As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me

Bernhard Bettermann in “As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me.”
‘Feet’ carries you into engrossing movie

The opening of "As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me" reminded me a little of one of those 1970s miniseries.
It's the end of World War II. A German soldier is being taken to prison by the Russians . He tells his pregnant wife and little daughter not to worry, he would be home for Christmas.
From there we can forget the TV movie aspect and are taken on an incredible journey that will keep you glued to the screen. It's been awhile since I've been so engrossed in a film. Made in 2001, I hate to admit I wasn't familiar with the movie or the plot. By the way, it is a remake of a 1959 German TV movie.
Clemens Forell, played by Bernhard Bettermann, is the German soldier sentenced to a labor camp in far east Siberia. You know it is cold when Forell, lying in the icy boxcar on his way to the mines, must wiggle free because his body froze to the wall.
If the cold existence on the train isn't enough, the soldiers are forced to walk the rest of the way.
While done on a small budget, there are some heart-in-stomach scenes, like when a horse breaks through the ice and struggles to break free. Already half-dead individuals fall through the ice and struggle with their last breaths to free themselves.
This film, we find out quickly, illustrates just how much the human body and soul can take.
Forell works the mines for four miserable years. A spur-of-the-moment escape attempt finds him in the hole in freezing rain. The hole is pretty much a storm drain, with water flowing over him.
He ends up ill and a doctor, who was stockpiling for his own escape, decides Forell has a better chance. Besides, the doctor, played by Michael Mendl, has cancer.
Now escape is no walk in the woods. This prison doesn't have razor wire or towers. They are in an icy abyss with no civilization for thousands of miles, so those things aren't necessary. Well, you might try getting to Alaska, but the U.S. was allied with Russia at the time and a prisoner would simply be returned.
But Forell decides to take the meager items, some warm clothing, bits of food, a gun and a few bullets, and attempt the escape. Otherwise, he will die in prison. Now this isn't one of those deals where after seven days on the lam he will find himself in a Howard Johnson's with a shave and hot shower. No, this is a year's commitment, he is told
And thus starts a nail-biting journey that pits the former soldier against man, beast and perhaps worst, the elements. It is a sort of "Lassie Come Home" revved up a few notches.
And that expected one-year of running turns to three.
And sort of like "The Fugitive" TV series, Forell has his own Lt. Gerrard, the head of the camp, Oberleutnant Kamenev, played by Anatolly Kotenyov, who continually stalks him.
This is simply the best action, suspense film I have seen in years. It's a testament to what the human brain and body can take and is well worth the more than the two-hour commitment to watch it.
Hey, all told, it was a seven-year commitment for Clemens Forell.

AS FAR AS MY FEET WILL CARRY ME
• Directed by Hardy Martins • Written by Josef Martin Bauer and Bastian Cleve • Runtime: 158 minutes • Not rated but may be too intense for young audiences • 5 stars out of 5

Magadlene Sisters

‘Magdalene Sisters’ tells of sad time for unwed mothers

NORA-JANE MOON in “The Magdalene Sisters.”

If you like movies about crazy, sadistic nuns — and who doesn’t — you’ll love “The Magdalene Sisters.”
This 2002 film takes place in 1964. We follow three women, two of whom had out-of-wedlock children. One is by rape.
No matter. Their children are taken from them and they are ordered, indefinitely, to Magdalene Asylum for young women.
This fact-based film takes us into this distorted world where religion is used as an excuse for cruelty and torture.
For their transgressions — real or imagined — the women are ordered to hard labor, doing laundry by hand in a sink and trying to get the pesky stains out of the priests’ collars. Their sentences are indefinite.
They aren’t allowed to talk and must listen to scripture while eating. Breakfast consists of a type of gruel, while the nuns enjoy eggs and bacon on the other side of a partition.
The nuns like to whip backslides, rap knuckles and play games in which the women must stand nude and be humiliated. Nuns decide who has the largest and smallest breasts, among other attributes. I won’t go further with my examples.
These nuns are definitely on the sick side of the sacraments.
When the nuns aren’t putting the girls through hell, they use an elderly woman to monitor and tongue lash the girls. Her pay, an automatic entrance into heaven.
Before the movie is over, she learns if that is true or not.
The nuns also seem to have a penchant for cutting the hair of the most unruly girls, going so far as to bloody the eyebrows. Ouch!
The film may be based on fact, but it does seem to go over the top at times.
It has an almost cult-like, “Mommy Dearest” quality to it. I can see a theater full of patrons chanting “Cut that hair. Cut that hair!”
In one scene, a young woman escapes from the institution, only to have her father thrash her violently and then deliver her, bloody and bleeding, back to the asylum.
There is a sensitive scene in the film where one of the inmates, while hanging out clothes, sees her sister and young son gazing at her. But she dare not react, risking the ire of the nuns.
It’s difficult to believe there could be such cruelty to these young women.
Geraldine McEwan does an admirable job as the sadistic Sister Bridget.
Dorothy Duffy plays a pretty girl who ends up at the institution because the boys pay too much attention to her at the orphanage.
Nora-Jane Noone plays a girl who is brutally raped by her cousin. When the sobbing teen comes down to tell a woman what happens, the cousin is ushered to safety and she is taken to the asylum. Imagine, a rape victim!
Mary Murray has a child out of wedlock and is forced to sign papers giving the baby up for adoption. She immediately changes her mind and ends up at the asylum.
It’s a film that will stay with you
I would hazard a guess you won’t find this film on the Eternal Word Television Network.

THE MAGDALENE SISTERS
• Runtime: 119 minutes
• Directed and written by Peter Mullan
• Rated R for violence, cruelty, nudity, sexual content and language.

Departures

‘Departures’ takes you on beautiful trip to death

Masahiro Motoki (left) and Tsutomu Yamazaki in “Departures.”

Beautiful. Lyrical. Mystifying.
I was simply blown over by the creativity and sensitivity of “Departures.”
If you think this is a travel film, well, it isn't. But don't feel bad. So did the main character.
Daigo Kobayashi, played by Masahiro Motoki, is a cellist in an orchestra. He admits he's not particularly good, but buys an expensive cello the pros would envy. Unfortunately, the concert hall is more than half empty and the orchestra owner announces to the troupe, “The orchestra is dissolved.”
Suddenly Kobayashi has to pay off an expensive instrument and is out of work. His wife, played by Ryoko Hirosue, can support them both, but not the cello.
So Kobayashi decides to move back to the cluttered old home where they can live for free. His mother is dead, his father left home years ago.
But he still needs work and finds and sees an advertisement for someone who can handle “departures.”
So he goes for an interview and the kindly business owner, played by Tsutomu Yamazaki, offers him a job and an obscene amount of money, the resume left unlooked at.
Hmmm, lots of money to work in travel? No. The advertisement had a misprint. It's not “departures,” it's “departed.”
It seems in Japan, where this movie takes place, people used to prepare their relatives' bodies for burial. It was a ceremonial process of washing the deceased and and setting the relative up for burial.
But today, people in Japan hire the work out. This would be Kobayashi's new job.
Well, the first call doesn't go real well. The deceased is an elderly woman found three weeks after she died. Kobayashi loses his lunch and desire to work, but his boss feeds him cash and tell s him to take the rest of the day off.
The Kobayashi character's mother recently died, but his father left them when he was little. In his mind, his father's face is just a blur.
We are introduced to the process of getting the body ready for burial with Kobayashi's boss. The family sits while the body is washed, clothing is rearranged, covers are moved about. It is part religious, it is part haunting ceremony, it is part magic trick.
Slowly, Kobayashi learns the trade. He learns what this final act means to the families of the deceased, whether an elderly grandmother or a young child.
It's a film that will make you cry, it will make you pensive about this world we live in.
The film ends in a beautiful moment in which Kobayashi deals with his father.
And as if a movie can't be more beautiful and uplifting, Kobayashi spends his off time playing his cello, getting better at this trade as his sensitivity grows.
This is a film that simply could not be made in the United States. The film has gotten good word of mouth and is worth your undivided attention. Fortunately, if you have a Netflix account, you can stream this film at your leisure.
It's a film that will live on with you, long after you've forgotten most others.
Access hundreds of Viper movie reviews at videoviper.blogspot.com. Read Lebzelter’s general interest columns at bobleb.blogspot.com.

DEPARTURES • Directed by Yojiro Takita, written by Kundo Koyama • Runtime: 130 minutes • Rated PG-13 for thematic material • 5 stars out of 5

Lassie Come Home

Technicolor, a great dog and Liz Taylor, too

MGM
A YOUNG Elizabeth Taylor with Nigel Bruce in “Lassie Come Home.”

Oh man did Lassie have a time of it in the 1943 family film “Lassie Come Home.”
Filmed in Technicolor, child star Roddy McDowall plays Joe Carraclough, a poor boy growing up in England. But he is rich in that he has the best and smartest collie ever, Lassie, played by Pal.
Pal, by the way, was 3 when he made this movie and played Lassie again two years later in “Son of Lassie.” All Lassies in subsequent films and TV programs are descendants of Pal, who died at 17 in 1958.
The family needs money so dad Sam, played by Donald Crisp, sells the dog to the rich Duke of Rudling, played by Nigel Bruce, best known as Dr. Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes films.
The duke keeps his pooches in outdoor kennels offering substandard food and an unfeeling keeper.
What is really sad is when young Joe gets out of school and Lassie isn’t under the tree waiting for him. It is his mother, played by Elsa Lanchester, best known as the bride of Frankenstein, who lays out the cold truth. The family is destitute and needs the cash from selling the collie.
Meanwhile, Lassie won’t eat, loses weight and learns to escape by digging under the fence. Joe is overjoyed to see Lassie waiting at school, but of course she (played by a he) must go back to the duke’s home.
This time Lassie escapes by jumping over the fence. Pal is a tremendous actor. Kudos to his trainer! In one scene, Lassie gets back, runs and misses jumping over the fence. He (she) tries again, narrowly missing freedom. The third jump is half-hearted and doesn’t work. All seems lost. But the next jump and the dog is over!
Now I would think it is one thing to teach a dog to jump a fence, but to train it to try and fail three times and succeed on the fourth, all shot in one take, is pretty remarkable.
Of course, a malnourished Lassie must go back to Dr. Watson, er, the duke.
Oh, and the duke has a pretty young niece, who just happens to be Elizabeth Taylor. Be warned, Taylor has a minor role in the film.
Soon the duke and Elizabeth are off to Scotland with Lassie, who gets away again and heads off hundreds of miles to England and her family.
And a nail-biting adventure she has. She is shot, she nearly drowns, she is malnourished, she jumps from the second floor of a big building and is hurt.
Lots of suspense, lots of action. Let me tell you, you will be in there rooting for Lassie!
And you will have a bit of a tear in your eye at the film’s conclusion.
This is a fine family film, although it may prove too much for very young children. It’s best for those maybe 8 or over.
You can’t beat a well-done animal film, especially when the animal is the focus of the film.
So watch it with your family. Will Lassie make it back to her family and will she be able to stay?
As a sidenote, I watched the film on DVD. While it was done in a rich Technicolor, the movie looked worn and had dropouts and color splotches. This would be a great candidate for film restoration and ultimately a Blu-Ray version.
Just a thought.


LASSIE COME HOME • Directed by Fred M. Wilcox • Written by Huog Butler and Eric Knight • Runtime: 89 minutes • Not rated but suitable for all but the very young • 4 stars out of 5

I Am Love

‘I Am Love’ not heavy on plot

MARISA BERENSON and Alba Rohrwackher in “I Am Love.”

After watching the Italian film “I Am Love,” my reaction was, what the heck was this about?
It deals with a rich family, made wealthy because it owns textile industries.
The film seemingly drops into a point in the lives of these characters. We go along for the narrative. Meet the auxiliary characters. Watch them interact. Some die. Some have sex.
Then it’s over.
Tilda Swinton is from Russia and her character marries into a family of rich aristocrats.
She seems a bit uncomfortable helping supervise the birthday party for the family patriarch and keen business head, Edoardo, played by Gabriele Ferzetti.
Director Luca Guadagnino has a nice way of setting up scenes, building suspense through cutaway shots and closeups and swelling music.
We see early on what an opulent family this is. The color and pageantry could belong to an era 100 years ago, rather than the start of the new millennium.
The Swinton character feels strangely apart from the rest of the family, as if she doesn’t totally belong and will never belong.
The old man makes a grand announcement during his birthday dinner. He is retiring, which we learn is a good thing because he will soon be dead.
He flatters his son, played by Pippo Delbono, stating he is everything a father could hope for.
But the old man tosses in a ringer, he announces his son will operate the business only with the assistance of his grandson, played by Flavio Parenti.
As stated, this could have been a turn of the 19-century tale rather than 20th, with the grand dinners and fancy clothing and men taking command.
This is a family well established and cloaked in tradition.
Swinton goes to visit her daughter in another community and spots the chief who handled the party, played by Edoardo Gabbrellini. She follows him and — you guessed it — has sex with him.
Later she finds out her daughter, played by Alba Rohrwacher, is a lesbian. She really doesn’t react as a mother, but comments on how pretty the woman is.
And so it goes. Little revelations. Different well-staged scenes. But nothing I would call an interesting or compelling plot.
Little conflict until late in the film when the son unfortunately slips and falls.
It’s not actually a drawing-room drama. It’s a film in search of meaning and a beefed-up storyline.
Frankly, I was underwhelmed by “I Am Love.” It didn’t love it.

I AM LOVE • Directed and written by Luca Guadagnino • Runtime: 120 minutes • Rated R for sexuality and nudity • 1 star out of 5

Mrs. Miniver

‘Mrs. Miniver’ looks at wartime England
GREER GARSON and Walter Pidgeon in “Mrs. Miniver.”

“Mrs. Miniver” is an astonishly good picture about England early in World War II.
First off, it came out in 1942, when the bombings of London by the Nazis were still going on.
Greer Garson is a middle-aged Mrs. Miniver, looking lovely and married to Walter Pidgeon. They are described as middle class.
Early on, we learn the entire community participates in a competition to determine who grows the best rose. Mrs. Miniver is so respected, she is asked if it is OK to name a rose in the competition after her.
The Minivers have a super polite, handsome son, Vin, played by Richard Wilcoxon.
While described as middle class, they do, of course, have a maid and dress like they are going to the opera at all times.
Young Vin falls for highbrow Carol Beldon, played by Teresa Wright. Her grandmother, Lady Beldon, played by Dame May Whitty, is the upper crust of the community. She’s not sure if her grandmother should set sail as a Miniver. She might come up with something better.
Vin goes off to fight in the war, leaving his love at home, knowing their relationship could be interrupted at any point by death.
In one of the best scenes in the picture, the Minivers are hunkered down in the basement because of threat of an air raid.
Often they are false alarms. But just in case, they go to their sanctuary, complete with beds for the children and canned food and coffee.
The kids sleep while Mr. Miniver puffs on his pipe in the close quarters, wearing his suit and tie. Fortunately, this was before the time when smoking was dangerous.
The scene is gripping and realistic. You hear the whistle of the bombs as they are dropped from the planes and grimace while waiting for the loads to explode.
The plaster falls. The children scream. I jump. And suddenly, the scene switches to a train station, where young Vin is coming home on leave.
Your immediate reaction, why switch the scene when we don’t know the outcome of their home?
But when the family arrives home we get the answer. There are gaping holes in the roof and walls, but the family nonchalantly continues to live in the wrecked abode like everything is normal.
There’s a heartfelt scene between Garson’s Miniver and new wife Wright. Yes, they are in love. But the Wright character tells mom-in-law she’s smart enough at age 18 to know the war makes it possible that one of them may not survive. Let’s just say it is a harbinger of things to come.
William Wyler won an Oscar for best director. Garson was nominated for best actress and Wright for best supporting actress. It was also nominated for best picture.
It is a very human film with very real characters and high drama. At times you will gasp.
It is a great film about war, survival and determination. Oh yes, and a community than in the depths of rubble and destruction, still has time to stop and smell the flowers.

MRS. MINIVER
• Directed by William Wyler
• Written by Arthur Whimpers and George Forestall
• Runtime: 134 minutes
• Not rated but intense war scenes
• 4 stars out of 5

Dinner Game

‘Dinner Game’ filled with zany characters

Jacque Villeret is the idiot in "The Dinner Game."

“The Dinner Game” could almost be a done as a stage play, an exceptionally funny stage play.
This is a zany film stuffed with bizarre characters and unusual situations. In the 1930s, it could be one of those madcap films with Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn and directed by George Cukor.
But this film is written and directed by Francis Veber, the screenwriter behind the hilarious classic “La Cage Au Folles.”
This is a 1998 French film which spawned a recent American remake, “Dinner for Schmucks.”
The premise is simple. Rich executives who are full of themselves schedule weekly dinners. Each is supposed to bring an idiot, an eccentric weirdo whom they can pretend to be interested in but they are really making fun of.
For instance, there’s the man in full business suit who spends his afternoons in the park throwing boomerangs.
Then there’s Thierry Lhermitte, who plays a handsome, rich publisher, Pierre. He needs someone to take to this dinner. A friend meets Francois, played by Jacque Villeret, a short, chunky accountant who copes with being abandoned by his wife years ago by recreating famous structures with matchsticks.
So bizarre and boring is Francois, he appears to be the perfect idiot for the dinner.
He is working for the equivalent of the French Internal Revenue Service. When he gets invited to the dinner, he is told a book may come out of this. Cruel indeed.
So Francois is asked to stop at the Lhermitte character’s spacious apartment and they will be off to the dinner.
Unfortunately, Pierre has thrown out his back and his doctor prescribes bed rest, not dinner with idiots.
Pudgy Francois shows up and he is all of the idiot that Pierre could hope for. Unfortunately, Pierre is no shape to go anywhere. So he promises Francois they will go another time. Francois, who has already stumbled over Pierre and made his back worse, bids adieu but before he leaves, the phone rings. The answering machine gets the call. It is Pierre’s wife, stating he is going to leave him.
Francois, hoping to console poor Pierre, stays. In fact, a running joke in this film is that Francois frequently gets ready to exit, but something happens in the plot requiring him to stay.
Make no mistake, Francois is an idiot and hatches schemes but then messes up, making things worse. Pierre has a girlfriend as well as the estranged wife. His wife’s old lover shows up at the apartment, as does a tax agent.
Chaos and absolute hilarity ensues.
This film is an absolute hoot and I found myself laughing loudly in many situations.
You can’t take these characters seriously, but then, you can’t take the plot seriously at all.
I can’t vouch for the American remake, “Dinner for Schmucks,” which has Steve Carell as the idiot.
But the original “The Dinner Game” is a match you should play. You are guaranteed a good time.

THE DINNER GAME
• Directed and written by Francis Veber
• French with English subtitles
• Runtime: 80 minutes
• Rated PG-13
• 3 1/2 stars out of 4