ane Sian i” ie = scree 1 ) ARTS ' & we . HANNAH AND HER SISTERS. cerned by the success of Hannah Films cial Directed, written and starring and Her Sisters. ‘‘Maybe it means | Woody Allen. With Mia Farrow, I’m becoming part of the estab- = ae eT Caine, lishment, I'm not challenging behind him Allen has never laid ; arbara Mersney. pet oe ie c blish claims to being revolutionary. He Woody Allen told a New York ere is plenty of. establish 12. however used his plentiful wit Times interviewer he was con- ment in Hannah. With 14 filMS +4 expose and trivialize whatever current trends were in his native Art h rt New York (the birthplace of all Ss oO Ss things trendy). Perhaps Allen fails his genre with Hannah because he doesn’t 4 -impressed by Out of Africa, intend to be funny. The vignettes Picasso mystery the Sydny Pollack epic nomi- || which comprise the film are sup- an nated for 11 Academy Awards. posed to be serious looks at life “cS . elease de = . : and what makes it worthwhile. okay he fans & * ae s Jerry Ses es (To be fair the critics are split.on } j viewe enyans who calle is i i : P release the 1957 film, The Mys- y this. U.S. mainstream reviewers, ie Peta nn ihc SN EOE LOT am pO gl cage ceemmmmpeemnsn MY ae oda sae nu Sy Sos enn * Mie i . tery of Picasso. The film, which shows Picasso working on six paintings, was directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and photographed by Claude Re- noir. : It won a special jury prize at the 1956 Cannes Festival but didn’t make it commercially on its first) release in North America two decades ago. It will be previewed at art gal- leries before Goldwyn decides to offer it to theatres. Awards honor Engel Fans of Marian Engel, the popular novelist who died last year, have been contributing to a fund to award women writers in her name. More than $23,000 has come from readers in small donations and the fund's trustees hope to raise $100,000 to allow for an annual award of $10,000 to an out- standing woman writer. The judges to select the first winner are Margaret Laufence, Jane Rulex and Timothy Findley. Keep film out of Africa According to an Associated Press story Kenyans aren't the movie racist.and repugnant and questioned why the government allowed it to be filmed in the country. The Kenya Times charged, “there is not a single Kenyan that comes on strong. They are ... the romanticized ‘houseboys,’ servants whose existence seems to be owed to the pres- ence of the memsahib and their various masters.” Charges were also laid that white extras received twice as much pay as black extras. Ina letter to a Nairobi news- paper, Out of Africa’s co-pro- ducer Terence Clegg com- plained at length about difficul- . ties during filming and an- nounced that Universal Pic- tures had dropped plans to film a movie there later this year about South African activist Steve Biko. Commentators’ charged howeyer that Hollywood wasn’t doing Kenya any favor by filming there. **Their aim is commercial not __ philan- thropic’’. Filmmakers “‘stand to make themselves wealthy beyond the dream of any or- dinary Kenyan out of the use of our Kenya background”. SEEGER SINGS FOR ATH GWAI (LYELL ISLAND) WITH THE RAINBOW CREEK DANCERS ia ORPHEUM THEATRE MARCEI 21 1986. 8:00. 10 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MARCH 12, 1986 unanimously feel Allen has gone real deep in his examination of upper middle class family life. Canadian critics are more inclined to call it heavy satire.) Allen does appear sporadically in his classic role as the insecure artsy type to provide very much needed comic relief. Not that Allen should be denied the prerogative of doing serious work. Unfortunately he tumbled into the lap of conservatism while doing it. This was difficult to avoid. The family today is the property of the ultraconservative right. It is therefore almost impossible to touch the subject in any form without being stifled by the right- eous goo. Although Hannah’s family is hardly a moral majority model. Farrow is Hannah (the good), on her second marriage to successful businessman Elliot (Caine); Elliot has an obsessive crush on Han- nah’s sister Lee (Hershey), an ex-alcoholic living (in sin) with a morose artist Max Von Sydow. - The third sister Holly (Wiest) is trying to make it as an actress, caterer, writer at the same time as she tries to beat a cocaine with commitment. habit and deal amorously with Hannah’s ex-husband Mickey (Allen). The three women were spawned by two ex-Broadway stars, played by Maureen O’ Sullivan and Lloyd Nolan, who are themselves caught in a time warp of old songs, booze and in- fidelities. But for all their idiosyncrasies this family still hangs together and are ‘‘very close’’ because of Hannah. Now Hannah is the ideal martyred woman. Farrow dis- plays her virginal looks despite being the stay-at-home wife and mother to four children. She rare- ly bothers her husband even though he has grown cold and crotchety during a year long affair with her sister (of which she is unaware). She is steadfastly kind and supportive (financially and otherwise) to: the annoyingly neurotic Holly who both leeches off her and blames her for her fail- ings. Whenever mom falls off the wagon it is Hannah who is called in to set things right again. This ” woman is so undemanding she Woody Allen and Mia Farrow in Hannah and Her Sisters: ma babies and martyred women as the middle class solves its probleny practically deserves all the that comes her way. The underlying ‘“‘what’s” about’’ theme running throl most of Allen’s work is answe! in Hannah. Mickey spends a yey dabbling in religion and wat N off acute depression (with the q of one liners) until an aborthy suicide attempt opens up } meaning of life for him (which) shares with the audience ina pay fully long monologue). ; Mickey’s coming to terms Wj himself sets the stage for the oth, - characters to get their respe N acts together and they do it inj) same pat way — love, marriay | babies. . However none of the above, pleasant as they might. be, , cures for neurosis, philandeny or deceit. Give Hannah an sisters another five years and ‘tnew’’ problems they face have a ring of deja vu. Sure the middle class own “‘real’’ problems, it’s that the solutions Allen aren't. Kerry M Anti-apartheid in the schools. It’s a must! Strangers in Their Own Country by William Bige- low, a curriculum guide on South Africa, is excellent for teachers, students and youth groups. Bigelow, a high school teacher in Portland, Oregon, has written the lessons for high school stu- dents. But many of the lessons can be used with elementary or junior high school students. I especially like the first lesson. Just teaching it would be illegal in South Africa. Read it and find out why. Strangers in Their Own Coun- try gives students an opportunity to read and discuss The Rivona Trial Speech to the Court by Nel- son Mandela. They read excerpts from novels by Alex La Guma. They investigate the issue of divestment and the economics of apartheid. There are lessons about Namibia and Angola. Bigelow’s curriculum is packed with creative ways of teaching about apartheid so that students are deeply moved. There are lists of films and quality literature, and art and writing projects. Please do not buy only one copy. It is urgent that Strangers in Their Own Country be in every _ high school class. In most high schools there are no quality books © or curriculum guides about South Africa. Take your extra-copies to a teacher or principal to see if the school will purchase the book. The guide has already been adopted and purchased by the Board of Education in Seattle, Portland and Boston! Discounts RATES GO UP APR.1 ~ are available from the publishy! more than 45 copies are }y chased. “a Contact Africa World Pry) P.O. Box 1892, Trenton, Ny Jersey 08608. on — Anne Steve Daily \ Get your oagene i Name PRGGOSS ~-t s nle ae sige Postal Code | 1am enclosing 1 yr. $14 OO 2yrs. $250 6mo. $80) Foreign 1 yr. $20 : Bill me later = Donation$.....:.. 4 to the Trib today | Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street « Vancouver, BC V5K 125. 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