Charlie Company Readings

I chose to read the piece, "Lloyd Collins: Death of a Heart." This man's story reminded me of tales my mother would tell me of friends of hers returning from the war. She said some of them were not only unrecognizable by their personalities, but even by their physical appearance. It almost seems as if it would have been worse to have no outwardly obvious wounds from the war, because then everyone assumes nothing is wrong. If a man comes back in a wheel chair, everyone knows something is wrong, and he is given more room to heal, mentally and physically. When there is nothing wrong on the outside, the inside pain just builds up with no outlet. This reading was a nice supplement to the film Coming Home.

Coming Home

Coming Home was an anti-war movie--I understand that. It was loosely based on the true story of a man who came home from Vietnam having lost everything, including his legs and the will to live. His story mirrored the stories of many young men coming home from the war who had done no more to deserve their fate than having been born in the 1940s. It's the story of many soldiers from many wars, in our country and elsewhere, in our generation and in times we don't remember. In the end, it effectively points out the horrors and futility of war. The old, "Fighting for peace is like fucking for chastity" ideology.

However, the female romantic in me also saw this movie as a sweet and touching love story. As much as it was his story, it was also hers. It was the story of a woman who wasn't satisfied with her life, but didn't even realize it until she met a man who turned her on to new things and a new way of life. A new man that can teach us something about ourselves is a romantic thought, and I throughly enjoyed the love story in Coming Home. It reminded me of Antonio's line in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice: "I hold the world, but as the world, Gratiano, a stage where every man must play a part, and mine a sad one." Luke and Sally taught each other that people can outgrow the parts they play, and that's a thought that I hold dear. I hope I didn't miss the point of the movie completely...

The Long Goodbye

This was definitely an entertaining film. It had action, mystery, an enigmatic and unaffected leading man--all the things that a film noir story should have. What made The Long Goodbye different, though, was it contained all of these elements, but in a whole new way. It's definitely genre revisionism at its finest and at its birth.

The truly unintelligent thought I have about this film is that it was hard not to notice how sexy Elliot Gould was back in the day. He was like a 70s Anthony Bourdain. He managed to be cool and self-effacing at once, and it was his performance and demeanor that carried the film. My best friend fancies Anthony Bourdain and Jewish men, and I strongly recommended that she Netflix (that is a verb now, right?) this movie because I know she'd fall in love with Gould, and at the same time expand her film history knowledge. I hope she takes my advice.

Five Easy Pieces 02.03.10

Five Easy Pieces

This movie was very 1970s. It possessed all of the elements one studying the 70s might look for. First of all, there was Jack Nicholson, an actor that manages to define whatever generation he's currently in. Then there was the character driven story lines. The movie also possessed elements of 70s realism, and the strangest sex scene I've ever seen in a film.

Five Easy Pieces s a film that I'm not even sure if I liked. It was everything a 70's film should be, but not necessarily entertaining by today's standards. I would not run out and see this film again, or even suggest to by boyfriend that he should see it. However, I'm glad I saw it. I feel that classic films are becoming more like classic novels in this industry. The more films you've seen, especially classic and older films, the more well rounded you are. That's why I like screening classes so much.