youreyesonly

I saw this movie in 2003 when I was working in Japan. At the time there was rarely anything in English on TV, but occasionally I'd watch to get a feel for the country. So one weekend this started playing. It wasn't in English but the plot is very easy to follow, particularly if you know the history of WW2 and the fact that the Olinawans, though they look Japanese, are really a separate ethnic group from Japan, who were conquered by Japan in the distant past. I thought it was a movie at first but it kept going in and on! So I ended up staying home and just watching the whole thing. And WOW! It was the best TV movie I've ever seen, except for Lonesome Dove. It follows the cruel destruction on a lovely Okinawan family during the war. In Japan, WW2 is rarely taught in schools and Japanese atrocities are almost never acknowledged, but this movie is surprisingly different! It portrays the Okinawan family as largely peace loving but forced into the conflict. Each family member meets a different horrible fate at the hands of the radical Empirialists who ran Japan at the time, all inspired by true stories from history. I remember the 'Sugar Cane Song' from this movie still.... Zawawa, zawawa, zawawa... the sound that sugarcane makes as it blows in the wind. Haunting! My favorite detail is that the story is told in modern day by the one surviving member of the family to her bratty teen granddaughter, who gains a new respect for her family by the end. She recieves a family heirloom that survived the war and honors it by attaching it to dangle from her cellphone with her other little collectibles. This was perfect because at the time (and possibly still) hanging stuff from your cellphone is something that kids do in Japan to an obsessive extent. I saw entire stores selling doo dads to hang from your phone. Anyway, the greatest testament to how awesome this movie is that I only saw it once, 20 years ago, in a language I don't understand, yet I can still see many of the heartbreaking scenes in my head, and hear that haunting song... zawawa zawawa... zawawa...

I saw this movie at an early screening for Disney employees. By the end I was sniffling in tears.

So when it came out I dragged my wife to it. I was worried that I might not like it a second time, but nope, it made me cry again. But my wife was bored to tears watching it. When it was over she said I probably liked it so much because it was a fairy tale for boys.

That made so much sense! Girls love their fairy tales. The handsome prince rides in and rescues the poor maiden and whisks him away to live happily ever after. But in a boy's fairy tale, an ordinary guy finds himself in a wonderful place, and he has super powers, like the ability to leap hundreds of feet in the air! And he is stronger than giant monsters! But best of all, he meets a feisty, insanely sexy and gorgeous princess, who despite the fact that's he's really nobody special, falls in love with him, and they live happily ever after! (and have lots of hot sex, presumably.)

And like any great Fairy Tale, it's not rooted in reality, but taps into pure unconscious wish-fulfillment. The laws of physics on Barsoom are nonsensical, but so what? They make as much sense as a pumpkin turning into a stagecoach, or a poison apple that makes you fall asleep until you get the kiss of true love. In fact, the sheer magical impossibility of every element of science in this movie only adds to that fairy tale thing!

As I watched this movie I was taken back to how I felt watching Star Wars the first time.

But why on Earth would this movie need to cost over 200 million dollars? It just seems impossible that that much money was spent. It certainly doesn't seem visible on the screen. But hey, who am I to complain? I'm glad they made it just like it is!

My other favorite Fairy tale for boys was Flash Gordon. Oh, man! Whenever that movie comes on television, I'm hooked!

Avatar is also a fairy tale for boys, but I have to say, it left me cold. Perhaps because because so many plot elements were borrowed from Cameron's earlier movies that it just kept reminding me it was a movie. Or maybe that Avatar had a message to convey, about the evils of greed and aggression, yet it seemed to me the heroes were every bit as judgmental and ignorant as the bad guys. In John Carter, there isn't a big message like that. It's just the story of a disappointed man who refuses to choose sides, until he realizes that the hot chick is on one of those sides, and she pretty much forces him to grow a conscience, if he ever hopes to score with her. And once he's grown a conscience, he's a better man for it.

I am very sad the movie flopped so monumentally at the box office, because I would dearly love to see the sequel!

I saw this film after seeing it on Roger Ebert's top ten list many years ago.

I was captured from the first moments. Most movies try to play audiences like a fiddle, generally speeding up faster and faster to a crescendo. Aguirre does exactly the opposite. It starts off slow, stays slow and toward the end virtually creaks to a halt.

This movie cannot be enjoyed casually, it must be experienced fully. Which is why I don't watch it very often. I don't want to start it unless I can sit through the whole thing. Because the movie demands that you change your natural rhythm to an unnaturally contemplative pace, but if you do you find it is almost like an out of body experience. You are watching humans who cannot be understood, because they don't understand themselves. Cut off from solid ground, whithered by hunger and illness, they discover the true nature of humanity, which is that without purpose, life is nothing but breathing and waiting for death.

I've recommended this movie to several people, including my wife, but they can't stand it, because it is too slow. Well, I love it. It's fascinatingly slow. Mesmerizingly slow. I swear, watching this movie slows down my heartbeat and quiets my mind and gives me a terrifying glimpse into what it must be like to be trapped somewhere, incapable of action.

I love this film! Its the only Klaus Kinski film I enjoy. And knowing the harrowing story of how it was shot makes it all the more enjoyable to watch.