NI2 FILM REWIEWS

November 2013

“The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover”

“The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover” was the sixth movie by Peter

Greenaway. It is a dramatic love story which mixes black comedy and a thriller plot.

The film was successful at the independent film world in its moment. It was released

in October of 1989 in the UK.

The main character was played by Helen Mirren who was the wife of a cruel,

ruthless and extremely fat man, the owner of a huge and sophisticated restaurant.

The lady had an affair with a customer of the restaurant, an intellectual and sensible

man, the opposite character of her rude husband. They could develop their affair

inside the pantry of the kitchen, surrounded by chickens, pheasants and geese, with

the complicity of the cook, a kind man.

The great strength of this film was the amazing technical and artistic team who

participated in it. Besides the incredible selection of actors and actresses, the film

had the participation of Jean-Paul Gaultier as the fashion designer, Michael Nyman

as the musician composer of the unforgettable soundtrack and the director, who is

famous for renovating the cinema’s art, for investigating new codes of telling stories

and for working with the most contemporary artists around the world.

Greenaway is more than cinema; Peter Greenaway is a creator who uses the movies

for creating, an artist, a complete artist, who is as a conductor working with

designers, architects, musicians, composers, photographers, decorators and visual

artists to create not the best films in the world, but the most original ones in my

opinion.

ÁNGEL MARTÍN HUMADA

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (Directed by Kevin Macdonald)

The Last King of Scotland is an adaptation of a

novel by Giles Foden, which is loosely based on

historical facts. It is a drama, set in Uganda during

the 70’s.

The movie tells us of Idi Amin’s life, who was one of

the most bloody African dictators, through the eyes

of Doctor Nicholas Garrigan, a non-historical

character. Garrigan was firstly fascinated by Idi Amin

Dada, because at the beginning he represented a

blow of fresh air in Uganda’s political life. After that

he became the personal doctor of Idi Amin and his

Adviser. But real life is cruel and he soon realized

the fascinating Idi Amin had an awful dark side.

The interest of this film, and his distinctive characteristic, is that it represents Idi

Amin Dada’s both faces and how a dream about freedom and change of a country

can became a fatal nightmare. Forest Whitaker, who won an Oscar for this role,

built a powerful character, because he performed a real dictator who is sometimes

like a small child, sometimes terrible, but always fascinating. My only objection to

this movie would be the character of Doctor Garrigan who was a bit naïve.

This is a gripping film, and also depicts a real historic fact which represented a hope

that changed into a dreadful curse. And if you want to know why Idi Amin Dada was

the Last King of Scotland, you have to watch the film. It’ll be on tonight 18th of

November on the second channel. ;-)

The Untouchables

“The untouchable” is a French comedy-drama film

directed by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano. Set

in modern-day France and based on a true story.

It is a story about friendship and social classes:

Philippe is a really rich man, who becomes

disabled because of a paragliding accident. Driss,

on the other hand, is an immigrant from a marginal district who just came out

of jail. Philippe hired Driss to be his live-in caregiver, so they started to know

each other and become friends, despite the warnings of Philippe’s family, who

didn’t trust Driss because of his past.

This film is one of the best films I’ve ever seen. It makes you laugh and cry,

and teach you the value of equality and respect. Also, I love the soundtrack,

made by Ludovico Einaudi, a pianist and composer well-known in the film

world.

Original and unexpected, I recommend this film to everyone.

Joaquina Egozcue