frankde-jong

"Dexter the Dragon & Bumble the Bear" is an adaptation of a Dutch comic book series. Just like "The adventures of TinTin, the secret of the Unicorn" (2011, Steven Spielberg) it is based on multiple stories from the series. Unlike the TinTin adaptation the comic stories are translated to animation and not to a film with real actors. In this way the film remains closer to the original.

The "Bumble the Bear" comic stories occupy a special place in Dutch literature. The text is more important than in ordinary comic books and does not appear in text balloons inside the pictures but as freestanding text below the pictures.

Not only the place of the text in the story is noteworthy but also the language used. Some characters in the series use a very archaic version of the Dutch language. Some of their expressions have developed into almost proverbs.

The status of almost serious literature that this comic series has acquired is also due to the fact that some of the characters have their origins in the medieval story about the fox Reynard (between 1257 - 1271, Willem die Madocke maecte).

In my opinion the film does not do justice to the status of the stories of almost serious literature. In the film almost inevitably dialogue becomes less important than images. In some scenes this is an advantage. The ballroom scene is one image in the comic book but can be extened in the film. In general however the emphasis on images does not benefit the depth of the story.

Added value does have the fact that in the film the voices of the characters do come to live. The voice actors are well chosen. However to create this added value a film adaptation is not strictly necessary, a radio play suffices. These radioplays are made and to be honest they are more to my taste as a Bumble the Bear fan.

The intention to watch "Coming home" was born when I had seen "Born on the 4th of July" (1989, Oliver Stone). I thought the story / theme of both films were more or less the same, namely a Vietnam veteran turning into a peace activist.

To be sure there is one main character (Luke Martin played by Jon Voight) that does some peace activities, but they are far less pronounced than those of Ron Kovic in "Born on the 4th of July". On top of this Ron Kovic is by far the most important character in "Born on the 4th of July" while in "Coming home" there are two main characters and also some important supporting characters.

Having seen the film I think the major theme of the movie is the damage done by the Vietnam war. This damage is not only done to the characters that have been there, but also to characters that have lost a dear one or who have seen a person close to them changing beyond recognition.

In "The best years of our lives" (1946, William Wyler) the damage done by the war was predominantly economical. How to return to civil society and restart your career? By the way "The best years of our lives" is about the Second World War and there are no moral questions about this war.

In "Coming home" the damage done is physical, mental or both. Besides there are a lot of moral questions that could be asked about the war in Vietnam. In this respect "Coming home" has maybe more in common with "The deer hunter" (1978, Michael Cimino) from the same year than with "Born on the 4th of July".

One difference with "The deer hunter" is however that "The deer hunter" is firmly situated in a working class environment while in "Coming home" Sally Hyde (Jane Fonda) starts as the wife of an officer, living a sheltered life with the wives of other officers in the officers club. During the movie she becomes more and more an independent woman, having opinions of her own.

The soundtrack of the film is full of sixties music. The Rolling Stones in particular are well represented. The film opens and ends with their song "Out of time' containing the sentence "You can't come back and think you are the first in line". This sentence turns out to have a sense of foreboding applicable to different characters in different ways. Combining the above sentence with the title of the film it turns out that we have to interpret the homecoming a little cynically.

As already mentioned "Coming home" was released in the same year as "The deer hunter". The last mentioned is the better known Vietnam film and did get the Oscar for best film. The cast of "Coming home" however was really showered with Oscars.

Jon Voight won the Oscar for best actor in a leading role.

Jane Fonda won the Oscar for best actress in a leading role.

Bruce Dern was nominated for the Osar of best actor in a supporting role.

Penelope Milford was nominated for best actress in a supporting role.

The love/sex scene between Jane Fonda and Jon Voight was a big deal at the time of release. Today it seems a little bit outdated because the modern way is to show only the beginning and the end of the love making and nothing in between. Compared to another famous love making scene from the seventies (that between Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland in "Don't look back" (1973, Nicolas Roeg)) the scene is roughly equal, that is without sensationalism and not overly erotic but intimate nevertheless. What made the scene innovative and taboo-breaking is in my opinion the fact that it was one of the first times a love scene between a healthy person and someone partially paralyzed was shown in a movie.

Films with aliens can be categorized according to the hostile / friendly nature of both these aliens and the humans.

Perhaps the most widely known category is the one in which the aliens are hostile / agressive. In this category the attitude of humans mostly don't matter because the aliens have superior technolgy. "Mars attacks" (1996, Tim Burton) is a perfect example of this category.

Another category is the one in which the aliens have peacefull purposes but come across aggresive behaviour by humans. "The day the earth stood still" (1951, Robert Wise) is a good example in this category.

The category in which both the aliens and the humans are peaceful can be called the Spielberg category, as it applies to both "Close encounters of the third kind" (1977) and "E. T." ( 1982). The peaceful mood of the humans is in both films (but even more in "E. T." then in "Close encouters ... ") concentrated in children. In "E. T." the adults are hostile, in "Close encounters ... " the government want to keep the contacts with the aliens hidden for the public, without being hostile per se.

In the film the Devils tower in Wyoming plays an important role. Some interpretations see a Biblical meaning in which the Devils tower is playing a role comparable to Mount Sinai in the Bible. Maybe there are other religious references but to be honest I may have missed them. To give just one other example, the climbing of the Devils tower by three persons, ultimately one person staying behind can be compared with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The film contains three phases: Close encounters with individuals The journey to the Devils tower The (long) ending scene with the close encounter with the government agencies.

Phase 1 is a little confusing. You don't know yet what is going on. The famous close encounter scene of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) is however great. Neary is driving a car and an approaching light can be seen through the rear window. This turns out to be another car. A few moments later similar lights can again be seen through the rear window, and you expect another car. This time the lights however belong to an UFO.

Phase 2 is the most tense phase of the movie, in particular because the attitude of the government towards the aliens is yet unknown and seems to be hostile.

Phase 3 is the most spectacular part if the film. In effect is is a special effects extravaganza. Douglas Trumbull, who also collaborated with Stanley Kubrick in "2001: a space odyssey" (1968) was responsible for this aspect of the movie.