Othello

A smaller and grittier The Shawshank Redemption. I haven't liked Defoe since I was a kid, but he was perfect here, Danny Trejo is my secret crush, and I like Rourke too, even though I didn't recognize him at all here. The direction is decent and tries not to take your eyes off the camera, so scenes like the razor in the shower, or the close-up of the slashing of the vein, for example, will make the weaker characters turn away with a guffaw. Some of the glimpses of prison life are hard to believe and I didn't really buy them, but what the hell... It was a hell of a good watch, and the last line of the film, "Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven," pretty much sums up what this is all about.

The duty of every respected Jew to show people how horrible the Holocaust was, using the resources at that person's disposal, led Maestro Polanski to come to terms with the past with The Pianist. And it does indeed fulfill the agreed assignment. Throughout the film, the Nazis are disgusting, stupid, narrow-minded pigs, while the Jewish community suffers and despairs unjustly. What we all know, and anyone who doesn't know it or denies it is an asshole. Meanwhile, the story of Władysław Szpilman unfolds (the similarity to Vladek Spiegelman from the Maus comics purely coincidental?), a brilliant pianist who finds it increasingly difficult to escape deportation. He is actually behind one of the few innovations compared to other war films, and that is the beautiful piano solos that the main character creates (and playing the piano without being able to touch the keys is definitely one of the most beautiful scenes in the film). Otherwise, the film does not bring anything new, which would perhaps not have mattered so much and I might have reached five stars if it were not for the fact that English is spoken in Poland and I can never get over these things.

Oh, come on. I recently saw an episode where Chuck Norris fought a bunch of Nazis listening to Manowar and burning churches. So they burned down a church and everyone was very very unhappy, but for some reason neither Chuck nor Trivet (the obligatory token black guy on American TV shows) could get at them, even though the way the Nazis were moving they were wearing fascist jerseys and swastikas on their shoulders. The US is an incredibly democratic country. Fortunately, however, a famous country music star is passing through Chuck's neighborhood on tour (one who looks like a born pedophile), and he willingly disposes of all the money he makes from the concert in favor of rebuilding a Christian sanctuary. Everyone is so happy and before you know it the concert is underway. Everyone is laughing, Chuck is laughing, and they would all be smiling to death if not for the burning cross and a good four dozen Hitler Youth baseball bats blazing in front of the tent. Chuck tells the hero he's going to get help and disappears. Nobody thinks it's weird, so they start a dialogue with the leader of the far-right. The moment he gives the order to kill them all, Chuck bursts into the frame (I guess his phone didn't work) and together with Trivet, they demonstrate what the Holocaust is with their bare hands. Immediately afterwards, the three dudes kneel down in front of the burning cross and start praying with the others watching. The wind blows and there is not even a flame on the cross. Trivet says: "How can this be, Walker?" and Walker says to him: "You're asking the right man." The episode ends with a shot of the church cross.... AND YOU'RE GONNA GIVE THIS ONE A PASS? :-DDD