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Gillo Pontecorvo; one of my favourite directors from the 60s-70s. The Italian filmmaker began his career as a documentarian, and only made five feature films in his life, but what a quintet they were.
1.'Kapo': Complex, unsentimental holocaust picture with Susan Strasburg as a young Jewish girl who ends up becoming a guard at a concentration camp; unflinching character study, better than 'Schindler's List'.
2.'The Wide Blue Road': French actor Yves Montand plays a young fisherman who cuts corners to make ends meet. Dazzling colours and cinematography with an intriguing story about working life in post war Italy.
3.'The Battle Of Algiers': My personal favourite; an excellent film about the Algerian war of independence against the French Empire. Initially banned in France, its also John Malkovich's favourite film, so I'm in good company here.
4.'Burn!': Excellent political drama with what is IMO Marlon Brando’s best performance, Brando stars as an agent provocateur working for the British Empire, whose sent to instigate a slave uprising on the Portuguese Caribbean colony of Queimada.
5.'Operation Orgo': Frantic and tense thriller about Basque separatists fighting General Franco’s dictatorship in 1970s Spain.
I'd recommend any of the above if you want to see well-researched movies that challenge you with their realism and dynamic approach to filmmaking. I can't think of another director in recent memory who better lives up to the ideal that is 'Total Cinema'.
[ 17. November 2008, 14:40: Message edited by: Kash ]
Posts: 2041 | From: The Ice Planet Hoth | Registered: Jul 2001 | Site Updates: 0
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Phil Sukalooski
Posts: 2729 | From: Kansas City, MO "At the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance" | Registered: Apr 2007 | Site Updates: 9
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