Strivingforfairness92

I believe this film has been under-rated by Rotten Tomatoes and a few other journals. This is a gorgeous film with an intelligent, sensitive, and sometimes witty, screenplay by English playwright, David Hare (author or Plenty; Wetherby; and Pravda). It is aptly directed and acted in by Ralph Fiennes and Oleg Ivenko is perfect as Rudi. The supporting cast are all top notch as well, playing interesting international characters. French diplomacy also plays a neat role. There is a lot to watch and learn in this film, particularly, Nureyev's world view on art and humanity. There is a wonderful scene where he explains why he kept going early in the morning to the Louvre to be the first one in, to study the painting, "The Raft of Medusa." He believed, as many artists do, that all the arts are inter-related and that everything is important. His passion for life, developing intellect as well as physical agility in his art, was boundless. For me, this film is thrilling.

This is a very rich film "with metaphors" as the young hero of it might say. It is very compeling viewing from its first minute as the direction, writing and acting are very cleverly done. The themes of the have-nots against the haves and the cold-hearted versus the warmer-hearted people dominate the plot, which is thick. There is a lot of symbolism in it. Who are the real parasites, anyway: the poor or the wealthy, the caring or the indifferent? The tone takes a turn three-quarters of the way through from French-farce style to almost a horror film. However, it is worth engaging in until its conclusion, as it has some serious messages for the viewers and is a very wise work indeed. I can see why it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2019; it's a gem.

This much-talked-about documentary is worthwhile for film students, film buffs and WW1 fans. It is not, as the director says in the how-the-film-was-made short that follows it, an academic film nor was it made to teach history. It was made as a tribute to Peter Jackson's grandfather who fought, was wounded in, and survived his injuries from WW1. It might not be a good idea to eat lunch before seeing the film; it is not a film of which to take your children or immature teenagers. It is real photography from the war revitalized and brought to life with amazing technological advances by Jackson's New Zealand crew. Some of the shots are very graphic of real rats, lice, maimed and dead soldiers. It is not like watching a prince getting his hand cut off in Game of Thrones with the blood painted a designed shade of crimson. It is grim reality but it is touching as we look at real photos of soldiers affably smiling at us. It is hard to watch at times but I did not leave the theater depressed. In fact, I left feeling high because I loved seeing the old movie shots of Trafalgar Square from 1914 before it was overrun by population. However, the most magical moment, for me, occurred about a half hour in when the black and white photography gracefully waltzed into color. The startling eyes of the faces being studied by the camera suddenly began to move from side to side and starred straight into the eyes of the audience. They seemed to be beckoning us to enter their world and their lives. I felt the pull, it took my breadth away and I couldn't resist being drawn in.