The Devil's Own
Alan J. Pakula makes films with strong, sometimes sensational, social content--Nazi cruelty, Irish nationalism, corruption, conspiracy. He doesn't always pull off a masterpiece of "cinema" in all those usual ways, but they rarely lack for interest, or at least scenes of interest.
The Devil's Own is in some ways typical. It is filled with possibilities, and great ones. If Parallax View and Klute have a larger following, and Sophie's Choice the weight of a great novel behind it, it shares with them all an occupation, possibly a preoccupation, with plot, and the meaning behind the plot. That is, events following events, one thing leading to another.
Gordon Willis is a great cinematographer, responsible for some of Woody Allen's best films as well as all three Godfathers. And for this last film in his career, he is pressed into service, and makes the fighting and the lulls (there are both, but more lulls) both dramatic and beautiful.
But to what end? I found it actually dull--boring--after awhile, and I know it isn't because of sympathy or lack of sympathy, because I have both. It's still a movie, and has to survive even in different contexts--different countries, different living rooms-- regardless of persuasion. And this particular movie also become thankfully historical and past tense--the early paramilitary violence and brutality, hopefully exaggerated for the film because it sometimes seems really chaotic and endless--so has lost a little of its edginess. The conflict in Northern Ireland really is far less destructive than it was, and less a tinderbox.
Harrison Ford? Brad Pitt? Well, these seems odd choices for what is a terribly gutwrenching Irish topic. It is action-adventure, and yet it clunks along. Far from worthless, the movie still ironically has less force behind it than it requires. The topic deserves better.
Alan J. Pakula makes films with strong, sometimes sensational, social content--Nazi cruelty, Irish nationalism, corruption, conspiracy. He doesn't always pull off a masterpiece of "cinema" in all those usual ways, but they rarely lack for interest, or at least scenes of interest.
The Devil's Own is in some ways typical. It is filled with possibilities, and great ones. If Parallax View and Klute have a larger following, and Sophie's Choice the weight of a great novel behind it, it shares with them all an occupation, possibly a preoccupation, with plot, and the meaning behind the plot. That is, events following events, one thing leading to another.
Gordon Willis is a great cinematographer, responsible for some of Woody Allen's best films as well as all three Godfathers. And for this last film in his career, he is pressed into service, and makes the fighting and the lulls (there are both, but more lulls) both dramatic and beautiful.
But to what end? I found it actually dull--boring--after awhile, and I know it isn't because of sympathy or lack of sympathy, because I have both. It's still a movie, and has to survive even in different contexts--different countries, different living rooms-- regardless of persuasion. And this particular movie also become thankfully historical and past tense--the early paramilitary violence and brutality, hopefully exaggerated for the film because it sometimes seems really chaotic and endless--so has lost a little of its edginess. The conflict in Northern Ireland really is far less destructive than it was, and less a tinderbox.
Harrison Ford? Brad Pitt? Well, these seems odd choices for what is a terribly gutwrenching Irish topic. It is action-adventure, and yet it clunks along. Far from worthless, the movie still ironically has less force behind it than it requires. The topic deserves better.