Films are often thought to be a purely escapist art form when in fact some of the greatest films ever made both comment and educate on historical and modern happenings, […]
Films are often thought to be a purely escapist art form when in fact some of the greatest films ever made both comment and educate on historical and modern happenings, often bringing fresh light to a difficult subject. ‘The Battleship Potemkin’ (1921), a masterpiece of the Russian cinema, is generally regarded as the first great film to explore an important historical event, making clear film could be so much more than mere entertainment. However, before that work, Chaplin merged his comedy with important messages about everyday life and humanity, believing laughter would permit his strong messages to be heard. Frank Capra’s ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’ (1939) was a huge success with its fine performances and powerful message about political corruption. It was The Italian Neo-Realistic movement that catapulted intensely realistic films into American cinema, the man tile picked up by the great filmmaker Elia Kazan, along with greats John Huston and Billy Wilder.
In 1976, the nominees for Best Picture fiercely commented on American society, holding a mirror to America reflecting life. With President Nixon having opened relations with both Communist countries China and Russia, extraordinary accomplishments, in 1974 after being re-elected by a landslide vote just two years before he resigned amidst the Watergate scandal. Viet Nam had ended but the fall out of veterans coming home emotionally shattered devastated the nation trying to heal from the mistrust Nixon had created. Never before had cinema so reflected the times with such clear eyed urgency and savage honesty.
‘All the President’s Men’ brilliantly explored the stench of corruption in the White House and the duty of the press to report it, even if it ended a Presidency. ‘Network’ was a vicious black comedy that was also biting satire that also with incredible Accuracy predicted the future of television. The power of television was never more evident, or as troubling as it was in this searing film. Martin Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’ explored the complete mental meltdown of a Viet Nam veteran sickened by the drugs, the sex trade, the late night horrors he finds in Times Square. An early shot in the film shows steam rising from a sewer grate as though hell were being held back from exploding into the streets. As scalding a film ever made about New York, this was easily the darkest film of the year. Hal Ashby’s ‘Bound for Glory’ told the story of Woody Guthrie (David Carradine) as he crossed America writing and singing songs celebrating the impoverished, the proverbial little people. And finally, ‘Rocky’, a fairy tale told with grit, sweat and muscle about a boxer who gets a chance at fame, glory but most of all, love. Audiences went mad for this little film written and acted by Sylvester Stallone, inhabiting the role in every way. At its core is the line “Hearing that bell ring, and I’m still standing…I’m gonna know for the first time in my life, I wasn’t just another bum from the neighbourhood.” Rocky wants what everyone wants, to love and be loved, and this little movie celebrating that exceptional, real love story would best four greater films for Best Picture, spreading its message of love and being a better person.
Will the Academy Awards comment on the state of the country in awarding excellence in cinema this year? Though it was a year for film unlike anything previously seen, make no mistake, there were some truly great films released (or streamed) this year. Several are what I call, films for the ages, meaning they will still be discussed, still relevant in twenty-five to sixty years. How have the films of 2020 commented in their own way on society this past year? I think you might be surprised, very surprised indeed.
The important act of honest and truthful news delivery is essential in any world, including ours, but is it not fascinating the parallels drawn between ‘News of the World’, arguably one of the very best film of the year, and the last four years in North America? In the film, Americans are reeling from the fall out of the Civil War, with racism everywhere, as vile as ever. The news is reported from town to town by a war veteran, a decent man himself deeply scarred by the war, Captain Jefferson Kidd, portrayed superbly by Tom Hanks. At its core, has the world changed so very much? There is an urgency in Kidd’s presentations of the news, a hunger for information that today CNN provides. Unfortunately, it’s not nominated!
‘Nomadland’, a huge critical favourite, explores with an unflinching eye the disenfranchised of the United States, those who are threatened with being left behind. Frances McDormand is wonderfully authentic as Fern, a woman who loses everything she knows in a few short months. Her husband dies, the factory providing her town’s lifeblood closes, the bank takes her home so she strikes out in her van, a modern day nomad, wandering the concrete deserts of America. Fern is like so many Americans today, confused, frightened of the future but courageous enough to live her life with the truth, as best she can.
‘Promising Young Woman’ might receive cheers for the actions of the young woman in the film, scorching the earth, seeking revenge against men. All predators in her world. Cary Mulligan is astounding as Cassie, who one day is tired of what predators have done to her friends, to her and fights back. Darkly astonishing, the film speaks to the horrific manner in which women have been treated in society and not by just the Epstein’s, Weinstein and Trump.
‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ is set in 1927 but the racism inherent within the film could be 2021. Once again whites operate the recording studio where Ma (Viola Davis) will record her fast selling blues songs, and though she behaves like a diva, demanding this, demanding that, in her heart she knows the owners are running the show. So she runs her band with an iron fist but in doing so actually holds back the artistry of Levee, a gifted trumpet player in her band portrayed by the late Chadwick Boseman.
In his other great performance of 2020 which has not been nominated, in Spike Lee’s haunting ‘Da Five Bloods’, Boseman gives a soul to the thousands of young black men inspired by Martin Luther King, those same young men who died in a sweltering jungle ten thousand miles from home, fighting a war they did not understand. Do the black (and white) soldiers in Afghanistan understand entirely their purpose in the desert? Is the war in the Middle East so very different from Viet Nam?
One of the finest films of the year, Rod Lurie’s ‘The Outpost’, suggests much about the madness of the conflict in the Middle East. Capturing the furious intensity of combat, the film plunges its audience into hell, which in this case is Afghanistan. Death could come at any second, as Taliban snipers sit higher up and pick the soldiers off at will. Often unbearably intense, ‘The Outpost’ beautifully captures the fury and waste of war. If the cost of war is young lives, is any conflict truly worth that? And the enemy is one we never really see, or worse, one we see all the time. It’s ain’t nominated either!
Knowing how the Academy loves over acting, performances that are often downright embarrassing (Roberto Benigni in ‘Life is Beautiful’ (1998)) unsurprisingly Glenn Close is nominated in ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, which spoke about the people who adore Trump. Close acts up a storm and gives a brash over-the-top performance that might get her the award. But I hope she doesn’t, because she simply does not deserve it. If Close wins it, will be because she has not ever won before, a shameful reason which must be felt by the actor. I imagine she watched the film with more than a bit of shame, realising she went wildly over the top in search of an Oscar.
Initially it might not seem ‘Mank’ qualifies as a film speaking to 2020, but watch and listen carefully. William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance) was a very powerful publishing magnate, who controlled much of what was printed in his litany of newspapers. When writer Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) was writing ‘Citizen Kane’ (1941), he clearly was drawing from Hearst to create Charles Foster Kane, which did not impress Mr. Hearst. Mr. Trump enjoys controlling the facts does he not? Or instead lies about, oh, everything, thus making ‘Mank’ in its own way a great film with an urgent message about abuses of power.
In the end up, I believe those nominated ones will have commented on society in 2020, directly or indirectly, straight on or metaphorically.
Kind of cool isn’t it?
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The Cinemawala 