FILM & CULTURE
The medium of film provides us with a visual glimpse of exotic locales and cultures. Viewing films from other countries has become as simple as opening the mailbox. And it allows that visual from the point of view of the particular culture rather than from our own often erroneous perceptions. Film can also afford the opportunity to see how others view our own culture. We will take a look at some of the best American films that have provided us...and the rest of the world...entertaining and insightful views of our culture and sub-cultures. But one thing that we must remember is that film does not always offer a truthful picture and in fact will sometimes even create a particular sub-culture. Certainly this has been true of young Americans who have re-created themselves and their sub-culture based upon films they have seen. When it comes to the cinema life does indeed sometimes imitate art!
To find reviews of just about any movie out there, use the Movie Review Query Engine.
A few of the best movies depicting subcultures of American life are:
1. The Godfather is probably the closest to a perfect movie ever made in our country. And Godfather II and Godfather III...while not quite as good although still excellent films...form the Godfather Trilogy, a film experience of epic proportions exploring the Italian experience in America that has not been equaled before or since.
2. Citizen Kane is the quintessential film on American capitalism.
3. The American West holds a fascination for most of the rest of the world. The Searchers, Stagecoach, and High Noon are three films that offer some insight into that period of American history.
4. Malcolm X and Mississippi Burning are two excellent films that look at racism in our country.
5. The Last Picture Show is a brilliant view of life in a small Texas town during the 1950s.
6. Farewell My Lovely with Robert Mitchum is one of the best of American film noir detective films.
7. American Graffiti follows one night in the lives of a group of high school graduates as they cross the line from childhood to life as an adult.
8. The French Connection is an American police drama par excellence.
9. The Grapes of Wrath follows the Joad family as they migrate to California from the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma during the Depression.
10. Dr. Strangelove is a totally American experience...a satirical look at our government and military.
11. The Player is the perfect Hollywood- insider look into its own abyss.
12. The Exiles is a long-neglected film from the 1960s that has been rediscovered. It chronicles a day in the life of a group of young Native Americans who left reservation life in the 1950s to live in the Bunker Hill district of Los Angeles, California.
And here are some foreign films that offer fascinating looks into other cultures:
1. The Decalogue is a Polish film directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski. Don't be put off by the 10 hour running time as this film is actually 10 different one-hour stories based on the 10 Commandments and is one of the best films ever made. Roger Ebert taught a course on this film at the University of Chicago.
2. Salaam Bombay! is an excellent and realistic film about a group of children living on the streets of Bombay.
3. Sugar Cane Alley is about a young boy living with his grandmother in Martinique in the West Indies during the 1930s.
4. During the 1960s Swinging England was the center of fashion and music
and all things cool. Although Blowup is directed by an Italian, Michelangelo Antonioni, it is the definitive film of that era.
5.
La Dolce Vita is Federico Fellini's great film odyssey through a decadent Rome of the 1950s.
6. Night Watch is a Russian film that blends science fiction/action/horror and defies easy categorization. But it is great entertainment
while also giving us a rare and intriguing look at contemporary Russian life.
7. The King of Masks is a Chinese film set in a remote area of China during the 1930s. An aged street performer adopts a little boy who he plans to teach to carry on his trade. Instead he gets the surprise of his life. I won't tell you any more than that except that you will love it.
9. Audition is not for the squeamish but it does offer an interesting look into contemporary Japanese life and film making!
10. La Cienaga (The Swamp) is an excellent Argentinian film that looks at a bourgeois Argentinian family who retreat to their decaying summer home during the sweltering summer heat. The feeling of barely suppressed violence that lies beneath the family's bored and decadent facade is mirrored in the political unrest of their country.
11. Sometimes in April is a powerful HBO film about the Rwanda genocide.
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