Spread Your Wings (Donne-moi des ailes, 2019, France)
A film about how 100% of the adults constantly do foolish things, cluck about following strange and meaningless rules, brazenly, stupidly, and pointlessly break those rules, argue over trifles, laze around, and generally behave like utter infants and cowards — watching them was sickening to the point of nausea. And only the 14-year-old kid stood out from the general picture 😎 He just went and showed how to be a man, set a good goal, and boldly carried it out.
It's only because of him that the film is any good; otherwise, the adults' behavior could have been taken as the norm. But — it played on contrast.
The Passion of the Christ (The Passion of the Christ, 2004, USA)
This is actually the film I wanted to talk about more; the previous one was more of a warm-up.
First of all, when I turned the movie on, I was a bit surprised by which dub I had downloaded. I listened to the speakers for a bit — the language was completely unfamiliar. Then I got to the moment where two Roman soldiers talk to each other, and it dawns on me that they're doing it in Latin... And the Jews among themselves — obviously in Aramaic! The director set himself an extremely ambitious task: to shoot a film in the native languages of Rome and Israel of the 1st century AD, and he pulled it off. First conclusion: maximum meticulousness.
Boldly turning on subtitles and watching on, almost every subsequent scene continues to convince us of the meticulousness of the production covering the most important days in human history. With perhaps a caveat for traditions accepted in Catholicism but not confirmed in the Gospels — for example, the scene with Saint Veronica, who wiped Jesus' face with a cloth.
But even more important than the fact that the right events are happening on screen is how they are shown, with what pain. No embellishments, no "kid-friendly" rating — we seem to be right there, suffering along with Him, seeing that blood and those tears shed for people who don't pity Him at all, while He pities them — yes. It must have been incredibly difficult to show Christ so human, yet so divine, and all the other people are also perfectly in their places.
The apostles are in fear, but some cope with it better than others, while some, alas, fall all the way. His Mother and Mary Magdalene accompany Him all the way to Golgotha, as their hearts dictate. Pilate is not like in Bulgakov, where his head suddenly aches for some reason — this one is of sound mind and firm memory; he seems to pity Jesus, and the high priests are hateful to him, but politics dictates he act as he does; he is first and foremost a Roman governor, and only then a man, and those misplaced priorities serve him poorly. Herod just wants to have his fun and games — never mind, we know he'll have his cry later. The acting is such that you, the viewer, feel like you've known all these people for years, and all their thoughts and aspirations, doubts and decisions are visible as if through the crystal-clear surface of a lake.
And the ending... It is exactly as it should be, not like in some more irresponsible works. Those who've heard the title "The Gospel According to Tolstoy" know what I'm talking about (and those who haven't — well, fine, then let them not worry about it in advance).
If you think you're morally ready for such a film, then stock up on tissues for tears and go ahead.
Ment
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