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Eyes Wide Open (Israel)

Eyes Wide Open Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

Do you know much about the Hassidic Jews of Israel? Do you know how restrictive religion and conservative societies can be? Watch Eyes Wide Open to learn how religion can repress your sexuality and turn you into an outcast. Check out the melodramatic and revealing trailer below if you’re not convinced.

Why Watch Eyes Wide Open?

To learn a bit about the Orthodox Jewish religion
For a great companion to the Israel-Palestine conflict shown in Omar and Ajami. In this film you will see a different side of Israel.
Find out how difficult it can be for religious gay people
For the two main actors who manage to so much with so few words

The Breakdown

A man tries to open a sliding door to a shop as the rain pours down on him. He gives up trying to unlock the padlock with his key and grabs a rock to break the lock. After a few throws, the lock falls off. He carefully peels off a poster from the door (a notice of death) and enters the shop.

A tracking shot of the floor shows an overturned chair. The man carefully folds up the poster and puts it to the side. We can deduce who has died from the clues the director leaves in the opening sequence. The way the man carefully folds the poster notice of death means that it must be someone close to the man. And the fact he has a key shows that it is probably a relative. So when the man finds a picture of a young boy and an older man sitting outside the shop he has entered we can deduce it is an old picture of him and his father.

In this film, you need to pay attention to the film’s subtleties. The two main characters do not share much dialogue. Instead they communicate in short, clear sentences. However, pay attention to the way they say things, as this reveals more than what they say. Their short and unemotional conversation reveals their repressed emotions. The strict religious society they are a part of prevents them from expressing their sexuality.

Conclusion

Eyes Wide Open is beautifully filmed and acted. It will also open your eyes to the difficulty of living as part of a strict religious society as a gay person. You may have witnessed the difficulty of living within a strict religious society in Sand Storm or Asmaa. But unfortunately the plight of gay people in strict religious communities is rarely shown. Eyes Wide Open is one of these rare films that is also beautifully filmed.

Closed Curtain

Closed Curtain Film Difficulty Ranking: 5

“You think you can capture reality in here?”

Closed Curtain stands up for Iranian activists. To understand this film, you have to know a little a bit about the director, Jafar Panahi. After making a number of critically acclaimed films, Panahi was placed under house arrest after being charged with producing propaganda against the Iranian government. What was his reaction? To keep making films under house arrest and having them smuggled out of the country. So here’s Closed Curtain, the second film released under house arrest.

Why Watch Closed Curtain?

To experience house arrest (this was the second film Panahi directed under house arrest)
See a double decker tea-pot
For a great film from one of Iran’s top directors (check out The Circle or Taxi Tehran for another great film from Panahi)
Learn about some more of the different laws in Iran (See Divorce: Iranian Style)

The Breakdown

Through a closed gate we can see a barren beach outside of a house. A car stops on the road by the beach and a man gets out, collects a few bags, and walks slowly to the house. The man enters the house and the camera cuts to show him. Inside the house, the camera is free. The man opens his bag to reveal his pet dog. He quickly attaches dark curtains to all of the windows in the house to block out the light.

It isn’t clear from the start what is going on. The man who releases his dog into the house seems a bit crazy as he frantically covers every opening to the world outside. However, just like the woman who runs into the house 20 minutes into the movie, he is victimised by some strange laws. The TV shows us that the man is hiding his dog from death after the state has declared all dogs as unclean animals. The woman appears in the house after she is persecuted for partying on the beach. Just like the director, they have all ended up under house arrest for unjust reasons.

To make us feel under house arrest, Panahi carefully confines the camera within the house. From the start, when we see the man with the dog arrive outside the house, the camera is fixed behind the house borders. People enter and leave the house, but we only see them from the behind the house window. Through this, Panahi captures the isolation felt under house arrest as well as the limits of his artistic creativity.

Conclusion

Closed Curtain is a clever and unique way of portraying Iran. Panahi depicts Iran’s limitations through the limitations of house arrest. However, whilst the film is clever and unique, it is not Panahi’s, or Iran’s most accessible film. This is for the more experienced art-house film viewer. Therefore save this one until you’ve watched a few films with lower Film Difficulty Ranking’s before attempting this one! For another Iranian film, try Under The Shadow!

Melancholia

Melancholia Film Difficulty Ranking: 5

As one of the longest cinematic films in existence, watching Melancholia is no easy feat. It is twice as long as Gone With the Wind or over twice as long as Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. In addition, this film feels long. There are plenty of scenes where we are watching one person in one position for five minutes or more. But you’ll miss out on a Filipino film talent if you ignore this one, and a chance to get to know the country without the long-haul flight!

Why Watch Melancholia?

You haven’t seen a 7 hour film before and fancy a challenge (14th on the longest cinematic film list on Wikipedia)
To understand the effect of the Marcos dictatorship on Filipino people – there were many desparacidos like in Argentina!
An opportunity to see different segments of Filipino society
With no music, hear the true sounds of the Philippines

The Breakdown

The film starts with a still shot of a woman in a bedroom folding clothes. After she folds her clothes and places them onto her bed, she pauses for a few minutes to contemplate. It sounds like she is sobbing as she sits on the bed, with her back to the camera. Next a fixed shot on a balcony shows her leave her room dressed up in skimpy clothes and big boots. She is a new prostitute in a small Filipino town in the country.

There is a lot you can say about this film because it is so long. However, there are a few things which remain constant throughout the film. Firstly, the pairing of fixed cameras and long takes (each around five minutes long) forms most of this film. These shots make us feel like a fly on the wall for the whole film. Unlike a Hollywood blockbuster, everything appears in real time. We see the banal acts of folding clothes, sitting down contemplating, and even sleeping. As a result, things seem more real, it is almost like we are spying on someone we don’t know.

Also unlike Hollywood blockbusters, there are no intrusive close-ups in the entire film. We cannot see the character’s faces clearly, making it harder for us to interpret their emotions. It’s hard to describe so I’ll try and distinguish it from the emotion triggered by close-ups of crying faces. Close-ups of crying faces makes the viewer sad and sometimes cry. It is also very obvious and open, creating an emotional bond between the character and the viewer. In contrast the distanced shots of people sobbing in Melancholia is partly concealed. As we cannot see their faces clearly we feel distanced and slightly intrusive. As a result, it does not feel like we can help the character’s share their emotional burdens. Their sadness is inevitable and unavoidable: Melancholia.

Conclusion

If you can afford seven and a half hours and have any interest in the Philippines, I’d recommend checking out Melancholia. It’s an intense dive into the psyche of the Marcos ruled Philippines. If you are daunted by the length but are interested in Filipino film, check out some other films from Lav Diaz (the director) such as Norte, the End of History. He is a talent!

Ahlaam (Iraq) – Experience the Horror of the Iraq War

Ahlaam Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Amazingly, this film was the first film shot in Iraq following the end of the Iraq War. Even more amazingly, it does not hold back at all from showing the devastating effects of the war on Baghdad and it’s citizens. If you haven’t seen an Iraqi film before, go watch this one! But beware, it’s not something you can sit back and relax to with a big bag of popcorn.

Why Watch Ahlaam?

To watch a film from Iraq! How many Iraqi films have you seen?
For a chance to learn a bit about the effects of the war in Iraq
Experience an Iraqi wedding complete with music and lots of ululations
Witness the fall of Iraq from the eyes of regular Iraqi citizens

The Breakdown

Ahlaam starts with bombs falling on Baghdad 3 days before the fall of the city. Inside an asylum, the patients are startled and scared by the exploding bombs. It is obviously not a pleasant situation to be in.

The film follows the true story of three Iraqi people as the Iraq war starts. One is a soldier for the Iraqi army. Another is the happy fiancee of a local man. The last is a man training to be a doctor. They are all based in Baghdad and all lead happy lives in what they describe as a ‘beautiful city.’

Of course, from what we unfortunately now associate with Iraq (war), we assume their happiness is not going to last. The director, Mohamed Al-Dara, does his best to foreshadow the bleak future. Firstly, there’s the snippet of the patients in the mental asylum at the start before the film jumps back to before the start of the war. Secondly, there are just too many nice statements. When you hear someone say ‘Baghdad is beautiful,’ and another say that ‘one day military service will be but a memory’ it’s obvious that Baghdad will not be beautiful by the end of the film and the army will be ever present. It’s like Chekhov’s gun, when you introduce a gun, it will be fired.

Conclusion

By the end of the film you will see the effects of war on the regular citizen of the world. It’s well worth a watch, but probably not the best option for your first date!

The Hunt (Denmark) – A Teacher’s Worst Nightmare

The Hunt Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you’re a teacher, The Hunt is your worst nightmare. Set in a small town in Denmark, The Hunt shows how one lie can bring down a credible and likeable man and turn him into the victim of a modern day witch hunt.

From: Denmark, Europe
Watch: Trailer, Amazon Prime, Amazon (rent)
Next: Festen, The Shining, Gone Girl