Comments | constintina: my oscar movie diary 2/9

constintina

my oscar movie diary 2/9

Feb 09, 2006 20:13

In which I share my thoughts on the films I have seen as part of my neurotic preparation for the Oscars.

today we have:

The Constant GardenerThe bleached out film stock not only serves to designate this movie as “edgy”, but to highlight the unbearable whiteness of it’s subject. Yes, it takes place laregly in Nairobi, but that’s no reason to have ( Read more... )

good white people, movies, film

Comments 4

the moratorium is on! fortherev February 10 2006, 09:54:45 UTC

Very informative, thank you! Don't know what there really is left to say about those kindsa movies, since I dont know anything about this one beyond what you've told me.. wow thats horrible and typical about the score on top of it all. That racist feel-good-settler-vibe is so in right now, from the Altoids "native tribal village people getting hurt and killed and other violent situations cos theyve taken so many altoids they feel no pain" commercial (or is it like some other breath mint thing?! I dont fucking know) to the rugged Homeland Security animal-people all prepared and settlery with camping style on the website for kids. But then thats always in, being all systemic-y and stuff ( ... )

Re: the moratorium is on! constintina February 14 2006, 20:36:01 UTC

i hadn't seen that altoids ad. christ.

This would no doubt qaulify as a gallery of horrors worthy of its pursuit.

I can't really commit myself to this, but I'd def. approve of you doing it! please?

Isnt that movie all old thyme?

yes. hopefully i'll do a write-up v. soon. today, if the lines aren't too busy work-wise.

elevenoclock February 10 2006, 19:38:51 UTC

hm.. i have to disagree with you in a friendly way, which is making me self-reflectively 'huh?'; maybe i'm not picking up on the offensiveness and racism from my perspective. but i guess for now i would opine that sure, the main character is a white lady do-gooder romanticized martyr, but i think that the movie centering the narrative around that couple isn't racist in and of itself. the racism/fear of the main characters is addressed head-on when the ralph fiennes character refuses to give a ride to the african folks, and when the other english dude is like, we've got to get her to a real hospital, etc. i think it has a somewhat more nuanced outlook than many films with similarities. dunno. i wasn't amazed by it but i appreciated some elements. i can't think of many other recent films that are dealing with the political nature of AIDS treatment ( ... )

constintina February 14 2006, 20:32:31 UTC

I can't think of any other recent films (at least big, oscar-nominated films that played in malls and whatnot) that dealt with the political nature of AIDS treatment, and I am glad that this one did. And I also agree with you that it presents a more nuanced take on racism/white-people-doing-good-in-the-third-world/whatevs than we can generally expect from such, unfortunately.

Most of my problem with The Constant Gardner has to do with it's location within a much broader phenomenon, rather than the particulars of this film in and of itself (apart from the fact that it was at least marketed as a thriller, and it was not thrilling.) it's still yet another movie about heroic white people
"helping" POCs who do not get to be fully formed characters themselves. even rachel weisz's gay doctor friend only gets a couple lines--would it have been too much to have him be more than a plot device?