Terre d'abondance

A beautiful movie. With both main characters one could relate not to their viewpoints or naïve ways but to the persons themselves. I admit that this movie might just work better with European audiences but I feel that the leading roles were more inspired by an ideal than just by the American cliché. Also I understand that Lena and Paul were initially ideas who now live in that movie. There's more to them than just the missionary and the lunatic patriot. Even though it shows things that go wrong, it's very positive. For an outsider who has seen a bit of this country it's a mixture between reality and the imagination about that country. Maybe this movie is stronger in its pictures and moments of interpersonal relations than in its political dialogs.

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There isn't too much to like about Wim Wenders' films over the last twenty years. There have been a few bright spots, but for the most part, Wenders' obsession with America has gotten the worst of him. In his prime, few directors since Antonioni were as adept at depicting inner monologues through silence. Wenders' characters were complicated men of few words.

Over time Wenders love affair with America somehow convinced him that the 'less is more' approach was failing. Wenders threw his greatest strength out the door and substituted it with what would become, over time and many films, his achilles heel: big ideas.

The characters in Land of Plenty aren't really individual people, they are ideas. These characters represent something grander, something excruciatingly ambitious: the American conscience. Lofty goals of this sort often end up as preachy and pretentious and LOP's screenplay is just that. Shot on the cheap, on digital video, LOP feels like noble idea rushed into production without the benefit of enough revisions to weed out the heavy handedness. Films concerned with the traumatic effects of 9/11 are compelled to be both profound and reverential, the problem is profound and reverential seldom make for a worthwhile movie going experience. If there was a rating system based on the number of American flags displayed in a movie, LOP would score full points, as it is, LOP rates very low.

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.

Having lived in several places and now again in LA, I see more of myself and people I know in this film. It seemed that both characters were extreme in their beliefs and actions. I had to ask whether I knew these characters and the answer was scarily "yes". I related to the young lady as a peace seeker more than the older man as a paranoid vet, but as the film moved forward, I became sympathetic for him, as well. Utterly unexpected, considering my political and cultural beliefs! This film could have been a "B" film. Perhaps on the surface it is. But let it sink in. What's underneath is more than what is obvious in its visual/audio texture. What some may disregard because it is barely palpable is what takes this film beyond the expected. It's been three days since I viewed it. It is still with me.

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.)