1979, the turning point

There is a part of american culture that resisted the Reaganism, the materialistic culture, the wild financial globalization, the return to the past, the illusion of heroic power, the male world. :)

Mike Mills set the turning point in 1979, in Carter's speech.

Those who resisted managed to bridge the gap between the late 1970's and the 21st century.

Greed paranoia

Greed for money. Greed for power. Greed paranoia.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a John Huston. The film shows how easily men lose sanity when they are obsessed with gold, money, power.
It' s the same look of greed we see in the financial system and the political system. 
If we observe carefully when we listen to their speeches we identify certain facial expressions very similar to the faces of Bogart. :)

When human curiosity exposes the secret culture

This week the film is a Spielberg, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Curiosity is one of the best qualities of humans. To observe, to wonder, to think over. And to solve mysteries. That's why some don't trust the official information and media.

Well, most people believe in almost everything they hear. But not our guy, Roy, he needs to know, he needs to understand. 
The woman is looking for her son, he is looking for an answer.

UFOs are very popular in american culture and american cinema. But the situation - human curiosity exposing the secret culture -, applies to everything that is truly important to human life and our planet. So, open your eyes, my friends, open your eyes.  :) 

American cinema contributed to deal with social prejudices

This week the film is a Douglas Sirk, All that Heaven Allows.

It's not easy for a young widow live in a small town. Small towns are very conservative, there are social rules to be respected, different groups don't mingle. Friends try to find her a mate but the man available is not interesting. Others take advantage of her condition. And worse, her house will soon be empty with the children at the university. 

This young man is the son of a gardener. He knows everything about trees, that's how their conversation begins. He is a free spirit, opens windows, brings light to her life. He believes anything is possible when we love. 
For the children he is only "the gardener", they can't see his unique qualities. And their mother is only that, "their mother", even if they are going to leave home soon.

Loneliness is cold like that winter when her son brings a television home to keep her company. Reflected on the screen her face looks sadder. Her daughter finally understood what they have done to her, how terribly selfish they have been.

American cinema contributed to deal with social prejudices. Ironically since the eighties we've seen this cultural openness regress to a fascination by the rich and famous. The world was finally in its right order, divided by winners and losers. This partly explains Donald Trump' votes.

Cultural innovation in american cinema

Inspired by this idea, How is it possible that someone like Donald Trump is getting voters? and Why is trash culture becoming stronger and stronger?, I began a selection of american films each week until November that, in my point of view, represent the best and the worst of american culture.

For some reason american presidential campaings have become very important for those who dream of a better world. What we need most is a cultural innovation, someone who reads the signs of changing times, who understands the constitutional values and who respects people in general.

Sometimes we see cultural innovation in american cinema, often wrapped in a package to please a heterogenous audience. The first part of The More the Merrier, for instance, is about sharing space (renting rooms) and services (cars). Washington is growing fast along with public administration. 
This is more about sharing space and services than defending population growth.  

The second and third parts of the movie are the same old romantic comedy, the boy and the girl, both beautiful, both sexy, both childish (especially the girl). :) I'm not saying I don't like romantic comedies because I really do, but let's face it, the first part leads us to expect more...

Peace is the message, brought by someone from another planet

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a Robert Wise. Science fiction movies were very popular in the fifties and sixties. But this one has a very special atmosphere.

Peace is the message, brought by someone from another planet. Well, it is more than a message, it's a warning. World leaders must stop violence and wars. Or else...

American cinema is more fascinated by power and wars than peace and harmony. So, films like this have a stronger impact. 

Home and family are magic words to american culture

This time the movie is a Fritz Lang, Clash by Night.

A woman returns home. She knows she doesn't belong anywhere. Her sophisticated life in the city ended up when her lover died. Now she wants a quiet and comfortable life, to be protected by a steady and loyal man. She finds him, a new family and a real home, but she'll have to overcome her wild and restless nature. Perhaps this is the old human conflict between "me" and "us".

Home and family are magic words to american culture. American cinema reveals this importance.

Living beings can not be imprisoned, time can not be frozen

"The Petrified Forest" is the movie of the week. 

An isolated gas station in the arizona desert, the perfect place to stay petrified too.
A selfisn old man who holds his granddaughter working in the snack bar, a gifted young girl who dreams of a trip to France, a wanderer writer who lost the inspiration and discovers the girl's talent, a gangster waiting for his girl who betrayed him, a rich couple who finds out what's really important in life.

Living beings can not be imprisoned, time can not be frozen. Everything is moving from one place to another, from one situation to another. That's why the writer decides to die to give the young girl a possible future.

Living in a materialistic world

Another week another movie. This time is a Wyler, a film made with love and hope.
The film starts with three soldiers returning home. They'll try to adapt to a new materialistic world keeping intact their values. Family, friends, community. People who help each other.  

American cinema shaped our culture

Cinema is the art form of the twentieth century, but also a cultural medium. Generations have grown up with films and spent hours inside dark movie theaters. 

Why is it important to recall these magic moments of innovation, the way of telling stories and spreading ideas? 
The answer is right in front of us: our culture, I'm referring to western culture, is giving in to trash culture. Sorry, but it's true.
The Trump speeches, for instance, what are they... but trash? The american people should tremble only by this fact: Trump is running for president of the United States. I'm trembling and I'm not american. Well, somehow I'm american too, I grew up with american movies and I breathed their culture, their ideas, their ideals.

So, I'll choose a movie each week until November. The first one is a Preminger, The Man with the Golden Arm.  

Creating 'governance dynamics'

"Irony is not a high priority"

Good comedies are hard to find

Good comedies are hard to find. 
A good comedy:
- plays with emotions, values and culture habits;
- inspires you with creative solutions;
- sends a message, it's more than entertainment.

For instance, when we are caught in a contradiction... that is really funny:

Movies that anticipate the future

I've always enjoyed to anticipate the future. I observe carefully what is going on, general tendencies, priorities, cultural clashes, and then I try to picture these changes in the near future.
That's why I like science fiction movies.

I'm not talking about time travel or close encounters with aliens. I'm talking about possible and probable events. 

Almost every science fiction movie shows violence, war and destruction. Some examples:

The Postman (1997):

Children of Men (2006):

War, Inc. (2008): 

If we compare the movies of the nineties with those of the second decade of the new century we see a clear difference. Movies are becoming more pessimistic.
The Postman gives us hope. There's room for survival. Children of Men shows us a world with no future, but still a miracle happens, a new child is born. In War, Inc. everything is marketable, nobody is safe, there's no trust or moral ground (trash culture).

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" projects on extra-terrestrials the best parts of human nature

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a Spielberg movie about extra-terrestrials that reveals much more about terrestrials. It projects on extra-terrestrials the best parts of human nature.

This week I found on youtube a video with a scene I wanted to show you today:

Just notice how some of these scenes look like a documentary, that's an art mastered by very few directors: it seems real because it's about real people, it could happen that way. And also notice how strong is human quest for the truth. They want answers. No boundaries can stop them. Their need to understand overcomes fear.
Religion, science and politics have tried to fill this human quest. We are submersed by information, manipulation, consumer marketing, the constant noise. This movie also reminds us that we must always question information and try to validate it.
No given explanation can replace individual counsciousness, especially when it makes resonance with others'. We need one another, we are communities, so, we must learn how to respect other's space and time.

Wild River, when a peaceful nature meets a wild one

Is there anyone who would like to translate me to english?, to an american movie style english? I'm waiting here... I made a list of friends, but I hadn't the nerve to call them. Is this something we can ask a friend?

Wild River is here, but in portuguese:

A força da natureza. A lógica do progresso. Uma ilha incómoda. E a descoberta do desejo, também ele indomável. Um encontro que se revela criativo. Wild River.Desde que o vi pela primeira vez que Wild River me tocou de uma forma estranha. Como capta a força indomável da natureza, a cor outonal, os sons... E as personagens, os diálogos contidos, os gestos expressivos... Há qualquer coisa de muito terreno, selvagem e poético neste filme! A terra e a alma estão ligadas, na avó da jovem mulher. A própria mulher é um pouco bravia, como aquele lugar. Eu sei que somos muito diferentes, dirá ela ao homem da barragem, que vem para resolver a resistência à abertura da comporta. Talvez... mas a sua paz (a dele) é mais aparente do que real. E às vezes só se encontra a tranquilidade aceitando e vivendo as tempestades interiores (neste caso, são mais chuvadas, está-se em Outubro).
Bem, nesta altura já deu para perceber que o filme me tocou mais do que a maioria dos filmes... Talvez porque o meu lugar é, também ele, assim bravio: montanhas isoladas, de pinheiros bravos e ribeiras tumultuosas... Sim, e perto, uma barragem também, também assim azul...
Voltando ao Wild River: A avó de uma jovem mulher, viúva com dois filhos, recusa-se a sair da ilha onde sempre viveu. Permanecerá ali, teimosamente, até a obrigarem a sair. Vemos, no seu último olhar desesperado para a árvore que cai, que alguma coisa dentro de si também começou a cair... E mesmo que a nova casa também tenha um alpendre, como o homem da barragem quis que fosse respeitado, para lhe agradar... não durará muito, adormecerá na cadeira, nesse alpendre, de desgosto. O empregado fiel aguardará ali perto, talvez porque pressinta o fim. Um pormenor em que só desta vez reparei.
Há momentos verdadeiramente mágicos. Como eram contidos e, ao mesmo tempo, tão intensos, os filmes desta época! E como se conseguiam exprimir emoções e sentimentos de forma tão minimalista. Elia Kazan é exímio nessa atmosfera carregada de desejo. Tudo no ritmo certo, nos gestos, na coreografia. A agitação é interior, está quase a explodir, já a sentimos no ar. Depois desse encontro, ela volta na barcaça. Despedem-se de longe. Vemos no seu sorriso que tudo está diferente. Eles mudaram. E será assim a partir daí. Até ele descobrir que não é assim tão auto-suficiente... que (também ele) precisa dela. Não é fácil amar-te, dir-lhe-á ela. Mas eu amo-te... eu amo-te... Está à sua frente, tão franca e vulnerável, tão altiva e comovente. Sim, orgulhosa de amá-lo, mesmo podendo perdê-lo. Sei que em breve te vais embora, tinha-lhe dito. Leva-me contigo.
Sim, há qualquer coisa de bravio neste filme. E de poético também. Talvez seja essa a força da natureza, a que o homem pacífico não irá poder resistir. Não apenas se apaixona pela jovem mulher, como aceitará o seu desafio e da forma mais inesperada possível. Talvez por ver como ela o defendeu, como uma gata selvagem, naquela luta em que mais uma vez perde. Gostava, por uma vez que fosse, de ganhar uma luta... Ela diz-lhe que isso não é importante. Ali estão, no meio da lama onde tinham caído, lado a lado. E então o homem pergunta-lhe se quer casar com ele... que provavelmente ele se irá arrepender e que certamente ela se arrependerá... Mais inesperado do que isto, é impossível.
Sim, o homem ganha uma família instantânea, como já lhe tinha dito, de forma sarcástica, um dos manda-chuvas do sítio. O mesmo que lhe batera forte e feio. Estes indivíduos exemplificam, na perfeição, a rudeza e a rigidez de alguns lugares provincianos. Também é aqui visível o racismo, em que não há igualdade de tratamento nem de salários. Esse é, aliás, um dos pontos de fricção cultural: o homem da barragem insiste em furar aquelas normas absurdas e paga exactamente o mesmo a todos os que contrata. Aqui também podemos medir a sua coragem na medida inversa à sua habilidade e força física. Torna-se especialista em levar pancada. Sim, podemos medir aqui a sua coragem na forma como se sujeita à violência física, não abdicando dos seus princípios.
Em Wild River a natureza está sempre presente. De certo modo, a natureza acompanha as emoções das personagens, as suas tempestades interiores. A fotografia e o som, sempre a lembrar-nos que tudo isso também está a acontecer dentro de nós, uma chuvada, um rio que se atravessa, uma ilha que se abandona, uma árvore a tombar…
O ritmo também acompanha as emoções de muito perto. E mesmo que algumas cenas nos pareçam suspensas no tempo, em que só se sente a respiração das personagens, diríamos que numa linguagem e num tempo mais próprios do teatro (e isso é muito Elia Kazan), ainda assim estamos na linguagem do cinema, no tempo do cinema, quando se cruza com o teatro de forma perfeita.
As personagens e os actores, os actores e as personagens, confundem-se aqui. Lee Remick é a viúva um pouco bravia. Montgomery Clift é o homem pacífico. Jo van Fleet é a mulher da ilha, de um território, raiz de uma árvore ancestral que o progresso arranca sem-cerimónia nenhuma.
A natureza e o progresso, a natureza e o homem, num equilíbrio instável. Em Wild River até a barragem parece ligar-se de forma poética às montanhas que a envolvem. Mas será possível dominar um Wild River?

River of no Return, a perfect life's metaphor

There is a river called the river of no return... Sometimes it's peaceful and sometimes wild and free...

Life, love, dreams, freedom, survival... along the river...

We travel with them, we see how fragile life is and how poetic a family can be. They don't know yet but we do. We see how they survive the rapids, the wild river... we listen to their voices when they stop to rest. They drink hot coffee and eat fish, they talk about their pasts, their dreams, their hopes.

Their dialogues are so philosophical... How she has ended up in a saloon, how she has given up her dreams, how she always gets herself into trouble. She tries to excuse her boyfriend, it was life that made him that way. One night she tells him how she would like to live in a place where people could be treated as human beings. The Man says: That's in Heaven.

Let's begin from the beginning.

The Man arrives in his horse to fetch his son. The Boy is waiting in a gold mine camp. The Woman takes care of the Boy and asks the Man, what kind of father are you to leave your son in a place like this.

They'll meet again, in different circumstances. The Woman's boyfriend, the Gambler, is in a hurry to claim a gold mine he won in a poker game before the owner... well, he has to go to Kansas City. So, they try their luck through the river.

Meanwhile the Man is practicing his new role: being a father. And as a father he teaches the Boy how to use a gun for protection. Here, life is a struggle and danger is real. And don't forget the indians.

When the Gambler, after they were rescued from the rapids, steals the Man's horse, and the indians attack his house, we just know they have no choice. They are in the middle of an adventure: life itself, no guarantees, no certainties, just the struggle to survive.

So, here we have Life (the river), Family (the Man, the Woman and the Boy, before they even dream with it). Soon, we'll have the most magic word in old movies. Just wait a moment. We are getting there.

They manage to survive. They take care of the Boy, they begin to know each other and to trust each other, just like a family. The Boy learns disappointment, one the most difficult lessons of growing up. He discovers his father has shot a man in the back. Soon he'll learn that there are all kinds of men, and sometimes one has no choice.
Arriving Kansas City... Have you noticed how beautiful and poetic this scene is? Everyone may ask for a gift, says the Man. The Woman's will be to give her boyfriend a second chance, to let him explain himself. Marilyn in the Man's coat, so fragile: it must be marvelous to be loved that much...

Here, everything is in its right terms: the Boy will learn how to be a Man and will use the gun to save his father, even if it means to shoot a man in the back. (What difference does it make how you kill a snake, in front or in the back?) Then father and son hug...

Try to watch this scene very carefuly: the Woman picks up her shoes, the only thing that she owns now, and steps in the saloon. Pause... just before entering the saloon she looks back... What a magic moment... Have you noticed that?

Marilyn singing: There is a traveller on the river of no return... he'll never return to me... never...

And there he is. He looks at her and puts her in his back, just like that.

Where are you taking me?

Home.

Life, Family, Home... three magic words in old movies and in hopeless romantic souls.

As mine.

Life and Cinema

It Happens Every Spring is a 1949 film, directed by Lloyd Bacon, with Ray Milland. I've chosen it because of the tittle. It turns out that the tittles I chose initially, River of No Return (Otto Preminger) and Wild River (Elia Kazan), were already taken.
Anyway, It Happens Every Spring impressed me immediately. As a metaphor, it's inspiring. And the movie, the description in the catalog, has to do with baseball, a game I don’t understand but that I find very elegant.

But is this blog about movies?
It's about life, love, friendship, dreams.
It’s about power, war, destruction, survival.
It’s about freedom, hope, a second chance.

It's about thoughts and feelings and what I've learned from all those movies, especially the old movies, my favorites.

I hope you'll find the same magic that I found, the same joy. Cinema is a very special way of telling stories.

And I also hope you won't find many errors here. But if so, would you be kind enough to let me know? Until now, I’ve only written in portuguese and it’s a completely different structure. Sometimes I misplace words and concepts. You see... I must think in english first and then express those ideas in writing. I tried to translate what I had already written in portuguese, and even used some translation tools, but the result was not what I really expected.