Posts tagged Ireland
“The Way” a Beautiful Film
Oct 23rd
“Beautiful Film on Different Levels”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Way is one of those rare films that you will remember for a long time to come, because it can affect a wide range of audiences in many different ways.
The film stars Martin Sheen as Tom Avery, and it was written and directed by Emilio Estevez, Sheen’s son, who also plays Tom’s son, Daniel, in flashbacks.
The title refers to the Camino de Santiago, the route of a centuries-old religious pilgrimage that begins in southern France, crosses the Pyrenees Mountains, and ends at the Cathedral de Santiago in Compostela, Spain.
Tom is a widower and an ophthalmologist in California, and one day he receives a phone call from France, and a man asks, “Are you the father of Daniel Avery?”
Tom learns that Daniel was going to walk the Camino de Santiago, but he was tragically killed in a sudden storm on the very first day of his journey.
So, Tom goes to France to retrieve Daniel’s body, and we learn that Tom and Daniel weren’t close ever since his mother died, he was Tom’s only child, and he wanted to see the world.
While he is in France, Tom learns more about the Camino de Santiago, and so he decides to have Daniel’s body cremated and, using Daniel’s backpack, take the ashes with him while he walks the pilgrimage himself, which will take months to complete.
We are told that the pilgrimage is a very personal journey, but shortly after he begins, Tom encounters three other people with whom he will spend most of the journey: Joost from Holland, Sarah from Canada, and Jack from Ireland, all with different reasons for wanting to make the pilgrimage.
Also, along the route, other interesting people are encountered, some making the pilgrimage themselves and others in the villages through which they pass, including some who own and run the inns where pilgrims can spend the night.
Needless to say, Tom has interesting experiences along the way, some touching, some pleasant, and some not so pleasant.
Although Tom walks and acts as if he wants to complete the journey in as short a time as possible, events occur that slow him down and allow him to appreciate the trip and to come to a better understanding of his son Daniel.
The Way is a beautiful film on many different levels.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Guard” Funny, but Difficult
Sep 3rd
“Funny, but Difficult”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Guard is one of the funniest movies you will see all year, but it is also one of the most difficult to understand, too, because it takes place in Ireland, and although the characters speak English for the most part, their accents are unfamiliar to American ears.
I say “for the most part,” because one scene has characters speaking Gaelic, but it also contains subtitles for the audience’s benefit.
The story takes place in County Galway, in western Ireland, and Brendan Gleeson plays Sgt. Gerry Boyle, who prides himself as being “the last of the independents,” although the criminals in the story call him “unpredictable” and for good reason.
For example, when Sgt. Boyle and his new partner investigate a murder, Sgt. Boyle says that the victim looks like Brendan Foley. But then when the partner remarks that they know who the victim is, Sgt. Boyle says, “I said he looked like Brendan Foley. I didn’t say he was Brendan Foley.”
And then Special Agent Wendell Everett comes to town from the United States. He is played by Don Cheadle, and the authorities have been tracking a ship carrying half-a-billion dollars worth of cocaine on board, which they suspect will dock somewhere in western Ireland to unload the drugs.
The fact that Agent Everett is black gives Sgt. Boyle the opportunity to make some outrageous racist comments, but then Sgt. Boyle makes an excuse by saying that he is Irish and racism is part of his culture.
However, as Agent Everett points out, Sgt. Boyle could very easily be very dumb or very smart.
Eventually we learn that Sgt. Boyle is much smarter than he appears to be and also smarter than he acts.
We also follow the gang of drug traffickers who are waiting for the ship to arrive, and their interaction is just as funny as the interaction among Sgt. Boyle, Agent Everett, and the rest of the police force.
At one point you might think that there are too many side stories going on, but they all tie in together neatly at the end, which involves one of the funniest shoot-outs you will ever see.
The Guard is funny, it is difficult, but it is so good that you just might have to see it more than once to enjoy it all the more.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.