1990 Winner, Journey of Hope

Journey of Hope

Director:  Xavier Koller

Distributed by:  Miramax

Released:  August 1990

Country:  Switzerland

A 20^th century poet once opined, “It’s no fun being an illegal alien.”  Truer words were never spoken for Haydar, a sheep farmer from rural Turkey.  Sure Haydar has a loving wife, a gaggle of fun children, a supportive extended family, and a never-ending supply of lamb chops.  But he gets a postcard from his brother in Switzerland that says something like, “Having a lovely time sucking down hot chocolate and listening to that Ricola dude yodeling in my back yard.  Hope to see ya soon on the ski slopes!”  (that’s a rough translation)  This postcard enchants Haydar, and soon his mind is made up--he's off to Switzerland.

I’m no whiz in geography, but it would seem to me that it isn’t all that easy to get from Turkey

Haydar and Mehmet Ali reading the postcard

to Switzerland without a passport.  Switzerland doesn’t have a huge wall at its border (or didn’t in this movie—how the heck should I know?) but it does have a little thing called the Alps!  Haydar may have watched the Von Trapps saunter through the mountains to escape the Nazis, but he will soon find that this isn’t the movies.  Well, it is the movies, but you know what I mean.

Haydar can’t afford to take the whole family—he will have to grease a few officials along the way and sell everything he has just to get himself and his wife out of there.  He decides to take one of the kids with him because kids adapt so well to new things.  At the beginning of the film, all Haydar’s kids had a group dare, the stunt being to lie on the train tracks while a train passes over

REEE-CO-LAAAH!

them.  All be but one chickened out before the train got there—all but little Mehmet Ali, a cute 7-year-old boy.  Watching the kid who plays Mehmet Ali was probably the most enjoyable part of this film for me.  He’s one of those kids who pisses a parent off by ignoring what he’s told to do, but Mom or Dad can’t stay mad because you cannot help but like his pluck and good nature.  Mehmet Ali wins over everyone he comes in contact with, including a crusty old trucker who helps the threesome get toward their destination.  There is one scene in particular—toward the end of the film, when the family is struggling in the cold mountains, when Mehmet Ali is cold and scared and you can’t help but worry about the little fella.

One thing I struggled with was why on earth Haydar got it into his Turkish skull that he had to move to Switzerland in the first place.  Sure, his dopey brother painted a pretty picture for him, but he really didn’t seem to have it all that bad in Turkey.  I mean, it’s not like he lived in Detroit.  He was willing to sacrifice everything to get to his Shangri-La, and I don’t want to give away the ending, but sometimes you have to realize the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the mountains. 

Crossing the Alps in the movies

The Title:  Also known as Reise der Hoffnung in German and Umuda yolculuk in Turkish.  I’m not sure those are direct translations, but they can’t be worse than Journey of Hope as a title.

The Culture:  What I got out of it is that if they can, Turks will do anything to get out of their country, and there are plenty of crooks willing to take their money to help them do it.

 

Crossing the Alps in this movie

Agenda Danger:  I GUESS if you are obsessed with illegal immigration, you might find fault with how sympathetic Haydar and his family are seen.  But only if you are like Ann Coulter-crazy.

Best Picture that year:   Dances With Wolves

Rating:  It was nothing downright special, but I admit to having rooted for this family, or at least to see something go right for them.  This cost me $2 on Amazon to watch it and it was worth every penny.

1989 Winner, Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso

Director:  Giuseppe Tornatore 

Distributed by:  Miramax Films 

Released:  November 1988

Country:  Italy

As with most technological improvements, advancements in movie-making and movie-watching bring with them an unforeseen downside.  Availability is one of those advancements.  Nowadays, even foreign films from 25 years ago can be found on DVD by going on Amazon or just using a library card.  You can stream movies by using a remote control in your living room (and by “you” I mean "not me"; I’m still not trained in the art of Netflix or Hulu or any of that kind of stuff).  But the price of this availability is, simply put, the Movie Theater.  I’m not talking about the multiplexes with 20 or more movies being shown at the same time; I mean the old movie houses where huge crowds would all watch the same movie together as a community experience.

The Cinema Paradiso is one of those movie houses.  In post-World War II Italy, Alfredo is the

Toto checking out some deleted scenes

theater’s projectionist, at a time when being so was more of a profession than a job.  But the star of the film is Salvatore, a 5-year-old who lost his father in the war and loves to hang out at the theater.  Salvatore, or Toto as he is called, is a handful, both to Alfredo, who considers him a pest, and to the local priest, who can’t get Toto to be a proper altar boy.  The movie is told in flashback, as the adult Toto learns of the death of Alfredo, who had grown to be a father figure to him.

Early in the film, Alfredo is pre-screening a film for the priest—and whenever a kissing scene shows up, the priest rings his bell, an indication for Alfredo to mark the film for cutting.  No kissing is aloud to be shown to the masses.  When the films are screened to the public, the crowd lustily boos and jeers, good-naturedly expressing its anger at the Church censorship.  Toto, the film lover who will grow up to be a successful director, wonders about the scenes being cut, which eventually leads to the film’s famous and touching finish.

Annoying kid in an American film

Where to begin on what is good about this film?  First, young Salvatore Cascio is terrific as a little boy full of mischief yearning for a male figure in his life.  There is something about young kids in foreign films that American films don’t seem to have—Toto, the young boy in Life is Beautiful, the youngest son in Journey of Hope, the granddaughter in Antonia’s Line—these kids show a charming endearing quality that the annoying wise-ass Macaulay Culkins (Home Alone) turn into obnoxiousness in American films.  (Add to the list of charming kid performances that of the boy from the “foreign language” Calcutta part of the current film Lion.)  The first part of Cinema Paradiso is worth watching just for Toto, and for his relationship with Alfredo, who sees greatness in him.

Adult Toto loving the cinema

But the heart of the movie is in its love of movies themselves and the movie-going experience.  The cinema, and to a lesser extent, the theater that is the Cinema Paradiso, are what bring people together in war-weary Italy.  Most especially, the theater brings Alfredo and Toto together at a time both need it.  I think of theater-going as when I have to contend with the older people behind me loudly pointing out the actors they recognize, or the younger people texting their BFF's while the movie is showing. At the Cinema Paradiso, a lot of the fun is the crowd laughing or jeering or even sitting mesmerized  together as a community.

The story, the characters and acting, and great cinematography are all perfect here.  Director Giuseppe Tornatore, who has made three English-language films and several noted Italians films since, made it difficult on himself to top this film made at the beginning of his career.  The score by his frequent collaborator, the brilliant composer Ennio Morricone  (perhaps most famous to Americans for the scores of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and The Mission),  is perhaps one of his best, and that's saying something.   

I’m not sure all the films Alfredo showed from the projection room of the Cinema Paradiso were great films, but if they were half as good as Cinema Paradiso, the huge movie house would be packed every night.

The Title:  The Italian name of the movie is Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, or New Paradise Cinema.

The Culture:  A great look at small-town Italy right after World War II.

Agenda Danger:  Whatever commentary may be derived from the over-protective and controlling Catholic priest is more than offset by the humor of Toto’s interactions with him and the emotional ending.

Best Picture that year: Driving Miss Daisy

Rating:  Italian cinema is noteworthy for so many great films, like Life is Beautiful (1998), The Bicycle Thieves (1948), and the works of Fellini (such as 1963’s 8 ½ and 1960’s La Dolce Vita).  This film takes a back seat to none of them.  It's a movie about loving the movies that makes you love movies even more.