Ecklian Reviews: Bella

Mark Eckel, Director, Mahseh Center, Lake Bruce, IN

 Past pain etches itself on the facial canvas where life has met death.  No words can prepare one in advance of seeing this film.  Tenderness for life within the province of agonizing trauma is perhaps a fitting description.  It is important that in a review the ending not be “given away” in a movie such as Bella.  And yet, it is the ending that allows celebration of humanity in a way not generally seen on the big screen. 

If one is in the mood for trite sentimentality, this is not the film to see.  Alejandro Gomez Monteverde’s directorial debut gives the viewer the gut-wrenching performances of Eduardo Verastegui (Jose) and Tammy Blanchard (Nina) who continue to live the results of awful experiences.  It cannot be said enough that soulful sorrow resides in every scene.  Verastegui’s full beard, present throughout most of the picture, is the physical presence that attempts to hide what his eyes cannot. 

Working together in a restaurant operated by Jose’s brother Manny (Manny Perez, chewing up every scene he is in), Nina and Jose end up spending the day together as Manny’s Latin machismo gets the best of him, firing Nina for being late.  Jose is the head chef in the restaurant but leaves in a flight of compassion to follow Nina after she is released.  The viewer wonders what is so compelling that one person would leave his workplace for another to offer solace for a whole day.  There is a symbiotic relationship that exists between the two co-workers-an understanding that both Nina and the audience only understand in the end. 

Flashbacks reinforce the impending conclusion.  Moviegoers are allowed to see slices of Jose’s past that have etched his present remorse in every muscle in his face.  It is perhaps Jose’s past that establishes his kindness in the present with his colleagues in the kitchen where he creates food people come from all over to taste.  In a sense, Jose has thrown himself into his work as penance for what no confessional can offer.  Clearly, Jose’s interest in people as people has blossomed from the blood-field of his personal history. 

Jose’s family provides a cocoon for the two sojourners during their day together.  While mom and dad (wonderful, heartening performances by Angelica Aragon as Jose’s mother, and Jaime Tirelli as his father) berate their son for abandoning his brother, they love as parents should, without condescension or belligerence.  Nina’s conversation with Jose’s father is the story’s climax, pressing us to remember what is most important in life. 

Shades of pain paint this story.  Yet it is the compassion that draws us, that compels our viewing.  The ending is both satisfying and abruptly obnoxious: be ready for it.  But one cannot help but celebrate the wonder of conscience and sacrifice through redemption whose cost cannot be counted, but whose life can be shared through Bella.[1] 

Rated PG-13 for adult situations, traumatic events, and some language. 

[1] For the background to Eduardo Verastegui’s story see Tim Drake. 2008. Behind Bella. (Ignatius).

Ecklian Reviews: No Country for Old Men

Mark Eckel, Director, Mahseh Center, Lake Bruce, IN

If this life is all there is, “we are all of us lookin out of the wrong end of the glass” (283).[1]  The Coen brothers (Blood Simple, Fargo, Miller’s Crossing) marry their view of cinematography with Cormac McCarthy’s view of life in No Country for Old Men (Blood Meridian, The Road).  Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) leads the viewer with voiceover and dolorous character creation toward the naturalistic precipice where choice is religion.  Though not wanting to place his “soul at hazard” (4) the lawman knows that this extraordinary experience at the end of his career is the zenith of evil he has faced. 

A hunter, ex-Vietnam vet Llewelyn Moss (Joss Brolin), follows the blood trail of an animal he has shot to discover not a carcass, but corpses.  A drug deal gone bad has left a truck load of heroin and two million dollars in the hands of dead men.  Yet to discover “whatever you do in your life it will get back to you” (281), Moss chooses to take the money for himself.  Returning to the scene of the crime results in Moss leaving his own blood trail; the hunter now the hunted, encounters a true-to-life killing machine. 

Chigurh’s (Javier Bardem playing the assassin) world philosophy mirrors his life- changing quarter flips: “I got here the same way the coin did” (258).  Roger Deakin’s camera angle of Chigurh’s hotel hallway walk is as bone-chilling an image as ever has been placed on screen.  Moss’s relentless nemesis charges that “every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing.  Somewhere you made a choice” (259).  Life is either one way or the other: “I only have one way to live…You can say that things could have turned out differently…They are not some other way. They are this way” (260). 

Coen’s chose a mostly music-less approach to their script allowing the drama to create its own haunting melody.  A glaring exception is the mariachi band.  Awaking from a feint having lost much blood Moss is greeted with smiling, vivacious singers, whose music abruptly stops when they see his blood-stained shirt.  Similar to reality, the viewer is meant to know again that life is not happy amid ever-present violence.  Facial smiles are reserved for Chigurh’s maniacal killing sprees.  Like the scenery-the vast desert expanse of west Texas-life is portrayed as an arid walk through; a play performed on a bare stage.  

Choosing to maintain McCarthy’s narrative on screen is a satisfying experience for readers.  Most pleasing to those who reflect on the big questions of life is the honesty of both writer and filmmaker.  A philosophy course might do justice to the book-film.  But in a view of life where choice is religion, “I just don’t know” peppers page and picture (e.g. 213, 228, 268, 283, and 296).  No Country for Old Men gives young men pause. 

Rated R for graphic violence and some language. 

[1] Cormac McCarthy. 2005. No Country for Old Men. New York: Knopf.  Page numbers are referenced in parentheses.  In this reviewer’s opinion, the book should be read before the movie is seen.

Ecklian Reviews: The Dark Knight

Mark Eckel, Director, Mahseh Center, Lake Bruce, IN

The only time I ever waited in an hour-long line for a film on opening weekend was to watch The Dark Knight.  When the movie finished it was déjà vu: no one said a word, exactly the response after The Passion of The Christ.  The inability to comprehend and contextualize the movie has taken time: it has been over six months since that experience and I have seen the film twice again.  Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, and The Prestige) directs the great issue of our day: can principled individuals or nations retain their standards when combating an enemy who has none?  Connections to 9-11, American government, and the war on terror remain close to the surface in The Dark Knight.

How does one contest a person who has no ethic and whose goal in life is anarchy?  The Joker (Heath Ledger) has no compulsion for a “fair fight.”  He’s pleased for the thrill of the kill with a combatant of Batman’s stature (Christian Bale).  Joker revels in the joy of carnage.  There is no concern about “collateral damage.”  Anxiety about anything is absent.  Alfred (Michael Caine) well summarizes the situation: “Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with.  Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

For Batman, who has an ethical foundation in life, the difficulty escalates as he battles such an aberration of pure evil.  How can one fight another who has no scruples without crossing some of his own virtues, his own standards?  How does a hero serve and protect when battling someone without combat rules?  Innocents are consistently put in harms way.  The principled character must ride the razor’s edge of obtaining information that will give him the knowledge he needs to know Joker’s next step.  “You either die a hero or live long enough to watch yourself become the villain” is the proper commentary expounded by Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart).  Dent, the supposed “white knight” of Gotham, is himself transformed into the hideous face of unadulterated dualism.  A flip of a coin determines a good or evil outcome.  Fate is pure despair and hopelessness.

Though the movie has an ending, the message continues.  The brilliance of this concept is not a set up for a sequel but a statement about life: we should think about these ambiguous questions and understand the consequences of our answers.  Ultimately The Dark Knight is not only about good and evil but about order and chaos.  What will we do to establish the first so that we might forego the second?  The tension that we face as individuals and nations, committed to holding back the terrible twins, is never ending.  “Victory” over enemies is short-lived.  “Mission accomplished” has a time limit.  “The war against terror” has existed since Cain killed Abel.  Humans will always look for one outside themselves who will clean up their world.  But when salvation comes, we second guess the provider, unsatisfied with the outcome.  Even if one came from heaven to earth, the Gotham-like response would be rejection.  Ultimate triumph demands the eradication of all evil to renew earthly order: the true sequel to The Dark Knight.  I am waiting again.

Rated PG-13 for adult situations, some profanity, constant violence and bloodletting.