_ Costa-Gavras places political thriller at the family level MUSIC BOX. Starring Jessica Lange and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Directed by Costa- Gavras. At Famous Players theatres. It is late 1944 and the waters of the blue Danube are running red with blood. As the Third Reich crumbles, Allied bombs fall on Budapest and the Red Army draws near, there is no spirit of compassion. Instead, like cornered animals, the collaborators, the fascist party members, and the Hungarian SS roam the streets of Budapest — hunting down Jews, accused communists and anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path. In this sorry time a pair of Hungarian SS members take a particular pride in their work. With cold efficiency they rape, tor- ture and murder and, since there is a lack of ammunition, they tie live victims together with wire, shoot one of them, then throw the lot into the Danube. However it doesn’t always work. A few survive the cold waters of the Danube and become living testimony to the crimes committed. Fifty years later documents from the United Nations reveal that one of those two executioners may be alive and living in Chicago. Ann Talbot (Jessica Lange) is a success- ful Chicago lawyer and a divorced mother raising a child. She is the daughter of Mike Laszlo (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a Hungarian immigrant who came to America after the war and has worked hard all his life in the steel mills to provide a future for his son and daughter. His son is carrying on the tradi- tion in the mill while Ann has fulfilled her father’s dream of success. Then that world is threatened. Mike Laszlo is accused of being one of the men responsible for the atrocities in Budapest. The U.S. Department of Justice takes him to court — if he is convicted his Driving Miss Daisy gives microcosm of events DRIVING MISS DAISY. Starring Mor- gan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Ack- royd. Directed by Bruce Beresford. Screen- play by Alfred Uhry, based on his play. At Famous Players Theatres. We've seen Mississippi Burning and wit- nessed its indictment of the violent racism of the U.S. South in the early Sixties when the Freedom Marches were just beginning. And we’ve noted its fiction, in which white- knight FBI agents ride to the rescue and take on all those nasty loutish southern types — a suitable Hollywood way to expurgate the guilt of the entire U.S. and the capitalist system that breeds racism by settting up convenient scapegoats. Now we have Driving Miss Daisy, a kinder, gentler — excuse the expression — view of race relations below the Mason- Dixon line. In this gently moving, character movie based on the play by Alfred Uhry and directed with the usual aplomb by Aus- tralian Bruce Beresford, the social events spanning four decades are glimpsed through the interaction of its two principal characters. Morgan Freeman excels as Hoke Col- burn, a black southerner hired by busi- nessman Boolie Werthan (Dan Ackroyd) to chauffeur his aging mother, Daisy (Jessica Tandy, in an equally compelling perfor- mance), after it becomes apparent she can no longer safely handle an automobile. The year is 1948. For the next 25 years the relationship between the two undergoes subtle changes wrought as much by close personal contact as the events, most notably the advent of the Freedom Marches and their key spokesperson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When Hoke is introduced into her life, Daisy’s resentment is rooted both in her frustration at the helplessness that comes with age and standard racist attitudes (which contrast with her attitudes toward a black woman servant whom she has known so long their relationship is one of comfor- table familiarity). : It helps that Hoke is the soul of sagacity and patience. He takes Daisy’s early rebukes with an appropriate mixture of quiet res- traint and gentle entreaty, so that over the years their relationship progresses from 10 ¢ Pacific Tribune, February 5, 1990 Daisy grudgingly agreeing to accept Hoke’s services, to the point where the man fills her universe and she confesses: “You’re the best friend I’ve got.” This film eschews ready symbols. Daisy is no standardized southern white bigot, but a person of complex emotions. She has risen from childhood poverty to a comfortable upper class existence, which means she dis- likes ostentatious displays of wealth. Hoke, as a chauffeur, inadvertently symbolizes this. Daisy can be both prejudiced — thinking that Hoke has stolen a can of salmon, she remarks, “They’re all like that” — and a victim of prejudice herself. A Jew, she suffers along with Hoke when the two are questioned by state troopers during a trip to Alabama. The police have stopped to ques- tion Hoke, but one also remarks to Daisy, in a voice laden with unstated meaning, that he’s never heard a name like Werthan. Eyes downcast, Daisy demurely replies: “It’s of German extraction.” True to life, Driving Miss Daisy shows contradictions without necessarily resolving them neatly. Daisy becomes a supporter of the civil rights movement, attending a speaking engagement by Dr. King while leaving Hoke out in the car. When she finds to her horror that the synagogue has been bombed, Hoke relates that his uncle was lynched; Daisy angrily denies the connec- tion, and the film does not indicate that she ever accepted it. Hoke’s personality is the enigma here. How much of his patience and_ soft- spokeness a product of his own inclinations, and how-much has been conditioned by a lifetime of enforced second-class status, the violation of which could lead to severe penalties, including death? When Hoke rebels, it is with even-voiced dignity. In the larger picture, though, he accepts his lot of servitude at low wages, and one wonders how much of the easy warmth that charac- terizes his relations with Daisy and her son would flow in different circumstances. Likely that question is posed by the film, rather than avoided. This is a movie of quiet understatement, superbly acted and well worth viewing. — Dan Keeton Jessica Lange defends Armin Mueller-Stahl in war crimes trial. American citizenship will be lost and he will be deported to Hungary for trial. Laszlo professes his innocence and says he was simply a police clerk during the war and deliberately avoided being involved in the direct actions of the Hungarian SS. Ann’s faith in her father’s innocence is unshaken and she agrees to defend him. She is convinced it is both a case of mistaken identity and part of an attempt by the Communist government in Hungary to dis- credit her father who has been an active anti-communist in the U.S. When the trial begins and witness after witness testifies about the horrors inflicted on them and identifies her father as the one responsible, Ann’s faith slowly erodes but she continues her line of defence — accusing witnesses of being manipulated by the Communists and contending that this is a case of mistaken identity. : As the trial moves to Budapest and his- tory unravels, the doubt grows in Ann but the ultimate question remains — how could her father, a widower who worked hard all his life to provide his children a good life and hope for the future, be a sadistic monster who found pleasure in rape and torture? Both Lange and Mueller-Stahl bring stel- lar acting to Music Box and it is the strength and depth of character they both convey that gives the film its powerful emotional impact. Lange captures first the devotion and then the increasing emotional turmoil of a person being forced to contemplate the unthinkable. Mueller-Stahl (whose own father was shot for desertion by the Nazis on the last day of the war) portrays a com- plex man who has been able, by building a psychological wall around his past, to raise two children who love him. Director Costa-Gavras has regained the form he showed in his 1969 film, Z. This is more than a political thriller — it is a film that delves into family relationships and in particular the daughter-father relationship. Is blood thicker than water and at what point do family loyalties stop? i That is the question posed to Ann in this film. Has her father been unjustly accused or does he have skeletons in his closet too numerous and horrible to imagine? And if those skeletons are proven to be real — what do you do? — Paul Ogresko El Salvador: A commemoration of the 1932 insurrection and the marking of the 58th anniversary of the death of Fara- bundo Marti take place at the Ukrainian Hall, 805 E. Pender in Vancouver on Friday, Feb. 9, 8 p.m. Food will be pro- vided, and there will be an update on the situation in El Salvador from three speakers, plus music by Ay Muray. A donation of $3 is requested. k %* * The Anawim Community Centre for Justice and Peace at 3821 Lister St., Bur- naby continues its Wednesday lunchtime speakers’ series with a video show on El Salvador’s displaced and resettled com- munities on Feb. 7; on Feb. 21, United Church minister Linda Ervin speaks on the realities of multiculturalism in Can- ada. Presentations run 12 noon-1:30 p.m. * * * Vancouver’s Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is hosting a twin-bill showing of the films Maurice (7 p.m.) and Desert Hearts (9:30 p.m.) for its Be Our Valen- tine Benefit, on Feb.13-14 at The Cinema- theque in Vancouver. For more inform- ation phone 874-8470 or 684-ARTS. * * * February, the month of music ‘are workshops at the W.I.S.E. Hall all The annual Winter Roots Music Festi- val is set to run at The W.I.S.E. Hall and the Vancouver East Cultural Centre in Vancouver Feb. 8-11. Highlights include Aya, Natural Elements and Peter Case at the W.I.S.E. Hall Feb. 8, 8 p.m.; Ancient Cultures, James Keelaghan and The Dots at the centre Feb. 9, 8 p.m.; Nyetz, Faith Nolan and the Neailum Music Society at the centre Feb. 10, 8 p.m. Also included day Saturday and Sunday. Weekend passes are $50, individual concerts $15, cabarets and workshops each $5. Phone 684-4022. The Vancouver East Cultural Centre also presents B.C.’s Shari Ulrich in con- cert Feb. 14-16, 8 p.m. Tickets are $12, phone 245-9578 to reserve. kerk Folkies and other musical outcasts should know. that the Vancouver Folk Music Festival is holding a sale on albums this month. Included are LPs and cassettes by groups like Malcolm’s Inter- view, The Oyster Band, Clive Gregson & Christine Collister and more. The price is $6 apiece or three for $15. There are additional charges for mailing. Phone 879-2931.