Some films, like Tarantino's Django and Hooper's Les Mis, do not really need an Oscar to increase peoples awareness of their existence as they have sufficient marketing funds. On the other hand, some films need that Oscar to give them a helping hand in getting the word out. Last year, the only way I heard about Asghar Farhadi's brilliant Iranian film, "A Separation" (2011) was due to its Oscar win. Foreign films (and by foreign, I mean films that are not directed, produced and written by America or Britain) always seem to be on a different emotional level compared to the standard Hollywood blockbuster- so this year I decided to focus some more attention on the Best Foreign language section of the Academy Awards.
Doing this has brought my attention to Max Manus's Norwegian film, "Kon-Tiki" (2012).The narrative tells a story that I was previously unfamiliar with: the 1947 expedition of the explorer Thor Heyerdahl from Peru to the Polynesian Islands across the Pacific Ocean. He did so in a mission to prove his scientific theory (that has since been proved incorrect) that South Americans travelled across the Pacific and settled on the Polynesian islands over 1,500 years ago. Heyerdahl and five other crew members built a raft out of natural resources, loaded it with basic essentials such as food and water, in the same way they believed the Southern Americans would of done those many years ago. In addition they brought modern technology like a radio, a film camera, a life boat and various other objects used to document the journey, items that undoubtedly never existed when the original travellers embarked on their travels. He named the raft the 'Kon-Tiki' after the Inca sun God, Viracocha-said to be the idol of the original settlers and whose face, painted on the rafts sail, looms over the new explorers as they take their deathly voyage across the Pacific.
The trailer for the film is immense (watch below) and the story is one that definitely needs to be told. But broken down- five men, one raft...could get a bit like 'Open water', where the viewer gets bored and seasick just from watching two people bob around the ocean for what seems like an eternity, before they eventually get eaten by sharks. Then I remembered, this film not only has a point, but was written by someone with actual intelligence with a real story that's second to none. The film manages to paint a true portrayal of the struggles and mysteries of sea life. It is a film of substance rather than trying to turn the voyage into a cheap 'scary' horror film.
Even so, the audience still fears for the explorers life every second. It is a tense viewing experience. From the opening sequence when the protagonist falls into frozen water, right until the end when the raft just doesn't quite dock onto the islands as smoothly as planned. Whilst the audience watches every shot of the film thinking how insane these people must of been, the characters themselves seem to lead a very bohemian lifestyle on this raft. They all grow manly beards, get fantastic tans, play tunes on a guitar, write novels on typewriters and take lots of artistic film shots of the raft sailing, of them catching different types of fish and smoking tobacco (lets say it is, just for the kids). After all that, eventually Heyerdahl manages to prove the cynics wrong, and demonstrates that it is possible to sail from South America to the Polynesian Islands on a hand made raft, even if the Southern Americans never made this actual voyage in the first place. In any case, Heyerdahl came out with only a couple of scratches and an amazing story to tell the grandchildren. The actual Kon-Tiki raft can now be found in a museum in Oslo, if you were wondering.
...and he is not dragging around a coffin this year.
*WARNING: THIS FILM IS VIOLENT. IT IS A MEAN, CRUDE, GUT WRENCHING, TOMATO KETCHUP SPILLING, FIST FIGHTING, ALL GUNS BLAZING, WESTERN. NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED.
I knew I would like this film. I mentioned it as one of the films I was most excited to watch in 2013, and discussed the origins of the original 'Django' here. Tarantino, for me, can really do no wrong. He essentially draws his influences from forgotten, lets face it, shit films of the 70s, predominantly from Italian cinema and passes them off as new masterpieces. He is an artist, with Django being one of his best yet most controversial pieces to date.
'Django Unchained' focuses on a subject that has become almost a taboo to discuss in England, Racism, more specifically racism against blacks. If anyone comes out with the N word, the response is usually 'oh no you can't say that it's racist!' Well Tarantino does say it, he lays the word on so thick and fast throughout the film that it almost becomes acceptable to use it, and if it makes one feel uncomfortable they will just have to evacuate the cinema. The film deals with the tricky issue of the slave trade from many different angles and in ways that people (black or white) may not want to face in present day but the film should definitely not be taken as a true historical portrayal of the trade.
If the viewer is concerned about the 'racism' in the film they must remember that Westerns have never been the most PC of films anyway; think of the original Django with Mexicans being exploited and treated like bait used in a game as they ran away from a shotgun or having their ears cut off and being made to eat them. So expect Tarantino's Django to be explicit. As I previously said, Tarantino uses different ways to exploit the slave trade- one way is through the use of comedy, where the viewer is forced to laugh at a scene which really is PC at all for example the scene with the KKK trying to fix their hoods. The other is fear. No one expresses the fear quite as well as Samuel L Jackson does in his character. He hit the nail on the head when he stated in a recent interview that predominantly "slavery was perpetuated through fear and intimidation"- Tarantino certainly uses 'fear and intimidation' to ensure that none of his characters are ever safe from getting their insides splatted across a wall or eaten by a vicious dog. Before going to see it I was discussing with a friend just how violent Tarantino would go- we referred to "Inglorious Bastards" and the carving on the Nazi swastika on the scalps- but Django does not even compare. Even I, myself found one scene particularly difficult to watch, as it seemed to be a never ending fist fight with sound effects and extreme close ups, making the scene so uncomfortable. Although it might of been distressing to watch, this scene does well in illustrating the exceptional cinematography used throughout the film.
A lot of critics are focusing on the film as a Blaxploitation film. I don't believe it is. It is first and foremost a sort of Western, with side elements of comedy and romance. I describe it as a sort of Western because it does not technically adhere to the most fundamental requirement of the Western genre. The cowboy always has to be a figure who walks alone. Having lost his one true love he may find women along the duration of the film but the closing shot is usually of him riding of into the distance solo- he cannot be tied down. Tarantino's Django is a free man, free slave as they say, but he is most certainly tied down. He gets his revenge, but he is married and rides of with his wife at the end of the film- so independent lone cowboy he is not. Thus the film is more of a crossover of various genres rather than just one.
With the film being one of Trantino's best box office films to date and two Golden globes under his belt, time will only tell whether Django will receive any of those Oscar's. The film is up for:
Best picture;
Best supporting actor, Christopher Waltz;
Best cinematography, Robert Richardson;
Best sound editing, Wylie Stateman;
and Best original screenplay, Tarantino.
Weinstein has already stated that his lack of publicity for Django may have lost Tarantino a Best director nomination, but regardless of this, Django is sure to pull at least one award. Best original screenplay for one and maybe best picture/ or best cinematography since Christopher Waltz already won Best supporting actor at the Golden Globes this year. Then again even if Tarantino doesn't win any more awards one thing is for sure, Django Unchained has definitely caught some attention.
