1981, a French Canadian film about boyhood

1981 is a film inspired by the director's childhood in Quebec and to me it's somewhat reminiscent of The Wonder Years, a popular series with Fred Savage which took place during the late 60s and early 70s.

What I loved about this film by Ricardo Trogi is that it's so chock-full of French-Canadian culture from the time-period it takes place. It's like the film-version of a time-capsule. I enjoyed seeing the
hair, fashion, music, toys, cars, technology and Consumers Distributing which was a popular catalog store in Canada during that time.  There is also mention of popular American culture which crossed over into the current culture like the movie Star Wars  and TV show Bionic Woman.

Humor is interjected into the film with Ricardo's imaginings of Nazis and Le Petit Prince, a creation by St. Exupery,who also happens to be who the kids' new school is named for.

Ricardo is a new kid at school who has many challenges. He can’t write longhand. He has no friends. He develops a crush on Anne, the class brainiac who is assigned to help him with his longhand. 

He’s obsessed with getting things, especially from the Consumers Distributing catalog. Like many kids, he craves all kinds of things like: a calculator watch and a K-way jacket. The most recent craving is for a SonyWalkman  which was the latest gadget during that time period.

In order to be accepted at his new school, he starts to get into the habit of telling lies. One of those lies is to his new friends promising to get Playboy magazines. Here's a link to some Vintage playboy from 1981.

The realities of life are clear to Ricardo when his father tells him that they'll have to sell the house they just bought and moved into.

When he starts trying to tell the truth, Ricardo finds he has some physical symptoms.Truth-telling between him and his buddies leads to some very interesting and touching revelations.

Some Quotes from this film:

"Back then the leader of Italy was named Benito. Benito Mussolini was their leader. If you named your son Benito, you got a check for $1. People were so poor, it worked. ---Ricardo

"At your age I'd never have dared ask my dad for a $400 watch."---Benito, Ricardo's father to Ricardo

"It's better to lie than to look dumb." ---Ricardo

"Anything essential is invisible to the eyes." ---quote by Antoine St. Exupery, shared by Aline, Ricardo's teacher

“Do you know how sick you make us always asking for stuff? “–Ricardo’s mother

"Lie again and it'll be the last lie you ever tell, understand?" ---Nazi officer

"The damn truth only works if everyone's telling it. If it's only you, it's useless."---Ricardo

Here are a few scenes from this film:

Here's the trailer:

 

Unfortunately there's no subtitles for it! Sorry about that! But at least it'll give you some idea of what this film is like. Probably fine for those of you who understand a bit of French.

Hitler's Children, a documentary on Nazi descendants

"The sins of the fathers are to be laid upon the children."-Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

This post is about another film related to Nazis and World War II. Instead of a semi-biographical film, it's a documentary by Israeli director Chanoch Ze'evi. I found an interesting article online about this director here.

This documentary isn't actually about Hitler's children since as far as is known, Hitler  never had any children. But it's a very catchy title and is actually about the children and close descendants of those who worked closely with Hitler. Among the infamous ancestors are Himmler, Frank, Goeth and Goering. One often hears about survivors of those who were in the camps but to find out about the perpetrators' families is another take on the history of that era.

The most important thing to realize is that what happened in Germany could, can and does happen in other societies. Racial profiling has not just been used with Jews. During WW II, Germans and Japanese were interned by Allied countries. I know of a man whose German father was interned in South Africa during that era. I also once met a woman of Japanese descent who spent part of her childhood in a Japanese interment camp in Canada. For those who are interested, there is a a museum in New Denver, BC about the internment that was located there.

Niklas Frank, son of Hans Frank, has written about his parents and childhood experiences and gives readings to youth from his books.

One of the most touching portions of this film is when Rainer, the grandson of Rudolf Hoess (who was a commandant of Auschwitz),  goes to visit Auschwitz. While there he speaks to a group of Israeli youth.

I guess this film really touched me because of my German heritage. My German grandfather fought on the German side and was injured by shrapnel which caused him to lose an eye and to live the remainder of his life with chronic pain. I am also quite sure that he suffered from PTSD as he was quite prone to getting very angry. His pain was not only physical but mental, emotional and spiritual as well. For many years I have felt shame for my German heritage because of the legacy of the Nazis.

But as Bettina, grand-niece of Goering in this film states,"That part of German history was only about 12 years." There is so much more to German history and culture than just the Nazis. During the film, she demonstrates and celebrates her German culture by holding a German party for her friends with German food and music.

Some quotes from this film:

"I asked my mother, "How many Jews did my father kill?" -Monika Goeth

"When I got divorced, I asked myself if should I keep my new name or go back (to Goering)?"-Bettina Georing, great-niece of Hermann Goering

"I look more like him (Hermann Goering) than his own daughter." --Bettina Goering

Here are some scenes from this film:

Here's the official trailer: 

I found this little video online related to Rudolf Hoess with some interesting information included about his last days. To read and watch visit with link.

If you get to watch the DVD, there's also an interesting short film about an Israeli who finds a painting which leads him to some concentration camp survivors.

Extra little tidbit: I recently found an article online that Hitler might have fathered a child while he was younger. Here's the link to it. This site also has more information related to this film and relevant topics.

Hannah Arendt, German Jewish Philosopher

This film is directed by German director Margarethe Von Trotta. She has also done other films with actress Barbara Sukowa, who's also German and portrays Hannah Arendt, the German Jewish Philosopher who studied and had a love affair with Martin Heidegger. BTW, Sukowa also portrayed Abbess Hildegard Von Bingen in Vision. Hildegard was quite a Renaissance woman for her time even though she was a nun. She was a healer, writer, composer and artist.

If you understand French, here's an interesting French documentary about Hildegard von Bingen:



One of the most beautiful examples of medieval music I've ever heard is an album of her recorded music titled A Feather on the Breath of God.
Here's another video I found online related to Hildegard:

I must apologize as I digressed, and this post is about the film Hannah Arendt.

The main plot of this film is about Hannah going to Israel and reporting on on the trial of Eichmann who was kidnapped and brought there to stand trial.

She writes a book titled Eichmann in Jerusalem and the New Yorker publishes her articles.

Many people are very upset by what she writes, especially by the fact that some Jewish leaders may have participated in the deportation and extermination of Jewish people. She was even pressured by superiors to resign her position as a professor. Despite the controversy, her classes were filled!

Arendt had left Germany for France with her husband and his mother. While there, she was imprisoned in Gurs, an internment camp for Jews in France. She was fortunate enough to escape just before a number of women were shipped off to Auschwitz. Through Hiram Bingham, she, her husband Heinrich and his mother were able to get visas to go to the United States.

One of the most touching elements in this film was the love between Hannah and her husband Heinrich. The love they had for each other was very, very special. Anyone who has such a love is very, very lucky in love!

Sukowa first got her big breaks into film working with German actor/writer/director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.


Some quotes from the film:

"You told everyone how smart and brave I was to escape from Gurs. ...Many women stayed for fear their husbands wouldn't find them if they left the camp. ...While it was still summer and warm we hoped it would soon be over. But then the waiting. More and more women let themselves go, stopped combing their hair. Stopped washing themselves. Just lay there on their straw sacks. I tried to encourage them. Sometimes I was strict, sometimes friendly. But then, one evening it had rained all day and the straw sacks were falling apart. I suddenly lost my courage. I was so tired. So tired that I wanted to leave the world that I so loved. And in that instant I saw you in front of me. How you'd look for me and not find me."-Hannah to Heinrich

Conversation between Hannah and Kurt about Eichmann:

"He's so different than I imagined." -Hannah
"He was with the SS. They're scary creatures."-Kurt
"But he's not. That's precisely it. He sits in his glass cage like a ghost. A ghost who happens to have a cold. He's not spooky at all. He's a nobody. ...He speaks in this awful bureaucratic language. He suddenly says things like: "I feel like a rump steak that's being grilled..."Incredible!"-Hannah


"The State of Israel bought four plane tickets to tell me that? You must have money to burn to waste it like that."-Hannah reply to Siegfried when he tells her he's there to request her to stop publication of her book on Eichmann.

"But, Kurt, you know me. I've never loved any people. Why should I love the Jews? I only love my friends That's the only love I'm capable of. Kurt, I love you."-Hannah to her friend Kurt Blumenfeld

"...That he had only obeyed orders. This typical Nazi plea makes it clear that the greatest evil in the world is the evil committed by nobodies. Evil committed by men without motive. Without convictions. Without wicked hearts or demonic wills. By human beings who refuse to be persons. And it is this phenomenon that I have called the banality of evil."-Hannah to her class

"Trying to understand is not the same as forgiveness. I see it as my responsibility to understand. It is the responsibility of anyone who dares to put pen to paper on the subject. Since Socrates and Plato we usually call thinking "to be engaged in that silent dialogue between me and myself." In refusing to be a person, Eichmann utterly surrendered that single most defining human quality: that of being able to think. And consequently, he was no longer capable of making moral judgments. This inability to think created the possibility for many ordinary men to commit evil deeds on a gigantic scale, the like of which one had never seen before. It is true. I have considered these questions in a philosophical way. The manifestation of the wind of thought is not knowledge, but the ability to tell right from wrong, beautiful from ugly. And I hope that thinking gives people the strength to prevent catastrophes in these rare moments when the chips are down."-Hannah to her class

Here are a few scenes from this film:

Here's the official trailer:

Warning: There's quite a lot of smoking in this film. After all, this was during the sixties, when many people were smokers. Check out my previous post with an article on smoking in films. BTW, Hannah Arendt died after having a heart attack. I wonder if there was any connection with her habit of smoking.

Gloomy Sunday - beautiful music with sadness...

Gloomy Sunday

If you've had a difficult Sunday, you might not want to see this film?! But the great thing about this mulitlingual post is that you'll be exposed to many different languages with music!

The original German Title of this film by German director Rolf Schuebel was, “Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod.” It translates into “A Song about Love and Death.” This German film takes place in Budapest before, during and after World War II. Laszlo (Joachim Krol, who played briefly as Inspector Brunetti) is a restaurateur in Budapest who has restaurant called Szabo’s.. His lover Ilona, played by the lovely Hungarian Erika Marozsan works as a waitress in his restaurant. One day Andras (portrayed by Italian Stefano Dionisi,(just an aside but this actor played the famous castrato Farinelli!) a pianist auditions and gets a job to entertain there. Many men are charmed by Illona. But her two great loves are Laszlo and Andras.

A regular German customer named  Hans Wieck ( played by Ben Becker ) falls for her too. When she rejects his proposal, he jumps off a bridge and is rescued by Laszlo. The next morning Laszlo sees him off at the Budapest-Berlin Express.  Andras writes a song for Ilona which is recorded and helps promote Szabo’s.  The song becomes a hit and attracts many new patrons to the restaurant. But it also has a dark side to it as many people commit suicide while playing the song.

I don't want to say too much about the plot except that the time period is before, during and after World War II in Budapest, Hungary. Yes, it has Nazis.

The screenplay for this film inspired by a real song that was written by a Hungarian composer named Rezső Seress. This film is a love story and a mystery. Enjoy it and don’t let the music make you feel too sad…
Here are a few scenes from this film:

Regarding the song...

One of the most well-known recordings of this song in English was done by Billie Holiday in 1941. It's been recorded in many different languages.

Here are links to a number of different versions of it:

Link to version from the film in German:



A Hungarian version from the film:


Video about legend and original recording:

Here's a French version:

Here's Billie Holiday:

An Italian version done live:

A version that's in Spanish with piano and gypsy flavor to it:



A version by Sarah Brightman:

Bjork's version at a memorial:

Japanese version:


Here's a Russian version:

Here's a Vietnamese version: