I fail to get enthusiastic about ‘Up in the Air’. It may be because corporate life is no strange thing to me, it may be because romantic comedies or professional dramas are not my piece of cake, it may be because I was starting to develop so high expectations about George Clooney that seeing a film where he is just good, and not better than in a previous one comes as a disappointment.
Or maybe it is the subject. Firing people from their jobs (‘terminating’ theme as the euphemism goes in this film) is no laughing matter and even if it was unavoidable that it becomes subject to a major movie some day, the intermingling of this theme with a few other (like life of the big corporate travelers addicted to their frequent fliers programs, or the romantic them of the eternal bachelor facing mid-life crisis and catching the opportunity to make a change towards the conventional track) did not really work to me. The story of corporate job terminator Bingham (Clooney) facing the termination or at least radical change of his own job because of the appearance in his own company of rookie Natalie (Anna Kendrick) who tries to revolutionize the business endangering his jet style of life, while his personal life seems to be at pick when he meets his female mirrored image in Alex (Vera Famiga) combines several conventional threads, and cannot make out of the combination an original movie.
I do not have anything special to say about director Jason Reitman does most of the time – he does a fair job but having Clooney in the lead role is like coaching a soccer team with Messi in the opening squad. Actually Clooney although well cast does not do anything special, he just plays his own role – enough for a good performance, disappointing if we consider how well he changed skins in most of his films lately. Famiga is OK, and only Anna Kendrick succeeds to break the ranks and to bring to skin an emotional ingenue which crosses the screen in a sincere interpretation.
The best part of the film are the one shot scenes of people being fired. It is here that Reitman had his touch of genius. He put an add in a St. Louis newspaper and gather real people who lost their jobs recently, and enacted their feelings and emotions in the moments when they received the hit for the camera. These are the moments when we feel the true life, these are the scenes when we can understand the dramas that take place at the personal level, part of the bigger picture drama of the economic crisis that engulfed America. This is actually the best cinema in this film, the rest is just Hollywood wrapping.
Documentarul lui Alexandru Solomon iese in aceasta saptamana pe ecranele romanesti. Delia Marc l-a vazut in avanpremiera si a scris o cronica detaliata si inspirata insotita de fise documentare ale principalilor ‘eroi’ pe care a publicat-o la http://filme-carti.ro/filme/kapitalism-reteta-noastra-secreta-2010-6364. Multe nu am de adaugat la cele scrise de ea, voi face doar cateva observatii personale.
Versiunea pe care am vazut-o eu a fost transmisa pe ARTE in jurul datei de 1 decembrie 2009, la 20 de ani de la rasturnarea regimului comunist din Romania. Este vorba se pare de o versiune prescurtata, de numai vreo 60 de minute a filmului care va apare pe ecranele romanesti in zilele urmatoare. Banuiesc ca structura filmului a fost pastrata, dar unele dintre episoade au fost omise.
Regizorul Alexandru Solomon face si el in acest film un bilant – este vorba despre bilantul a doua decenii de capitalism romanesc. Cel care este ‘invitat’ sa faca bilantul nu este altul decat dictatorul executat in decembrie 1989. Ce ar fi, se intreaba autorii filmului, daca Ceausescu ar ateriza in aeronava sa prezidentiala cunoscuta din atatea telejurnale pre-decembriste si cosmaruri post-decembriste intr-o ‘vizita de lucru’ in Romania de astazi? Teza cu care autorii filmului incearca sa-si conduca audienta este ca dictatorul nu ar fi chiar atat de mirat. In definitiv, cei care conduc astazi Romania au preluat de la vechiul regim o parte dintre metodele si au folosit banii acumulati de capurile vechiului regim si structurile sale politice si de represiune. Mentalitatile au ramas si ele aceleasi, dar in cadrul acestui proces a fost distrusa infrastructura (justificata economic sau nu) si au fost sleite resursele naturale ale tarii.
Cinematografic filmul este impartit in episoade, care fiecare dintre ele poate fi considerat un portret al unuia dintre maganatii noi ai Romaniei de astazi. Majoritatea dintre ei par sa fi colaborat de buna voie dand interviuri detaliate, expunandu-si biografiile si istoria succesului lor. Intre episoade segmente de legatira in stilul filmelor animate ale anilor 70 sau 80, concepute cu umor si intarind in mod grafic ideile expuse in comentariul vorbit. Daca atmosfera generala a filmului si atitudinea explicit tezista amintesc filmele lui Michael Moore, interludiile echilibreaza si balanseaza tonul general si acorda filmului tolnul de detasare si umorul necesar pentru o asimilare mai usoara a materialului documentar care altfel nu ar fi usor la vizionare.
Cu tot ambalajul estetic mesajul filmului este profund pesimist si judecata starii in care se afla astazi Romania, si mai ales a varfurilor puterii financiare si economice a tarii deosebit de aspra. Si totusi, chiar daca concluzia la prima vedere este ceva de genul ca nimic nu s-a schimbat, nu in bine in orice caz, ceva totusi cred ca s-a schimbat. Un film ca cel al lui Alexandru Solomon nu ar fi pututu niciodata fi realizat si difuzat pe vremea vechiului regim.
Cu o saptamana in urma, de Ziua Holocaustului am adus pe blog o lista a unora dintre filmele remarcabile pe tema Holocaustului, asa cum erau ele vazute de criticii ziarului Yediot Aharonot. Din lista facea parte si ‘Gradinile Finzi-Contini’ a lui Vittorio de Sica, adaptarea uneia dintre cele mai emotionante carti despre Holocaust si despre Italia pe care am citit-o, apartinand lui Giorgio Bassani, Delia Marc a revazut filmul in aceasta saptamana si a avut bunavointa sa-mi permita publicarea impresiilor ei dupa vizionare.
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GRADINILE FINZI CONTINI (1970)
(Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini)
Coproductie italo-germana
Regia : Vittorio de Sica
Scenariul : Giorgio Bassani – romanul omonim, Vittorio Bonicelli
Imaginea: Enno Guarnieri
Muzica originala: Manuel de Sica
Distributia:Lino Capolicchio, Dominique Sanda, Fabio Testi, Ramolo Valli, Helmut Berger
De duminică seara – 11 aprilie, a început în Israel comemorarea anuală a celor 6 milioane de evrei (dintre care 1,5 milioane de copii) omorâţi în mod planificat de către nazişti în cea mai neagră perioadă a omenirii (Ziua Holocaustului sau Yom Ha’Shoah).
Statul Israel a ales să comemoreze Ziua Holocaustului 8 zile înainte de Ziua Independenţei! Comemorarea Zilei Holocaustului a început la ora 20.00 printr-o ceremonie oficială care a avut loc la muzeul Yad VaShem din Ierusalim, în spaţiul dedicat Ghetoului din Varşovia. Şase lumânări au fost aprinse în memoria celor 6 milioane de evrei masacraţi de nazişti.
Pe 12 aprilie, Luni dimineaţa, la ora 10.00 sirena a sunat pe tot teritoriul statului Israel şi toată populaţia si-a încetat orice activitate, rămânând în poziţie de drepţi şi păstrând tăcere timp de 2 minute, în memoria victimelor Holocaustului. După încetarea sirenei, la Yad VaShem s-au depus jertbe de flori şi în sala Yizkor (Rugaciunea in memoria disparutilor) a inceput citirea numelor tuturor victimelor, ceremonie care a continuat până seara.
Ziua memorială a Holocaustului este comemorata în Israel pe data de 27 a lunii ebraice Nissan (2 mai 2000). Printr-o hotărâre a Knessetului (Parlamentul israelian) din 1951, a fost aleasă această zi care cade intre data revoltei din ghetoul Varşoviei, începută în prima zi de Pesach, şi Ziua memorială a Israelului pentru soldaţii morţi în luptele pentru statul Israel. Ziua Holocaustului cade în perioada tradiţională de doliu a numărătorii de Omer.
Vizionarea ecranizarii romanului autobiografic a lui Giorgio Bassani a venit pentru mine ca o inscriere fireasca in acest remember si aceasta comemorare.
Am citit in tinerete romanul si in zadar l-am cautat zilele acestea in biblioteca; probabil face parte dintre acele multe carti imprumutate „prietenilor” si pastrate de catre acestia in vesnica custodie.
Giorgio Bassani
Am pastrat multi ani in amintire tulburatoarea impresie pe care mi-a facut-o romanul si de curand, citind „Cu cele mai rele intentii”, al lui Alessandro Piperno (publicat in 2008 la Editura Humanitas Fiction – colectia Raftul Denisei), mi-am reconsolidat cateva idei privind impactul fascismului asupra comunitatii evreilor italieni si atitudinea acestora, circumscrisa atitudinii si soartei evreilor din toate tarile apusene.
Si filmul vine sa semnaleze si sa sublinieze aceasta atitudine – in conjunctura anilor 30 si 40 din secolul deja trecut.
Este atitudinea aristocratiei, dar si a clasei de mijloc evreiesti, asimilata puternic in societatea italiana a vremii, lovita drastic de asa zisele „legi rasiale” promulgate inca din 1938 de catre guvernul fascist al lui Benito Mussolini; atitudine care le impiedica sa sesizeze pericolul ororilor inumane ce vor urma, le paralizeaza spiritul de autoaparare si initiativa unei actiuni de salvare. O atitudine de respingere a inevitabilului, apoi o atitudine de acceptare a implacabilului, de izolare aristocratica sub paza efemera a zidurilor gradiniilor reale sau imaginare, o evadare in amintirile calde si confortabile ale experientelor si emotiile copilariei senine, o evadare in carti si studiu individual.
Familia Finzi Contini nu-si abandoneaza niciodata domeniul, membrii ei traiesc in propriile iluzii privind lumea, locul si importanta lor in ordinea acestei lumi; de altfel si membrii familiei tanarului Giorgio – apartinand burgheziei medii comerciale se scalda in aceleasi iluzii, ei cred ca „nu o duc prea rau aici, mai pot fi cetateni, desi – de rangul 3”. „Intotdeauna au fost putine drepturi pentru toata lumea, iar evreii au tacut cat timp nu au fost loviti”. Iluzii, iluzii, iluzii… Citesc Cocteau, joaca tenis, se grabesc sa isi sustina licenta inainte sa apara o lege care sa decreteze ca si literatura e „ariana”, filozofeaza sterp – „noi italienii – in ce trebuie sa ne punem sperantele?” – fara sa sesizeze ca deja nu mai sunt considerati italieni, ci numai „evrei” – „murdaria rasei umane”.
Maturitatea le-a batut la usa sufletului tinerilor din Ferrara, ei insa continua sa evadeze in trecut, in copilarie, in idilismul si romantismul lipsit de griji al unor vremuri confuze. Misterul unei iubiri naive si neimpartasite de catre Micol, este o capcana pentru Giorgio, il impiedica sa observe realitatea cruda din jur, il ingroapa in seductia propriilor sentimente si cuvintele tatalui sau, incarcate de experienta vietii il ajuta sa-si inteleaga starea si sa o depaseasca: „Inteleg ce simti si te invidiez, e ca si cum ai muri, dar in viata, pentru a intelege cu adevarat lumea, trebuie sa mori macar o data…asa ca mai bine sa mori tanar, cat inca mai ai timp ca sa te poti reface si sa-ti traiesti din nou viata, la batranete e mai greu”… „In timp, e mai bine asa, caci s-ar fi terminat dezastruos, Finzi-Contini nu-s de nasul nostru”.
Realitatea intervine insa brusc si devastator, „evenimentul istoric” proclamat de catre Il Duce, intrarea Italiei fasciste in razboi alaturi de Germania nazista sparge linistea si refugiul casnic iluzoriu al eroilor. Acum nu se mai pune problema acceptarii restrictiilor sociale si economice impuse evreilor: excluderea din invatamant, excluderea din organizatiile profesionale si sociale, interzicerea casatoriile mixte, interzicereaservitorilor arieni, excluderea din biblioteci, din locuri publice… Italia nu mai este o familie pentru evrei. Viitorul este sumbru pentru „negrii”. Acum apar masinile politiei care pe baza listelor mortii ii ridica pe evrei, iar destinatia lor este pentru inceput – Dachau – unde ii asteapta „un hotel in padure, cu serviciile asigurate de catre SS – renumiti pentru ospitalitatea lor”. Intercalarea imaginilor de arhiva cinematografica, ale soldatilor armatei hitleriste, defiland in pas de gasca sub ochii lacrimosi de emotie al Fuhrerului cheama spre luciditate, rupe vraja idilica a gradinii fermecate a domeniului Finzi Contini.
Pentru Giorgio este limita, zidul Gradinilor Finzi Contini cad si sub surparea lui este ingropata tradarea iubirii sale de catre Micol, tradarea prieteniei lui Malnate, tradarea societatii italiene subjugate de fascism. Giorgio se salveaza de tavalugul ororilor care se abat asupra celorlalti eroi ai filmului. Familia Finzo Contini, nedezmeticindu-de inca, inchisi ermetic in scoica sidefie a conditiei lor socio-istorica, ridicati de Politia fascista italiana, isi asteapta soarta cruda, in liniste, aliniata printre ceilalti coreligionari, pe bancile scolii. Si privirea lui Micol se indreapta in zare, pe fereastra, proiectandu-si pe zidurile din departare, imaginile feerice ale vietii idilice din Gradinile Finzi Contini, unde ea, fratele ei si Giorgio, jucau tenis, liberi, tineri, fericiti, nestiutori. Lacrimi in ochii ei, un fel de pace interioara – cu ea, cu lumea si cu Dumnezeu, memoria respinge suferinta (pe care nici acum nu o intelege) si apeleaza la un trecut in care se refugiaza. Totul, pe fundalul sfasietor al „el male rahamim” – rugaciunea rituala pentru morti.
Vittorio de Sica
Probabil ca numai Vittorio de Sica ar fi putut realiza acest film, in maniera sa artistica inconfundabila, puternic social-politica si intens senzuala, care transmite perfect ideile si sentimentimentele centrale ale romanului lui Giorgio Bassani. Si a reusit sa transmita toata neintelegerea si pasivitatea in fata inevitabilului, caracteristice unei mare mase a evreimii din Europa „civilizata”. Si a reusit sa dea acestei transpuneri cinematografice un ritm si o culoare aparte, de apreciat este imaginea lui Enno Gurneri, a carui camera de filmat surprinde caldura si frumusetea Gradinilor Finzi Contini atat vara – cu florile sale colorate si potecile umbrite de batranii copaci, dar si iarna sub zapada alba purificatoare, dar surprinde si in prim planuri inspirate, figurile frumoase, pure si tinere ale eroilor ferrarezi.
Dominique Sanda – frumoasa si astazi – dupa scurgerea a peste un sfert de secol de la realizarea acestui film este deosebit de fascinanta si enigmatica, rece si mandra de securitatea pe care i-o da originea sa aristocratica, preocuparile sale literare, intangibilitatea de care s-a bucurat familia sa timp de secole, in spatele zidurilor gradinii edenice. Superbii sai ochi albastri spun insa, fara cuvinte, in scena finala, posibilitatea intelegerii adevarului istoric al carei victima este.
Lino Capolicchio este un Giorgio veridic, care a gasit, sub bagheta lui Vittorio de Sica, talentul si resursele necesare pentru a exprima framantarile tanarului pus in fata unei iubiri neimpartasite, dar si ale tanarului evreu confruntat cu problematica sociala si politica a epocii. De altfel, cariera lui este prolifica, a jucat si sub bagheta lui Zefirelli si printre altele, l-am putut urmari si in serialul La Piovra.
Iar coloana sonora a filmului – muzica originala Manuel de Sica, fiul lui Vittorio de Sica , nascut in anul 1949 (a fost nominalizat la Oscar si are la activ peste 71 de filme lucrate) vine sa completeze in mod fericit reusita acestuia, caci este sobra si firesc emotionanta.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di1PABZQRKw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REh86L41Y3M
(video source fenderiko63)
In anul 1971 Vittorio de Sica a primit Ursul de Aur pentru acest film – la festivalul de film de la Berlin.
In anul 1972, Il Giardino dei Finzi Contini a castigat Oscarul la sectiunea Best Foreign Language Film, iar in anul 1973, Manuel de Sica a primit Premiul Grammy pentru Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture.
Desi la o distanta de 40 de ani de la realizarea filmului, el este la fel de proaspat si astazi, atat din punct de vedere al temei tratate, cat si al mijloacelor cinematografice utilizate
As the evening fell over the Memorial Day we live again the transition – so specific to the Israeli life – between mourning and joy, between contemplation and jubilation and we enter the Independence Day. It’s a good opportunity to remember the events that happened 62 years ago and the words of David Ben-Gurion which marked the apparition of the Jewish state on the map of the world, words which are still the basic act of foundation of the nation, as well as the guiding principles of the existence of the State of Israel.
The ceremony that marks the end of the Memorial Day and the start of the Independence Day ends with the singing of the national anthem – HaTikvah (The Hope).
Here is a fragment of the comment that accompanies the song on YouTube.
‘Israel’s national anthem sung by Enrico Macias. The poem was written by the Zionist Naftali Herz Imber in 1877 in Iaşi, Romania. In 1882 he moved to Palestine where he continued working on his poetry in 1886 he published his first book of poems one of them was “Tikvateinu,” which soon after became the Jewish anthem. The book was entitled “Barkai” (“Morning Star”) and was published and printed in Jerusalem!’
I noticed the title of the book that first contained the poem. A few years before the Romanian national poet Mihai Eminescu who lived much of his active life in the same city as Imber, Iasi, had published his most famous poem ‘Luceafarul’, a masterpiece of the Romanian literature. The translation of the name of the poem is ‘The Evening Star’. When Imber publishes his first book in Hebrew after arriving in Palestine he names the book ‘The Morning Star’. A coincidence?
Tonight, at 8PM starts the Israel Memorial Day – the day that commemorates the Israeli soldiers fallen in the wars and military actions in the defense of Israel, and the victims of the terror attacks against Israel and Israelis. For the people of Israel and for their friends.it’s a day of reflection and a day of remembrance
It is the day when all that divides us should be put apart. We, Israelis, may differ in customs and place of birth, in the ways we pray or the ways we honor the tradition of our people, in the ways of life and in our political opinions – tonight and tomorrow we are united in the respect we pay to those who have made the supreme sacrifice so that we can live free in our country.
The clips below show some aspects of the ceremonies that take place each year in Jerusalem on Memorial Day. The opening ceremony takes place at the Western Wall, the last remain of the Temple that once stood in the center of the Jewish capital. The next morning cemeteries in the whole country fill in with the relatives and comrades of the fallen soldiers with the central ceremony taking place in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl.
At 11AM on Memorial Day the sirens in the whole country sound for two minutes. All traffic and all activities stop, and the whole nation stands in silence, in respect for the fallen.
Then, at evening, the closing ceremony marks the end of Memorial Day and the of the festivities of the Israel Independence Day. This is life in Israel – sorrow and joy coming together, mourning is followed by the celebration of national freedom.
I doubt that the applause at the end of ‘La Juive’ can sound so strong and enthusiastic any place in the world but in Tel Aviv. The last act of this opera recovered from the 19th century repertoire of Grand Opera stages a powerful drama than resonates strongly with the Jewish identity epic. The year is 1414 and the Jew Eleazar and his daughter Rachel are condemned to die because of the forbidden love of Rachel with the Christian prince Leopold. She can save herself if she converts, and her father, a believer Jew asks her whether she is ready to renounce the faith of their ancestors. She refuses and is led to the gallows. The judge and cardinal Brogni asks Eleazar one last secret before he goes to his own death – where is the cardinal’s daughter, lost many years ago when Rome was plundered, and apparently saved by a Jew, is she living? ‘There she is’ Eleazar answers pointing to the flames that are engulfing Rachel’s body and revealing with the last accords of the musical score the hidden secret that triggered the whole tragedy.
source http://www.israel-opera.co.il/
The libretto of the opera belongs to Eugene Scribe, and at its first staging in 1835 ‘La Juive’ sent a strong message against racial and national prejudice in a France that was building a state and a society based on the principles of the French Revolution, but was far from having overcome all its demons, a fact that will be proved by the Dreyfuss case several decades later. It is the best known opera of the 36 composed by Fromental Halevy, a composer who played a big role in the development of the Grand Opera genre. The characters of Eleazar, the rich Jew who faces a hostile society and of his beautiful daughter Rachel who fails for the treacherous prince Leopold are direct descendants from Shakespeare’s Shylock and Jessica. The dilemma of the Middle Ages Jew whose faith puts him in mortal danger, the need to protect his daughter, symbol of Jewish purity and continuity from the temptations of the outer non-Jewish world but especially from the passions of love, even the stereotype of the rich Jew holding the financial power and using it with thirst of revenge, all these remind too strongly ‘The Merchant of Venice’ to be just a coincidence.
The Israeli New Opera took over a production of the Zurich Opera directed by David Pountney. The British director renounced the original setting of the opera at the beginning of the 15th century and worked on a concept that places the action in the century and the country where the opera was created – France’s 19th century. The excellent set designed by Robert Israel with a rotating stage with two deep spaces and two frontal panels is fluid and expressive. To enhance the 19th century Grand Opera feeling Pountney brings in the set dancers dressed as Degas ballerinas (another building block of the Grand Opera experience) but also uses some of the anti-Semitic caricatures of Degas to illustrate the atmosphere of prejudice and repression that surrounds the Jewish community and heroes in the opera, as well as hinting to the continuity of racial and religious prejudice in history.
source http://www.israel-opera.co.il/
The concept works pretty well. ‘La Juive’ speaks in an articulated manner to the post-Holocaust audiences, and the moral dilemmas of the heroes resonate well with a mostly Jewish audience in Tel Aviv. However, the music is (and always was) a challenge for the modern representations of such pieces of the genre. ‘La Juive’ has a few remarkable musical moments, and at least two dramatic scenes of high quality that put it on the best place in the world repertoire (the final act I described and the Seder night scene in the second act), but also a lot of flat musical moments, uninspired dancing interludes (which Pountney tried to fill in with grotesque costumes and dancing style) and most than all is very, very, very long – three hours and 45 minutes. Adding this to the fact that the singers are not best inspired (or at least they were not in yesterday’s performance, with the exception of Jessica Pratt’s Eudoxe, the wife of Leopold the rest were quite mediocre) – the overall experience was mixed. One may still want to catch one of the performances in the next couple of weeks especially for the opportunity of seeing David Oren directing – we missed him yesterday as he was feeling sick, but even directed by his assistant the orchestra sounded better than in most other representations we heard in the last years.
There is no filmed moment or recording from this performance that I could find on YouTube, so I went looking for some of the available recordings with big performers from the past and present. I found two versions of the beautiful area of Eleazar ‘Rachel, quand du Seigneur’. The first one is part of the last session of recordings of Caruso in Camden 14th September 1920, the second belongs to Roberto Alagna from 1997.
A new art gallery opened in Tel Aviv in December, and news about the new exhibition ‘Glass – Trends in Contemporary Glass Sculpture’ started to make their way to the media. I visited yesterday the gallery and exhibition and it was a quite pleasant surprise and experience.
the Litvak Gallery
The gallery is located at the first floor of the tower building behind the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. From the museum plaza cross the street on the pedestrian bridge and you get just to that level. (At the ground floor you can find the Toto restaurant – one of the best in Tel Aviv).
I was not very enthusiastic about the exhibition space. It is limited, it lacks natural light, and the internal organization of the exhibition was not too balanced, with one larger room and two smaller ones interconnected by corridors that succeeded to be crowded despite the gating function that selling tickets for every half hour is performing. I can predict that for the last month of the current exhibition, as word spreads about the quality of the art that is exposed the situation will get worse.
Yet – the art is wonderful. It is a show not to be missed by art lovers who happen to be close to the artistic and cultural hub of Israel. The gallery gathered works of 23 of the best living artists who chose glass as their principal medium of expression. Selected works of the best artists in the branch were brought to the exhibition, and some were created especially for this event. The principal trends in the field are represented, and so are many of the principal centers of glass art who operate world-wide including Murano, Bohemia, and Providence, Rhode Island. All the show is worth being looked at attentively, visited and revisited, but I especially loved the cosmic vegetation forms created by Dale Chihuly (well known to the Israeli public from his 2000 exhibition at the Tower of David in Jerusalem), the elegant shapes of Davide Salvadore and Lino Tagliepietra that succeed to create aesthetic amazement but also anxiety at the same time, the human figures imprisoned in glass by Ann Wolf and the sophisticated forms and effects Julius Weiland and Jirina Zertova.
A special space was created for Lucio Bubacco‘s work ‘Eternal Temptation’ – a meditation in glass with Biblical ambitions, with in a style that combines baroque with modern kitch. The documentary clip above of one of the several accessible to the viewers of the exhibition in the last hall, sharing some of the production secrets of part of the artists in the exhibition. The audio-guide is also excellent, each artist is presented with essential details and information about his background, activities, and exposed works and I recommend not to be missed. The exhibition is open until May 15, and the Web site http://www.litvakgallery.co.il/ also includes useful information (but only in Hebrew for the time being).
It is interesting to judge what place ‘O vara de neuitat’ (An Unforgettable Summer) plays in the too short cinematography of Lucian Pintilie and to speculate about why he had chosen to make this film in 1994, his second only after the fall of the Communism which had practically silenced for two decades the creative voice of a director who debuted in the 60s and could have become in a different constellation one of the most important creators of the European cinema. While most of his films after 1990 deal either with the Communist era or its repercussions in the process the Romanian call ‘transition’ this film as well as ‘Tertium non datur’ made in 2005 (his last by now) connect with the more remote past of Romania, the first half of the 20th century. Both deal with the actions of the Romanian army beyond the borders of today’s Romania, both happen in remote places, and place the moral dilemma of the Romanian officers in the center of the action.
There is one more element in the making of this film that is worth mentioning. The film is inspired by a story written in the 50s by a Romanian writer who was then belonging to the Socialist Realism style (but later became a political oponent and a refugee). So here we have Pintilie, the most famous dissident film-maker of Romania picking up a story written in the Communist era – maybe in a demonstrative manner that tells in a most authoritative voice that bridges with the past should not be completely blown-up.
‘The Unforgettable Summer’ is a anti-war drama on the road open by Kubrick‘s ‘Paths of Glory‘. Yet it has also another classical source in the Romanian cinema – Liviu Ciulei’s Padurea Spanzuratilor, the first Romanian movie to have won a major prize at the Cannes film festival. Pintilie’s film, with the moral dilemma of the officer hero, making eventually the right decision with the major risk for his career and even life has a lot of similarity in theme and form.
The cinematographic approach is simple and direct. The film is beautifully filmed, with attention to the detail, and a fluent story telling. Music also plays a role in the narrative structure, the whole action happens between the opening French Can-Can music and the closing ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’ and in the meantime nothing too nice happens. The horror of the violent actions that happen or are suggested to happen on screen is balanced by the innocent view of the child whose story telling leads the action. Here the innocence is also under pressure as in many other films by Pintilie, so is the destiny of principal heroine superbly acted by Kristin Scott Thomas, who together with her partner on screen Claudiu Bleont give life to the couple of heroes. Her actions cannot cut off sufferings or fix evil, they can only postpone by a second the sentences of history. Is it too much, is it too little? The open question is left to the viewer to answer.
It was not easy to prepare this trip. I usually try to read as much as I can from the Internet, and also buy at least one good tourist guide (green Michelin if possible) if not more than one. No way to find any book on Malta in Israel, not even in the ‘Memsi’ (the Israeli Automobile Club, peer of the AAA) stores. I was not more successful in the first few bookstores I entered in the US. It’s only by ordering on Amazon that I could eventually buy the two books (one coming with a good map as well) that I used during the trip.
This actually tells part of the story of the Maltese tourism and economy. Also Malta welcomes more than one million tourists a year for a population of 400,000 inhabitants, and although tourism is the #1 source of income for the Maltese economy the archipelago is still not only minuscule on the map but also unknown or at best little publicized on the boards of the holiday agents in Europe and world-wide. The level of services is somehow lower than for example in the Greek islands, but then the concentration of landscape and history is at least equal, and there is vicious circle that waits to be broken. More tourists would mean more money which would mean more and new services and infrastructure. Also bigger crows, too big maybe? It is a small island and there is a limit in the capacity of the incoming flow. Yet, my feeling is that the breakthrough in the Maltese tourism is yet to come. Most of the tourists, by the way, are coming from the UK attracted by the English-speaking tradition and the driving on the correct side of the road – but I could see many Italian, German, Spaniards. And yes, Valletta was quite crowded even in the out-of-season first days of April.
What about the rest of the economy? With limited resources of water Malta cannot ensure more than 20% of its food. Vegetable gardens and cereal fields are visible, but the agricultural surface is limited. Local limestone is used for construction works and it’s yellow surfaces provide the appearance and ‘local color’ of the buildings. The strategic position at the crossroad of the Mediterranean naval roads and two hospitable harbor areas in the North and in the South of the island made of Malta a good place for naval workshops. However this industry decreased since the British naval basis left the area, and the tentative of turning them into aircrat repairs shops seems to have only partially succeeded.
Malta Story
So what’s left? of course, the factories of dreams – the film industry. Natural and historical landscape, English speaking teams, lots of extras with little work to do and plenty of time to spend on the set, the sea around – all these make of Malta the ideal place to make historical, or adventure, or aquatic films. ‘Malta Story’ with Alec Guiness and ‘Spartacus’ with Kirk Douglas are just two of the classical films made in Malta. MFS (the Meditarenean Film Studios) are well known in the industry. I did not get to visit them, but I heard that the sea film studios are unique. For a compensation in the coffee-shop in Mosta where we stopped in the first day and from where we watched part of the Easter parade the walls were decorated with the posters of many of the classical films ‘Made in Malta’.
