Terre d'abondance

Somewhere in Trona, a near-ghost town you pass through on the road to Death Valley, the full extent of Uncle Paul's delusions is demonstrated. And at that same moment, I realized he was the personification of post-9/11 America, raging, raving, striking blindly at false targets, and kidding ourselves that we are safer now that we've invaded Iraq without justification and reelected the worst U.S. president in history. The film promises there may be some hope for us. But only if we have the courage to stand on the edge of the abyss. The line that resonated most for me was that the 3,000 innocent people who died in 9/11 could not have wanted their deaths to lead to more dying. This movie was a masterpiece. It finally offered me a way to think about 9/11 and subsequent events without making me crazy and despairing.

The American daughter of missionaries Lana (Michelle Williams) returns to Los Angeles from Palestine to work in a mission helping homeless people. Lana was born in Ohio and raised in South Africa and Middle East, and she is an authentic citizen of the world, connected through Internet and aware of how other people see the lack of culture and knowledge and exaggerated patriotism of average American people. Her unique relative is her unknown uncle Paul (John Diehl), a veteran of Vietnam War that cut relationships with his family and is bigot and paranoid. Paul lives in a surveillance van, lives as if he were a secret agent, sees conspiracy and terrorist cells everywhere, and has a great prejudice against Arabs and other non-American breeds after the September, 11th. They meet each other, and when they see the murder of a poor Pakistanis nearby the mission, they travel together to the small town of Trone to deliver his corpse to the family, where Paul sees a different reality.

"Land of Plenty" is a very well acted low budget movie, with great performances of Michelle Williams and John Diehl. Wim Wenders tries to picture the reality of North America unknown for foreigners and even common Americans, with homeless and alienated people living with fear, angst and prejudice, totally disconnected of the world, instead of the land of opportunities and plenty of the American Dream shown in most of the American movies. In this regard, he is very well succeeded, but in my opinion I found the character of Paul absolutely exaggerated, using many apparatuses and gadgets in his "work". The beautiful and shining character of Michelle Williams gives the hope that the world can be a better place someday. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Medo e Obsessão" ("Fear and Obsession")

I really disagree with some American comments here, maybe just because I am European, I don't know, but anyway I liked that movie. It is stupid to think that Wenders wanted to represent into the main character a typical American, obviously it is just an extreme position about the fear of anything (common in USA), but it doesn't reflex the society, it is a product of it. It doesn't take a wonderful picture of USA, but at the same time it doesn't distruct it, it want just show the paradoxes of that land, it want to be watched like the "land of plenty" and it is not, but it doesn't mean to be the hell. I understand when Americans find only cliché inside, but some of them are true, your country has fear mania, not all of you but some. In Italy as well we say that everybody dislike Berlusconi, but he is prime minister. But now it's time to speak about the movie: it is nice, characters' work is well-made and elaborated, Location are incredible, they show another USA, different from other movies. I didn't like Michelle Williams because of dowson's creek, but here she is not bad, her character is understood by people, but I think it is the work of Wim.

A realistic and sensitive portrait of near reality after September 11. Not a manifesto, not a pledge. Only a fine, inspired work, mixing, in inspired manner, fears, traumas, family connections, death, paranoia and deep poverty, splendid performances and the courage to assume the truth. I adore the bitter delicacy, the honest, profound perspective, the air and the great job of Michelle Williams and John Diehl and the force of talent and exploration of nuances of Wim Wenders. Short, a beautiful, touching work.

Wim Wenders is a great director and a really honest artist. What he lacks though is a real feel for the US....Going back to his early use of Dennis Hopper, woefully miscast as Tom Ripley, in Our American Friend, Wenders has a weakness for clichés about America rather than finding the real thing. This movie doesn't change that fact. What is essentially a tone poem about the loss of innocence (and maybe common sense) in post 9-11 America turns into a melancholy family drama about two lost souls who would probably have been just as lost before 9/11 as after it. Europeans might find the American 'types' portrayed in this film a validation of how they view the U.S. but most thoughtful Americans will probably be irritated by the simple reductions of the characters. I found Michelle Williams particularly annoying for some reason...maybe it was her blind faith or maybe it was just her complete lack of edge...they don't make women like that in America these days and probably never did. I really admire Mr. Wenders for tackling this subject as American filmmakers seem not to have the courage to do so themselves. In the end though, this is more a European film that will appeal to Euro audiences...whereas it would have been a better project if it were directed more this way. (I saw the film in Paris last week.)