Sunday, June 16, 2002
Currently listening to: “Barrel of a Gun” by Depeche Mode
Yesterday was a good day. Micki and I went out in the afternoon, to the bookstore and the movies (saw Windtalkers -- rant about that coming up), and then spent the rest of the evening cooking (lemon and garlic chicken, with angel hair pasta and tomatoes baked with spinach and cheese. Yum. We also had crab-stuffed mushrooms, but for some reason those turned out disastrous, and ended up being fed to the garbage disposal. Oh, well. Two out of three isn’t bad), and watching The Simpsons first season on DVD. Fun.
And after relaxing (read as: goofing off) for the entire day today, I spent this evening shopping with Micki as well. I haven’t really been shopping in about six months, and I had a GAP gift certificate that’d been burning a hole in my wallet since Christmas, so now I have four very cute new shirts. Nothing like new clothes to brighten one’s day. Plus I finally used that Bath and Body Works gift certificate that I’ve been hanging onto for a year (I got it for graduation – is that sad or what?) and so I’ll smell really good too. Hee.
Best of all, I got to spend the time away from my family, giving me two days of needed respite from the usual cacophony of... well, life in general. I can’t really say anything further here. I’m attempting to take everything in stride at the moment, but it’s difficult at times.
Though I must say, I am glad to be out of my little depressed pity-party moment. Someone wiser than I am reminded me that life often takes unexpected turns, even when every effort seems futile. And I realized that shrinking into my own selfish world would be merely counterproductive, and that the only thing to do right now is to continue as hopefully as possible, and pray for the strength to do so.
I’m so thankful that there are people who have such an ability to encourage my resolve.
Anyway, rant. Let’s talk about Windtalkers. I think I’ll title this section...
Films That Flop
Windtalkers (starring Nicolas Cage and Adam Beach) is, supposedly, a story about the Navajo code talkers used during World War Two. Now, I am not usually a big fan of war movies. But this looked possibly interesting. It looked like it might actually delve into the history of how this people’s language became an unbreakable code.
Of course, I was severely mistaken.
For one thing, the entire movie contained approximately five scenes, total, that even related to the actual code talkers and their contribution to the war effort. The rest of it centred entirely upon three things: Joe Enders’ (Nicolas Cage) orders to “protect the code” by guarding Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), one of the two code talkers in his troop of marines; Joe Enders’ personal demons (unresolved and inconsistently drawn, I might add) and physical limitations (also terribly inconsistent and inaccurate) from earlier trauma in the war; and Joe Enders’ ability to motivate his men to “destroy the Japs” and take the island of Saipan.
In between all that, we have some things thrown in, such as a “tragic” romance between Enders and some Navy nurse stationed in Hawaii; the stereotypical prejudice against the Navajo that gradually dissipates as the group forms that ever-so-wonderful brotherly camaraderie; the endless valour of the brave soldiers as they defeat The Enemy.
And, of course, the unending blood and gore.
Literally three-quarters of the already-too-long movie was nothing but battle scenes. Men burning and writhing in pain. Men being shot and bayoneted. It befuddles me, how anyone in our current political climate would actually want to watch a movie like this (I didn’t expect so much explicit detail), especially with the disgusting portrayal of the stupidity of The Enemy: the Japanese attack with primordial screams as three to five American soldiers always seem to defeat at least four times as many Japanese soldiers, and bravely hold the Fate of The World in their hands at all times. It’s just painful, in my opinion.
What struck me as most appalling, however, was the fact that after sitting through two and a half hours of blood, gore, poor characterization, stereotypical scenarios, and unrealistic war drama, there was absolutely no real plot to the story. It just sort of floated along. Joe Enders’ mission was to protect his code talker, and help his troops capture the island of Saipan. Which is all well and good – but to be quite honest, I expected more of a plot than that. That’s just the background. Yet, there is nothing else – and the few elements that might have formed some sort of half-hearted storyline merely dwindled into nothing, and were never resolved. For example, the director makes a big-to-do over the fact that Enders never replies to his girlfriend’s love letters – yet we never see any resolution to this situation. Instead, that line of the story just seems to be dropped entirely (not to mention the fact that it isn’t really clear that they ARE romantically involved, except for the letter that includes the words, “I lay in bed at night...”).
I suppose some of the actors at least gave an attempt at working with this worthless film, and I suppose I can give some credit for that. But not much.
Overall grade: D-
And that’s being generous, if you ask me.
| 3:33 AM |
Comments
I'd have to disagree with your Windtalkers view...at least on some things. For instance, the "real" plot is just a reaccount of history. It's based on HISTORICAL FACT. It doesn't need any more plot than that. Does real-life have a plot? No. So you can't dis it because of that. I think what you're actually trying to mean is: the moral of the story. It has that, too, by the way. To perservere and do your duty. The basic gist of this story is none other than "responsibility" itself. If you haven't caught on to what I mean, then let me explain:
The Navajo continue to protect and serve their country without complaint even though they are ridiculed for the mere color of their skin and treated unfairly. They still do their duty to the country even though the people they are protecting are unappreciative and racist.
Joe Enders isn't happy about "having to baby-sit some Indian" and has no intentions to be friendly to Yazzie, at first. However, he befriends Yazzie anyways, and even though his new friend is so close to Whitehorse, he "protects the code" by killing him upon abduction. And, even though Ben Yazzie later hates him for it, Joe still gives up his life to save him. And about his "emotional demons": the entire point in showing us that, along with his influence over the nurse to help him get back to the war, displays him as a figure of duty and responsibilty. Even though he is tormented by these horrible memories of war, he still stays because it is his duty to do so.
On another note, your comment of "Literally three-quaters of the already-too-long movie was nothing but battle scenes. HELLO!!!!
Wake-up! It's a WAR movie!!!!!! In case you haven't noticed, real wars ACTUALLY DO take place on a BATTLE FIELD!
Also, about your comment: "the disgusting portrayal of the stupidity of The Enemy: the Japanese attack with primordial screams as three to five American soldiers always seem to defeat at least four times as many Japanese soldiers, and bravely hold the Fate of The World in their hands at all times. It’s just painful, in my opinion": In case you haven't noticed, WE WON THE WAR! We DID take more soldiers than they did. Otherwise, we would have never have forced Tojo (or Toujo, however you spell it) to declare publicly that he wasn't a divine figure.
The whole romance thing with the nurse and Enders was misplaced and didn't fit. That you saw, but it's only that and that alone that I'll give you. I'm afraid I must diagnose you with chronic "big word" syndrome. You spoof up a paper by using big and fancy words just to make it sound better than it actually is. While your literary skills are proficient, your whole outlook was unrealized. You lacked in observation and didn't think the FACTS through, like the whole it's-really-based-on-actual-happentings and Tojo-really-did-surrender thing. The biggest and stupidest mistake you made was your whole "i'm upset because 3/4s of the movie took place on a battlefield and I publicly display my lack-of-thought and clearly disguised stupidity by not realizing that even though I don't typically like war movies that this IS a war movie and of course it would make sense that a WAR movie would obviously take place a battlefield complete with fresh corpses and blood and gore and gunfire....."
So you don't like war-movies....so what? Many people don't, but they can still put 2 and 2 together.
You lack the ability to think things through and try to make yourself sound smarter by the over-use of adjetives. Even worse, you make this fault of yours public without any pre-conceptualization. Next time you consider yourself a "film-critic" I suggest you think about these things. And, I hope this critiquing and badgering of mine, hit home, so that you learn from your mistakes and not try to fool the wise with your word-trickery.
Your paper lacked credibility and was un-planned.
I just thought you should know that.
I'd have to disagree with your Windtalkers view...at least on some things. For instance, the "real" plot is just a reaccount of history. It's based on HISTORICAL FACT. It doesn't need any more plot than that. Does real-life have a plot? No. So you can't dis it because of that. I think what you're actually trying to mean is: the moral of the story. It has that, too, by the way. To perservere and do your duty. The basic gist of this story is none other than "responsibility" itself. If you haven't caught on to what I mean, then let me explain:
The Navajo continue to protect and serve their country without complaint even though they are ridiculed for the mere color of their skin and treated unfairly. They still do their duty to the country even though the people they are protecting are unappreciative and racist.
Joe Enders isn't happy about "having to baby-sit some Indian" and has no intentions to be friendly to Yazzie, at first. However, he befriends Yazzie anyways, and even though his new friend is so close to Whitehorse, he "protects the code" by killing him upon abduction. And, even though Ben Yazzie later hates him for it, Joe still gives up his life to save him. And about his "emotional demons": the entire point in showing us that, along with his influence over the nurse to help him get back to the war, displays him as a figure of duty and responsibilty. Even though he is tormented by these horrible memories of war, he still stays because it is his duty to do so.
On another note, your comment of "Literally three-quaters of the already-too-long movie was nothing but battle scenes. HELLO!!!!
Wake-up! It's a WAR movie!!!!!! In case you haven't noticed, real wars ACTUALLY DO take place on a BATTLE FIELD!
Also, about your comment: "the disgusting portrayal of the stupidity of The Enemy: the Japanese attack with primordial screams as three to five American soldiers always seem to defeat at least four times as many Japanese soldiers, and bravely hold the Fate of The World in their hands at all times. It’s just painful, in my opinion": In case you haven't noticed, WE WON THE WAR! We DID take more soldiers than they did. Otherwise, we would have never have forced Tojo (or Toujo, however you spell it) to declare publicly that he wasn't a divine figure.
The whole romance thing with the nurse and Enders was misplaced and didn't fit. That you saw, but it's only that and that alone that I'll give you. I'm afraid I must diagnose you with chronic "big word" syndrome. You spoof up a paper by using big and fancy words just to make it sound better than it actually is. While your literary skills are proficient, your whole outlook was unrealized. You lacked in observation and didn't think the FACTS through, like the whole it's-really-based-on-actual-happentings and Tojo-really-did-surrender thing. The biggest and stupidest mistake you made was your whole "i'm upset because 3/4s of the movie took place on a battlefield and I publicly display my lack-of-thought and clearly disguised stupidity by not realizing that even though I don't typically like war movies that this IS a war movie and of course it would make sense that a WAR movie would obviously take place a battlefield complete with fresh corpses and blood and gore and gunfire....."
So you don't like war-movies....so what? Many people don't, but they can still put 2 and 2 together.
You lack the ability to think things through and try to make yourself sound smarter by the over-use of adjetives. Even worse, you make this fault of yours public without any pre-conceptualization. Next time you consider yourself a "film-critic" I suggest you think about these things. And, I hope this critiquing and badgering of mine, hit home, so that you learn from your mistakes and not try to fool the wise with your word-trickery.
Your paper lacked credibility and was un-planned.
I just thought you should know that.
Who am I? I'm a twenty-two-
