Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews

Incendies *****

 

A daughter investigates her mother’s life and her own roots in the Oscar-nominated mystery Incendies. Denis Villeneuve writes and directs this suspenseful family drama that intertwines the daughter’s journey with scenes from her mother’s traumatic early years in the Middle East.

When their mother dies, grown twins Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette) arrive for the reading of her will. They are stunned when Jean Lebel (Remy Girard), a notary public and their mother’s former boss, hands them two envelopes. Jeanne is asked to deliver a letter to their father. Simon is asked to deliver a letter to their brother.

Jeanne and Simon had no idea that their father was alive. They never knew they had a brother. Nawal Marwan (played by talented Belgian actress Lubna Azabal) had been quiet, and worked as a secretary. Bewildered, Jeanne tries to make sense of her mother’s words. If the twins deliver these messages, “the silence will be broken, a promise kept.”

Simon balks and remains in Montreal. He does not want to delve into the past. He’d rather abandon his family history and any unseemly details. The strain of his mother’s nervous illnesses has been enough for him. Simon urges Jeanne not to go.

A graduate student in mathematics, Jeanne seeks the advice of a professor. He compares mathematics to her complex relationship with her mother: “Now, you enter an entirely different adventure. The subject will be intractable problems that always lead to other problems, just as intractable. People around you will repeatedly say that your struggles are in vain. You’ll have no argument to defend yourself, for the work will be exhausting and complex. Welcome to pure mathematics, the land of loneliness.”

Jeanne insists on going alone if she must, compelled to hunt down the truth so her heart can be at peace. She sets out for the unnamed Middle Eastern country.

We witness the daughter following each clue, talking to people who knew Nawal, or knew of her. A group of village women is cruel and judgmental. Desormeaux-Poulin (Taking the Plunge) gives an intense but nuanced performance, filled with insatiable curiosity and growing dread. Much later when she faces danger, Simon rushes to her side to help complete the search. Gaudette (Polytechnique) conveys the male heart with pitch perfect acting.

Renowned Canadian actor Girard crafts a memorable character in Lebel, who guides and protects the twins. He assures them that their mother was of sound mind, but indelibly marked by her early years.

 

Nawal was beset by tragedy from early girlhood through the horrors of her country’s civil war. Key scenes from Nawal’s life are shown as Jeanne walks the same streets her mother once did. Azabal (Body of Lies) evokes great dignity which explodes into anger as she struggles to overcome unimaginably painful personal ordeals.

Nawal is rebuked by her Christian family when she falls in love with a Muslim. Her brothers track the lovers down in an orchard and murder her beloved. Later her grandmother helps her deliver a baby boy, who is quickly given up for adoption to save the family from shame. The grandmother tattoos three dots on the baby’s heel, an identifying mark. “I’ll find you again one day,” Nawal promises him.

Nawal is sent away to live with relatives. She becomes a student and political activist. Deciding to search for her son, she sets off on a bus filled with Muslims. When Christian extremists detain the group, Nawal pretends she is still a Christian to save herself. Helplessly, she watches as all aboard are massacred, flames exploding in the middle of the desert.

Rage takes over as Nawal joins an extremist group, assassinating a Christian leader while posing as a tutor. She is sentenced to 15 years in prison, where she is tortured and raped. Nawal survives by singing in solitary confinement. This enrages her captors. Jeanne and Simon eventually meet a midwife who worked at the prison. She remembers Nawal fondly as “The Woman Who Sings.”

Villeneuve defines the title Incendies as an inferno, “something totally destroyed, totally transformed . . . destruction that you cannot change afterwards.” Filmed in Montreal and Jordan, it is based on the play of the same name by the Lebanese-born writer Wajdi Mouawad. The scars that violence leaves, and its senselessness, are stark in Incendies’ explosive conclusion.

Beautiful and devastating, the film features wrenching imagery and ominous sound. As it opens, young Muslim boys are having their heads shaved, apparently being prepared for terrorist training. The eyes of one boy stare back into the camera, bottomless, empty.

“Death is never the end of the story,” Lebel reminds us. “There are always details.”

If you like Incendies, you might enjoy:  Nora’s Will; A Prophet; Lemon Tree.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

  

Incendies     2010  /  R  /  2 hours, 10 min

Cast Overview:  Lubna Azabal, Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Remy Girard, Abdelghafour Elaaziz, Allen Altman, Mohamed Majd, Nabil Sawalha, Baya Belal 

Director:  Denis Villeneuve

Genre:  Drama, Mystery, War, Foreign, Drama Based on the Play

Languages: French and Arabic with English subtitles

 

 

Cave of Forgotten Dreams ****

 

New wave German filmmaker Werner Herzog reveals a protocinema of Paleolithic drawings in the documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Herzog’s enthusiasm is contagious in this unprecedented filming of Chauvet Cave in southern France. Here Earth’s earliest known drawings, about 32,000 years old, were discovered in 1994.

Cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger’s exquisite 3-D images show horses gallop, and now-extinct cave bears and cave lions stalk the undulating walls glittering with calcite. Woolly mammoths peer back at us. Spotted panthers prowl.

The 3-D camerawork brings viewers more deeply into the cave. Herzog’s offbeat narration and signature metaphysical musings keep the film lively. A sacred feeling is evoked in kinship with the ancients.

Cave bears clawed these walls. Leaving their mark on the drawings, they seem like collaborators. Only a small camera and four small, portable panel lights were allowed. Filmed under strict limitations to protect the delicate ecology, the scenes inspire awe.

Since ancient artists carried torches to provide light, Herzog theorizes that they held these aloft and danced, their shadows moving with the animals in an ancient cinema. Impishly, he shows us a clip of Fred Astaire dancing with his own shadow in Swing Time.             

 

In a striking marriage of science and art, a laser spectroscopy image is shown. Hundreds of thousands of points of light reveal every detail and contour of Chauvet Cave's 1300 feet. Jean Clottes, head of the scientific team studying the cave and its art, shares his excitement and theories.

Europe was a dry, cold glacial land back then. One could journey on foot from England to France and Germany. Dominique Baffier, archaeologist and curator of Chauvet Cave, tours the drawings. Each one tells a story, she believes. Rhinoceros lock horns. Bison run, their multiple legs meant to show movement.

Archaeology Magazine reports that the Chauvet artwork was created 35,000 years ago, and again 5,000 years later. Looking fresh and new, the images have been carbon dated.

Fantastic beauty fills the cave. Stalactites and stalagmites glow. Some formations unfurl like candy ribbon. Others evoke thin, frozen needles of rain.  

In another mystery, only one human form was drawn. On a rock pendant, the bottom half of a woman with Venus of Willendorf proportions appears. The team mounts its camera on a stick to reveal the upper half of the image for the first time. It is a bison head.

Animals and humans shared a common, dreamtime existence then. Trees spoke. Have we forgotten how to listen? The footprint of an eight-year-old is found next to a wolf paw print. Herzog wonders whether they walked side by side.

The cave was used for drawing and ceremony, experts believe. There are no human remains. Animal bones, including cave bear skulls and even a golden eagle skeleton, carpet the floor. A Bear Skull Altar faces the cave’s entrance. Bits of charcoal are strewn about like remnants of incense.

Herzog interviews several odd, passionate spiritual seekers. Reindeer-skin clad Wulf Hein plays The Star-Spangled Banner on an ancient flute made from a vulture’s ulna. Archaeologist Julien Monmey shares a story about an Australian aborigine. When asked why he was painting on rock, the aborigine replied, “I am not painting. The hand of the spirit is painting.”

Marring this beautiful documentary is its obtrusive soundtrack, ill-suited to quiet reverence. When Herzog asks his team to observe silence and listen to the cave, moviegoers listen with them for only a few seconds before the heavy-handed score intrudes. Herzog also invites a master perfumer along, but he is unable to detect much aroma.

Risking his life to uncover mystery and truth in his work, 68-year-old Herzog explored some of the most remote areas of the South Pole in Encounters at the End of the World. In Fitzcarraldo and Grizzly Man, he delved into man’s improbable visions and showed the price for realizing those dreams.

In a surreal coda, we see a nuclear power plant some 20 miles away from Chauvet Cave. Its super-heated water prompted officials to build a tropical biosphere dome there. Alligators were introduced. They thrive, some mutating into a ghoulish white.

Might the reptiles escape one day and invade the Chauvet area, once covered by thousands of feet of ice? Two albino alligators face each other in the waters, teeth bared. Herzog asks whether we are doppelgangers, ghostly doubles of the ancients.

If you like Cave of Forgotten Dreams, you might enjoy: The Wind Journeys; Sanctum.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

Cave of Forgotten Dreams     2010  /  G  /    1 hour, 30 min

Cast Overview:  Werner Herzog, Dominique Baffier, Jean Clottes, Jean-Michel Geneste, Carole Fritz, Gilles Tosello, Michel Philippe, Julien Monney, Charles Fathy 

Director:  Werner Herzog

Genre:  Documentary, Nature, Science, Spirituality

 

Meek's Cutoff *

 

In a death march with no plot, faceless pioneers say nothing or mumble incomprehensibly in the indie western Meek’s Cutoff. The film won a Piaget Producers Award at the Spirit Awards.

Life for three emigrant families facing almost certain death on the Oregon Trail in 1845 could make for a fascinating exploration. Instead Director Kelly Reichardt shows off in her “minimalist, radically unfashionable style” (Variety). It’s a movie that viewers will hate or love within the first five minutes.

Michelle Williams stars as Emily Tetherow. Emily and other women gather kindling. They knit. They read books. Oh, and they’re litterbugs too.

Native Americans are cursed as “no better than animals” by the group’s scout Meek (Bruce Greenwood). He is hidden under a beard, long locks and fancy, fringed buckskin. Williams sums up her feelings about him: “it’s all vanity.”

Meek and another man capture a Cayuse Indian, threaten to shoot him and chain him up like an animal each night. The menfolk demand that he lead them to water, or else surely they will die. They don’t speak his language, and he doesn’t speak theirs. He guides them anyway, to where we do not know.

Emily approaches the Indian, repulsed by his “stench” yet strangely attracted. She offers him food and stitches up his moccasin. Deadpan Emily points a rifle at Meek when he’s about to shoot the Indian. Some believe this is a feminist moment.   

The Indian (Rod Rondeaux) sings over a sick man, and later speaks aloud to nature all around him. Here is a radically different worldview, a Native American's direct connection with nature. Yet these moments don’t inform or enrich. Instead the travelers stand wooden, looking catatonic. Conflict is watered down to a gruel in a wasteland of a script.

There are ways to craft characters we care about, facing death and a foreign culture terrifying to them. There are ways to forge quiet, interesting character studies. Reichardt fails to find a way. Williams, Rondeaux and Will Patton manage to register onscreen somehow.

Filmed in Burnes and Hines, Oregon, the vistas are marred by garish, streaky light. Inadequate night lighting renders faces and movements indiscernible. Sound effects cut in and out strangely. Jeff Grace’s strings screech like nails on a chalkboard.  

Poor production values, pitiful acting and scant story earn an “F” for Reichardt. Known for her microbudget efforts, she directed the almost equally boring Wendy and Lucy (2008), where Williams also appears.

“Hell is full of Indians,” says Meek. No, hell is full of movies like this one.

Other films you might enjoy: True Grit; Even the Rain; Crazy Heart.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

Meek’s Cutoff     2010  /  PG /  1 hour, 44 min

Cast Overview:  Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Will Patton, Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson, Neil Huff, Tommy Nelson, Rod Rondeaux

Director:  Kelly Reichardt

Genre:  Indie, Western, Period Piece, Drama

The Conspirator ****

 

A moment of history richly imagined by Robert Redford, The Conspirator is less about Mary Surratt, and more about the controversy around her and American ideals of liberty following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. 

The events following the assassination, carefully researched by screenwriter James Solomon, are impeccably executed by Redford and his team in a thoughtful, understated courtroom drama. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton (Kevin Kline) orders a quick, decisive military tribunal for widow Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), keeper of the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell) held secretive meetings.

Stanton asks Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to represent the accused. Johnson, a Southerner, asks Union war hero Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) to serve as defense attorney, believing that Aiken has a better chance to secure justice for the accused.

A trial by a jury of one’s peers is guaranteed to civilians of the United States under the Constitution. Surratt was a civilian. In eerie similarity to the stance of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney under The Patriot Act, Stanton reasoned that preserving the union and appeasing an angry public justified the military trial.

Aiken believes Surratt is guilty and does not want to represent her. After being wounded in battle (shown in the film’s stirring opening), Aiken returns to his wife Sarah (Alexis Bledel), who has waited for him for years. Now a member of elite society in Washington, D.C., Aiken seems poised for future success.

Johnson issues a challenge to Aiken. If the young lawyer can prove Surratt guilty, he will be released from his duty to defend her.

A fierce debate over legal principle ensues. Aiken becomes earnest not so much to defend Surratt, but to protect the Constitutional right to a fair trial.  If human rights and civil liberties can be suspended for one, then all of society is in peril, he asserts.

Aiken argues that Surratt’s son should bear primary responsibility for aiding Booth. John Surratt (Johnny Simmons) invited Booth to their home. Fleeing after the assassination, he remained in hiding during his mother’s trial. Aiken attempts to flush him out, appealing to his sister Anna (Evan Rachel Wood), to the family’s priest (Russell Cook), and to Surratt herself. 

 

Surratt remains silent and steadfast to protect her son. With bleak endurance, she remained in solitary confinement for over a month before meeting her attorney. As the tribunal begins, she realizes that she will be found guilty. Clutching rosary beads, she begins a hunger strike.

“I am innocent,” Surratt proclaims. She tells Aiken that she was ignorant of what Booth was plotting. She blames herself for being an overprotective mother who wouldn’t let her son enlist.  Surratt maintains that she rented out rooms only to earn a living for herself and her children.

Wright sacrifices herself in service to the film, preserving Surratt as a mysterious, mirthless figure. The actor expertly underplays emotion, betraying the character’s bitterness towards Northerners in just one scene. She embodies the contradictions of an imperfect woman firm in her Catholic faith. Wright’s performance is reminiscent of her role as a grim, enduring wife in Unbreakable (2000).

McEvoy steps forward with powerful nuance. Aiken struggles mightily with conscience, principle and the passions of the day.  He and Surratt do not like or trust each other at first. Gradually they build mutual respect even when they disagree over his methods. Aiken grows protective of Surratt, suggesting a tender stewardship of freedom.

Strong performances are featured throughout. Colm Meaney presides over a kangaroo court as fiery General David Hunter. Danny Huston plays long-winded prosecutor Joseph Holt leaving nothing to chance. Norman Reedus is memorable as conspirator Lewis Payne. Louis Weichmann (Jonathan Groff) delivers wavering testimony. Wilkinson plays a moderate to Kline’s open partisan.  

“I don’t know what she’s guilty of,” Aiken confesses to his friends.  It’s left to the viewer to decide whether the only female co-conspirator charged was innocent or guilty. Sacrifice is the price to be paid for freedom.

Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel uses a softly blurred focus and sepia tones, conveying a hardscrabble era. White sunbeams pierce cigar smoke especially during courtroom scenes. Such were the passions that swirled during and after the Civil War. Occasionally the effect is overdone, particularly in a scene where Aiken is obscured behind a dust cloud.

Redford’s creation stands in historical counterpoint to more passionate, partisan films about civil liberties and the American conscience such as Fair Game and Green Zone.

Fascinating realism allows us to forget that we are watching a movie. Superb direction, acting and script are enhanced by precise historical detail and an exploration of liberty that remains relevant today.

If you like The Conspirator, you might enjoy: Even the Rain; Fair Game; Green Zone; Of Gods and Men; The Eagle.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

The Conspirator    2010  /  PG-13  /  2 hours, 3 min

Cast Overview:  Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Kevin Kline, Evan Rachel Wood, Tom Wilkinson, Alexis Bledel, Danny Huston, Justin Long, Colm Meaney, James Badge Dale, Johnny Simmons, Toby Kebbell, Jonathan Groff

Director:  Robert Redford

Genre:  Historic Drama, Period Piece, Drama Based on Real Life

 

Of Gods and Men *****

 
 

Seven French monks face death as civil war sweeps through a mountain village in Of Gods and Men.

Xavier Beauvois directs the true life drama which won Best Film at the Cesar Awards (France’s Oscars) and the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes 2010.

The Trappist monks offer compassionate service in the rural Algerian highlands. They raise crops and sell honey. Elderly Brother Luc (Cesar winner Michael Lonsdale) gives medical care to the poor.  When a child’s shoes are worn, he provides a new pair.

Extremists slit the throats of Croatian highway workers one day. Villagers run to tell the brothers. Tensions rise between Islamist insurgents and a corrupt government. France’s colonization of Algeria, years after the country regained independence, still rankles. Foreigners are not trusted.  

In this can’t-look-away film, Beauvois focuses on the inner and outer lives of the monks, who were kidnapped during the 1996 civil war and later executed.  No group admitted to the slayings.

Love and devotion are genuine. Cinematographer Caroline Champetier (also a Cesar winner) captures the monks’ emotion, movement and conversation close up in the beautiful, meditative mountains. The film was made in Morocco.

As violence spreads, the government orders the monks to leave the country. The men debate their fate. They have long accepted their Islamic brothers and sisters.

The monks are radicals too, believing that reconciliation is possible. Daily service, prayer and devotion fill their days. The community’s prior Christian (Lambert Wilson) reads both the Koran and the Bible.

Ego is almost completely subdued among the brothers.  Chatter doesn’t fill their dinner hour. Instead, they listen to scripture readings as they eat in silence.

Wilson told The New York Times that the actors went on retreat in the French Alps to prepare for their roles. "We spent a few days observing the monks, eating in silence with the other people who were going on the retreat, and then we started singing. And that was really the best preparation. We learned Gregorian chanting. We learned liturgical singing as a group. This is really what got this group of French actors together."

Known for his performances in the Matrix trilogy, Wilson usually plays romantic and lighthearted characters.

After a terse showdown with Christian on Christmas evening, a terrorist leader designates the abbey as protected. To Beauvois’ credit he transcends stereotypes.

When a wounded jihadist is brought in, Luc treats him as he would anyone else.  The act of charity must be kept secret or the group risks government retaliation.  

Each monk must decide whether to stay or leave.  Christophe (Olivier Rabourdin) struggles with fear and anger more than the rest. 

The men don’t want to be martyrs, they decide. But where else will they go when they are so needed here?  “It is mad to stay, like it is mad to become a monk,” says Christian.

 

 

In one of the best scenes, the group stands during morning prayer and sings loudly as a military helicopter hovers overhead, filling the monastery with a terrifying racket.

Towards the end, Luc breaks out two bottles of wine for dinner.  Wordlessly, he plays a tape of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.  The monks smile, tears glistening. The music swells as does their passion to follow Christ in selfless service.

Of Gods and Men is worth seeing twice for its nuance.  It is the best movie exploration yet of silent devotion in a complex world. Beauvois, who co-wrote the script, captures simple sanctity and dramatic tension. Films covering similar territory include Silent Light, Into Great Silence and Hadewijch.

The film is loosely based on The Monks of Tibhirine by John Kiser.

If you like Of Gods and Men, you might enjoy:  Get Low; 127 Hours; The King’s Speech.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

Of Gods and Men   2010  /  PG-13  /  2 hours

Cast:  Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin, Philippe Laudenbach, Jacques Herlin, Loic Pichon, Jean-Marie Laudenbach

Director:  Xavier Beauvois

Genre:  Drama, Historical Drama, Foreign Film, True Stories, Movie Based on the Book

Languages:  French and Arabic with English subtitles

 

 

Even the Rain ****

 

A movie about social injustice is filmed as history repeats itself in the political drama Even the Rain.

Nominated for 13 Goya awards (Spain’s Oscar), the movie within a movie is directed by former actress Iciar Bollain.

Jaded producer Costa (Luis Tosar) pays locals $2 a day to appear in a movie about Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World. Filming on the cheap in Cochabamba, Bolivia, the group is dedicated to showing Spanish exploitation of Native Americans.

Meanwhile riots break out. A foreign company is taking over the water system and planning to gouge local citizens. Even collecting rainwater would be outlawed.

The turmoil parallels the Water War that took place in Cochabamba in 2000 when Bolivians took to the streets to stop Bechtel from privatizing their water system and raising fees up to 300%. Footage of the water riots was incorporated here.

Passionate young director Sebastian (Gael Garcia Bernal, excellent in the role) leads unruly and increasingly nervous actors through each day of filming. Reassuring and cajoling, he reminds them why they came and how important it is to tell the true story.

A natural leader with great looks and charisma, Daniel (outraged rebel Juan Carlos Aduviri) refuses to be turned away from casting call.  Sebastian chooses him to play Hatuey, an Indian chief who leads a rebellion against Columbus. Costa predicts Daniel will be a troublemaker.

Rehearsals and filming begin.  As emotive actor Anton, Karra Elejalde plays a Cristobal Colon who demands gold payments from each native man, woman and child.  Anyone who doesn’t comply is put to death by his soldiers.  In another scene, natives who have been enslaved by the Europeans are rescued by their own people. A bloodbath follows.

As real-life protests intensify, the crew spies Daniel leading the crowd.  When the actor is beaten and imprisoned, Costa must take drastic measures to complete his all-important social justice movie.

Daniel confronts Costa. “Some things are more important than your film,” he says. “Water is life.”

 

Written by Paul Laverty (The Wind That Shakes the Barley), Even the Rain is hampered by a confusing bit about a “making of” documentary. Costa's sudden change of heart is unconvincing, although emotional complexity in the characters is well realized overall. 

Cinematographer Alex Catalan captures beautiful aerial and close up shots of the city and countryside. Alberto Iglesias contributes a rich, orchestral score.

The film is dedicated to the late Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States.  Zinn spoke with Bill Moyers in 2009, saying:

“Think for yourself. Don't believe what the people up there tell you. Live your own life. Think your own ideas. And don't depend on saviors.”

“Don't depend on our leaders to do what needs to be done. Because whenever the government has done anything to bring about change, it's done so only because it's been pushed and prodded by social movements, by ordinary people organizing.”

If you like Even the Rain, you might enjoy: Precious; The Blind Side; Waiting for Superman.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

Even the Rain   2010  /  NR  /  1 hour, 44 min

Cast:  Luis Tosar, Gael Garcia Bernal, Juan Carlos Aduviri, Karra Alejalde, Carlos Santos

Director:  Iciar Bollain

Genre:  Drama, Political Drama

Language:  Spanish with English subtitles

 

 

The Eagle ****

 
 

The Eagle explores an ancient Roman mystery, the disappearance of the Ninth Roman Legion – 5,000 men – in what is now Scotland.  Emperor Hadrian was so incensed by this apparent slaughter – a slap in the face for Rome – that he ordered Hadrian’s Wall built across Britain to isolate its fierce northern tribes.

Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum), a Roman military commander and son of the 9th’s leader, sets out on a suicide mission to the Highlands with his slave Esca (Jamie Bell, fantastic here) to recover the Eagle, the gleaming standard of Rome carried by each legion. 

The stakes are higher still as he seeks to redeem his family’s name and discover what happened to his father.  Doubt shrouds the mystery. How could a legion simply vanish? Rumors persist that the men simply deserted. 

Honor, bravery and ambition were the guiding principles of 140 A.D. when Rome ruled Britain. It was a time of glory and cruelty. Slavery was commonplace. Hand-to-hand fights to the death were frequent between conquerors and natives.

Marcus Aquila prepares his men for a surprise attack in the dead of night.  His vigilance saves lives, and he begins to earn the men’s respect.  Still, superstition persists that he will bring bad luck to Roman soldiers.

Esca is the son of a slain Brigante chief who proves himself to Marcus when he bravely faces certain death during an exhibition match.  Watching from the audience, Marcus moves to save the slave, and the crowd follows his lead. Esca’s life is spared.

Marcus does not want a slave, but his uncle insists that he needs one after he is wounded in battle. The uneasy relationship between slave and master is a high point of the film.

 
 

Beautiful cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle) enhances this stirring adventure along with excellent costumes, set design and sound crafting. While historical details are not always accurate – the Seal People look more like Native Americans than British Highlanders – the effect of the movie overall is inspiring.

French actor Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) displays dignity and cunning as the leader of the Seal People.

Tatum delivers a good but less than commanding performance. His role cries out for more emotion.  Great veteran actor Donald Sutherland brings warmth as Marcus' uncle. Denis O’Hare plays a Roman military official.

Jamie Bell conveys tension and nobility as enslaved Esca.  He respects the man who saved his life and vows to serve him.  Yet as a slave of the Romans who killed his entire family, he carries rage within and yearns for freedom.  The relationship between the two men is tried during their hazardous journey. It’s a test of character and trust.

Lukacs Bicskey portrays one of the last survivors of the 9th who has settled down and started a family in the foreign land.

A lean, taut plot makes this an excellent adaptation of the popular 1954 children’s novel The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff.  The film’s inspiring musical score by Atli Orvarsson captures Celtic whimsy and Roman majesty. 

With the promise of a sequel, The Eagle is set to delve further into a fascinating historical period.

If you like The Eagle, you might enjoy: Clash of the Titans; A Prophet.

The Eagle   2011  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 54 min

Cast Overview:  Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Mark Strong, Denis O’Hare, Tahar Rahim, Lukacs Bicskey

Director:  Kevin Macdonald

Genres:  Adventure, Drama, Period Piece, Movie Based on the Book

 

The Young Victoria *****

 

A surprisingly fresh love story lies at the heart of The Young Victoria, a drama about the early years of Great Britain's longest ruling monarch. Jean Marc-Vallee directs this delightful look at a quietly determined, opinionated Victoria who fervently aims to rule her people well, and especially to help the poor.

Livelier than most period pieces with well-paced action, it was filmed at stately Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and other royal locales. The Young Victoria won the Academy Award for costume design. It succeeds despite subdued passions, especially in the bedroom.

Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) captures the smart, playful rebel surrounded by stringent elders, stultifying rules and huge expectations. Brought up in strict isolation, Victoria displays daring in small and large ways. Breaking taboo, she candidly shares personal feelings with servants. She stands firm through a power play by scheming Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong), who in cahoots with her mother the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson), demands that she sign over her authority to him as regent.

Victoria is fond of Albert (Rupert Friend), son of King Leopold of Belgium and her first cousin. Over the years their attraction grows. Albert has been inculcated with his father's agenda and an emphasis on Belgium's best interests. Yet when Victoria and Albert are alone together, they share honestly their hopes and visions. The two correspond despite prying eyes that preview their letters.

At 18, she insists on taking the throne upon the death of her uncle King William (a tipsy Jim Broadbent), even though everyone tells her she's too young and dangerously inexperienced. Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) lends ongoing dramatic tension as the young queen's advisor. Victoria chooses to trust the controversial politician even though he contributes to a scandal early in her reign.

 

The queen learns from some early mistakes. The anger of her people pains her most. She genuinely loves them, and so much wants their love in return.

Victoria delays marriage, although clearly she has the honorable Albert in mind. She savors being single. As her wise confidante Baroness Lehzen (Jeanette Hain) advises, she will never truly be free. The push and pull of many parties and their disparate needs is ceaseless.

Victoria's coronation, her marriage and the birth of her child (the first of nine children), are shown with detailed richness. Especially interesting is the queen's resistance to granting Albert an active role in her kingdom. It seems he'd be helpful in repairing the palace's internal bickering and bleeding finances.

The Young Victoria shows the human side of the monarchy and the plump, stern widow who ruled until age 81.

If you like The Young Victoria, you might enjoy: The King's Speech; Another Year; An Education.

The Young Victoria 2009 / PG / 1 hr, 45 min

Cast Overview: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Thomas Kretschmann, Mark Strong, Jesper Christensen, Harriet Walter, Julian Glover, Martin Scorsese

Director: Jean-Marc Vallee

Genres: Drama, Romantic Drama, Period Piece

 

Secretariat ****

 

Secretariat, a family-friendly Disney film about the heroic horse, complements its famous kin Seabiscuit (2003) with insights into thoroughbred racing and a woman's right to excel in business and family ventures.

Director Randall Wallace succeeds with a fresh, exciting retelling of history. The action centers on Secretariat and his owner Penny Chenery Tweedy (Diane Lane), who battle reluctant family members and 1970’s attitudes toward women with fierce competitiveness.

Secretariat became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years.  Racing officials considered several names for the majestic horse, finally choosing one that suggests a supportive, administrative role.

Penny rouses great inner strength and conviction in a new career as Secretariat's manager.  Although she's away from her family in Denver for weeks at a time, she stays in touch and finds ways to be a good mom. This was an unusual decision for a well-to-do wife and mother in the 1970's.

Penny's husband Jack (Dylan Walsh) argues that they should take the sensible route by selling her father's horse stables. Penny fights to resurrect the former glory - and profitability - of the enterprise. It all depends on one fiery, promising horse.

 

John Malkovich delivers one of his funnier performances without sacrificing depth. As Lucien Lauren, he plays a reluctant horse trainer whose flamboyant dress reveals an avant garde soul. Lauren's smart-alecky barbs refresh the idealized Disney formula.

The aristocratic culture of championship horse racing is brought to life by Scott Glenn as the ailing Chenery monarch. Fred Dalton Thompson and James Cromwell play sparring entrepreneurs who match wits with Penny.

Secretariat astounds in many exciting racing scenes. Meanwhile anti-war protests rage. Fans of all ages flock to see his victories, which culminate in the Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and Belmont Stakes).

Breeding is key to reviving the Chenery family’s past success and immortalizing a true champion, Penny realizes. She decides to sell shares in the horse, who will sire in the future.

The unifying power of sports becomes evident, as it did in Seabiscuit and the more recent Invictus (2009). Christian undertones are evident in the film. 

Otto Thorwarth plays Secretariat's jockey Ronnie Turcotte. Also memorable are Margo Martindale as the Chenery’s wry assistant Miss Ham, and Nelsan Ellis as devoted groom Eddie Sweat.

Wallace succeeds with concise script and screenplay. A few too many hippie scenes with Penny’s daughter (AJ Michalka), and some overly poignant violin music, mar Secretariat’s dramatic tension.

Seabiscuit, an atmospheric sports drama set in the Great Depression, runs well over two hours and dwells on the fate of his jockey Red Pollard (smoldering Tobey McGuire, who also executive produced).  Seabiscuit’s lush production values are complemented by Secretariat’s fine cinematography and editing.

If you like Secretariat, you might enjoy:  The Blind Side; Win Win.

Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.

 

Secretariat   2010  /  PG  /  1 hour, 55 min

Cast Overview:  Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Dylan Walsh, Dylan Baker, Margo Martindale, Nelsan Ellis, Otto Thorwarth, Fred Dalton Thompson, James Cromwell, Scott Glenn, Ron Turcotte, AJ Michalka

Director:  Randall Wallace

Genres:  Drama, History, Sports, Drama Based on a True Story

 

Fair Game *****

 

In a potent reminder of recent history, Fair Game shows the outing of former CIA agent Valerie Plame and its aftermath.

Naomi Watts deserves Oscar gold for her riveting performance as Plame. Best Actor Sean Penn does the honors as Plame’s ambassador husband Joe Wilson.

Fair Game roils with emotion and action as a public service career ends, a marriage hits the rocks, reputations are shredded and lives are lost overseas. It puts a personal face on the U.S. invasion of Iraq, where ideology apparently justified the use of false pretenses.

Doug Liman’s film will anger viewers whether they believe the war was necessary or not in the fight against terror. Fair Game is a fact-based story of two patriots who stood up to power. It reveals cowardice in the White House and the media.

Watts’ spot on rendition of Plame shows the foreign operative, wife and mother live through trying and dangerous days. The film is based on the memoirs of both Plame and Wilson.

Penn channels his righteous social anger into the persona of diplomat Joe Wilson. A subtext considers whether Wilson revealed the no wmd (weapons of mass destruction) bombshell to The New York Times out of patriotism, or to compete with his successful wife.

After Wilson speaks out, his family’s safety is compromised. The diplomat shares his plight, and his idealism, with fresh faced political science students.

Liman (The Bourne Identity) brings immediacy to the action. Fall guy Scooter Libby (David Andrews) brings to life the power-drunk, alternate reality of the Vice President’s inside circle. Bruce McGill plays a career intelligence official who consoles Plame, sharing his insights into the way things work at the highest levels of the U.S. government.

Some fictional elements were added, including a sub-plot about an Iraqi doctor (Liraz Charhi) and her brother (Khaled Nabawy), a former nuclear engineer living in bombed out Baghdad.

Fair Game will rank with All The President’s Men as a taut, fine description of everyman facing Washington power, even though truth and justice does not prevail in the more recent scenario.

Following the film’s release, Wilson appeared on The Chris Matthews Show and other national news programs. He expressed the hope that Fair Game reminds viewers to speak out against tyranny. Facing personal threats to one’s way of life is part of the price of democracy, he said.

If you like Fair Game, you might enjoy: Casino Jack; Greenberg; Please Give.

Fair Game 2010 / PG-13 / 1 hour, 48 min

Cast Overview: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Liraz Charhi, Anand Tiwari, Khaled Nabawy, Ty Burrell, David Andrews, Jessica Hecht, Norbert Leo Butz, Bruce McGill, Rebecca Rigg

Director: Doug Liman

Genres: Action, Biography, Drama, Thriller