Soldier of Orange (Paul Verhoeven 1977)
Another film I've been meaning to see for years now; this finally fell at my feet a few days back (by way of Help the Aged) and I snapped up the opportunity.
Soldier of Orange is the first pre-Hollywood film of Verhoeven and Hauer (both of whom I admire greatly) that I've seen. So quite why I've never got off my behind and watched this before is anybody's business.
Adapted from Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema's (who lived the story and is played by Hauer) novel
Soldaat Van Oranje; it tells the tale of the differing life defining choices and journeys made by a group of Dutch university students under Nazi occupation.
Soldier of Orange is the quickest 149 minutes I've ever sat through. Highly political it sucked me right in with it's candid exploration of the feelings and attitudes held by young (oblivious) Dutch men and women towards the Nazis. Indeed Before the invasion when asked what he thinks of Hitler, Erik merely comments
'he builds good autobahns'. But these idylls are soon shattered when the Jewish tutors are removed from their University, and a close friend executed as a Jewish insurgent.
I found the characterisation and acting here particularly excellent (especially from Hauer and Jeroen Krabbe as his swaggering best friend Guus). What motivated some of the group to join the resistance whilst others collaborated, and the re-percussions this has, is the real meat of
Soldier of Orange. Ultimately it works as both a gripping war thriller, and a heart wrenching exploration of freedom, loyalty, and betrayal. Plus the final sequence links so beautifully with the the films opening credits that I understand perfectly why the Dutch feel such patriotic pride for this film. Highly recommended.
Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (Yukio Noda, 1974)
Back to exploitation again with another classic Pinku film recommended to me by a reliable source. Not to be confused with later (and I'm told rubbish)
Zero Woman outings; this is the original film starring Miki Sugimoto of
Girl Boss Guerilla (1972),
Delinquent Girl Boss (1972), and
Girl Boss Revenge (1973) fame.
Sugimoto plays Rei, a hard as nails female cop jailed for killing (with her trusty red handcuffs) an American serial killer and rapist who had political connections. After languishing in prison where most of the inmates are women she put away; Rei's soon being recruited to infiltrate and assassinate a sadistic gang of kidnappers who've raped and taken the daughter of a powerful politician hostage...
Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs is nuts...completely and utterly crazy. When Noda isn't tilting the camera at 45 degree angles, he's intercutting haunting freeze frame images of characters' past histories during action sequences, and splashing liberal amounts of bright 70's blood all over the place. The story is a wafer thin excuse for lurid violence badly lacking a sense of humour, but it still works thanks to the film's savvy comic book aesthetic, and some well edited set pieces. Sugimoto looks suitably mean but lacks the silent charisma of a Meiko Kaji, or the raw sex appeal of Reiko Ike, despite being very pretty. She's still highly watchable though, and the support (especially the kidnap gang) is laughably over the top in a good way. They sure don't make them like this any more.
Powder (Victor Salva, 1995)
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Another film I've been meaning to see for years, and I'm almost sorry I bothered. After reading countless good write ups that say
Powder is an original heart warming movie with strong performances, not to mention seeing Lance Henriksen in the cast; I figured it was essential viewing. In reality it left me cold...well feeling sick to be exact.
Sean Patrick Flannery is Jeremy 'Powder' Reed, a highly intelligent albino teenager found living in his deceased grandfather's basement (where he's been all his life) by sheriff Barnum (Henriksen). Soon he's being buttered up, and whisked off to school by Jessie (Mary Steenburgen); a misguided psychologist friend of Barnum's. Naturally a group of bad kids bully him, a sensitive girl falls for him, and there's a hip friendly teacher (Jeff Goldblum) who wants to understand and befriend him. Oh yeah, and he's got some special powers that revolve around electricity...blah blah blah.
Am I being cold hearted and cynical? You bet I am.
Powder is an interesting premise all but ruined by schmaltzy half baked philosophy, and a cloyingly intrusive slushy score. Most of the time Flannery walks around like he just got off the set of Nick Roeg's
The Man Who Fell to Earth, and whilst Powder is relatively sympathetic in terms of his predicament; I found his wet, detached non-personality a complete turn off. Now don't get me wrong, I consider myself quite a sensitive person, and like the odd bit of sentimentality in my movies if it's quirky and restrained. But in my opinion
Powder is hackneyed and predictable in every way imaginable, with only the solid casting to recommend it.
Flavia the Heretic (Gianfranco Mingozzi, 1974)
Often labelled as the best of the (hardly prolific) 'nunsploitation' subgenre (of which the only other films I've heard of are Juan Lopez Moctezuma's
Alucarda, and Giullio Beruti's
Killer Nun);
Flavia the Heretic came as something of a nasty surprise to me. Nasty in that I found it as disturbing and sadistic as anything I've seen, and a surprise in that the film still managed to bravely explore interesting themes surrounding religion, feminism, masculinity and sexual awakening.
In 1400 era Italy, Flavia (the gorgeous Florinda Bolkan from
Lizard in a Woman's Skin) is confined to a nunnery along with her sister by their misogynistic father and king. Everywhere she turns Flavia witnesses the cruelty, and oppression of women by men; be it the brutal torture and mutilation of her sister after cavorting stoned with a tarantula cult; the matter-of-fact castration of a horse; or the casual rape of a farm girl. Never having experienced
'the pleasures of man' as her mentor Sister Agatha (Maria Casares) puts it. Flavia remains a virgin, dismissive of sex as a woman's weapon. That is until an invading Muslim army shows up and she falls for it's leader Ahmed (Anthony Higgins) who reminds her of a dying soldier she fell in love with as a little girl...
Slow and downbeat
Flavia the Heretic is definitely exploitation, but it's exploitation wrapped around a decent script, reasonable production values, and luscious photography. Historical accuracies aside the film feels very believable and makes some unflinching statements on human nature; particularly the dark side of man, and how religion was (and is) used as an excuse to control and abuse both sexes (but particularly women). Flavia's spiritual journey throughout the film, although tinged by revenge is nevertheless rewarding if you can stomach it. The gory violence is very shocking (at least I thought so) but it's relevant to the story and never feels like titillation for the sake of cheap thrills. Bolkan is fine as Flavia, but Maria Casares as the influential, bitter and outspoken Sister Agatha steals it. Overall not for regular audience consumption, but if this sounds like your kind of thing...