April 11, 2014

Where Hate Has No Home

April 11, 2014/ John Bennison

Her perfect life disintegrated before her eyes as first her father, then her mother, then her husband were all deported to the concentration camps and death; following the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. She and her son would only survive when they were deported in 1943, because of the music she had to offer the authorities. Even Terezin, the special camp filled with Jewish artists and created by the Nazis for propaganda purposes to disguise their genocidal actions, was as dark and ludicrous as anything an existentialist novel could depict.

To this day, one of her aged friends who herself survived Terezin puts it bluntly, “We were dancing under the gallows.” In response, Alice Hertz-Sommers counters, “But even the bad is beautiful, if you know where to look for it.”

While she calls music the place of the soul and divinity itself, with the capacity to transport, she does not forget nor flee from the bitter stanzas of her life’s opus. It is as if she has never had to forgive those unspeakable acts that befell her, because she has never given hate a home, that would then require such a monumental task.

Click on the image above to read the full review.

March 29, 2014

Road Trip! A Commentary on the film, "Nebraska"

March 29, 2014/ John Bennison

[Note: On March 29th, some Mountain Shadow members gathered for the first “Encore Evenings,” where we enjoyed seeing once again a great commercial film from this last year and having some in-depth discussion. This commentary, written by Mountain Shadow director, John Bennison, accompanied the event.]

Take the mythic hero’s journey and turn it upside down. Then give it a slight twist, and you have Alexander Payne’s stark portrayal of a father-son sojourn across the bleak landscape of a Midwest Americana that time forgot.

One might react to the film in any number of ways. One might describe it as funny, grim, crude, depressing, sobering, and the characters – or caricatures – as painfully honest and real. But if you’ve ever played the part of a father or a son in an estranged or awkward relationship you might relate. And against this backdrop shot in black and white there are myriad shades of gray that make up the three-dimensional characters of this story; including some of the shadows of their former selves.

Click on the image above to read the full review.

January 17, 2014

Commentary: “Mine Vaganti” (Loose Cannons)

January 17, 2014/ John Bennison

The Italians Are Coming … Out!

Commentary by Mountain Shadow Director John Bennison

“You’ll never be able to extinguish your love for Antonio. The earth can’t disown a tree.”
The Tuscan girl

Basic plot: Tommaso is the younger son of the Cantones, a large, traditional Italian family operating a pasta-making business. On a trip home from Rome, where he studies literature and lives with his boyfriend, Tommaso resolves to tell his parents the truth about himself. But when he’s finally ready to come out, his older brother Antonio ruins his plans with a confession of his own.

Some viewers might see the characters more as stereotypical caricatures with what -- on the surface -- seems a well-worn theme; in which case, the multiple sub-plots might seem somewhat tedious. But this ain’t Utah, and there are more loose cannons than just some campy queen scenes in Mine Vaganti.

Complexity in a film can offer both a challenge and opportunity for the viewer. When there are multiple, simultaneous plots – intermingled with flashbacks from the past – it can either become a rich tapestry or unravel in a confusing juxtaposition of messages.