IFF Film Review: "Rome, Open City" ("Roma città aperta") (1945).

"Rossellini's Great Film of Our Time." This is Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta). This Italian neorealist war drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and written by Rossellini, Sergio Amidei and Federico Fellini. It is the first film in Rosselini's "Neorealist Trilogy", followed by Paisan (1946) and Germany, Year Zero (1948). Resistance leader Luigi Ferrari is pursued by Major Fritz Bergmann, a German intelligence officer who wants the name of others in the underground movement. Ferrari enlists the help of sympathetic priest Don Pietro Pellegrini to pass on funds to the fighters in case he is captured, but is accidentally betrayed by a former lover. 

Towards the end of World War II, Rossellini had initially planned a documentary titled Storie di ierion the subject of Don Pieto Morosini, a Catholic priest who had been shot by the Nazis for helping the partisan movement in Italy, and began meeting with a number of screenwriters in Rome shortly after Germany abandoned the city. Rossellini, Fellini and Amidei began working on the script during the German occupation of Italy. However, Fellini in his memoirs claims that Rossellini invited him to "participate in writing the script for the film, which later became known as 'Rome - an open city'" after Rome was occupied by the Americans. Fellini was initially uninterested in joining, as he had disapproved of partisan action during the occupation. On June 4, 1944, the Nazis abandoned Rome; the Allies occupied the undefended city the next day. By late January 1945, Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani, Marcello Pagliero, Vito Annicchiarico, Nando Bruno, Harry Feist, Giovanna Galletti, Francesco Grandjacquet and Maria Michi were cast. In order to authentically portray the hardships and poverty of life in Rome under the occupation Rossellini hired mostly non-professional actors. Rossellini also used real German POWs as extras for added realistic effect. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late June 1945. Filming took place under precarious conditions, with its style developing from circumstance, throughout the titular city. The facilities at Cinecittà Studios were unavailable at the time, as they had been damaged in the war and were then currently requisitioned by Allied forces to house displaced persons. The film was shot by using different kinds of available stock that were pieced together.These included the Leica stock that was being used by Italian cameramen to take home movies of American soldiers touring the sites of Rome, and the high quality Kodak stock used to make newsreel shorts of the time. Aldo Venturini, a wool merchant with some capital to invest, was involved in financing the film. After a few days of shooting, production had stopped due to lack of cash, and Rossellini convinced Aldo Venturini, a wool merchant with some capital to invest, to complete the film as a producer, arguing that it was the only way to safeguard his investment.

The performances were chillingly blunt, doggedly unsentimental and emotionally overwhelming.

The film effectively maintains the rough-hewn, in-the-streets feel of neorealism, and in its best moments it feels like something captured, rather than something produced.

Simon says Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta) receives:

Also, see my IFF review for Journey to Italy (Viaggio in Italia).

IFF Film Review: "Journey to Italy" ("Viaggio in Italia") (1954).

"A Dramatic and Unusual Love Story!" This is Journey to Italy (Viaggio in Italia). This Italian drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini, written by Rossellini and Vitaliano Brancati, and loosely based on the novel Duo by Colette. Sharing a passionless existence together, Alexander and Katherine Joyce, a married English couple, travel to Naples after inheriting a villa. On the verge of divorce, with neither one's disposition warming to the other, they decide to spend the rest of the trip separately. Katherine visits museums and historical sites, whereas Alexander goes to Capri to unwind with drinks. However, during the course of their vacation, the Joyces both undergo changes.

The film originally was intended as an adaptation of the French writer Colette's 1934 novel; Rossellini was, however, unable to get the rights to the novel, and was forced to draft a screenplay that differed sufficiently from the novel. Rossellini and Brancati, also apparently drew on a script entitled New Vine, by Antonio Pietrangeli, which described the argumentative relationship of an English couple touring Naples in a Jaguar automobile. The film's storyline about Charles Lewington, the deceased poet who'd been in love with Katherine Joyce, is considered to be an allusion to the short story The Dead by James Joyce. Rossellini's directorial style was very unusual. The actors did not receive their lines until shortly before filming of a particular scene, leaving them little if any chance to prepare or rehearse. George Sanders' autobiography Memoirs of a Professional Cad (1960) tellingly describes Rossellini's methods of direction and their effects on the actors and production team. Sanders wrote at length about the making of this film, which he found an exasperating and unpleasant experience. He spoke witheringly about Rossellini, whom he characterized as being more interested in scuba-diving than in film-making. Although the tone of his remarks is one of amusement, it became known that Sanders (who had admired earlier Rossellini films) had been deeply affected by exposure to a style of film-making quite foreign to his previous experience, and had spent the shoot feeling frustrated and angry, often bursting into uncontrollable tears. In 1953, the film was completed, but it took eighteen months to arrange for distribution of the film in Italy. In 1954, the film was released with the title Viaggio in Italia, with a running time of a hundred and five minutes. The film had been dubbed into Italian, and now is used as an example of "monstrous" difficulties with dubbing. The film was a critical and financial failure. However, today, the film generally is regarded as a landmark film.

The film stars Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders, Maria Mauban, Anna Proclemer and Paul Muller. The performances given by the cast are far from anonymous stylistically despite their casual, improvisational feel.

The film got off to a strong start, but it dawdled along to an anemic climax, and then came to a shaky conclusion. The film has none of the artistic merits of Rome, Open City or Stromboli, both Rossellini pictures.

Simon says Journey to Italy (Viaggio in Italia) receives:

Film Review: "Elvis" (2022).

"The Man. The Legend. The King of Rock & Roll." This is Elvis. This biographical musical drama film directed by Baz Luhrmann, and written by Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner. A thoroughly cinematic drama, Elvis’s story is seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker. As told by Parker, the film delves into the complex dynamic between the two spanning over twenty years, from Presley’s rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America. Central to that journey is one of the significant and influential people in Elvis’s life, Priscilla Presley.

In April 2014, the project was first announced when Luhrmann entered negotiations to direct the film, with Kelly Marcel penning the script. No further development was announced until March 2019, when Tom Hanks was cast in the role of Colonel Tom Parker. Luhrmann was hired to direct, and Marcel was replaced with Bromell and Pearce. In July, the frontrunners for the role of Presley were Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Austin Butler, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Harry Styles; later that month Butler was ultimately cast. In October, Olivia DeJonge was cast to play Priscilla Presley. By late January 2020, Richard Roxburgh, Kelvin Harrison Jr., David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Luke Bracey, Dacre Montgomery, and Xavier Samuel rounded out the film's cast. At the same time, with a budget of $85 million, principal photography commenced and wrapped in March 2021. Filming took place at the Village Roadshow Studios in Oxenford, Queensland, Australia. In early March, production was halted when Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic. In late September, filming resumed. The film was previously scheduled for an October 1, 2021 release date, before being delayed to November 5, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and later to June 3, 2022. The film was not listed as part of the December 2020 announcement by Warner Bros. Pictures to debut its entire 2021 slate concurrently in movie theatres and on HBO Max, before the film was officially pushed to 2022.

The film stars Butler, Hanks, DeJonge, Roxburgh, Harrison Jr., Wenham, Smit-McPhee, Bracey, Montgomery, and Samuel. Butler is brazenly resplendent in the role, summoning Elvis’ high-energy performance antics as well as his mournful, introspective side.

If you are an Elvis Presley fan, I think there's a lot to enjoy in this movie, because the performance scenes are absolutely fantastic. Thanks to the film's aesthetically pleasing musical sequences and Butler's commanding leading performance, it still serves as an adequate reminder of both the artist's musical genius and Elvis' one of a kind stage presence. The film dives into the struggles that Elvis Presley went through. Whether you are an Elvis Presley fan or not, it makes for a great drama with awesome music! So forceful and enthusiastic that it's hard not to get caught up in the momentum and the impact of one of the most enduring artists in music history.

Simon says Elvis receives:

Also, see my review for The Get Down.

Film Review: "Men" (2022).

"What haunts you will find you" in Men. This folk horror film written and directed by Alex Garland. In the aftermath of a personal tragedy, Harper retreats alone to the beautiful English countryside, hoping to have found a place to heal. But someone or something from the surrounding woods appears to be stalking her. What begins as simmering dread becomes a fully-formed nightmare, inhabited by her darkest memories and fears

In early January 2021 it was announced that Garland would write and direct a film for A24, with Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear attached to star. By late March 2021, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late May. Filming took place throughout London and Gloucestershire, England.

The film stars Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear. The cast is exceptional, portraying relatable, sympathetic souls marching through emotionally and psychological terrors.

The film balances being cerebral drama with effective horror, compelling characters, and terror-inducing visuals that will brand themselves into your brain. The film proves writer/director Alex Garland's exhilarating filmmaking style is a breath of fresh air to the horror genre and Hollywood altogether. Just horror at its best. It's got great performances, great color, good music, and more than a few mind-blowing reveals. There are moments where its reach outdoes its grasp but I'll take that any day over a mediocre Blumhouse movie that just gobbles up everything like a maelstrom of mindless metal shards. I truly enjoyed every single moment of this film once you understand what the story's about and the deeper meaning behind Jessie Buckley's character. the story is just a beautiful package, beautifully sold. With ultimate faith toward his audience, Garland asks the questions and empowers the audience to discover the answers. Garland's third directorial effort, is every bit as astounding as his freshman one, Ex Machina. The film is an intelligent and frightening cinematic experience. It's also bound to be polarizing in that way that only smart horror can. The film shares the ambiguous dream logic found in David Lynch's best work, but mixes it with the type of horrific imagery seen in The Shining. The film is a smart and intelligent movie. It's super ambitious and maybe a bit tedious. The movie requires patience and at times gets a bit too showy. Even as it relies on horror tropes for shape the film's mission is to plumb the depths of Freudian fear. A metaphoric mind-bender that will find favor with select moviegoers while absolutely alienating everyone else. This film is ambitious, messy, moving, horrifying, and often times incomprehensible. Each layer is slowly revealed until it gets to the glowing center and there is nothing you can do but shield your eyes from the light of its revelations. Garland creates an atmosphere which feels deliberately distorted and diaphanous, as if we are viewing the world through a soap bubble. Generally speaking, Garland manages his genre/arthouse balancing act smoothly without undervaluing either aesthetic. I admire its sophistication and ability to tell such a human story with so much intelligence, taking on issues of the Anthropocene with a dexterous and effulgent vision.

Simon says Men receives:

Also, see my review for Devs.

Film Review: "Spiderhead" (2022).

"How Far Would You Go to Fix Human Nature?" This is Spiderhead. This science fiction thriller film directed by Joseph Kosinski, adapted by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and based on the dystopian short story Escape from Spiderhead by George Saunders. A prisoner in a state-of-the-art penitentiary begins to question the purpose of the emotion-controlling drugs he's testing for a pharmaceutical genius.

In February 2019, a film adaptation of Saunders' short story, that was first published in The New Yorker in 2010 and in collection of short stories Tenth of December in 2013, was announced with Kosinski set to direct, and Reese and Wernick penning the adaptation. By early November 2020, Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett, Charles Parnell and Nathan Jones were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and took place throughout Queensland, Australia.

The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett, Charles Parnell and Nathan Jones. The cast entertains in this intriguing sci-fi flick that is full of twists and turns. However, Teller has more chemistry with Hemsworth than with any of the female performers.

Filled with amazing post-apocalyptic spectacle, and a heady story of twists and turns, the challenge of the film is whether or not you, as the audience, can allow the strong visuals to make up for the weak narrative. A grab bag of ancient (in movie terms) sci-fi ideas, the film is a sharp-looking film that will, through its own paucity of invention, be quickly consigned to history. On a pure surface level, the film is well made, but this seems like it was aimed at an audience that has never seen a science fiction film before. Because the film borrows heavily from other sci-fi films, it lacks distinction in making the film truly it's own. You could do a lot worse than this movie, that is clearly trying to bring the many classics and best of science fiction together with new ideas, gorgeous visual style and an exciting cast. Kosinski creates a good-looking film, with sweeping landscapes and some nice special effects that keep the audience interested. But that interest wanes as the story begins to unfold. There's something sturdy and likable about the way Kosinski tells his big story around just a few characters, drawn together across an mysterious island. An emotionally-barren and tediously convoluted film, brimming with risible dialogue and plastic performances. The story here can veer into the preposterous at times, as stories of this sort often do. But more important, it provides Hemsworth lots of opportunities to look cool. Although opulent, ambitious and populated with fine performers that try to breathe some creative life into the sporadic script, the film is stiff thematically and fails to deliver a premium-plus pulse of twitchy intrigue and surging suspense. Although it looks spectacular and boasts some pungent ideas, the surprise-to-running-time ratio is out of whack. Kosinski's film is far from original and instead acts as yet another genre rip-off that looks shiny and expensive, but is hollow and lifeless where it counts.

Simon says Spiderhead receives:

Also, see my review for Top Gun: Maverick.

Film Review: "Lightyear" (2022).

From the studio that brought us Toy Story comes Lightyear. This computer-animated science fiction action-adventure film directed by Angus MacLane, written by MacLance and Jason Headley, based on the characters created by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft, and produced by Pixar Animation Studios. A sci-fi action adventure and the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear, the hero who inspired the toy, Lightyear follows the legendary Space Ranger after he’s marooned on a hostile planet 4.2 million light-years from Earth alongside his commander and their crew. As Buzz tries to find a way back home through space and time, he’s joined by a group of ambitious recruits and his charming robot companion cat, Sox. Complicating matters and threatening the mission is the arrival of Zurg, an imposing presence with an army of ruthless robots and a mysterious agenda.

After the completion of Finding Dory, development on the film began. After co-directing Dory with MacLane and Andrew Stanton was allowed to pitch the idea of making a Buzz Lightyear film, having always wondered what movie Andy Davis saw in the original Toy Story (1995) to get interested in a Buzz Lightyear action figure. MacLane, also a science fiction fan, had felt attracted to the character of Buzz since he started working at Pixar, feeling that the film's story was very "personal" for him, whose favorite movie since childhood had been Star Wars (1977). When asked about the relationship between the film and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-01), a Toy Story spin-off series that also serves as an in-universe production starring the Buzz character, MacLane said that he did not have the series in mind while working on the film, but always pictured the series being developed in-universe after a trilogy of films. In February 2019, Tim Allen, the original voice actor of Buzz, expressed interest in doing another film. In December 2020 at a Disney Investor Day meeting, Lightyear was announced as a spin-off film depicting the in-universe origin of the human Buzz Lightyear character, with Chris Evans providing the character's voice. Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, James Brolin, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, Uzo Aduba, Efren Ramirez and Isiah Whitlock Jr rounded out the film's voice cast. The animators wanted the film to look "cinematic" and "chunky" in order to evoke the feeling of the sci-fi films MacLane grew up with. In order to achieve this, they asked a former Industrial Light & Magic employee to build a spaceship model for them, from which the animators drew inspiration; this technique was inspired by designers for early sci-fi films using models as inspiration for their sets and props. MacLane said the animation took several "visual lessons" from early sci-fi and space opera films such as the Star Wars franchise, though without intentionally imitating such films.

We've seen and loved the characters before so this wasn't a "must have" prequel, still they do entertain, partly thanks to the cast.

A decent enough way to pass the time, but it pales in comparison to the modern classics that Pixar has delivered before.

Simon says Lightyear receives:

Also, see my reviews for Finding Dory and Turning Red.

Film Review: "Mad God" (2021).

"A journey beyond your wildest nightmares." This is Mad God. This stop motion-live-action hybrid horror film written, produced, and directed by Phil Tippett. It is a fully practical stop-motion film set in a Miltonesque world of monsters, mad scientists, and war pigs. A figure known as "The Assasin" as descends from the heavens into a nightmarish pit full of monsters, titans and cruelty.

Born on September 27, 1951, Oscar and Emmy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and filmmaker, Phil Tippett, specializes in creature design, stop-motion and computerised character animation. Over his career, he has assisted ILM and DreamWorks, and in 1984 formed his own company, Tippett Studio. His work has appeared in movies such as the original Star Wars trilogy, Jurassic Park, and RoboCop (just to name a few). In 1987, while working on Robocop 2 (1990), Tippett, the legendary visual effects and stop-motion craftsman, embarked upon an ambitious personal project, fabricating and animating a darkly surreal world in which the creatures and nightmares of his imagination could roam free. Tippett produced dozens of environments and hundreds of puppets for the project, filling notebook after notebook with thousands of detailed sketches and storyboards. Decades after the success of Tippett Studio forced production into stasis, a group of animators at Tippett Studio came upon boxes of shelved props and puppets. After viewing the original footage, they convinced Phil to resurrect the project. The small group began volunteering their weekends to the film, and before long it had snowballed into a crew of more than sixty artists. The scene with the mountain of dead soldiers was done by melting thousands of little army men together on wire, and it took six people three years to complete the scene. A wildly successful KickStarter campaign provided funding for materials and equipment. Each piece of the film is hand crafted, independent and created from the heart. The film has no audible dialogue, and consists almost entirely of stop-motion animation and puppet work, although there are a few live-action sequences where actors in puppet suits were used. Sometimes that heart is bursting with love for the craft, while other times it's macabre, punctured, and bleeding. The film is a mature one crafted from techniques & technologies that span the history of cinema and the career of a true animation mastermind. The first chapters of the film were unleashed on the world via Kickstarter campaigns. Starting in August, 2021 - the film debuted as a Feature Film, combining the earlier chapters and adding 30+ additional minutes of content to fulfill Tippett's thirty-year vision.

Its glorious proliferation of hellish transformations works like a charm on anyone who values the imagination. The film takes us back to a time in the history of movies when audiences responded to the images on screen with a combination of awe and fear, when in submitting to them, we felt as if we were submitting to a spell. Not necessarily for young kids, this is a surrealist version with a great deal of attention accorded to objects.

Simon says Mad God receives:

Film Review: "Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy" ("偶然と想像") (2021).

From the director of Drive My Car (ドライブ・マイ・カー) comes Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy (偶然と想像). This Japanese romantic drama anthology film written and directed by Ryūsuke Hamaguchi. An unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding are the three episodes, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.

The three stories were actually designed as the three of a group of seven stories, which have all been written already. The first two were shot in late 2019, and the third one was shot in July 2020, in the midst of the long break in the shooting of Drive My Car (2021) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The film stars Kotone Furukawa, Katsuki Mori, Fusako Urabe, Ayumu Nakajima, Hyunri, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Shouma Kai, and Aoba Kawai. Buoyed by the three captivating performances from its three unheralded actresses, the film is a fascinating, towering confection of contradictions. The three actresses are excellent. They will no doubt attract most attention, impressive in their ability to inhabit very different characters, yet they are the power at the heart of the film. Hamaguchi keeps us guessing as to whether the characters' longings are innate or instilled by something beyond them and us.

Hamaguchi’s slow-burning, two-hour meditation on romance, marriage, seduction and connection. With great warmth and poignancy, Hamaguchi's film is perhaps one of the most satisfyingly nuanced portraits of the profundity lurking beneath the day-to-day grind. Hagamuchi does not waste the two hour film time and allows us to get to know, intimately, each of the ladies, their lives, hopes and fears. Hamaguchi offers great perspectives into the dynamics of romance, marriage and the unknowability of others, shedding surprising light on the men in these women's lives in his final acts. Hamaguchi proposes a life-world in which the experiences that are really supposed to rearrange our daily identities actually do. By spending so much time with these ordinary women, we see them fully in all their thorny complications.

In the film, and particularly in that beautiful scene on the ferry, the world is not just gliding by-it is being slid into place before our eyes, as if for the first time. The film commands respect through the audacity of its conception and scale, and it earns affection through its humane attentiveness. Hamaguchi is a genius of scene construction, turning the fierce poetry of painfully revealing and pugnaciously wounding dialogue into powerful drama that's sustained by a seemingly spontaneous yet analytically precise visual architecture. Running at two hours, Hamaguchi's movie foregrounds the quotidian, revealing the latent drama in the most seemingly mundane moments. It is refreshing to see a Japanese film that is modern and direct and not trying to be overtly Ozu-y or arthouse poetic or genre-y, yet very Japanese. I very much appreciate Hamaguchi's work.

Simon says Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy (偶然と想像) receives:

Also, see my review for Drive My Car (ドライブ・マイ・カー).

Film Review: "Jurassic World: Dominion" (2022).

"The epic conclusion of the Jurassic era." This is Jurassic World: Dominion. This science fiction action film directed by Colin Trevorrow, written by Trevorrow and Emily Carmichael and based on the characters created by Michael Crichton. It is the sequel to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), the final film in the Jurassic World trilogy, and the sixth installment in the Jurassic Park franchise. The film takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.

In February 2018, before the release of Fallen Kingdom, Universal announced a third film, known then as Jurassic World 3, with Trevorrow as director and co-writer with Carmichael and a June 11, 2021 release date. In March, Trevorrow was confirmed to direct the film after he left directing and writing duties on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) in September 2017. By late February 2020, Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Omar Sy, Isabella Sermon, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill were confirmed to reprise their roles from both the Jurassic World and Jurassic Park films, with DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, Campbell Scott, Scott Haze, and Dichen Lachman rounded out the film's cast as newcomers. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early November. Filming took place throughout British Columbia, Canada and Malta, and at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, England, UK. The film was shot under the working title Arcadia and on a combination of 35mm film, 65mm film, and VistaVision. The production utilised more animatronic dinosaurs than the previous Jurassic World films. Approximately eighteen animatronics of varying sizes were created for the film. In March, the production was put on hiatus in as a safety precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A decision on when to resume production was originally expected within several weeks. Following the delay, the filmmakers saved time by doing post-production work on the footage that was already shot. Most of these scenes featured dinosaurs, allowing the visual effects team to get started on the creatures. In early July, filming resumed. But, in early October, filming was partially halted after several people tested positive for COVID-19.

The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Pratt, Howard, Sy, Sermon, Smith, Pineda, Dern, Goldblum, Neill, Wise, Athie, Scott, Haze, and Lachman. The returning cast were terrific choices once again for the film and they once again prove why they deserve to be in this blockbuster. The same goes for the new cast members.

The latest installment to Spielberg's clever, scary franchise is even less necessary than all the borderline nonsensical (but still pretty entertaining) follow-ups. Almost all of the magic of cinematic dinosaurs is gone, even though further attempts are made to increase the magnitude and intensity of gargantuan reptiles on the loose.

Simon says Jurassic World: Dominion receives:

Also, see my reviews for Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Film Review: "Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis" ("Gladbeck: Das Geiseldrama") (2022).

From Netflix and the director of Berlin 1945 comes Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (Gladbeck: Das Geiseldrama). This documentary film directed by Volker Heise. In August 1988, two armed bank robbers keep German police at bay for 54 hours during a hostage-taking drama that ends in a shootout and three deaths.

From August 16th to 18th, 1988, the Gladbeck hostage crisis or Gladbeck hostage drama was a bank robbery and hostage-taking that took place in West Germany. Two men with prior criminal records – Hans-Jürgen Rösner and Dieter Degowski – robbed a branch of the Deutsche Bankin Gladbeck, North Rhine-Westphalia, taking two employees as hostages. During their flight, they were joined by Rösner's girlfriend Marion Löblich, with whom they hijacked a public transport bus in Bremen. With twenty-seven hostages aboard, they drove towards the Netherlands, where all but two hostages were released and the bus was exchanged for a getaway car. The hostage-taking was finally ended when the police rammed the getaway car on the A3 motorway near Bad Honnef, North Rhine-Westphalia. During the hostage crisis, a fourteen-year-old boy and an eighteen-year-old woman were killed. A third victim, a thirty one-year-old police officer, died in a traffic accident while chasing the hostage-takers. At the time, the unfolding of events was extensively covered by West German media, which quickly spiraled into a media circus. In the aftermath of the hostage crisis, journalists have been criticised for conducting interviews with the hostage-takers, asking them to pose for photographs, and aiding them by giving them, among other things, coffee and road directions. This resulted in the German Press Council banning any future interviews with hostage-takers during hostage situations.

Watch the film, then turn off your TV, laptop or phone to reflect, or go on a walk and acknowledge what a privilege it is to live life outside captivity. Because the last thing you'd want to be is a prisoner in your own home. The news footage and interviews themselves are gripping, as they range from touching to frightening. In many cases, watching this series is to be a witness to the innocence of the well-meaning brushing up against the trauma of the brutalized, and it's not pretty. This offshoot of the true-crime genre is another effective way to experience the worst moments in other people's lives from a safe distance. If additional seasons of the series make their way to Netflix in the coming years, one hopes that Heise will learn to better let these stories - of survival, struggle, human nature, and chilling circumstance - speak for themselves. The film demonstrates how its focus on the here-and-now hobbles its attempt to tell a more resonant story. The film does something daring with the interviews. He will juxtapose comments that are contradictory, not necessarily in fact but in interpretation or emphasis. This creates a kind of stereo effect that enlarges the film. The film is a compelling topic, and the series certainly delivers the expected drama, albeit in a heavy-handed manner, meaning those looking for a docu-diversion should find it worthy of delving into.

Simon says Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (Gladbeck: Das Geiseldrama) receives:

Anti-War March to Commemorate Victims of War in Ukraine.

On Friday 3rd June 2022, the Russian war against Ukraine entered into its 100th day with no clear end in sight. According to Jon Henley from The Guardian, Moscow has seized about a fifth of Ukraine's territory but hasn't been successful in taking over any major cities. The Kremlin has vowed to continue their mass genocide of the Ukrainian nation "until all goals are achieved" with Russian troops pummelling the Donbas region. On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that "tens of thousands" of civilians have been killed in the conflict. However, speaking in a video featuring the same key ministers and advisors who appeared with him in a moral-boosting broadcast the day Russia invaded, President Zelenskyy declared that "victory shall be ours". He also mentioned that the Ukrainian troops did "what seemed impossible" and stopped the "second army of the world". Several world leaders such as EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised the "bravery" of Ukrainians as it "commands" our "respect and admiration". Moreover, according to Russian human rights lawyers and activists, some Russian troops have refused to return to fight in Ukraine due to their experiences on the front line. One particular Russian soldier who spent five weeks fighting in Ukraine earlier in the year told the BBC that he didn't want to return to "kill and be killed". He added that despite his initial thoughts on the Russian army being the "most super-duper in the world", him and his fellow servicemen were expected to operate without even the most basic equipment such as night vision devices. 

Despite the long distance between the two countries, New Zealand has stood with Ukraine in the nation's fight against Russian fascism. On Sunday 5th June 2022, the Ukrainian Association of New Zealand with support from the members of the Ukrainian Community in Auckland held a march in the largest city in the country in honour of all those innocent lives lost in the war. Gathering at Aotea Square, the group made their way through the major streets in the city centre to the Auckland War Memorial Museum. According to Radio New Zealand, there were more than one-thousand people present in voicing their support for Ukraine. 

Also, see my photos of the Stand with Ukraine Rally here.