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Come and See
Come and See (1985)
9/10
A Real War Movie
29 May 2010
When you hear a movie you're going to watch is a war movie, you expect exciting gun battles, spectacular explosions, and maybe a few depressing scenes towards the end that ultimately give you that warm patriotic feeling inside. In "Come and See", you'll only see depressing scenes that will fill you with nothing but sorrow and anger.

Of all of the holocaust/ World War II movies I've seen, nothing has made me feel such anger towards the actions of the Nazis like this movie has. Most war movies portray Nazis as mindless killing machines that are hard to hate since they appear to be the mechanical dogs of Hitler. In this film, the German characters had a real human side to them which made them much easier to hate when they would go out of their way to make sure Russian peasants suffered some of the most excruciating deaths possible for means of entertainment for the Nazis.

Every character in this film is very real and the young protagonist will certainly leave an impression on you long after you have viewed this film. This is a powerful movie that will stick with you, but I advise the reader to watch it at a strategic time because it will definitely wreck the rest of your day when you see it.
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Time of the Gypsies
Time of the Gypsies (1988)
7/10
Loss of Innocence and Direction
29 May 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The film "Time of the Gypsies" is quite entertaining, but is too lacking in direction for my tastes. This movie starts out as a dark comedy starring a "bastard" misfit boy of a gypsy community named Perhan. The teenage boy is first shown as quite innocent and naive, taking everyone for their word. Throughout this film the viewer watches helplessly as Perhan changes from the young innocent boy into a conniving untrusting thug.

Perhan goes on a mission with the gypsy hustler "Ahmed" who promises he will take Pehan's handicapped sister to a doctor at his own expense. Of course Ahmed lies to Perhan and sends him through a series of transformations by forcing Perhan to join his group of gypsies that expose the young teen to acts of thievery, prostitution, and deceit. This character transformation is convincing and unfortunate, but was the only redeeming factor in this movie for me.

I usually prefer movies that don't stick to a specific genre, but instead use whatever elements of each genre to make the best movie possible. Unfortunately I didn't like the genre mixes in this film. The first 1/4 of the film is a dark romantic comedy. Perhan chases a girl and wins her heart, but when he cannot win her parents approval, he attempts to hang himself. I found this scene more disturbing than humorous which I think it was meant to be. The rest of the film is a tragedy with Perhan's spiraling downfall into a life of lies and crime. Random magical elements are introduced along the way such as Perhan's telekinesis that is only practically used once in the film.

I felt like the mixture of so many elements did not turn out as well as the director imagined they would, and it became a messy storyline that I found difficult to take anything away from. Overall, the film is entertaining, but I felt as though it didn't have enough redeeming qualities for me to recommend it to anybody.
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The Other Conquest
The Other Conquest (1998)
7/10
A Non-Conventional Film That Deserves A Second Look
29 May 2010
"The Other Conquest" is a film that deserves to be viewed more than once to truly grasp the full message. The first time I watched the film, I thought it was interesting, but I had a hard time understanding Topiltzin (the protagonist). Since I knew very little about Mexican history it was hard to identify with the message of the film in my first viewing.

After taking another look at "The Other Conquest" I began to sympathize with the Indian characters. Topiltzin is a very strong minded man that knows exactly what he believes in, which creates a great deal of conflict within himself as he is forced to convert to Catholicism. Near the beginning of the film Topiltzin's brother tells him that the only way they will survive is to adapt into Spanish culture, but Topiltzin refuses to adapt stating he knows who he is already.

The rest of the film is an external look at Topiltzin's internal struggle. He refuses to abandon his culture, yet he is under constant watch by the Spanish that will not allow him to speak his native language or acknowledge his old culture in any form. Topiltzin has a difficult time integrating the figures from his own religion into Catholicism, but eventually is able to do it to some degree.

I found that the film was very informative, and gave me a perspective on a major world event that I wouldn't have known much about without watching his film. "The Other Conquest" in not entertaining in the conventional manner films entertain in terms of comedy or action, but it is definitely a film that should be viewed by all to reduce ignorance of an important event if nothing else.
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