skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Film: Live And Become
Release date: 19th April 2010
Certificate: 12
Running time: 143 mins
Director: Radu Mihaileanu
Starring: Mosche Abebe, Sirak M Sabahat, Yael Abecassis, Roschdy Zem
Genre: Drama
Studio: Bluebell
Format: DVD
Country: France/Israel
Winner of the Most Popular International Film award at the Vancouver International Film Festival, Radu Mihaileanu’s Live And Become opened to rave reviews in France. A profoundly moving tale of love, the film charters the life of the central character Shlomo (Moshe Agazai, Moshe Abebe, and Sirak M. Sabahat) a young boy who at the beginning of the film lives with his mother in a Sudanese refugee camp.
During the famine of 1984 Shlomo and his mother are desperate to escape. African Jews know as ‘Falasha’ are being transported to Israel under a scheme known as operation Moses. As Christians, they are excluded from salvation.
When one of the Jewish women’s sons dies, Schlomos’ mother persuades the woman to take Schlomo with her. Posing as his mother, she will take him with her to Israel, ensuring his future and survival. By pretending to be another woman’s’ Jewish son, Schlomo will have a better chance at life than he would have had in the camps.
His mother’s last words to Schlomo before he leaves her are; “Go, live and become.” These parting words have a lasting impact on Schlomo, but due to their ambiguous nature, he is unsure how to fulfil his mother’s wishes. As he grows older, he begins to question more and more their obscure meaning of these words - where should he go? And what exactly should he become?
When Schlomo arrives in Israel, he suffers another loss when the Jewish woman who was looking after him unexpectedly falls fatally ill. On her deathbed, she makes Schlomo swear that he must never reveal his Christian parentage for fear of being deported.
Schlomo is subsequently taken in and cared for by a liberal Israeli family, who treat him as one of their own, but as he settles in to this new life, Shlomo feels increasingly guilty about the lie he has to live with, and the mother who he left behind.
Despite the safety and comparative luxury of his new surroundings, Shlomo continues to feel out of place in his new home with his white family. Outside of his home, he experiences a great amount of racial hostility from Israelis, making him more withdrawn and increasingly isolated. All that sustains him is his dream of returning home, finding his mother, and finding out how to live and become…
The film follows the three stages of Schlomo’s life; from a young boy of 9 to his subsequent adolescent years, and his maturity to manhood. Each stage is played beautifully by three different actors who bring consistent portrayals to the character in the different stages of his life. The young Shlomo played by Moshe Agazai gives an especially riveting and natural performance.
Though it is a film that spans great distances from Ethiopia to Israel and France, the film never for a moment distances the audience from the very personal story of a boy in search of his mother, and creates a great balance of an epic background with a unique emotional story at the very centre.
The film deals with such themes as race, religion, identity, love, conflict, and prejudice, yet with clarity and fairness. No character is irredeemable; they are merely flawed or ignorant, which makes them much better-rounded as characters - and much more realistic.
Though the film poses more questions than it answers, this is one of its many strengths, as none of the conflicts the film is set against is easily solvable. Mihaileanu presents each character and viewpoint objectively, never allowing politics or religion to negatively affect their portal.
The film’s general way of tackling subjects presents all the different conflicts that are central to this film (such as Israel’s continued war with Palestine) in a very non-judgmental way - it doesn’t delve very deeply into the root causes of the conflict but rather uses them as a backdrop behind the everyday conflicts that the characters are playing out.
This film works because of its ability to tackle the challenge and adversity of everyday experiences. Although the issues Schlomo overcomes are personally unique to him they nonetheless encompasses very relatable experiences, such as questioning one’s own identity and faith, and, most importantly, the enduring power of love.
Live And Become is enjoyable and heartrending, with characters and subjects portrayed with a great deal of truth and sensitivity. Although the characters and plot are very specific to a certain time and place, this at no point hinders the viewers’ enjoyment. An incredibly bold and moving piece of filmmaking. CMA
Film: Flesh Of The Orchid
Release date: 1st November 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 110 mins
Director: Patrice Chéreau
Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Bruno Cremer, Edwige Feuillere, Simone Signoret, Alida Valli
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Studio: Bluebell
Format: DVD
Country: France/Italy/West Germany
The misty opening of Patrice Chereau’s Flesh Of The Orchid extends to a rather shady first act, in which we meet characters that test the patience as much as they spark curiosity. As a gardener marches up to a formidably stately residence, cutting a wallflower off at its stem, one wonders whether this is a bout of symbolism, and when he proceeds to march up to the bed of a horrified Charlotte Rampling and strip off, the notion gathers a tad more steam. Rampling’s Claire is often referred to as a second coming of the ‘orchid’, a moniker that isn’t pinpointed until later in the film, but nonetheless bears sexual connotations that never temper with the events that follow.
Emerging from a burning truck a mere fifteen minutes into the film, Claire radiates all of the fortified glory of an untouchable femme fatale. She marches into the car of an onlooking pair of male acquaintances with nary a moment’s consideration, quickly taking a shine to Louis (Cremer), the more masculine of the two. Their subsequent visit to a hotel instigates problems when Louis witnesses his friend murdered by two hired mob members, drawing them both into a desperate chase to evade the silencers.
It takes all of this to first occur before we get a sense of Claire’s former existence, the pouting bursts of disapproval from a fur-clad Madame Bastier-Wagener (Feuillère) calling for her staff to scour the land for her niece, and placing a sizeable reward for her capture.
The remaining information is relayed to us throughout the film, a glorified cameo by the Oscar-winning Simone Signoret as a circus Madame revealing the true, fiscally-motivated reasons for Claire’s Aunt wanting her kept behind closed doors...
Her immediate escape from the motor accident’s threat of fatality reads like an endorsement from the big bad world; this woman has survived for reasons beyond her confined, bubble-wrap setting. It’s an observation that’s only reinforced in her following skirmishes with the law, underground cartel, and the wrath of a ruthless aunt. As Claire is forced to confront a world outside of what she is accustomed to, she does so with an amalgam of bemusement, acceptance, and exhilaration. The reality, of course, is that Charlotte Rampling’s Claire is just looking for affirmation of her own sexuality, and control of her life in whatever form. Her relationship with Louis begins with a decidedly unhealthy desperation surrounding it; since Claire is looking to grasp her newfound freedom and use anyone she can to preserve it.
The film, however, swiftly changes course from being a psychosexual examination of a woman whose sexuality has clearly defined her existence as an incarcerated mental patient, to a seedy caper about vengeful gangsters and greedy aristocrats. It’s a bold move, but one that makes Flesh disarmingly aloof, to the point where it feels constricted and mechanical about its characters’ actions, leaving us wanting to know more about them, more about Claire’s back-story, and the source of the gangland gripes. There’s a propensity towards demonstrating consequences and generating an element of karma that makes the film much more plot-based than had previously been promised. Chereau ceases to coax us into Claire’s scheme of things once the chase begins, proceeding to rally at her behest in some form of authorial self-righteousness.
It would be somewhat of a stretch to label Flesh as a revenge movie, but it does convect a vaguely feminist stance on Claire’s plight as a socially-starved wildflower. Every other major character in the film is punished to some degree, either as a result of sketchy morals or a failure to understand female sexuality well enough. Most of this is not achieved through Claire’s own actions, which is why vengeance doesn’t feel like the most defining feature on offer, but there is something sinister about the way that Claire is placed on a pedestal without us really being required to identify with her. Chereau’s focus becomes unclear when his attention is diverted to a bigger, ensemble-style modus operandi, and his cutthroat dramatic devices feel particularly out of place within a wry, inevitable tone.
The maddening distance felt during Flesh Of The Orchid is at war with an admittedly interesting premise, and it’s true that the film sustains a firm level of appeal as a loose cannon of sorts. Yet, one can’t help but feel that the real promise and bite of the film remain rooted in its first few unnerving, aggressive, expository scenes, and that it pertains to display its heroine through iconography rather than addressing her concerns within the narrative. As an orchid, Claire escapes the clutches of materialist manipulation, but whether she escapes her director’s prism of objectification is another matter. CR
Film: Boxes
Release date: 1st November 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 95 mins
Director: Jane Birkin
Starring: Geraldine Chaplin, Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin, Natacha Régnier, Lou Doillon
Genre: Drama/Fantasy
Studio: Bluebell
Format: DVD
Country: France
When Jane Birkin turned her hand to direction, lovers of Anglo/Franco cinema were to be treated with a strong female voice whose experiences of working with such great directors as Michelangelo Antonioni, Richard Lester and Alain Resnais would certainly give a rise to a new chapter in an eclectic career.
Boxes, Birkin’s debut with a narrative driven feature, tells the story of Anna (played by Birkin herself), a lady in her fifties, who, while unpacking in her new seaside residence in picturesque Brittany, is visited by moments and people from her past.
Whether it is her three ex-husbands, her three children, or her deceased father, Anna is forced to deal with the emotion scars, tragedies and triumphs of her life in a physically sparse yet psychologically dense environment…
For Birkin and Birkinites alike, a film about memory and the overlapping presence of past and present is not a new subject matter. Fans of the made for TV French title Oh Pardon! You Were Sleeping… will be familiar with the notion of individuals dealing with memory and tragedy in a heavily theatrical environment. Birkin’s performance is, like her direction, understated, though she is never better or more complicated a character than when she is interacting with her daughters.
Adele Exarchopoulos as Lilli gives an incredibly mature performance for one so young. At times a playful child, on other occasions carrying the wisdom of her older self that Anna is clearly projecting on to the child from her foreknowledge – it allows for a fascinating back and forth between mother and daughter on several occasions.
The complicated and sexual relationship between Max (Maurice Benicho) and his daughter Camille (Lou Doillon) gives the film, which could easily drift off into the realm of art house pulp, a degree of gravitas that is deeply needed, and is carried across by both actors so skilfully that it manages to leave the audience pondering the unasked questions as to the level of intimacy between father and child.
The casting of Anna’s husbands from various stages in her life is wonderfully eclectic, with Benicho, John Hurt and Tcheky Karyo all pitching in with excellent yet short performances, but also highlighting what is surely a diverse and complicated woman (in Anna).
Cinematically, there are some issues with the film. At points, the lack of camera movement only serves to highlight the fact that this is all staged, which perhaps was Birkin’s intention, but in cinema it creates issues between film and audience. At other times, most notably when Anna’s parents are talking in the garden, the cinematography has adopted an extremely low angle, creating an almost expressionistically Weimar shot, though without the psychological devices to drive the idea home. This is momentary, though, and before long the cinematography is back to being made up of master and two shots, which, along with the almost nonexistent score, does little to alter the idea that perhaps Boxes would translate better on a Parisian stage than a cinema screen. The deep focus master shot of Karyo, Hurt and Birkin is something that should be savoured by cinema audiences, as all three actors have such rich oeuvres, yet it is almost too understated and stagey. Several scenes through the film scream Beckett, Endgame especially, which is an example of the director’s theatrical background but highlights this is neither Beckett nor up to the standard of Beckett.
The most interesting avenue in Boxes is one that is key to the film, yet almost disregarded. Notions of memory and its reliability are littered throughout cinema, so it was probably preferable not to linger on it for too long, however, the fact that Hurt’s character goes without a name, and is initially referred to as a ‘Dick’ and is forced to break through Anna’s subconscious to make her to acknowledge that it was her who oversimplified their relationship in order to justify walking away with their child, is extremely interesting. Ideas of suppression would certainly allow you to wonder if perhaps Anna knew, at least on one level, about the unsavoury relationship between her ex-husband and her daughter, or that her grandmother, a constant source of entertainment in the film, is so deep in the final stages of dementia because that’s how Anna has chosen to remember her - all notions that Antonioni would have been highly interested in.
Ultimately Boxes is a stage play that has been recorded for the cinema audience, and though, at times, it is extremely thought provoking and rich, with excellent actors and narrative, it ultimately has a level of theatrically that sits uncomfortable with the cinematic audience. A theatrically that has long since been left behind for the advancement of cinema as its own autonomous art form. There are many moments in the film that should provoke excitement, warmth and rage, but the misfiring format of the film ultimately leaves the narrative key points falling flat. DL
Film: Sounds Of Sand
Release date: 5th April 2010
Certificate: 12
Running time: 92 mins
Director: Marion Hänsel
Starring: Issaka Sawadogo, Carole Karemara
Genre: Drama
Studio: Bluebell
Format: DVD
Country: France/Belgium
Sometimes a film’s greatest strength can also be its greatest weakness. The story that drives Marion Hansel’s film is as old as the hills, and one of the most recognisable in the world. Tales of families travelling great distances and enduring tremendous hardships can be found everywhere, from the Book Of Exodus in the Bible to Battlestar Galactica.
This French and Belgian co-production is based on the award-winning novel Chamelle by Marc Durin-Valois, and it tells the story of Rahne (played by Issaka Swadogo), who leads his family on an epic trek to find water during a drought around the Horn of Africa.
Along the way, he faces all manner of hardships, from the unbearable heat of the desert to rebel forces – and he has to make many sacrifices along the way…
On the plus side, some of the cinematography is stunning. There are long sweeping shots of the African plains that truly add to the atmosphere and realism of the film. This is also a film that does not attempt to gloss over the hardships and difficulties that many people face in the region. Just when you thought it could not get any worse for Rahne and his family, it does.
The never-ending misery does make this a difficult film to watch. There are no laughs, and the only joy is in watching Rahne’s delightful daughter, Shasha (played by Asma Nouman Aden). And therein lays the problem with the film. It is genuinely hard going. You will need a brave heart to make it through to the end.
Part of the issues lies with the pacing - there is no snappy editing to quicken the pace, for example. The beginning of the film is let down by long, talky scenes between groups of characters. Instead of cutting to close-ups, and giving these scenes a bit of much-needed dynamism, the camera just sits there filming a large shot. It’s a bit like watching a BBC drama from the 1970s. Everything just seems stilted and slow. Admittedly, this is perhaps due to the way we now watch films. Taking Hollywood films, as an example, they can generally overcome their awful plots or poor acting, because they move on so quickly. Sounds Of Sand harks back to a much slower-paced age, when actors really had to act, as opposed to just filling in the gaps before the next CGI explosion.
At times, it also becomes a little too worthy for its own good. As a viewer, you really sympathise with Rahne’s plight, but the temptation to fast forward to the end and make sure that even he survives is overwhelming. Rest assured, there is a happy ending – of sorts.
As a human drama, you have to applaud Marion Hansel for delivering a film that is as unflinching as it is harrowing, but if you are new to world cinema, then this is not really the best place to start. There are other films out there that deliver similar stories in a much better way. It may only be 92 minutes, but it feels a lot longer.
The DVD does also come with an informative forty-minute documentary on how they made the film. It’s a lot easier to watch than the main attraction, and a lot more interesting to boot. At one point, the author of Chamelle reckons his book is untranslatable. Read into that what you will. JH
Film: Live And Become
Release date: 19th April 2010
Certificate: 12
Running time: 143 mins
Director: Radu Mihaileanu
Starring: Mosche Abebe, Sirak M Sabahat, Yael Abecassis, Roschdy Zem
Genre: Drama
Studio: Bluebell
Format: DVD
Country: France/Israel
In 1984, during the Ethiopian famine, Israeli authorities and US state forces launched a clandestine operation to evacuate thousands of persecuted Ethiopian Jews from camps in the Sudan over the border to the safety of Israel. It was known as “Operation Moses”. In 2005’s Live And Become, Romanian-born director Radu Mihăileanu tells the story of a boy caught up in this mass exodus, and of his life in Israel. The film won a number of International awards, including the 2005 award for Best Film at the Copenhagen International Film Festival.
Live And Become begins in a refugee camp in the Sudan, where a Christian boy and his mother are stranded with little hope of survival. Seeing a fleeting hope for her son, the mother gives him away to pose as the child of another woman – an Ethiopian Jew – who is to be airlifted to the safety of Israel by the US as part of “Operation Moses”. The boy takes the place of the woman’s recently deceased son and is given the Jewish name Solomon, (or ‘Shlomo’ in the Yiddish familiar). As he leaves his own mother to board the safety of the plane under this new, false identity she tells him: “Go. Live. Become.”
In Israel, following the loss of his pretended mother and saviour, Shlomo is adopted by a kindly liberal French Jewish family, but still struggles to adapt to his new life. He is viciously stigmatised as the only black child in an unwelcoming and exclusionary culture of white faces, and struggles to maintain the false life of a Jew in Israel, forced daily to hide the shameful secret of his Christianity. We follow his life from boyhood through adolescence and watching him slowly grow into a young man.
Never far from Shlomo’s thoughts is the real mother he left behind in the refugee camp. He is reminded of her when he sites the full moon in the night sky which was shining as he first flew out of the camp and from her, and he never loses hope of one day returning to the Sudan to be reunited with her...
Live And Become succeeds as an intensely human story of a soul unfairly torn adrift from the people and places he knows, and it is on this level that the story shines. Rooted by captivating performances by Mosche Agazai, Mosche Abebe and Sirak M Sabahat as Shlomo, at different stages of his development, we are completely engaged throughout the ample running time of 2hrs 20mins by this lost little boy gradually finding his place in the world in the most testing conditions. Without his family, his roots or his religion, Shlomo is forced to resort to his own character to overcome his circumstances, and it is inspiring to see a wily wit and intelligence emerge from him, and gracefully better the ignorance and prejudices of those around him.
The supporting performances are without exception exciting and absorbing, particularly French actor Roschdy Zem and Israli actress Yael Abecassis as Shlomo’s liberal and opinionated adoptive parents. Yitzhak Edgar, too, as Le Qès Amara, Shlomo’s mentor, is a joy to watch, as he delivers a performance of profound gravity, and the film is elevated rather than diminished (as is too often the case) by some extremely competent child actors as Shlomo’s adoptive brother and sister.
Facts and exposition establishing political situations are delivered simply and effectively; you will need no prior knowledge of the Sudanese refugees nor the political or religious climate in Israel to enjoy this film. Similarly, Mihăileanu has managed to tell a deeply effective story of disenfranchised refugees and their situation in Israel – a hotly political issue – without ever becoming preachy or making us feel lectured to. Largely it’s because Live And Become is not a political film, but rather a human one. The themes being analysed are of identity, and religion, including the fascinating question of what it means to be a Jew. It’s a question Shlomo returns to again and again, and in a climate where religious identity becomes more and more important – in some cases a matter of life and death – it’s still one he never really finds an answer to.
Mihăileanu’s camerawork is superb; active and inventive, without ever becoming intrusive or irritating. Shots of the cities of Israel and Paris and the deserts of Africa are awe-inspiring, whereas the isolated world of the little boy lost away from home is captured in beautiful intimacy. The score is expansive and lush, marrying African and Middle-Eastern sounds, and roots us entirely in this extraordinary world; as strange and foreign to us as to the stranded Shlomo.
In Live And Beyond, Mihăileanu has crafted a wonderful piece of filmmaking, full of mesmerising performances, moments of real tension and tenderness, as well as eye-opening social commentary, and a thankful lack of sentimentality. The plot is occasionally too convenient for comfort, but this criticism shouldn’t detract from anyone’s enjoyment of this powerful and important film. A story about survival, identity, faith; about strength and weakness, compassion and ignorance. A truly epic work from a gifted filmmaker which deserves to be globally recognised. LOZ
