Just as he did with Braveheart, Gibson picks a moment in history to tell a story of a man's love for his woman and family and set it in an action-packed environment, full of speed, gore, and spectacular backgrounds.
Kudos must be given to Gibson for creating what may be the world's first mainstream movie filmed in Mayan language (Gibson used contemporary Maya people for many of the parts in the movie).
This movie has been savaged by the critics, but it is clear to me that most of that writing has really been aimed at Gibson, rather than the film. Yes, there's a lot of violence, but there was also a lot of violence in multi-Oscar winner Braveheart, and yes, it does depict the Mayans as bloodthirsty, human sacrificers - but they were! And it does show the spectacular building accomplishment of the Mayans.
And so, in my opinion, a lot of the negative criticism of this film, in violence-happy Hollywood, is unwarranted for the film and more a heavy-handed response to Gibson's spectacular success with The Passion of the Christ, coupled with his despicable behavior when arrested in Los Angeles.
If you don't like violent action in films, then avoid this movie. If you want to be entertained by Gibsonian trademarks of magnificent settings, grand scenery, a tight, action-packed plot, a simple story of a young man going Rambo on his tormentors and what should be award-winning sets and costumes (although the film has already received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film), then go and enjoy a typical Gibson film.
Alan Dale
Fateless
I'm living a joke out of Annie Hall — my boyfriend has said he won't watch any more Nazi or Holocaust movies. And just when they've reached an all-time peak! Oliver Hirschbiegel's monumental anti-epic Downfall was topped this year by Lajos Koltai's Fateless.
Koltai, longtime cinematographer for István Szabó, turns a visionary eye on 2002 Nobel Laureate Imre Kertész's adaptation of his 1975 work of fiction, which he based on his incarceration in Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944 and 1945. Most Holocaust movies, including Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, can't forgo the traditional narrative moviemaker's reliance on character to draw the audience into the story. This is a bad fit for the Holocaust, because the Nazis' methods completely detached fate from character. In that respect, history and our narrative traditions parted ways, and Koltai is the first moviemaker to capture this aesthetic difficulty and historic reality.
![The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Widescreen Edition]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NPJ7WYSTL._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - Ken Larson
WHY WE FIGHT -
There are good points in your article. I would like to supplement them with some information:
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
If you are interested in a view of the inside of the Pentagon procurement process from Vietnam to Iraq please check the posting at my blog entitled, "Odyssey of Armaments"
The Pentagon is a giant, incredibly complex establishment, budgeted in excess of $500B per year. The Rumsfelds, the Administrations and the Congressmen come and go but the real machinery of policy and procurement keeps grinding away, presenting the politicos who arrive with detail and alternatives slanted to perpetuate itself.
How can any newcomer, be he a President, a Congressman or even the new Sec. Def.Mr. Gates, understand such complexity, particularly if heretofore he has not had the clearance to get the full details?
Answer- he can't. Therefore he accepts the alternatives provided by the career establishment that never goes away and he hopes he makes the right choices. Or he is influenced by a lobbyist or two representing companies in his district or special interest groups.
From a practical standpoint, policy and war decisions are made far below the levels of the talking heads who take the heat or the credit for the results.
This situation is unfortunate but it is absolute fact. Take it from one who has been to war and worked in the establishment.
This giant policy making and war machine will eventually come apart and have to be put back together to operate smaller, leaner and on less fuel. But that won't happen until it hits a brick wall at high speed.
We will then have to run a Volkswagen instead of a Caddy and get along somehow. We better start practicing now and get off our high horse. Our golden aura in the world is beginning to dull from arrogance.
2 - -E
I'm glad someone wrote about Little Miss Sunshine. I loved that movie. I was torn between Perfume and another long movie, Herzog's newest Rescue Dawn, but I figured I'd leave the war movie for another time. Great picks everyone.
3 - Lisa McKay
I liked Little Miss Sunshine too. We watched A Scanner Darkly on DVD the other night, and I was surprised at how compelling I found it, since I didn't think, going in, that it would be my cup of tea. It was excellent, and visually arresting.
I've been deliberately avoiding 9/11 movies, but I've read so many good reviews of United 93 from people whose opinions I respect that I may have to re-think this.
4 - Triniman
Did anyone like The Departed?
5 - Duke De Mondo
Triniman, Scorsese is my 2nd favourite director of all ever, and yet through some or other malicious tricks and traps, i've been unable to see The Departed as yet. i'm very much looking forward to it. That it is fairly far removed from the source material, Infernal Affairs, which i loved no end, is very pleasing to me. the last thing i wanted was a lazy remake. This seems to be more of a Cape Fear esque re-imagining, yes? (or it would be, if Planet Of The Apes hadn't made that term seem so terribly dirty a couple years back).
6 - handyguy
Pan's Labyrinth is an extraordinary movie that opened very late (Dec. 29) in limited release. I would put it second only to United 93 among the year's films. And I agree that The Departed deserves a strong honorable mention.
Two nonfiction movies are also amazing, not to be missed (and available on DVD):
When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee's look at Katrina and its aftermath;
and
Ric Burns's Andy Warhol
Both were first shown on television, but both are great films, so their origins won't keep them off my list.
7 - Neil Miller
Triniman,
The Departed was excellent. I had it in my Top Ten of the Year, but I felt that Little Miss Sunshine was more entertaining.
8 - El Bicho
I enjoyed The Departed. In my top ten, a great b-movie noir.
9 - Triniman
Duke;
I think The Departed stands a good chance to win Scorcese the Oscar for Best Director. At the very least, he'll get a nomination.
I haven't seen Letters From Iwo Jima, Clint's other recent war film, which is also apparently Oscar-worthy for the Director award.
There's still plenty of time for new films to debut before the nominations close, but at this moment, I'm pulling for The Departed and Martin Scorcese.
10 - Deano
It's a pretty good list but I was surprised that "An Inconvenient Truth" didn't make the list....
11 - handyguy
My own lists:
10 best features:
United 93
Pan's Labyrinth
The Departed
Children of Men
Cas*no Royale
The Science of Sleep
Lady Vengeance
The Road to Guantanamo
Friends with Money
The Queen
5 best documentaries:
When the Levees Broke
Andy Warhol
49 Up
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple
12 - Rusty
I thought The Departed was OK, but nowhere near as good as it is made out to be. For me, there seemed to be a major, gaping plot hole that I haven't seen addressed: Why did no one know that Damon's character was all but raised by Nicholson's, when the whole story revolved around an interlocking group of characters from the same area? Nicholson was the crime syndicate boss for years, the police had been after him for years, and no one knew that he had taken Damon under his wing for the last 10 years or so? Nicholson even showed up at Damon's police academy graduation in his limo and Damon went over and got in. And no one could figure out who Nicholson's contact in the police department was? Nicholson and Sheen knew each other. Nicholson knew both Damon and DiCaprio, and their families. How could no one know that Damon had been mentored by Nicholson since he was 10 or so, and still know everything about the neighborhood and everybody else who lived there? It just wasn't believeable.
13 - RW
Rusty, I'll go one better: They had Leo Dicaprio play the role of tough guy. Now THAT is the epitome of "gaping plot hole" on the scale of Paris Hilton playing the role of the flying nun.
14 - Scott Butki
Great job, E.B.
. Thanks for reminding me I need to see Why We Fight.
I already have a few others - like Miss Sunshine - on my list.
15 - Joe
Deano - It's a pretty good list but I was surprised that "An Inconvenient Truth" didn't make the list....
Science fiction has its own list.
16 - Kathy Scovill
The United 93 DVD had a touching and appropriate feature that included interviews with family members, with some of them meeting the actor that played their family member in the film. As the surviving sister of a Flight 11 passenger, I still gasped as Flight 175 hit the second tower in the film. I am in awe and so appreciative at how respectfully this film was handled. It took me awhile to watch, hence the reason I waited for the DVD, but it was worth the wait.
17 - handyguy
The Departed is based very closely on the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. Some of the "plot holes" are inherited from that source film. Also, I believe Scorsese is much more interested in heightened, operatic emotion than in realism. Madama Butterfly may not be believable or historically accurate either, but it's very convincing emotionally.
And people faulting DiCaprio's casting either haven't seen the film or are just completely prejudiced against him to begin with. He's quite brilliant.
18 - Kaonashi
Leonardo DiCaprio has spent the last 10 years trying to remind people that he's actually a serious and good actor, not just some prettyboy heartthrob from "Titanic". Looks like some people still haven't forgiven him for that role, and never will. It's a shame.