In Movies: L'attaque / The Attack

I know that amongst The Hobbit, Pacific Rim, and Thor 2, The Attack is perhaps not really the right fit. Nevertheless, it is added to this list of 'favouritEs' because of the way that it tells the story and profoundly affected my thoughts. Throughout the movie, there was only one moment where I detected a jump in the story that felt like a short-cut, a phone call that didn't make sense. The rest was the story of a man thoroughly impacted by the violent passing of his wife, labeled a terrorist by his resident country, Israel, and a martyr by his country of origin, Palestine. This movie was entirely spoken in Hebrew and Arabic, so in all likelihood will not be seen by the masses, many of which will also avoid it because of its subject matter. To the latter, I say that it is presented mostly in a human way, rather than through the lens of a bloody massacre. We see the aftermath mostly and there was only one scene where I turned away, even though even there it was shown in a mostly tasteful way.

It's a very difficult story to tell, because of the contrarian emotions felt by both sides. It appears to paint the Palestinian sentiment in a more favourable light, however the only sign we see of the violence that Israel inflicted on Palestine is in the way Palestinians react to the tragedy and a dust-covered piece of ruble, called 'Ground Zero.' Perhaps, I am not up to date on my history of that part of the world, and Ground Zero should mean more than it did to me.

We are introduced to familiar, human situations on both sides. Jewish and Palestinian friends and family sharing their pain over a meal, all seen through the eyes of the protagonist, who is forced to see his personal tragedy through the eyes of the victims, that of the perpetrators, and that of opinionated bystanders. On the Israeli side, we see the reactions in the aftermath, most of which are angry and hurt, directed at the protagonist and his terrorist deceased wife. On the Palestinian side, we see her elevated to martyrdom, posters of her hanging on every street. We also see friends and colleagues remaining loyal to him, even through 17 Israelis died, some of which he attempted to save on the operating table. And we see his family pushing him out in order to escape prosecution from the Israelis, as they suspect he is being followed as their only lead to understanding this crime.

The worst part is to hear her, his beloved wife, being referred to as a tool of war, or a weapon. As someone that helped her country, but otherwise was not important. Equally so, the unbearable idea that his acceptance into Israeli society as a prominent surgeon, was in fact a betrayal to all the Palestinians living in poverty and suppression, and that this betrayal may have been the cause of it all.

There are books and movies that I am grateful to have been exposed to. They increased my appreciation of the complexities of a situation; they painted it in a nuanced way, the way that most things really are. The White Band (Das Weisse Band) showed the roots of evil that lead to the rise of Hitler. The Road to Freedom showed the harshness of South African life in the early 20th century that lead to the new wave that was Nelson Mandela (I will miss him). The Attack shows, to a degree, that there is a price to pay for the mess that surrounds that area of the world, a price paid by not only both sides, but by bystanders as well. It shows us perhaps that in the end, perhaps not taking a side is the worst crime of all.

In People: 'Nelson Mandella' on The New Yorker Cover December 16th 2013

All Rights To This Picture Owned by Conde Nast / The New Yorker / Contributors

In Movies: High Definition 3D in The Hobbit

Let me start by saying that this will not be a review of The Hobbit 2, Desolation of Smaug. I didn't like the first one, nor the second one, and while I wasn't able to pinpoint why at first, HD 3D made it possible for me to tell you why: the script kind of sucks. I never understood how they could make 3 relatively good movies out of 3 fat books of The Lord of the Rings and now expect to do the same out of a tiny little book.

Anyway, this is about HD 3D, which is worth mentioning because it felt like seeing color for the very 1st time. I was glued to the screen because it felt like I wasn't watching a movie, but instead saw a live play.

Now there's a problem with that, because acting for a play is different from acting for a movie. In a movie, action flows and it's not just about human interaction (depending on the movie). In a play, the humans carry the plot and subsequently their acting is, how should I say, exaggerated.

The Hobbit features many "meetings" of characters, the dwarves mostly, and it looked so real that it was easy to spot bad acting. I know that's a strange comment to give on better than HD technology, but it was immediately apparent. Now, I can see plenty of positive things: the detail of the computer generated surroundings was tremendous, the dragon looked awesome, as did any orc or monster, and I really felt like I was there (the screen was not IMAX size though, sadly). But I just didn't like that movie and while I'll watch the third, because I am a huge Tolkien fan, I'll be glad when this trilogy is complete. 

Link-up In Music: Jay-Z's favourite albums ranked by ... Jay-Z

Arguably, Jay-Z is the smartest dude on the planet, a close second being Arnold Schwarzenegger, before he reached too high too early, but that's another story. So Kottke linked to this, hence I just re-link to him with some other comments.

Jay-Z's book, Decoded, is not the greatest ever written. It's no "Road to Freedom," but I read it because I do believe it's a smart dude. So, in his works, you could argue it's a piece of long-form poetry,  I would rank that maybe around Blueprint 3.

I came across him during Blueprint 1 & 2, as well as the Black Album, all of which were great and continue to be re-listens. I'm also, for some reason, a great fan of American Gangster (movie & soundtrack), which is kind of like a fairy tale of a gangster movie, where you root for the bad guy, even though you know the man's eventually going to get him.

Do I really think he's smart? Yes, absolutely. The smartest? It depends on context, but I do think he's got an empire state of mind (much like Arnold) and moves the chess pieces accordingly. So he deserves my respect for that.

OK, I'm out.