The Vanishing

 When the movie first began, I had no idea where it was headed. I had done a little background reading from my trusty movie guide book, but that only gave me the gist of the plot. As Rex and Saskia were driving along, I was curious to see where the movie would go. Then came the scene where their car runs out of gas in the tunnel. I fully expected the event, Saskia's disappearance, to happen here. It seemed a bit early, but it would've worked. It just seemed right since she had just brought up her nightmare and then Rex leaves her alone. Also, when he returns with the extra gasoline, she is gone, but then he drives out of the tunnel and there she is waiting for him. I found this moment a little anticlimactic, although by introducing the conflict a bit later, it allows for more character development. The conflict happens not too much later, as the couple are hanging out at a rest stop before continuing on their journey. From my interpretation of the film, I agree with the critics, I would consider The Vanishing to be a horror flick. This is based on a couple of specific scenes, one involving the villain, Raymond Lemorne, and one involving the protagonist, Rex Hofman. Overall, Raymond Lemorne gave off vibes of Javier Bardem's character in No Country for Old Men and Robert Mitchum's character in Cape Fear. You can tell just by looking at these characters that something is not quite right inside their head.

The first scene which points toward the film being classified as a horror involves the villain of the story, Raymond Lemorne. Raymond has convinced Rex to travel to France with him so that he may finally learn the fate of Saskia. They are driving on the highway and Raymond is outlining to Rex stories from his past that explain who he really is and why he has kidnapped Saskia. The scene relies on medium shots mixed with close-ups of Raymond and Rex to show reactions and facial expressions. As with a good portion of the film, there is no music during this scene. As Raymond is revealing his past to Rex, his smiles and smugness illustrate his evil nature. It is evident that Raymond feels no remorse for his past and is more than willing to repeat his terrible deeds. He even admits to Rex that he is a sociopath. The fact that he knows what he is and he embraces it, openly declares that this movie is a horror movie.

The other scene that leads me to conclude The Vanishing is a horror film is one of the final scenes of the film. It depicts Rex Hofman finally discovering the fate of Saskia. The scene is pitch dark, then Rex ignites his lighter. The tiny flame creates a small path of light. Rex quickly realizes he has been buried alive. He sees the wooden boards above him and screams. This particular scene is intensely dark, far darker than any other in the film. Not only is the imagery of a man buried alive a dark one, but it is literally dark, since Rex is in a small box buried several feet underground. There is no music playing during this scene, which only adds to the impact. The shot is a closeup on Rex's face, focusing on his panic-stricken eyes. Soon the shot tilts up to show the boards above him. The scene creates a feeling of dread and desperation as Rex continues to switch his lighter on and off until finally, he switches it on, but the flame doesn't light as before, showing that the oxygen level of the box has diminished. The viewer can discern from this that Rex has only minutes left before all of his available oxygen is used up. The lack of lighting and the dimness of the flame incite panic in both Rex and the viewer. Rex was buried as a result of his own foolishness. He was so determined to learn the truth about Saskia that he fell in to Raymond's trap. This scene is certainly one of terror. After all, it is chilling to think a person could enjoy burying another person alive, and then eat a meal and show no emotion about the whole thing. Raymond's actions and Rex's reactions in this scene indicate that The Vanishing is in fact a horror film. A man endures an awful fate by a means which causes pain and suffering, a classic plot device in a horror movie.

Killer of Sheep

Yes, I most definitely found this film difficult. There were a few reasons, one being the seeming lack of a plot, another was the scenes inside the slaughterhouse of the sheep being slaughtered. The lack of an obvious plot was the main reason I found Killer of Sheep to be a difficult movie. Typically in a movie, every character, every line of dialogue, and every action is significant to adding to the plot. This did not seem to be the case in this film. Perhaps there is a plot, but just did not see it. I did follow that Stan was the main character and that most of the actions seemed to revolve around his life somehow. The earlier scenes of the film, the ones depicting the neighborhood kids messing around and playing, made no sense to me. I understand what is being shown, but I can't figure out why it is relevant. What does that have to do with Stan's life? I suppose it could show that he lacks the control of his life to keep his kids in line and away from negative influences. If that is the case, it was very subtle. Another instance was when Stan bought the motor for his car and upon loading it into the truck and driving off, the engine fell out and became unusable. Finally, the scene at the end of the movie, when Stan and friends are driving to the race track and the are gets a flat tire. It turns out that Stan doesn't have a spare. To me, all these scenes spell out a life of misfortune. Someone who just can't quite get things right. If this is indeed the theme or plot of the movie, it was not as obvious as I feel it should have been. Only now, as I am writing this, do I see the pieces being somewhat put together. This movie certainly takes some serious thought to understand, and a second or third viewing couldn't hurt either. This is what I have gathered without having completed the reading assignment yet and without watching the introduction video which at the time of this writing was not posted yet.

The reason I think the scenes involving the slaughterhouse and the sheep make the movie difficult are due to the graphic nature of the scenes. Also, their relevance to the story. I assume there is to be some sort of analogy between Stan's life and the sheep, but I was never able to make the connection. As a result, the scenes were all about the violence. As far as the gore, the scene that really stood out in my mind was the one where a sheep's head was removed from the sheep's body and was carved up. For a few seconds, I had to turn my head due to the blood and gore. Overall, these scenes lacked clear relevance and therefore seemed to only serve as a means to introduce graphic content into the film.

The other aspect of this film that I found difficult was seeing Stan struggle and knowing I as the viewer had to sit back and watch. It is painful to watch someone struggle and know there isn't anything you can do to help. From what I could tell, Stan is trying to live a good, honest life. However, life just seems to continually beat him down. His friends try to coax him in to helping them commit a crime. He says no, but they continue to harass him. His attempt to get a new motor for his car ends in utter disaster, and on his way to the racetrack, the car blows a tire. His life is one misfortune after another. The difficulty of all of this struggle is eased by Stan's fortitude, his refusal to give up. He continues work hard at his job, and despite his inability to control his kids, he still gives it an effort. Stan seems to be an optimist who expects things to turn around at some point. After all his suffering, he will be rewarded in the future. No rewards seem to come in the movie, which is difficult to watch, but the viewer can hope, like Stan, that in the future, good things will come his way.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, a classic, action-packed Western and the epic finale in director Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy. Throughout this fine film, there are a multitude of showdowns and gunfights. The Man with No Name (referred to as Blondie in this film)(played by Clint Eastwood) has a trigger finger seems to itch every few minutes. While many of the shootouts are important, as well as thrilling and captivating, it is the final scene of the movie, where Blondie, Tuco (Eli Wallach), and Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef) have a Mexican standoff that is the most intense. This scene is the much anticipated climatic showdown that the audience has been patiently waiting for. In order for this scene to carry so much power and set itself apart from the other showdowns, many different elements including camera movement, music, and lighting must work hand in hand. First of all, the setting of this scene is a large open patch of stony land surrounded by a large make-shift cemetery. The ominous grave markers allude to the fact that at least one of the three men will not make it out of there alive. The lighting of the scene is very bright. This is a result of the scene taking place in the desert where natural sunlight is abundant. Darker light would have cast a darker feel on the scene, and might have radically changed the mood, but the brightness seems to work in this scene.

The music adds to the anticipation of the showdown. Coupled with camera movements, viewers can not wait to see what happens next. The music is mostly just a few chords on a guitar being strummed at varying tempos on top of a drum beat and mixed with a trumpet, but when this is added to rapid back and forth shots of each character and their facial expression, a feeling of heavy anticipation is created.

Eventually, once the three men are in position and are sizing eachother up, the music stops and as the wind blows, crows caw, adding to the feeling of fright. Later in the scene, the camera pans out and shows the three characters in the middle ground, standing in a triangular formation. The vast field of graves is seen surrounding the men, and farther out, in the background, the tree-laden landscape is seen. Next the camera zooms back in and alternates between close ups of each man and their holster. As the anticipation grows, the music resumes. The acting in this scene is excellent. The viewer gets a sense of what each man is thinking and feeling. Facial expressions are key to this scene, and each actor does a good job of displaying untrusting, shifting eyes, fear, nervousness, and a little bit of cool confidence.

As the scene progresses, the camera shows a low shot of each man slowing reaching down to grab his gun. This is complimented with additional camera shots of each man's facial expression as the intensity and anticipation heads for a climax. The music is still slow, but grows in vigor as each man is very close to pulling his gun. The trumpet returns and hits a crescendo as the intensity reaches its highest level and the viewer can tell bullets are about to fly at any second. At this point, the camera is switching between frames of facial expressions and hands over holsters in rapid succession. Now instead of showing the whole face, the camera has zoomed in on just the eyes. Finally, Angel Eyes pulls his gun. Tuco and Blondie follow suit and in a matter of seconds, guns fire and Angel Eyes comes crashing down. Still clinging to life, he tries once more to draw his gun on Blondie, but Blondie shoots him again and he falls in an open grave. Finally Blondie fires off two more shots to push Angel Eyes' hat and gun in the grave with him. Even immediately after the shootout, the acting is still high quality. Eastwood continues to display his confident ferocity while Eli Wallach shows fear and confusion. Costume did not seem to play a huge role in this scene. Each character was dressed in similar fashion as they were for the entirety of the movie. One important costume change of note however is Eastwood's addition of the poncho. Until arriving at the cemetery, he had not been wearing his trademark poncho. This new attire sets him apart from the rest of the characters in the scene and indicates that he will play an important role in the action that follows.

Awara

When I think of a musical, what immediately comes to mind are the films of Rogers and Hammerstein, which include The King and I, South Pacific, and Oklahoma! Each of these films consists of an interesting plot accompanied throughout by song and dance routines. The songs are catchy and memorable, and keeps the audience's attention on the story. When I compare the film Awara to these Hollywood musical masterpieces, I notice a lot of similarities.

Therefore, yes, I would consider Kapoor's film to be a musical. While overall it appears to be more of a drama, it does contain elements of a musical including numerous song and dance routines throughout the film. Awara begins as a courtroom drama, recounts the life and times of the main character Raj Raghunath, and ends back in the courtroom with Raj receiving his sentence. While it seems most Hollywood musicals start off with a riveting scene filled with music, this is by no means a requirement for all musicals.

One detail about Awara, is that it seems most of the songs and dances are there for entertainment purposes only. However, this is not always the case; the musical interludes add to and help tell the story on more than one occasion. This is not too different from Hollywood musicals which incorporate many song and dance routines into the actual story and use them as a means of telling the story. In addition, sometimes Hollywood films also include a song or dance number that feels out of place. This is just how musicals are. They are focused on integrating music into the story as a means of capturing audience attention, and promoting the range of the actor's talents. Song and dance are not merely passive parts of the film, they are actively telling parts of the story.