ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

AFIFest

Song Without a Name – A Steep Climb

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Life is hard for those on the edge of society. It is often made harder by official indifference of authorities. It is even worse when the authorities feel free to take advantage of such people. Melina León’s film Song Without a Name shows just how such injustice can take place.

Inspired by real events, the film is set in Peru in 1988. There is economic chaos with astronomical inflation. But for Georgina and Leo, an indigenous couple in the Andes, life is lived day to day. Leo is a traditional dancer, Geo sings traditional songs, and they get by selling potatoes on the street. Geo is pregnant, and when she hears a radio ad about a clinic that will provide free medical care for expectant mothers, she takes the long bus ride into Quito for an exam. When she goes into labor, she takes that long bus ride again, gives birth, and encouraged to sleep. When she wakes up, she’s told the baby is at the hospital, and forcibly ushered out of the clinic. When she returns the next day, the clinic is gone. It was part of an operation to provide black market babies for adoption abroad.

On her first visit to the clinic, there were children jumping rope in the courtyard. As the jumped they chanted, “Single, married, widowed, or dead, divorced mother or not, you are worthless.” That rhyme reflects the official indifference that Geo encounter when they report the kidnapping to authorities. The police ask for her identity number, and when she doesn’t have one, she’s asked how they know who she really is. It seems to end any caring by the police, because to them she is a non-person.

It is only after she goes to a newspaper and finds a journalist willing to investigate that we discover that this is an ongoing concern that has official protection. But even when it is brought to light, there is likely nothing to be done about finding Geo’s daughter.

The film is an interesting mix of this story, and a look at the life of indigenous people such as Leo and Geo. The film begins with Leo and others dedicating his new dance clothes, and a celebration of dance and song. Those folkloric interludes show the richness of life that they share in, even if their everyday life may seem a struggle. For those who treat them as “worthless”, these scenes are a statement of the great value they actually have.

The songs are also very much tied into the grief and pain that Geo is going through. Lyrics include, “Time is the longest distance between two places”, “I don’t want to die alone far away”, and “Express bus, where are you taking me”.  These all reflect Geo’s emotional turmoil. The height of this is when we hear her sing a lullaby to her absent daughter. The emptiness she feels is palpable.

The cinematography of the film (which is done in Black and White with a 4:3 aspect ratio) places us in a world with steep landscapes. Geo and Leo navigate those difficult ascents and descents day by day. Their life is a constant uphill climb. Theirs is a precarious life. But others have their own uphill battles, as we see in a subplot involving the journalist as he enters into a relationship with an actor in his apartment building. Being gay also puts him on the edge of society, even though he has a respected professional position.

I first saw this last year at AFIFest. It’s interesting that when I recently watched it again, I made almost as many notes as I did with the first viewing—and mostly about other things I was noticing. That speaks to the abundance this film provides at a variety of levels. It is a blend of  emotional, spiritual, visual, and aural components that invites us to consider the lives of those we may see, but not truly see.

Song Without a Name is available on Virtual Cinema through local arthouses.

Photos courtesy of Film Movement.

Hala – Between Two Worlds

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Hala is the story of a young woman caught between two world—her parents’ and the culture she has grown up in. It is a stereotypical coming-of-age story with the additional conflict of having to live by additional rules that grow out of her parents’ values. But it also turns into not just about her yearning for freedom, but also about what it means to be a woman in a male dominated society.

Hala (Geraldine Viswanathan) is a Muslim high school student with Pakistani immigrant parents. Although she wears a hijab and covers her body, even in PE, she is very much a typical American teenager. She rides a skateboard. She is awakening sexually, but not sure what it means. She is good in school.

But her relationship with her parents is uneven. She is fairly close with her father (Azad Khan), but constantly in conflict with her mother (Purbi Joshi). Part of the tension derives from her father’s assimilation into American life (he’s a lawyer). He and Hala converse in English. The mother, although she understands English, always speak in Urdu. So when Hala and her mother speak it is clear that they are from different cultures. Her mother is trying to make sure she is brought up properly. Her father’s only concern is that she is staying away from boys.

Of course, she has been crushing on Jesse (Jack Kilmer), a boy at school and the skateboard park. As their relationship grows, Hala keeps it secret, sneaking out to meet him. One day with Jesse, she sees her father and discovers his secret, which devastates her opinion of him. Her sexual awakening grows, but not in satisfactory ways.

When an issue arises with a teacher (Hala’s fault) and her parents are called to school, the conflict escalates within the household. It is now her mother who gives voice to Hala’s needs, while her father has become the adversary. In time Hala must find a synthesis that will allow her to remain faithful to her religious values, but also experience the freedom that American society offers. The film’s final scene gives us an idea that she is beginning to find a blend of the two cultures which will be more acceptable to her.

Director Minhal Baig steers the viewer in how to understand what is going one, at times a bit heavy-handedly. When we see Hala in school, it is in her English class where they are given an assignment to write an essay featuring a point of view. (That concept comes up a few other times in the film.) This film is clearly from Hala’s point of view. We don’t get the perspective of her parents, or of the teacher involved, or even Jesse. It is all focused on Hala’s needs, desires, and decisions. That is, of course, what makes for a coming-of-age story. That singular point of view is appropriate for that age, but it also makes the story a bit more shallow than it could be.

The more explicit way we are instructed how to read this film is by Hala’s identification with Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, which she is assigned to read in school. The lack of freedom for women that Ibsen described in that play continues to be felt by many today, especially in some ethnic/religious settings. We could easily see Hala as an updated reimaging of Ibsen’s work.

One aspect of the perspective of this film that should be noted is that it seems to assume a superiority of American culture over the cultural values her parents bring with them. We know all through the film that this is about Hala’s struggle for freedom—especially freedom as it is seen in our culture. Perhaps there is (or is not) a superiority to our culture. But the presentation of her parents’ cultural values seems a bit dismissive, as if we will naturally see it as wrong-headed and backwards. Perhaps the real answer for Hala is not to win her freedom, but to find the best of all the values to incorporate into her life.

A Hidden Life: Resisting Evil

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Terrance Malick creates films that are spiritual experiences. Sometimes, it is more about the experience than story. (Personally, I love going through those experiences, but understand why some find it difficult.) In A Hidden Life, Malick creates an experience that relies on the real-life inspirational story of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian conscientious objector during World War II. Although it has the traditional plot framework, like many of Malick’s films, it feels more like visual poetry than the prose that makes up the story.

The tone of the film is set at the beginning as strains of Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion plays over archival footage of Nazi parades and military parades. This dichotomy of the sacred and what is now nearly universally seen as the embodiment of evil speaks to the conflict upon which this film is built. We know from the beginning that this is a story of good and evil. We also know that it will surely be told with a spiritual depth that is rare to find in films.

August Diehl in the film A HIDDEN LIFE. Photo by Reiner Bajo. © 2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl) is a peasant farmer living in an idyllic village in the Alpine foothills. He, his wife Fani (Valerie Pachner), and their three daughters live a happy life in a community that works, plays, and worships together. When Austria is annexed by Germany, Franz, like all Austrians, must report for basic training. Because farmers are important to the war effort, he soon returns home, but the threat of being called up is always on his mind. If he is called up, he will be required to take an oath of allegiance to Adolph Hitler, whom he sees as evil. (The term Antichrist is used about Hitler in the film, but not spoken by Franz. He does seem to agree with the characterization, though.)

As he awaits the possible call up, he and Fani discuss his options. He also becomes known to the community as an anti-Nazi (a stance most of the village disagree with). While others use “Heil Hitler” as a greeting, Franz dissents. He speaks with his parish priest, who is supportive, and even gets an audience with the local bishop, who is less so (perhaps out of fear that Franz might be a Gestapo spy).

August Diehl and Valerie Pachner in the film A HIDDEN LIFE. Photo by Reiner Bajo. © 2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

When the call-up comes, Franz reports, but when the time comes to take the oath, he refuses—an act he knows may well lead to his immediate execution. Instead he is arrested and begins a period of months in prison, first in Austria, and then in Berlin. Many, his priest, his lawyer, military people, even other prisoners, make arguments that he should sign the oath and save his life. But in his heart, he must be faithful to himself and his Christian beliefs—even if it could lead to his death.

Meanwhile, back in the village, the Jägerstätter family is being ostracized. Fani and her sister are left to do all the farm work themselves, even when the others in the village help one another in these difficult times. Franz and Fani’s daughters have mud thrown at them by neighboring children.

During this period, we hear, mostly in voice over, the letters between Franz and Fani. The letters are in part love letters, but also an exploration of the faith in God these two people have as they face these trials. The way the letters are read make them seem poetic.

This is a film that has various layers for us to appreciate. As always with Malick films, A Hidden Life is gorgeous. Director of Photography Jeorg Widmer gives us jaw dropping shots of scenery. Even his shots inside prison speak as loudly as the dialogue in the film. The visuals of the film create a visual poetry that underlies the story we are told.

August Diehl in the film A HIDDEN LIFE. Photo by Reiner Bajo. © 2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

Like some of Malick’s other films, he allows the visual aspects to help carry the story. The film is in English and German. The German portions are not subtitled, but in reality we don’t need the subtitles. We know perfectly well what is happening, even if we don’t know the words being said. The love letters are often heard as we see scenes from the life the two key characters are living out. Those scenes may not coincide with the words we hear, but they clearly are integrated to the emotional tone of the letters.

A good part of the film is built around those who try to get Franz to submit to the oath. It is not unlike the temptation of Christ or the discussions Job has with his friends. Each one brings a new reason for him to consider: it is really just a formality; no one really takes it seriously; he has a duty to his family to stay alive and support them; he can be assigned hospital duty and not be part of the fighting; no one will know what he is doing so it is a wasted effort; it is his patriotic duty to support his nation; it is biblical to obey those in authority because they have been put there by God. And like Jesus in the wilderness or Job among the ashes. Franz holds firm to his position that he is doing right and his duty to God.

For one who remembers the draft during the Vietnam War, I recognize those arguments, which are similar to those made against conscientious objectors in that period. Like Jägerstätter’s neighbors, there were many during the Vietnam era who considered COs to be cowards and traitors. It was often a difficult path for those who sought to live out their faith in that time by refusing to take part in what they considered an unjust and illegal war.

August Diehl and Valerie Pachner in the film A HIDDEN LIFE. Photo Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures. © 2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

In one of his letters Franz writes, “”If I must write… with my hands in chains, I find that much better than if my will were in chains. Neither prison nor chains nor sentence of death can rob a man of the Faith and his free will.” In this he echoes the Apostle Paul, who spoke of himself as an “ambassador in chains”. For Franz, the Nazis might control his body and even take his life, but on a spiritual level, his freedom was his own.

A word should be said about the length of the film. Its running time is three hours. While leaving the theater after seeing this at AFI Fest, I overheard a conversation in which some one asked if it needed to be three hours. I thought that perhaps it didn’t need to be that long, but there is no reason for it not to be that long. And because it is such an immersive and at times meditative experience, the running time could easily be seen as adding to the strength of the film.

Valerie Pachner and August Diehl in the film A HIDDEN LIFE. Photo Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures. © 2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

For the record, Franz Jägerstätter was declared a martyr by Pope Benedict XVI and beatified in 2007. It should be noted that the word martyr comes from the Greek word for witness. Franz Jägerstätter servs as a witness to what it means to be faithful in the face of evil. His story was relatively unknown for many years. One argument made by his tempters was that no one would ever know his story, so it was an empty act. But now, his story comes to us with power and faith to speak to how we are called to live in the world when evil often appears in many manifestations that seek to either force us to take part, or at the very least stand silently by.

A Hidden Life was awarded the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes.

Photos courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures

AFI Fest 2019 – Awards and Personal Faves

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AFI Fest 2019 Presented by Audi has announced the winners of the Audience Awards, as well as the Grand Jury Prizes for short films. Following the awards listing, I’ll chime in with my own favorites from the festival.

Audience Award – Feature  I AM NOT ALONE (DIR Garin Hovannisian)

Capturing the fury, emotion, and spontaneous expressions of freedom that overtook the streets of Armenia in 2018, Garin Hovannisian’s fascinating eye-witness documentary affords a unique glimpse into a revolution-in-the-making by offering unprecedented access to the grassroots movement that dared to challenge an entrenched regime, as well as the regime’s leaders themselves.

Audience Award – Short LOST & FOUND (DIR Orlando Von Einsiedel)

A determined man, armed only with a megaphone, his determination, and an unshakeable smile, sets out to reunite lost children with their families in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh, which now houses over 600,000 Rohingya Muslims.

Grand Jury Award – Live-Action Short  EXAM (DIR Sonia K. Hadad)

Jury Statement: “We are so excited to award the Grand Jury Prize to Sonia K. Hadad’s EXAM. EXAM stood out from the other films for its bold directorial style, anchored by a stunning lead performance. The result is a tense portrait that reaches past its specificity into the universal.”

A teenage girl delivers a package of cocaine to a client and gets caught in a weird cycle of events.

Grand Jury Prize—Animation SOMETHING TO REMEMBER (DIR Niki Lindroth von Bahr)

Jury Statement: “We’re pleased to give the Grand Jury Prize in Animation to SOMETHING TO REMEMBER for its tender yet critical response to the world around us, and its perfect execution. This irresistible short transforms bittersweet anxieties into a modern lullaby — we couldn’t take our eyes off of it.”

 A lullaby before the great disaster.

Grand Jury Prize—Documentary (tie) A LOVE SONG FOR LATASHA (DIR Sophia Nahli Allison)

Jury Statement: “We are honored to award the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary filmmaking to A LOVE SONG FOR LATASHA. It’s haunting and poetic exploration of a young woman’s life cut tragically short allows its audience to experience an injustice long hidden by time and politics. This film is a portrait framed by beautiful imagery, loving recollection and astonishing storytelling that will linger with the audience long after the credit roll.”

A dreamlike archive in conversation with the past and the present reimagines a more nuanced narrative of Latasha Harlins by excavating intimate and poetic memories shared by her cousin and best friend. 

Grand Jury Prize—Documentary (tie) THE CLINIC (DIR Elivia Shaw)

Jury Statement: “A gripping, harrowing peek into one corner of a vast epidemic, Elivia Shaw’s THE CLINIC is striking for the sensitivity and nuance with which it treats its subjects — both the people who come to Dr. Marc Lashner’s mobile needle exchange looking for help, and the scrappy team of volunteers who do what they can to offer it.”

Amidst a devastating opioid epidemic, a needle exchange and free clinic operates in the shadows of Fresno, California. 

Darrel’s favorites from the festival

For me, A Hidden Life was far and away the most Impressive film I saw. It Is the story of a conscientious objector In Nazi Austria during World War II. Terrance Malick, who directed the film creates a film that Is visually stunning, spiritually edifying, and deeply moving. This film won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. It will open In theaters December 13.

Of the films I saw that were submitted by their countries for Oscar consideration, my favorite was Antigone from Canada. An Immigrant family Is torn apart when one brother Is killed by police and another set for deportation. Antigone, their sister, hatches a plan to help her brother escape, but Is then caught up In the justice system herself. An updated reimaging of the Sophocles tragedy.

Hector Barajas in READY FOR WAR. Photo Credit: Courtesy of SHOWTIME.

My favorite documentary was Ready for War which told the stories of three (out of thousands) American veterans who have been deported in spite of their service to the nation. They are sent to Mexico where they have no family or connections. It is easy for drug cartels to recruit them. One of the vets profiled is a soldier for a cartel who values the skills the military taught him. Questions of justice, law, and patriotism play out.

Thursday at AFIFest 2019

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As AFI Fest 2019 Presented by Audi draws to a close, it is time to thank the festival and it’s press office for allowing me to attend and report on the festival. I also want to thank the countless volunteers who helped to make the festival run smoothly and make sure I got in the right line when it was time to do so.

I am one of many people who has enjoyed Oliver Sacks’s books about various neurological maladies. Oliver Sachs: His Own Life is a documentary by Ric Burns. Burns was given very important access to Sacks in his final months before dying in 2015. The film tells of his life, his struggles (which include drugs and coming to grips with being gay). Above all, though, it paints him as a man who was amazingly empathetic and curious about people—especially patients with various neurological problems. He says that he always wanted to know what it was like to be another sentient being—to be another human being. That empathy is what made his books such a joy to read. When I read them, it was not just seeing some strange person or their illness; it was a chance to learn what it was like to be them as they lived with their malady—or in some cases, their gift.

In Corpus Christi from director Jan Komasa, Daniel is paroled out of the juvenile penal system and sent to work at a sawmill in a distant town. When he arrives, instead of reporting to work, he goes to the church to pray. When asked, he says he is a priest. He has a clergy collar and is taken to meet the local vicar. When the vicar becomes sick the next day, he asks Daniel to fill in for him a few days. Daniel has served as an altar boy, and would like to become a priest, but his conviction prevents him from going to seminary. Soon he’s hearing confession, presiding at mass, giving last rites and all the other things priests may have to do. In time, of course, his past will catch up with him. What I found interesting about the film is that even while knowing what he was doing was wrong, Daniel strove to do what was right. He applies the kind of tactics the chaplain in his facility had used to help the villagers work through grief and anger stemming from a traffic accident that killed several young people. At times we also see the awe that Daniel feels as he realizes what he is being called to do. While some may think it is anti-church in saying there is nothing special about the priesthood, it does serve as a reminder of the idea of the priesthood of all believers. Corpus Christi is Poland’s official Oscar submission for International Feature. It will open in the US in the spring of 2020.

Wednesday at AFIFest 2019

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There has been a major change at AFI Fest 2019 Presented by Audi. For the last few years, tickets for most screenings and events at the festival were free. This year, the public needs to buy tickets, although there are some films that had free screenings. While the attendance is still good, most screenings are not completely full houses. It’s not cheap to run a festival, so I certainly understand the need for revenue. And AFIFest is the only festival I know of that has offered free screenings of their films. But it has resulted in fewer eyes seeing some of these excellent films.

In Armenia in 2018, Nikol Pashinyan, a former journalist and leader of the political opposition, started a walk to protest the upcoming reelection of the prime minister. A few dozen followers grew to hundreds, then thousands, eventually toppling the government, and making Pashinyan prime minister. I Am Not Alone is a documentary of this Velvet Revolution. Much is archival footage, but it also includes various interviews with many of those involved, including Pashinyan and the Serzh Sargsyan, the prime minister he opposed. Pashinyan was following the teachings of Gandhi as he led this movement with non-violent protests and civil disobedience. It shows how much of the country was resigned to the political situation, but because of the people asserting their ultimate authority, democracy was restored.

Hector Barajas in READY FOR WAR. Photo Credit: Courtesy of SHOWTIME.

Ever since the Clinton Administration, it has been the case that non-citizen military veterans who break a variety of laws (mostly drug related) can be deported. These are people who have often grown up in the US, chose to serve in the military, fought in our wars, and even been wounded in that service. Andrew Renzi’s documentary Ready for War addresses this issue by looking at the stories of three vets who have been deported. Hector Barajas spent 14 years in Tijuana seeking to get back into the US. He started a shelter for other deported vets, and has worked to try to help others make a home or find a way back to their families. Miguel Perez is in an ICE detention center through most of the film, as he and his family seek his release. “El Vet” is a veteran, who when he was deported and knew no one in Mexico or had a job, was recruited by the drug cartels because he had skills that were of value to them—the skills the Army taught him. As the story rotated between the three, some of the issues that come into play are examined. As one person working on behalf of these vets says, “It may be legal, but it’s not just. And it’s definitely not American.” Ready for War will air on Showtime on Nov. 22.

When introducing Tayarisha Poe’s Selah and the Spades the festival programmer noted, “It’s fierce. It’s fun. It makes me not want to go back to high school.” That was a fair assessment. Hardwell School is a toney private academy. All the less than academic aspects of student life are controlled by five “factions” (basically upscaled gangs). These factions cooperated under a truce, but they are also in competition. Selah (Lovie Simone) heads the Spades, the faction that provides all the drugs and alcohol on campus. But it’s the last semester of her senior year, and she has no one to turn the faction over to. Then she meets Paloma (Celeste O’Connor), a new student, and begins to groom her to take over. However, Paloma may not be up to the task—or she may be too up for the task. Amazon Studios has bought the film so it may end up of Prime. They are also working to create a series that is set the world of Hardwell School.

In Beanpole, two women in post-war Leningrad seek to rebuild their lives. Iya, a very tall young woman, works as a nurse in a veterans hospital. She had a concussion during the war and now sometimes “freezes up”—suffers petit mal like seizures. During one of these, she suffocates the child. When Masha, a soldier being discharged, arrives, we discover the child was hers. Iya was taking care of the child for her. Masha also goes to work at the hospital. Masha, who is now infertile, pressures Iya to replace the child she has lost. Iya wants nothing to do with sex. Meanwhile Masha has a suitor with a connected family. This is a film set in a dismal time and place. The two women are looking for any bit of hope of new life and happiness. But keep in mind this is a Russian film. Do you know any happy Russian endings? Beanpole is Russia’s official Oscar submission for International Feature consideration. It will arrive in US theaters in late January.

Tuesday at AFIFest 2019

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It’s nice to be able to compare notes with others at AFI Fest 2019 Presented by Audi. You get to hear what other people have seen and were impressed by, or just compare notes and confirm that what you saw was pretty bad. Sometimes such discussions can make you rethink your schedule.

I opened the day with Searching Eva, a documentary film by Pia Hellenthal about a young woman (at the time, see note below) in Berlin. She is a sex worker, blogger, and model. In the film she self-identifies as bisexual. I went in thinking this could be really bad. But she has an interesting view on the world and lives her life very freely and openly on her own terms. The film includes some of her blog posts and comments made by others on her blog—some supportive, some dismissive, some questioning. Whether her lifestyle and philosophy appeal to you or appall you, Searching Eva is an interesting look at a unique person. [Note: Prior to the screening, the festival program mentioned that the subject of the film has since transitioned to male. For the purpose of this review, I use female pronouns to fit the subject at the time of filming.]

An interesting coincidence with the next two films: both are stories about women, motherhood, and struggle. In Adam, from director Maryan Touzani, Samia, a young heavily pregnant woman, goes door to door looking for work and a place to stay. Abla, a single mother and baker, reluctantly takes pity on her letting her in for the night, then a few more. Abla’s daughter Warda is happy to have someone else in the house. Abla as tired, cold, and perhaps a bit bitter. As the days progress, the two women find strength in each other for their struggles. More, they find strength to hope for something better than life has given them so far. Adam is Morocco’s official Oscar Internationals Feature submission.

Maura Delpero’s Maternal is set in a home for unwed mothers run by a group of nuns. Lu, one of the mothers, is very rebellious. She is frequently in trouble with the nuns. One day she leaves, abandoning her young daughter Nina, with Lu’s roommate Fati, who has a son and a daughter on the way. Nina is very taken with a newly arrived nun, Sister Paola, who is yet to take her perpetual vows. Nina asks to sleep with Sr. Paola, and soon a very close bond begins to form. Does this cause Paola to have second thoughts about her vows? When Lu returns, what will that mean for Nina? Both Lu and Paola love Nina, but in very different ways. One is more spiritual, the other much more primal. Probably neither is completely what will give Nina all she needs in life.

Monday at AFIFest 2019

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Fifty-one percent of the films at AFI Fest 2019 Presented by Audi are directed by women. In the lobby of the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres where most of the screenings take place stands a large installation entitled “Changing the Chairs”, noting that who sits in the director’s chair makes a difference, and celebrating that more women are now getting the opportunity to have their voices heard.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is mostly known for his work in Japanese horror films, but his film To the Ends of the Earth was undertaken to celebrate the friendship between Japan and Uzbekistan. Yoko (Atsuko Maeda) is a Japanese TV reporter doing a bit of a travelogue of Uzbekistan. She and her crew go to various places in the country looking for interesting stories. During the off hours, she wanders through unfamiliar streets where no one speaks her language. Her anxieties and loneliness begin to take a toll. The film serves as a bit of an introduction to Uzbekistan, but as Yoko discovers, getting to know a country isn’t really the same unless you meet the people as well.

Hala from writer/director Minhal Baig, is a coming-of-age story of a young woman from a Pakistani immigrant family. Hala (Geraldine Viswanathan) is a senior in high school, but her parents’ conservative values do not fit with the world she lives in. She begins seeing a non-Muslim boy. She sneaks out. But it becomes more complicated when she discovers a secret about her father, with whom she has been close. Her life seems to be shadowing Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, which she is studying in school. It is not just about finding herself, but about her mother also finding herself. And about finding a synthesis between her parents’ world and her own. It’s not the first film I’ve seen about young Muslim women struggling in western culture. But it is a well done film that left me pulling at threads and then noting that perhaps it wasn’t unraveling after all. (For a film to stay with you after you’ve watched it is a good thing, especially if you think better of it as time goes along.) Hala will open in select theaters on Friday and will stream at AppleTV+ in December.

Sunday at AFI Fest 2019

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Sunday is the day I’ve most been looking forward to at AFI Fest 2019 Presented by Audi, because I know that Terrance Malick is capable of creating amazingly spiritual films. Would he justify my anticipation?

But first I saw Ivana the Terrible, an autobiographical film by Serbian director Ivana Mladinović. Mladinović gathered family members, friends, even former lovers to portray semi-fictionalized versions of themselves as she delves into her own personality. She has returned home to Kladovo, a city on the Danube across from Romania. She is the most famous person from the city because of her acting career. They want her to be involved in the annual Serbia/Romania Friendship Festival. While there she argues with family members, gets involved with a younger man, and generally leaves chaos in her wake. But about midpoint in the film, she and friends go to an archaeology museum and see a film about a discovery of a community several thousand years old. That serves as a hint for us to see that this film is her own personal archaeological dig into her own psyche.

In A Hidden Life, Terrance Malick tells the real-life story of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian, who during World War II refused to take an oath of allegiance to Adolph Hitler. When Franz (August Diehl) is called up for military service, he refuses to take the required oath of allegiance to Hitler, who he believes is the antichrist. He is known in his home village as an opponent to Nazism. The story progresses slowly (it takes 3 hours), but constantly through scenes that we don’t need to hear or understand what is being said, and through deep conversations, and later letters between Franz and his wife Franziska. As he is in jail his family must survive on their farm, even as the community has ostracized them. Malick makes films that are often more poetry than prose. He relies more on visuals to give us the story and the emotional content than he does on words. A Hidden Life is both poetic and admirable storytelling about an inspirational hero (who has been beatified by the Catholic Church). As always in Malick films, this is absolutely gorgeous. Also, as always, there is a deeply spiritual level to the story. Both Franz and Franziska have deep faith in God throughout the trials they face. They also have a great love for one another. Was it up to my expectations? A Hidden Life is the best film I’ve seen this year. It opens in theaters next month. I’ll have much more to say then.

Saturday at AFI Fest 2019

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The second day of AFI Fest Presented by Audi, was another day filled with interesting and powerful films. The odd thing about being at Hollywood and Highland this year is that since the Egyptian Theater down the street isn’t being used this year, I have no reason (or desire) to descend to street level and the mass of tourists and hawkers on Hollywood Boulevard. I’m up two floors higher where I can look down from my own little world (or perhaps it’s an ivory tower).

Hirokazu Kore-eda is one of my favorite directors. His hallmark is films about relationships—especially family relationships. The Truth is his first film made outside of Japan. That gave me some worries that he might have trouble portraying a different culture, but he’s done a wonderful job. Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve), an aging actress, has just published her memoir. Her daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche) has returned with her family (including her husband Hank [Ethan Hawke]) after many years in America to celebrate her book—but also to criticize her mother for the falsehoods about their relationship, which was pretty non-existent. A recurring line is “Memory can’t be trusted.” When Fabienne’s major domo suddenly quits after years of being taken for granted, he convinces Lumir to stay around through the next film Fabienne is making—a story of a mother and daughter who rarely see each other. It is a story of memories—real and imagined. It is also a story that delves into the parent/child relationship in the unique way Kore-eda has of exposing love that may not be what we expect.

Kazik Radwanski’s Anne at 13,000 Ft is a very up-close look at a young woman struggling to understand who she is. Anne (Deragh Campbell) is a daycare teacher in Toronto who is hardly more mature or responsible than the children she oversees. After going skydiving (a tandem jump) on a bachelorette party, she wants more than anything to get to where she can do it solo. But as we watch her at work, or in various relationships, we see not only childishness, but also perhaps a bit of bi-polar style personality problems. As the film moves along, we see her less as someone we are comfortable with and more someone we know is at a breaking point. Will skydiving give her the freedom and control she desires or will it be too much for her to handle?

In Song Without a Name (Canción Sin Nombre) from director Melina León, Georgina (Pamela Mendoza),a young indigenous woman in 1988 Peru, is lured to a clinic with the offer of free maternity care. But after she delivers her daughter, the child disappears. Itinerant clinic would steal the babies of poor women to sell for adoption abroad. The police are unresponsive, in part because the poor women are seen as worthless. (When Georgina first goes to the clinic there are children jumping rope to the chant “Singled, married, widowed, divorced. Mother or not, you are worthless.”) In desperations she turns to a journalist to investigate in hopes of having her child returned. The start black and white cinematography emphasizes the dreariness of the story and of Georgina’s life. Her life is visualized on screen by hills and stairs—she is always struggling to get anywhere, but she must persist.