Monthly Archives: July 2014

On Integration

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A couple days ago, I was driving in the car with my mother as we passed the old neighborhood we used to live in, in Northeast Philadelphia. As we drove we reminisced about my old elementary school that I attended for 3 years before ultimately moving to a more affluent suburb. She maintains that the education I got there was more impressive than the one I received at my newer school, and so on. We got to talking about the high school I would have attended had we remained there, and she brought something up that gave me some mixed emotions.

According to my mother, a short while after we left the neighborhood the local high school started to become less and less prestigious/rigorous and more people began to send their kids to other schools. When I inquired as to why this happened so suddenly, she told me that at some point, the county began bussing in students from lower-income districts so that they could enjoy the privileges offered at that school rather than being confined to a high school that can’t suit their potential. The largest obvious change that immediately occurred was an in increase in violence and a decrease in performance on tests. This gave the school a worse reputation and many of the local families were angry at the situation that they couldn’t avoid.

When I asked my mother her perspective and whether or not she truly believed that it was an unjustified imposition on the school she said:

“If I was the mother of a child who got to attend such a great high school, I would be so ecstatic for my child. But I can’t deny that had I been a mother of a local student, my heart would hurt to see such a good school go downhill so fast and with my child in it”.

This begged the question of whether or not it’s wrong to force student body cohesiveness at the expense of certain students, while it’s clearly a benefit to others who are in need…

Personally, I don’t know what the answer is to that kind of problem. In a perfect world, there would be enough money to fund both schools with enthusiastic and intelligent teachers so that everyone has the chance to succeed. But clearly that’s not where we live. Is it fair to force kids to sacrifice class time so that others have a chance to succeed? Or is it fair that some kids’ parents simply don’t have the financial means to live near such an impressive school? Both sides of the coin are poor circumstances and I don’t think I can make my mind up yet regarding what the perfect solution should be.

“Dogtooth” (Greek, 2009)

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The film “Dogtooth” which I recently discovered on Netflix is one of the most quietly unnerving movies I’ve ever seen. To give you some basic plot points; A mother and father have raised their three children in isolation from the world outside of their home, and have further impeded their understanding of the world by confusing their words so that one word means something totally different. For example the word “sea” really means “chair”, and so on.

For many years this has been a harmonious, if creepy, existence, but suddenly everything changes. The father brings a stranger into the home which shakes up the family and plants a seed of curiosity in the minds of his children…They become more rebellious and unruly, until at the end it all comes to a violent halt.

“Dogtooth” is a really creative and visually rich film, that tackles the subject of lengthy isolation and the malleability of the human condition…I’d encourage you to watch it just for the experience.

“Pan’s Labyrinth”

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Guillermo Del Toro’s Spanish-language masterpiece “Pan’s Labyrinth” is a magical account of a young girl’s life during the Spanish Civil War. With her step-father as a fear-striking figure in her life, young Ophelia turns to her imagination for comfort in a place where violence and fear is always around the corner. Her life is filled with surreal creatures appearing to her in her dreams, and in what we assume are hallucinations or “imaginary friends” or fairies, with some of them being more sinister than others. However the real villain in the plot remains her step-father, an army commander. His marriage to her kind and loving but sickly mother is a constant source of torment for Ophelia, and she escapes through these visions of hers.

The imagery in “Pan’s Labyrinth” is breathtaking and the plot is heartbreaking, but I watched on and so should you.

“Funny Games” (1997)

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On sort of a macabre note, my film choice of the week is the original Austrian version of the film “Funny Games”. If you’ve seen the more recent American adaptation of the cult classic, you might recall a few gory details.

Basically, an otherwise typical happy Austrian family arrives at their vacation house for the summer to spend some quality family time. However the illusion of fun and safety is shattered when a creepy pair of “locals” enter their house. At first, their requests and dialogue seem just silly, for example asking to borrow eggs several times after breaking them repeatedly….but it quickly turns unnerving…

So to save you the description of violence, I’ll just say that it all goes downhill from there, and really messes with your mind by inverting the common literary trope of kooky neighbors. Definitely not for the faint of heart. I’ll also say that if you hate feeling anxious or frustrated by films, avoid this one. Watching it really made me seethe at the master manipulation by the bad guys, and pity the poor unsuspecting family!

Here’s what I call the Egg Scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-l_h0yOS5w

“Let the Right One In”

“Let the Right One In”  is one of the more successful recent Swedish film imports…

Based on the book of the same name, the movie takes place in a small Swedish town. One small caveat: they have a bit of a vampire problem on their hands. But rather than venturing into the realm of gore or kitch, “Let The Right One In ” masters the fine balance of shock and artistic integrity. Cinematography-wise, the harsh winter scenes are balanced with genuine emotion from the leading characters. When the two main characters, (one is a human, one a vampire), strike up an unlikely friendship, despite how ridiculous or frightening the potential prospects are, the person watching really gets a sense of true feelings coming through. Making the main vampire character so young obviously brings out a sense of sympathy from the audience but not in a desperate way. I’d definitely recommend watching “Let the Right One In” as a vampire movie primer.

Dario Argento’s “Suspiria” (1977) Review

Having read all about the merits of classic Italian horror movies, I approached “Suspiria” with a positive predisposition. However I really wasn’t expecting to be blown away. Having seen my fair share of old scary movies that at this point I react to them in almost a post-modern way; I appreciate the retro factor and the unsophisticated orange paint that makes its way into nearly every gory scene…for what they are: merely products of the time. Usually this sort of outlook prevents me from the genuine experience in favor of a more critical “appreciation”.

But “Suspiria” is a different story.

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What starts out as a weird plot involving a young girl who accepts an invitation to train at a German ballet academy that’s run by a coven of witches turns into a crazy dream-like encounter that you need to see to believe. Taken in the context of the 1970s, before the world of CGI and other digital enhancements, viewing this in a theatre must have been quite the experience. Dario Argento was known as a master of suspense and I can see why. The crude scenes of murder, which tend to be the climactic scenes in most modern “horror” movies aren’t what make this film exceptional. Undoubtedly it’s the suspense that gives this film its reputation. Which brings me into my next point: the musical score. So many films these days opt out of- or just don’t care to- take advantage of the atmospheric potential of a great musical score. Fortunately, Argento understood the power of sound and scored the film to instrumental music from his own band “Goblins”. The spooky banging and almost synth-like product served to enhance every scene it was in. I only wish that I could have seen it in a dark theater to augment its effect.

 

Overall, “Susperia” will probably leave you feeling paranoid about your surroundings, but hey isn’t that what any good scary movie should do?