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Aguirre, the Wrath of God is a West German-Mexican-Peruvian historical drama.  It was directed by Werner Herzog, a German director, in the year 1972. The story takes place in 16th-century Peru.  In the beginning the camera pans over a beautiful view of the Andes mountains. On those mountains was a large group of Spanish conquistadors on their mission to find the mythical city El Dorado.  The travelers believed that El Dorado was a city with massive amounts of gold and that they could conquer it. After some time the men decided that they would create a group of 40 men that would go off on their own expedition.  They were given one week to find more information on El Dorado or the natives living in the jungle or that they would be presumed dead.  

The story of Aguirre, the Wrath of God is one of dictatorship, greed, and obsession.  The main character Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) initiated an uprising against the leader of the smaller group of men.  The original leader deemed their mission to be fruitless and that they should head back. Aguirre, however, was so wildly consumed with the idea of finding untold riches that he ranted about all the power the men could have if they were to find El Dorado.  He even referenced Hernando Cortes, the well known Spanish conqueror of Mexico in 1519. He told the group that Cortes had directly disobeyed orders to cancel his expedition and that he ended up being the ruler of Mexico. He then had someone shoot the original leader to instill fear into anyone that tried to suggest that they cancel their expedition.  As the men continued on their way to find El Dorado they come across many more problems such as illness and even cannibalistic natives that are following them along in the jungle.

During the film there is a man narrating as if he’s reading diary entries, which I found to be helpful because it gave an insider’s perspective to the group we’re watching.  The entire film was done with just one handheld camera which gave a lot of scenes a very shaky look. The shots were often very blurry as well from rain or splashing water while the actors were in rafts on the river.  The handheld camera allowed for more free range of movement as the entire film was shot in the actual jungle. The actors spend their time primarily on rafts traveling down the river so it was necessary to use a camera that was easily mobile.  Herzog also had the film shot in sequence in an attempt to “convey the increasing desperation of the film’s scenario” (Deep Focus Review).

I found the story behind the production to be the most fascinating part of the whole movie.  The lengths that the director and actors were willing to go to film this movie was borderline insane.  The entire crew had to go to extreme lengths by hiking up a mountain near Manchu Picchu. The crew consisted of about 450 people as well as animals like horses, pigs, and llamas.  The weather was decently poor during their trek. The opening scene you can see the thick layer of fog that rolls about the mountain while they climb. They eventually reached an altitude of 14,000 feet and were walking along a cliff side with a 2,000 foot drop.  They were at a point where even the natives of the area were getting altitude sickness (Deep Focus Review). The actors also had to deal with poverty like living conditions because the budget for the film was only $370,000. At one point their campsite flooded and Herzog wouldn’t allow them to move locations because he was so obsessed with the film being exactly a certain way.  So instead they had some locals build large rafts and they continued on with the production while living on those.

    Herzog also put his actors lives at risk with the shots he was demanding.  For example, the rapids he chose to film in were so strong that during pre-production when he put a raft in the water it immediately ripped it in half.  When that happened the actors had to be pulled through the rushing water with ropes to bring them back to shore. Instead of finding a safer setting to film in he hired some local natives to make a stronger raft and said that they would do it in just one shot.  Later in the film there’s a scene where Aguirre is talking to monkeys. Herzog had locals round up about a hundred monkeys and just unleashed them on the scene. This led to Herzog, as well as other crew members, being attacked by the monkeys and having to endure it in order to get the perfect shot.

I think the most intense part of the production was that halfway through the production Herzog had shipped footage to Mexico to be processed but it was reported to be lost in transit.  This meant that everything they had completed so far was lost forever and they had no means to continue filming. Herzog was so obsessed with finishing the film, however, that he didn’t tell anyone about the lost tapes and continued on with the production.  By the power of some unknown miracle he was contacted a few weeks later and was told that the lost films were actually found in some customs office in Peru so they were able to piece them together for the whole film. I just think that Herzog’s level of dedication to this dangerous production really paralleled with Aguirre’s obsession with finding El Dorado at all costs.  Of course Aguirre’s story is much more dark and filled with death, but you get the idea.

Another interesting aspect to the production was the main actor Klaus Kinski.  Herzog had “described his relationship with Kinski as two oppositional forces of Nature that when joined reach a critical mass” (Deep Focus Review).  Kinski’s overbearing nature is actually what landed him the part. Before playing in Aguirre, the Wrath of God Kinski played a theatrical Jesus on tour.  He would basically stand on a stage with a microphone and rant about how he was Jesus and he would insult the audience who would then insult him back. While he was on the set of Aguirre, the Wrath of God he wasn’t much better.  It was reported that one night he was upset about some locals being “too noisy” in their tent so he took his rifle and fired off three shots into the tent. One man was shot in the hand and almost lost his finger but thankfully nobody was killed.  Kinski didn’t get in much trouble for his actions, Herzog just took away his rifle. It might seem like a crazy light punishment but it seemed Herzog was a bit crazy as well. Kinski had finally threatened to leave the production altogether and Herzog responded by saying that “the film was more important than either of them—and that if Kinski tried to leave, Herzog would get his rifle and put eight of the nine rounds into Kinski’s head, and then save the last one for himself” (Deep Focus Review) so as you can see both the heads of the production were quite unstable.

The film had pretty basic special effects due to their low budget.  They had real explosions but when it came to things like blood it was very obviously bright red paint being splattered.  One element focused on heavily in the film is noise. Almost the entire film there’s constant chattering of animals in the jungle or the rushing water in the rapids beneath them.  Occasionally Herzog would cut all of the noise and make everything disturbingly silent. This was to make the viewers uncomfortable, like the characters were in the movie, because it always followed with a wild attack from the cannibalistic natives hiding in the jungle. 

 

http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/m_friers/clips/internal-rhythm-aguirre-character-movement-wide/view

 

http://www.philfilms.utm.edu/1/aguirre.htm

 

https://deepfocusreview.com/definitives/aguirre-the-wrath-of-god/

 

I watched a classical Japanese movie Tokyo Story, which was directed by Yasujiro Ozu and released in 1953. The successful and great point of the film is that Ozu tells the audience the most common family story but reveals the deepest life principles with the simplest scenes and frames. The story describes a journey of an old couple to visit their sons and daughters who struggled for their life in Tokyo, but unexpectedly they received cold receptions and after their return to their hometown, the old mother died for illness. From the ordinary story and the simplest conversations among family members, I see the indifference of humanity; I understand the helplessness of human under the pressure of birth, death, illness, and death; I realize the loss of traditional values in the eastern world. In my opinion, this film worth watching over and over again for one can have fresh feelings every time you see it again.

There are many valuable scenes or moments in the film that should be studied and analyzed carefully. First, the obvious contrast between the indifferent attitude of the eldest son and daughter towards their old parents and the passionate welcome of their daughter-in-law whose husband had died for eight years shocks me a lot. In the homes of their natural son and daughter, the two old couple were treated as troubles and in order to avoid unnecessary issues, the two families together sent their parents to “enjoy” a sea journey, which left many uncomfortable feelings for the couple. However, Ji Zi, their daughter-in-law, acted very enthusiastic and filial and she actively chatted with them and never showed impatience. Second, the scene that Ji Zi chatted with the little daughter after the death of their mother is a very impressive and thought-provoking moment. In their conversations, the little daughter saw the attitudes of her old brothers and sisters towards their dead mother and her anger could not be hidden anymore, so she said that all of them were selfish. But Ji Zi answered surprisingly that one might become like that one day, and she would be also, because there were so many things in the world were unpleasant which may drive people to change to be someone they dislike or even hate. How helpless the words are. Undoubtedly all that she said were the truth and it is also the reason for the gradually bland world. What’s more, another scene stands out in the film is the final talk between Ji Zi and her father-in-law. Although her husband had gone for eight years, the idea of remarriage never occurred to her. She deeply kept in mind the status of a woman in a family and only when her father-in-law proposed her to remarry and forget her husband and begin a new life, did she feel relieved. The behavior of Ji Zi not only reflected her deep affection and faith, but indirectly showed her loss of individual identity under traditional ethics.

As for the critical conversations about this film, the prominent one is the controversy about the implications of the story. Lots of audience regard that the most important truth Ozu would like to tell is the indifference and unfilial actions of the sons and daughters, but some believe that there are more to find than that. Actually, people in different ages, with various experiences and from diverse places would have totally divergent thoughts every time they watch the movie. In my opinion, superficially, we can find that on the journey to their children’s home, the two old couple are treated perfunctorily and indifferently, but when we think of the deep reasons of this phenomenon maybe we can find the pressure from life and work, the elapse of time, and even the helplessness in one’s life are all causes of the tragedy. Just as Ji Zi said at the end of the film, everyone would become selfish and helpless as time went by, which is also the tragedy of the whole society.

What can be considered as a great film? What kind of great film is actually not good? Actually, in my view, there is more than one standard for us to evaluate whether a film is great or not. Take this film as an example, which I consider as a great one. All of the special effects, macro pictures, and even complicated plots are not found in the film, but the success of it relies on the profound truth the director tells the audiences with only a most common story, which contains unforgettable moments and scenes that can resonate with all audiences in different ages and backgrounds. So, we can conclude that not all great films are characterized by stunts, the most representative features of a great film are its connotations, everlasting taste for all audiences.

Sources

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/20/tokyo-story-ozu-arthouse

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2012/08/04/national/directors-vote-yasujiro-ozus-1953-tokyo-story-greatest-film-ever-made/

 

 

The Wizard of Oz is one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed movie musicals, which was released under MGM in 1938. MGM wanted to produce an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s children’s story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, determined to make a prestigious fantasy picture to rival Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which had premiered the year before (Rodman 128). Critical acclaim for the film was initially mixed. However, by the mid 1970s, the film had become firmly established in both scholarly and unscholarly American cultural discourse.

We follow an orphaned girl by the name of Dorothy Gale, who lives on a farm with her uncle, aunt and beloved dog, Toto. Only to be swept away by a tornado, up from the gray, impoverished lands of Kansas, landing in the magical land of Oz. At the cost of her arrival, Dorothy’s cabin causes the death of the Wicked Witch of the East, bringing much joy to the Munchkins but not so much to the Witch’s sister, the Wicked Witch of the West. With the only wish to go home and the help of the Good Witch of the North, Dorothy and Toto embark on a journey along the Yellow Brick Road, to find the Wizard of Oz himself in Emerald City. In the brink of her quest, Dorothy runs into and befriends three lovable individuals – a scarecrow who wants a brain, a tin man who yearns for a heart, and a lion who wishes for courage.

On the more technical side of things, camera techniques and special effects were crucial in creating the film. The videography of this film relies on many techniques but perhaps more heavily on the depth of field which is used to create a sense of relative space to each object in the setting. The rule of thirds is also used often to create mood and shift focus. Finally, this movie is infamous for its sounds. Both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds are used to create a sense of mood and and contrast. The Wizard of Oz uses filming elements including depth of field, the rule of thirds and non-diegetic sounds to establish the fantasy tone of the story. In addition to camera work, many physical production tools were utilized to bring the world of Kansas and Oz. For example, the tornado threatening Dorothy’s Kansas farmhouse was in fact a huge silk sticking twisted and coiling by a blowing fan. However, shots of the tornado at a far distance, seen in the film, used actual tornado footage. Another groundbreaking element to the film includes their considerable use of matte paintings. The most stunning example is the view of the Emerald City at the end of the Yellow Brick Road, as Dorothy and her group of friends finally arrive to see the Wizard of Oz.

One of the greatest elements of this film is not just the groundbreaking technology of color and music, but the themes around childhood that completely ground the characters and the world despite its whimsical features. The Wizard of Oz powerfully fills a void that exists inside many children. For kids of a certain age, home is everything, the center of the world if you will. But over the rainbow, is the wide earth, fascinating and terrifying. There is a deep fear that unpredictable events might occur after transporting the child from the safety of home and strand her or him far away in a strange land. And what would s/he hope to find there? New friends, to advise and protect them. New challenges, to educate and strength them. And their of course their pet dog, Toto as well.

The film’s theme touches on the key lesson of childhood – that someday the child will not be a child, that home will no longer exist, that adults will not be there to help because now the child is an adult and must face the challenges of life in the strange new land alone. But it also teaches you that you can always ask friends to help you. And that even the Wizard of Oz himself, the taunting “man” that every child fears in the new adult world, is only human, and has problems of his own.

The theme not only stops there but is critically portrayed within Dorothy’s friends on the Yellow Brick Road (the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Lion). Her friends were projections of every child’s secret fears. Are we smart enough? What kind of person are we? Are we brave enough? Ultimately, in helping them, Dorothy was helping herself, just as a child who is learning the ropes of life overcoming their own fears by acting brave before another child.

This deep universal message explains why so many different people from many different backgrounds have a huge heart and treasured memory for The Wizard of Oz, including myself.

Sources:

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-wizard-of-oz-1939

https://www.filmsite.org/visualeffects5.html

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24044541.pdf?ab_segments=0%252Fdefault-2%252Fcontrol&refreqid=excelsior%3A317a9a633ab885ef4a41e816b469e4b0

A name and story we all know and love (maybe more so than others), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made its debut in 1937 and stands as the first princess story to kick off Walt Disney’s golden age of animation. Though it does not hold title as the first feature length animated film, it was a huge leap in the quality, technology, and story capabilities of animation till this day.

However, there was many skepticism surrounding the film even before its premiere. Snow White was so far ahead of the cartoons at the time that over its three year production period, many of the film critics then questioned if it was even possible to be made. In addition, there was a rising concern revolving around the audience’s interest. It was very rare to have an audience stay captivated in a cartoon story for more than an hour but this is where Walt changed the course and perspective of animated films. In order to keep the audience engaged, Walt knew they would need to have an emotional connection to the film the earlier cartoons were unable to produce. In order to do this, Walt needed to embrace Snow White with a sense of realism. Giving the audience the feeling that this was all happening to a real person who would think and feel, allowing them to empathize with Snow White and the seven Dwarfs all while retaining the charm and fairytale elements that comes from the unreal nature of animation. Almost all of the decisions in production was pointed to embody this balance, from the writing, character movements and designs, music, and effects.

After all of Walt and his team’s tireless efforts in producing the film, the story was released, following princess Snow White, who embodies all beauty, innocence, and above all, love. White charms every creature in the kingdom, including a prince, except one – her envious, vein stepmother, the Queen. Jealous of White’s innocence and youth along with the Magic Mirror’s proclamation of her as the “fairest of them all,” the Queen sends a huntsman to kill White. Unable to complete the task against the beautiful princess, the Huntsman implores White to flee in the forest only to return the heart of a pig to the Queen. In the midst of her run, Snow White finds herself in a cottage and befriends seven lovable dwarfs – Doc, Sneezy, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, and Dopey. But when the Queen discovers the truth, she thus undergoes in disguise to trick innocent Snow White with an enchanted apple which puts her into a deep sleep, only with the magic of true love’s kiss to save her – from a prince possibly?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first film to utilize the multi-plane camera, which allowed the background to give the impression of movement beyond simply side-scrolling, as was the standard at the time. It also made possible new types of special effects, such as the movements of water, and the flickering of the stars or light. The greatest example of this occurs after Snow White and the animals have finished cleaning the dwarfs’ cottage. How the camera pulls back to reveal a forest that hadn’t previously been in the frame. This is a simulated camera move, using the multi-plane camera. One can almost imagine the multi-plane camera pulling back (i.e. up) to achieve this shot.

But Team Disney didn’t stop there. They decided to fill the film with a number of sophisticated “directing” techniques. One of greatest directing techniques in Snow White comes during the wishing well scene and the introduction of Prince Charming. We start with a high angle shot looking down into the bottom of the well, seeing Snow White’s reflection in the well water. Suddenly, Prince Charming appears behind her — in a reflection — to finish the verse of her song, “I’m Wishing” with a rousing, “Today!!” The pacing and coordination of the whole sequence conveys the essence of fate in a fairytale narrative while keeping the realistic visuals of a live action.

Another great example includes the Queen’s transformation. How the room spins around the Queen as she takes the magic potion and transforms into the witch. With the use of the multi-plane camera, we get a three-dimensional visual which creates its own form of horrifying, disorienting vertigo.

In conjunction of the realism bestowed on the characters and designs with the advanced technology of the multi-plane camera, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs revolutionized storytelling within not only the animation realm, but in all of cinema. Of all the innovations that Disney has brought to animation, this is the one that changed everything. The emotional response to the film, then and now, is the reason why an audience can sit for over an hour and become completely absorbed in a magical world. Because no matter how fantastic and extravagant the art is, the story is grounded to the same reality that effects you and me.

Sources:

https://thefilmspectrum.com/?p=18800 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26446669.pdf?ab_segments=0%252Fdefault-2%252Fcontrol&refreqid=excelsior%3Ad233582c0b461cdd426122f7b36d7781 

http://screenprism.com/insights/article/how-did-the-multiplane-camera-invented-for-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs 

Vertigo (1958) is Hitchcock’s another great film that is characteristic of tricks, suspense, and murder. Compared to Hitchcock’s horror film Night of the Living Dead (1968), Hitchcock does not make this film a visual-based horror genre but a mixture of psycho, art, and technique. Honestly, this film has allowed me to experience both a bright and dark side of humanity in a mysterious atmosphere. We see Madeleine’s husband Gavin has made an elaborate murder plan to kill his wife to get his inheritance. Through making up a series of fake stories to prove Madeleine’s mental illness and hiring a woman looking like Madeleine, Gavin makes his intentions of killing Madeleine visible to the audience. However, when all things for the murder plan are well planed, Hitchcock seems to create some unexpected stories to add the sense of vertigo by featuring Scottie’s falling obsession with Madeleine. Not guided by the ideas about the so-called weird behaviors of Madeline, Scottie follows her and saves her. Hitchcock creates the plot of Scottie’s romanticism and passionate love with Madeline to feature the bizarre situation of their romanticism. That has made me think a lot of techniques used in other psychological thriller genre films.

One scene stood out of the who movie is when Scottie brings Judy to the Bell Tower where Madeleine died. In this scene, Scottie forces Judy to confess her crime behavior and tell whether Madeline is alive not not. It is set inside of the tower and Hitchcock gives a low-key lighting throughout the scene that makes the face and body of the characters not that clearly to be seen. This creates a sense of tension for the plot that hooks the audience to predicate what will happen between Scottie and Judy. In this scene, the shots are also frequently given to the staircase while Scottie is struggling to go to the top of the tower. This has well offered us a visual symbol of Scottie’s mental instability. But he made it, this made the audience to sense the narrowly escape of Scottie from the bad fortune while he has witnessed the death of Judy. Hitchcock has hidden a lot of invisible clues in this staircase scene to connect his lust and the shock of both Madeleine and Judy’s death at the same place.

As the title has implied, Hitchcock has employed a lot of shots that give the audience of a sense of vertigo. The effects of vertigo are not given as what most people have expected the rapid whirl, but rather through giving an intense focusing. This can be witnessed from the title sequence of this movie. Also, the beginning scene that Scottie is struck in the rooftop chase, the shots of Scottie’s facial expressions and the floor have paved a good way resonating with the title sequence as well as the title of the film “Vertigo”. Another key scene gives a sense of vertigo is when Judy emerges as Madeline in the house. The ghostly green miasma around the door makes her luminosity kind of blinding for the audience. This resonates with the title of the film implicitly.

Peter Bradshaw in a post from The Guardian has discussed, “Vertigo also combines in an almost unique balance Hitchcock’s brash flair for psychological shocks with his elegant genius for dapper stylishness.” This critic of this film makes the audience to reread the subtle relationships between the superficially luxurious look and guilty of an immoderate lust and sex in a psycho model. To a large extent, it helps me learn how Hitchcock makes a blonde’s appearance and psychological obsession is mutually connected.

What makes this film has much to do with the use of actors and actresses, the Hollywood classical zooming and 180-degree rule, and the mise-en-scene. Novak both play Madeleine and Judy throughout this Hitchcock film. Her look and costumes transfer over and over through the luxurious scarlet of Ernie’s Restaurant from the beginning to a jarring market with flowers, Hitchcock has crafted her perspectives on the direction of the storyline in a skillful way. Most interestingly, this film is more likely to psychologically thrill the audience by featuring the well-planned murder of Madeleine and Madeleine and Judy’s death at the tower. The themes of crime, sex, and lust are mixed together without blurring the boundaries between the characters. This is one of the best psychological thriller films Hitchcock has made that has heavily affected my ways of appreciating a psychological thriller film in American industry.

 

Bradshaw, Peter. “Vertigo Review-still spinning its dizzying magic.” theguardian. Retrieved from

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jul/12/vertigo-review-alfred-hitchcock-james-stewart-kim-novak

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/vertigo-the-search-for-a-cure