ego. 

It’s absolutely breath-taking to watch, with cinematographer Jörg Widmer in particular deserving of a great deal of praise here. It’s a film worthy of being seen on the biggest screen possible, standing tall with The Tree of Life as one of Malick’s most exquisite pictures. That being said, his arrogant camerawork distracts from this a great deal, with the filmmaker’s intent often unclear or misjudged. It can be difficult to focus on the story, the character and the emotions that come with them, when Malick seemingly can’t do the same. 

There is no denying the many moments of brilliance within A Hidden Life. There’s no shortage of scenes that’ll push the audience to the brink, with Jägerstätter’s suffering on full display; raw, brutal and anchored by a frankly phenomenal lead performance from August Diehl. Valerie Pachner’s depiction of Franz’s wife, Franziska, is steeped in humanity, with her desperation, sadness, pride and love for her husband present in even the slightest of mannerisms. Among many things, this is a story about love, and the central pair’s chemistry sells these themes wonderfully. 

Despite its strengths, the film lacks the emotional punch it’s going for, thanks in large part to Malick’s lack of interest in his own subject. He simply cannot help himself from meandering, almost to the point of dullness, with endless unnecessary shots of clouds and scenery cluttering the picture. Malick thinks every idea of his is gold; in his eyes, every shot and every word is simply too brilliant to be removed, leaving the film with severe pacing issues amid a shroud of stunning yet utterly pointless artistic prowess. 

Malick spends so much time on the things that don’t matter, and very little on those that do. We are sympathetic towards Jägerstätter’s plight because we already know to be, not because of the way it’s executed. The aforementioned moments that work so well are interspersed with sequences that add little or nothing to the overall feature, slowing it down and taking the viewer out of said moment completely. 

The film isn’t short of artistic attempts at emotion, but this emotion is forced and never genuinely earned. A Hidden Life works solely on the viewer’s prior knowledge of the war, the Nazis, good and evil, as opposed to the work that’s been done. 

A Hidden Life is not the Palme d’Or-nominated masterpiece many people were hoping for from Malick, but rather a repeat of his usual mistakes; a potentially moving and shocking story, buried underneath an artistic vision that simply doesn’t suit, from a filmmaker focused more on his ego than his subject. 

Official Secrets: BRWC LFF Review

Gavin Hood’s extraordinary Eye in the Sky was one of the great surprises of 2015; a remarkably tense yet thought-provoking conversation-piece that remains one of the finest portrayals of modern warfare in mainstream cinema. His latest thriller is a real-life story of a whistle-blower who risked everything; a film with an entirely different feel to his last, but one that aims to encourage every bit as much of a discussion.

Official Secrets tells the true story of Katharine Gun, an NSA worker who receives a memo requesting she research potentially compromising information regarding UN Security Council members that could be used to ‘convince’ them to vote in favour of the Iraq War. Gun risks everything to leak this to the press, in the hope she can prevent it. 

The film is wonderfully riveting from start to finish, with the stakes never really lost on the viewer, and Keira Knightley producing one of her career highlights to sell the character completely. It’s one of many fine performances in a film that also features Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans and Matt Smith.

This is a story that should make people feel particularly uncomfortable; essentially a tale of how the government manipulated public opinion about something as serious as war. While this is no longer news, with the illegality of the Iraq War now indisputable, these are still incredibly relevant themes, with Western governments coming under attack more and more every day by a disillusioned society. These are questions that need to be asked and Hood isn’t afraid of doing so, and there’s no doubt at all that this story will bring about conversation every bit as much as he clearly wishes. 

The messages can sometimes be a little on-the-nose, with the dialogue at times feeling more like headlines than genuine conversation. Knightley says lines such as ‘they’re all bloody liars’ and ‘just because you’re the Prime Minister, doesn’t mean you get to make up your own facts’. If we’re being honest, nobody really talks like this and these moments feel a little forced, but thanks to the genuine truth and heartfelt anger at the heart of this story, along with Hood’s clear talent for suspenseful filmmaking, flaws such as these are disguised well.

While Eye in the Sky is a contained thriller, taking place during one day and focusing on a singular incident, Official Secrets is a story that focusing on the far greater scheme of things, told over the course of a year, fundamentally as a character study of what could push an ordinary member of society to do something like this. Naturally, both feel like very different films. They have entirely unique feels to them and the pacing is adjusted accordingly, and one could argue that Official Secrets feels a little more conventional that its bold predecessor, but it’s no less effective in its study of political moralities at the potential cost of human life, and Hood’s authorship is present throughout. 

This is a strong, engaging thriller with significant themes, anchored by strong performances and told with great skill. It’ll frustrate people and make them think, undoubtedly Hood’s intent, and testament to the film’s success. 

If you don’t know how the story ends already, don’t read up on it. Let it surprise you.