at

FILMS ——

Israeli policy underlies this

HANNA K. France/Israel. May 12, 9:30 p.m., Ridge;
May 19, 9:30 p.m., Van East Cinema

Constantin Costa-Gavras and Franco Solinas have
combined their abilities to make a film that may befuddle
some viewers who are looking for another Missing. That

- isn’t the fault of the filmmakers, however. Hanna K. is a

superb product precisely because of its subtlety. It stands
tall as a film that peers behind the milk-and-honey facade
of the Israeli expansionist-antagonists to clearly side with
the displaced Palestinians.

Jill Clayburgh portrays Hanna Kaufman, an American-
Jewish lawyer who defends the downtrodden. She has left
her home and husband in France to live in Jerusalem. She
1S @ secular Jew, motivated more by a general sense of
community with her coreligionists than by Zionist propa-
ganda. She accepts the case of a young Palestinian who is
trying to reclaim his ancestral property in a historically
Arab town that has been renamed and turned into an
Israeli settlement. This brings her face-to-face with the
power of the state.

The physical beauty of Israel and the surrounding

Jill Clayburgh and Mohamed Bakri in Hanna K.

regions stands in sharp contrast to the armed aggression of
the Israeli military. Hanna K. opens with a squad of
soldiers destroying the homes in a Palestinian town and
arresting all of the young men for suspicion of terrorism. It

‘ends with a squad of heavily armed policemen and security

agénts standing outside Hanna Kaufman’s door because

subtle drama

she is allegedly harboring a terrorist. Throughout the film,

the viewer is shown that it is the policies of the Israeli

government that are the cause of Israel’s present “security
. problems.”

There are Jews in Israel and throughout the world who
embrace the State of Israel but who are sickened by Tel
Aviv’s policies. Hanna Kaufman is one of them, and
personifies the humane tradition of the sons and daughters
of Abraham.

Part of the reason Hanna K. is uneven has to do with the
attempt to give the film a human-drama flavor. We learn
that Hanna has left her husband, has had an affair with an
Israeli prosecuting attorney — who becomes her oppo-
nent in the trial of her client — and is pregnant. She
chooses not to marry the father and to have the child. She
ends up in an affair with her client, which leads to a
ludicrous scene in which she is simultaneously having
dinner with her husband, her former lover (who is the
father of her son) and her Palestinian lover.

Still, for the different view of the State of Israel, we
recommend Hanna K.

— Ronald Tyson

~ Atleast he could do the dishes

_ DIRTY DISHES. France. May 9, 7 p.m.,
_ Ridge; May 14, 7 p.m., Van East Cinema

Dirty Dishes is for anyone who has ever
had to choose between brushing their teeth,
vacuuming the hall or feeding the baby as
the first task of the day. Sa
) French director Joyce. Bunuel has
: updated Diary of a Mad Housewife, to take
_ in the economic crunch of the ’80s and has
| given the “fulltime wife and mother heading
for a nervous breakdown” a comic edge.
She hits all the right targets, but the jokes
are Sometimes so close to home that there’s
an uneasy edge to the laughter. -

‘What Bunuel says on film is what Lenin
said 70 years ago about housework, and the
description is still apt. It’s “unproductive,
petty, nerve-racking, stultifying and crush-

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ing drudgery” which “strangles, stultifies,

and degrades”, the person who does it.

_Eyvery critic I've read to date, claim
French Canadian Carole Laure, has been
muscast as heroine, Armelle. They’ve missed
the point. In choosing Laure, Bunuel
immediately did away with some of the
more simplistic solutions to the bored
housewife.

Laure, is, in short, beautiful, with an
enviously lithe body, which looks great even
in a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers. Hers are

not the problems which will be solved by
losing 20 pounds, getting her hair done or
putting on a clean dress. ;

Where Carrie Snodgrass should have
dumped Richard Benjamin before she met
him, Armelle’s husband isn’t the villain. He
is patronizing and doesn’t seem to know
how to make his own coffee, pick up his
socks or fetch a towel, but in taking on the
traditional role of provider, he’s also been
victimized.

She envies his life. He envies hers. “But at
least you’re a chemist”, she screams at him.
“A chemist”, he chokes, “with my nose
stuck in tires all day”:

She.should. try. getting a job, he goads.
Half of Europe is unemployed, but she
would love to work, “then I’d never have to
ask you for anything again”.

Surrounding Armelle are the constant
sounds of boredom. Muzak in the super-
market, the whirling, popping and grind of
food processors, toasters, blenders and the
daytime talk shows offering the titillation,
scandal and fantasy geared to her lot.

Armelle’s fantasy is the architect in her
building. Next to valium, psychiatrists most
often recommend the extra-marital affair as_
a prescription for housewives’ tears. Bunuel
wants to discredit both but she does it badly.

A dream of Nicaragua

ALSINO AND THE CONDOR. Nicarau-
ga/Costa Rica/Cuba/Mexico. May 9,

9:30 P.m., Ridge; May 6, 7 p.m., Van East
Cinema B

_A good example of the virtual cultural
revolution released by the liberation strug-
gle is the powerful film Alsino and the Con-
dor, the Nicaraguan presentation at the 13th
Moscow International Film Festival. It is
directed by the well-known Chilean film
maker, Miguel Littin who also participated
in writing the script. The talented U.S.
actor, Dean Stockwell performs in the film
but, the heroes and heroines of Alsino and
the Condor are the people of Nicaragua and
particularly the boy who plays the role of

-Alsino, ‘

The filming of Nicaragua’s first feature
film was interrupted twice in its production
by counter-revolutionaries. The Somocistas
crossed the Honduran border, forcing the
filming team to join in the defence of their
country. Camera man Jorge Herrera, to
whom the film is dedicated, gave his life.
Thus, it is the reality of the liberation strug-
gle in Central America that is depicted on
the screen. But Littin combines fantasy and
poetry to produce the deeper truth which
only genuine art can accomplish.

Allis seen and related through the eyes of

Alsino, a peasant boy who dreams of flying.
His flights into fantasy bring him into con-
tact with the brutal world of the condor —
the symbol of the tormentors of his long
suffering native land. It is from the high
perch in the stout, aged tree that Alsino
witnesses the shooting of peasant women,
men and children, the bodies left to float in
the sea. It is from this tree he also sees
Manuel, the father of the girl who is_his
playmate. Manuel has joined the liberation
fighters in the jungles. And it is when Alsino
attempts to transform fantasy into reality —
to fly — that he is crippled.

The film depicts the demoralization in
the ranks of the U.S. “‘advisors” who give
the orders for the genocidal slaughter as
well as among the puppet forces. The killing
of unarmed peasants and the burning of
their villages is termed “preventative medi-
cine.” Littin also skillfully weaves in allegor-
ical fantasy. A peasant procession reenacting
the crucifixion of Christ is savagely inter-
rupted by saturation bombing directed by
the U.S. advisor excellently portrayed by
Stockwell.

“Get me off my cross,’’ shouts Christ.
In the end, as Alsino go off to join the
guerillas, he is asked: ““What is your name?”
“Manuel,” he replies. ;
° — Mike Davidow

The women’s movement has long been
critical of media images that suggest women
like to be raped. We have a right to expect
more of a woman director. Armelle’s jump
with the architect gets it out of her system.
The sequence was necessary to the film but
it could have been handled differently.

Dirty Dishes says there’s no way out for
the housewife. In an attempt to stop her
bopping him with a garbage can lid, hubby
offers Armelle more candlelight dinners,
evening classes and maybe an escape to
New Guinea. But this promise to pay her
more attention smacks of deja vu, it calms
her down, but one gets the impression it’s
not the first time she’s heard the line.

As a friend suggests, looking after child-
ren is legitimate work, making your Spouse
a special dinner is okay, but picking up his
socks is not. Armelle has watched the fairy
tale turn sour. She like thousands of other
young brides thought happiness and love
would be found in fetching and caring for
Mr. Right. Ten years later, bending over to.
pick up his wet towels just gives her a

. backache.

Short of full employment, maybe the
only solution Bunuel could have offered
was sharing the housework. But it was the
only solution she didn’t offer. ” ‘

— Kerry McCuaig ©

Film festival
information

More than 80 films will be screened
in the third annual Vancouver Interna-
tional Film Festival, running at the
Ridge ‘Theatre and the Vancouver East
Cinema in Vancouver, from Apr. 27 to
May 24. ‘

The U.S., Australia and France have
the greatest number of entries although
there are also half a dozen each Cana-
dian and Italian entries. Fewer in
number are films from the socialist
countries with only a single film each
from Romania and Yugoslavia and
four from the Soviet Union. __

Among the Soviet movies-is the six-
hour epic War and Peace which will be ~
shown in two screenings May 5 and 12
at 2:30 p.m. at the Ridge Theatre.

A full listing of films is available
from the Ridge Theatre, where all
advance tickets will also be sold.
Tickets are available daily between 11
a.m. and 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
and the address is 3131 Arbutus,
Vancouver.

Tickets will be sold at the door, pre-
sumably on the basis of availability,
beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Ridge and
Vancouver East cinemas.

FEDERATION OF
RUSSIAN CANADIANS |

greets the working people of British Columbia
on this May Day, 1984.
May this year bring us full employment, peace
and friendship among all working people!

a

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Association of Uni

for |
Peace and Security

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ted Ukrainian Canadians

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