****

Declaration of War- sp– This movie is the French entry, for the best foreign picture in the 2011 Oscar Awards. It is the story of a young couple who fall in love and have  a child who turns out to have a brain tumor.  It almost could have been a documentary as they are relentlessly followed through  every step of their ordeal. We have had a great deal of experience in our professional lives seeing patients and families who go through the very personal issues in and out of the hospital that these two young parents had to deal with. In that respect there were no revealing surprises Also who among us has not personally had to have discussion with family members about serious medical issues that someone close to us is going through? Everything about this movie was authentic. In fact the screen writers and stars of this movie Valerie Donzelli (who also directed)  and Jeremie Elkaim  have been a couple in real life who have had a child with a serious medical problem. They have stated that this film is not an exact mirror of their life experience but they were able to draw upon it to create the emotional experience which they portrayed so well. This was one of love for their child and for each other,  support from their families and for each other as well as optimism and determinism. They were able to cinematically create special moments between them which provided insight into how they were attempting to cope. These are two very appealing persons and it was easy to identify with their youthful exuberance which made it all the more difficult to have to also identify with their  fear and anxiety.  We came away from the film experience  having shared the ordeal of the people in  the film with the hope that we and our loved ones could have strength of character that they showed, should we have to face such a crisis. (2011)

****

What’s  Eating Gilbert Grape?- nf  It is hard to believe that the same actor who we recently  saw play J Edgar Hoover this year was the playing a developmentally disabled 18 year old boy in this movie, who looked and acted like a kid even half that age. . Of course it was nine years ago, but nevertheless Leonardo DiCaprio well deserves the Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor he received in 1992 for his portrayal of Gilbert Grape’s (Johnny Depp) younger brother, Arnie, in this emotionally touching movie. The screenplay is based on the book, both by Peter Hedges,  and takes the viewers into a sleepy rural town. We meet Gilbert Grape’s family which consists of  Arnie and his two teenage sisters all of whom live and devote their lives to their mother who is at least a 500 pound women who has hardly moved around the house since her husband ended his life several years before. At first we couldn’t believe that this was an actual morbidly obese actress playing this mother and thought we were witnessing amazing special effects. However later we found out from the discussion about the film on the Netflix DVD that Darlene Cates was chosen for this part after an appearance on the Jessie Raphael TV show about obese women. She was able to bring to the screen role a sense of the despair she felt about her condition but yet the love and dependency in regard to her children. The storyline provides a setting about which most of us are unfamiliar, a set of characters who are quite unique but yet we can be touched by them and relate to each of their conflicts and attempts to find themselves. Mary Steenburgen plays the older women who have a need for attention from the Depp character. Juliette Lewis is a younger woman who is passing through town and encounters Gilbert Grape and ultimately his family. Her connection with Gilbert allows him to appreciate the possibilities he could have for himself. Director Lasse Hallsstrom and his cast all seemed to have sensitivity to this story and the film is beautifully made. While it may be geared toward sentimentality, it definitely works and has the potential to be unforgettable. You cannot help but be moved and inspired by the love and connection of the family throughout their challenges and changes. (1993)

***

The Iron Lady- rm-  An alternate name for this movie might be Margaret Thatcher meets Golden Pond but more about that a little later. The take away story of this movie is that Meryl Streep turned in an unbelievable performance as the famed British Prime Minister. The strength, character and the obstinacy of this woman during the height of her career comes across as most authentic as did her  sensitivity, vulnerability and reminiscences in her twilight years.  Streep once again establishes herself as one of the outstanding actresses of our time (in this case helped somewhat by a great makeup job as she ages.) The movie shows the development of the conservative philosophy of Thatcher as the young daughter of a grocer who then with an Oxford education carries forth her social and political beliefs as she becomes a Member of Parliament. We get a sense of  her determination not to be deterred as she takes her place in what is essentially an old boy’s club. The movie drops the audience in the middle of the exciting British  history as we see Thatcher stand up for her philosophical view on economic issues such as trying to balance the budget which triggered violent responses by the masses of people who felt they were being treated unfairly. We see her make the decision to go to war against Argentina in the Falkland Island incident with the loss of hundreds if not thousands of lives although nothing substantial but Britain’s pride was at stake. Certainly these depictions are quite timely as they reflect the political debate going on now as the United States Conservative and Tea Party movements demand balanced financial budgets at the expense taking away services to the needy. The movie also reminds us of the split among various factions on how our own military should react. The movie was at it’s best when it showed Thatcher carrying out her conservative philosophy and dealing with the consequences of it. We wish we could have seen more of this. Instead, a good part of the storyline dealt with the vehicle of viewing Thatcher as an older woman with memory problems who is grieving the death of her husband (Jim Broadbent) and having hallucinatory visions of him.  She is also having flashbacks of her relationship with him and her early life. It is always an unhappy story when a person’s mind fails them in later life and that certainly can happen to anyone. We don’t see how such a sad occurrence was relevant to Thatcher’s story, whether it was actually true and what was the purpose of emphasizing this in the film. There also is a vague suggestion that her dedication to her career has somehow made her distant from her children. If the writer (Abi Morgan) and director (Phyllida Lloyd) were trying to make a point about how this actually happened in Thatcher’s life, this should have been more clearly delineated. While we believe the story leaves something to be desired, the performance by Streep makes the movie quite worthwhile. (2011)

***

Water for Elephants- nf  – A doddering  old man (Hal Holbrook ) arrives late and misses the last circus show visiting his town. It turns out that many years ago he had a very special relationship with a well known traveling circus and so the tale unfolds . It happened long ago in the depression era when this young man (Robert Pattinson) was just about to graduate from  Cornell Veterinary College and finds himself down on his luck . He jumps on a train heading out of town which turns out to be  traveling circus. So begins this fairy tale of  a heroic young man, a beautiful young woman of the circus (Resse Witherspoon), her husband, the all powerful animal trainer and boss man (Christoher Waltz) and an elephant named Rosie who is very smart and loveable. There is adventure, drama, suspense, humor and lots of circus music. You think you know how it is  going to turn out but you won’t quite figure it out. Getting there will be an enjoyable process with a well crafted movie directed by Francis Lawrence. (2011)

***

We Bought A Zoo– rm  You get exactly what you expect with this movie. We saw it with our grandchildren and we all thought it was a good enjoyable movie. Interestingly enough, it is based on a true story. After his wife dies Benjamin Mee  (Matt Damon) moves his   family which consists of two kids (Colin Ford  and Maggie Elizabeth Jones) to the California countryside (the real life location was in London, England) where he buys a house connected to a dilapidated zoo. There is a crew of variegated zoo keepers trying to fix it up which includes their wise and appealing leader  Kelly  (Scarlett Johansson). There is Mee’s  caring older brother  (Thomas Haden Church) who thinks Mee is clearly doing the wrong thing by spending all is money trying to save this zoo. Then there are the animals who are …well exactly as you would expect them to be. There are a couple of other well done roles including Elle Fanning as the budding teenager who takes a fancy to the budding Mee child and  John Michael Higgins as the mean zoo inspector who could prevent the zoo from reopening.  Cameron Crowe ( of  Jerry McGuire fame) had the directing honors and the movie has all the ingredients for a successful Christmas movie which will live on for children and grown up children of all ages through Netflix. (2011)