Merry Old England
By Susan Varno Big screen versions of English history offer glorious history and great costumes. KING ARTHUR (2004) was a legendary Roman soldier (Clive Owen) who brought peace and democracy to Britain in the early 400’s. After he led his men in battle against Scottish tribes and met invading German Saxons on a frozen lake, the local lords crowned him king. Along the way, he rescued Guinevere (Keira Knightley). In the 5th Century legend of TRISTAN + ISOLDE (2006), a young Briton (James Franco) “killed” in battle floats across the sea to a princess (Sophie Myles) who nurses him back to life. Naturally, they fall in love, but she’s pledged to his uncle (Rufus Sewell), a king trying to unite the Britons into one kingdom.
Fast forward to 1558 when ELIZABETH (1998) became queen. In her early twenties, this extraordinary woman (Cate Blanchett) kept Catholics and Protestants from all out war, rooted out a French plot against her life and used “feminine frailty” to her advantage. No one took her seriously until she was too powerful to be stopped. The story continues in ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE (2007). Now in her fifties, she almost fell for swashbuckling explorer Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen). When Spanish King (Jordi Molla) plotted to put the Catholic Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton) on the throne, Elizabeth has the rival queen beheaded. Outraged, he launched the greatest armada ever assembled to invade England. Her rousing leadership, English ingenuity and the weather saved the day. The “Virgin Queen” (Judi Dench) also appears in the fictional SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998). In 1593, young Will (Joseph Fiennes) has a “star-crossed” love affair with an aspiring actress (Gwyneth Paltrow), which inspires his “Romeo and Juliet.”
By 1673, King Charles II (John Malkovich) had led England into sexual debauchery and political excess. He commissioned THE LIBERTINE (2004) poet Johnny Wilmot (Johnny Depp), Earl of Rochester, to write a brilliant work, but Wilmot’s play was pornographic even by today’s standards. Worse, Johnnie contracted “the pox,” a disfiguring and deadly venereal disease, forcing him to come to terms with life and with God.
Inspired by God’s AMAZING GRACE (2006), MP William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd) ceaselessly petitioned Parliament to end the African slave trade. With so many people involved in the trade, success eluded him from the American Revolution until the Napoleonic War. During this time Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) was BECOMING JANE (2007), writing romances and boldly complaining about the treatment of women. Her own romance with a penniless lawyer (James McAvoy) inspired some of her novels, which include SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (published 1811, filmed 1995), MANSFIELD PARK (published 1811, filmed 1999), PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (published 1813, filmed 2005) and EMMA (published 1816, filmed 1996). For more English writers see TOPSY-TURVY (1999) with William Gilbert (Allan Corduner) and Arthur Sullivan (Jim Broadbent) producing “The Mikado” in 1884, and James M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) FINDING NEVERLAND (2004), the inspiration for his 1903 play PETER PAN (2003 live action, 1953 animated).
In 1937, a wealthy widow (Judi Dench) rented a West End theater and hired a manager (Bob Hoskins) to stage MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS (2005) Naked Ladies!, tastefully done in tableaus. The show went on through World War II because she believed a young man shouldn’t have to risk his life if he’s never had the chance to see a nude woman.
Have a Little Sympathy for that Killer
By Art Slavin
Yes, they’ve killed…and maybe even more than once… but believe it or not, you have to have a little sympathy for them. Here are some excellent movies that feature just those kinds of killers… some you even might root for. Of course there are those who are out for revenge, like SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET who, portrayed by Johnny Depp, got back at the evil judge who stole his family and put him in jail. Who could blame the Bride (Uma Thurman) whose wedding party was massacred? She had to go out there to KILL BILL, and keep it up with KILL BILL 2. Then there was that woman (Penélope Cruz) whose husband tried to rape her daughter in VOLVER. He had to go. Who could criticize the terrorist tactics of the masked man (Hugo Weaving) and his young ally (Natalie Portman) in V FOR VENDETTA? Or that of Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) who just had to kill as many of the gunmen led by the ruthless Hertz (Paul Giamatti) in order to protect a newborn in SHOOT ‘EM UP. Who could blame the scorned woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) who had to do something about her cheating boyfriend in WHITE OLEANDER? Or the gal played by Jodie Foster who took matters into her own hands after the murder of her sweetheart in THE BRAVE ONE? She might have gone a little nutty, but not as much as MR. BROOKS (Kevin Costner), who was controlled by his alter-ego (William Hurt). I guess the devil made him do it. Or that kid in the middle ages whose fascination with smells made him go to any lengths to get just the right formulas in PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER. But the ultimate in a psychologically messed up killer has to be the amnesiac (Guy Pearce) we watch in reverse chronology in the classic thriller MEMENTO. Then there are the pros who are painted with just enough humanity for us to have some soft feelings for them. Like THE PROFESSIONAL assassin (Jean Reno) who reluctantly takes care of his 12-year-old neighbor (Natalie Portman), whose parents are killed, and teaches her his trade. MR. AND MRS. SMITH (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie), are a bored married couple surprised to learn that they are both assassins hired by competing agencies to kill each other. A gun-for-hire HITMAN, a genetically-engineered, elite assassin known only as Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) has unexpected stirrings of his conscience which give us cause for sympathy. And when the outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) kills his sidekick (Ben Foster) for murdering an innocent rancher (Christian Bale), we have to applaud him as he boards the 3:10 TO YUMA. And he may have been a career killer, but Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is the hunted hero in the three thrillers he stars in: THE BOURNE IDENTITY, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM. Colin Farrell plays a bumbling hit man whose mistake puts him in a position for which we have to have mixed feelings IN BRUGES. Speaking of killers for whom we have to feel sorry, check out hard-drinking Ben Kingsley in YOU KILL ME. Or the professional assassin (Jason Statham) who’s been poisoned in CRANK. And even though he’s a notorious outlaw, we’re certainly rooting for Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) when he is offered THE PROPOSITION by the sheriff (Ray Winstone) to kill his older brother (Danny Huston) in return for the release of his younger brother (Richard Wilson). Pierce Brosnan plays a globe trotting hit man who meets up with a down-and-out businessman (Greg Kinnear), and together they provide lots of laughs in THE MATADOR. Viggo Mortensen was nominated for an Oscar for his sympathetic portrayal of a killer with a heart in EASTERN PROMISES, and should have been for his equally good performance as a reformed one in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. We’re certainly on the side of a mob thug (Paul Walker) as he tries to get rid of the gun that killed a cop, but don’t know why until the end of RUNNING SCARED, an action-packed crime drama. Controversy surrounds both a Japanese general during World War II (Ken Watanabe) in LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, and a British abortionist (Imelda Staunton) as VERA DRAKE. Both are painted as sympathetic figures, but does their behavior warrant forgiveness?