7 Days in Entebbe

First Hit: The film creates intrigue and an artsy buildup but the ending falls flat and was unsatisfying.

Being old enough to remember the actual incident as it unfolded, at 26 I didn’t have enough world-wide or middle-east education to understand it.

However, today, I better understand the Palestinian Israeli struggle. In seeing this film, I was hoping for a better understanding of the events that took place forty-two years ago. Here, Brigitte Kuhlmann (Rosamund Pike) and Wilfried Bose (Daniel Bruhl) are two idealistic Germans who assist two Hamas Palestinian freedom fighters (aka: "terrorists"), in hijacking an Air France plane filled with passengers of all nationalities, 83 of them Jewish.

The hijacked plane, with permission from Idi Amin Dada (Nonso Anozie) the President of Uganda, lands at the old airstrip en Entebbe Uganda. Ushering the passengers off the plane and into the old dirty dilapidated terminal, the hijackers begin to negotiate with the Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin (Lior Ashkenazi). The ransom for the return of the plane and all the passengers and crew was $5M and the release of 53 Palestinian and pro-Palestinian militants 40 of whom were in Israel’s custody.

Rabin's Defense Secretary, Shimon Peres (Eddie Marsan), was a  hardliner holding the line that Israel does not negotiate for prisoners or ransoms. This is despite Rabin stating at some point in time we have to negotiate with the Palestinians and others, else they will never really flourish.

Because this is history we know what happens, Peres team successfully develops a rescue raid which eventually plays out.

The issue with this film is that they use a wonderful dance company to illustrate tension and well as back and forth scenes from the original planning of the hijacking and current scenes of the captured plane and hostage imprisonment. This part is excellent at building interest and tension, but when the big payoff comes, the details of the raid and rescue of the hostages from Entebbe, the film falters and shows little of this event and shows more of the dance company executing the dance we see them practice throughout the film.

I also thought the personal link between one of the dancers and one of the raiding Israeli soldiers was poorly developed and not defined.

Bruhl was good and interesting as the bookseller who wanted to  make a difference in the world, especially for the Palestinians. The film did share the issue of him being German taking Israeli hostages and that the world might bring up the Nazi holocaust. Pike was very strong as an obsessed woman who was fighting this cause and her own personal demons. Her intense wild-eyed stares after being up for seven days straight was excellent. Marsan was peculiarly strong. His half lidded facial expressions and being a supreme hawk, he had this “I told you so” way of getting his agenda completed. Anozie was excellent as Idi Amin. He physically imposed his Amin remarks just like I remember Amin, slightly off center and childlike. Ashkenazi was strong as Israel’s Prime Minister Rabin. His distaste for Peres’s hawk and kill only attitude was well acted. Gregory Burke wrote an engaging screenplay; however the ending was too creative for me, I wanted to see more of the actual rescue. Jose Padilha directed this with a nice touch except for the ending.

Overall: Although this was a good film, I kept wondering how close was this story to the real story.

The Zookeeper's Wife

First Hit:  Very well made and crafted film that tells a compelling story. This story is impactful because of its significance in WWII. As Warsaw falls to Nazi Germany the Warsaw Zoo, being managed by Antonina and Jan Zabinski (Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh respectively) comes under the control of Lutz Heck (Daniel Bruhl) who was head of Berlin’s Zoo. However, now he’s under Hitler’s spell of supremacy.

The early scenes are set up to show just how much Antonina loves her animals. Later on we learn why she’s drawn to the animals and it solidifies the early part of the film. This is great direction of a strong script. The reaffirming of the story as it moves along.

Another time I thought this film did this well was when Jan and Antonina were lying in bed, and he subtly indicates that Antonina must really work her friendship with Heck to make their lives and the lives they want to save, easier. What is interesting is that I interpreted this to mean that she was given a level of freedom to use her sexuality. Antonina hears this as well, but when Heck washes her hands and Jan sees this, he gets really angry and she doesn’t understand why, she thought she was supposed to do this. This is great and interesting filmmaking.

The story is that after the Germans took and killed all their zoo animals for meat, Jan and Antonina started hiding young Jewish children and some adults in the basement area (some cages) below their home. They would then connect these people with others who were getting them out of the country or into other safe houses.

Jan would pick them up in trucks collecting food garbage from the ghetto Jewish area of the city, tuck people under the garbage and bring them into their home, feed them, supply them with legal paper forgeries and send them on their way. One day Jan sees two German soldiers sexually attack a young girl named Urszula (Shira Haas), so he gathers her up and takes her back to his house. She is in shock and with gentle kindness is slowly brought out of her shock by a rabbit, painting and other young children who are hiding out.

The story evolves to shortly after the war and with this ending, there is some happiness and of course sadness. The amazing thing is that they saved over 300 Jews from being shipped  to a concentration camp and their probable death.

Chastain was superb. She captured vulnerability, strength, and persistence. Her ability to hold and be Antonina’ heart was wonderful. Heldenbergh was amazing. His ability to be tough, yet have the kind of compassion he shows in this role is amazing. Bruhl was very strong in an unenviable role. He clearly carried the appropriate level of following orders. Haas was sublime. She was so strong and believable in this role that I couldn’t image it being done any better. Her evolution from shock to engaged with others was perfect. Val Maloku as Jan and Antonina’s son was excellent. The scene when Heck questions him in the kitchen was amazing. Angela Workman wrote an incredible screenplay from the true story by Diane Ackerman. Niki Caro did an amazing job of directing this film and telling this story.

Overall:  Seeing the trailers, I didn’t really expect to like this film, however, I was deeply touched by the story and the way it was delivered.

Captain America: Civil War

First Hit:  I was shocked that people applauded at the end of this film because the story was too fabricated and forced to make it interesting.

I like a good superhero film every once in a while. However, because they make money for the studios, storylines are created to put more of the heroes together.

It isn’t enough to have a group of Avengers focus on a single enemy, here the script writers and producers decided to have them pitted against one another. This, of course, will boost viewership, however I do not think it helps the brand in the long run. This action mirrors short term profits are more important than long term gain and integrity.

The best acting done in this film is by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and Iron Man. The rest of the superheroes have their moments and it is obvious that the film is set up this way. Each of them gets to display their “super powers”.

The one exception to all of this is the introduction of Spiderman/Peter Parker (Tom Holland). His character is funny due to his newness to his spidey powers and his youthful attitude. The film does try to explore the importance of friendship through the relationship and actions of Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and the Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Their lifelong friendship is tested here.

Also friendship is overtly tested between Iron Man and Captain America. Then there is the issue of government control of The Avengers and their response to issues in the world. This is brought up  because innocent people have been killed through their heroic involvement. Both of these subjects are feebly addressed by the story.

Downey Jr. was the best of the group of actors mostly because he had a fair amount of introspective and intelligent dialogue. Evans is only OK, but I cannot tell if it is only because of the role, script, or Evans own acting abilities. Holland is fun and is the most amusing character. Stan is good as the stoic semi-enemy of The Avengers and the general public. Daniel Bruhl (as the real enemy Zemo) is good enough to pull off being the real antagonist. Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, and Frank Grillo are only OK as the superheroes that are pitted against each other because their roles are minimized. Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely wrote this, let’s make money, script that doesn’t fully address the friendship and government control questions and minimizes the skills of this extensive cast. Anthony and Joe Russo’s co-direction is evident because of the scattered way this film interprets the screenplay and use of this fine cast.

Overall:  This was a film I didn’t need to see.

The Fifth Estate

First Hit:  Although interesting, don’t think I learned much about Assange through its 2+ hours.

This film is very topical in that the US Government just sent Bradley Manning to prison and Edward Snowden is now living in Russia.

The tie between these two is the publication of documents showing the underbelly of our government. However, the film and camera spends a lot of time on Julian Assange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) but outside a few statements about his past, he ends up being an enigma. Do his decisions make sense? Sometimes.

Does he really believe in what he is doing? It appears so. Does he use people? If the film is to be believed, yes at times. One statement in the film that seemed to fit the character as Cumberbatch portrayed him was: “Julian is out for himself.” For the 2+ hours we float from scene to scene watching and waiting to see how Wikileaks handles the exposure of a plethora of US Government documents.

The suspense is minimal, because we know the answer already. The worst part of the film is that it didn’t leave much of a lasting impression about Assange. I did feel compassion for Daniel Berg (Daniel Bruhl) as he was a believer of Assange’s drive and belief, but ended up feeling betrayed by him.

Did the film move forward the Wikileaks cause? I don’t know. My personal dilemma with Wikileaks is that, although I think exposure of information is really good, if it is posted anonymously, one has to trust that the information is fully validated before it goes public; else it becomes a personal bitch Yelp posting. So far so good; I can only hope it stays that way.

Cumberbatch is excellent at giving the illusion of an enigma of a person. Bruhl is really good as Berg and I could feel him become a believer and how he provided traction to the cause. Daniel Domscheit-Berg and David Leigh wrote the book on which the film is based and it shows the elusiveness of Assange. Bill Condon seemed lost, as we spend 2+ hours getting to the big test of Wiki Leaks but the breadcrumbs along the way weren’t necessarily interesting or engaging.

Overall:  Maybe this film comes too early in Assange’s life. It might have been a better film if there was in-depth character development – as there was none here.

Rush

First Hit:  Extremely well-made film about the rivalry of 1970 Formula 1 racing legends James Hunt and Niki Lauda.

This is a sit back and hold on to your seat film, as Ron Howard, makes everyone seem integral to the story, including the cars.

The British Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth) is a charismatic, hard drinking, smoking and instinctive race car driver. His goal is to drive fast and win races. He doesn’t know much about the details of the cars he drives, he just knows when they are good and how to drive them fast.

His archrival is Austrian Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) who is meticulous, knows everything about the cars he drives and knows the risk of everything he does. These two guys are as different as night and day, except they both like to go fast. We are immediately immersed into each of their personalities as Ron Howard makes sure you “get” what each of these guys are like.

Then there are the cars; the sound and power of these cars comes through on this film in spades, yet it doesn’t overwhelm the film or scenes. The races are used as check points on the evolution of the driver’s lives.

Hemsworth is very good at portraying the intense, likeable, Hunt and gives the audience glimpses of his depth as a person. Bruhl is absolutely amazing. His embodiment of one of the most famous drivers is amazing. Peter Morgan wrote a fabulous script that let both the characters breathe while the racing was the stage. Howard shows, yet again, why he is one of the best directors around.

Overall:  Whether you like racing or not, it is wonderful and intense film. It is a Rush.