War film analysis

I have yet to see War Horse, and as I type, I'm watch The Thin Red Line on my laptop. First off, there's no battle scene in this film that can challenge the opening in Saving Private Ryan, a film that came out the same year, and they both competed for Oscar hot-seat. However, The Thin Red Line is much more human than Spileberg's epic, and Malick's film, when it meanders, does it well.

The Wrestler (2008), 3/4 Stars

Darren Aronofsky. Oh how weird you are.

Surprisingly, this film is an exception to his weirdness. I'm not insulting him because out of his works, they are very good. I intend to see his Requiem for a Dream when I am a little older. Anyways.

Mickey Rourke plays a role that might be even autobiographical to himself. If you read about him, he's actually a quite damaged man. I'm not insulting him either, because he delivered a great performance in the film. It's almost upsetting that he lost to Sean Penn (I'm still sore about his The Tree of Life hate). Anyways.

In the film, I feel that Rourke's Randy sympathized with himself, and Tomei's stripper Cassidy. She's aging in her art (I don't consider stripping an art,) similar to Rourke losing his talent in wrestling.

The film plays out like so: Randy "The Ram" Robinson, an aging wrestler is up for a 20th anniversary match. Problem is, he's had a health problem, and his relationships are crumbling to an extreme degree (Cassidy and his daughter).

It's an interesting plot that plays out in thin events, not flat out telling you what happens. Which is my main problem with the film. IT'S TOO THIN! It's main highlight is Rourke's performance, to such a subtle degree.

3/4 Stars

The Tree of Life (2011), 4/4 Stars

The Tree of Life is an odyssey. It's a low budget epic masterpiece. Maybe not low budget (32 Mil.), but epic masterpiece still fits. Brad Pitt delivers a great performance as a tough luck dad, and newcomer Chastain also delivers.

There are themes in the movie that make it feel like a religious Hallmark movie, but it should feel like so. The movie is religious, from quoting the bible to asking mystifying questions about God. In fact, it goes so far that you could even call the movie "A prayer".

Part of the movie has a "yin-yang" feel. As Chastain narrates, there's two ways through life: the way of Nature and the way of Grace. Nature only wants to please itself, and Grace wants to please others. In the end, the two paths need each other.

The first hour of the movie is what I call "The Nature Part". As earlier described by Chastain, Nature wants others to please it, to make benefit for itself. Throughout the part, there's the divisive "Beginning of Earth" sequence.  Toward the end of the scene, there's the dinosaur head stomp. To me, it represents the climax of the part: Grace gives in to Nature, so it could be pleased.

The next hour and a half is a dizzying epic. This is what I call "The Grace Part". There are lovely scenes with no dialouge, instead just classical music. The main focus now is Mr. and Mrs. O’brien, played by Pitt and Chastain, respectively. Pitt's performance, as Mr. O'brien is the current embodiment of Nature, and Chastain is Grace. Together the family works, not always in harmony. They are almost like the two dinosaurs, except Pitt and Chastain look much better than their respective dinosaur representations. The kids are pressured by the Senior O’brien, who needs his kids to be perfect in his eyes. The Misses instead lets them be their own embodiment, and her action pleases others. Sequence play out, and the kids are challenged by their parents to choose a side. Toward the end of the part, Mr. O'brien consults the oldest son. He tells him he's sorry for how he treated him. Maybe he also becomes Grace. The opinion is open-ended, for the scene cuts to present day, with Jack, the oldest son, contemplating the end of his brother's life.

If the two paths (nature and grace), created harmony, and Mr. O'brien also became Grace, did that create an imbalance? We may never know the path life takes to affect others, but in the end, the imbalances may create a perfect harmony: a path for life.

4/4 Stars