Sheltering Sky (Ws Sub)

Starring:Debra Winger, John Malkovich, Campbell Scott, Jill Bennett, Timothy Spall, Eric Vu-An, Amina Annabi, Philippe Morier-Genoud, Sotigui KouyatÃ©, Tom Novembre, Ben SmaÃ¯l, Kamel Cherif, Afifi Mohamed, Brahim Oubana, Carolyn De Fonseca, Veronica Lazar, Rabea Tami, Nicoletta Braschi, Menouer Samiri, Keltoum Alaoui
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com essential video

Master filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci applies his considerable talent to this haunting adaptation of the Paul Bowles novel. John Malkovich and Debra Winger play Port and Kit Moresby, characters loosely based on Bowles and his wife Jane, who flee New York for North Africa, where they hope to find mystical truths that will reignite the spark of their marriage. But instead they lose their moral bearings (with help from a friend, played by Campbell Scott, who has an affair with Kit) while traveling deeper and deeper into the Sahara. Before long, what started as a vacation at exotic lodgings has descended into a tour of hell, as they stumble farther and farther into an unknowable spiritual territory. Though long and at times slow-moving, the film features marvelously nuanced acting by Malkovich and Winger and visionary filmmaking that makes the landscape at once picturesque and threatening. --Marshall Fine

Description

American artist couple Port (John Malkovich) and Kit (Debra Winger) Moresby are drawn by desire and destiny to travel through Saharan Africa, attempting to recapture the love the once shared.

Customer Reviews:

Bertolucci's most underrated film, and a masterpiece..........2007-03-13

This is definitely Bertolucci's most underrated film. It's a real masterpiece. It's incredibly cinematic, well acted, deep, and mysterious. John Malkovich, Debra Winger, Campbell Scott, and Timothy Spall gives great performances, and it's another film that showcases Bertolucci's brilliant camera work (again lensed by Vittorio Storario), and Bertolucci's mastery of erotic cinema. The last 45 minutes or so of this film has almost no dialogue (unheard of in a film released by a major studio), but you are mesmerized by it anyway. It's a real ambiguous film, leaving you with more questions than answers. I have not read the original novel, but reportedly Bowles was unhappy with it. A friend of mine who did read the original novel and saw the film loved them both. I think this film got dissed a bit because it was done right after The Last Emperor, so maybe critics felt that they had to take Bertolucci down a notch. Another great Bertolucci film....

A Masterpiece.......2007-01-14

Bernardo Bertolucci have managed to recreate North Africa of post WWII world and bring it to our screen. The only reason why I am giving it 5 stars is because each character is portrayed in the movies exactly the way they were portrayed in the book.

Granted, there are no movies out there that follow the book precisely and don't delete any scenes. And I do believe that it would have been much better if Bertolucci included more scenes and let Paul Bowles narrate them more often then he did. However, the way the natives, the cities and villages, the culture and the surroundings play out against Kit, Port and Tunner is absolutely amazing and nothing short of spectacular.

Of course the book was better than the movie, the way Bowles was able to destroy the characters in their pursuit of each other and North Africa, gives us an idea of how a foreigner/Westerner can loose his/her life and identity and they fail to understand and respect the other culture and its people.

If you watch the movies first, you will have many unanswered questions but you will be amazed by the characters and what they had to through. Read the book, then watch the movie and I'll guarantee you that "The Sheltering Sky" the book and "The Sheltering Sky" the movies will be in first ten of your favorite books and movies.

Storaro's cinematography makes the desert appear blue..........2007-01-13

"The Sheltering Sky" is a road movie and a love story... Its real subject is very simple: Is it possible for two people to share the same dream and to exist as a couple? It's a simple story of two complicated people who love each other deeply, but can't be happy in love... So in the first part of the movie we see how the joy of life vanishes, and in the second part how the joy of death begins...

Debra Winger identifies with lead "Kit" passionate and seductive character... She, at least, feels the need to communicate... At times she feels undesirable, even unwanted and unloved... But this isn't easy to do with Port... Malkovich has a completely different approach to Port... He simply falls into the character... In his dark eyes we can see clearly the suffering of the memory and the pain of remembrance... Port's illness is an unspeakable solitude... He doesn't need anybody or anything to face the challenge of life... He feels he's sufficient to the task but we clearly feel his strong attraction to nothingness... Kit and Port know that they dearly love each other, but they just feel condemned, condemned to be together forever...

Bernardo Bertolucci planned the film in two sections: The solar part belongs to Port and the lunar connected to Kit...

"No Names, No Dates, Just Pieces Of Broken Pottery" ~ The Difference Between Tourist And Traveller.......2007-01-05

Synopsis: Rich, dissatisfied American couple, Port Moresby (John Malkovich) and his wife Kit Debra Winger), travel to exotic North Africa hoping adventure will renew some interest in their failing marriage. The two travelers temporarily become a trio with the addition of fellow American George Tunner (Campbell Scott). George however turns out to be more of a tourist than a traveler* and they soon part company as the Moresby travel deeper and deeper into the vast, arid landscape. The desert experience turns out to be more than anticipated and those who survive will be forever changed. In the final analysis isn't that what a adventure is supposed to accomplish?

`The Sheltering Sky' released in '90 boasts a soundtrack of wonderfully ethnic music and some of the most beautiful cinematography you could ever hope for. Unfortunately in my opinion the plot falls short of delivering the full existential, introspective nature of the storyline. Artistic to a fault but it doesn't generate any interest in the chararacters. `The Sheltering Sky' is well worth a watch for the scenery alone, but it certainly would be a difficult repeat viewing for me.

*[A tourist is someone who thinks about going home the moment they arrive, whereas a traveller might not come back at all].

great book...good movie.......2006-11-29

I should have given it less than a five for the lack of character development as it exists in the book, but I give it a five because it gets the job done a different way. I am not sure this is a stand alone film. It requires having read Bowles, I believe, to appreciate it.

When I read the various reviews of this DVD, it is very easy to fine many nuggets of truth in each review. This film delivered the sense of bleakness, hopelessness, despair that was prevalent during the post war period of many disillusioned with our world. The film did, for me, with images what Bowles did with words, striking the same sensibilities through the eyes.

Frankly, I loved it and believe it or not, I will watch it again!

Sheltering Sky (El Cielo Protector) [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America]

Average customer rating:

Sheltering Sky (El Cielo Protector) [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America]
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

The Sheltering Sky [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - France ]

Average customer rating:

The Sheltering Sky [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - France ]
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Manufacturer: Gaumont
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

France released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Subtitles), Italian (Subtitles), WIDESCREEN, SYNOPSIS: Port and Kit Moresby (John Malkovich and Debra Winger) are American artists and self-styled "travelers" (as opposed to tourists) exploring Saharan Africa. Their 10-year marriage is strained enough to be threatened by the presence of their boorish companion, Tunner (Campbell Scott), who has designs on Kit. The couple's restlessness, along with a kind of fascination with their own estrangement, keeps them moving further away from civilization and from infidelity. Port grows ill, however, and Kit finds herself alone in the desert, cut off from everything she knows. Director Bernardo Bertolucci and director of photography Vittorio Storaro fabulously capture the forbidding beauty of the Saharan locations, as well as Malkovich's brooding self-assurance and Winger's artless sexuality. The color schemes of red and blue serve the story of lovers who live on different emotional planes. Paul Bowles, the expatriate author whose semiautobiographical novel is the basis for the film, comments on the action as a narrator and one-man chorus. He warns Kit, and the viewer, that life is far more finite than one habitually imagines, and that the chance to put things right will not wait forever.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Scene Access, Commentary,

Average customer rating:

Bertolucci's most underrated film, and a masterpiece...
A Masterpiece
Storaro's cinematography makes the desert appear blue...
"No Names, No Dates, Just Pieces Of Broken Pottery" ~ The Difference Between Tourist And Traveller
great book...good movie

Sheltering Sky
Starring: Debra Winger , John Malkovich , Campbell Scott , Jill Bennett , and Timothy Spall
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Manufacturer: C Logic
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008G68Q
Release Date: 2002-05-14

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

Bertolucci's most underrated film, and a masterpiece..........2007-03-13

A Masterpiece.......2007-01-14

Storaro's cinematography makes the desert appear blue..........2007-01-13

"No Names, No Dates, Just Pieces Of Broken Pottery" ~ The Difference Between Tourist And Traveller.......2007-01-05

great book...good movie.......2006-11-29

Bernardo Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky (Widescreen Edition) [Import, All-regions] (Dvd - 1990)

Average customer rating:

Bernardo Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky (Widescreen Edition) [Import, All-regions] (Dvd - 1990)

Manufacturer: Dawoori
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Average customer rating:

Bertolucci's most underrated film, and a masterpiece...
A Masterpiece
Storaro's cinematography makes the desert appear blue...
"No Names, No Dates, Just Pieces Of Broken Pottery" ~ The Difference Between Tourist And Traveller
great book...good movie

The Sheltering Sky [Region 2]
Starring: Debra Winger , John Malkovich , Campbell Scott , Jill Bennett , and Timothy Spall
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video