HYDE PARK ON HUDSON REMINISCES
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was revered for his sublime confidence in people. In Hyde Park on Hudson, directed by Roger Michell, the private life of Roosevelt (played by Bill Murray) is the main focus. The person of most interest, however, is cousin Daisy (played by Laura Linney), who is summoned to amuse him one June day in 1939 and soon is beguiled by his charm. With occasional voiceovers, she professes that she seems to have had no alternative but to be his nth paramour. That does not bother Eleanor (played by Olivia Wilson) in the slightest; she is portrayed as a closet lesbian. Then one day stuttering King George VI (played by Samuel West) and his queen (played by Olivia Colman) come to visit, ostensibly to persuade the president to join Britain in its future battle for survival against Nazi Germany. Never before had any reigning British monarch visited America, so stereotypes are soon shattered. The king, charmed by FDR’s flattery, wit, and self-deprecating humor, realizes that he must impress ordinary Americans to win public opinion despite breaches of etiquette at Hyde Park noted by his queen. But the king’s test is simple – to eat a hot dog in the presence of photographers despite the queen’s insistence that such a phallic sight would be vulgar. Titles at the end inform filmviewers that in those days the press never wrote about his paraplegic existence or his mistresses. Margaret Stuckley aka Daisy, we learn in a final credit, lived to 100 years of age, saving every possible memento of her affair with the president, thereby providing juicy fodder for the filmwriter. The film may focus on the affair, but the nostalgia about FDR will primarily capture filmviewers. MH
PROPAGANDA DEBASES ZERO DARK THIRTY
A docudrama about the most famous manhunt of the 21st century, the quest for Osama Bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty, shows how Maya (played by Jessica Chastain) and others relentlessly process information to determine the whereabouts of the Al-Qaeda leader and how to take him down, step by step. A thriller, filmviewers will be in awe of the CIA’s professional execution, which contradicts in some measures the story that was first told incorrectly to eager politicians and journalists. But there is a serious problem is at the beginning. Director Kathryn Bigelow decides to buy into the myth that without intelligence extracted by torture, the quest would have never occurred. While many filmviewers may appreciate the 30-minute celebration of torture, and others may not, the problem is that sensationalism prevails over careful examination of evidence. Thorough assessments, as obtained by Senators Dianne Feinstein and John McCain from those directly involved in the interrogation, report that some of the evidence derived from torture was bogus, while other information was already known through other sources. The political bias of the film director seems very odd, an Abu Ghraib-type exposé that may boomerang in the Islamic world. MH
PROMISED LAND ASKS FILMVIEWERS WHAT KIND OF AMERICA THEY WANT
To frack or not to frack is the question posed, as a small town mulls over the prospect of riches if only residents will sign a contract for future royalties from drilling for natural gas two miles below from oil shale deposits. Steve Butler (played by Matt Damon) holds the pen for them to sign, but environmentalist David Churchill (played by Terry Kinney) warns townspeople that life as they have known, with abundant fresh air and fresh water in a close-knit community, could be destroyed if nothing is found from the drilling. The townspeople, in other words, are portrayed as intelligent decisionmakers, but the choice is stark. Watching a debate that must be going on in small towns from Maine to Ohio, filmviewers will appreciate the spectacle of Rousseauian democracy at work, and the Political Film Society appropriately has nominated Promised Land as the best film on democracy for 2012. MH