Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Is Eating A Beet A Day Harmful

Revolutionary Road: The American way of life or conformism VIVALDI





American cinema ever since its origins surprise us in size, with the equal to the country that generates it. If it is an undeniable fact that culture has always excelled in Yankie art to impose its tastes and format the dreams of every citizen of the world, it is clear that this country has never ceased to convey him images of Epinal, images of grandeur and magnificence, images of absolute freedom, condensed perfectly by a way of life presented as a myth in itself, " American way of life ", it is equally undeniable that it is not foreign countries have also expressed criticism against virulent this lifestyle that the U.S. themselves.
film by Sam Mendes, currently on our screens, make a key contribution, if any, to the building of a violent denunciation of the lure that is in so this " American way of life .

should first of all, for those who are not convinced of the importance of this film, chasing a possible misunderstanding: the French poster of the film does not escape the effect of standardization. The couple is exposed shows the features of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Yes! the unforgettable couple that moved the world in a three-hour movie that told in real time (matching the time of the projection and the temporality of fiction) the sinking of the Titanic! Should we interpret the choice of casting as a supreme irony of Sam Mendes himself? Indeed, it is an abyss that separates the two works! Let those who intend to attend a beautiful sentimental romance whose character "rebel" represents only the central part of the film when the end would be the umpteenth victory of love-between-two-people-who-will-be-played-are-almost-but-will-break -Have-in-final triumph-of-all-the-barriers, these viewers then go their way, he could cook them severely.
First Revolutionary Road is not a sentimental romance. The love story does not occupy the focus of the film. Sam Mendes, a hard copy adaptation of a novel published in the sixties, has an unusually rich film, the one who is regrettable that European cinema will also rises more often than before toward such high peaks.

Everything here reflects the honesty of a business man who cares nothing tastes formatted a certain audience. Certainly, there are so many American films that merely being a showcase for stars in search of rewards. If Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet both carry an impressive performance, justly rewarded at the last Academy Awards, however their talent not overwrite the other performers, either Kathy Bates Michael Shannon and David Harbour, all admirable exactness and sobriety. The ambition of the remark made by Sam Mendes finished strongly to perfect a work of rare consistency, the best American film I have ever discovered on our screens for three or four years.

Revolutionary Road share similarities with other films that had already, to varying degrees, addressed the same theme as Far from Heaven and Safe , both written and directed by Todd Haynes at the top of his art, The Hours by Stephen Daldry, Virgin Suicides by Sofia Coppola, American Beauty Sam Mendes, The Stepford Wives Frank Oz and, more distant, the Blue Velvet by David Lynch. Whatever the time represented in these works (the fifties for Far From Heaven and The Hours ; the seventies for Virgin Suicides ; the years ninety for Safe , same conclusion, overwhelming, remains. The American way of life , tenacious in its desire of a society civilized, houses within the evils which have names Conformity, hypocrisy, Puritanism, Racism. The lure is all the more striking that these films strive to take part for the wise ordering of these suburban cities dear to wealthy Americans fleeing the city center (place of depravity and violence, instead of all disqualifications) for come to find in the suburban peace and quiet to which they aspired dream of the American way of life. Thus, not a blade of grass not to exceed pristine properties that do not even need closure (no violence in this world where kindness and helpfulness are in order in the neighborhood).





The Hours (Stephen Daldry)






Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes)



Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola)



Safe, sanitized or pollution (Todd Haynes)

move in April and Frank Wheelers early Revolutionary Road in one of those sanitized suburbia. While the husbands are working to bring the grain to the house, the wise wives preparing good food and lovely cakes to reward their dear and tender. The homes are well kept that not even the children fail to animate their mischievous chaos.
Already, Wheelers swear a little smoother in this universe: the first scene of the film allowed us to attend their first meeting, during an evening meeting of two kindred spirits united by the same spirit, two proud souls and exalted, free, appetite to achieve their fondest dreams, refractory conformisation the social stalking around them. A few months later, once married, what's going on? April had to go to the obvious: his love of theater has not revealed her undeniable talent, Frank does not hesitate to throw him in the face (the most beautiful scene of contention that I could see film, a certain authenticity and strikingly with dialogue). And Frank ends up working, how annoying! in a box where he holds a position so far from its initial aspirations.





Frank and April Wheelers in the early days yet before the standardization of their existence


The Wheelers have been learning many couples of all time: they have adapted to the mold that society tended to be a culmination of all the dreams they have set aside their own dreams. Contrary to Kathleen Turner in The Virgin Suicides and Julianne Moore in Far From Heaven , April (Kate Winslet) is fully aware of the impasse in her marriage has strayed. And in a touching scene, she is able to analyze the origin of the malaise that has developed between her and Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio), able to understand that the only possible solution to this impasse is the rebellion: the escape cocoon of ennui (the white death worse than all hell), reconnecting with his original aspirations, find the path of authenticity itself again ...


Revolutionary Road deserve an analysis film worthy of the name but I do not dare: in It would be a shame if deflower beautiful dramatic structure of the film, the more admirable as it dares linearity, in these times where there is yet the most erudite narrative deconstruction: 21 Grams and Babel or syndrome Memento , otherwise excellent film. But About Sam Mendes is so clear, his actors so inspired, that linearity becomes an asset. Dare we say, in his last game, Revolutionary Road reach a real intensity that is not without reminding me, all Proportionately, the keen eye of an Ingmar Bergman.


I had also never seen an American film that addresses the folly in such an angle, with the possible exception of A Woman Under the Influence of John Casavaetes .
It is a character in the film that reveals what lurks rebels, refractory this American way of life: Giving John (Michael Shannon).
outset, John is presented as the patient's history, a medical treatment hopes to return to the household gods of conformity. It is he who can not deal with things without breaking the codes of propriety. When he met the Wheelers, it flushes them into the traps that staked their move into the neighborhood. He asks questions that ignore insensitive respect for privacy and expresses judgments without appeal that leave no room for spread. Why do we stoop to give the slightest interest in what it says a mental patient? This is shown by his mother (wonderful Cathy Bates) who diverts the conversation awkwardly when the latter, because of his son, takes a turn indecent. It emerges unprecedented violence in the fact that Helen turns Giving to the window, then turns back to his son, to escape the unbearable truths he firmly told the young couple. When he mocks the lifestyles of Wheelers and standardization in the art of Frank, Helen prefers, as an escape, his attention to the sunshine that bathes the garden outside. Everything is told from the malaise of the society that has elevated to the rank hypocrisy of conformist most pathetic, stigmatizing taboos, fear, cowardice. In the role of Giving John Michael Shannon is the right distance between aggression and vulnerability, naivete and clairvoyance. John is the one who knows because he went through hell of everyone and had the courage to say no to this lifestyle that requires it, so it's a mental patient whose words do not deserve attention. Do you know a lot of American films that deal with such maturity and honesty as the relationship between madness and normality, and abandoning the dream? For these reasons, Revolutionary Road is an important work of public health. May it find echoes in every spectator in the hope that it draws the impetus to reflect on oneself and the sense that it is ready to give his life.