Amour (2012)

Director: Michael Haneke

ഒരു നല്ല ചിത്രം കണ്ടു. വാർദ്ധക്യത്തിന്റെ ഭീകരമായ അവസ്ഥയെ നമ്മിലേക്ക്‌ അനുഭവിപ്പിക്കാൻ കഴിയുന്നു എന്നുള്ളതാണ് ഈ ചിത്രത്തിന്റെ പ്രാധാന്യം. നമ്മുടെ വാർദ്ധക്യത്തിനും ഇത് പോലുള്ള അവസ്ഥകളെ നേരിടേണ്ടി വന്നേക്കാം എന്ന ഓർമപ്പെടുത്താലും   കൂടിയാണ് ഈ സിനിമ. അതിനുമപ്പുറം സ്നേഹം എന്നത് വെറും പ്രദർശനത്തിന് മാത്രമുള്ളതല്ലെന്നും ഒരു നോട്ടവും കഥ പറച്ചിലും അതിന്റെ വ്യാപ്തി മനസ്സിലാക്കി തരുമെന്നും ഈ ചിത്രം നമ്മെ ബോധ്യപ്പെടുത്തുന്നു.

Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne suffers an attack and a subsequent surgery is unsuccessful leaving the right side of her body paralyzed. At first she's confined to a wheelchair, still able to talk, but unable to get around like she used to. Georges must help her in the bathroom, into bed and must cut her meat before dinner. This is only the beginning.

The film presents an unflinching picture of death. For the most part it's a torturous journey as a man must watch the woman he loves shrink before his eyes and she is powerless to stop it, wishing her life could just end and unburden the man that has been so kind to her for all these years. Eva (Isabelle Huppert) is Anne and Georges' daughter. Living out of town she is unable to visit on a consistent basis, but when she does another layer to the plot is peeled away. Georges feels forced to defend the decisions he's made based on doctor recommendations and Anne's wishes. Dealing with the vision of her mother in such a state, unable to speak in full sentences or even make sense when she does, causes Eva to wonder what more can be done.

With towering performances and an unflinching script from Michael Haneke, Amour represents an honest, heartwrenching depiction of deep love and responsibility.

The Battle of Algiers (1966)

Director: 

Gillo Pontecorvo

Episodic in nature, The Battle of Algiers tells the story of Algeria finally gaining independence in 1962 by focussing on the character of guerrilla leader Ali la Pointe. Part of the brilliance of this film is its willingness to show both sides of the story and it does not shy away from the fact that unspeakable acts of brutality were carried out. Instead of sentimentalizing the Arab cause and villainizing French colonialism, Pontecorvo strips away the emotional aspects and embraces a gripping handheld aesthetic. Not only does this establish a kinetic documentary effect, it makes the impact of every shoot-out and explosion a deeply personal experience. This approach defines the introduction of Ali La Pointe (Brahim Haggiag), a low-level grifter who becomes a crucial leader for the FLN after watching a fellow prisoner get guillotined in a French prison.

Ali's ideological shift could represent any number of the other Arab characters in The Battle of Algiers, and Pontecorvo makes their point of view a priority immediately before and after sudden bursts of violence. Pontecorvo always hovers on the aftermath of each attack, watching as French and Arab bodies are pulled from the rubble, faceless innocents masked by layers of dirt and blood.

The film excels in its examination of guerrilla warfare strategies and tactics. Early on in the film for instance, the FLN takes advantage of the fact that French soldiers at checkpoints will not search pretty women, simply waving them through. From that point on many of their weapons are smuggled in and out of the Casbah by women dressed in ‘western’ garb.

Another great sequence is when the leader of the paratroopers, Colonel Mathieu, eloquently explains why current French occupation tactics won’t work. Colonel Mathieu also outlines the ‘triangle cell terrorism’ model. Each cell leader is recruited by someone and then recruits two further people themselves. As a result they only ever know three people in the organisation so cannot reveal too much if captured and tortured. 

The film also goes into some detail concerning the political philosophy behind national liberation. In a conversation with the FLN’s leader, Pointe asks why they are ordering a general strike rather than persisting with guns and armed struggle. The leader replies that while terrorism serves as a beginning it does not win revolutions. He sagely points out that while starting, fighting and winning revolutions is difficult, their true problems will only really start once they have gained power.

Ultimately, Ali and Jaffar are overrun after Col. Mathieu locks down the city during a military surge ironically called Operation Champagne. But the final moments in the film prove that the French colonialist machine has very little to celebrate. Shots of tortured prisoners dissolve into massive protests by regular citizens demanding freedom, and these large groups clash with riot police only to be mowed down by machine-gun fire. The striking images overlap, the unrest growing more intense with each passing montage. This sequence is a potent precursor to the fact that Algeria attained independence a few years later in 1962.

Fifty years on, The Battle of Algiers remains an unsurpassed film of revolution and guerrilla warfare, and a landmark in African cinema. More than any other, one line of dialogue sums up the film's unique balance of romantic lyricism and hard-nosed realism: "Violence itself does not win wars. The people themselves must act."  The Battle of Algiers may have been released in 1966, but its powerful influence still holds violent sway in the volatile streets of Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria. Great protest art like Pontecorvo's will always be necessary.