How odd.
I finally managed to watch the controversial Finnish animation. Its name is "The Butterfly of Ural" (Uralin perhonen), and the controversial stuff about it deals with its claim that Mannerheim (our famous commander during the Winter and Continuation Wars during which we managed to hold our own against the invading Soviets) was gay and personally participated in the execution of the Red Side during the Finnish Civil War. Neither of these claims can be proven, and particularly the anal sex scene in the film made a lot of people angry.
So, how did I feel about it after all the hype that the Finnish media had spat out? Well, I thought the storyline was very confusing as it detailed many people's lives instead of focusing just on Mannerheim. The story's very surrealistic, when Mannerheim's page (with whom Mannerheim has a sexual relationship) grows wings. Mannerheim and the page also meet characters such as Death, and the atmosphere is quite depressing and grim.
It's obvious that the director (whose grandfather died during the Civil War) had some sort of emotional traumas which she wanted to heal by making this film and mocking Mannerheim as much as possible. The music suited the film fine, and the puppets looked quite nice. In general the animation reminded me of those old animations we used to watch on TV. I think that some of the controversial stuff was really pointless to the flow of the story, and the story would've worked even without the anal sex scene. In any case I thought the film was an overrated piece of artistic trash with few merits. It's worth watching once because of the issues it raises, but it's not something I'll be watching over and over again. xD
I've noticed that in general it's become harder for me to actually keep a conversation going in chat. I don't know if it's a cultural issue, but nevertheless I've realized that I need a person to introduce new topics which can then be discussed. If I do that by myself, the results won't be as good. I can only hope that people haven't thought of me as being rude even if I haven't kept a conversation going: after all, sometimes it's hard to keep things sensible or even silly after a short period of time has passed. Oh well.
I accidentally found The Wind and the Lion OST, and I ended up liking it. Although the bold main theme gets a lot of time in the score, the love theme ("I Remember") really steals the show. It's absolutely gorgeous in its heartbreaking intensity (its tragedic qualities actually remind me of Williams's "Across the Stars" love theme from Attack of the Clones), and I'd like to see how it's utilized in the actual film. A particularly great track in the score is "Lord of the Riff" which plays the main theme and the love theme in counterpoint, and the end result is a magnificent piece of music. The score instantly became one of my favourite Jerry Goldsmith scores, and I wonder if I'll discover new heartbreaking themes as I venture deeper into Goldsmith's musical world. After all, his scores for Secret of NIMH and Mulan were marvellous, so who knows what's in store for me out there? =P
Yours,
Mikko
So, how did I feel about it after all the hype that the Finnish media had spat out? Well, I thought the storyline was very confusing as it detailed many people's lives instead of focusing just on Mannerheim. The story's very surrealistic, when Mannerheim's page (with whom Mannerheim has a sexual relationship) grows wings. Mannerheim and the page also meet characters such as Death, and the atmosphere is quite depressing and grim.
It's obvious that the director (whose grandfather died during the Civil War) had some sort of emotional traumas which she wanted to heal by making this film and mocking Mannerheim as much as possible. The music suited the film fine, and the puppets looked quite nice. In general the animation reminded me of those old animations we used to watch on TV. I think that some of the controversial stuff was really pointless to the flow of the story, and the story would've worked even without the anal sex scene. In any case I thought the film was an overrated piece of artistic trash with few merits. It's worth watching once because of the issues it raises, but it's not something I'll be watching over and over again. xD
I've noticed that in general it's become harder for me to actually keep a conversation going in chat. I don't know if it's a cultural issue, but nevertheless I've realized that I need a person to introduce new topics which can then be discussed. If I do that by myself, the results won't be as good. I can only hope that people haven't thought of me as being rude even if I haven't kept a conversation going: after all, sometimes it's hard to keep things sensible or even silly after a short period of time has passed. Oh well.
I accidentally found The Wind and the Lion OST, and I ended up liking it. Although the bold main theme gets a lot of time in the score, the love theme ("I Remember") really steals the show. It's absolutely gorgeous in its heartbreaking intensity (its tragedic qualities actually remind me of Williams's "Across the Stars" love theme from Attack of the Clones), and I'd like to see how it's utilized in the actual film. A particularly great track in the score is "Lord of the Riff" which plays the main theme and the love theme in counterpoint, and the end result is a magnificent piece of music. The score instantly became one of my favourite Jerry Goldsmith scores, and I wonder if I'll discover new heartbreaking themes as I venture deeper into Goldsmith's musical world. After all, his scores for Secret of NIMH and Mulan were marvellous, so who knows what's in store for me out there? =P
Yours,
Mikko