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John Sayles (USA, 1950) debuted as a novelist with
"The Pride of the Bimbos" (1975) and as a filmmaker with
Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980), after apprenticeship with Roger Corman.
Baby It's You (1983)
The lesbian drama Lianna (1983)
Lianna is married to film professor Dick. They have two annoying children.
She dropped out of school to dedicate her life to the family. She meets other
wives at a night class. Out of the blue, her teacher, Ruth, seduces her.
They make tender sex, all whispers and caresses. They keep seeing each other
and making love. The first time she has an altercation with her husband, she
tells him the truth. Her husband, who may have already been tempted,
does not forgive: she has to move out and find a job.
She truly loves Ruth, but it turns out Ruth does not love her: there is
another woman. Ruth doesn't even let her move in with her, because it would
hurt her career, although they remain lovers.
Lianna realizes that she has always been attracted to women,
and even sleeps with a neighbor. But eventually she is heartbroken when Ruth
leaves her for good. She lost everything (husband, children, lover)
out of true love.
Baby It's You (1983)
In 1966, a good-mannered Jewish high-school girl, Jill, who dreams of becoming
an actress, is courted by a handsome, well-dressed and assertive
Italian-American boy, "The Sheik".
While he is expelled from school and starts a career stealing cars, she goes
to a woman's college.
He moves to Florida and becomes a lounge crooner. She is unhappy and
goes to visit him. But she comes back determined to leave him behind.
He loses his job and flies to her, determined to win her back.
She tells him he is not the man of her life, but then asks him to take her
to the ball.
The Brother from Another Planet (1984) is a sci-fi fable with
sociopolitical overtones, a riff on Spielberg's E.T.
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If English is your first language and you could translate my old Italian text, please contact me.
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Matewan (1987) rievoca un massacro realmente avvenuto durante
l'era dei primi scioperi organizzati. Sayles impiega modi e stili del
western. Il film, benche' girato con mezzi modici, ha il feeling delle
grandi epiche di Hollywood. Filmato in bianco e nero e in un blu grigio,
condotto a passo lento, inquadrato in primo piano, il film ha spesso
l'aspetto di un documentario, di un reportage. L'influenza di Ejzenstein
e` fortissima. Ma anche quella della Bibbia...
Matewan e` una cittadina della West Virginia.
Un treno che trasporta minatori neri e italiani viene attaccato dai
minatori bianchi che sono in sciopero. I padroni spiegano ai nuovi arrivati
i loro doveri e le condizioni (miserabili) in cui vivranno.
Sullo stesso treno viaggia Joe, un sindacalista inviato dal sindacato a
organizzare la protesta. Joe va a stare da Elma, la moglie di un minatore,
il cui figlio Danny e` un prodigio di predicatore.
Joe e` un po' il profeta inviato a spargere il verbo divino.
La compagnia pero` assolda due detective/gunmen per seminare lo scompiglio
fra i minatori e loro sloggiano Joe dalla casa di Elma.
Sono due uomini senza scrupoli, cinici e violenti.
Joe si rende subito conto che la compagnia sta attizzando odi razziali e tenta
di convincere i bianchi che il nemico non e` l'altra razza.
Lo sceriffo Sid non si lascia impressionare dalle minacce della compagnia.
I neri e gli italiani si integrano con gli altri minatori, e in particolare
il leader nero dei minatori di colore diventa uno dei caporioni.
Mentre continuano gli atti di sabotaggio,
i minatori delle diverse etnie cominciano ad aiutarsi.
Le guardie sorprendono un giovane minatore che sta rubando, lo costringono
a confessare i nomi dei capi della protesta e poi gli tagliano la gola.
I gunmen ricevono l'ordine di buttar fuori le famiglie dei caporioni.
I gunmen della compagnia sfidano lo sceriffo, che si oppone alla loro
prepotenza.
Vanno a cercarlo per ucciderlo, ma lo sceriffo si e` preparato e ha appostato
uomini alle finestre.
La sparatoria costa cara ai gunmen del padrone, che vengono decimati,
ma anche ai minatori: Joe viene ucciso.
Sopravvive al massacro il ragazzo predicatore, che e` stato testimone di
tutti questi atti, un simbolo che il Verbo dei lavoratori continuera` a
diffondersi.
E` lui, ormai anziano, che ha raccontato la storia, con i toni quasi biblici
delle sue prediche,
The baseball movie Eight Men Out (1988) is based on Eliot Asinof's book "Eight Men Out" (1963).
A Chicago nel 1919 il padrone di una squadra di baseball chiacchiera con
i giornalisti. In realta` ci sono tensioni fra i giocatori e il padrone,
un avaro senza ritegno. Fuori dallo stadio si complotta anche per
truccare il risultato degli incontri e vincere ingenti somme alle scommesse.
Una volta tutti i giocatori della squadra si lasciano convincere.
Complessivamente, quasi tutti i protagonisti sono corrotti.
Attorno all'ambiente ronza uno stormo di reporter.
Gli intermediari chiedono e ottengono un'ingenta somma per pagare i giocatori
a un ricco e grasso uomo d'affari di New York.
La squadra perde la partita, nonostante un giocatore, Buck, si rifiuti di
stare al gioco e faccia di tutto per vincere. Perde anche la successiva,
e l'allenatore perde la pazienza: mette in squadra una riserva che, per la
gioia di Buck, fa vincere alla squadra il terzo incontro.
Perdono il quarto incontro come convenuto, ma vincono il successivo: nessuno
li ha ancora pagati e cominciano a innervosirsi. Ma la mossa ha conseguenze
devastanti: il boss di New York chiede che si rispettino i termini, ed
entrano in gioco i sicari armati, che minacciano di morte i giocatori se
non perdono l'ultima e decisiva partita. I giocatori la perdono.
Due giornalisti hanno pero` mangiaro la foglia, e dopo una rapida indagine
cominciano a pubblicare articoli in cui accusano i giocatori che hanno
danneggiato piu` palesemente la squadra.
Il padrone della squadra compie la sua indagine privata e scopre la verita`,
ma poi viene convinto a insabbiare l'intera vicenda per salvare lo sport.
Assumono un giudice che e` stato un eroe nazionale e gli affidano una
commissione per ripulire l'ambiente. I giocatori confessano, si tiene un
processo. Ma il processo diventa una farsa: le confessioni scompaiono
misteriosamente, gli unici testimoni dell'accusa sono dei pregiudicati,
il padrone della squadra nega di avere prove del malfatto, e naturalmente
nessuno chiede di far testimoniare Buck, l'unico che direbbe la verita`.
La giuria li assolve. Vengono portati in trionfo.
Ma la confederazione del baseball li squalifica tutti a vita, anche Buck.
A parte il fascino della ricostruzione degli anni '20, il film e` una visione
pessimistica dell'umanita`, in cui tutti sono guidati soltanto dalla
cupidigia. Il disonore regna sovrano.
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City of Hope (1991) is an ambitious fresco of an average American
town through the interconnected lives of a multitude of characters
(something akin to
Altman's Nashville).
The town is corrupt, but not in any particularly emphatic way. It is just
the way of life, that greed and graft drive people's lives.
Sayles' camera drifts in and out of events and conversations, picking up
a character when he left the previous one. And they always come back: it seems
like an endless loop, where each character's story eventually leads to another
character's life. Most of the action actually happens the very first day, from
morning till late evening.
The merry-go-round of characters feels like a soap opera, but a serious one.
He explores different environments, from the black slums to city hall.
He draws a social map of the town.
There is no big hero and no major evil, only a middle turk where people are
powerless and resigned, where idealism is shattered and compromise rules.
Sayles' city of hope is a city of hopelessness, but a quiet brand of
hopelessness.
Sayles keeps a calm and determined pace, with none of the angry fervor
of populist cinema.
Nick, the spoiled son of a wealthy contractor, has a very light job at
his father's construction site but is bored and decides to quit.
He is friend with Zip and Bobby, who hang out at the car repair shop of Carl, a sleazy, crippled crook.
Wynn is a black councilman, an idealist who fights for the rights of poor
people.
In a restaurant, businessmen discuss a project for luxury apartments
and a shopping mall that would create a lot of wealth, but that
requires the destruction of a housing development in a poor part of the city,
a building that belongs to Nick's father.
Her waitress is Angela.
The businessmen put pressure on the major: the new development now is a
must for the mayor' political future.
Zip and Bobby tell Nick of a robbery that Carl organized for them.
Nick, who is broke, first stops at his father's house, where his family is
throwing a party. His father is being pressured to sell the old building
but he explains that he can't evict people who don't want to leave.
His father uses his political connections to make deals and has turned into
a slumlord. Nick talks to his father who is angered by Nick's resignation.
They argue and Nick leaves the house.
Two black teenagers who are just walking are stopped and searched by two
police officers. One of the two, Mike, is ruthless and worries his partner.
Nick meets Carl in a bar: Carl is also a loan shark and Nick still owes him
money.
In the same bar, Nick meets waitress Angela and falls in love with
her.
She has divorced her abusive husband, a violent cop who turns out to be the very
Mike, and is raising a retarded child by herself.
Everybody reminds Nick of his brother Tony who died a hero in the war.
Everybody makes him feel like he is the black sheep of the family.
The city council is discussing school bonds but nobody listens to Wynn's
passionate defense of the idea.
In the meantime, the two black teenagers, in retaliation for being harassed
by the cops, hit the first white person they meet, who happens to be a professor
jogging in the street. The professor runs away and alerts the two police
officers, who find the kids and arrest them.
Nick decides to accept his friends' offer, but the robbery is pathetically
botched and Nick has to run.
At the police station, when Nick's friends are taken in, the two black
teenagers are helped by a black social worker, who believes one of the kids
(Desmond), when he insinuates that the professor tried to molest them.
Nick meets Angela in the middle of the night and, ever more impressed by her,
walks her home.
Mike, the violent police officer, sees everything and, jealous, threatens Nick.
His partner onle gets more worried.
Somebody from the police wants to know who was the third robber and
Carl tells him.
Wynn goes to talk to Desmond about the molestation charges and realizes that
he is lying, but Desmond's mother protects her child and the militants are
only too eager to seize on the opportunity.
Nick's father is told that Nick is wanted. The way to clear up things is for
Nick's father to go along with a criminal plan: burn down his own buildings
so that people can be evicted and then sell.
The mayor tries to convert (or buy) Wynn to his cause but Wynn is not for sale.
Nick's father gives Carl the green light and Carl sets fire to the buildings.
Mike is spying on Angela and Nick who are making love.
The arson turns out to more serious than Carl promised and a child dies.
Wynn, torn between the white establishment and black militants, while nobody
seems to listen to the real issues, visits a retired black mayor who basically
tells him to compromise, because that's life.
The mayor keeps his end of the bargain with Nick's father and merely shrugs
when told that one child died in the fire.
Wynn visits the white professor, whom he has known for years, and convinces him
to drop the charges. Again, it is a compromise: the professor stands to gain
nothing from a trial, so why stand by the truth?
Nick finds out that Carl spilled his name to the police, like he did to his
brother Tony when Tony was involved in an accident. But Carl tells him the
real story behind Tony's heroism: Carl lost his leg in the car accident
caused by Tony, who was not the hero Nick has always been told.
Nick has guessed that Carl is the arsonist but feels powerless.
Desmond's mom realizes that her child is lying.
At a meeting of the black community Wynn is hailed as a hero when he announces
that the charges against Desmond are being dropped and that police abuse will be
investigated. Thus Wynn manages to shift the focus of black anger to the fire,
which is what he really cares for. By compromising, he basically hijacked the
militant movement.
They march on city hall and disrupt the dinner at which the mayor is
announcing the new luxury development at a crowd of wealthy contributors.
In the evening
Mike, off duty, ambushes Nick in an alley and wounds him and Nick narrowly
escapes. Mike is arrested by his own partner.
Desmond goes to apologize to the white professor.
Nick's father finds Nick, who has been hiding wounded at the construction site.
Nick's father tells Nick that Tony was not a hero: he ran away from the scene
of the accident and his father saved him from criminal charges. That is why
Tony had to leave for the war, where he was eventually killed.
His father tells him that the police are no longer after him,
and Nick understands what the arson was for.
Nick is both disgusted and moved.
His father realizes that Nick is seriously wounded and, in the middle of the
night, calls for help, but there is no soul around and the only one to respond
is a madman.
Passion Fish (1993) is the story of an unlikely friendship.
May-Alice, a former soap-opera star whose career has been destroyed by a
car accident, moves back to her native Louisiana house.
She is paralyzed and bitter about life.
No nurse can stand her until Chantelle, an African-American, arrives.
May-Alice, obviously a spoiled woman, makes a point of being unfriendly and unpleasant to everybody, but Chantelle does not seem to mind.
Other than a stubborn demeanor, the two women have nothing in common: one is
white and rich, the other one is black and poor.
It turns out Chantelle is undergoing her own existential crisis: she cries
when she's alone in her room.
May-Alice's uncle Max pays a visit, the beginning of a cruel parade of
ghosts from the past, like a conspiracy to push her back in time.
The visit of two old friends is a torture for May-Alice.
By coincidence, Chantelle hires a man to do repairs around the house
who happens to be an old flame of May-Alice. May-Alice went on to become
a star, while Rennie got married with a bigot, had five children, and made
a living as a handyman and a swamp guide. But now she is lonely and
on a wheelchair, while he has a life.
All she can do is drink on it. The idyllic setting of the house does not
help. In fact, it seems to increase the sense of loneliness and helplessness.
While Chantelle is out with Ulysses, a black cowboy who if flirting with her,
an intimidating black man shows up at the house and asks questions about
Chantelle.
The story is that Chantelle was the lover of a rich man, became a drug addict and went through rehabilitation.
Chantelle does not bend to the lady's arrogant attitude, and the lady eventually
begans to appreciate it. She even tells Chantelle that she doesn't have
the nurse uniform.
Actresses from the soap opera come to visit too. They continuously confuse
real life and acting. She is faced with the bored, artificial life that she
used to live, and finds it as despicable as the uneventful Louisiana life.
Each of the visits bring out a different aspect of May-Alice's persona.
Together, they recreate her life.
Rennie, who loves to spend as much time as possible in the bayou, takes her
(and Chantelle) for a boat trip, and, for the first time, she gets very excited.
Tanita, Chantelle's daughter, shows up, another ghost from the past, accompanied
by the legal guardian, her dad. It's only a short visit, a remined that she
is still on "probation".
At the same time, the producer of the soap opera comes to see May-Alice with
a proposal for her to stage a comeback, but it's a humiliating deal.
Now the two women exchange feelings and opinions. They are becoming friends.
May-Alice finally admits that she needs Chantelle, and offers to help her
get her daughter back.
The Irish faity tale
The Secret of Roan Inish (1994) is an adaptation of
Rosalie Fry's novel "Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry".
A very slow film, it mostly relies on great actors and landscapes, but it has little to say (and the soundtrack is a bit tedious).
The story takes place in 1946. First we see little girl Fiona at the funeral of
her mother, then on a boat to a different town, then living with her father in a polluted industrial town. Her father decides to send her back to the home village to live with her grandparents. She is welcomed by them and learns their humble way of living: granpa fishes with Fiona's teenage cousin Eamon and granma takes care of the humble adobe.
Fiona learns right away about the mysterious light that sometimes appears from the little island where the family used to live, Roan Inish. She sees it herself
at night. Her grandparents avoid talking about Fiona's brother Jamie, the little baby that was taken away by the tide when the family was evacuating Roan Inish,
but she learns the details from her cousin Eamon.
Another cousin, whose hair and eyes are unusually dark, tells her the legend
of the mermaid (selkie), half seal and half human, who was found and married by their ancestor. The genes of the selkie still run in the family and each generation seem to have one child born dark, and Jamie was the latest one. They are supposed to be closer to the seals than other humans.
One day Fiona begs Eamon to take her to Roan Inish. There she spots a naked child
picking flowers. The child gets scared and flees.
She is now positive that Jamie survived.
Eamon doesn't believe her and in any case begs her to not tell the grandparents, who are still heartbroken by the loss of Jamie.
One misty day she gets into a boat that is always moored to the dock, but the
seals have broken the ropes and the boat drifts away in the mist all the way to
Roan Inish. Fiona finds Jamie playing with a seal in the old family home, but
again Jamie runs away before she can stop him. She sees him row away in
a little cradle boat.
The following day, granpa and Eamon rescue her and this time she can't be silent anymore. She tells granpa that Jamie is alive and taken care by the seals.
At the same time, the grandparents get an eviction note from the landlord: a wealthy foreign has offered a huge sum to buy their rented home. Now they have no place to go.
Fiona convinces Eamon to work secretly on the old family home and fix it up.
One day a huge storm is approaching. Fiona hints that Jamie will be at the mercy of nature. Granma decides that, if there is a chance that Jamie lives, it's worth braving the storm. Fiona, Eamon and grandparents set out on the boat to
Roan Inish. The grandparents are amazed when they see how Eamon and Fiona fixed up the old ruined family home.
As the wind worsens, Jamie's tiny cradle boat appears, escorted by seals.
Jamie is scared when he sees humans, but the seals themselves push him towards
them and then leave taking the cradle boat with them.
Jamie is suddenly soothed by granma's voice and runs into her open arms.
The family spends the night at the restored house and
Fiona rocks Jamie to sleep.
Il western Lone Star (1996)
consiste principalmente in due serie di storie intrecciate, una per
ciascuna generazione, che poi si propagano ciascuna in quelle della generazione
successiva. Talvolta il passaggio da un evento contemporaneo a uno passato
avviene semplicemente facendo ruotare la cinepresa da un attore a un altro
nello stesso scenario.
Tutte le storie fanno perno su macchiette, ciascuna delle quali e`
caratterizzata con fine e bonario umorismo e al tempo stesso ha un suo
significato sociale, politico o filosofico.
Al tempo stesso il film e` un apologo sull'eroismo, che quasi sempre nasconde
una realta` ben piu` misera. E infine il film e` l'odissea personale di un uomo
che vuole scoprire il proprio passato, e finira` per pagare di persona per
quella verita`.
Il film possiede anche una qualita` mitica: l'azione e` ambientata sullo
sfondo delle leggende di un passato turbolento, quando non esistevano leggi
e istituzioni, ma soltanto uomini e il loro coraggio. Il film e` quasi
nostalgico nei confronti di quell'epoca in cui contava l'uomo. Sam confessa
di essere soltanto il gestore di una prigione. Wade era un vero sceriffo.
Buddy era un vero sceriffo. E infatti loro divennero leggende, nel bene e
nel male. Lui non lo diventera` mai: cio` che lo aspetta e` tutt'al piu` una
quieta esistenza borghese.
Il film e` anche percorso da un tema di riconciliazione generazionale
(Sam e suo padre, Odess e Delmore) e di
riconciliazione razziale (Sam e Pilar, il soldato bianco e la soldatessa
Nel perimetro di una postazione militare nel deserto del Texas due soldati
rinvengono lo scheletro di un uomo. Chiamano lo sceriffo della citta`, Sam,
e scoprono una stella da sceriffo sepolta nella polvere. Lo sceriffo governa
su una cittadina multirazziale in cui si confondono le istanze dei bianchi,
ormai ridotti a una minoranza, dei neri, da sempre segregati, e dei messicani,
per lo piu` immigrati illegali o figli di. L'anziano Hollis, ex vice sceriffo
ai tempi del famigerato Charlie Wade, racconta a Sam come Wade terrorizzasse
quelle terre abusando dei propri poteri. Era noto che Wade prendeva una tangente
su tutte le attivita` illegali, compreso il commercio in immigrati illegali.
Chi si opponeva ai suoi metodi o rifiutava di pagare veniva fatto sparire.
L'altro vice sceriffo era Buddy, il padre di Sam. Buddy un giorno si oppose
ai sistemi di Charlie Wade e lo sfido` a duello. Wade scomparve poco tempo dopo
con i soldi della contea e non venne mai piu` ritrovato. Sam si fa subito
l'idea che suo padre abbia ammazzato Wade e incomincia a scavare nel passato.
Inizia una lunga odissea che lo portera` di testimone in testimone e di luogo
in luogo, a ricostruire quell'epoca passata (l'intera epoca, non soltanto
un evento).
Una quarta componente della popolazione locale e` costituita dai soldati
della guarnigione, che frequentano in particolare il locale del vecchio
Odess.
Infine c'e` la scuola. L'insegnante piu` generosa e` Pilar, una vedova che
tenta come puo` di educare i propri figli e in generale i ragazzi della citta`.
Gli attriti razziali si fanno pero` sentire anche li`. Quando suo figlio viene
arrestato, Pilar incontra Sam, una sua vecchia fiamma del liceo che non rivedeva
da anni. E` Sam a intercedere per far liberare suo figlio.
Continuando a indagare, Sam scopre che poco prima di sparire Wade ebbe anche
un alterco con Odess, a quei tempi umile barista. Tento` in tutti i modi di
umiliarlo in pubblico, ma Odess non si lascio` piegare. Sam comincia anche a
capire che suo padre, da tutti considerato un eroe per essere stato (dopo
Wade) uno sceriffo modello, non era in realta` molto migliore: anche lui
era corrotto, soltanto che viveva in un mondo in cui le organizzazioni
contavano gia` piu` degli individui, e pertanto la politica prevaleva sulle
pallottole. Cio` nonostante Sam, Hollis e tutte le autorita` del paese
presenziano all'inaugurazione di un monumento in onore di Buddy.
La madre di Pilar, Mercedes, e` padrona di un ristorante. E` anche lei
messicana, ma si atteggia ad americana e tratta i messicani come delle bestie.
Il comandante della guarnigione e` un nero, Delmore. Pochi sanno che e` il
figlio di Odess, e che, convinto che il padre l'avesse abbandonato al suo
destino dopo averlo messo al mondo, gli rivolge a malapena la parola. Il caso
lo ha riportato a quel forte.
Sam ricostruisce tutte le malefatte di Wade e poi tutte quelle di suo padre.
Scopre che Wade uccise sparandogli alle spalle il marito di Mercedes, Eladio,
che stava portando un camion di immigrati illegali negli USA. Lo uccise perche'
Eladio aveva rifiutato di pagargli la tangente. Hollis rimase terrificato nel
vederlo giustiziare quel ragazzo a sangue freddo.
Le cose non sono cambiate di molto, si sono soltanto fatte piu` sofisticate.
Buddy e` stato eletto sceriffo dai borghesi della citta` perche' soltanto uno
con il suo cognome poteva scalzare lo sceriffo precedente. Adesso pero` le
stesse persone vogliono costruire una nuova prigione per specularci sopra
e la sua opposizione gli costera` probabilmente il posto.
Fra i tanti passati che la sua indagine rievoca, c'e` anche il suo personale.
Da ragazzo era innamorato di Pilar, ma i due ragazzi vennero separati a forza
da suo padre. Sam non capiva perche' suo padre e la madre di lei fossero
cosi` determinati nel tenerli lontani. Lui l'ha amata tutti questi anni, e le
confessa di essere tornato in citta` per ritrovare lei. Fanno l'amore.
Il figlio di Delmore va a trovare Odess. Delmore andra` anche a cercare Odess,
senza trovarlo: ma vedra` che Odess ha conservato gelosamente in salotto i
ritagli di giornale che parlano di lui, e capira` che Odess non lo aveva
dimenticato. Quando suo figlio gli chiedera` del nonno, Delmore promettera`
di riconcigliarsi. E` una delle tante storie laterali, che parlano di
riconciliazione generazionale.
Sam scopre anche che Buddy aveva un'amante e non impiega molto a capire chi
fosse: Mercedes. Fu grazie a soldi che Sam le fece avere ai danni della
comunita` che Mercedes pote` aprire il suo ristorante. Per scoprire di piu`
va a trovare la moglie, una psicotica imbottita di pillole, e spulcia tutto
cio` che suo padre gli lascio`.
Uno dei dipendenti di Mercedes aiuta messicani a varcare il confine. Una
sera capita un incidente a una ragazza. Il ragazzo va a chiedere l'aiuto
di Mercedes. La crudele Mercedes sta per chiamare la polizia, ma finalmente
si ricorda come lei stessa arrivo` negli USA: un bel ragazzo di nome Eladio
le diede la mano per attraversare il fiume. Carica la ragazza in auto e la
porta da un dottore.
Sam e` sempre piu` convinto che Buddy abbia ucciso Wade, ma Odess gli rivela
finalmente cosa successe. Una sera Wade venne a regolare i conti con lui e
stava per sparargli a bruciapelo come aveva fatto con Eladio quando Hollis,
il suo luogotenente vigliacco, finalmente trovo` il coraggio di fermarlo e
gli sparo` alle spalle. Hollis e` li` a confermare. Poi Buddy li aiuto`
a occultare il cadavere. Nessuno in citta` fece domande, tanto erano contenti
di essersi liberati del prepotente.
Sam ha scoperto intanto qualcos'altro: che Pilar nacque un anno e mezzo dopo
che Eladio era morto. Pilar e` figlia illegittima di Buddy, Pilar e Sam sono
fratellastri. Cio` nonostante decidono di ricostruirsi una vita insieme.
Sam ha tentato tutta la vita di uscire dall'ombra del padre, e invece il
padre possedeva anche l'unica cosa che sembrava fuori dalla sua portata.
Alla fine Buddy rimane un eroe per tutti, meno che per i suoi due figli.
nera).
Written in Spanish, English, Nahuatl, Tzotzil, Maya and Kuna,
Men With Guns (1997) is a multi-tiered allegory.
At the lower level, it is an allegory about the relationship of ordinary people with war, and, more in general, with history.
At a higher level, it is an allegory about the meaning of life.
And, ultimately, it is an allegory about memory, both individual and
collective memory.
The allegory, as it is often the case in literature since Dante's "Divine
Comedy", takes the the form of a journey: a man, who is entering the last
phase of his life, is forced to face truth when he is confronted with
a strange environment.
His guide through hell is a poor indio boy, who grew up in the middle of a
civil war.
Away from his safe haven, the man rediscovers humanity, for better and for
worse.
Soon he is surrounded by a microcosm of humanity.
Everybody in his group has lost her or his faith, starting with the doctor
himself.
Suddenly, the doctor's mission becomes to rebuild that faith in all of them,
starting, again, with himself.
The lesson for him is, of course, that sscientific knowledge is not a substitute for real life: the doctor's knowledge.
has been useless because real people were busy with the war.
The Babel of languages is an allegory within the allegory: the chracters
can't communicate properly because of linguistic divisions that stand
for the cultural and moral divisions of the world.
In the first scene an indigenous woman speaks to her child in the language of
their tribe about the people of the city, who are different from them: they
don't get the same diseases, and they have doctors instead of shamans.
In the second scene a doctor is visiting a patient: when the patient
gets dressed, we realize he is a general.
In the big city of a Latin American country,
Humberto, an elderly doctor, is a successful man whose patients
are mostly rich and powerful people.
His children are rich, spoiled and racist urban kids.
They dine in fancy restaurants.
Humberto, who recently has lost his life and is considering retirement,
has reached the point of life when
he would like to be remembered for something else than just money.
His main contribution to society was training a group of young doctors to
work among the poor of the country. They have never written back to him and
he is wondering how they carried out their mission.
He seems totally unaware that there was a civil war raging in those areas.
The first student he meets tells him that the program was discontinued:
the kid now works in a pharmacy.
Humberto decides to track down the other students and thus ventures into a
remote poor village. On the way, he meets two American tourists who are
looking for some ruins. They ask him if it is true that atrocities were
committed in the region, and Humberto replies that those things happen
only in other countries.
When he reaches the village, he finds himself among the indios of the rain
forest who have been forgotten by the ruling class. They are afraid of him
and refuse to talk to him. Finally, a blind woman tells him that the doctor
(Humberto's student) was killed, burned alive by "mens with guns". All her
children have been killed too. Humberto would like to know who and why
committed those atrocities, but the woman simply replies "men with guns".
For the first time he realizes the living conditions of these poor people,
amid a terrible civil war.
At the hotel he meets again the American tourists, who are reading a book
about the ancient civilization of the region.
The following day Humberto goes to the police and tells them that a doctor
has been murdered. The police officer advises him against continuing his
trip because of guerrilla activity. As Humberto walks out of the police
station, he sees kids stealing the hubcaps of his jeep, right in front of
the police station (a sign of the anarchy that reigns in the region).
Nonetheless he decides to continue his trip. He drives as far into the
forest as he can, then starts walking up the hill to another village.
Again, the natives do not want to talk to him. Eventually, a woman begs
him to take a look at her sick child. But the child is not sick, Humberto
realizes, just hungry. A orphaned boy, Conejo, tells him that
there is no food in the village because the price of coffee has collapsed
and they don't have money to buy anything else.
Humberto asks the child where their doctor (his student) is.
The child takes him to a mass grave. The doctor was tortured and then killed,
with many others, by the army. Humberto asks in vain "why".
The child also tells him that the men of the village are hiding because
they saw him, but now they know that he is alone and might kill him.
Humberto does not even understand why these men would want to kill him.
So the child takes him to the school, the only safe place. The child tells
him that the school used to be the place where soldiers tortured people.
He, Conejo, used to work for them. Ironically, the soldiers used the tools of
the doctor (Humberto's student) to carry out their atrocities.
The woman of the first scene tells her child about a woman who was raped by
the soldiers. The soldiers, she concludes, are not good or bad: they are
just what they are, like dogs are dogs.
The following day the child takes Humberto to another village, where Humberto
hopes to meet yet another former student, but the
village does not exist anymore: the soldiers wiped it out.
Humberto and the child walk back to the car, but someone has stolen the tires.
A man shows up: he is a deserter and robs him of all his money
and his bag of tools, but he knows nothing of his tires.
Humberto and the child are left in the moddle of nowhere, with no way to call
for help. After dark, the former soldier, Domingo, comes back: he has robbed
some tourists, but got a bullet. He now needs help from the doctor and brought
him some tires. After the doctor saves his life, Domingo orders him to drive
him further inland.
At night, when Domingo falls asleep, Humberto takes his gun and realizes
that he doesn't even have bullets.
When they get to the next town, Humberto ignores Domingo's threats and looks
for the local doctor, another former student of his. Again, he is told that
the doctor was killed, this time by the guerrilla, who considered him guilty
of treating wounded soldiers.
While Humberto is looking for his student, Domingo buys bullets.
When they resume their journey, they are stopped by a man, Portillo, who asks
them for a ride. Just like Domingo, he also tells Humberto that he simply wants
to go "further ahead". Like Domingo, he has no stable residence.
Portillo is a former priest, who says he used to be a good priest until
he was tested by life.
The priest wanted to save souls, like Humberto wanted to save bodies.
Humberto himself admits they are both failures. All of his students died:
Humberto's legacy died with them.
At night the priest tells his story. He was loved by the people of his village,
who saw him as their protector. The army destroyed all the nearby villages.
One day the army came and demanded that, within one hour, they killed five
men and the priest.
The army had guns, the indios of the village had only machetes.
The men of the village discussed the matter and reached the conclusion
that the wise thing to do was for the six men to accept the execution.
The very man who led the discussion was one of the six, and was not afraid
of dying to save the people of his village. The father accepted the will of
the majority, but then he ran away like a rat. The other five men stayed and
were killed by the villagers. When the army came, the commander was not
satisfied that the priest had escaped and burned down the village killing
everybody.
Domingo the deserter, who studied medicine but became a mass murderer,
asks the priest to receive his confession, and tells him of
the atrocities he committed as a soldier, starting with the cold-blooded
killing of a child.
Later, they are stopped at a road block, and the police take away the priest
to interrogate him. It is another village where one of Humberto's students
was dispatched: he too was killed, executed for helping the guerrillas.
While he is waiting for the priest, Humberto offers to check out the indios,
who see a doctor only every three months.
Most of them are refugees from villages that had
been destroyed, and are watched by the army. Basically, the village is now a
concentration camp. One of the people in line to be examined is a young woman,
who has not spoken since she was raped two years earlier.
Conejo hears from the indios of a legendary village,
"Cerca del Cielo" ("Near the Sky"), that is
so far from civilization that it has remained immune to war.
A female doctor is still among the villagers: she is the last of Humberto'
students.
Domingo does not believe that
"Cerca del Cielo" exists, because, as a soldier, he looked for it and
couldn't find it.
At night the soldiers tell Humberto to leave as soon as possible because
of guerrilla activity. The priest remains in their custody. Humberto
decides to look for the last of her students, even if it entails climbing
up a steep mountain. On the road they are stopped by the deaf girl. She
points her finger towards the top of the mountain, signifying that she
too wants to go there. Domingo is haunted by the memory of a village where
he raped a young woman: maybe he knows why the female doctor is nowhere to
be found...
They find no trail. As they hike up the mountain through the dense forest,
they meet, of all people, the American tourists, who are exploring some
ancient ruins. They tell Humberto that they were robbed of the tires (they
are the ones whom Domingo robbed). Still clueless of what is going on
around them, the two Americans discuss history and she even utters a
"It is so peaceful here" that sounds comic.
Humberto and his group meet the guerrillas, who also don't believe that
"Cerca del Cielo" exists.
The woman of the first scene is explaining to her child why the people
are looking for "Cerca del Cielo". And there they are: Humberto and the
others reach the place where she is, like she is some shaman who knew
they were coming all along. She tells her child that he, Humberto, has
come to stay, like she can see the future.
Humberto has indeed reached his destination: this is a village inside
the jungle. They have been careful not to cut the trees, lest the soldiers
could see them from the helicopters. They have no huts, they live under the
trees. And they don't have any doctor: Humberto fails to meet even his
last student. His legacy is a bunch of villages destroyed by the war.
He sits down and dies: as the shaman had predicted, he is going to stay.
All his scientific knowledge dies with him. He dies knowing that he has been
an utter failure. A child comes begging for a doctor to take care of her
mother. Domingo and Conejo tell her that the doctor is dead. But she insists:
she needs a doctor for her mother. Domingo remembers that he was trained
to be a doctor and picks up Humberto's bag.
Humberto's death has not been in vain.
Limbo (1999)
Sunshine State (2002)
Casa de los Babys (2003)
Silver City (2004)
The musical Honeydripper (2007)
Amigo (2010)
Go for Sisters (2013)
Sayles was also the author of three vast, epic novels:
“A Moment in the Sun” (2011),
“Yellow Earth” (2020) and
“Jamie MacGillivray” (2023).
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