The Artist

2011, Michel Hazanavicius, 96m

A silent film made in 2012! This is a multi-faceted gem of a black and white film. It is a beautifully crafted chronicle of the thirties when movies became talkies. At the same time it is a humane and sentimental drama which tugs at the strings of emotion. It even has tiny super dog. If one goes by the dictum that what matters is how a film goes about doing what its about, one would have to concede full marks. Perhaps it is about the pangs of change (in this case film technology) as the film triumphantly erupts into sound in the last scenes. The film is among the contenders for the best film Oscar which is what prompted me to see it. It is a made as though in a bygone era but with all the benefits of evolution of the state of the art. The film is a wonder, a curiosity, and if one may dare use the word, a masterpiece.

A O Scott's review

The Apostle

1997, Robert Duvall (dir), 128m

An apostle by definition is an envoy, an ambassador. His job is to speak out on behalf of his master, not to hold his tongue. Robert Duvall in this movie is the irrepressible messenger, who seems born for the profession of a pastor. Garrulous, poetic, passionate, above all a peerless showman, he also has a violent streak, which at times gets the better of him. This is a character study, reminiscent of Zorba the Greek. Incidentally, it gives us a vivid picture of the swinging Christendom that is certain quarters of the US.

Duvall, of Godfather and Apocalypse Now fame, gives an unforgettable performance, in this film which smells of the earth that is the common people, the heady mixture of black and white that is America, and Christian faith, shorn of theology or dogma, in rural pristine vigor.

Higher Ground

2011, 2 hours, Vera Varmiga (dir)

This is a lucid film about the life of an American family steeped in the Christian faith. The family is embedded in a community which mutually sustains and encourages the belief system. The beliefs they hold seem to make their lives more meaningful, bearable and satisfying by being moored in something. On the other hand they invite obvious ridicule and revulsion from another section of the community as "predatory religious nuts". Another viewpoint sees the life of faith as here portrayed as being sterile and bereft of aesthetic and human dimensions. The whole portrait is of a lukewarm and fossilized approach, which can only be sustained by huge contortions of logic, with the mere fruit of a nice feeling. Corrine, the heroine, is torn between different viewpoints, whereas her chance acquaintance Liam represents the viewpoint of a sensitive secular person who has no powerful compulsions to belief. A vivid picture of Christianity in the modern world in quarters where it is taken seriously. At least it manages to express a human being's inherent spiritual and philosophical needs. It is a fair multi-dimensional and ambivalent portrait, swinging between satire and admiration, with faith scoring the last word as a primary human need.

Lourdes

2009, 90m, France, Jessica Hausner (dir), Sylvia Testud (as Christine)

Lourdes, a town of picturesque beauty on the mountainous French Spanish border, is the site of the attributed repeated visitations by the Virgin Mary to a peasant girl, in the nineteenth century. Sixty miraculous cures have been officially recognized by the Church among the millions who visit this place of pilgrimage and tourism. This film involves us in the Lourdes experience through young Christine, afflicted with incurable multiple sclerosis. She does miraculously rise from her wheelchair, but will it last? Or maybe it is one of the documented rare cases of temporary remission? The phenomenon is examined from the faith, skeptical, medical and clergical viewpoints, giving us a cross section of views, wisely avoiding conclusions.

The term Lourdes Effect has been coined by a philosopher, which states that the powers that be reveal themselves if at all in less than unambiguous terms. If they did, faith would be unnecessary, putting the cart in front of the horse. The precious commodity of faith is not served platter full by God. The film repeatedly states the religious viewpoint that after all its the spirit that primarily needs to be healed, and it is this healing if it occurs which is the true miracle. (Not to speak of psycho-somatic phenomenon).

Meanwhile this is a restrained film which weaves a slow spell with its lavish visuals, musical score (which uses Schubert's Ave Maria and the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor), the mournful procession of wheelchairs, people who have come with different or no expectations, for rest or for recreation. It is an intelligent if not profound movie, inclining, quite naturally, towards skepticism. The lead role has been performed with exquisite delicacy. Christine is courageous, intelligent and skeptical who only seeks the joys of normal life: work, friendship, health, a family. The cure barely touches the core of her life, beyond child like joy, and a nagging apprehension.

Toccata and Fugue 

The Four Times (Le Quattro Volte)

Michaelangelo Frammertino, 84m

A tree is felled, chopped into logs and transported to a kiln where it is turned into charcoal. The movie opens with a smoldering soil covered heap and for quite a while one is in suspense what exactly is going on. When we learn that it's all about charcoal, it comes like the resolution of a mystery. The film is set in a primitive European mountain village and the rhythms of life are beautifully depicts in this film in three parts, of which the story about the tree is the last. The second part depicts the life of a lamb from the moment of birth onto its journey of life in the world. The first is about the death of an aging goatherd.

There is no dialog or musical score. The sounds and visuals combine to take us through a slow absorbing journey through this event-less hamlet in the lap of nature. The film is just the right length.

To think there could be such drama and beauty in the manufacture of charcoal!