John Boorman


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4.5 Catch Us If You Can (1965)
8.0 Point Black (1967)
7.0 Hell in the Pacific (1968)
6.0 Leo the Last (1970)
7.4 Deliverance (1972)
7.9 Zardoz (1974)
4.5 Exorcist 2 (1977)
6.8 Excalibur (1980)
6.0 Emerald Forest (1985)
6.8 Hope And Glory (1987)
6.0 Where the Heart Is (1990)
6.0 Beyond Rangoon (1995)
6.8 The General (1998)
6.0 The Tailor Of Panama (2001)
6.0 In My Country (2004)
6.0 The Tiger's Tail (2006)
6.5 Queen & Country (2014)
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John Boorman (Britain, 1933) nacque in Inghilterra come critico e regista di telefilm o documentari, ma, dopo il tributo al Merseybeat di Catch Us If You Can/ Having a Wild Weekend (1965), crebbe a Hollywood, dove imparò a sfruttare le potenzialità effettive dell'alto spettacolo a fini espressivi e morali altrettanto sconvolgenti.

Point Black (1967), tratto dal romanzo "The Hunter" (1963) di Donald Westlake, è un eccezionale film d'azione, un gangster-film sconnesso e onirico che rinnova il codice linguistico del genere attraverso il doppio lavoro sul montaggio e sul subconscio.

Lee Marvin è un gangster (Walker) che è stato tradito dalla moglie e da un complice nella prigione di Alcatraz. I due fuggono con il bottino di un colpo e lo abbandonano con una pallottola in corpo. Ma Marvin si è salvato ed ora è tornato per vendicarsi. Senza dire una parola, sbarca a San Francisco e va a trovare la moglie che adesso vive sola, mentre nella mente tempestano i ricordi. In un delirio figurativo la notte si porta gli incubi dell'uomo e la vita della donna, che, sconvolta dal rimorso, si è suicidata. Il silenzio irreale del vendicatore (e della colonna sonora) dà la misura della concentrazione e della determinazione con cui Marvin persegue il suo obiettivo.
Risalito a un commerciante d'auto, lo terrorizza con una infernale corsa in auto. Questi lo indirizza alla cognata, ma nel locale notturno dove si esibisce la donna è pronto un agguato: ne consegue una rissa feroce nel retroscena, sommersa dal clamore del rock psichedelico. La cognata si mette dalla sua parte, anche perché il traditore la desidera e le ha ucciso l'amico. Per penetrare nel grattacielo dell'organizzazione usa la ragazza come cavallo di Troia. Lei accetta di andare a concedersi all'uomo che odia, mentre lui, con un'azione diversiva nel palazzo di fronte, distrae le guardie e penetra nell'edificio. Irrompe nella camera all'ultimo piano dove i due stanno facendo l'amore. Marvin si fa dare i nomi dei capi dal vile che, nella colluttazione e nudo com'è, precipita di sotto.
Senza perdere tempo e senza farsi impressionare, Marvin va a rivendicare i suoi soldi dal capo del defunto. Questi finge di piegarsi, ma manda all'appuntamento in un canale artificiale il commerciante d'auto, in odore di disgrazia, con un pacco pieno di carta invece che di dollari. Ma Marvin ha intuito che c'è il trucco e pensa bene di procurarsi un ostaggio. Va a sequestrare il capo in persona e lo manda in avanscoperta nel canale. Il killer appostato non distingue il suo mandante e lo fredda al primo colpo. Con il secondo colpo uccide il disgraziato emissario. E poi, convinto di avere svolto il proprio lavoro a puntino, ripone l'arma e se ne va. Marvin, che ha assistito alla scena al coperto, perquisisce i cadaveri.
La caccia continua, anche se salendo di gerarchia, la lotta con l'organizzazione diventa sempre più impari e feroce. Ad indicargli la villa del successivo boss è l'ambiguo capo di una organizzazione rivale che sta cercando di convincere Marvin a mettersi con lui. Nella villa, mentre aspettano che il pezzo grosso si faccia vivo, Marvin e la cognata si accapigliano: lei, indispettita perché lui non la degna di uno sguardo (nonostante si sia inimicata l'organizzazione per lui), mette a soqquadro la casa e poi da un altoparlante gli rinfaccia la barbara caparbietà con cui insegue i soldi che in fondo non sono nemmeno suoi. Lui le da` la caccia per la casa, ma e` come inseguire un fantasma. QUando finalmente la trova, lei lo colpisce al capo con una stecca da biliardo. E lui finalmente la prende, per terra (ma vede se stesso far l'amore con sua moglie, e poi il traditore far l'amore con sua moglie). L'incantesimo che gli impediva di pensare al sesso sembra spezzato.
Quando arriva il padrone della villa, Marvin lo terrorizza. Si accordano per la consegna della somma di notte in un anfiteatro abbandonato della prigione di Alcatraz. Ci vanno insieme. L'elicottero arriva e deposita il pacco bene in vista. Ma quando sembra finita, il boss nelle mani di Marvin viene fatto fuori dal boss che aveva aiutato Marvin fin dal principio e che ora rivela di essere l'ultimo socio rimasto, quello che sarebbe venuto subito dopo nella lista della vendetta.
Marvin se ne resta immobile nell'oscurità, a spiare l'ambiguo sinistro alleato, che ha sfruttato cinicamente la sua sete di vendetta per eliminare i concorrenti alla scalata al potere e che ore cerca di sedurlo con l'offerta di un impiego stabile al suo servizio. All'alba desiste e se ne va, lasciandogli i soldi.
Marvin è un vendicatore irriducibile; ma non è soltanto sete di vendetta a spingerlo in avanti, tant'è vero che non si ferma neppure dopo che i due traditori sono morti. Lui ha bisogno di tornare in possesso di quel bottino, vuol vedere rispettata una giustizia assurda, che per lui è tutto. Quel denaro è lo scopo della sua vita, ha un senso quasi metafisico.

Preso nella ragnatela di una organizzazione Kafkiana, della quale non riesce mai a vedere il vero volto, solo e impotente, si scaraventa contro il nemico come un kamikaze. Il propellente psichico, la ridda di pensieri, sogni e ricordi che sciabola fitte atroci nella mente, si esaurisce solo quando l'obiettivo è raggiunto; davanti alla necessità di scegliere la sua nuova vita, l'uomo vacilla, confuso e smarrito.

Marvin compie un itinerario metafisico che lo porta nello stesso punto da cui è partito, senza aver risolto il suo vero problema: il senso dell'esistenza, spezzato quel giorno in cui perse moglie e amico, e con loro tutte le sue certezze.

Boorman si serve di tecniche apprese dal documentario, da Resnais, dalla psichedelia. Il suo obiettivo è il subconscio. Regista visionario, crea il mito di un fantasma invincibile ed immortale.

Hell in the Pacific (1968) è un apologo quasi alla Golding sulla convivenza umana. Un pilota americano e un ufficiale giapponese devono dividersi un'isola deserta; stabiliscono le regole per non doversi controllare di continuo e finiscono per diventare anche amici, ma la guerra li separerà di nuovo.

Leo the Last (1970), based on George Tabori's play "The Prince", conferma l'intento "brechtiano" del precedente: l'ultimo erede di una nobile dinastia si rifugia in un quartiere popolare e sembra condannato a trascorrere l'esistenza nella contemplazione della miseria che quelli della sua razza hanno causato.

Deliverance (1972), an adaptation of James Dickey's novel (1970), e` un film molto piu` mainstream dei precedenti, pur essendo ancora un apologo sulla socialità dell'animale uomo, soprattutto quando al di fuori della rete di inibizioni del mondo civilizzato.

Four ordinary, average, middle-class men decide to spend a weekend canoeing down a river. They know that a dam is being built that will destroy the river. They pick a place at random and start their trip on two canoes. One of the canoe is attacked by two abominable men of the woods, who sodomize one of the two tourists and are about to do the same to the other one when their friends rescue them and kill one of the attackers (their leader kills him, with a bow). The friends argue on what to do with the corpse, and eventually agree that the best thing is to bury it in the forest and not tell the police. The friends resume the journey but tragedy strikes again: the rapids claim the life of one of them, and the leader, in a desperate attempt to rescue him, loses a leg. They are obviously lost. One of them climbs a steep wall of rock to look for the wild man who escaped: it's their only hope of finding their way out of the canyon. He finds him, but then has to kill him in order to save his own life. Then he slips and, after quite a jump, falls in the water. The three survivors resume their journey down the river. If nothing else, they find the corpse of the partner that drowned, but then they decide to lose it because it would arise suspicions. So when they finally reach a town, they concoct a story that they simply had an accident and got wounded: they don't want to have to explain the killing of two people. But their story does not hold water (the second canoe is found upriver from where they claim the accident happened, there were four life-jackets, and so on). The sheriff can't find any evidence that they committed a crime, though, so he lets them go. Outside workers are moving a church and even a graveyard, before they all get submerged by the new lake that the dam will create.

Il post-apocalittico Zardoz (1974) si compiace degli effetti figurativi al limite dell'onirismo, di cui Boorman è maestro, in un ambiente fantastico per definizione come quello avveniristico.

Il film si apre con Zardoz che si proclama burattinaio di un possibile futuro, e ride sinistramente della vita degli uomini.
In un immaginario medioevo l'umanità è regredita e perseguitata dalla setta dei guerrieri sterminatori, barbari selvaggi e spietati, raffinati, casta degli immortali, che vivono in un lindo villaggio incantato, dotati di una disumana immortalità e di una gelida in-emotività (Roma decadente? 1984 di Orwell), che vivono in una specie di paradiso esclusivo che agisce sotto il comando di una sinistra testa barbuta volante di pietra e parlante (dio greco).
Uno degli sterminatori, Connery (Dante? Ulisse?) si insinua nell'astronave uccidendo Zardoz trasportato su un altro pianeta che, nel precipitare nel vuoto grida: "senza di me non sei nulla" (l'uccisione di dio da parte dell'uomo scienziato); scopre che tutto è stato edificato dalla...(dove continua?)
Due scienziate analizzano il mortale e decidono di tenerlo come servo, una crudele, l'altra più rispettosa, serva un giovane ozioso. Anche su quel pianeta ci sono dei rinnegati, puniti con l'invecchiamento. I vecchi vivono in un padiglione in perenne festa malinconica. Si va diffondendo un'epidemia di apatia che piano piano colpisce tutte. L'altra scienziata lo vuole uccidere, perché lo ritiene pericoloso. Ma la scienziata vuole avere il tempo di studiarlo e capire il suo significato. Il suo padrone, che si oppone, viene condannato alla vecchiaia. Va a trovarlo, e i vecchi, nell'apprendere che Connery è mortale, gli saltano addosso, desiderosi di morire. La scienziata buona lo interroga con la forza mentale per scoprire quale è il suo scopo lì, finchè lui non confessa. Durante un saccheggio con i suoi sterminatori capitò in una biblioteca e una mano misteriosa lo spinse a leggere un libro che gli rivelò chi era Zardoz. Il libro era "Wizard of oz". Connery decise di scoprire la verità. Quando Zardoz ordinò di non uccidere più, ma di fare prigionieri per coltivare i campi, Connery decise di scoprire la verità penetrando la maschera di Zardoz. La scienziata cattiva gli svela la storia del villaggio: quando il pianeta cominciò a morire, i ricchi fondarono l'oasi e si isolarono dai poveri che soffrivano e morivano. Connery è pericoloso e la scienziata cattiva gli fa dare la caccia per ucciderlo; Connery si nasconde fra gli apatici, che si mettono a baciarlo e baciandolo riacquistano vita; cade nelle mani del branco di vecchi, si libera; il suo ex padrone, già vecchio, gli rivela che i vecchi sono gli scienziati che scoprirono l'immortalità, ma che, legati alla mortalità, diverranno in seguito rinnegati. ...? sta per cadere nelle mani delle donne capitanate dalla scienziata cattiva, ma la scienziata buona gli trovava mentalmente tutto lo scibile umano. Il segreto dell'immortalità è un cristallo che è stato messo nel cervello di ogni persona; e gli compare Zardoz vestito da prestigiatore sarcastico che irride la scienziata cattiva, lo trova ma non riesce a pugnalarlo, lo ama, e svia le altre in modo che non lo trovino; il ribelle può così affrontare il mago che lo sfida a uccidere dio e penetrare nel cristallo da cui ha origine l'immortalità e chi è riflessi nel labirinto senza uscita si trova di fronte a se stresso mascherato da sterminatore spara e uccide.
E' la fine dell'incantesimo: il più anziano dei vecchi finalmente muore, l'astronave telecomandata precipita, il mago risuscitato si mescola alla folla che segue Connery (Cristo?) e sostiene di aver ispirato anche quella stessa rivolta, il ribelle gli rinfaccia che qualche forza più grande ha guidato lui; gli sterminatori irrompono e sterminano gli eletti che ora anelano alla fine; il mago ancora nei panni di surreale prestigiatore da avanspettacolo spira dopo aver fatto comparire un colombo, e al culmine del massacro (che in un certo senso è il loro orgasmo) il ribelle e la scienziata cattiva nascostisi in una grotta fanno l'amore e concepiscono una creatura.
La fantascienza di Boorman è comunque selvaggia e terrestre, più vicina alle leggende mitologiche, alla Bibbia, ai poemi omerici, alle mille e una notte della tradizione celtica che alle saghe tecnologiche di Hollywood. Irrazionale fino allo spiritualismo, Boorman continua a disquisire sull'essenza dell'essere umano, valendosi di toni metafisici e di un repertorio inesauribile di virtuosismi figurativi. Rielaborando miti antichi e moderno con opulenti e diaboliche magie visive, con un catalogo stordente di enigmi iconografici, Boorman racconta una favola per bambini che diventa una satira dell'umanità (il dio di Zardoz non è altro che un illusionista da varietà che si è ispirato al "Wizard of Oz".

Exorcist 2 (1977), the sequel to William Friedkin's The Exorcist, dilaga nei meandri del misticismo e del demonismo in un modo sempre più semplicistico. L'horror demoniaco di Friedkin si tramuta in un forsennato delirio figurativo onirico, etnico e filosofico.

Un gesuita fruga nel mistero della morte del suo maestro, l'esorcista del film precedente, e scopre così che un demone si rivela attraverso le crisi epilettiche di una giovane, la fanciulla del film di Friedkin ora cresciuta, matura e collaborativa. Ha inizio una lotta tenace fra i due emissari dei diversi poteri morali, in un caleidoscopio di incubi, visioni e magie. Un viaggio nei tenebrosi paesaggi della mente, che riporta a galla rituali di altre epoche e di altri continenti e scene di morte.

Excalibur (1980), a retelling of the medieval legend of "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table", is a baroque reconstruction of an era of violence and superstition. Merlin is shown as a sort of Greek prophet, who misses the classic era when people were pure (when Excalibur was forged). Nonetheless, it is Merlin himself who plots the descent into evil. It feels like Merlin is a metaphor for today's incoherent modern humankind, which now has to sail through the depraved corrupt mess that itself has created. Merlin is the irrational that helps the rational dig its own grave.

The film is overlong and predictable, a descendant of DeMille's epics, with many embarrassing dialogues and cheap visual tricks. However, Borman turns the legend of Arthur into a Greek tragedy a` la Sophocles or a "lite" version of Shakespeare. But the story, which is an epic in the original version of a thousand years earlier, ends up feeling like a soap opera a thousand years later. And the acting is as approximate as the acting in soap operas precisely because the story is so implausible and full of medieval stereotypes. And whatever merits the story has are Chretien's merits, not Borman's.

For what it's worth: Merlin is the most contradictory character here, a magician with supernatural powers who somehow cannot resist when humans ask him to do something stupid, an old man who is nostalgic about the golden age of myth and regrets that humankind is abandoning the old myths (and maybe he's also just tired of having been used by humans to carry out their silly and deadly intrigues); Morgana spends her entire life plotting revenge against Merlin, who helped kill her father and rape her mother, and against Arthur, the product of that rape; Modred is the monster child of an incestuous mother, programmed to become a parricide, the ultimate product of Morgana's hatred; Guinevere is the saintly sinner who represents the common woman, not perfect but compassionate and loving; Lancelot proves that the ideal man is utopia and in fact turns out to be the cause of countless disasters, and presumably feels guilty for it but fails until the end of accept the only way he can redeem himself (by killing himself); Arthur is an idiot who becomes and remains king only because of the manipulations of a wizard, who neglects his wife and is responsible for her falling in love with his best friend, who is incapable of running his kingdom without some magical powers to help him out just like he is incapable of fighting a war without the magical sword, which is the reason that he sends all his knights to die in the desperate search for the magical object that will restore his power and his intelligence; Perceval is the common man, born to be a silly peasant, but ultimately the only one in the whole saga who never betrays anybody and never commit atrocities, the real hero of the story.

Merlin watches as Uther and his men slaughter enemies in a battle. Uther demands the sword that Merlin has promised, a sword that confers superpowers to the warrior. Merlin delivers the sword (that emerges from a lake) and Uther's enemy immediately surrenders. The enemy (the Duke of Cornwall) invites Uther to his castle where they feast together. Uther falls madly in love with the host's sexy wife, Igrayne, who performs an orgasmic dance, but his lust risks destroying the alliance that has just been forged. Merlin warns him in vain. Uther is mad with love and sets siege to Cornwall's castle. Another bloody battle is beginning. Uther begs Merlin to help with magic. Merlin accepts but upon one condition: that Uther's son will be his. While Cornwall is away (looking for Uther), Merlin transforms Uther into a clone of Cornwall so that he is easily admitted into the castle. The real Cornwall is being killed in battle (and his little daughter Morgana sees it), but the clone appears and Igrayne sleeps with him. Later the dead body of the real Uther is taken back to the castle. Nine months later Uther, who has taken over Cornwall's castle, reveals to Igrayne that he is the father and pledges to love the newborn baby. But Merlin appears to demand what Uther promises: the child. Uther keeps the promise despite Igrayne's cries and walks away carring in his arms the little Arthur. Uther changes his mind and rides after Merlin but is ambushed by Cornwall knights. Uther, cornered, calls in vain Merlin. With his last remaining strength, Uther thrusts Excalibur into a big rock. None of the knights can pull the sword out of it. Uther dies. Merlin proclaims that who can pull the sword out of the rock shall be king and then looks at the baby in his arms ad predicts that Arthur will be the one. The years go by and Arthur is adopted by Sir Ector, and raised as the brother of Ector's son Kay. When he is already a young man, Ector takes his sons to a jousting tournament in which the knights are fighting for the right to pull the sword. The winner, Sir Leondegrance, tries in vain to pull Excalibur from the rock. A child steals Kay's sword and, looking for a replacement, Arthur simply pulls Excalibur from the rock. A crowd rushes to watch the miracle. The knights are shocked that a humble boy succeeded where they failed. Merlin appears to tell Arthur that he is the son of Uther and Igrayne, not of Ector. Leondegrance immediately recognizes Arthur as the new king, but other knights refuse to acknowledge a bastard as their king. A terrified Arthur runs away. At night he is surrounded by animals in the forest. Merlin appears again to tell him that the forest is haunted by a dragon. Merlin tells Arthur to simply sleep and dreams. In the morning Arthur practices using the sword. Merlin tells Arthur that his father Uther was a great king but too rash. Merlin prods him to join the loyal Ector and Leondegrance in the fight against the rebels led by Sir Uryens. With help from Merlin, they repel Uryens' assault on Leondegrance's castle. During the battle Leondegrance's daughter Guinevere is impressed by Arthur's courage. Arthur captures Uryens and demands that he surrenders. Uryens, a noble knight, refuses because Arthur is nobody. Then Arthur simply hands him Excalibur and asks him to be knighted. Uryens is tempted to kill him with Excalibur but a superior force makes him accept Arthur as his king in front of his troops and other knights. Leondegrance's daughter Guinevere takes care of Arthur's wounds and they kiss. Merlin warns Arthur that, if he marries Guinevere, he will be betrayed by a beloved friend.

Years go by and Arthur reigns over the land but one day a shining white knight, Lancelot, blocks a bridge and refuses to move until someone will defeat him in duel. Arthur loses the duel. Lancelot is clearly a superior warrior, but Arthur calls on Excalibur's superpowers. Now Arthur defeats Lancelot with just one strike but also breaks the magic sword. Merlin is shocked and dismayed. Arthur is ashamed that he couldn't fight fairly, ashamed of his own vanity. Arthur throws the sword into the lake. The Lady of the Lake appears underwater having restored the sword and, smiling, hands back to Arthur. Lancelot is alive and is happy to have been defeated because he finally found a king worthy of being served.

Arthur, Lancelot and the other knights conquer the whole land. After a speech by Merlin, Arthur announces to the knights that he will build a Round Table and the castle of Camelot.

Lancelot is charged with escorting Guinevere to Arthur for the royal wedding. Along the way Lancelot confesses to Guinevere that he loves her but also promises that he will love her as the wife of his best friend. At the wedding Cornwall's daughter Morgana, Arthur's half-sister, shows up and confronts Merlin, revealing that she has been studying the magic to become like Merlin. She proves that she knows the secret of the herbs and that she can see the future. She remembers that Merlin took Arthur away from her mother. She wants to become Merlin's apprentice. Lancelot is riding in the forest when he is stalked by a young savage peasant, Perceval. Perceval catches a hare and roasts it for Lancelot and begs him to accepts him as his servant. He runs the whole way with Lancelot (who is riding his horse) to Camelot. While Perceval wanders around the castle amazed by what he sees, and eventually runs into Merlin, Lancelot refuses Arthur's invitation to stay, clearly to stay away from Guinevere. At the feast of the Round Table knights, Guinevere is clearly upset that Lancelot is missing. Morgana points it out to Gawain. Then she flirts with Merlin, determined to learn his secrets. Arthur asks Merlin is they have completely defeated evil, now that the kingdom is at peace, and Merlin replies that evil is always where one doesn't expects it to be. Seconds later Gawain accuses Guinevere of being evil, of being the cause why Lancelot, the best of them, is not there. Arthur, furious, decrees that Lancelot must challenge Gawain in duel, in order to defend both Guinevere's honor and Lancelot's own honor. Lancelot is alone in the woods, begging God to purge him of his love for Guinevere. Lancelot falls asleep is naked, and dreams that an armored knight appears and tries to kill him: it is Lancelot himself. At the duel Lancelot doesn't show up. No knight is willing to take his place to defend Guinevere's honor. Only Lancelot's servant Perceval does, but he is just a peasant. Arthur knights Perceval on the spot, and Perceval, who doesn't even own an armor, is ready to fight Gawain. But before Perceval can begin the duel with Gawain, Lancelot rides in and takes Perceval's place. Lancelot, although wounded, defeats Gawain. Lancelot is tempted to finish him but then lets him leave and collapses to the ground. Guinevere tends to the wounded Lancelot. When Lancelot wakes up from his slumber, he finds himself in her arms. Merlin cures Lancelot and Lancelot decides to leave the castle. Guinevere, however, follows him in the forest and they have passionate sex. Arthur asks Merlin whether the lovers are together and Merlin confirms. Arthur now remembers Merlin's warning that his best friend would betray him. Arthur asks Merlin for advice but Merlin is ready to die. Merlin finds Morgana preparing potions and scorns her. Merlin takes Morgana in his secret cave, where he can see the future and shows her Lancelot and Guinevere sleeping naked in the forest and Arthur, who has found them, ready to kill them. However, Merlin performs an exorcism in the cave (resulting in multiple explosions) and Arthur in the forest thrusts the sword in the ground, sparing the lovers. The sword appears in the cave and pierces in the chest. As he is dying, Morgana steals from him the secret of transforming into someone else, swearing revenge for what Merlin did to her mother. She leaves the cave swearing to find a man and give birth to a god. Morgana's man is her half-brother Arthur: while he is asleep, she presents to him as Guinevere and has sex with him. Then she reveals to be Morgana and tells him that she is pregnant of the next king. In the next scene the baby is already born, Mordred, amid thunder and lightning. A lightning pierces through Arthur himself, weakening him. Remember that Arthur is also deprived of Excalibur, which has been left in the woods. The country falls to widespread famine. The people invoke help from the king. A faint Arthur orders his knights to search for the Holy Grail (the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper) as the only hope to save the kingdom. The knights, including an aged Perceval, ride away in a landscape of utter desolation and destruction. Ten years later Perceval seems to be the only knight who is still searching. One day he meets an armored knight wearing a mask who claims to know where the Holy grail is. Perceval follows him and finds himself trapped in Morgana's lair: the knight removes his mask to reveal that he is her son Mordred. Many knights have become her slaves. Morgana hallucinates Perceval and then hangs him in a cellar full of dead knights hanging from the ceiling: Perceval sees the Holy Grail but cannot get it (a lengthy scene of cheap visual tricks). Perceval is saved by sheer luck. Meanwhile, Morgana instructs Mordred that some day he will be king without any need for weapons.

The film fast forwards to an adult Mordred for whom Morgana has concocted a golden armor. She dispatches him to challenge Arthur. An aged and weak Arthur replies to Mordred's arrogance by offering his love. Mordred rides away promising to return and take Camelot by force. Perceval is alive, alone in the forest, and sees Mordred ambush and murder Uryens, who refuses to betray Arthur. Perceval is now the last knight of the Round table still alive. As he wanders in the woods, he runs into a column of destitute and plagued people, who, furious with all knights, scorn him and beat him up. They throw him in the river. Perceval recognizes their leader, who is now no more than a fanatical savage long-haired preacher dressed in monk robes, as Lancelot, clearly still mad at Arthur and his followers. Perceval is still determined to find the Holy Grail for Arthur. As he emerges from the river, naked after removing his armor (i.e. returning to be a common peasant instead of a royal knight) he has a vision of Arthur and finds the Holy Grail and instantly he is transported (still naked) in Camelot. Arthur doesn't seem surprised at all: he drinks from the Holy Grail, regains his strength and prepares to fight Mordred in battle. Arthur visits Guinevere who is now a nun in a convent to atone for her adultery, and Arthur begs her forgiveness. It turns out that she has hidden Excalibur all those years and returns it to Arthur. Arthur, with help from his adopted brother Kay, assembles his army on a hill and watches Mordred's army down in the valley. Arthur, alone on the hill, invokes Merlin and, sure enough, Merlin speaks to him from the otherworld and then performs magic in Morgana's tent, neutralizing her magical powers: she instantly turns into an old woman and is strangled to death by her own terrified son Mordred.

In the battle, fought in the magical fog emitted from Morgana's mouth, Arthur, who now has Excalibur, and Mordred, who apparently is still invulnerable thanks to Morgan's magic, cannot prevail over each other. Lancelot rides in, surprising the king and altering the balance of power. But Lancelot dies, begging Arthur's forgiveness, and learning from Arthur that Guinevere has been restored as queen. Mordred is now alone, still alive and ready to kill his father Arthur. Perceval moves in to fight him, but Arthur decides to fight him in person. They kill each other. Upon dying, Arthur orders Perceval (the only survivor) to throw Excalibur in the lake (and the Lady of the Lake catches it), for the next king to find it. Then Perceval witnesses Arthur being taken on a funeral barge by three women dressed in white towards Paradise.

Emerald Forest (1985) è la storia di ciò che capita fra il momento in cui il figlioletto di un ingegnere, impegnato nella costruzione di una diga, viene rapito da una tribù della foresta amazzonica e il momento in cui si ricongiungono, dieci anni dopo. La trama è in realtà il pretesto per scenari di natura selvaggia, rituali primitivi, e avventure gratuite, di visualismo antropologico.

Hope And Glory (1987) is a nostalgic and idyllic recollection in which the events of the war are revisited as magical and fairy tales through the eyes of a child of the London suburbs. It is also a gallery of eccentric characters in Dickens tradition.

At a movie theater, ordinary folks watch a newsreel about the likelihood of war, while children make a lot of noise. War does erupt. A middle-class family gets drawn into the war when the father enlists in the army and goes off to war. Grace, the mother, is left home to take care of the three children. Dawn, the elder daughter, is already a teenager; Bill is still a boy; Sue is just a child. The bombings rapidly lose their threatening power and don't quite scare the children anymore, who run outside to look at the flames in the night. The bombing is a monumental show that mesmerizes adults and excites children.
On their way to school Bill and Sue overhear somebody making love in the ruins. The teacher teaches discipline and patriotic spirit into the children. On the way back home the children witness the take off of a giant balloon. Children search the ruins for bomb shells. Bill is taken by a gang of children who are collecting bomb shells and who are ready torture him. They have to dream up a story to save himself and is then accepted by the gang.
The entire village comes out when a pilot parachutes down from the sky littered with balloons. They are terrified by the enemy. A police officer armed with a baton, and who is no less afraid than the crowd, arrests him.
Bill's teenage daughter is crazy for the Canadian troops who are training in the neighborhood.
One bomb misses their house narrowly, causing devastation while the family is running to the shelter. The following day they realize the extent of the damage. Bill is all excited that a playmate's mother has been killed and runs around to tell everybody. His sister Sue, more compassionate, asks Pauline if she wants to play with them.
Pauline is then captured by the gang of naughty diggers who want her to see her cunt. She first refuses by then the little boss of the gang offers her a necklace they found in the rubbish and she accepts to lift her dress if they line up.
Mother and daughter argue. The mother was brought up with tight morals, but her daughter seems to have no morals, disoriented by the war. Grace slaps her harder and harder, but then they hug and cry, while Bill and Sue observe amazed and confused from upstairs.
Father comes to visit and brings german jam as a present, but Grace is afraid it is poisoned. He has not been assigned to fighting, he just works in an office. Dawn introduces her Canadian fiance`, Bruce, to the family.
A balloon goes astray and destroys one chimney after the other. Instead of panicking, the citizens are amused.
One night Bill and Sue spy on Dawn and her lover having sex in the next room, and Sue comments on how inexperienced they look compared with their parents.
Grace's neighbor and friend boasts with her about her secret affairs.
At the Christmas party their grandfather gets drunk and toasts all the women he has had sex with. Bruce has to go to the front and says goodbye to Dawn. Father also has to leave.
Returning from a picnic by the sea with a friend (and old flame) of Grace, the family finds that their house has been destroyed (not by a bomb, but by a fire). The family is forced to move in with their grandfather, who lives in the countryside by the river. Out of the blue, Dawn reveals that she is pregnant (the grandfather think they are talking of how long they will stay with him, while they are talking of how many months the girl's been pregnant). Under the casual guidance of his grandfather, Billy gets to learn fishing and punting, while Grace and Dawn finally find some peace.
A plane bombs the river while Bill and Sue are rowing in it. Bill happily collects all the dead fish that come up and brings them back home.
On another boat trip, they are met by Bruce, who has returned to rejoin Dawn. Bruce and Dawn get married, but the military police comes to arrest Bruce who has deserted. The ceremony is still in progress and by the end of the party Dawn has actually given birth to a baby.
The grandfather takes Bill back to school, but the children are celebrating that the school has been destroyed by a stray bomb, indifferent to the schoolmaster's threats of punishment. Tha grandfather joins in the excitement and laughs all the way back home.
Boorman's film is a symphony of voices. Hope and Glory" is a non-narrative movie made of Dickens-ian sentimental vignettes and affectionate caricatures. Boorman is careful to create contrast: every potentially sentimental moment is interrupted by a comic happening. The movie virtually turns into another movie when the grandfather appears. Billy's grandfather and his clumsy humanity become the biggest influence in Billy's life. Suddenly, it is no longer about observing adults but growing to become one of them. And the setting has changed to a Renoir-ish pastoral parable. None of the characters is completely positive: gangsters, bitches, idiots, cheaters, drunkards, ... Boorman's is a symphony of dissonant voices.

Where the Heart Is (1990) is a mediocre comedy.

Beyond Rangoon (1995) is a historical drama about the pro-democracy protests in Myanmar of 1988.

The General (1998) is the biopic of a Irish mobster.

The Tailor Of Panama (2001) is an adaptation of John LeCarre's 1996 novel.

In My Country (2004) is anti-apartheid film based on Antjie Krog's memoir "Country of My Skull".

The Tiger's Tail (2006) is set in the business world.

Queen & Country (2015), the first film in eight years from the 82-year-old Boorman, was a sequel to Hope And Glory.

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