Hiroshima, Mon Amor
Because I dislike time constraints and “best of” lists, rather than write about my top 10 favorite films of the year or of all time, I will write about 10 I have seen or have been thinking of lately.
The ongoing economic crisis, which continues to reward fraud and punish workers, was explained again this year in two good films, 99 Homes and The Big Short, both about the housing bubble and the resulting global economic collapse.
99 Homes, told from the perspective of a foreclosed worker, was made to make you cry. The Big Short, told from profiteering hedge fund managers’ perspectives, also made you want to cry, get angry and jump off a roof. Unfortunately, only one person actually did jump off a roof in that movie.
Both are sad, cynical and nothing really changes at the end. That’s the significance of both narratives. Nothing, positively, about the casino capitalism ruling the planet has been altered since that system collapsed in 2008 (and again before that with the tech bubble and other crises that looted investors and enriched financiers). We are still in the same poor economy that rewards greed, pillaging and amorality.
Trumbo is another good film to see. It has good acting and dynamic writing mimicking the fast-talking narratives reminiscent of His Girl Friday. Just as Arthur Miller’s Crucible was about McCarthyism as much as the Salem witch hunts depicted in the narrative, Trumbo is about the vapid soul crushing homogenizing Hollywood film culture as well as the McCarthy era’s blacklisting shown in the film’s narrative.
Salò, or 120 Days of Sodom is an unparalleled film that should be seen every so often for the same reasons Thomas Jefferson said we need rebellions. Where a film like Star Wars desensitizes one to fascism (interplanetary), Salò re-sensitizes one to our (earthly) fascist condition. This was Pasolini’s last film. He was killed just weeks before its theatrical release. It is based on the book by Marquis de Sade, The 120 Days of Sodom, transposed to the Italian city of Salo during the final weeks of Mussolini’s regime.
Ballad of Narayama is an indescribably beautiful but tragic comedy. Set in a rural 19th Century Japanese village, it tells the story of the relationship between a mother and her son as the mother is preparing to die. It is similar to the Sokurov film, Mother and Son, but overt, with none of Sokurov’s sublimity. One of the supporting characters of the film is that of the Snake, which appears throughout the film to deliver its own morality, detached from human sentiment.
Hiroshima, Mon Amor is a chamber piece aboutlove emerging from the ashes of the atomic bomb, adult love, memory, erasure and letting go.
Hour of the Star is based on the story by Brazilian writer ClariceLispector, about the isolation of women’s poverty especially in a dehumanized urban environment. If love can succeed in the aftermath of nuclear war, as depicted in Hiroshima Mon Amor,it can only do so if our culture allows it. And our culture, a capitalist patriarchy, allows little to no rights for poor women, let alone the right to love and be loved.
The Hunt and Doubt are both about witch hunts that surround accusations of child molestation. They challenge the viewer to confront the disquiet of uncertainty and the crime of certitude. Vastly different stylistically from Salò, they are also about the relationship between sex and power. We are so obsessed with sex and power that we are unable to love.
Lastly, rather than list a tenth film for this list, I recommend reading The Devil Finds Work, James Baldwin’s personal reflections on the film industry. Especially compelling is Baldwin’s chapter on his unrealized script for The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
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Tracy Leone is a former teacher, current reader, film watcher, gardener, dog lover and union organizer/support staffer for local coalitions recruiting workers to run for school boards, city councils and county offices.
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