The Counterfeiters review

 Number 606 on the top 1000 films of all time is the German historical war drama 'The Counterfeiters.'

This film is based on the true-story of Operation Bernhard. During the Second World War, the Nazi's had a plan to destabilise the British economy by flooding it with fake currency. To achieve this goal, they coerced Jews into helping them - the chief among these is renowned counterfeiter Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics.)

The Counterfeiters won the 2007 Best Foreign Language film Oscar. I can see why. It is a quiet, but powerful story about the lengths that people will do to stay alive. Sally is just one of a group of Jews exploiting their skills to save their own lives.

Plenty of questions are raised about the morality of what the counterfeiters are doing, least of all from former Nazi dissident Adolf Burger (August Diehl) who is the first to point out the relative luxury that they are living in - in comparison to the Jews not lucky enough to be in their positions.

Sally's office is at the back of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. We often get chilly reminders of how he and the other Jews are in a special type of bubble - far enough away to be protected by the Nazis, but close enough to hear how the rest of their people are being massacred. It was a clever juxtaposition which reminded us that horror was never far away.

The different prisoners all have their own reasons to submitting to the Nazi demands yet they all felt human and believable. This is especially true of Sally who very much eschewed your standard hero archetype. Despite Burger's many attempts to spur him into rebelling, he stubbornly refuses. He's more interested in his own self-preservation. Considering his circumstances, who can blame him?

I do think that the film could have used an extra ten or fifteen minutes to wrap up the ending, as everything was rushed. Otherwise, this was a quietly powerful about a little-known part of the Second World War.

Top ten World Cinema films from the top 1000 films of all time

 Since I started working through the top 1000 films of all time, I have seen the best that World Cinema has to offer. Here are my top ten best World Cinema films.

City of God

There is a reason that this film is number 21 on the top 1000 films of all time. And there is a reason that it is on my list for the ten best films of all time. It is a breath-taking piece of cinema.

Detailing the lives of two boys growing up in the slums of Rio De Janeiro, it is an absolute roller-coaster. I have seen this film multiple times and each time it has been more thrilling than the last.

Oldboy

This Korean film comes in on number 82 on the top 1000 films of all time. Plus it also features on my top ten films of all time and for good reason. It is a powerful tale of revenge based on a Japanese manga.

This thriller follows Oh Dae-Su - a man who has been mysteriously imprisoned for fifteen years. After his sudden release, he goes on a self-destructive journey to find his kidnappers. It is brimming with gorgeous Korean proverbs, stunning fight sequences and one of the biggest plot twists in film history.

Rang De Basanti (Paint it Saffron)

Yes, you've guessed it. Rang De Basanti also features on the top 1000 films of all time at 34th. It is an Indian film. Critics of Indian cinema dismiss them as overly-dramatic with shoe-horned musical numbers. Yes, that is partly true, but Rang De Basanti is far more than that.

It tells the story of Sue - an English film-maker making a documentary about some of the early leaders of the Indian independence movement. However, the lines between reality and fiction soon begin to blur. It is a magnificent story about finding your place in the world. An absolute must-see for lovers of Indian cinema.

The Hunt

Director Thomas Vinterberg creates a gripping psychological drama that shows the witch-hunt following teacher Lucas (Mads Mikklesen) after he is falsely accused of molesting one of his pupils. This Danish film show-cased Mikklesen at his best. There is a reason that he won the Best Actor award at Cannes. But the entire film is a triumph. The tension never lets up for a minute. It is Danish cinema at its best. I much preferred it to Vinterberg's earlier effort of the Celebration, which is probably why The Hunt places 124 on the top 1000 films of all time. Fifty-five places higher than Vinterberg's earlier film.

My Neighbour Totoro

I had to include Japanese cinema on this list. And while it might have made sense to include Akira Kurosawa, I instead wanted to pay respect to the genre of anime. And there is no greater producer of anime than Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

I was so tempted to put Grave of the Fireflies on this list, but that heart-breaking affair has featured on other lists of mine, so I want to pay homage to another Studio Ghibli great: My Neighbour Totoro, which features at 137 on the top 1000 films of all time.

It would be all too easy to dismiss as a kids' film, but it is great for all the family to watch. Sisters Sasuki and Mai have just moved into a country home with their father while their mother is sick in the hospital. The young Mai then befriends the adorable Totoro who helps her through the process. This coming-of-age story is surprisingly poignant. Plus, I just love Totoro. He is the cutest thing ever. There's a reason he has become the mascot for Studio Ghibli.

Les Intouchables (The Untouchables)

This French film is the last time I'm going to mention my list of the top ten films of all time.

Les Intouchables features at 31 on the top 1000 films of all time. It tells the story of Philippe (Francois Cluzet) a billionaire quadriplegic and his unqualified, unprofessional carer Driss (Omar Sy.) Their unlikely friendship contributes to one of the feel-good films of the century.

Les Intouchables will make you laugh. It will probably make you cry too. Plus it's what launched Omar Sy to international stardom. If you've seen him in Lupin, do yourself a favour and go back and watch. You won't regret it.

Y tu Mama Tambien

We've come to Alfonso Cuaron and Mexico. This film really surprised me. Some of its critics have dismissed it as a Mexican American Pie, due to its frank depiction of sex, but this touching coming-of-age drama is far deeper than that. It places at 641 on the top 1000 films of all time.

It follows three characters: best friends Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) and older Spanish woman Luisa (Maribel Verdu) as they try to find a mythical beach.

It's a story about growing up. It's a story about change. It is under-stated, but also really sexy. You just might not want to watch it with your parents.

IP Man

Although I'm generally not a fan of wuxia/kung-fu films, I would make an exception for IP man. It tells the true-life story of IP Man (Donnie Yen) a Kung-fu master who navigates the dangers of living in Hong Kong during the occupation of Japan. IP Man places at 215 on the top 1000 films of all time.

Unlike other Wuxia films, IP Man stays grounded in the real-life. Plus the kung-fu sequences are brilliantly choregraphed. Donnie Yen also gave a charismatic performance. I wasn't as keen on the sequel, but I still think IP man is the best that the Wuxia genre has to offer.

Zwartboek (Black Book)

We're returning to Europe with this excellent Dutch film that centres on the Dutch resistance movement during World War Two. Black Book is 435th on the top 1000 films of all time.

Where director Paul Verhoeven succeeded is by highlighting the different shades of grey that comes with warfare. No matter what Hollywood says, things are never black and white. This is a fast-paced affair with twist after twist. Its film-making at its best.

Das Boot 

We remain in World-War-Two for this excellent West German film that focusses on a German submarine crew who are under attack. And that film is Das Boot. It places 70th on the top 1000 films of all time.

Tight camera angles result in a claustrophobic, suffocating affair that highlights what it would be like to be on a submarine during battle. It also does great character work especially in how it explores how war can affect men. It certainly isn't perfect, but it is still an intense affair that doesn't let up for a minute.

It was difficult to nail this list down to just ten film. And there were many films and directors that did not make the cut: Fellini, Kurosawa, Bergman, Lang etc. Have I missed any other films? Let me know in the comments below. 

Invictus review

Number 957 on the top 1000 films of all time is Clint Eastwood's biographical sports-drama Invictus.

Four years after being released from prison, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) is elected as president of a South Africa still recovering from Apartheid. However, he believes he can unite the country by helping the South African rugby team, 'the Springboks,' captained by Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. But this will be easier said than done as for many of the black South Africans, the Springboks still represent the Apartheid.

Invictus marks the third collaboration between Freeman and Eastwood after Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. I didn't much care for Million Dollar Baby, as I'm not a boxing fan. I'm also not a rugby fan, so I didn't think I would like Invictus, but I did.

Whether I like sport or not, there is no denying that it has the power to unite people across different countries, colours, cultures and creeds. Will this be the case with South Africa? A country that's been ravaged by Apartheid. That's what Invictus explored.

Mandela certainly had a big task on his hands. His goal of uniting his country through rugby is met with cynicism from both his supporters and detractors. And we see this on both the macro and the micro-level, as whites and blacks must work together for the common good. Mandela's black security detail resent having to work with their white counterparts and vice versa. But over time, the the men begin to bond shown through a lovely sequence of the two sides playing a friendly game of rugby each other. 

It certainly helped when you had an actor like Morgan Freeman playing Mandela. He had the same charisma you would expect from any Freeman role. Apparently, he was so convincing that even Mandela's wife had trouble telling the two apart. Freeman was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar ultimately losing to Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart.

However, I don't think that Matt Damon was anything special. Anybody could have played the role of Francois Pienaar. I'm not entirely sure how he got a Best Supporting Oscar nod where he ultimately lost to Christolph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds. Although I did like the scene where Pienaar and the rest of the team visit where Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island. I've done this trip myself and it was powerful.

*Spoiler alert* South Africa go on to win the 1995 world Rugby World cup just like they do in real life. As one might expect, the ending becomes incredibly cheesy and silly, as their winning moments are played in slow-motion. I couldn't stop laughing as I heard all the rugby players grunting in slow-motion. It was very stupid.

But that doesn't matter as South Africa won the tournament and have since won three more. Has that resulted in a fully unified South Africa? Maybe not, but it's a damn good start.

Letters from Iwo Jima review

 Number 362 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Japanese-language American-produced Letters from Iwo Jima.

General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) is granted the impossible task of defending the Japanese island of Iwo Jima from American invasion during the last few months of World War Two. One of his soldiers is Private Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya.)

In my Mystic River review, I hoped that Clint Eastwood would stick to directing rather than acting. And that's exactly what he did when he directed this film. It was an excellent portrayal of  a little-known part of World-War-Two told from the unfamiliar perspective of the Japanese. When Hollywood portrays WW2, they often have an unfair bias toward the war in Europe, being completely ignorant of the whole other war happening in the Pacific. Letters from Iwo Jima was also a sensitive, well-rounded and brave portrayal. For once, it is the Japanese, and not the Americans, who are shown as courageous heroes.

Letters from Iwo Jima was received well in Japan with much praise going toward its well-rounded characters who were real without being stereotypical. Private Saigo had no interest in the war; all he wants to do is to return home to his pregnant wife. But as the government took his baking equipment for the war effort, he has no choice but to fight. And Kazunari Ninomiya brought a very sympathetic character to life. It was hard not to root for such an underdog. But Ken Watanabe was equally good if not better. General Kuribayashi was a character who was fiercely loyal to his men.

Eastwood depicted the battle of Iwo Jima with sensitivity, gravitas and nuance. The feeling of doom is apparent, but so is the feeling of honour among the men. In one of the film's more disturbing sequences, a group of soldiers choose to commit honour suicides instead of surrendering or being taken prisoner.

Mostly filmed in Iceland, we see that the location is as stark and as a fraught as are the Japanese's chances of survival. Yet believing it to be the perfect place for the US to attack their homeland, they're prepared to defend it to the last man. And this preparation soon turned into desperation.

Eastwood earned himself yet another best film nomination with Letters from Iwo Jima. And it was well-deserved. This was an under-stated, but incredibly powerful film.

Legends of the Fall review

 Number 846 on the top 1000 films of all time is the epic Western drama 'Legends of the Fall.'

Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) is a former army veteran who retires to a ranch in Montana. When his wife Isabelle leaves, he raises his three sons alone: the oldest Alfred (Aidan Quinn,) the middle son Tristan (Brad Pitt) and the youngest and most naive Samuel (Henry Thomas.) Also, on the ranch if William's Cree friend One Stab (Gordon Tootoosis,) as well as ranch hand Decker (Paul Desmon,) his Cree wife Pet and their daughter Isabelle Two.

Legends of the Fall is a sprawling narrative that encompasses a huge time period from the early twentieth century to World War One to prohibition and even the 1960's. Edward Zwick takes us through each era well. Although at times it felt very disparate which we will come to later.

When WW1 breaks out, Samuel and Alfred volunteer to fight. Trist also reluctantly volunteers. He has promised Samuel's fiancé Susannah (Julia Ormond) that he would keep him safe from harm. The war scenes were effective and well-shot. And Brad Pitt proved he's more than capable of doing quieter, character roles, as well as bigger, block-buster, action roles. Anthony Hopkins was also great. As the stresses of his life become too much, William suffers from a stroke, rendering him virtually mute and immobile. But Hopkins still generates a lot of sympathy for the character.

However, while the male stars and characters were great, I feel like the female characters were short-changed. Susannah didn't have much of a role beyond being the object of affection for all three brothers. Although she is initially Samuel's fiancé, when he *spoilers*

is killed in the war, she hooks up with Tristan, all while Alfred looks on in desire. When Tristan goes AWOL for years, Susannah marries Alfred. It was less than the most satisfying of characters.

When Tristan returns to the ranch, he finds that Isabelle Two has all grown-up. And the two promptly marry and start a family. Even putting the age difference aside, the brothers were all adults while Isabelle Two was still a little girl. I saw very little reason why she and Tristan would marry each other except they're both young and hot. At least you had Alfred acknowledging the oddity of the situation.

But returning to my point about the disparateness, while Legends of the Fall worked in little parts, the parts didn't coalesce well together. it was a massive film set across an expansive time period which encompassed a lot of genres. It began as a Western, flirted as a romance, turned into a War film and later on, during the Prohibition era, it even became a gangster flick. It seemed overly-ambitious. And I don't think it worked. Fewer elements explored in more detail would have been better.

Ultimately, I still enjoyed this film. The female characters weren't great, and it was overly-ambitious, but Pitt and Hopkins shone.

The Reader review

 Number 708 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2008 romantic drama 'The Reader.'

The film opens on an adult Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) is waking up with a younger woman. The film then flashes back to 1958 Berlin where we see the 15-year-old Michael (David Kross) embark on a steamy affair with the mysterious, far older Hanna Schmidt (Kate Winslet.) After a summer of romance, she vanishes only to resurface years later on trial for being an SS officer during WW2.

Many stories often fall victim of 'sagging middle-part syndrome - the beginning and the ending are exciting, but things fall apart in the middle. However, I would argue that the ending is where the Reader fell flat. Things were gripping and intriguing right until the final act. We are immediately introduced to the enigmatic Hanna Schmidt. We know that there is more to her than meets the eye, but her character is kept in the shadows. 

But this mystery is what kept me watching until the second act where we finally learn Hanna's mysterious past. Hanna was an SS guard standing trial for letting three hundred jews die in a burning church. Michael, now an aspiring law student, and present at the trial for his learning, is heartbroken by this. However, the tension remains high as Schmidt desperately tries to explain her actions, before eventually admitting her complicity in the crimes. She is sentenced to life.

This would be all well and good if the film ended there, but there's still whole other act and there is little reason to watch it. by this final act all of the narrative tension had dissolved and the stakes had fallen through the floor. We see Hanna in prison, but she seems to have a relatively easy time of it - she doesn't get into any fights with the other prisoners nor does she seem guilt-stricken about what she's done. We're also given to understand that Michael has become estranged from hisw ife and daughter, but we're not given much about this estrangement - except for some vague notion he is still hung-up on Hanna.

David Kross gave a great performance as the young Michael taking us through a wide range of emotions. Apparently he learned English especially for this role which is very commendable. Kate Winslet won the best Actress Oscar for her role. She was good, but I'm not sure her role was quite Oscar-worthy.

Although this film starts well and continues strongly, it was sorely let down by its disappointing and anti-climatic ending. Unfortunately it was sunk by its denouement. 

Ghost World review

 Number 819 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2001 black-comedy drama Ghost World.

Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) have just graduated high school. Other than living together, they have no plans for the future. For a laugh, they respond to the lonely, middle-aged Seymour's (Steve Buscemi) classified dating ad. But seeing how devastated their actions have made him, they decide to make amends by finding him love for real.

I have to admit that this film had to grow on me. At first, Enid and Rebecca were a little annoying. Enid was, at least, Rebecca didn't seem to have a life or personality outside of her friend. But both girls are very nihilistic, bemoaning the exploitative nature of the capitalist world. There isn't anything inherently wrong with nihilistic characters, but there has to be more to them than their "I hate the world" shtick. Otherwise they're little more than annoying, negative Noras. Hardly characters you like and want to root for.

Things picked up immensely with Steve Buscemi's character of Seymour. Buscemi excels in anything he's in and Seymour was no exception. Seymour is a sad, lonely man who only finds joy in his extensive collection of blues records. Like Thora and Rebecca, he is cynical, but unlike them, he isn't completely jaded. He is still trying to find happiness rather than resigning himself to a lifetime of misery. This did make him a likeable character. And he and Enid brought out the best of each other. As Enid schemes to find him love, she realises she is falling in love with him, and he with her. Eventually, they consummate their relationship.

In a post #metoo movement world, you could probably read a weird subtext of an older man sleeping with a nineteen year old Thora Birch, but 2001 might as well be two centuries ago. And the past is another world.

This was a strange film. If you can get past the slow beginning, then I think it's well worth a watch.

Zwartboek (Black Book) review

 Number 435 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Paul Verhoeven's Dutch WW2 film Zwartboek which translates as Black Book.

Rachel Stein (Carice Van Houten) is a famed Jewish singer during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. When her hiding place is destroyed and her family are murdered by the SS, she joins the Dutch resistance. She is tasked by high-ranking resistance member Hans Akkermans (Thom Hoffman) to seduce the Gestapo leader Ludwig Muntze (Sebastian Koch.) This was all based on a true story.

In war films, it is all too easy to say that these are the good characters and these are the bad characters. but the reality is never that black and white. And that was all part of Verhoeven's vision. He definitely succeeded. We'll take glamorous heroine Rachel Stein as an example. Victim of Nazi persecution, she makes an obvious hero. However, she then falls in love with the Nazi official that she's seducing. The Nazi official Muntze quickly realises she is a Jew, but he has also fallen in love with her. And he is much fairer than his brutal deputy Gunther Franken (Waldermar Kobus.) Realising the war is lost, Muntze secretly negotiates a ceasefire with the Dutch resistance.

*spoiler alert*

When the Netherlands is liberated at the end of the war, Muntze is executed for his crimes and Rachel is locked up as a supposed Nazi collaborator. Her fellow Dutch compatriots treat her and the other supposed collaborators deplorably: humiliating them by forcing them to strip naked. But then Akkermans, now an army colonel, breaks things up and declares them no better than the Nazis. And this scene is not difficult to imagine happening in real life. The Dutch are angry at their treatment and want to take out their anger on anything they can.

As the two leads, Van Houten and Koch gave a lot of nuance to character who ran the risk of being flatly good and bad.  But it was these fundamental flaws that made all these characters so human and relatable. even the burtal Franken is a keen singer/ballroom dancer. To have characters be simply good or simply bad would be far too two-dimensional and cliche.  And Hoffman shone as the true villain of the piece. 

*more spoilers*

Hans Akkerman, despite being a high-level member of the resistance, is actually a secret Nazi collaborator.  Rachel Stein and her family try escaping to safety by boarding a boat that will carry them down the river. They are discovered by the SS and Rachel is the only one who escapes with her life. It is later revealed that Hans set this up, so he could steal whatever money the refugees had. This is entirely believable as well. Everybody becomes desperate in war. And loyalties can change at the drop of the hat.

Van Herhoeven perfectly captured the brutality of war: from the SS gunning down escaping Jews to them torturing one of the captured resistance fighters. He certainly pulled no punches. He succeeded in creating a harrowing tale of human morality and I'll end this review on his assessment of Zwartboek: "in this movie everything has a shade of grey. There are no people who are completely good no people who are completely bad. It's like life. It's not very Hollywoodian."