Month: June 2011

The Soviet War against Finland II: LFM Reviews War Children

By Joe Bendel. It was a scene somewhat reminiscent of the kindertransport, the World Jewish Relief’s coordinated effort to relocate Jewish children in British foster homes. Yet these were Finnish children, packed off to Swedish host families, in advance of the invading Soviet would-be conquerors. Decades later, several of the surviving relocated youngsters record their experiences for posterity in Erja Dammert’s documentary War Children, which screens today as part of DocPoint’s tenth anniversary celebration in New York.

It is a testament to the Finnish people that they were able to withstand the forces of Soviet domination. In 1939, though, Finland’s future as a free and democratic country was far from certain. For their own safety, scores of Finnish parents sent their sons and daughters off to temporary refuge in ever-neutral Sweden. Such painful decisions are difficult to explain to children, though. Evidently, in several cases they did not even try, simply packing up their sleeping young ones and depositing them on outbound trains.

Not surprisingly, the young Finns typically experienced difficult transition periods, particularly since few if any of the children spoke Swedish. Yet, eventually many acclimated quite well to their hosts’ higher standards of living. Naturally, they also formed emotional bonds with their foster parents. Indeed, for many of the younger children, their Swedish surrogates largely supplanted the memories of their legal Finnish parents.

Though not as elegantly crafted as the thematically related Y in Vyborg, War Children is unfailingly sensitive and respectful in its approach to its subject matter. Broadway patrons will also notice certain parallels between the former Finnish refugee children’s stories and The People in the Picture, Donna Murphy’s new musical running through June 19th at the Roundabout’s Studio 54 Theater. Of course, it is important to stress that the Finns were not facing the same genocidal threat as European Jewry, but rather the everyday indiscriminate brutality of the Soviets.

DocPoint features a diverse slate, but some of its best selections open an intimate window into Finland’s unique WWII experience, hitherto largely overlooked by American media and scholarship. Indeed, War Children is a very strong film, while Vyborg is even more so. Both are definitely recommended during DocPoint’s 2011 New York tour. War Children screens today (6/11) at Scandinavia House.

Posted on June 11th, 2011 at 9:22am.

First Look at Sacha Baron Cohen in Saddam Hussein Satire The Dictator

By Jason Apuzzo. The first official image has come out from Paramount of Sacha Baron Cohen as a Saddam Hussein-style despot in Cohen’s forthcoming comedy, The Dictator. The official, cheeky description of this project is that it tells “the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed. It is inspired by the best selling novel, Zabibah and The King, by Saddam Hussein.” Perfect!

Cohen is very hit-and-miss to me in terms of his comedy, but he’s obviously quite talented and when he hits he’s almost at Peter Sellers’ level. Anyway, this could really be fabulous if it’s done properly …

Posted on June 9th, 2011 at 1:45pm.

The Soviet War against Finland: LFM Reviews Y in Vyborg

Yin Vyborg.

By Joe Bendel. They were part of the Finnish Greatest Generation. In the notorious Winter War and the subsequent Continuation War, small democratic Finland went toe-to-toe with the Soviet Empire, putting the Allied forces in a difficult diplomatic position. Prominent Finnish husband and wife architects documented the physical destruction of the war and the emotional toll it caused in the letters and Super-8 films director Pia Andell edited and molded into the compelling documentary Y in Vyborg, which screens today as part of DocPoint’s tenth anniversary celebration in New York.

Ragnar Ypyä, or “Y” as he was simply known, had a bustling architectural firm in the eastern border city of Vyborg. Martta (or “Mirri”) Ypyä complimented her husband as a near perfect draftsmen.  Together they raised a family and led prosperous, professionally rewarding lives, until the Soviet bombs started falling.

During the Winter War, Finland was fighting an Axis-aligned power. However, when the Continuation War began, Stalin had since joined with the Allies, while Germany provided limited support to Finland. Yet the Finns were still fighting to protect their independence and democratic system of government, while the Communist forces were still fighting a war of imperial conquest. Though Vyborg largely focuses on the personal, the grit and resolve of the Finnish people comes through forcefully. So does the constant stress and frustration expressed by the Ypyäs as they struggled with their involuntary separation and numerous privations during the war years. Continue reading The Soviet War against Finland: LFM Reviews Y in Vyborg

Cold War Update!: Angelina Jolie to Hunt Communists in New Salt Franchise + ‘X-Men’ Fallout and The New ‘Call of Duty’!

By Jason Apuzzo. • So the fantastic news from yesterday is that the Angelina Jolie anti-communist thriller Salt, which we loved here at LFM, is likely to get a sequel. Deadline broke the story yesterday that Sony is moving forward on the project, with Jolie returning to star and Kurt Wimmer returing to write the screenplay. It’s not clear at the moment whether Phillip Noyce will be returning to direct, which is a key issue in my opinion – as Noyce is an old pro who really guides such projects masterfully. But nonetheless this is fabulous news, as Hollywood currently now has its own full-fledged communist-hunting franchise up and running. What could be better?

As LFM readers will recall, we were very enthusiastic over this film last year, not because the film was a masterpiece, but because it represented a return to the classic, Cold War anti-communist ethos that has been missing not only from mainstream Hollywood cinema – but also from the broader culture. Salt as much as any film was the reason we began doing Cold War Updates! – although other projects like MGM’s new Red Dawn (which we’d privately seen, way in advance) or Mao’s Last Dancer contributed to this Cold War Update! series being created, as well.

As we know, the communist threat has very much shifted from West to East, with China and North Korea emerging as potent threats to America – but Salt dwells on what has always been a great subject for spy cinema, which is the threat of communist infiltration here at home. (Specifically, Salt deals with Russian communist sleeper agents here in America left over from the Cold War, who are ultimately intent on returning Russia to its Soviet past.) Nowadays one might well ask whether communists need to even bother hiding themselves, anymore … incidentally, have I ever mentioned to Libertas readers that Van Jones is an old acquaintance of mine, and of Libertas contributor David Ross? … but perhaps that’s a story for another day.

What’s even more remarkable about the Salt ‘franchise’ – if we can call it that now – is that it’s emerging without the help of Fox News, talk radio, or the conservative blogosphere, all of whom appear curiously unaware of this film – even though Jolie is easily the biggest female star in the world, besides being daughter to Jon Voight. What gives? I often hear conservatives complain about ‘films that Hollywood won’t talk about’ or films that Hollywood is somehow trying to ‘suppress’ – such as Atlas Shrugged or American Carol, or a seemingly endless parade of conserva-documentaries – but box office hits like Salt (nearly $300 million worldwide) or even superb indie dramas like Mao’s Last Dancer ($22 million worldwide) or Peter Weir’s The Way Back ($20 million worldwide) seem to now be the films conservatives themselves won’t talk about.

Why is that? Is it because they’re not made by the ‘right’ people?

• The next Bond film (James Bond #23) now has a UK release date of October 12th, 2012 (the U.S. release is Nov. 9th), and rumors are swirling that the next Bond girl may be Naomie Harris.

Just for fun, by the way, I’d like to float an idea out there: that with Michael Bay concluding his work on the Transformers series, that the Brocollis consider giving him the Bond franchise … and Michael Fassbender the role of 007. Wouldn’t this be great? Feel free to comment below on the idea. You never know, after all, who might be reading this site.

• A boffo new trailer for the Call of Duty 3: Modern Warfare game is out, a game that will continue the Call of Duty storyline of a Russian invasion of America … this time involving Russian sponsorship of worldwide terror-attacks. The trailer is really something – absolutely epic in the scope of the villains’ all-out assault on the Western world – so be sure to check it out above.

You can also read this highly spoilerific summary of the game’s storyline, and you can catch some great footage of gameplay. This thing just looks superb, and quite intense. Continue reading Cold War Update!: Angelina Jolie to Hunt Communists in New Salt Franchise + ‘X-Men’ Fallout and The New ‘Call of Duty’!

LFM Presents YouTube Jukebox: Eva Cassidy

By David Ross. In a new feature, Libertas will excavate the YouTube cave of treasures, drawing attention to certain heroes of film, music, art, and literature – and preferring as always the vintage, the homemade, and the un-co-opted. YouTube Jukebox will be an ongoing demonstration of genuine creativity – a recurrent potshot, if you will, aimed at the ventilation shaft of the Hollywood Death Star.

The D.C.-area chanteuse Eva Cassidy (1963-1996) died young of cancer, so we can enjoy her work only elegiacally and with the kind of autumnal wistfulness with which we listen to Sandy Denny (see here), a similar and even greater singer-songwriter who departed all too soon. I stumbled upon Cassidy’s epochal version of “Autumn Leaves” only because my daughter happened to be learning the song on the piano. I was stunned. Nearly seventy years after the song was written, Cassidy reinvents it and claims it utterly, much as Coltrane claims “My Favorite Things” and Hendrix claims Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.” Her talent is not remotely theirs, but her desire to speak through the song is enormous and urgent. She recorded the song at Blues Alley in Washington on Jan. 2, 1996. Did she know she was dying? Perhaps she did, in which case the image of ‘autumn leaves’ is pregnant indeed.

Yves Montand debuted “Autumn Leaves” – originally called “Les Feuilles Mortes” (“The Dead Leaves”) – in Marcel Carne’s 1946 film Les Portes de La Nuit. Here Montand reprises his signature tune in the 1951 film Paris Is Always Paris. In 1947, Johnny Mercer rewrote the song in English and it has been a jazz standard ever since.

I hazard to say that nobody has ever taken the song as seriously as Eva or so fully grasped its expressive possibilities. “Autumn Leaves” was supposed to be a smoke-ring of 40s-era café sentimentality; it was never meant to have the emotional weight she gives it. Compare Eva’s life-and-death version to Montand’s unctuous crooning or to Stanley Jordan’s gymnastics on two guitars. She sings closed-eyed with the effort of permanent statement.

Thankfully, the Blues Alley concert is available on CD, though the album does not include, perhaps for copyright reasons, Eva’s fine version of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” a gorgeous melody that Eva rescues from its original synth-heavy context.

Posted on June 6th, 2011 at 2:33pm.

LFM’s Jason Apuzzo on Lars Larson’s National Radio Show

LFM Co-Editor Jason Apuzzo subbed for Govindini on Lars Larson’s national radio show Friday talking about X-Men: First Class and other current releases.

Special thanks, as always, to Lars and his staff for inviting Govindini and I on.  We always have fun appearing on his show.

Lars’ show is broadcast on over 200 stations nationwide, and runs at different times across the country, so to find his show be sure to check out his website here.

Posted on June 6th, 2011 at 2:32pm.