Friday No. 3 : A Streetcar named Desire

A little research about the names of it main characters reveals a lot about the central themes of this Tennessee Williams' play-turned-film. The anti-heroine, a beautifully fragile, albeit aging, English teacher desperately clinging to the genteel ways of her aristocratic past, is named Blanche DuBois - French for "white forest" and the anti-villain, a strong, rough laborer whose persona requires the word "animal"  is named Stanley Kowalski - separately translated as "stony meadow" and "blacksmith". 

Such stark contrasts of approaches to Human Nature, one desperately refined and whimsical and the other, irresistibly raw, and menacingly uncontrolled, serve as the gasoline and gun powder lined avenue for the fiery Streetcar named Desire.

I first watched this as a play in the Cultural Center of the Philippines, translated entirely into the local vernacular, and although they are separated by language and the limitations of 1950's cinema that sanitized the crucial rape scenes and details of homosexuality, both the play and the film capture what pornography can only fantasize about- Sex as a palpable force of nature in its unbearable subtleties as well as its unstoppable ferocity.

I still remember having raunchy dreams days after the play and now, after watching the film, I not only have a new found respect for Marlon Brando  for a performance that absolutely cannot be duplicated, I also now have an inexplicable desire to look as good as him in greasy shirt-  And therein lies the genius of Tennessee Williams, in having created a story about real humans that sweat and bleed and telling it in the same way that real humans behave- intelligent and seemingly contrived with its literary devices and social commentaries on one side but also undeniably visceral in its ultimate effect.

                        Here's when Blanche meets Stanley for the first time. Talk about tension.

 

Friday No. 2: Casablanca

The way I feel about so many love stories is the way I felt about the popular couples in High School-  infatuated teenagers too lost in themselves to care about anything else, unable to resist the easy thrills  of Boy-Meets-Girl and helpless to escape the trap of of You-And-Me-Against-The-World (or more appropriately, You-And-Me-Forget-The-World).

And so, approaching Casablanca-whose reputation precedes itself as the granddaddy, so to speak, of all romantic Hollywood films- felt like approaching the Prom King and Queen.

But, I was happily surprised-- by its political idealism, relevance and yes, even its romance.

Set in the Moroccan crossroads of Europe and America, in the time of the Nazi regime and in the middle of the ensuing European exodus, the film roots itself firmly in the harsh realities of its time, with memories of happier times and romance only serving to torture the now jaded protagonist Rick. The tension begins when the woman from his past, Ilsa, fatefully arrives in his cafe with her husband Victor, an important leader of the Resistance. Like so many in Casablanca, they are trying to escape into America and as fate would have it, two Exit Visas find their way into Rick's hands. Ilsa first tries to get the Visas for her husband and herself, but inevitably falls back into Rick's arms, leaving him to decide what to do.

 It is in this state of affairs that the film ignites the key conflict between our own idyllic view of love, our own "moment in Paris" and its unsavory complications, that, just like the port of Casablanca, we so desperately try to escape.

Then, the film's stroke of brilliance comes, as Rick decides to ensure Ilsa's safety by letting her leave with Victor, uttering the iconic "We'll always have Paris", and consequently ensuring the future of the Resistance against the Nazi regime.

In the end, I think what makes this film great, is that while it delivers the usual trappings of Old Hollywood glamour along with some gender stereotypes and cliches, it still manages to graduate from the thrill of the first kiss and it matures into that moment that you realize that love isn't about holding onto illusory notions of happiness, that Love is bigger than yourself and your feelings, and that it is indeed, sacrifice--- something that too many romantic films, and romantic people, forget.

       Frank Sinatra's version of the film's iconic theme - As Time Goes By

Friday No. 1: The Godfather I and II

I've decided to begin in the familiar territory of Classic Hollywood- and few would argue the Classic status of The Godfather.( I can hear them now- You mean you've NEVER seen it?) And, since much has been said about the sequel being better than the first, I've seen both.

I think that among many other things, this franchise has become what it is, because of its sheer scope and how it captures the entanglements of its characters with each other, their Nation and themselves.

 In the first film, we are invited into Don Corleone's office, which we find out is also his home and from there, the lines between Family and Business are permanently blurred. In the same vein, it also humanizes characters of whom we only know caricatures- the villains in the dark trench coats, the hit men, the crime bosses- by making them our brothers, cousins, son-in-laws- unambiguously entering the realm of moral ambiguity.

The second film explores, simultaneously, the young Vito Corleone's roots and rise to power as well as his son's Michael's descent into corruption. While it follows the legacy of the first film in its honest, three dimensional treatment, it just goes deeper into the characters' personal motivations and really raises compelling questions about choice and the extent to which we really choose to become who we are.

In contrast to what some critics have said that the film "glorifies" criminals like the Mafia, I think that The Godfather actually dispels our own myths about normalcy and "good" people. It is after all, an uncomfortable thought to consider that we, and people close to us, are capable of things we consider evil, given the right circumstances. More importantly, it makes us think of what those "circumstances" may be, and if perhaps those are already present in our lives, and as such, perhaps such choices have already been made.

And that's the question I'm left with after watching this Godfather double feature-

Have we unknowingly become people we never wanted to be? If we look at ourselves the way these films have presented their characters, it seems that the answer isn't as simple as one would like.

                                                          The Original 1972 Film Trailer