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		Points of View Joe Kirkish June 4, 2002 Guest Column © 2002 Joe Kirkish Reprinted with Permission

Little Gem Theatre to show Exodus June 6

HOUGHTON -- "Exodus" will be shown at the Little Gem Theatre in their usual Thursday slot at 7 p.m. June 6. Admission is by donation (usually a buck), shown on the big screen by a projection of a video tape.

The film is an adaptation from a novel by Leon Uris. Made in 1960, it chronicles the post-World War II partition of Palestine into a homeland for Jews. It includes emotional depictions of the anguish of Nazi concentration camp refugees held on ships in the Mediterranean as well as the struggle of the tiny nation with forces dividing it from within and destroying it from the outside. The focus is also on the heroic men and women who saw a job to be done -- and did it.

Producer/director Otto Preminger, well known for making controversial films, battled the Israeli government, the studio and Uris to complete this epic, at a cost of more than four million dollars, originally shot in wide-screen Panovision, running 215 minutes in length.

The star-studded cast includes Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb, Sal Mineo, Ralph Richardson and others of international fame.

Considering the topical nature of the movie, the introduction to the film and discussion afterwards should provide additional steam to the already controversial elements contained. The Little Gem Theatre is right on Lake Linden's main street, just 
across from the large Catholic church, St. Joseph's. 

Editor's Note: Food, desserts, coffee and discussion begin at 6 p.m. before events at the Little Gem Theatre, 700 Calumet St., Lake Linden. For more information call (906) 296-9909 or visit the Little Gem Web site for a complete schedule of the summer series -- speakers, movies and music.

More movies in town

INSOMNIA (Rated R for nudity, sexual situations, violence and profanity): Except for an ending that is less vague and probably more appealing to most American audiences, this remake of the 1997 Norwegian original can stand on its own as a very satisfying -- if not perfect -- action thriller.

The plot has been moved from the Swedish land of the midnight sun to the Alaskan counterpart, a little coastal town called the "halibut fishing capital of the world," thus retaining the same never ending daylight which plays so important a part in our protagonist's gradual decline in sleep and its consequences during his investigation there.

Despite the more literal, more carefully explained ending with its "shootout at the OK Corral" device, the plot remains essentially the same. A well recognized police detective (well portrayed by Al Pacino) arrives in this isolated community to help find the killer of a young woman. With him is a sidekick (Martin Donovan) with whom he has an ambivalent friendship that goes back to an unfinished assignment in California. That ambiguous relationship becomes the focus of the film when the sidekick is shot during a chase through heavily fogged terrain -- by Pacino. Was it intentional or an accident? Desperately and with clever moves, Pacino places the blame on a mysterious novelist (Robin Williams in a peculiar underplayed performance) who turns out to be the killer of the girl, but who suffers the same guilt as Pacino for what was equally "accidental."

Thus the film takes on the serious role of intent versus accident, of moral ambiguity and the accompanying sense of guilt, which the two men share. And thus it rises above most other superficial action sagas that generally fill our screens.

The film is rich with impressive visuals, beginning with expansive shots of the detectives' plane flying over unending jagged blue-white glaciers, and including one in which the detective's explanation for his insomnia is because of the continuous brightness. In that case, the manager of his hotel says simply, it's not really that bright, and turns on a light in his bedroom, flooding it by contrast with truly bright light. There is also a memorable chase over a river of logs, shot with great suspense both above and below them.

The cast is more than adequate (with the exception of Williams, who, while adequately menacing in a low-key manner, takes on a role that nearly anyone could fill with ease). Hillary Swank, especially, has a chance to reveal a nice range in her acting, after portraying the boy-girl in "Boys Don't Cry." Pacino gives a strong performance as a man guilt driven to near insanity for lack of sleep.

The movie will please anyone unfamiliar with the original, and likely even satisfy the rest, as it serves up a suspenseful, beautifully photographed, appropriately moody thriller. Best of all, its theme of moral ambiguity actually encourages its audiences, in order to appreciate it, to think. (Grade: B+)

Note: I can heartily recommend the 1997 Norwegian original. While it isn't exactly a "whodunnit," a "howdunnit" or even a "whydunnit," it remains one of the best murder stories ever to come from Scandinavia. It is gripping, moody, haunting -- and well worth a trip to the video store for rental.

UNDERCOVER BROTHER (PG-13 for profanity, sexual situations and cartoon-type violence): John Ridley's clever creation (originally devised for showing on the Internet as a comic book type of animation) has been moved to the big screen with all its brash, politically incorrect irreverence to generate enough laughter for a newly targeted audience, and the people who walk out in disgust just didn't stick around long enough for the aim of the film to become delightfully evident.

Using a take-off on Blacksploitation and James Bond films, but in the Batman/Spiderman comic book mode, the movie zips along at dizzying pace through a plot that pits super being Undercover Brother and the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. (both saviors for people of color) against The Man and his undercover agency, which in turn is out to save white society from the threat of color.

Joyful swipes are taken against everything race-oriented, with lines like, "It's a great day for Black people of all races" thrown out a mile a minute in mock seriousness. Both races are exploited viciously with their stereotypical worst constantly on display.

The hero of the title is a throw-back to the 70s tooling along in his open air Caddy, coiffed with a huge afro and donned in wild threads of the period. Sista Girl, Smart Brother, Conspiracy Brother -- and a white member, Lance, in keeping with affirmative action -- are equally satirized stereotypes, including a penchant for hot sauce over mayonaise (Whitey's dream choice). Eventually a blonde She Devil is added to the group, her hair now doubled in thickness and length and her demeanor, like Lance's, a desperate attempt to conceal her Anglo upbringing with pseduo-Black mannerisms.

The cast, which includes popular stand-up comics headed by Eddie Griffin in the lead role, understand the jabs they take and move so rapidly from one "sketch" to another that the comedy never loses its touch. (Grade: B)

THE SUM OF ALL FEARS (PG-13 for violence, suggested sex and profanity): With its compression of action (from Israel to various parts of America's East Coast to Vienna to Russia to the Ukraine) and sometimes confusing action intercut with its hero on the run, the movie seemed never quite as good as it would be on the printed page of the original novel by Tom Clancy.

Still, the movie is a crowd pleaser of a political thriller, much in the same vein as the earlier Jack Ryan films -- Hunt for Red October, Clear & Present Danger, Patriotic Games -- but starring a very young Ryan while being set in the present.

Much crammed, we have Ryan chasing after a resuscitated nuclear bomb (to be detonated somewhere in the United States  by neo-Nazis); at the same time he takes on the gargantuan task of preventing a global disaster that would result from it.

Watching this film with a dispensation of logic while hanging onto its sometimes muddled, condensed plot instead of the suspense it creates is the only way to get the most from it. And focusing less on the acting of Ben Affleck as the youthful Ryan and more on the rest of the cast (almost as large as that of War and Peace) is also a help. And ignoring the sometimes parallel moments from films like Black Friday, Dr. Strangelove, and Thirteen Days is also needed for complete enjoyment. Throughout it all, it must be added, Jerry Goldsmith's fully orchestrated score is a huge plus, a pleasant relief from most summer films ground out with second-rate popular music. (Grade: B-)

Go to page 2, More Movie Reviews by Joe Kirkish, for films he reviewed in May 2002 ...

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