Limitations leave gaping holes in a ‘Legend’
Putting myth onto film
is a difficult task at
host, ami when this
myth pits natural good
vs evil incarnate.:
_| the film's job becomes
infinitely tougher After all. when the
stakes are that high we expect nothing
short, of an-epic v , ' : .
- Ridley Siott's "l.egend," - misses the
epic ..siy-eep need eel to giv'e tlir liattre liet
^ ■ vviaVri liglft atV(l;(irtrkiii'sKthe coRmjc. 'pn>
|)(irti(ins S(:iitt irisists i:xist All nf the ai v
• tiiiiv is tieil into a iHsiutifuJ Netherworld
. " v,Ipresf. a won<rerfuHy_,-mali/.ed -.location
i oustim led; entirelv tjy Scott* and coni
ji.im ti» i ic,He a maun faintaie land Its
•r , lot ation is olisi ore and any sense uf
oi.rocjion within the forest JlY unimpor
taut t In* mystjt al i harm ters know iKeir
vyav around and that's endugh/
Vet this setting is .loti i confined
because. for all ot 'Scott's.efforts to keep
the action moving around this undefined
space, it simply feels too small. No
vistas, no master shots give us any sense
of magnitude nod the* scope of the story
is too limited to allow the time factor to
help open tip the sweep.
Simply put. there isn’t enough there to
convince us that tin? fate of the world
hangs in the balance* '
The cast. too. seems limiting lack '
|Tom < iruise|, ’a . medieval version of
Mother.Nature's son, is In love w ith the
Princess. I.ili (Mia Sara) who copies to
visit lack in his forest home In a. special
gesture. |ack allows I.ili to glimpse the
power of light aiid good iir'llfis world ~
a 11.11 i ol mill oms
Dowiwer The l.oril cif. Darkness (Tipi
< 111 i\ .11 Ills tiieatrual liest) has plans to
destrriv the beasts and enshroud the
world in darkness and cold I.ili's
pi eseni i allows the ill i iiioiis ol I lark ness
to injure one ol the beasts and throw the
del fcatel y - Ira la n tied world into a raging
storm
/ Jack and I.ili are separated and both
dedii ate themselves to lighting the
world I.ili overhears Darkness* plan to
capture and kill the surviving unicorn
mid runs In save the animat. Meanw hile,
lack teams up with the ell (Jump,
dwarves Screwball and Brown Tom and
fairv Oona.to fight Darkness on his own
turf his dreaded underground
kingdom ol death
T’vtjry Irame'of the film is stacked in
. detail. The npenidg scenes, are suffused;
with agqlden-whitujight that plays on
t he rose .petals that fi11-1he air loiter, the
w ind swept petals are replaced by; bub
i)lesiaiiils'ev:«i'n'_.laler.-(lrilt iug; snow f lakes.
-The';middle and ' background are
miniitelv.Tealized settings a lusli
forest 1 a mist '.enshrouded bog. dark and
tjah'geroiis 'caverns with death wailing
around .everycorner.: All of these sets are
.set if it ini' creations that rival 'the'detail
•Scott pul blip bis previous ■'Blade Run
ner,'' sets. Scott doesn't merely make
movies: he creates worlds.
yet something is missing from this
c arefullv crafted land of magic and
iii’vlli The’t|‘uest seems too short. thecas)
too limited, the answer too simple and
easily won fora battle of this magnitude.
And. finally, (he opening prologue about
the need fyr co-existence between light
and dark for balance is never actually
proven or even necessary for the conclu
sion of the tale. '/ . <•’.
for Ridley Scott the image is the film,
style is meaning and detail is'explana- .
tton. As.this is the.case ilVoiildbeuice
to see Ins original < reation his i. lit w iiich
isfyMngVscpjv'in/Kiipiptc.fl.nfdrluiaalely.-.
Universal decided that- the film had to be
recut to make sense to American an
il i’ences (t he same reasoni llg thal al lowed
"Once Upon A Time In America" to be
hacked and sliced out of shape). For
some reason. Universal.seems hr-believe
that we aren't as "sophisticated" as the
Kuropean audiences.
Perhaps the original cjil does allow for
a sense of <|iiesl and .1 feeling of
magnitude, perhaps not However. I do
know that in this incarnation. "i.egend"
is somewhat less than legendary.
B\ Sean \\maker
Polish postwar love story cunning, insightful
In "A Year Of The
Quiet Sun.” Polish
director Krzysztof
/.anussi has fashioned
a subtle film about war
ravaged Poland, circa
American soldier at
tempts to romance a Polish civilian. Nor
man is part of an Allied commission in
vestigating war crimes. Kmilia is a
widow who lives with her ailing mother
and paints, doth are fortyish. age-wise.
The storyline is simple: Norman tries
to convince Kmilia to move to America
w ith him, She reciprocates his love, but
eventually refuses to leave Poland.
Now . in love stories involving people
from different backgrounds, there are
two cliche-ridden possibilities: "They
lived happily ever after” and “Two
ships passing in the night, destined
never to meet ”A Year Of The Klim"
manages to avoid tmth dangers Indeed.
Xanussi is not so much concerned with
love as with the possibility of happiness.
Mis other films treat themes such as
the difficulty of moral action in a modern
l SiH ||
* ICMl
%
fra-u.1!**-1
1046. where i
world Thus, the flashing lights we see
i onlimi.illv in "A Year" refer not to the
stars crossing the lovers' eyes, hut to
beams that shine into the eyes making
action difficult.
At first Kmiiia resists Norman's stam
mering attempts at contact but finally
relents, thanks to his doggedness.
Neither speaks the other's language and
much time is spent with translators, but
it is by intuition and gesture that the
Polish woman and American man
understand each other. The language
difference is more a source of shared
humor than a handicap: Kmiiia has great
fun with the Polish-Knglish dictionary
and later. Iioth Kmiiia and Norman laugh
uproariously at the bumbling efforts of
their young Polish interpreter.
Next door to Kmiiia lives Stella, a
woman who worked in a brothel for tier
man SS officers during the war. and who
continues to turn an occasional trick.
Kmilias mother and the Polish
authorities shun her. but Kmiiia is ada
mant about refusing to judge her. Kmiiia
is equally serious about keeping her suf
faring •<> herself. and lives this ruin to the
extreme When Imodiums invade her
apartment, mb her and her mother, heal
up her mother and nearly rape Emilia,
shit says nothing about this to
a n vuno — i n eluding Nor ma n.
Norman is both tortured by and drawn
to his own memories of humiliation in a
Nazi concentration camp. When he
discovers that Stella's boyfriend is tier
man. Norman encourages the man to
order him to raise his hands and turn
around, in German. When Stella's beau
complies with this seeming jest. Norman
almost strangles him. Nevertheless. Nor
man makes it clear to Emilia that he in
tends to pursue a happy future with her
track in the 'States.
Emilia understands him perfectly, but
disagrees. Her wish to remain in Poland,
and find happiness in suffering in the
same land where her dead huslsmd lies,
is morbid and downright incomprehen
sible to her fellow Poles. A priest who
hears her confession urges Emilia to
depart with Norman, rather than en
courage her to remain true to her dead
husband.
Observations about the Polish
historical experience art; tightly woven
into the narrative, Zantissi doesn't
caricature Americans in his film: in
stead. he encourages comparisons bet
ween Poland and the United States, l-'or
example, in one of their rare moments of
jov. Norman and Kmilia drive through a
meadow and sing ‘‘Old MacDonald Had
a Farm.” The cow. they see walking
through the grass sets off a land mine.
American nursery rhymes would
1 men me very macabre if rewritten in the
light of Polish history.
All in all. “A Year Of The Quiet Sun”
offers an insightful view of a romance
tainted by the very memories of tragedy
on one country's soil. The understated
performances pnivide a welcome relief
front Hertford and Streep. Don’t miss it!
“A Year Of The Quiet Sun” is playing
at Cinema 7. in the Atrium building at
West loth Avenue and Olive Street.
B> Michael James
Qr What's better than a
shot in the dark?
A: A Resume from ODE
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