Der Untergang (2004)

"Words build bridges into unexplored regions"

-Adolf Hitler

To me, Adolf Hitler was a man with no soul. To a young German secretary in 1942, Traudl Junge, he was a father figure that could do no wrong. She never questioned what he did. It was only when she was older did she realize her ignorance. In the film, Der Untergang (2004), Hitler played by Bruno Ganz and Junge played by Alexandra Maria Lara, we learn of their relationship, as well as the downfall of Hitler, through many omniscient narrations.

Director Oliver Hirschbiegel opens the movie with the real Traudl Junge, now in her later years. In a documentary type-setting, a narrative duration, she tells us how she can’t forgive herself for being so childish, and for “not realizing the horrors, the monster, before it was too late”. When she is saying these
words, the camera is focused just on her face. You can see her trying to rationalize in her head that the decision she made to work with Hitler was the right one. Just before the camera fades to black, we catch a glimpse of the truth she now knows. She could have simply said ‘no’ but chose not to. If she had, hers would have been a different story to tell.


From Junge’s narration, played by Lara, we see her life through her rose colored glasses. Knowing what the outcome of this film would probably be, I had to watch this movie with an open mind. Ganz plays Hitler as no one has ever really seen him before. From the ticking hand behind his back, possibly because of Parkinson’s, to eating his meals with his loyal and close companions, to being called “Uncle Hitler” by the Goebbels children, sometimes I forgot he was the mastermind behind the whole war. Sometimes. “A character’s inferred emotional and intellectual make-up motivate specific actions that subsequently define that character.” (Corrigan and White 240)

In one of his scenes now recreated to mock pop culture of today, Hirschbiegel focuses the camera behind Ganz, who is sitting down, to show the power that Hitler had. His Generals are facing him, looking at him for their orders, there next attack. This man had more power than I think he understood. It wasn’t just Junge who was captivated by him, everyone seemed to be.


Throughout the movie, there are several narrative points of view. We learn of a young Nazi soldier named Peter, Eva Braun, Hitler’s wife, the Goebbels family, very loyal to the Fuhrer, Hitler’s secretaries, and Prof. Dr. Werner Haase. Filmed in the symbolic space of the Fuhrer’s dark bunker as well as each of these characters, plays an important role to making this film seem real. It almost makes you believe this isn’t historical fiction. Almost.

In the end, we see Traudl Junge again this time speaking of her life after the war. She says “I was satisfied that I personally wasn’t to blame and that I hadn’t known of those things.” With her head down as to not focus on her emotions, she talks about finally realizing what she had been a part of. “It was no excuse to be young.”

Sources:

Der Untergang 2004. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel. Starring Alexandra Maria Lara, Bruno Ganz, Matthias Habich,Juliane Köhler,Corinna Harfouch,Ulrich Matthes,Donevan Gunia. 2004. Sony Pictures. YouTube/DVD.

IMDB

Der Untergang YouTube

Bunker Picture

Tradul Junge

Corrigan & White (2009), The Film Experience: An Introduction. (Chapter 7)

Mulholland Drive 2001

"It is all an illusion..."

-Bondar

Red. The primary color. The color of passion. The color of blood. The color of the forbidden. The color of the Devil. In China, red is worn by brides to symbolize prosperity and good fortune. During the two World Wars, the Soviet Army was called the “Red Army” for all the bloodshed they caused. In David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, the color red can be seen throughout the entire movie. Each time we see the color, it is used to make us be conscious of the hidden meanings behind the objects in red.

After the mysterious woman, played by Laura Elena Harring, gets out of the shower, she wraps herself with a red towel. She also wearing red lipstick and sees a picture of Rita Hayworth, the famous actress known for her feisty personality, as well as her red hair, and takes her name. This scene symbolizes that "Rita" has a dangerous secret. She is covering up in a dark red towel mysteriously hiding her true self. She takes her name from the starlet and in turn transforms into a new person, a fantasy of who she really is.

Red Towel "Rita"

When we first meet Betty, played by Naomi Watts, she is seen wearing a pink sweater. The color pink is a lighter version of red. It represents Betty’s innocence. She has this fairytale dream of her becoming a famous actress. She sees the world through rose colored glasses.

“I'm sorry. I'm just so excited to be here. I mean I just came here from Deep River, Ontario, and now I'm in this dream place. Well, you can imagine how I feel.”-Betty.

As the film progresses we learn that she is not what she seems. Her darker side is hidden by her pretty pink sweater.

                                                              Pink Sweater "Betty"

The Cowboy played by Monty Montgomery, is wearing a red handkerchief in this scene. This symbolizes power. He is in control and telling Adam, played by Justin Theroux, that he needs to do what he is being told by the studio making his film.

“When you see the girl in the picture that was shown to you earlier today, you will say, "this is the girl". The rest of the cast can stay, that's up to you. But that lead girl is "not" up to you. Now you will see me one more time, if you do good. You will see me, two more times, if you do bad. Good night.” - Cowboy.

          Adam is also covered in pink paint which indicates his obedient persona vs. the Cowboy’s dominance.

                                                                    The Cowboy

In these two scenes at “Club Silenco” Betty is now wearing a red shirt to show she is the dominate one. She is also infatuated with Rita at this point, and wants to control every movement they both make. The red make up and earring on the singer, Rebekah Del Rio, represents her passion not only in her voice but also for Rita and Betty’s relationship. She can be heard singing, "Crying" and that is what all three women do.

                                           Betty and Rita

                                                                        Club Singer

The red smoke behind the “Bum” implies danger, evil and death. This scene of the “Bum” can be interpreted differently depending on how you view the film. To me it symbolizes not only the anger and pain Betty is going through but also her failure to get Rita’s love. The “Bum” is seen at the very end opening Pandora’s Box and in turn killing Betty’s dreams. The red smoke signifies her passionate soul leaving her body.

                                                                            Bum

The color red stood out to me because it’s my favorite color. Red can mean love and death. This film shows us both.

Sources:

Mulholland Drive 2001. Director David Lynch. Starring Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Dan Hedaya. 2002. Universal Studios. DVD.

Mulholland-Drive

IMDB

Colors

Flags of Our Fathers 2006

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

We’ve all seen iconic images, whether in history books, watching the TV, or searching through the Internet. Can you picture these without looking them up? Young John F Kennedy Jr. saluting his father’s casket, Marilyn Monroe in her classic white dress blowing in the wind, Neil Armstrong landing on the moon with the flag, the sketch of the Unabomber in his hooded sweatshirt (AKA Ted Kaczynski), O.J. Simpson’s white Ford Bronco driving down the freeway (the black gloves too) or Farrah Fawcett in her red bathing suit. It’s these images that can change the world and our views on life.

Director Clint Eastwood has taken one of the most famous images of war and turned into a film that’s more than just a history lesson.

This movie is based on the book of the same name, by James Bradley with Ron Powers and tells the story of how the famous photograph of six American men raising the United States flag brought hope back to the people, but also changed the lives of the men forever.

The photograph, taken on February 23, 1945 by Joe Rosenthal, depicts the six American men raising the United States flag on Iwo Jima. These men were John “Doc” Bradley, (James’ father) Ira Hayes, Harlon Block, Rene Gagnon, Michael Strank, and Franklin Sousley. They had no idea this photo was taken at the time. Only three of these men survived to share their story with the families waiting back home for loved ones.

Hayes, Bradley, Gagnon

One of these men “Doc” as he’s known because he is a Navy corpsman, does not see himself the hero he’s made out to be. Played by Ryan Philipe, he is just a man studying to be a mortician but also trying to save his life and many others. One of these lives was his friend Ralph “Iggy” Ignatowski. While another soldier was calling for help, Bradley leaves Ignatowski to find the wounded soldier. He returns to find his friend missing. “Where is he?” he is heard saying throughout the film. This haunts him for the rest of his life. Bradley returned home to see that his world was forever changed, all because of this one image that was seen by millions of people. He never spoke of his ‘achievement’ to his kids. James Bradley only learned of his father’s past by going through his belongings after his passing.

Hayes (Adam Beach) and Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) also have a hard time adjusting to their new found fame. Hayes turned to alcohol and didn’t want to be called a ‘hero’:

“..All I did was try not to get shot. Some of the things I saw done, things I did, they weren't things to be proud of, you know?”

At first Gagnon basks in all the glory, but later finds fifteen minutes goes by pretty quickly.

Sometimes we forget that the soldiers are just ordinary men and women. They aren’t so ordinary though, because they have decided to risk their lives to save others. To us that makes them heroes. But they don’t see themselves that way. In this iconic image, we don’t see the hurt the soldiers were feeling. We don’t see their wounds, we don’t see their fears. What we do see is what we want to believe; that there is some kind of hope for mankind. That tomorrow will come and the war will be over.


Eastwood's film makes this iconic image come alive.  What would our world be like if there were no images?

Flags of Our Fathers. Director Clint Eastwood. Starring Ryan Philipe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, Jamie Bell. 2006. Dreamworks Video. 2007. DVD.

Amazon.com

Flags of Our Fathers Fan Site

IMDB- Flags of Our Fathers

Iconic Images

Star Trek 2009

"Live long and Prosper"

Based on a hit TV show? Check. 

Rebel lead character? Yup. 

Cameo’s? Confirmed.

Bromance/Possible love triangle? This is Hollywood. 

Prequel? Maybe or maybe not.

Science-Fiction? What?!

One Friday night, I found myself forced to watch Star Trek (2009) in the theater with my friends. I had read the reviews and all I saw was the word "science-fiction'". This was not going to be a good night.

I myself have never been into sci-fi. Science was my worst subject in school and I never found it interesting. I remember going to the nurse’s office 'sick' every time we had a chemistry lab. After watching this movie, which I thought I was going to hate but surprisingly didn't, I decided to actually see what sci-fi really meant. First, I looked up the definition of sci-fi. According to Answers.com, it is “A literary or cinematic genre in which fantasy, typically based on speculative scientific discoveries or developments, environmental changes, space travel, or life on other planets, forms part of the plot or background.” After reading this definition all I thought of was X-Files (my mom's favorite show); aliens, time travel, Scully and Molder, basically it bored me. I remember my mom would come home early from work just to watch this show. We only had one TV in the house so I was forced to watch it if I wanted to watch TV. I wish I liked books back then. Sometimes I admit, I found it really fascinating and other times I fell asleep early. 

So then after realizing what sci-fi meant, I googled sci-fi movies. Maybe I had seen a trailer or two or even a picture online of one. Wow was I surprised! I found these two websites; Sci-Fi Movie Page and IMDB Sci-Fi. It turned out I had seen a lot more movies in this field than I had expected. Beetlejuice, a Tim Burton classic, Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind, Children of Men, Iron Man, The Prestige, The Matrix, Wall-E, The Truman Show, E.T., a childhood classic, The Incredibles and the one movie I never would have thought, The Goonies! 

I had never known that these movies were considered "sci-fi". This whole time I guess I really did find science fiction, fantasy, time travel and maybe an alien fascinating. I shouldn't have judged the whole sci-fi genre based on the word.  I shouldn’t have laughed when I heard people were lining up for the Star Wars or Lord of the Rings movies. There’s a reason why these movies are so good. This whole time I enjoyed science fiction films.

I guess now I should admit that I have seen every episode of Lost and maybe an episode or two of Abrams other show Fringe (FOX). Before researching sci-fi I had no idea they fell into this category. I just liked the premise of these shows and if the science fiction part was thrown in there, I was oblivious to it.

I've learned you can’t judge a genre just by the definition; you need to see it for yourself, with an open mind. I've seen Star Trek (2009) four times. Each time I learn something new and find a part I might have missed the time before. The character's chemistry, an alternate reality, and of course the good looking rebel lead character, make this movie more than just science fiction, that part is just thrown in there and you'll never know it.  

Science Fiction? It's growing on me.

"Trekkie"? No, well not yet.

Star Trek 2009. Dir. J. J. Abrams. Starring. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldaña, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood. 2009. Paramount Pictures. 2009. DVD

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