Enough questions to dull the bleakness -- great movie!
596300
I found this to be both an interesting story line and beautifully composed through cinematography.  A father suddenly returns after a 5-year absence ...where?  He then takes his two sons on a trip that introduces a seething anger that will carry through most of the movie, and becomes an overriding tone.  A harsh father who makes promises only to dismiss them; who finds his sons always short of expectations; who's irritation at the unmet expectations leads to an attempt to break both sons' spirit.  Although that sounds very bleak, this story leaves you with enough questions to blunt the bleakness: where was "Dad?"  Will they being an "aha!" moment where everyone loves everyone--or even close?  The father clearly has a purpose for this trip, but what?  Is it possible to have something hidden until lost?
4912237
At first I thought, "Oh, no, another movie that revolves around a grown woman with so many inadequacies that she has to be mentored by a child" (see basketball metaphor), but I tried to put aside my antipathy to the format so as to be able to focus on the substance of the movie.

The contributors were articulate and well qualified to speak on the topics under discussion.  They ranged from a medium to a "recovering" theologian to a neuroscientist/pharmacologist, with a few physicists thrown in for good measure.

I know people who have made this movie's message their guiding philosophy in life, but I think that's a little extreme.  I do, however, consider it great food for thought and a good, user-friendly springboard to a more in-depth analysis of the "you create your own reality" doctrine.

I would have rated this movie -- really more of a documentary with a pseudo-plot that gets in the way -- considerably more highly if my copy hadn't kept freezing at about 1:20, which was frustrating and ultimately made any hope of coherence a fond dream.  It was new and still shrink-wrapped, too, which makes me concerned that it's an OEM defect and may present in other copies.
1902524
Sling Blade: This is a great film. The story is compelling. If you haven't seen it, change that! I'm not going to spoil it for you here. The cinematography is perfect. You can see that attention was paid to every detail.
This is my favorite modern classic, mostly because of Billy Bob Thornton's performance. I personally saw this film several times, and didn't even know he was in it. (Guess I should have read the cover sooner!)
Anyways, it's a great film, and by itself, was more than 5 stars
Monster's Ball: I tried to get into this film, but I couldn't. There's not one character I could root for, and honestly, I gave up when Halle Berry went from showing Billy Bob Thornton things of her dead husband and son's to throwing herself at BBT. I couldn't take it anymore, and shut it off.
1523523
Question: What can a 1962 movie about a motley group of ragtag misfits, cooped up for much of its 93-minute run time in a stolen, decrepit Dodge military ambulance, possibly have to offer? Answer: Plenty! "Escape from Zahrain" tosses a fugitive Arab freedom fighter (Yul Brynner), an idealistic but volatile student (Sal Mineo), a world-weary American embezzler (Jack Weston), a sadistic maniac (Anthony Caruso) and a gorgeous nurse (Madlyn Rhue) into the aforementioned vehicle and pits them against the trackless Zahrainian desert--and each other. It's a made-up country, of course, but you could easily substitute the name of one of several real Middle Eastern nations and you'd get the point.

With no food, very little water and barely enough gas to reach safety across the border with a neighboring friendly nation, the hapless adventurers, thrown together by a cruel twist of fate, start their arduous journey mistrusting and even hating each other. They must contend with more than the desert, as the forces of the evil Zahrainian ruler pursue them by air and ground over some of the roughest, most desolate yet photogenic terrain ever seen on film. The credits don't say where "Escape from Zahrain" was filmed, but the parched, rugged, rocky desert and mountain landscapes are simply stunning. As best I can tell, the Dodge actually does what it appears to be doing--ascending and descending steep slopes, almost tipping over sideways, creeping along the crests of mountain ridges, threading its way around massive boulders, crossing baked salt flats, and so on. None of its maneuvers are special effects. There's one scene where the film rate seems speeded up a little, but that's it. The rest is real, and it's amazing. Four-wheel-drive enthusiasts should love this film.

I won't give away details of the plot, but I will say its a non-stop, timeless story of a small group of "normal" people facing incredible natural and human adversities. Not everyone survives the journey, of course (otherwise, it wouldn't be much of a movie), and we care enough about the characters that the inevitable deaths are almost personal. Its fascinating to watch the changing dynamics of the relationships among the fugitives as they get to know each other during the long days of their escape. The story and script are exceptionally well-done. We care very much about the characters as we watch them fight for survival.

Before I got this DVD, I had seen "Escape from Zahrain" only once, at a theatre on its first release when I was (barely) a teenager. It stuck in my memory ever since--not in detail, but as a film that I remembered really enjoying. I'm pleased to say it is every bit as good as I recall. In my opinion, it compares favorably with any other films of the genre ever made, including "Lawrence of Arabia." I very highly recommend it.
616901
I had heard about this movie before, of course, but mostly just what the title meant: a man tries to convince his wife she is going mad. I didn't know why or anything else about it, except that it involved a mystery, and probably a murder.

Ingrid Bergman plays the lead, Paula, and she glows even as she goes mad. She goes mad so convincingly and so beautifully.

Charles Boyer is Gregory, her wicked husband. Why is he gaslighting her? Yes, the title has become a verb over the years.

Joseph Cotten is Brian Cameron, who has something to do with Scotland Yard and something to do with the beautiful opera star who was Paula's aunt (picture obviously is of Bergman) and who was murdered when Paula was something like 12 years old. Bergman successfully played herself as a 12-year-old: that's talent. Also good makeup and hair experts.

And speaking of very young actresses who played this movie to perfection, there is Angela Lansbury (yes, Jessica Fletcher) as Nancy, the young housemaid. She was nominated for an Academy Award for this, her first movie role.

Unless you've read about it a good bit more than I had before I saw it, I'm guessing you won't be able to tell who is trying to help Paula and who is helping Gregory, especially among the minor characters.
1219484
I have seen this movie at least 50 times. Obviously I love it. It received poor reviews; I would suspect the reason is that it is very austere, and fairly intellectual. I am a RABID fan of Mr. Richard Burton; as I mentioned in a previous review. As such, I am somewhat biased, however, I am able to distinguish between a bad film and a good one. This is of course, only my opinion, you must watch it yourself if the subject matter interests you. I for one, am very, very, happy to have accessed it again! Thanks again, Amazon!
4105503
The other reviewers have written very worthwhile reviews.
This is certainly an excellent movie.
For me, I would only like to touch on one seemingly tragic theme that the movie brings out so clearly.
This is the question of what to do about a broken relationship between father and son.
Can it be repaired?
Is it beyond hope?
It is certainly a relevant theme in our society - especially in prisons where so many inmates hate their fathers for so many reasons.
The prophet Malachi touches on this same theme in the very last verse of his prophecy (Malachi 4:6) saying that the coming prophet Elijah would turn the hearts of the fathers back to the sons (or, since "sons" is plural, he might have meant "children" thereby including daughters, too) and the hearts of the sons/children back to their fathers.
The movie shows us that the father-son relationship had been broken by more than one thing.
Sure, there was the conversion to Christianity, of course.
But there was also the loss of the mother to the concentration camp.
The son as a child had bitterly blamed his father for this.
Now with his father lying on his deathbed, the two of them bring up the matter once again.
The father once again reaffirms that he had done all he could, all he knew to do.
We believe him!
The son, rather than apologizing for the years of pain he had caused his father by unjustly blaming him, merely says, "I was young then."
We cry to watch the scene - a father dying in grief and a young well-accomplished bishop who seemingly does not feel any of his father's pain.
I have been in that scene myself - but for me, I told my dad, "I was so stupid!" - and he accepted my explanation and it concluded the matter forever, bringing us together.
Oh! Truly great acting in both of these key roles brings us to this point.
The same tragic flaw carries over to his relationship with Pope John Paul II.
The pope promotes him to great honor.
Yet he constantly has to put out the fires the young hothead inflames and eventually has to distance himself from him.
We want so much for the story to conclude with the young bishop becoming the next pope.
But the ability to reconcile people to each other - certainly the most needed quality of any pope - seems to be just beyond grasp.
We know, beyond the end of the movie, that death by cancer claimed the young bishop before his time.
And the world has lost a great man.
His father was justly proud of him.
And we can still learn so much good from his life story.
3605322
This is an incredible movie from director Stephen Gyllenhaal, father of Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal.  The movie is viewable and enjoyble on multiple layers and from multiple contexts.  Some of us don't understand language, and some of us are not drawn to learn to understand language, until we are attracted to someone who is on the other side of a river's shore, someone beckoning us to speak.  And when we can't find the words, or when we don't know the words, we instinctively fall underwater toward the object of our attraction - sometimes not able to consider much of anything else besides them.

The movie touches on these themes:  Without education, our misunderstandings can drive us to harm ourselves and others.  Most monsters don't know they are monsters.  Most evil is done under flawed justifications of good.  Our definitions of self, religion, justice, ideals, and morality can warp or refine our actions.

The movie addresses these univeral and important questions:  How do you forgive yourself after you may have contributed to the death of someone you loved?  How do you forgive your past selves?  How can you stop the cycle of abandonment after you've been abandoned?  How do you not abandon yourself?

I was never very interested in history as it was taught to me in school, because the histories I was taught avoided controversies.  They proclaimed the "one true interpretation of the past."  They were watered down stories that didn't tell us many of the key things that really happened.

Histories that are worth learning, remembering & discussing are often the histories polite society doesn't discuss.

The lead character, a teacher, frustratingly asks his student, "Bloody Hell Price! Why do you make all that extra effort for mathematics and nothing for history?"
His student replies, "'Cuz math makes sense."

I personally lost a muse once. "And that day I discovered there are many ways the world can end. As many ways as there are people."

As a muse, she started ideas in motion in me, reasoning frameworks that began to make sense of so many of our worlds' crazy histories. "In one life, there can be more than one ending.  It's been like that in mine."

The movie suggests:  We may benefit by not believing in any stories that are dependent on falsehoods or omissions.  To start on a path to recovery:  First, find ways to forgive yourself.  Never abandon yourself.  And even if you don't think you deserve forgiveness, move on because if you can't move on, you may do more harm to yourself and others.  And move on because that may be the only way to continue to benefit yourself and others.
1795162
About 20 minutes in I'm wondering "when's the movie going to start?" It really dawdles coming out of the gate but I'm glad I stuck with it. It's a very thoughtful, philosophic, existential film that makes me ponder "What are we all DOING here?" The two scenes when the main character is reading from the Bible were deeply touching as the actors in the room during those two scenes seemed authentically transfixed by the unadorned synchronicity of the screenwriter's intent linked with their participation in the making of the film in that moment... Like rare "theatre magic" recorded on film, it's a feeling not often attained. This film is different and unique and not for everyone in the sense that it's not "entertainment" but a glimpse of something deeper without being preachy. I say, if you're sensitive, you'll get something new from it.
3556855
A movie not to be enjoyed or appreciated by everyone. It did drag a bit towards the end making it a temptation not to see it through to the end. I watched it in its entirety and loved it. There were so many unanswered questions and so many disturbing insights into a highly authoritarian hierarchical society in which everyone feared and loathed one another. Children in fear of their parents, parents in fear of their children's propensity for rebellion, workers in fear of their landowner, the landowner in fear of his workers' resentment, wives in fear of their husbands,  and an entire village in the grip of fear. There is precious little joy in this movie. Even the children show few moments of playful joy. The whole film in this tiny village is claustrophobic, yet the plot is compelling and draws the viewer in slowly but surely. The question of who committed the acts of cruelty and violence is left unresolved and the viewer has few, if any answers, only suspicions.
The film gives a great insight into what life in a rigid authoritarian society can do to people. It is worth watching, especially for the brilliant black and white photography.
3755093
You will have to work to "get" this film. Attention to nuance, irony, scene composition and the ability to accept dreams as dreams, memory as faulty and people as liars, even to themselves: you need these to enjoy this great film. If you want a staightforward thriller with a neat resolution... watch something else!

This film is a brilliant character study with political overtones. The vision is cynical and bleak. I found it unsettling and mulled it over in my mind for some time. There are so many themes, but most are implicit: imperialism, racism, bourgeois complacency, betrayal, family, trust, paranoia --these are but a few of the grand themes tackled by Haneke in less than 2 hours.

If you like a film that makes you work a bit and don't mind being disturbed, even shocked, then see Cach. The pacing is slow and deliberate, but not "arty". The dialogue is crisp and intelligent; the acting, flawless. The camera is manipulated like a surgeon's scalpel (which is as it had to be, given the main plot points) and the vibe is tense and paranoid.

Not your everyday Hollywood piffle!
2038897
I am a philosophy professor at an American university and whenever I teach an introductory philosophy course, I show my students this movie. I highly recommend it to those who are intrigued by the intersection of history, philosophy and religion.

The movie is set as a many-sided socratic dialog and it evaluates the problem of evil from the point of view of the Old-Testament. I enjoyed watching it at an intellectual level but it is also one of the most depressing movies I have ever seen. No graphic violence or gore, though. Just point blank argument vs counter argument, by which a roomful of Jewish concentration camp prisoners try to determine if God should be blamed for the whirlwind of horror, suffering and death surrounding them.

However, the movie is not at all just dry, abstract reasoning. It is emotionally provoking (to almost a traumatizing degree) and full of moving scenes and twists where the actors perform brilliantly and quite believably.

My only critical comment is that for some reason, the publishers of this DVD chose to market it as a "MASTERPIECE" and added a 4 minute footage to the beginning and the end of the original movie. In the extra footage, a young well groomed man with a smile as big as the Titanic lectures about how deep and masterful the whole movie is. This pompous packaging creates almost a comical contrast with the dark, realistic and modest outlook of the movie. I would recommend that the viewers skip the extra footage. When I watched the movie for the first time, I watched the extra footage unknowingly and I think it was detrimental to my overall viewing experience.

5 out of 5 stars
3292850
Despite the label on the box, this edition is NOT fully exposed.  Just as well, as this marvelous movie is just as it was originally released -- some not-inappropriate foul language and some tastefully naked butts at the end.  That's it.

In our own tough economic times this movie resonates as never before -- no jobs for men who want to work.  The parallels to today are too real, but this movie is no downer -- far from it.  It is about as uplifting (pun intended) as it can be -- a fine tonic for today's still bleak long-term unemployment numbers.  Watch it and be renewed with hope for a better tomorrow!  Great print, too.
4418923
As a person that values reason, logic, objective study, etc..  This movie has made me think deeper about some aspect of our political correctness, etc...
I think one point that struck me in particular, is how often we go along with things, or make decisions, that we don't fully think through, or adequately consider the consequences of.
Everything has a price we must pay...

Can we be really honest with ourselves? or is it easier to keep lying to oneself?
4220099
Great movie--I showed it to my Spanish high school classes--really keeps teenagers' (and adults'!) attention, and wonderful story in general, not to mention great for discussion about class inequality, illegal/undocumented immigration, value of work, etc.  Spoiler alert--it's sort of a bittersweet ending.
1108480
Other reviewers found this movie trite. Perhaps the difficulties wealthy white New Yorkers face isn't profound enough social commentary for some. I thought it was great. The acting, directing, and writing were well executed. Paul Giamatti was especially good. The best thing, though, is the window it gives into the upbringing of the upper classes. Here we have a child ignored by his parents, and loved by a succession of nannies who abandon him. Of course, you might come away with some sympathy for the devil. That's the point. Why are those who've been given everything for nothing often arrogant, distant, and unhappy? Watch the movie. It isn't a touching story about how someone without hope overcomes the odds. It might tell you why those folks seem so hopeless in the first place, though.

I've given it four stars to be picky. It's a really interesting piece, but not my favorite movie ever made. I might watch it again, but probably with someone else.
1371323
1943's SHADOW OF A DOUBT, written by Thornton Wilder, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten, was Alfred Hitchcock's favorite amongst his own films, and is widely considered his best film, as well as Teresa Wright's finest performance.

As the film opens, we meet the debonair Charles Oakley (Cotten). Oakley is seen lying atop his bed, smoking and pensively staring up at the ceiling, trying to come to some sort of decision. The atmosphere in the room is suffused with unease. The skyline outside the window is Newark, New Jersey.

We then cut to Charlotte "Charlie" Newton (Wright), who likewise is lying atop her bed and staring thoughtfully up at the ceiling. The atmosphere is suffused with dissatisfaction. The town outside the window is Santa Rosa, California.

Young Charlie and Old Charlie are niece and uncle, and share an almost psychic bond. Young Charlie is chafing at the ordinariness of life in her small town. Old Charlie is chafing at a troubling and unusual situation in his life. Young Charlie decides to spice things up by inviting her uncle, a world traveler, to Santa Rosa, and sends him a telegram. Old Charlie decides to take up a more bland and mundane lifestyle and sends his niece a telegram telling her he will be arriving in Santa Rosa very shortly. Thus do innocence and worldliness collide.

When Old Charlie arrives, the family, especially Young Charlie, is ecstatic, but as the story slowly, deliberately, unfolds, it becomes clear that Old Charlie is hiding a dark secret. The mystery deepens when MacDonald Carey comes to town, showing an exaggerated interest in the Newton family. As it turns out, Charles Oakley certainly is hiding something, a something his adoring niece quickly discovers. Although she swears to keep his secret, Old Charlie prefers not to take any chances, and his niece and namesake soon begins to suffer a series of potentially deadly accidents. One of these accidents finally has results.

Cotten and Wright play off each other well as the close-bonded Charlies. Cotten is utterly contemptuous of Wright's innocence. She at first wishes she could shed her small-town ingenuousness, but then begins to realize how central it is to her conception of the good life. Cotten was known for his "bad guys," while the Academy Award-winning Wright is remembered as a serious actress devoted to playing only meaningful female roles in the sexist 1940s (her studio contract had a rider refusing 'cheesecake').
The Twenty-Something Wright is at the peak of her powers and reaches her highest standards in SHADOW OF A DOUBT.

Hitch himself appears as a card-playing passenger on a train, and the film is also notable as Hume Cronyn's film debut as a lighthearted neighbor who enjoys trading ideas on how to commit murder with Young Charlie's otherwise button-down Dad.

The pacing is a bit slow for a 200___ audience, but this moderately noir film is certainly worth enjoying.