Summary: Special Forces operative, Captain Willard, is given the task of journeying up the Mekong River during the Vietnam War to find and kill a US army officer, Colonel Kurtz, who has set up his own kingdom deep in the jungle where he is worshipped as a god by the local people. A series of…
Tag: Movies
Antonia’s Line: Summary and Analysis
Summary: A Dutch matron oversees a close-knit, matriarchal community where feminism and liberalism thrive. Analysis: Antonia’s Line won the Oscar for the best foreign language film of 1995, the first film by a female director ever to accomplish this feat. The woman in question was the Dutch filmmaker Marleen Gorris, who had sprung to prominence…
Fear Eats The Soul: Summary and Analysis
Summary: After a chance meeting in a bar in Munich, Emmi, a cleaning woman (Mira) and Ali (El Hedi Ben Salem), a much younger Moroccan guest worker, fall in love and marry. Family, neighbours and work colleagues respond with horror and disgust, ostracising the couple. In despair, they take a vacation to escape social disapproval….
Amores Perros: Summary and Analysis
Summary: After the tragic crash which occurs in the opening scene the film is divided into three parts; three separate stories edited together, each dealing with characters from different social backgrounds. The first story, Octavio y Susana, focuses on characters from the Mexican lower class. Octavio is infatuated with his teenage sister-in-law Susana, who, along…
Amar Akbar Anthony: Summary and Analysis
Summary: Amar Akbar Anthony narrates the story of three brothers separated at birth. Kishen Lal, who works as a driver for a smuggler, Robert, takes the blame for an accident committed by his master in return for monetary compensation for his wife and three small boys. On his release, Kishen Lal discovers that Robert has…
Out On The Big Ranch: Summary and Analysis
Summary: In flashback, Esperanza tells her son, a young military cadet, the story of his father. Esperanza falls in love with José Luis Castro, the son of wealthy hacendados. Despite his high-class status, José Luis is an idealistic supporter of the Mexican Revolution and its goal to bring political, economic and social justice to the…
Alexander Nevsky: Summary and Analysis
Summary: The Teutonic Knights invade the city of Pskov and massacre its population. In the face of resistance, Nevsky rallies the common people of Novgorod and in a decisive Battle of the Ice, they defeat the enemy and retake the city. Analysis: The USSR of the 1920s had witnessed an explosion of creativity in the…
In The Realm Of The Senses: Summary and Analysis
Summary: Based on a well-known high-profile criminal case from 1936, In the Realm of the Senses is a biopic on Sada Abe, a geisha-cum-courtesan, and her lecherous relationship with Kichizo- Ishida, the owner of an inn she worked for as a maid. The two engaged in a prurient and obsessive bond where they isolated themselves…
Aguirre, Wrath of God: Summary and Analysis
Summary: Faced with difficult conditions, an expedition in search of the (mythical) city of El Dorado under Gonzalo Pizarro in 1560 sends an advanced party down the Amazon on rafts. A power struggle quickly develops between the leader of this group, Ursua, and his second-in-command, Aguirre. Describing himself as ‘the wrath of God’ and employing…
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: Summary and Analysis
Summary: ‘Tick’/Mitzi is contacted to perform a drag show in Alice Springs. Feeling disheartened by the boorish behaviour of his audience in Sydney, he decides to go. He contacts transsexual Bernadette about being part of the act and finds her bereaved and looking for some time away from Sydney. Loud and precocious Adam/Felicia makes up…