#Cinequest Film Festival day eleven
If you’re an atheist read my review of film #28 at the bottom of this article.
This is the last day of regularly scheduled screenings. Tomorrow is encore day where the films deemed especially good get an additional screening. This year has been fantastic. I’ve heard a few people give negative reviews of some films but as I mentioned in my previous article I’ve been fortunate this year to have seen only two films I would not recommend seeing.
Film #26: “The Life After” portrays two brothers who grow up with a mother who suffers mental disabilities (probably manic-depression). The younger brother retains an optimistic outlook on life and is the easier to like. The older brother shows early signs of his own mental problems when he kills his brother’s small turtle after finding his turtle dead upon returning from the funeral for their grandfather. As an 18 year old he is sullen and angry far out of proportion to the usual teenage angst. There are several scenes which focus on a birthmark on his lower back that is seemingly identical to that on the mother. Thus reinforcing the idea that he may share the same genetic problem that causes the mother’s mental problems. This is a thoughtful exploration of familial bonds in the face of self-destructive behavior. I rate it 4 of 5 stars.
Film #27: “Zemene” follows a shy ten year old Ethiopian girl as she has a chance encounter with an American doctor who is able to arrange for her severe curvature of the spine to be treated. Thus giving her an opportunity at a normal life. It’s a heartwarming tale. Everyone in the movie is clearly a good person. And clearly modern medicine and secular morals are the reason sole reason Zemene has a chance at a normal life. So I was annoyed by all the attestations that “God” was the reason for Zemene’s good fortune. Especially by the American doctor working in Ethiopia who is a devout, borderline orthodox, Jew and attributes what he manages to achieve to his imaginary sky faerie. Most people will leave the film thinking, yes, God worked yet another miracle. To which I say: If you’re giving God the credit rather than the medical professionals and scientists then why did Zemene have to be operated on in a US hospital? For that matter didn’t God cause her suffering in the first place? This film would have been much better had it left God out of the story. I rate it only 3 of 5 stars.
Film #28: “The Mask You Live In” is a marvelous documentary about male gender stereotypes. Specifically, how we’re failing boys and young men by not allowing them to express a more realistic attitude, both emotional and intellectual, about what it means to be a man. This is a film that should be seen by every male teenager and adult (it has a lot of material not suitable for young boys). One of the prominent doctors and the screenwriter were available for Q&A after the screening. Not surprisingly a theocrat sitting within one meter of me asked why the film didn’t stress the need for more Christianity as the solution. Only he didn’t just ask the question he went on at length about how the removal of God and “good Christian values” from our schools is the reason for all the problems portrayed in the film. I told him, loud enough for most of the audience to hear, that his Christian family values are a big reason for those problems. This was clearly someone who holds people like Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family in high regard. Mr. Dobson is the same “doctor” who recommended in a book he wrote that a father should shower with his son so the son can seen an example of what a real man looks like (obvious reference to the father’s genitalia). Unsurprisingly for the San Jose area several people thanked me for telling the smug theocrat to fuck off. Not a single person (other than the aforementioned theocrat) told me to find Jebus. I believe that one way to make the attitude of my neighbors the norm for the entire USA is to do what I did and vocally tell the theocrats that their viewpoint is not shared by everyone else and is not welcome. I rate this 5 of 5 stars.