More 2012 Movies: Farewell, My Queen, Zero Dark Thirty and Django

More 2012 Movies

Marie Antoinette greets the Duchess de Polignac.

2012 Farewell, My Queen

Farewell, My Queen was a very different sort of movie.  It's aesthetically interesting, showing the court of Marie Antoinette, with the beautiful costumes and jewels, but in a much grittier way than Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.  It shows the dirt, the cracking makeup, the rats, the fleas, the lack of washing machines.  It is told from the perspective of Sidonie, a servant assigned to be reader to the queen.  It follows the last days of King Louis XVI being in power in Versailles.  Versailles is portrayed as a world in a bubble, with very strict roles and routines.  As the outside world bursts this bubble, the inhabitants all seem to be flailing about, not sure what to do, and in danger of losing their heads (literally) if they don't get it together, get a move on, and escape.  Louis XVI decides to stay, and so Marie Antoinette must stay as well.  Sidonie is determined to stay nearby and support the queen, as she apparently has a crush on her -one that is not reciprocated or ever fully explored or explained.  Marie Antoinette is depicted as in love with her friend, the Duchess de Polignac.  I know the condemning pamphlets of the time liked to paint the picture of a lesbian relationship between Marie Antoinette and her friends, especially between her and the duchess, but I don't believe that there is any real evidence to support this idea.

The people of Versailles waiting for news and instructions from Louis XVI.

Lea Seydoux as Sidonie.

The movie is French with subtitles, and Marie Antoinette is played by German actress Diane Kruger (appropriate, as Marie Antoinette was Austrian).  I thought she did a good job, though I would have liked to see her on screen more so I could get a better idea of her character (she is a personality that I am intrigued by).  The story in general needed more meat to it -I don't feel like I left the movie with a real understanding of the character I had been following for the duration of the film (Sidonie).  It had a lot of promise, it just needed some filling out -it was like a peak though the window of a very interesting place at a very interesting time, and you want to walk in the door and really see what's going on, but that peak through the window is all you're going to get.  It's unsatisfying.  The actress that played Sidonie, Lea Seydoux, struck me as someone that I would love to see play Anne Boleyn.  She is how I picture her -not overtly beautiful, but with a beguiling nature and a clever, sometimes devious expression in her eyes.  That would be dream casting for me!

2012 Zero Dark Thirty

"Quite frankly, I didn't even want to use you guys, with your dip and velcro and all your gear bullshit.  I wanted to drop a bomb.  But people didn't believe in this lead enough to drop a bomb.  So they're using you guys as canaries.  And, in theory, if bin Laden isn't there, you can sneak away and no one will be the wiser.  But bin Laden is there.  And you're going to kill him for me."

First I have to say that Tyler absolutely loved this movie, and gave it props for being enormously accurate (as far as the military scenes go -he can't really comment on the CIA aspects, as he is not in the CIA...or is he?).  If Tyler says a movie is accurate, it gets high marks from me.  Zero Dark Thirty is about the decade-plus long hunt for Osama bin Laden (they keep calling him UBL in the movie, and Tyler says this is because the CIA spells it Usama, and I'm pretty sure he's not pulling my leg...), focusing on the determination of one particular CIA agent, Maya (not sure if she is based on a real person, or if she is an amalgamation of various CIA members), played  by Jessica Chastain.  Maya has spent her entire career in pursuit of the infamous terrorist, and she will not stop until he is taken down, no matter what she has to do, or who she has to brow-beat, to make it happen.  It's painstaking, brutal, dangerous, and often unfulfilling work, as she and her colleagues interrogate (often quite brutally) suspects and follow endless leads, trying to determine which are important and which will lead to dead ends.



Maya latches on to one particular name, Abu Ahmed, a
supposed courier for bin Laden, convinced that he is the key to finding the Al Qaeda leader.  For years this fails to yield any fruit, until suddenly there is a breakthrough.  The movie is extremely well filmed, capturing the the dangerous atmosphere in Pakistan in a way that makes you feel like you're there.  Kathryn Bigelow definitely should have gotten a Best Director nomination (so, too, should Ben Affleck have been nominated for Argo, but the Academy missed the ball on that).  The best part of the movie is the raid on the compound, when the Seals are finally sent in to kill bin Laden.  It is supposedly extremely accurate, and your heart pounds as you watch it.  It's intense.  Arguments by some that the movie takes a pro-torture stance are unconvincing to me -the movie merely shows that such things happened.  It is telling a story and not shying away from tricky subject matter.  It isn't pro or con, it just tells it like it is, and lets you decide for yourself whether the CIA techniques were justified or not.  A great movie.  Oh, and Tyler liked the quote I used at the top, so it must not be insulting to the military -I wouldn't have found it funny and repeated it if it were!  In fact, it's one of his favorite lines.



2012 Django Unchained

Dr. King Schultz and Django.

Dr. King Schultz: Now as to you poor devils?  So as I see it, when it comes to the subject of what to do next, you gentlemen have two choices.  One: once I'm gone, you could lift that beast off the remaining Speck, then carry him to the nearest town.  Which would be at least 37 miles back the way you came.  Or Two: You could unshackle yourselves, take that rifle, put a bullet in his head, bury the two of them deep, and then make your way to a more enlightened area of this country.  The choice is yours.  Oh, and on the off chance there are any astronomy aficionados amongst you, the North Star is that one.  Tata.
Calvin Candie: Are you brooding 'bout me getting the best of ya, huh?
Dr. King Schultz: Actually, I was thinking of that poor devil you fed to the dogs today.  D'Artagnan.  And I was wondering what Dumas would make of all this.
Calvin Candie: Come again?
Dr. King Schultz: Alexander Dumas.  He wrote "The Three Musketeers."  I figured you must be an admirer.  You named your slave after his novel's lead character.  If Alexander Dumas had been there today, I wonder what he would have made of it?
Calvin Candie: You doubt he'd approve?
Dr. King Schultz: Yes.  His approval would be a dubious proposition at best.
Calvin Candie: Soft hearted Frenchy?
Dr. King Schultz: Alexander Dumas is black.

As the opening credits for Django Unchained came up in the theater, I was thinking to myself that I really didn't want to watch the movie that I was about to watch.  I don't really get Quentin Tarantino's love of gore-fests, and I had read the synopsis of Django, so I knew it would contain much of his trademark violence.  I was surprised to find the movie so entertaining.  I actually did like it.  It was bloody, but so over-the-top bloody that it looked pretty fake, and I could look past it.  And Tarantino does cast himself in a small part as a slave trader and is himself blown to bits, so all is fair.  There are some particularly disturbing parts, such as a slave being killed by dogs and two slaves being forced to fight to the death, that will make your stomach turn, but these events sadly don't seem out of the realm of possibility for that time period.  The acting was amazing, particularly from Christoph Waltz, as German dentist turned bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz, who is clever, skilled at tracking criminals, fair-minded, charming and morally repulsed by slavery.  He's a very likeable character -the polar opposite of his villainous role in Inglorious Basterds.  Schultz basically tracks down people on the "Wanted: Dead or Alive" posters (and he goes with dead).  He enlists Django's help in tracking down three brothers Django can identify because of atrocities they committed against him and his wife:

Dr. King Schultz: Positive?
Django: I don't know.
Dr. King Schultz: You don't know if you're positive?
Django: I don't know what positive mean.
Dr. King Schultz: It means you're sure.
Django: Yes.
Dr. King Schultz: Yes, what?
Django: Yes I'm sure it is Ellis Brittle...I'm positive he dead.

Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen.

Django shows a real aptitude for bounty hunting, so after setting him free, Schultz and Django team up and work together, before setting out to try to free Django's wife from evil plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonard DiCaprio).  Their plans are hampered by Candie's devoted and cunning house slave, Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson).  The movie is never boring.  It doesn't worry about historical accuracy, but Tarantino rarely does.  It can be quite funny, as in a scene when a KKK group has trouble with the logistics of trying to ride horses with their signature white bags over their heads ("I think we all think the bags was a nice idea.  But, not pointing any fingers, they could of been done better.  So how bout, no bags this time, but next time, we do the bags right, and then go full regalia.").  I'm not sure why it is considered racist by some, as it depicts slavery as horrible, and is about a former slave getting revenge on the evil slave owners.  The cinematography was incredible.  It's not one I'd watch over and over, but I was surprised at how well it held my interest with excellent acting and a great script.  Tyler says that Quentin Tarantino is known for two things: over-the-top violence and great dialogue, and this movie certainly delivers both.  Also, the music is perfect.  I'm tempted to buy the soundtrack.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie.