Reviews

I'm Team Cap but I fully get where Iron man was coming from. Cap's faith in his cause was truly admirable; to not bend, while everyone else, so easily breaks. It's the old adage of staying true to your ideals, no matter what is thrown at you. The world could be crumbling around you; everyone else giving up; Iron Man, and the other heroes wallowing in self doubt; but the faithful person, who still believes in himself (not for prideful reasons) remains, and that is Cap!.... It just so happened that he was right. His view aged well.

While I admire Captain America's faith and idealism, I probably would be more like Black Widow in this film. She understood the bigger picture. Even though she sided with Tony, her allegiance was to a higher cause; that of, understanding both sides, but at the same time, working in such a way as to bring everyone together. That kind of person, often is overlooked. The person who understands the long game, and realizes there are more important matters at hand, like not turning on your friends, and realizing that you are on the same side. Black Widow may have at times appeared like she was siding with Tony, and at other times siding with Cap. She made a concession in the first place by signing the accords; despite not necessarily believing in it for that matter; but as I have argued this was for a higher purpose. Her character embodies the nuance in the world, Sure, it is easy to pick a side. But what if both sides are right in their own ways? And what if that way of "looking at it" is the wrong way? Which is to say maybe one has to lose small battles for something greater in the end. Sometimes you need to bend so as to not break. Anyway.

This film pits 2 kinds of people together: the country person and the city person. It's a fascinating story to watch unfold. Anuschka, the farm dweller, is forced into desolation, upon the unfortunate death of her father, and the seizure of their farm. She goes to the city, to make ends meet, as a housemaid, only to be caught up in a series of misunderstandings, which inevitably stain her reputation in the eyes of others. I greatly admired her earnestness. People can think or dream up any number of ideas about you; they can accuse you of being a thief; or think lesser of you, but you have nothing to apologize for if you have always acted honestly. Anuschka was that all over; perhaps the embodiment of the "country" spirit, not corrupted by the city; and pure of heart. Perhaps, the "city's aura" or other's erroneous projections is what makes one feel less dignified, but then again, if you are truly a good person, like Anuschka, you have nothing to worry about.

Isabelle Huppert, as this film reveals, can also speak Hungarian. Never would I have thought she could speak that language, too, but there we are. Impressive actress. And, apparently well spoken in many different languages, including her well regarded French, and English, and I presume other languages not known to me at present.

She said something profound earlier in the film; if I paraphrase, it was something along the lines of, "dreams are better if they are not fulfilled." Ironically, this was the case in the unusual circumstance the characters found themselves in in this film: Szilvia, needed a surrogate, to bear a child (since she was infertile), to obtain her inheritance from her soon to be departed father. Enter, Irene (Isabelle Huppert), a Jewish girl to satsify her request... BUT, as soon as the "baby" entered the equation, this so called dream; this so called convenience to obtain Szilvia's rich father's estate, became incredibly complicated. As you would expect, emotions are rarely left aside. Especially when a baby, and a wandering husband; and an elegant Irene are standing across from you. Who wouldn't be intimidated by that? Perhaps it would have been better if this wasn't actualised... The plan sounded too good to be true; where one can only dream of it, and nothing more. Who knows?

Then we have the looming Holocaust ever present in the background. Along with this film being incredibly interesting, it did serve me well to empathise with what it may have been like at that time and place. Anyway.

We all sell ourselves to some extent. Prostitutes get a bad wrap; pushed around by society, and driven into such profession; left high and dry - a nobody - to be discarded by the unremorseful. Fascinating documentary of these prostitutes' experience. Some of them were incredibly articulate. And really their plight is everybody's.

This film is thought provoking for many reasons. One particular reason is: it relates to the psychology of rats, and by extension humans; and how learned helplessness manifests under certain conditions. The rat experiment where the rat learns that his actions are pointless; as when he is shocked and he cannot escape, is highly relatable to much of our experience to some extent. People internalize situations that they cannot change and thus a state of hopelessness ensues which becomes destructive. The other insight into the rat studies is when the rat has a companion; who also experiences the punishment with him. Both rats engage in violent behavior towards one another, but this is pointless as the punishment will continue regardless of their actions. However, these rats do not become demoralized as they have engaged in a state of action; which is to say the fighting; the aggression; has served a purpose of offsetting the learned helplessness that ensues when a situation cannot change. Interesting stuff - again applicable to humans. We live in peaceful times with highly anxious people that have no outlet of venting their woes as society does not allow for violence. This seems to me to be doomed for destruction anyway; whether it be some explosive event that will seemingly come out of nowhere; or in most cases probably a state of societal demoralization. It's all around us unfortunately today. I have always been someone who is championed non violence but maybe there is room for punching your boss in the face, especially if that prevents a catastrophic explosive event down the line. I can imagine all the iterations; small and large; across different peoples; who experience this state of learned helplessness we have talked about. There has to be an antidote to all of this. So that people can fight on despite their circumstances being tough. Because the last thing we need our people that our self defeated; that give up because "everything is meaningless" - we need people that have tremendous self belief and the will to push on. Anyway.

Insightful re-enactment of the 1917 revolution. I learned alot from watching this.

The peace sure can be a living hell. Juli, a survivor of WWII, finds herself back in her homeland, without her mother and father. At the heart of this story is a woman trying to put the pieces back together - desperately clinging onto the memories of the past; whilst the iron curtain continues to dautingly pervade everyone's existence. This is a fantastic film that articulates the experience of that time and place.