JOHN SAYLES SCORES ANOTHER HOME RUN WITH AMIGO
Feature films are often more effective than documentaries because they humanize issues, depicting interpersonal relationships that symbolize policy problems. From 1899-1902 the United States conquered the Philippines by suppressing the independent Philippine Republic in a war with perhaps 1.5 million casualties. In Amigo, Political Film Society awardwinner John Sayles uses fictional events in the town of San Isidro as a paradigm case. Barrio captain Rafael Dacanay (played by Joel Torre) tries to uphold the status quo when in 1900 along comes American Lt. Compton (played by Garrett Dillahunt) to take control. Spanish friar Padre Hidalgo (played by Yul Vasquez) seeks a different kind of control, while serving as (mis)interpreter for the Americans. Rafael hopes that the Americans will not find out that his brother, guerrilla revolutionary Simon (played by Ronnie Lazaro), is holding out in the jungle, soon joined by his son Joaquinito (played byJames Obenza). The film faithfully shows rural Philippine life, including rice growing, a cockfight, and a fiesta. The revolutionaries are seen as brave but clueless: Locsin (played by Art Acuna), a revolutionary, brutally slaughters Chinese laborers, seen as collaborationists, and the rebels even try to assassinate Dacanay for trying to appease Americans, though he clearly tries to walk a tightrope. The young American soldiers are indeed charmed by the Filipinos, some despite their racist prejudices, but too much so for Col. Hardacre (played by Chris Cooper), who uses crude waterboarding on Dacanay to find out the hiding place of the rebels, followed by an ambush while Dacanay leads soldiers on a wild goose chase. A hanging is to be carried out on Dacanay soon after Emilio Aguinaldo ends the war by surrendering in 1901, leaving suspense about whether a telegraphic message about the leader’s action will cancel the execution. Parallels with America’s wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam are obvious, most ironically when the military order is for villagers to hold a democratic election, almost at gunpoint. The Political Film Society has nominated Amigo for best film in all four categories—democracy, exposé, human rights, and peace.
MOZART’S SISTER DEPICTS HER HARD LIFE, BUT FILMVIEWERS ALSO SUFFER DURING THE BIOPIC
Although the biography of Nannerl Mozart is worthy of a film, the wooden acting and plodding screenplay are not even redeemed by magnificent musical refrains. All that remains of note is the costuming. The director, René Féret, dooms the production by writing stilted dialog. He also chooses his daughter, Marie, to play the title role despite her inability to present a winning personality. For the record, the story is about the fate of Nannerl Mozart who at the age of 14 goes to Paris with her father Léopold (played by Marc Barbé), mother Anna Marie (played by Delphine Chuillot), and brother 11-year-old Wolfgang (played by David Moreau). Nannerl has musical talent, having cowritten some of Wolfgang’s earliest compositions. She plays the keyboard and violin, but Léopold discourages here from both composing and playing the violin due to the sexist stereotyping of the period. In any case, Nannerl impresses the Dauphin (Louis XV) and leaves the musical tour featuring her brother to become a music teacher in Paris. After the Dauphin (played by Clovis Fouin) is betrothed to a princess, he bans Nannerl from the court. Soon, the Mozarts return to Vienna. Titles at the end indicate some details of her later life, in which her most significant accomplishment was to collect Wolfgang’s many compositions for posterity after his death. The production is reminiscent of another dud, Mahler (1974), a film that focused on Gustav Mahler’s wife Anna. But when that story was later assigned to acclaimed director Bruce Beresford, the resulting Bride of the Wind (2001) was extraordinary. So there may be hope for the story in the future and its important feminist message. MH