Don't think I've seen two films at the cinema in one day before but needs must when there is just too much tempting fodder for the eyes.
First up at the Curzon Mayfair was Vincere an Italian film about Ida Dalser who was an early lover of and mother of Benito Mussolini's first child and possibly his first wife. The couple became estranged while she was pregnant with baby Benito and he married a nurse and had three children with her fervently denying any marriage with Ida and rejecting her completely for the rest of his life.
Ida (played beautifully by the equally beautiful Giovanna Mezzogiorno) was put under surveillance and then in a mental institute for her continual claim to be Mussolini's wife although no paper evidence was ever found of the marriage. Her son was adopted by a fascist but also never gave up using the Mussolini name. (Filippo Timi plays Mussolini the dad and grown up son.)
The film is told from Ida's viewpoint starting with how they met and their relationship through to him going off to fight in first world war. It then concentrates on her internment and continual battle to be believed.
While the film resists taking too much artistic license with the gaps in the story is does make it a little disjointed in places. The breakdown of the relationship seems to happen very abruptly for example with little in the way of exploration of why that might be other than the appearance of another woman.
Nonetheless it is an intriguing story. Ida's continual refusal to deny the marriage at the expense of possible release and being reunited with her son can be a little frustrating but on the other hand in denying it she would lose the last thread of connection she has with the man she loved.
Acted scenes are inter cut with real life footage of events of the time and Mussolini giving it a certain amount of authenticity. Overall an interesting and satisfying film. (Trailer at the end of the post and Lebanon post follows on just click continue reading)
Second outing was to the Curzon Soho (I should get frequent visitor points or something) to see Israeli film Lebanon which is based on real events.
It is set in a tank at the start of the Lebanon War in 1982. The entire film either takes place in the tank or is seen from the sight of the tank creating a tense and closeted atmosphere almost from the start. It follows a team of four soldiers on their first mission to help clear out enemies left behind in a town that has been bombed by the air force.
Inside the tank it is sticky, grimy and pools of greasy liquid form on the floor. It is noisy when the tank is on the move and you feel the heat of the cramped conditions the soldiers have to endure.
You never find out much about the soldiers backgrounds, there experiences or how they came to be in the tank it is very much about the here and now for them and for the audience.
It is probably what helped to make Lebanon one of the most disturbing films I've seen in a long while. Disturbing not so much because of the images of war but because my reaction surprised me. Normally war films are full of hero's taking charge and you might get one or two soldiers 'bottling-it' or going to pieces. It is these characters I tend to empathise with.
In Lebanon from the outset all the soldiers are on edge, seem inexperienced and ill equipped to deal with real life conflict. The soldier charged with firing the gun is unable to pull the trigger when called to do so the first time 'because I've only shot barrels before'.
He's not the only one to freeze or fall apart as the pressure and horror of conflict takes it toll. There certainly isn't a strong heroic leader pulling them together in this war film.
So why was this disturbing for me? Well I wanted to slap them, to shake them out of it, yell at them to pull themselves together and do what was necessary to survive. The curl in a ball and play dead survival instinct I would normally empathise with (I'm a coward) completely vanished and as a result it made for a more intense and uncomfortable viewing experience. In some sort of ironic way I wanted to run away and hide from their inaction.
The film only covers about 24 hours in the tank and is only 90 or so minutes long but I have to applaud writer/director Samual Maoz because I've never such intense discomfort at watching a film before.
Vincere trailer with subtitles - although this one seems to have been done for the American market because it's not quite how the trailer I saw went...
And the Lebanon trailer
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