Land of the Blind and Masked and Anonymous

JonnyRadar

JonnyRadar

The Living Force
Have been waiting to see if anyone would post on these two movies but no one has so far. They're two of my favorites and i thought i'd fly 'em up the flagpole for the other forum readers here...


Masked & Anonymous - written by and starring Bob Dylan
_http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319829/

this movie totally drew me in the first time i saw it. the hulking, obscene machinations of john goodman combined with dylan's writing style is enough to make one go "hmmm?" what's more is that almost every second of the film contains a nugget worth pausing and discussing (imho). dylan is a musician looking to play a benefit concert amidst an atmosphere of revolution and instability. the sense i got from this film was akin to that of walking around a music festival, with the smell of the mud and the sweat... and the dialogue is great, too. one of my favorite monologues is that of val kilmer's character, from which the title of the film is taken. here's an excerpt:

You know who's destroying the earth? Not the animals. The tiger, the lion, the cheetah, the snake, the monkey, the baboon, the giraffe, the bear, the panther, the dog, fish, the birds, all perfect in their original forms. Then--man came in. Who created him and for what purpose? Still a mystery. Why is he here? A mystery. He's a trespasser. Doesn't know his place....A spoiler, an agitator, stirs up trouble wherever he goes. The zoo, the aquarium, prisons for animals....I avoid looking at human beings. They disgust me so much with their atom bombs and blow dryers and automobiles. They build hospitals as shrines to the diseases they create. Human beings are alone with their secrets. Masked and Anonymous. No one truly knows them....The only righteous human beings in my book are the children and the elderly.
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Land of the Blind - written by Robert Edwards and starring Ralph Fiennes and Donald Sutherland
_http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433405/

another film that, for me, was quite an experience. ralph fiennes is a prison guard in a near-future-everything-is-gone-downhill kind of world. he's guarding the cell of a famous playwright and revolutionary, played by donald sutherland, who's been imprisoned for speaking out against the dictator who rules with stark similarities to that of mr. bush. fiennes ends up (early on) assisting sutherland's character in overthrowing the dictatorship, and as the movie progresses we see fiennes' character developing and becoming disenchanted with his role in the new government. i don't want to say too much more, it's really a great film.

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that's it for now! if anyone checks these films out, i'd love to hear what you thought of them...
 
Just watched Land of the Blind after your recommendation on google. I quite like films with Mr Sutherland in .
Cant write much because of spoilers but the line that goes something like:

"if voting changed anything it would be illegal" is so true is it not.

Brought to mind some of the writings that I have read long way in the past by Augusto Boal , Brazilian writer of theatrical and political material , "Theatre of the oppressed and so on.

Room 12 says it all does it not :)

Thanks for the recommendation well worth the watch.
 
Hi JR,

I loved Masked and Anonymous. I thought I did post on it but it may not have been here. What struck me was the post-economic crash/breakup of the U.S. with civil war that was done realistically. Los Angeles looked like poorer parts of Honduras. Pictures of "The Leader" everywhere. And the leader's successor, Mickey Rourke was incredibly creepy with that great fascist speech.

Definitely a must-see.

Don

JonnyRadar said:
Have been waiting to see if anyone would post on these two movies but no one has so far. They're two of my favorites and i thought i'd fly 'em up the flagpole for the other forum readers here...


Masked & Anonymous - written by and starring Bob Dylan
_http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319829/

this movie totally drew me in the first time i saw it. the hulking, obscene machinations of john goodman combined with dylan's writing style is enough to make one go "hmmm?" what's more is that almost every second of the film contains a nugget worth pausing and discussing (imho). dylan is a musician looking to play a benefit concert amidst an atmosphere of revolution and instability. the sense i got from this film was akin to that of walking around a music festival, with the smell of the mud and the sweat... and the dialogue is great, too. one of my favorite monologues is that of val kilmer's character, from which the title of the film is taken. here's an excerpt:

You know who's destroying the earth? Not the animals. The tiger, the lion, the cheetah, the snake, the monkey, the baboon, the giraffe, the bear, the panther, the dog, fish, the birds, all perfect in their original forms. Then--man came in. Who created him and for what purpose? Still a mystery. Why is he here? A mystery. He's a trespasser. Doesn't know his place....A spoiler, an agitator, stirs up trouble wherever he goes. The zoo, the aquarium, prisons for animals....I avoid looking at human beings. They disgust me so much with their atom bombs and blow dryers and automobiles. They build hospitals as shrines to the diseases they create. Human beings are alone with their secrets. Masked and Anonymous. No one truly knows them....The only righteous human beings in my book are the children and the elderly.
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donaldjhunt, i didn't see your post in my search. if you did post it here though i'd like to read it if you remember where it was... and you're right about that creepy speech... what else do you need to want to watch a movie than mickey rourke as a fascist :P but in all seriousness they really did do an incredible job on making the atmosphere of the film very realistic, i agree.

rabbit, that's awesome that film resonated with you! i enjoy donald sutherland's acting as well. also, ralph fiennes displays subtle emotion like no other actor i've seen, imho...
 
Land of the Blind seems to be the story of Russia turning into the Soviet union(sutherland/marx-anyone?) or the french revolution revisited... or the story of just about any revolution...
 
Great film! Thank you for suggesting it.

Great expose of how misunderstood (internal) ideals become an imposition when tested in real terms. Perception and futility, and the essence that allows the feeling of the latter.

Worth a watch.
 
i've stayed away from 'masked & anonymous' since it got awful reviews across the board - even though i really like a lot of the people involved in it (except dylan ;) )
director larry charles was a writer on seinfeld, jeff bridges, john goodman, val kilmer, ed harris are some of my fav. actors...
hmmm... i guess i'll give it a try if people here are recommending it!


25% on rotten tomatoes - yikes! ;)
 
Johny Radar the quote from the movie sparked a memory of a conversation I had with a friend about a year ago after too many beer's. We both grew up on farms and the topic of hunting came up and we both talked about how it was normal on the farm but neither of us had ever had the desire to partake. He then said I have never wanted to kill an animal they just live their lives and don't bother anything except to eat. but the thought of killing a person has definately crossed my mind.
 
jlarka said:
Land of the Blind seems to be the story of Russia turning into the Soviet union(sutherland/marx-anyone?) or the french revolution revisited... or the story of just about any revolution...
Click to expand...
I would have to disagree - it seemed quite like the story of the USA right now - with limits pushed just a tiny bit - perhaps a more accurate vision of our near future.

I just finished watching this film and, quite frankly, the Bush parallels can't be ignored. I also found it hard to ignore the obvious Ponerology references - considering that even though the face of the brutality changed, the core remained the same - the Pathological base remained.

It also brings in 'useful idiots' and 'strategic enclosures' (or lack thereof).

I was, actually, quite taken aback by how prescient this film was - it is very worth watching, imo. It is a bit odd to watch, though - it could be because the entire first half of the movie was presented in a rather surreal way - meaning that it was difficult to take it seriously in some way - as if it were a B movie or something. The content, however, spoke loudly and clearly.

I think this film is quite worth the watch on many different levels - fwiw.
 
anart said:
jlarka said:
Land of the Blind seems to be the story of Russia turning into the Soviet union(sutherland/marx-anyone?) or the french revolution revisited... or the story of just about any revolution...
Click to expand...
I would have to disagree - it seemed quite like the story of the USA right now - with limits pushed just a tiny bit - perhaps a more accurate vision of our near future.
Click to expand...
My second message revealed my 'true opinion' on the subject matter more accurately. Opinion since I haven't watched the movie yet but read the book (loooong ago and no reread).
 
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