Film History

March looks set to be a month of cinema. So many films are coming that I’d really like to see. So much I’ve missed on FEST. Year after year my choice of films to see at the festival becomes increasingly limited and mainstream. In part because it’s hard to find time and in part because I really cannot be bothered any more to do research so I simply go and see films I’ve already heard of. This year was no exception – a parade of academy award nominees and winners. Some were late arrivals to the Serbian silver screen, but well worth the wait.

Babel was beautiful and moving and I loved Little Miss Sunshine, but it’s films about history that for me really made a mark this year.
I love how in the Last King of Scotland a fictional character was woven through real historical events and brought a personal perspective on details of history I knew very little about. On the other hand, Apocalypto was a huge disappointment. It did get me to spend hours on the Internet reading about the Maya civilization, but I am baffled why anyone would spend a huge budget on something completely historically inaccurate. Admittedly I failed to see the Christian undertone, because my mind simply doesn’t work that way. I actually saw the coming of the Spanish in the end as the last straw, the final disaster to plague these people, not, as most critics see it, as a symbol of godly people coming to save some barbarian souls. If this indeed is true, it makes the film even worse.
Another film from FEST which I absolutely loved was Marie Antoinette. Although I haven’t actually seen it on the festival, it really made my day, one rainy afternoon in Brooklyn last November. It’s atmospheric and pretty and makes you think on how history really depends on your perspective. Until it hits you in the face.