It may surprise some that my first post in a long time is about movies. I haven't had much time to watch any recently, but during a long flight, in which I was able to take advantage of long-distance flight benefits, I was able to view a whole bunch of very enjoyable films on a very small screen. The interesting thing was that the quality of the image didn't impinge so much on my enjoyment of the movies, because the quality of the story shone through (though I'm sure a better quality image wouldn't have bothered me).
The movies I'm talking about are recent productions: Moneyball, The Beaver and Larry Crowne.
The first is nominated for the Oscars, which I think a bit excessive, but I guess it speaks to Americans in a way it never could to non-Americans, being focussed on baseball, but what I found fascinating about these three movies (and the other two didn't get amazing reviews) is that they're movies about losers. These movies are particularly timely now that America is having to review its identity as a country of winners, however, what's really interesting is that they're not necessarily huge productions. The movies have an odd pace about them, the scripts are pleasant but not particularly complex, and the stories, interestingly, integrate very strong moral values. What is even more interesting, in my opinion, is that it is actors who are backing these movies, as opposed to big production houses. Moneyball is produced by Brad Pitt, while The Beaver and Larry Crowne are directed respectively by Jodie Foster and Tom Hanks. In this great time of crisis, the big production companies are still making idiotic, frenzied and clichéd entertainers, like "Real Steel" and another G.I. Joe movie (which I may even watch), that are just that: entertainment, distractions, things to keep people not thinking about what's happening in their world, in life, and keep them almost believing that the world is divided into beautiful, good people and into ugly, bad people. Funny enough, famous actors seem more in tune with reality and are taking on the challenge of speaking to the American and Western people about hard truth, namely, the harshness of life, and the hope that can still be found.
As I said, three unaccomplished guys are the main characters in these movies.
In Moneyball (a true story), Pitt plays a baseball manager who, in his younger years, was hailed as a new star in baseball, but in the end, didn't rise to the expectations placed on him. He chose professional baseball over a scholarship in a prestigious university and we find him embittered against the old baseball talent scouts who had promised him greatness. What he does though, is find a way to take a whole bunch of losers in baseball and make them achieve something no-one else had before. The baseball factor makes it not so easy to understand for Europeans, but the principles therein are understandable and they come through, in spite of the medium. But what makes this movie great is that, as opposed to many sports movies that hail the sport they talk about as the greatest ultimate objective, the big decisions that the protagonist finally makes are actually based on how to best love his family (I'm not saying any more so I don't ruin the movie for you), which shows there are things worth winning at that are much greater than sports or careers.
The Beaver was the most touching for me. Mel Gibson plays a clinically depressed man whose wife has tried everything to save him and who has to go through his very own journey of madness and loss in order to find himself and be reconciled to himself, his wife and the son who hates him. Really worth watching. It's funny and painful. All three movies talk about divorce, but this movie upholds marriage and the idea of fighting for a marriage more than any movie I've seen in recent years.
Larry Crowne was a sweet movie about a guy who gets fired and has to accept to make difficult, humbling decisions in life in order to adjust to a new lifestyle in the present economical situation. He faces it with optimism, pushing through his despair. The story pits him against another type of man who chooses to abdicate responsibility in life and loses everything because of it, an interesting praise of chivalry and manly virtue, even though as I said, it's not perfect. But it's honest, and it cuts through the heart of many things.
I don't know whether I'm putting the right words to this post, I'm trying not to give away key elements of the plots, but they're really worth watching.
I find it interesting that we haven't heard much of the last two, just like another picture that came out a couple of years ago and who never made it to cinemas here in Geneva, or I didn't hear about it, and wasn't able to watch it: The Company Men. A movie about corporate executives getting fired during the crisis and having to reassess their lives and identities in light of their socio-economical standpoint. These are movies that are made to shake people up from their slumber and to show them: here's reality, and here's hope. It seems though that people don't want to be shaken up and would rather stay in a stupor of shallow entertainment, while this world crumbles and the fabric of our society is falling apart.
I don't know whether any of this makes sense, I haven't been writing in a while, especially not in English, but I find it funny how as one grows, one's preferences evolve. I myself feel like I've awoken from a stupor and am seeing reality better than before. Indeed, even though this whole post is about films, one of the best things I've learnt recently is this: switch off that screen.
