ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Mexico

Tuesday at AFIFest 2020

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AFIFest 2020 Presented by Audi has teamed up with NBC News to present the Meet the Press Film Festival, programs of short documentaries about issues facing the world. Today I took in the program entitled “Justice for All” which included three shorts.

My Brother’s Keeper (22 minutes), directed by Laurence Topham, is the story of Mohamedou Slahi, a Guantanamo detainee for 14 years, and Steve Wood, who as a Marine was assigned to guard him. In their time together, they developed a friendship. After Slahi was released (he was never charged with a crime), he went home to Mauritania. In this film Wood makes the trip to visit his friend.

Laurence Ralph uses animation in The Torture Letters (13 minutes). The film is a series of open letters to various victims of police violence in Chicago. That violence ranges from intimidation and harassment to violence that can lead to death. The use of animation makes it possible for us to better understand that such abusive behaviors by police are indeed torture. An interesting connection to My Brother’s Keeper: In the Q&A after the films, Ralph noted that one of the people who tortured Slahi was a Chicago police officer.

Can fight solve problems? In Lions in the Corner (9 minutes) Paul Hairston introduces us to Chris Wilmore (known to most as Scarface), a past felon with a very difficult childhood who runs Street Beefs, a backyard fight club in which people with issues come and fight it out rather than solving problems with guns of knives. In the process he has created a community of people who have found a place where they can find respect. Often the battles in the ring serve to vent the anger, but also create a bond between former enemies.

Twin brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri bring us Eyimofe (English title: This is My Desire), the stories of two people seeking a better life away from Nigeria. Set in a Lagos slum, the stories of Mofe and Rosa are told sequentially (although their paths cross at a few points). Both are trying to gather the necessary paperwork (all of which requires money) to emigrate to Europe. But events do not work well for them. Mofe loses his family and then his job. Rosa, who is seeking to take her younger sister Grace with her, struggles to fend off the advances of her landlord, while navigating an unscrupulous woman who will pay for their trip (but at a great price). The film shows us the struggle, the hope, and the desperation of those in or near poverty. The colors and customs we observe provide a sense of ethnography set within the narrative.

Jacinta and Rosemary at Maine Correctional Center, 2016. Photo © Jessica Earnshaw.

Jacinta is a heartbreaking documentary from Jessica Earnshaw. We first meet the young woman named Jacinta as she has a month left on a nine month sentence in the Maine Correctional Center, where her mother Rosemary is also incarcerated. It follows her after he release through times of hopefulness and despair. Jacinta is an addict who isn’t able to fight her addiction very long. The first trigger is when she reconnects with her daughter Caylynne. The emotions are too much for her so she retreats into getting high. The spiral continues. But all this is tied together by mother/daughter relationships—Rosemary and Jacinta, and Jacinta and Caylynne.

Earnshaw has incredible access both inside the prison and in the personal lives of Jacinta and her family. It creates a very honest film about addiction and its consequences. That can be heartbreaking in itself, but it is even more so as we learn about Jacinta’s youth and her relationship with her mother (whom she still loves and idolizes) and also see the bond that Jacinta has with Caylynne and how Caylynne deals with all the things in her mother’s life. A very moving and powerful film.

Heidi Ewing is better known for documentary filmmaking (Jesus Camp, The Boys of Baraka, and Detropia), but brings her first narrative feature, I Carry You with Me, to the festival. It is based on the story of Iván and Gerardo, to young men who fall in love in Mexico. Iván has a son, but when it is discovered that he is with another man, he is forbidden to see his son. Iván works in a restaurant and is trained as a chef, but cannot get past dishwashing. He decides to “cross over” to the US. He expects to find good work, but only can get the most menial of jobs.

Eventually Gerardo joins him and they struggle together until luck gives Iván a shot at his dream. Through the years Iván and Gerardo eventually find a good life in New York City. They are even able to be openly gay and share in Gay Pride events. But they are cut off from their families. They can never go back, or they may not be able to return. This is at once a decades-long love story and a commentary on the lives that many people are living in our midst.

Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy

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“How can it be that a white British woman knows more about Mexican cooking that anyone else?”

Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy is the story of a passion. When a British woman found her way to Mexico in 1957, she discovered a love for the food and the culture. For the past six decades, Diana Kennedy has been learning about the traditional and regional ways of making Mexican food and sharing that with the world through a number of cookbooks. Now in her 90s (she was 95 when the film was being made), she continues to live a vibrant and unconventional life in Mexico.

Perhaps what makes her such an appropriate advocate of Mexican cuisine is that it happened organically. She enjoyed the food and the country. As she would travel early in her time in Mexico, she would travel on the busses (as she says, “with the chickens and pigs”). She would meet families, stay with them, and always get recipes. She would go to local markets to learn what the people of each region had available and would use. She had a great respect for the culture. That may be why she becomes upset when people make changes to her recipes. In one scene she’s reading an email from a chef who describes that he needs to “interpret” the recipes for his “audience”. (And so, he will not use her name in conjunction with the recipe.)

The film focuses less on the food (although you will learn it is absolutely forbidden to put garlic in guacamole), and more on the woman who has made this food such an important part of her life. She has been called a “prophet of Mexican food,” “the Indiana Jones of food,” and “the Julia Childs of Mexico,” but prefers “The Mick Jagger of Mexican cuisine”. None of those are bad descriptions. Like a biblical prophet, she tells the truth and has an evangelistic zeal about Mexican food. Like Indiana Jones, she searches relentlessly for foods and recipes that might seem obscure. Like Julia Childs, she has popularized a cuisine that many have come to love. Like Mick Jagger, she continues to have a sense of swagger even as the years keep adding up.

The film shows up Kennedy’s love of life and appreciation for the world around her, not only the Mexican culture, but the natural world as well. That love of life is intertwined with the passion she found for Mexican food. And it leads us to consider what it is in our lives that may bring the same kind of passion and enjoyment.

Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy is available on Virtual Cinema

Photos courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment

TIFF ’19: Chicuarotes

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As a bus rolls through the decaying town of San Gregorio, Mexico, Cagalera (Benny Emmanuel) and Moloteco (Gabriel Carbajal) don clown makeup in an attempt to entertain riders for tips. In this gripping first scene, director Gael Garcia Bernal does a fantastic job at setting the tone as Cagalera explains that they prefer to make money in this way, as opposed to getting involved in criminal activity. Although Cagalera’s optimism is not long lived.

As the film progresses, we come to find out that Cagalera and Moloteco are not the only ones struggling. It’s clear that opportunities in San Gregorio are limited, and that the residents must do what’s necessary to survive, let alone thrive. With signs in the street promoting “United Neighbours Against Delinquency”, it’s clear that misguided youth and criminal activity are common.

Despite the overall disheartening tone of the town, we see some glimpses of hope in people like Cagalera’s mother, Tonchi (Dolores Heredia) who listens to inspirational tapes affirming that life is a beautiful opportunity, and encouraging people to “make it happen”.

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Each new character we meet throughout the film has a different struggle, ranging from sexual assault, domestic abuse, alcoholism and closeted homosexuality. These are all very intense issues on their own, but screenplay writer Augusto Mendoza piles them one on top of the other, thickening the air and effortlessly portraying the consistent struggles of the town.

Cagalera’s struggles turn into down right desperation as he gets further into trouble in an attempt to make money and leave town with the love of his life. He gets involved in some despicable actions to get what he wants and continues on a selfish path. There are moments when you feel as though you should sympathize for the protagonist but more often then not I found myself wishing he would stop. It’s an engrossing look at how people are products of their environment and, for some, it’s all they know.

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I noticed an interesting underlying theme surrounding a lot of the women in this film who confronted the men that wronged them in some way. Whether it was a past high school bully or a current abuser, these women decided that it was their time to stand up, speak their truth, and change their situations. (Even so, they were mostly done in quite unconventional ways.)

I would be remiss if I didn’t speak on Moloteco, the quiet and kindhearted young man that almost seems like he doesn’t belong. The criminal life just isn’t for him. He has an obvious conscience and is also searching for a better life. He seems like he is all alone, juxtaposing Cagalera’s larger family.

Overall, watching these different personalities navigate their environment was very though-provoking.

Chicuarotes recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Saturday at AFIFest 2018

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For me, Saturday at AFIFest Presented by Audi was a day of globetrotting. Films often bring the world to us in many different ways. We see other countries through the eyes of filmmakers who wish to share their cultures—both with love and with a critical eye. They introduce us to people we might never meet, but we get a chance to know and appreciate.

Iran is a country much in our national news with talks of nuclear programs and sanctions. But that is not what filmmaker Jafar Panahi is interested in. In 3 Faces, well-known actress Behnaz Jafari (herself) gets a phone-made video from a young woman who may or may not have committed suicide because her family won’t let her study acting. Jafari sets off with a director friend (Panahi) to go to the remote mountain village to discover the truth. The trip brings us in contact with many people who have nothing to do with the issues that fill the news. The film focuses on the customs of the people and especially on how that affects women in that society. It is of note that Panahi has been arrested, sentenced to jail (now a loose house arrest), forbidden to leave the country, and banned from making films for 20 years. Obviously, he is still doing so. 3 Faces is scheduled to be released here in the spring.

For a lighter story, Sweden provides Amatuers. When a German low-price superstore considers placing a store in the small town of Lafors, the cash-strapped city council ask students to make a promotional film about the town. On seeing the results, they find a real filmmaker to come and take over. But two of the students keep at it to create something that shows the true character of the town. This is a story about allowing those who are overlooked to be seen and heard. The film shows the broad range of diversity that makes up the society. It also shows the personal level of what it is like to be part of a society, but not quite really be a part.

Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón has made a very personal film in Roma. In a taped message before the screening, Cuarón noted that it was based on memories from his childhood in Mexico City in 1971, and called it “a love letter to the woman who raised me.” The film is not so much about plot as it is a character study of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) a maid in the home of a doctor’s family. She is both part of the family, but also her place is nearly always that of a servant. The film is vignettes of her life with the family—the tragedies, and the joys. The film is a visual treat with astounding black and white cinematography. But its real power is the emotional strength of some of the scenes. Roma is Mexico’s official entry for Oscar consideration. It opens in select theaters on November 21, and will be available on Netflix in mid-December.

Who Wants An Apocalypse? – The Story of God (Ep. 2)

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ExplosionIn his poem “Fire and Ice,” Robert Frost offers a brief discussion about how the end of the world will occur. In the end, he seems content with either fire or ice, but the end of planet earth is a topic many people discuss and debate today: How’s it going to happen?  Who’s going to set the pieces in motion? Are we going to be around to see it happen with our own eyes?  In tonight’s second episode of The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (National Geographic Channel, 9P/8C), he takes a closer look at what faith has to say about the end of days. The findings are worth taking a look at for yourself.

While Freeman takes trips in the episode to Mexico (Aztec), India (Buddhist), Jerusalem (Jewish), and New York City (Islam—and a fascinating discussion with a gentleman who was part of the group that would later become Al Qaeda), the episode has a significant focus on the Christian belief of how the world will meet its demise.  Freeman talks with Jodi Magness, a professor at UNC, as she takes him to Qumran and shows him where the Dead Sea Scrolls were located.  The location is pretty breathtaking, as the caves built into the rock formations offer a glimpse of where the Battle of Armageddon would supposedly take place. The folks who occupied the caves—known as the Essenes—believed the impending war would bring them redemption lasting for eternity. They got their battle, all right—but it was with the Romans, who dropped by for a visit in 68 AD and destroyed the sect.

This concept of war has always been part of the canon of Christianity—all it takes is a quick read of the book of Revelation.  With all its symbolism and heavenly preparations for God to usher in a new heaven and new earth, a major focal point has involved the 13th chapter of the book.  It includes a massive beast rising out of the sea, a second beast giving orders to worship the first beast, and the imposition of a mark on all people—the number 666. Horror movie directors love it and devoted followers of Jesus today are scared to have it anywhere in their sight, whether it be on a license plate or their number of Facebook friends.

Morgan Freeman and Kim Haines-Eitzen
ROME – Morgan Freeman examines ancient documents with Cornell University Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions Kim Haines-Eitzen at the Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome, Italy.

 (photo credit: National Geographic Channels/Seth Nejame)

Freeman visits the Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome, a centuries-old library filled with ancient texts, for a discussion with Cornell professor Kim Haines-Eitzen. She shows him some writings and talks about who Revelation 13 may be referring to (hint: it didn’t involve any political candidates in America during the 21st century). Using numerology, the writings seem to show the Antichrist was Emperor Nero, a wild ruler from Rome in the first century who persecuted Christians intensely, killing them or using them as human torches. There was even speculation the number in the Bible was actually 616, not 666. But nevertheless, people of that time supposedly knew exactly who the text was talking about—and lived their lives appropriately.

If there is one point the second episode of The Story of God with Morgan Freeman seeks to make, it’s that the end of days allows people an opportunity to renew their lives.  He references Hurricane Katrina’s visit to New Orleans in 2004 and talks to people who started their lives over as a result—particularly in the Ninth Ward.  The apocalypse may not happen today, tomorrow, or even five years from now, but it provides us the opportunity for introspection and a chance to be renewed as we consider God and are reminded that He’s ultimately in control of the winds, waves, and the end of the world. 

Bleak Street – And Is It Ever

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The black and white cinematography of Bleak Street sets the mood. There is no brightness or cheer in the Mexico City neighborhood in which it is set. This is a world in which gray is the dominant color. The characters live in desperation and on the fringes of the fringe. There is little or no hope for those who live here—only the possibility (or perhaps the curse) of surviving another day.

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The story revolves around a pair of aging prostitutes, Dora and Adela, who are no longer sent to the busier corners where they could get work. Both have issues going on at home that make their life even more miserable. There is also a focus on a pair of midget lucha libre wrestlers, Little Death and Little AK. They are twins who serve as “shadows” for a pair of full size wrestlers. Little Death and Little AK wear their masks at all time. These two story lines eventually intersect with tragic consequences. Through it all there is a sense of destiny being played out. The characters have lives that seem to have been fated to bring them to this point. From time to time one of them will talk about how whatever happens is what is meant to happen.

I can understand why a filmmaker would be attracted to this story. It is a film that plumbs the depth of human sorrow. It is not about depravity, but rather about the desperation that fills the world in the kinds of settings these characters find themselves. Each has his or her own burdens that have brought them to this point. And the idea of the way destiny has shaped them and continues to do so is a concept that can be fruitful to explore.

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I wonder more about the audience for the film. Certainly those who frequent art houses are used to dark, depressing films without happy endings. But there are not a lot of people who really want to see just how dark the world can be. To be sure, this film has its qualities: the visual use of light and shadows fits perfectly with the story; the treatment of the characters as frail and broken rather than as flawed or sinful. There is an artfulness to this film that many will appreciate. Some will appreciate the humanity of the characters and mourn their fate. Some will ponder the role destiny plays in the tragedies of life. But all who brave this film (and some will see the value in doing so) will journey through darkness that may feel overwhelming.

Photos courtesy of Leisure Time Features