Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by sjb (A) on March 16, 2007 at 19:20:20

In Reply to: Opening today in New York, Boston and Los Angeles: The Winner, Best Film, Cannes 2006 -- posted by clarkjohnsen on March 16, 2007 at 09:35:30:

It's a bit too long (a VERY common problem these days) and loses some steam about halfway through until close to the end but the power of the first half and of the end more than make up for it.

There's a fierceness and a rawness to the film and the performances (especially Murphy, the woman who played "Sinead" and the actor who played "Dan")... and to the portrayal of the land and the time. It almost feels like a docudrama at times... in the best way.

I'm often moved by stories of resistance and this was no exception but there was a point about 1/3 intto the film where two men were sharing a cell (don't want to say which characters and give anything away) and one of them found and read aloud a William Blake poem written on the wall (and don't I wish I could remember it). In that moment I was thrust even more deeply into the feeling of the film and it carried me quite a ways.

There were several other moving scenes including an older woman singing the words to "The Wind That Shook The Barely" early in the film and a scene later that deals with the consequences of betrayal.

Politically I was mixed in this film... siding easily with the Irish during the Irish War Of Independence part but feeling less clear (though the movie makes its sympathies very clear and I did lean towards those, if not totally politically then feeling wise) during the aftermath.

Don't know that I'd want to sit through it again anytime soon (one doesn't leave feeling good, that's for sure) but I'm very glad I saw it.

Don't piss on my shoe and tell me it's raining.