Foreign Land

Starring:JoÃ£o Lagarto, Laura Cardoso, Fernanda Torres, Alexandre Borges, LuÃs Melo, Fernando Alves Pinto, Carla Lupi, Ã‚ngelo Torres, TchÃ©ky Karyo
Director: Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas
Studio: Fox Lorber
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
A simple but superb little thriller. Aspiring actor Paco (Fernando Alves Pinto) lives in a poor area of SÃ£o Paolo, Brazil, with his mother, who yearns to go back to her native Spain. When she dies abruptly, Paco finds himself without direction and falls in with a man named Igor, who asks him to carry an antique violin to Lisbon. There he finds himself caught up in a black-market scam, from which his only hope of escape is a woman named Alex (Fernanda Torres)--only Alex has an agenda of her own. Foreign Land resembles a lean, low-budget film noir like Detour or The Asphalt Jungle, only filmed with the spare yet beautiful visual aesthetic of a director like Antonioni. The gritty black and white images are astoundingly gorgeous, yet visual style never gets in the way of an engrossing, emotionally compelling crime story. As Paco and Alex drive to the border of Spain, hoping to escape the dangerous mess their lives have become, Foreign Land becomes downright heartbreaking. Sexy, suspenseful, poetic, and shot through with dark, ironic humor--basically, this is the movie just about every American director wants to make but doesn't know how. A knockout. --Bret Fetzer
Description
A Film by Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas

Tired of living in squalor, an aspiring Brazilian actor accepts a "delivery job" from a shady antique dealer and travels to Lisbon carrying a violin filled with uncut diamonds. When the exchange goes bad, he finds himself on the run from an underworld thug and in the arms of a beautiful woman caught up in a Portuguese black-market.

Amazon.com

Danis Tanovic's Academy Award®-winning satire of the war in the Balkans is an astounding balancing act, an acidic black comedy grounded in the brutality and horror of war. Stuck in an abandoned trench between enemy lines, a Serb and a Bosnian play the blame game in a comic tit-for-tat struggle while a wounded Bosnian soldier lies helplessly on a land mine. A French tank unit of the U.N.'s humanitarian force (known locally as "the Smurfs"), a scheming British TV reporter, a German mine defuser, and the U.N. high command (led by a bombastically ineffectual Simon Callow) all become tangled in the chaotic rescue as the tenuous cease-fire is only a spark away from detonation. Tanovic directs with a ferocious, angry eloquence and makes his points with vivid metaphors and a savage humor as harrowing as it is hilarious. Searing and smart, this satire carries an emotional recoil. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Between war and peace, humor and hate, capture and surrender, life and death lies No Man's Land. Set in the unforgiving trenches of the Bosnian-Serb conflict, this "astonishing" (Chicago Tribune) film follows the story of three soldiers caught between two fighting lines. Hailed as "one of the best films of 2001,"* No Man's Land is a "powerful, harrowing, shockingly entertaining" (Movieline) exploration of the absurdity of war. Fleeing enemy fire, an injuredBosnian soldier named Čiki retreats to a trench, where he finds himself trapped with a woundedcomrade and worse a Serbian! With no way to escape and with his fellow soldier lying on a spring-loaded bomb set to explode if he moves, Čiki realizes he must do the unthinkabletrust his enemyIf he wants to survive. *Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Daily News, New York Post.

Customer Reviews:

Balkans In A Nutshell.......2007-04-14

Directed by Danis Tanovic, and starring one of the most popular Bosnian actors, Branko Djuric, a veteran of Yugoslavian cinema Filip Sovagovic, and Rene Bitorajac, "No Man's Land" ("Nicija Zemlja") is a great insight not only into the war in Bosnia, but also into the irony of it, as well as into the typical ex-Yugoslavian form of cinema. Danis Tanovic truly showed the Balkans in a nutshell.

Two Bosnian Muslims and two Bosnian Serbs are caught in a trench between enemy lines - in no man's land. The area is off limits to all warring parties, meaning that neither party is prepared to officially investigate the matter. Enter the United Nations, popularly known in Bosnia as the Smurfs (due to blue helmets and the fact they had absolutely no power in Bosnia, in fact, they were the national laughing stock). Lulled by constantly being ignored and by constantly saying "no", the UN is confused as to what to do, especially as they come into a situation in which one of the occupants of the trench might die. Originally turning their back on the entire situation, one UN peacekeeper's morals force the higher-ups into dealing with the situation through the involvement of the international media.

Excellent in its entirety, the movie is comical and tragic at the same time, educational and frustrating, hopeful and without hope. The only critique I have is that Tanovic picked Sovagovic (a Croat) to play a veteran Serb, and Sovagovic's Croatian accent is unmistakable and out of place throughout.

I highly recommend this film to everyone, period. I will end with a great quote from the film - a French peacekeeper tells a British journalist:"Not doing anything IS taking sides." Enjoy the movie.

Solid Four Stars.......2007-03-02

Worth seeing, no doubt. However, makes you wonder what a true genius like Akira Kurosawa would have done with such an original premise.
This director here misses having a masterpiece of a film on his hands by something like a hair.
Had the three main characters been better developed the audiance would have had more reason to
give a damn what happens to them. Alas, it didn't happen, although the script is pretty damn decent & works for the most part.

I have said the following so often in the past: give the audiance something/someone to care about--because if they don't kow much about the people in your film they will not be moved by what happens to them. Just the way it is.

Having said all that, I still maintain it is worth seeing. Branko Djuric is very good here.
Check it out. I wish I could have given it five stars.

Powerful portrayal of the absurdity of war.......2007-02-20

I used this movie for multiple purposes in the senior high school classroom. It raises awareness about a region of the world whose battles and quarrels are frequently unfamiliar to the high school student; it demonstrates war in ways that are not commonly portrayed in U.S. movies; it calls into question exactly who are the heroes and who does one "root for;" and explores the role of the United Nations in conflicts. The media's portrayal is one of vultures, yet their role in stopping war can be so much greater! The one individual with tremendous humanity is forced to resign himself to his inability to make significant change in a war without solution.

Not in English!!.......2006-11-22

The movie is very good however, it is NOT in English as advertised by Amazon. It does have English subtitles as well as Spanish and French.
The audio track is in Serbo-Croatian.

The Horror And Absurdity Of War!.......2006-11-14

I did not find the film to be a dark-comedy as some of the other viewers. Satire, yes. Humorous, no. This film takes place in the Balkans in 1993. The area: Bosnia and Herzegovina. Two Bosnian soldiers are lost in 'No Mans Land.' That omninous area no sane person would dare be, unless they are ordered to, or are lost. For two Bosnian soldiers it's the latter. Ciki (Branko Djuric) and his comrade-in-arms have found themselves lost on the Serbian side of the battlefield. However, in order to take shelter from the bombings and snipers, they hole themselves up in a trench. This is no ordinary trench, and their lives are about to get a hell of a lot more complicated.

The trench they have holed themselves up in is also laden with hidden land mines. Some of which are of the 'bouncing betty' type. The mine does not go off until after you step off of it. And once you step on one, there really isn't much anyone can do. Also sent to look into the sector is a Serbian soldier named Nino (Rene Bitorajac). He stumbles across these two Bosnian soldiers by accident. However, one of the Bosnian soldiers is lying in the trench wounded. Unknown to him, he is lying on top of a mine. His slightest movement will cause the mine to detonate. A Catch-22 type situation now exists. Somehow, Ciki must get his fellow Bosnian free.

This is where the UN comes into the picture. And it shows just how political and ineffectual the UN was at the time. However, one French NCO, refuses to let politics interfere. He attempts to involve the UN one way or another in order to help these three soldiers get out alive. When a bomb expert is called in however, things don't look to good for the wounded soldier lying on the mine. Will the UN succeed? And will the two Bosnian and the one Serbian soldier make it out alive? This I will leave for you to watch. The film is recommended. It is good, contrary to some of the diatribes other reviewers have leveled at the film. [Stars: 4.5]

Average customer rating:

Great and Sad Movie

Grbavica: the Land of My Dreams
Starring: Emir Hadzihafisbegovic , Mirjana Karanovic , Bogdan Diklic , Semka Sokolovic , and Leon Lucev
Director: Jasmilla Zbanic
Manufacturer: Strand Releasing
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ASIN: B000OHZKHM
Release Date: 2007-06-12

Amazon.com

Set in Sarajevo's Bosnian neighborhood, Grbavica is a gripping love story between a mother and daughter struggling against prejudice and poverty. Director Jasmilla Zbanic's debut is surprisingly tender considering the film's extremely depressing subject matter. For example, the film opens on Esma (Mirjana Karanovic), a middle-aged mom who gets night shifts bartending at a seedy strip club by lying to the owner that she is childless. Following this scene, however, Esma pillow fights her teenage daughter, Sara (Luna Mijovic), in their meager apartment, immediately establishing their bond. Undependable men come and go, such as Puska (Emir Hadzihafisbegovic), a fur-sporting sleaze who tries to hire Esma's only love interest as a hitman. Grbavica's plot centers around Esma's attempts to save money for Sara's field trip, and Sara's aroused suspicion about her allegedly dead Shaheed father. Esma's failure to produce his death certificate leads Sara closer to the gruesome truth about her real history. Grbavica provides viewers a glimpse into daily Croatian life, by finessing tragedy and comedy into one story. Potential pitfalls, such as Sara's involvement with a gun-toting boy at school, are narrowly averted to prove real resilience. Grbavica is a tale that represents women and children affected by war, in their loss and strengthened love that promotes healing. --Trinie Dalton

Customer Reviews:

Great and Sad Movie.......2007-06-04

Sadly, there were some 50,000 Bosniak/Bosnian Muslim women raped during the agression on Bosnia by the agressors in many concentration camps.
This movie shows just one story. There are some 49,999 just like this one if not worse.

Average customer rating:

ill-conceived and overhyped
Looking Behind the Veil
An Alright Drama
Orientalism on demand
Life on the margins . . .

Kandahar
Starring: Nelofer Pazira , Hassan Tantai , Sadou Teymouri , Hoyatala Hakimi , and Mollazaher Teymouri
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Manufacturer: New Yorker Video
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Osama
The Children of Heaven
The Circle
Baran (Sub)
Leila

ASIN: B000089RTN
Release Date: 2003-05-13

Amazon.com

The prolific Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Gabbeh) had one of his most visible international successes with this haunting, open-ended drama. Set (and shot) during the Taliban era, it follows an Afghani-Canadian woman as she attempts to enter Afghanistan in search of a despondent sister. Since it is illegal for a woman to travel alone, she must rely on the kindness--or curiosity--of strangers, including a scrappy boy and a mysterious American doctor. The woman playing the lead role had earlier contacted Makhmalbaf about a similar real-life search, which prompted him to write the screenplay. The director doesn't really tell her story so much as he unveils a way of life: in the desert, we meet land-mine victims, Red Cross volunteers caught in a Catch-22 world, and women smothered in head-to-foot burkas. The portrait is one of oppression, but also of people furiously trying to get by. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

ill-conceived and overhyped.......2007-07-05

Kandahar is a film that I've been wanting to see for years. It became a "de rigueur" staple of the art-house cinema circuit following 9/11. I remember the long lines at the Museum of Fine Arts here in Houston, when the film was screened.

Obviously, this film has its fans, as evidenced by the glowing reviews on Amazon. I personally found it to be a sham. For starters, it is filmed documentary-style, but the plot is heavily scripted. I'm not saying this concept is flawed; it works in The Story of the Weeping Camel. But, in a film that deals with such serious topics as famine and land mines, it feels wholly out of place. Also, the English-language dialogue suffers from flat delivery. The protagonist seems phony; every potentially poignant moment is ruined by her deadpan method of speaking.

Visually, the film is stunning at times, especially when you see the wedding party march in the desert. The sea of burqas in contrasting colors (such as emerald, black, ochre yellow, peach, white, purple, etc.) is absolutely stunning. But the quality of the cinematography is not enough to rescue the flawed direction.

I imagine that the throngs of curious people who clamored to see the film left the cinema somewhat disappointed. I know I did, watching it on DVD.

Looking Behind the Veil.......2007-05-23

KANDAHAR, or THE SUN BEHIND THE MOON, is an interesting and provocative film. Though I felt that in some ways the movie was manipulative since it was narrated in English and not actually filmed in Afghanistan, I did learn much from it. However, it felt as though it was an "outsider's" view into the world of Afghan people told from the vantage point of someone who had escaped the Taliban's stronghold and resides in Canada now. Also, the director is from Iran. So, this, too, somehow takes away from the film's "true" perspective. To the film's credit, however, it delivers powerful images and a look at how sad and utterly devastated the landscape of a once-proud nation has become. It makes the more fortunate among us perhaps stop for a moment to treasure the small freedoms we take entirely for granted and realize that the people of Afghanistan deserve a chance for freedom too. It also leaves one with haunting questions: Will the Afghan people ever write love stories, romances, poems, songs after it seems that their world was entirely capsized and their hearts broken by the Taliban? Will women ever be able to live in anything but total fear there? What is going to happen to that country when the war is over and all the world's focus shifts away from them? For all its failures, the film does deliver us a postcard from a land most of us will never otherwise know and makes us feel the desire to understand and empathize with its people. Post-9/11, that is important and essential to the world's healing.

An Alright Drama.......2007-04-10

It was interesting and beautiful. The acting looked like acting...this is not the documentary it looks like. If some of the performances had not occasionally distracted me into rembering I was watching a movie, I'd have given it 5 stars.

Orientalism on demand.......2006-07-04

the movie directors in the ME, particularly Iranians, are responding to demands by the West for certain type of movies. They produce what is demanded from them; in turn, they receive awards. cultural industry empowers these demands; they are the ones who will ensure that such movies will be received the Western audiences and they are the ones who decide who is awarded. There is no single ME movie which depict the story of Western imperialism in the ME and then awarded for doing so. ME movies must show that ME women are in need of emancipation; ME cultures are presented as in need of getting civilized. civilization itself is presented in vertical sense; there is a civilization somewhere out there all MEasterners are expected to reach; yet, it was that same civilization that threw doll bombs on them. (no reference to who threw them doll bombs or who mined their country; who deprived them of education and knowledge. the West is represented by beautiful, blonde nurses, a nice American guy who just pretend to be a doctor and help them with his "everyday Western knowledge of medicine" in the midst of total ignorance, and the helicopters that threw on them fake legs. such a nice way to civilize!)
the story of Afghanistan is real. however, the movie does not render a fair job in reflecting the background of it. rather, it does an excellent job in meeting the cultural demand; in producing a product that can sell well.
the situation is miserable; but what caused such misery in Afghanistan? your answer after seeing the movie will be that it is Islam; it is that Islamic culture; that backward culture of those people with wonderful eyes. such a conclusion is strongly demanded in the absence of other factors. there is no single implying in the movie, a smallest reference, that Afghanistan has suffered centuries old imperialism at the hands of the British and then the Russian and now Americans who played their Great Game on the chessboard of Eurasia. There is a passage in the movie to the effect that somebody will come to liberate them. those imperialists came in the name of civilization; French did to Algeria, the British did to India; all in the name of bringing them civilization. It was White Man's Burden to do so. Yet Makhmalbaf needs more awards. he has to compete in the cultural circus and perform well for the pleasure of Western audiences, in order to continue to be in demand. you did a nice job, applauses; go on.
(anyone who is interested in cultural imperialism should read Foucault's works and Edward Said's Orientalism.)

Life on the margins . . ........2006-04-21

A woman sets out to rescue her sister in the Afghan city of Kandahar and along the way meets the displaced persons of war, the refugees, the starving, and the walking wounded. The film focuses in particular on the women and children forced to survive under hostile conditions. Their marginal existence in the desert sands on the border of Iran and Afghanistan reflects their status within the Taliban-ruled country from which they live in exile. Even more dramatically, the film explores the plight of those who have lost limbs from land mines.

Particularly informative is the commentary by actress Nelofer Pazira that is included on the DVD. Her comments reveal in eloquent detail not only the making of the movie (shot where it takes place) but the rationale behind the creative choices made, often on the fly, as the film crew worked under difficult and dangerous conditions. While western news coverage continues to focus on the military and political aspects of warfare in the Middle East, "Kandahar" does much to reveal the devastating impact on noncombatants. Definitely worth seeing.

Average customer rating:

The Tree of Wooden Clogs
Hard to swallow masterpiece
Witness the life of real 19th century peasants
Amazing account of the peasant life
Excellence in detail.

The Tree of Wooden Clogs
Starring: Luigi Ornaghi , Francesca Moriggi , Omar Brignoli , Antonio Ferrari , and Teresa Brescianini
Director: Ermanno Olmi
Manufacturer: KOCH LORBER FILMS
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ASIN: B0001Z935W
Release Date: 2004-07-13

Customer Reviews:

The Tree of Wooden Clogs.......2007-07-06

One of Olmi's greatest accomplishments, "Clogs" is a sensitive, verité-style drama that unfolds at a leisurely pace, with indelible, naturalistic performances by the entire cast of nonprofessional actors. Olmi based the film on stories his grandmother recalled about growing up in Lombardy, and the subtle power of this film comes from the calm, unforced manner in which he portrays lives of drudgery and sacrifice. Some scenes stick in the mind, like an old-timer regaling villagers with a ghost story, or a honeymoon trip to Milan on an old barge. Give "The Tree of Wooden Clogs" time to blossom, and you'll reap the rewards.

Hard to swallow masterpiece.......2006-12-15

This three hour movie about the lives of a group of peasants in Northern Italy in the late 19th Century is probably a masterpiece, but is also one of the most conservative movies I have ever seen. Made with a cast of amateur actors, it's a brilliant movie alright, but Olmi's social conservatism is very hard to swallow. In a way, his position seems even more backward than the Catholic Church: while today's Church gives at least some lip service to the idea of redistribution of wealth, Olmi's ideology might be best described as favoring the medieval concept of social immobility: peasants will always be peasants, the Church will look after them as long as they remain faithful to it, but they should never rise against their masters. The landlord is a horrible person (expelling a peasant from his property for felling a tree in order to make the shoes of the title for his little child) but amazingly this never seems to cross the mind of the peasants, who accept their destiny stoically. Another thing I didn't like: the movie features two scenes where animals are slaughtered (apparently for real, and graphically). Without being an extreme supporter of animal rights, I don't think this was necessary. I believe that no piece of art is worth killing an animal.

Witness the life of real 19th century peasants.......2006-09-28

This is not a typical film, even for European standards. Of course it's not a documentary either. So what is it? It's more a document than a documentary, because there seems to be no point of view, no story-teller. We are just there, seeing whatever is going on.

First of all, it is very long: three hours. It is filmed in rather long and slow-pace scenes.

Second: These are real folks, living their peasant lives in northern Italy, doing their daily chores with no tv noise in the background and all the dirt and realism you can expect to find if you were to live in an Albanian farm today.

Third: the classic music played for this film has been very wisely and appropriately chosen.

Fourth: The most important thing in this film are the faces of the people, worth the three hours, if only for that. Authenticity is hard to find.

I find this work very interesting, specially because most of us can see in these people our own ancestors, maybe to the time of my grandparents' youth in Spain (so much like northern Italy). But beyond the luck, or craftiness, of catching real folks doing their thing in situ, and catching it well enough, I don't see any "mastery of movement, color and imagery", bla, bla. And it won the Grand prize at Cannes Film Festival. Which, well thought, it is not surprising, since they always reward weirdness and extravagance under the label of originality. In my opinion the director, Ermanno Olmi, isn't any Orson Welles, but his good intentions got him a reward.

Nothing to say about the lives depicted here. We are only to watch and respect them. Whatever we may think of them, it will probably say more of us than of them.

Amazing account of the peasant life.......2006-08-22

Probably one of the best foreign film on cultural life, that of peasants in the 19th century.... is this one! With three hours, you are subjected to a realistic time frame of the struggle for survival, style and mannerisms, and hardships of the countryside peasants.

You will see the beautiful landscape, the authentic settings, period costumes and props that give one the feeling of being there! Set in 1979, in color, director Olmi's most popular film has received the prestigious Palm d' Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The use of nonprofessional actors, the poverty, day to day struggle against society, usually filmed on location places it into Italian neorealism film category.

The focus of the wooden clogs is just a fraction of the story we are told. Several families are portrayed here, and they endure turmoil, grief, religious dedication, devout faith, competition, a miracle and, ...a little fun.

The main event is a family's pride is that their son is able to go to school and he trudges in his wooden clogs and one shoe breaks. The father risks all to cut a tree and shape a new shoe, hence, harsh consequences. Several stories are interwoven that include a widow with six children considers putting two into an orphanage, a grandfather teaches his granddaughter how to plant tomatoes to be first in line at market time, and newlyweds take a trip, and other indepth stories.

It is not uncommon for Italian films to feature graphic animal scenes, and in this case, a goose is blatantly beheaded, and we are exposed to the capture and bloody, guts-hanging out-slaughter of a large pig. It reminds me of another Italian film Padre Padrone.

I can recommend another Olmi black and white film that is a departure from this, Il Posto, (the Job), where a young man lands a clerk position into the corporate world, where you work for life. This one was fun, pleasant. ......MzRizz

Excellence in detail........2006-06-08

If you've ever enjoyed hearing stories from Grandpa of his youth in the "old country", you will love this film. The word "movie" doesn't fit because it's as if you're observing first-hand the lives of these turn-of-the-century peasants, upclose and personal, rather than being entertained or thrilled.
So very realistic!!! Just as if you had stepped back in time.
Fascinating.

Average customer rating:

Good plot, excellent direction and great songs....
A great film!
3.5 stars, if possible...
The Magic of Cinema Recreated!
A work of art

Foreign Land
Starring: João Lagarto , Laura Cardoso , Fernanda Torres , Alexandre Borges , and Luís Melo
Director: Walter Salles , and Daniela Thomas
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
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ASIN: B00004Y7CZ
Release Date: 2000-11-07

Amazon.com

A simple but superb little thriller. Aspiring actor Paco (Fernando Alves Pinto) lives in a poor area of São Paolo, Brazil, with his mother, who yearns to go back to her native Spain. When she dies abruptly, Paco finds himself without direction and falls in with a man named Igor, who asks him to carry an antique violin to Lisbon. There he finds himself caught up in a black-market scam, from which his only hope of escape is a woman named Alex (Fernanda Torres)--only Alex has an agenda of her own. Foreign Land resembles a lean, low-budget film noir like Detour or The Asphalt Jungle, only filmed with the spare yet beautiful visual aesthetic of a director like Antonioni. The gritty black and white images are astoundingly gorgeous, yet visual style never gets in the way of an engrossing, emotionally compelling crime story. As Paco and Alex drive to the border of Spain, hoping to escape the dangerous mess their lives have become, Foreign Land becomes downright heartbreaking. Sexy, suspenseful, poetic, and shot through with dark, ironic humor--basically, this is the movie just about every American director wants to make but doesn't know how. A knockout. --Bret Fetzer

Description

A Film by Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas

Customer Reviews:

Good plot, excellent direction and great songs...........2006-04-14

Sometimes, movies that are not overly well-known and that you happen to watch just by chance give you a good surprise. "Foreign land" (= "Terra estrangeira"), a Brazilian film in black and white directed by Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas, is one of those movies.

The plot is simple: Paco (Fernando Alves Pinto), a young Brazilian man that dreams of becoming an actor, wants to travel to Spain. He has no money, so he ends up smuggling goods for Igor (Luis Melo) in order to pay his ticket to Spain. Strangely enough, Paco will end up in Portugal, where he will meet another Brazilian, an attractive and very troubled woman named Alex (Fernanda Torres). Both are in a foreign land, Portugal, and that is true not only literally (they are in a different country), but metaphorically as well, as they cannot help but feel like outsiders. Unfortunately for Paco, Alex has plans of her own that will put them in danger.

What happens, and why? Well, you will have to watch "Foreign land" :) Suffice it to say that I really like it, and that I was quite impressed by how well it is filmed, and by the almost haunting beauty of some of its scenes. Of course, I also loved the beautiful songs in Portuguese included in the movie, and I think you are likely to like them too. All in all, highly recommended!

Belen Alcat

A great film!.......2005-08-11

A great film! It really shows the real Brazil. The direction and cinematography was absolutely gorgeous. The story was very moving. I give it four stars.

3.5 stars, if possible..........2005-02-20

I was so wowed by director Walter Salles's work in "The Motorcycle Diaries" (which I watched the night before) that I just had to rush out and rent his earlier work. This was okay, but disappointing -- juvenelia from the future director of "Central Station" and the Che film. It's sort of a caper film: a young Brazilian man, set adrift in the economic chaos of the initial post-dictatorial years of the early 1990s, half-unwittingly takes a job as a "mule" for a diamond smuggler, flying to Lisbon to deliver the package and naturally gets into a world of trouble. The film's most interesting aspects are the presentation of Brazil's political instability and the ironies of a post-colonial Portugal overrun by refugees from Angola and Brazil... The film itself is pretty art-schoolish, shot on super-saturated black-and-white, poorly paced and with a fairly unoriginal plotline. It was okay, but nowhere near as well-crafted as his later work. Interesting, though, to note how fond Salles is of having his characters go on long journeys, over vast streches of the earth... It's his motif, I suppose!

The Magic of Cinema Recreated!.......2004-01-02

FOREIGN LAND / Brazil-Portugal 1995
13 December 2003 The best part of this film is how much it surprises. It's a B&W film from Brazil and deflates expectation as it starts out almost like a student film - slow, awkward and seemingly uninteresting, with so much of gritty grain that it is initially annoying. Yet the change of pace and the transition into a gripping tale of innocence, love and adventure is so seamless, that only in the end do we realize what sheer cinematic delight we have been privy to.
* Mise-en-scene: Even though it was made in 1995, this film belongs to the highest traditions of 50s Film Noir. Though reminiscent of Welles' Touch of Evil in its narrative style, you've probably never seen a grittier tale, and feel for the characters and their innocence as the plot thickens and the feeling of foreboding grips you.
* The fact that the lead pair comprises unknown faces works for the film, and makes it believable. After all, the feeling of alienation and desperation is easier to ascribe to, to a nobody who has no-where to go.
* Foreign Land communicates a deep underlying political message to Brazilians who were migrating to Europe in the 1980s and the film does a successful job of portraying life outside of Brazil as mean-spirited and dangerous.
* The character development of the boy from struggling artist to bold young man is thoroughly convincing as is the unlikely romance between two desperate people in a strange land. I particularly enjoyed the change in pace of the narrative where it midway meanders off the beaten track and becomes a road-film.
* Cinematography: In the final analysis, the low-brow high chiaroscuro grainy photography works for the film and successfully builds a dark mood that establishes the feeling of evil lurking just around the corner in a foreign land.
* Sound design is effective in creating a nostalgic mood which begs us to ask the protagonists what on earth they are doing in a foreign land when they could have been safely tucked away in beloved Brazil.
I highly recommend this film to any lover of international cinema and particularly to those who feel inspired by gritty, small-time, content driven films with a powerful vision, that dare to challenge the goliaths of our filmmaking factories.

A work of art.......2003-07-15

"Foreign land" is a film that has made my mind in my late teenage years. The story is alright, but it impresses for the image and sound composition. First, the photography of Walter Carvalho, black&white, Bresson-style. Then, the music, "vapor barato", an anthem of the seventies in Brazil (and the song was not in the film, it became part of it when the director asked Torres - the character Alex - which song she considered important in her life. She was hearing Vapor Barato in her walkman). It's a moody film, and tells much more about the life of the characters (foreigners/expatried), who search for something beyond, than about politics. It's about people, not countries.

Average customer rating:

EXCELENT PURCHASE
One of Wajda's masterpieces
A Majestic story of Three Friends in 19th Century Poland
a must for the cultured film connoisseur

Promised Land (Director's Cut)
Starring: Daniel Olbrychski , Wojciech Pszoniak , Andrzej Seweryn , Kalina Jedrusik , and Anna Nehrebecka
Director: Andrzej Wajda
Manufacturer: Vanguard Cinema
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0000AZKJU
Release Date: 2003-10-28

Description

Andrzej Wajda's interpretation of a classic 19th century epic depicts the sweeping change in values ushered in by the industrial revolution. Three friends hope to build a factory, but their plans are quickly jeopardized by local politics and one of the partner's dangerous love affair. Critically acclaimed for its masterful direction and fine acting, this ever-current film has a strong statement to make about modern times. With the master director's brand new re-edit made possible by Poland's liberation from Communism. In Polish w/ English Subtitles

Customer Reviews:

EXCELENT PURCHASE.......2006-02-03

THIS FILM IS GREAT, IN MY OPINION IS WAJDA'S BEST MOVIE AND THE QUALITY OF THE DVD IS MAGNIFICIENT

One of Wajda's masterpieces.......2006-01-21

This epic-romantic drama set in late 19th century Lodz was directed by Poland's grand old man of cinema, Andrzej Wajda, and brings his prodigious talent as a director to the forefront. Wajda, better known for cinematic depictions of World War II and the more recent Polish struggles with communism, was severely hampered in 1973 by lack of access to state-of-the-art film technology. Technical difficulties notwithstanding he managed to replicate the miserable conditions under which the population of the teeming 19th century industrial city of Lodz slaved away for the enrichment of their Polish, German and Jewish employers.

The film's story is complex and difficult to follow through the maze of interrelationships and the densely worded script, which may demand a second viewing for those who cannot keep up with English subtitles, as they faithfully follow the Polish. But it centers around the unbridled ambition of three young men--an aristocratic Pole, a Jew and a German--to establish themselves jointly as entrepreneurs while beating out the competition. Eventually, they are done in by their greed and capacity for making enemies needlessly. What you have is a highly affecting morality tale in which avarice takes a back seat to the general lack of moral/social values expertly depicted in the performances delivered by Olbrychski, Psoniak and a host of wonderful Polish character actors. Direct allusions to ethnic and national stereotypes and tensions may pass by some who are not familiar with Polish history vis-a-vis ethnic minorities. But Wajda averted potential accusations of anti-Semitism by studiously offering with mathematical precision equal numbers of sympathetic as well as unsympathetic characters from each of the three ethnicities surveyed in this film. It paid off, as he received the Oscar for Best Foreign Film for that year!

I experienced this film as anti-capitalist propaganda when I saw it for the first time in 1988 without subtitles. Apparently that is how it was perceived by the communist authorities, since according to Wajda's interview, Polish critics were ordered from above to give it favorable reviews. But I now see it as being a less sentimental, more accurate portrayal of the dilemma of industrialization than Charles Dickens ever offered his reading public.

One of the true gems of this "Director's Cut" is the interview with Wajda where they show the still of him receiving his Oscar and looking not so thrilled at getting pecked on the cheek by his presenter--the lovely but by then highly controversial Jane Fonda. (In private Polish society I heard Fonda sometimes referred to disparagingly as "Hanoi Jane" by Poles who said that "tylko w ameryce," was it possible to be so rich and successful and still so deprecating of one's own government.) The other moment to look for is the one where Wajda talks about how when his crew got their first look at the Lodz location for the factory shoots, they found looms with "Manchester, 1884" engraved on them which were still in operation in the 1970s.

A Majestic story of Three Friends in 19th Century Poland.......2004-11-05

"Promised Land" (or "Ziemia Obiecana" in Polish) is a majestic story of three friends who come together to build a factory in Lodz during the 19th century. The friends, a Pole (as played by Daniel Olbrychski), a German, and a Jew, each need each others' resources and skills in making their dreams come true. However, both the German and Jew are advised by others not to deal with their Polish friend, as they believe it will come to no good end. In the 19th century, Poland was not on the map, as its neighbors (Germany, Russia, and Austria) partitioned it amongst themselves. This is the reason why German is occasionally spoken in the film and Rubles, a Russian currency, are mentioned.

The Polish man is a nobleman, but he cares little for his heritage or tradition. His thirst for wealth will put a strain on the friendship of the trio and a love affair he has with the wife of a wealthy Jew will cause them all more problems than they would ever expect.

In general, the businessmen of the time are corrupt, the workers are abused, and the story that unfolds is tragic. The film itself is beautiful. With haunting and dramatic music, this colorful time in history is interestingly portrayed. The factories are grim and stark, which contrasts with the splendid palaces where the wealthy live. "Promised Land" gives us a glimpse into the past and a chance to witness the poverty of the many and the wealth of the few.

"Promised Land," directed by Andrzej Wajda, is an exceptional film of the type that has earned him world fame. This new director's cut of this 1974 film is 138 minutes in length. "Promised Land" is spoken in Polish, with parts in other languages. This film has optional English subtitles. At times the film is gory and often tragic, but entirely a captivating story, worth watching.

a must for the cultured film connoisseur.......2004-04-02

This is an acclaimed film from the godfather of Polish cinema, Andrzej Wajda. Its message was acceptable to the communist regime in power when it was made, because it presents a rather harsh portrayal of pre-communist Poland, set in the late 1800s. Nevertheless the production values are quite high, and along with the quality acting and direction, they contribute to make this a memorable film.

That said, there was nothing overwhelmingly great about this film either. Its basically a story about three friends: one Polish, one German, and one Jewish, who are building a factory and experience trials and tribulations along the way. The Poles certainly appear to lack the grace of more westerly continentals, both in costume and appearance. There is plenty of long dramatic dialogue broken by a few brief kinky naked scenes (...).

Description

"In this astonishing documentary about the world of the deaf-blind, acclaimed director Werner Herzog (Signs of Life, Aguirre: The Wrath of God) explores the life of Fini Straubinger, a remarkable and kind-hearted 56-year-old deaf and blind woman who has dedicated her life to helping the similarly afflicted.

From their first flight on an airplane to a day at a petting-zoo, Herzog captures the joys and struggles of those who have been isolated from the world around them.

Land of Silence and Darkness is a tribute to the triumphant nature of the human spirit and a glimpse into an existence so intense and abstract that at times it seems to reach great lyrical heights. "

Customer Reviews:

"I'm no different from you".......2007-05-20

I'm no different from you is a reccuring line you'll here throughout the film as Fini Straubinger (who I guess would come closest to being the protagonist) tries to connect with other deaf & blind handicaps. Yet that same line is something that struck me strongly as I noticed how certain myths and preconceptions about the deaf & blind were brought to light by the film. They were truly no different from you or I despite the handicap they had. In fact the only thing that really held these people back from living normally was society and even family. Overall the film was very informative to say at the least, it's best to watch this viewing experience brought by Werner Herzog yourself and see a different side to the Land of Darkness and Silence.

Very touching portrait of the deaf-blind........2006-10-29

Werner Herzog is famous for his movies about obssesive maniacs (Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo, etc.). However, it turns out that he has a great sensibility for documentary films. Although this movie is not for everyone -it has a very slow narrative- it is a very important testimony of those people who have lived in the land of darkness (blindness) and silence (deafness). It shows, amongst many other things, how these people live, how they "see" the world (notice how language falls apart here)and how they communicate. A word of advice: there is a shot of a poor child who was born deaf and blind and lived in isolation for several years (imagine a person who has not developed linguistic skills at all). That is one frightening and sordid scene that will give you nightmares.

I have a weird obsession with documentaries and love this film; however, if you're not into this genre you may want to rent the dvd first.

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Nights and Days (Noce i Dni)
Starring: Jadwiga Baranska , and Jerzy Binczycki
Director: Jerzy Antczak
Manufacturer: Polart
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Deluge (Potop)
Chopin: Desire For Love
Becket

ASIN: B000O75GW6
Release Date: 2007-05-22

Product Description

In this Oscar-nominated epic by Jerzy Antszak (Chopin: Desire for Love), the triumphs and tragedies of a couple are chronicled from Poland s failed 1863 uprising to the eve of World War I. The sweeping story unfolds in flashback as the wife recalls the heartbreak of love, the passions of life, and the finality of death amidst the political turmoil and struggles of the era.Based on Maria Dabrowska s novel , NIGHTS AND DAYS is director Antszak s most beloved film and a Polish treasure. Over 20 million people saw the film in its original release, making it the highest-grossing film to that date. Antszak wrote and directed two versions of the novel , one for theatrical release and a truncated version for television. This remarkable DVD release features the theatrical film in all its original glory.

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DAT KHO - Land of Sorrows
Starring: Trinh Con Son
Director: Ha Thuc Can
Manufacturer: Customflix
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Drama | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

Gojira / Godzilla Deluxe Collector's Edition (Gojira/Godzilla [1954] / Godzilla, King of the Monsters [1956])
Buffalo Boy
S21 The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine
The Quiet American
The U.S. vs. John Lennon

ASIN: B000P2A5AS
Release Date: 2007-04-05

amazon.com

This foreign, English-subtitled film dramatizes the effect of the Vietnam War on a single South Vietnamese family, the inner conflict of decisions by each member of the family whether to remain in vietnam or leave with the imminent advance and fall of ue and eventual fall of Vietnam. Dat Kho is a story of the love of family, love of homeland, love of the culture and language of Vietnam and the ethereal love of the ingenue daughter for her fiance, foiled by the antagonistic forces of the ever-present war. It is thought-provoking, and at the same time it directly relates to present day conflicts such as the Gulf War and Iraq in challenging the reasons for foreign involvement in essentially a civil war and addressing the lessons learned or that should have been learned.

Lone Wolf and Cub-Baby in the Land of Demons

Average customer rating:

Best of the Series
no where to rent this tape!
Restore Order....Kill Everyone!
the best of babycart
The Babycart Assassin

Lone Wolf and Cub-Baby in the Land of Demons
Starring: Tomisaburo Wakayama , Michiyo Ookusu , Akihiro Tomikawa , Shingo Yamashiro , and Tomomi Sato
Director: Kenji Misumi
Manufacturer: ANIMEIGO
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001NXNQY
Release Date: 2004-06-08

Product Description

The LONE WOLF AND CUB series chronicles the adventures of disgraced Shogun assassin Ogami Itto and his infant son Daigoro, who sell their services to people in need while traveling the countryside in search of revenge against the hit squad who killed Itto s wife. In this fifth film of the series, Ogami duels five warriors who hold his assassin s fee as well as information he needs to hunt down his enemies.

System Requirements:

Running Time 89 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

Best of the Series.......2004-12-29

I think all the Lone Wolf & Cub movies are great, but this is definitely the best one in my book. All the films in the series managed to combine a strong period feel, and a sort of delicate and solemn beauty with the outrageous and brilliant action scenes, but this one really manages to bring out the former without losing touch with the latter. To put it bluntly, this is one of the very best action movies I've ever seen, Asian or otherwise.

I won't bother going into the plot. It doesn't matter much. Suffice to say, Ogami has been given another contract, and he must kill a great many people along the way in order to make his final hit. (as usual) All of the LW&C movies had westerny feel to them, but this one is totally a Leone film set in feudal Japan. The cinematography in the series has always been good, but 'Babycart in the Land of Demons' easily tops any of the other entries. They make full use of the widescreen format, almost never shooting anything in a perfunctory fashion, with lots of beautiful long shots, varied angles and unusual framing. This makes the whole film have a sort of poetic grandiosity which I really like. The natural scenery isn't quite as striking as in some of the other films, but it's still quite nice, and the extra effort that was put into filming it more than makes up for this slight shortcoming. The earlier portion of the film contains a great many one-on-one duels, further enhancing the Leone-esque feel, and they are all quite nicely done, if brief. (as you'd expect) The fight choreography is more consitently excellent than in most of the other films, though it isn't quite as action oriented as some of the other entries. This isn't to say it has the very best action scenes, but they are all good. The big fight at the end, while certainly not as huge as some of the others in the series, is quite excellent, and is a very fitting climax to the film. The grue is quite entertaining still, but not found in quite as great of volume as it was in some of the other films. However, I actually think this is a good thing, as the gore, while amusing in and of itself, can detract from the mood of the film sometimes.

Ogami and Daigoro are as compelling and likable as ever. Ogami Itto is an action hero equal to any you'll find in the genre. The taciturn, incredibly skilled and violent yet honorable man with no past is a typical action hero, but Wakayama Tomisaburo plays him as well as you could hope. Though I generally dislike children in movie's, I can't help but love little Daigoro. He's a very cute kid, for sure, but he's also a real character. Sure, he's not a remotely believable character, but I'm more than willing to suspend my disbelief. The acting is generally quite capable. The guy who plays Lord Retsudo is much better than he was in the first film, which was the only real problem in the whole series. Still, his look is a bit distracting, as his eye-patch, powdered face and wild hair make him look rather like a Japanese zombie-pirate. Of course, that's not really much of a problem. Thematically, self-sacrifice is an extremely prominent concept, and it can be quite affecting at times. (Particularly the brief subplot involving Daigoro and a pickpocket)

In his B-Movie guide, Joe Bob Briggs says, of the LW&C series, something like, 'famed for it's geysers of blood, but also beautiful and moving' That sums it all up pretty well, I think, and is particularly applicable to 'Baby Cart in the Land of Demons'. Mandatory viewing for any action fan.(The whole series is, really, though it doesn't make much difference what order you go in, provided you know the basic setup)

no where to rent this tape!.......2003-11-02

No where to find or rent this tape so I bought this tapes for its worthwhile coz i'm studying swordsmanship right now. but of course so differ from at home watching them duel. really easy to say than to do.they probably did so many takes to perfected the film.

Restore Order....Kill Everyone!.......2002-04-24

This is the 5th Entry in the Series of Lone Wolf & Cub, and this one starts off with 5 emmissaries testing our hero, former Shogun Executioner, Ogami Itto. Of course 5 emmissaries testing Ogami, means 5 duels, 5 sliced up and dead emmissaries, 500 pieces of gold and the 5 bits of information Itto needs to do the job.

These 5 gave up their lives for their Clan which is in peril because the Lord of the Clan favors his concubine and is passing off her DAUGHTER as his son. A major no-no. Especially since he HAS a living son. This information has been written down and given by the Lord to a trusted holy man, the Abbott Jikei, who turns out to be a spy in cahoots with the Yagyu Clan, Ogami's sworn enemies.

So Ogami sets out to restore order to the Clan by: killing the Abbott & stealing the document (nice bit that!), and later killing half the clan to get to the Lord and doing him, his concubine and the child. Of course, Ogami manages all this with his trademark ferocity & remorseless implacability. Our filmakers do not neglect the arterial blood sprays and lopped extremities here and there, and other traits of swordfighting messiness we've come to expect.

There is a sidestory about a pickpocket "Quick Change Oyoo" that serves no purpose other than to have Ogami's little son, Daigoro, take a flogging with the same stoicism of his old man.

Anyway, plenty of stylish photography, lots of spurting blood, and an authentic look as to period detail, and a grim look at the rigorous code of conduct in that period. The Liner Notes and Subtitles help a lot. Man, these people believed in their Clans!

the best of babycart.......2001-08-19

this the best in the series and I haven't even seen the third title yet. The shear conflict posed by the clan in it's attempt to right the wrong of it's former leader before his actions are dicovered isalmost un believeable. this is the true meaning of the code of bushido. Ogamii embraces their plight as if he were a member of the clan. Going as far as to face the old lord and chastise him for his selfish and selfdestructive actions. the cinematography is excellent and choreography if top notch, using many different sword styles and weapons. And as always little Daigoro give us all alesson in being a true samurai at the ripe old age of 3 . Many seem to think that Ogamii is seeking revenge as he travels around japan. But they are mistaken. I think he is biding time til his son can come of age and then together they will takeRetsudo's other eye and his head as well. this is a classic and should be regarded as so by any true nipponaphile would agree.

The Babycart Assassin.......2000-10-04

This is one story from an amazingly detailed legend of a samuri and his 3 year old son. Itto Ogami (the samuri) was framed and his family murdered. Now Ogami roams like a ronin throughout Japan, with his son, as an assassin for hire. He seeks revenge against the clan that framed him through treachery and becomes a thorn in their side. This is a classic that anyone who enjoys martial arts, japanese legends, japanese comic books, samuri flicks, or action packed movies with beautiful scenery would love!

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