Movie Review: Lincoln

"Lincoln"

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Distributed by Touchstone Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Dreamworks Pictures,

Participant Median and Relliance Entertainment

Theatrical Relase Date: November 9, 2012

     At the risk of sounding un-American or racist, this movie is a snoozefest.  It's a bit like looking at a 150 year old broadcast of C-SPAN.  

     The plot concerns the passage of the 13th Amendment.  That's it.  Lincoln is a recently re-elected second term President, mired in an unpopular war and fighting a partisan fight to pass the constitutional amendment which would guarantee the abolition of slavery.  The same political gridlock and Congressional shenanigans plaguing 21st Century Washington D.C. are at play here.

     Daniel Day-Lewis is absolutely incredible in his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln.  After a while, though, the masterful performance becomes lost in the story which moves at glacial speed.  Some of the other casting is a bit suspect.  This particularly applies to Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln who plays this role like the 19 the century version of Forest Gump's mother.   

    It was fun to see many familiar sights from the Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia areas where the movie was filmed.  The Virginia State Capitol is transformed into the U.S. Capitol and the old Petersburg train station is featured in several early scenes.

     This movie is about a very important historical achievement by probably our most effective and revered President.  It probably won't rate as one of Hollywood or Spielberg's greatest accomplishments because of the pacing and long tedious scenes dominated by dialogue and political rhetoric.  If you go, I'd suggest a stop at Starbuck's for a double Cafe Americano first.

Movie Review: "Flight" starring Denzel Washington

"Flight'

Starring Denzel Washington

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Paramount Pictures

Release Date: November 2, 2012

      Addiction does not discriminate.  It does not care what color you are, what religion, what socioeconomic group you represent or what occupation you may have.  Addiction makes honest people into liars, sane people delusional and successful people into convicts.  It is that potent.

     Addiction also has the ability to make people use their friends and loved ones to fuel its desires and needs.  Addicted persons quickly divide their loved ones into groups of enablers and enemies.  The person who is unfortunate enough to fall prey to this disease will use anyone and everyone to fulfill his or her own needs, often to the humiliation and disappointment of family, friends, co-workers and, at times, even perfect strangers.  The disease saps the afflicted of even the basic reasons for living, turning life into and obsessive search for the next drink or fix.  Contrary to some popular opinion, addition is not a sign of "weakness" or personality defect.  It is a disease with genetic and social origins and consequences.  

     All of this behavior is perfectly on display in "Flight", the story of an alcoholic commercial airline pilot who miraculously lands a defective plane, saving the lives of the majority of people on board.  The pilot is Whip Whitaker who is portrayed magnificently by Denzel Washington.  Whitaker is initially hailed as a hero but quickly turns villain when it is learned that blood toxicology tests taken at the crash site revealed him to be heavily under the influence of drugs and alcohol.  The majority of the movie shows us Whip's desperate attempts to control his addiction while trying to salvage his reputation and career.  The wide ranging ripple effect of an individual's addiction is very dramatically and realistically shown in Whip's co-workers, life-long friends and, first and foremost, in his family. 

     This movie is very well done and joins a group of important and honest portrayals of addiction.  The crowd reaction was interesting.  During several scenes there was inappropriate laughter.  I can only figure that this came from the public's discomfort with the thought of a functioning professional being addicted to drugs and alcohol.  People aren't used to thinking of their pilot, their judge or their doctor suffering from addiction.

     This is a very well done movie and the acting by the entire cast is exceptional, led by the sterling performance by Denzel Washington. 

Book Review: Canada by Richard Ford

Canada

Author: Richard Ford

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Date of Publication: May 22, 2012

Pages: 418 (Hardcover Edition)

     I was about to give up on contemporary fiction when along came Richard Ford’s brilliant Canada.  Ford, the only author to have won the Pulitzer Prized and the Pen-Faulkner Award for the same novel (Independence Day) has been called “One of his generations most eloquent voices” (“The New York Times”) and “One of the finest curators of the great American living museum” (“The Washington Post Book World”).  Canada does nothing to detract from that reputation.  Indeed, it enhances it.

     

     This story is told in the first person by Dell Parsons.  It is a reflective and melancholy sixty six year old Dell who relates the cataclysmic events which occurred in his family when he was fifteen.  Part One of the book is set in Great Falls, Montana and the year is 1960.  Dell has a twin sister named Berner and two completely mis-matched parents.  Dell and Berner live isolated lives, peculiar children of very peculiar parents.  Part Two of the book shifts to Saskatchewan, Canada.  Dell tries to reconcile what has happened to disrupt and scatter his family and to try to discover who he is to become.  Part Three is brief as the older Dell tries to bring his family story full circle and reconcile his sister’s story with his own.

     

     Ford is truly a master of the writing craft.  Sentences are pitch-perfect.  His eye for detail is intense and never burdensome.  His writing is mesmerizing and never dull.  He is able through this attention to scene and detail to bring rural Montana and Canada to life.  The author uses hints about coming events, revealing small future plot details as enticements to read on.  Ford, in fact, tells the whole plot in the opening two sentences (sixteen total words)!   The main characters, particularly Dell’s parents, are complex and compelling in spite of their pedestrian situations.  Dell spends a lot of time alone with his thoughts and imagination.  He is fascinated with the game of chess, hoping to make his mark in the world by becoming a Grand Champion.  He learns the specific duties and expectations of each chess piece and is enthralled by strategies such as attacks, defenses and sacrificial gambits.   Ford uses the game throughout Canada as a grand metaphor for life itself.  Towards the end of the book Dell goes so far as to say:

“There is much to learn here from the game of chess, whose individual engagements are all part of one long engagement seeking a condition not of adversity or conflict or defeat or even victory, but of the harmony underlying it all.”

    

      This is a book about fate, life’s incongruities, unfairness and disappointments.  It is about how we have to react to unforeseen actions and circumstances (much like in the game of chess) and how failure to adapt can be calamitous.  The author makes a strong statement about predestination without ever using the term.  Even though Canada is far from an action-packed adventure, it is nonetheless an enthralling story which surprises and challenges the reader.  It is one of the best written books I have read in quite some time.  

Book Review: The Lost City of Z by David Grann

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

Author: David Grann

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Date Published: February 2009 (Hardcover Edition)

Pages: 352 (eBook Edition)

     David Gann is a staff writer for "The New Yorker" and has written about varied and unusual topics. None, however, are more unusual than the story of British explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett which he tells in The Lost City of Z.  This book is intriguing on several levels.

     First and formemost, this is the story of Colonel Percy Fawcett.  This eccentric was a soldier, an explorer, a dreamer and, in his later years considered somewhat of a quack.  Early in his explorer career he was funded by the Royal Geographic Society and led many successful  trips to South America, including one during which he mapped the entire eastern boundary of the country of Bolivia.  He used primitive maps and devices to plot his locations.  He showed an incredible bravery and an uncanny immunity to illness and fatigue during his expeditions, often willing his companions forward during particularly harsh times.  In his later years Fawcett became interested in the occult and wrote articles about the after life and the spirit world.  These did not enhance his reputation as a scientist and undermined his attempts to fund his attempt to find  the mythical city of "El Dorado" (or city of gold) which had been searched for by many previous European explorers.  He finally arranged one more trip to the Amazon to find what he called "The Lost City of Z", taking his oldest son with him.  In 1925 Fawcett and his entourage disappeared into the jungle and their fate was never discovered.  Over the years, stories abounded regarding Fawcett and his son.  It was feared that they had been killed and eaten by cannibals, had been captured and assumed into a primitive culture or, finally, thought to have actually found their elusive lost city and become the rulers of the unimaginably rich tribe.

    Secondly, this book is a modern attempt to find the true story behind the disappearance.  The author uses modern technology, including Google Earth and satellite imagery, as well as personal research records held by Fawcett heirs and the Royal Geographic Society to try to discover Fawcett's plan for his 1925 expedition.  Fawcett used codes and obfuscation in order to confuse competitors who were also searching for the lost city, making the author's work somewhat of a detective story as well.  Grann does a tremendous job juxtaposing his modern investigation with Fawcett's paranoid and somewhat maniacal plans.  The contrast between Fawcett pouring over ancient maps and records from explorers of the 17th and 18th centuries and Gann's use of computer guided research is remarkable.

     The author successfully recreates the magic and fantasy of this 19th century explorer, rightfully described as the last of his generation in a rapidly evolving 20th century.  Fawcett clung to his maps and intuition while his competitors were using airplanes and radio communications.  Fawcett was and remains a legend, a model for Arthur Conan Doyle (The Lost World) as well as appearing in a 1990s "Raiders of the Lost Ark" novel.  The Lost City of Z captures this man and presents him with all of his bravura as well as his foibles and idiosyncrasies.  I enjoyed The Lost City of Z very much and recommend it highly.