Monday 1 January 2007

Christmas film

Munich, Zoolander and Borat. Not particularly distinguished fare, I admit, but surprisingly powerful.

Munich (Christmas Day) was not an enjoyable film. It was very well made, and very moving, but it was not enjoyable. Spielberg steered clear of partisanship in his coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, so we were left only with the hopelessness of the whole situation and the tawdriness of the protagonists. Hopeless without Christ, that is.

Zoolander (Boxing Day) was in some ways the best of the bunch. But why did they need the silly sex scene in the middle to mar what was otherwise a pretty smart movie? More restrained and thus even better than the Dodgeballs and Anchormans of this world.

Like Munich, Borat (28th) was a film that made an impact, but did not cheer the soul, even if it did raise some laughs. However much he exposed the foibles of the 'US and A' and portrayed a crummy fake Central Asian culture that reminded us of the nastiness and silliness of antisemitism, etc, Baren-Cohen slipped back into the muck he mocked.