orangeheadedwarrior Reviews

The Tiger and the Snow (2005)

Another Benigni classic

[10/10 · 23 December 2005]

Anyone who calls this film superficial, banal or trivial has spectacularly missed the point and is exactly the same type of person who was levelling precisely the same kind of criticism at La Vita è Bella. Now, though I do like Benigni (in my opinion La Vita è Bella is a masterpiece and films like Il Piccolo Diavolo, Johnny Stecchino and Il Mostro are exceedingly worthy comedies - that said I thought Pinocchio was an expensive disaster), I will try to be as objective as possible. In La Tigre e la Neve, Benigni repeats the masterfully delicate feat he accomplished in La Vita è Bella: he touches on complex, spikey issues (in La Vita è Bella it was the holocaust, here we have the war in Iraq) in a fable-like, simple manner - he doesn't politicise the film, and he doesn't delight in the gruesome (and very real) aspects of war. Yet this is NOT trivialisation of the subject matter. To believe that is to believe that the true horrors of war (or the holocaust) can only be conveyed on the screen by a documentary-style approach, and that cannot be the case. Benigni is far more effective - he does not shock the audience with visual representations of war, but his comedy in the face of war creates a subtle paradox that makes the whole film even more touching. La Tigre e La Neve is a fable about love, love in the face of adversity, stubborn optimism, hope and desperation and relationships between people of different races and creeds. Don't expect to see a Michael Moore rant at the injustice of war - Benigni is far more subtle. Perhaps the only criticism I have is that Nicoletta Braschi's performance is not always one hundred percent convincing, but Benigni and Reno more than make up for it. I truly hope it makes it on an international level - definitely a film to watch.

The Sword in the Stone (1963)

Fantastically high-brow and drastically underrated Disney film!

[8/10 · 17 September 2005]

One of the most imaginative of Disney's animated films and most likely, unfortunately, one of the least known. There is little doubt in my mind, though, that Disney does not get much better than this. The Sword in the Stone is sheer unadulterated good old fashioned cartoon banter. Before criticising this under-watched, perfectly drawn piece of Disney magic, I would advise interested parties to refer to the classic books by T.H.White, and THEN attempt to accuse the film of being low-brow...if you can. To and fro, stop and go, that's what makes the world go round! Profound lyrics, no? Give it a go, watch it, and if you don't like it - "Quiet Archimedes or I'll turn ye into a human!!"