The last few editions of the Friday Film Focus have “focused” on the role that viewers and film makers take on when engaging with one another through the cinematic art form. Now, for the next few weeks I will be presenting selections of various film- primarily fairly recent, fairly independent and foreign films - that have important or interesting things to say about various themes. First up?

Films that insightfully portray compassion:

1. The Motorcycle Diaries: This 2004 film from Director Walter Salles is about Ernesto “Che” Guavara and his motorcycle journey across the various countries of South America. Guavara grew up in a wealthy family from Argentina and studied to become a doctor. But on the eve of graduating, he and a buddy jumped on their bike and headed to the Andes Mountains. While on their trip they saw things that would forever change not only their lives, but the history of South America.

As they journeyed Guavara and his friend were forced to look at the world from the perspective of the poor and destitute of the poorest countries in the world. People from places like Peru and Chile. From city slums to mountain villages. And ultimately their journey took them to a leprosy colony where Guavara’s medical knowledge comes in handy.

Along the way, he is changed. As viewers we see him become more and more saddened by the plights of the 3rd world countries, and we see him become more and more guilty for his own access to simple things like food. And we see him driven to change that – to change the world.

Of course, history tells us that “Che” became a communist and a guerilla fighter, who, legend has it, was gunned down by the CIA. However, this is before all that. And in one particularly moving scene “Che” (portrayed masterfully by the wonderful Gael Garcia Bernal) sets one of the most moving examples of compassion ever shown on film. It’s ironic, in many ways, but deeply profound that great compassion can sometimes come from even the most violent of sources.

2. Half Nelson: If the previously mentioned film is about compassion coming from the rich to the poor then, in many ways, Half Nelson is about the opposite. This film, directed by newcomer Ryan Fleck, is about a young, white teacher in an inner city, primarily minority school. “Teach”, Dan Dunne, played by Ryan Gosling in a performance that earned him an Oscar nomination, is a young man who cares deeply about “issues”. He cares about history and ideas and the way that ideas and histories push and fight against one another: in other words, he cares about dialectics. However, he seems to care little for actual people.

But that’s when Dre, one of his students, discovers a dark secret about him- and keeps it a secret. Dre’ is a shy young girl from a broken home whose mother works full time and whose brother is in prison on drug charges. Much of the time she rides her bike around the town alone, on her bike, with a baseball cap and a never ending supply of lolly pops. Her only friend is an older guy who is a drug dealer in the town. But when “teach” realizes her situation and realizes that she isn’t going to reveal his secret to anyone he begins to enter into his own relationship with her. The thing is, he doesn’t really know how. He sees her falling down the slippery slope of drugs and dealing and want her have nothing to do with that. But because of his own secret life she knows he can’t say much about it.

Ultimately, it’s Dre’ who teaches Dan about compassion, even though Dan thinks that he is the one who needs to show compassion. She teaches him that, more than anything else , more than any duty or speech he could provide her, compassion is about relationship; it’s about meeting someone who needs help in their world, in their situation and engaging with them in relationship.

Half Nelson is one of my favorite movies of the last few years and one well watching immediately. Beware: there is some bad language and lots of drug use and a sexual situation, though no nudity.

3. Little Children: Todd Field’s (In the Bedroom) second film, starring Kate Winslet; Jennifer Connolly and others, is about what happens when people think only of themselves and fail to think compassionately about people around them. Unlike Half Nelson and The Motocycle Diaries, this film takes place in suburbia and Field makes the bold assertion that because people live in suburbia people often believe that people around them don’t really need compassion,

Kate Winslet plays a housewife named Sarah with a daughter who is a handful and a husband who is unfaithful to her. Her dreams for her life have clearly not come to fruition and now she is stuck in a big house in a wealthy New England neighborhood without many friends and with a husband who gets his kicks from porn on the internet. She is bored, lonely, and afraid that she will turn into an old, unloved spinster.

Then Sarah meets Brad, a stay at home dad with a young son and workaholic wife. Like Sarah, Brad is lonely and bored. They quickly become fast friends when a friendship begins to bloom between their children. Then they become much, much more than friends. They begin to engage in a rather treacherous and ultimately, disastrous affair.

Meanwhile, Ronnie (played by Jackie Earle Hailey in the role that earned him an Oscar nomination in 2006), a registered sex offender, has moved into the neighborhood. Larry, a disgraced and deeply guilty former police officer has made it his mission to scare Ronnie out of the neighborhood. And indeed scare Ronnie he does. In fact, he begins to terrorize and embarrass Ronnie who is shy and quiet. Ultimately, the lives of these four people cross and the film ends in an explosive and deeply moving series of events that reminds the viewer that even in the most affluent of places, even in places that look or seem happy, great compassion is still required. The film reminds the viewer that even where there is wealth there is great sorrow and great shame and great loneliness.

Little Children is a fabulous film though is not easy to watch at all. There are scenes that deal with difficult and sad subject matter, especially related to sexuality and relationships; that will make you feel deeply for the characters – in one way or another. There a few scenes of a pretty blatant sexual nature that include nudity. But for what its worth – which may not be much – these scenes are not meant by Fields to be enjoyed but rather to be grotesque, to show the way that these characters don’t care for each other as much as themselves. The film also deals with some other very adult themes so its certainly not a film to let your kids see. But I do believe it is a very important film, and one that has a great deal to say about how we interact with one another and how we ought to interact with one another.

Thanks for reading this week’s Friday Film Focus!
~ David

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Film Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.