February 2019 film review

FIRST THEY TOOK MY FATHER (2017) D- Angelina Jolie
It is Cambodia 1976, ‘Year Zero’. Whole populations are being evicted from the cities and put to work on the land, to serve the ridiculous and murderous ideology of Pol Pot and his fellow travelers.
This film focuses on one middle class family, as they journey into the hinterland towards an uncertain fate. On the way they are witness to unimaginable cruelty and suffering, all apparently in the name of the great socialist revolution Pol Pot has dreamed up. Of course deep down, like communist China it’s all about seizing and holding onto power, but don’t tell anybody you think that - you’re as likely to be taken outside, stood up against a wall and shot.

Using a team of unknowns, here Ms Jolie has created an horrific and deeply moving tale of man’s inhumanity to man, Khmer Rouge style. I think we can safely say that with this project she has truly come of age as a film maker.

MAKALA (2017) D- Emmanuel Gras
A family man in rural DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) needs to build a house. It’s going to be built out of just a few strips of corrugated iron, but even that minimal outlay is beyond our guy. So he wanders into the scrublands and finds a tree (there aren’t many around here), chops it down and by a painstaking process turns it into charcoal. This he then takes to a township where he can sell it and at least make enough cash to make a down payment on his corrugated iron. Simples? I think not.

It is next to impossible for us, in the opulent West, to be able to identify with people who live on the edge of starvation. This film plants us firmly in that world, and we find ourselves rooting for our hero as he struggles to make a home for his young family. Poverty with a human face, you might say. And, I would add, thoroughly gripping cinema.

I AM NOT A WITCH (2017) W/D- Rungani Nyoni
A young girl in a remote Ghanaian village keeps herself to herself, but is labelled a witch by her neighbours. An accredited witch doctor is brought in to adjudicate and seals her fate by deeming her just that. Now the state takes over and lodges her with a group of woman who have been likewise determined to be in league with the devil. Then a government minister adopts her and uses her to enhance his own profile. Ideally he’d like her to make it rain as there is a severe drought on at that time. She fails to oblige, disappointing the minister. This isn’t going to end well...

The debut film of Ms. Nyoni, this film received a lot of praise at Cannes in 2017, and is certainly one of the most promising first features for many years. As with Makala, we are plunged into the heart of African culture in a vivid and disturbing manner, as we see how not only ordinary people but even the government itself allows itself to buy into a world of magic and witchcraft, usually, as has always been the case, for reasons entirely unrelated to magic itself. Moving, and very frightening.

A QUIET PLACE (2018) D- John Krasinski
In a world inhabited by horrible monsters, there’s only one way to stay alive: keep quiet, ‘cause these creatures have acute hearing and can pick up a sigh at fifty paces and be on you in a flash. Only good thing, they don’t see too good, so you can still get about, even if one’s near, as long as you remain silent. Hard enough if you’re a full-grown adult: how about if you’re an exuberant kid, or worse, a baby? Tricky...

John Krasinski has been a busy boy lately. Having cut his teeth as a key character in the American version of The Office, he has gone on to co-write a number of successful movies including 13 Hours, Big Miracle and It’s Complicated. Along with voice-over work in films such as Shrek the Third, he recently landed the plum titular role in Amazon’s Jack Ryan. And here he shows how he can direct as well as write. Comparisons with Bird Box are inevitable at this point, as in the latter it was that you couldn’t see the monsters, whereas in this it’s that they musn’t hear you. But in terms of quality, In a Quiet Place easily outshines Bird Box. Where that film lacked credibility, this shines in its authentic menace. What I’m saying is that you couldn’t believe Bird Box, but this you can. Krasinski stars in this film as well, showing the lad to be a redoubtable all-rounder, and he is ably served by his co-star, Emily Blunt. In conclusion, miss Bird Box if you haven’t already been one of the 50 million-odd subscribers who went there, and watch this instead.