Spoilt for Choice

With the film awards season upon us, now seems like as good a time to go to the cinema as any - particularly as those films released late last year (in the big cities) have now finally made it to Charleston. Thus, i've been to the cinema twice in the last week and both times seen a very good film indeed (albeit totally different in content). The first, "Munich" is Steven Spielberg's latest and is extremely powerful drama indeed. It starts with the terrorist events that occured that the Munich Olympics in 1972 and uses that to spin out a simple but effective story. It's said that modern terrorism can be traced back to that event in 1972. For me, one of the most poignant images was the last shot - which conveys a very appropriate message. I have to say that my friends and i wondered if a lot of Americans might get what the director was trying to say.

So, last night and I finally got to see Brokeback Mountain - a film that i had been looking forward to for some time. And i have to say i wasn't disappointed. The movie itself was incrdibly well put together - and was very subtle and, in a lot of places, multi-layered. It's a credit to the film makers that it left me feeling very ambivalent - with both sadness (it is a tragic tale) but also happiness (about love transcending barriers) jostling for position in my feelings. What was more telling for me is the fact that the cinema showing the film has pretty much sold out every showing since it got here - and last Saturday's showing was packed to the ceiling. It seems like a lot of people, at least here in Charleston, are curious to see what it's all about. So, next time you take a trip to the movies (or to rent a DVD in a couple of months), i'd think about either of these two. Two moving and very thought-provoking films.