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Check Other
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The
Sheltering Sky
1990, 1920x1080
Debra
Winger
Amina
Annabi
The
recipe for a
human being is
based on DNA
broth, but the
final dish has
been spiced so
heavily by
cultural
influences
that the
original broth
can be almost
unrecognizable.
As author Paul
Bowles said
when
discussing his
novel "The
Sheltering
Sky" in a 1981
Paris Review
interview:
"Everyone is
isolated from
everyone else.
The concept of
society is
like a cushion
to protect us
from the
knowledge of
that isolation
.. a fiction
that serves as
an
anaesthetic."
That novel,
and this
Bernardo
Bertolucci
film inspired
by it, are
about removing
that
figurative
anesthetic, by
eradicating
the societal
and cultural
anchors of our
existence.
Many
intellectuals,
particularly
idle American
ones, have
wondered
hypothetically
what it would
be like if
they could
free
themselves
from their
cultural
assumptions,
hoping to
isolate the
intrinsic
person
beneath. This
is the story
of two such
people, a
couple named
Kit and Port
Moresby. (Port
Moresby, get
it? It's the
capital of
Papua New
Guinea, and
the very
symbol of a
truly exotic
port of call).
Kit and Port
hoped that
removing their
cultural
moorings could
leave their
"spiritual
essences."
The couple
viewed North
Africa as the
perfect place
to break away
from the
assumptions of
Euro-centric
Christian
culture. They
immersed
themselves in
the local
culture,
learned to
communicate in
the local
languages,
learned to
live as the
natives lived,
without
Western hotels
or
restaurants.
They hoped not
only to
discover their
intrinsic
selves, but
also to
rediscover
their
connection to
each other.
They gradually
sought purer
experiences,
eventually
fleeing the
last vestiges
of
civilization
as we know it,
making their
way deep into
the Sahara.
When Port
died, Kit went
completely
native and
took up with a
local Bedouin.
At that point
in the story,
the audience
is not
supposed to
know whether
she had found
her mind, or
lost it.
Neither, for
that matter,
did she. Her
fascination
with an exotic
culture
eventually
turned into a
nightmarish,
transformative
experience.
Trapped with
the nomads,
she couldn't
even
communicate,
and thus
achieved her
original
desire,
although
perhaps not in
the way she
originally
conceived. The
only thing
left of her in
the desert,
without
America,
without money,
without
language,
without
friends, was
her essence,
whatever that
is.
Bernardo
Bertolucci
stayed as
faithful to
the novel as
possible. The
author had
written the
story while
living in
North Africa
in 1947, so
Bertolucci
actually
filmed
everything on
location
there, and
used the
novel's
creator, Paul
Bowles, as a
consultant and
on-screen
narrator.
Bertolucci was
able to
produce the
correct visual
experience on
film. The
details of
place and time
are not only
accurate, but
rendered
spectacularly.
I promise that
you will be
impressed by
the sights and
sounds. The
Sheltering Sky
is a
tremendous
travelogue.
And a
tremendous
failure.
When this film
was released,
Bertolucci was
coming off The
Last Emperor,
which was
nominated for
nine Oscars
and won every
single blessed
one of 'em. It
took in a
solid $44
million at the
North American
box office as
well. In the
wake of that
success, The
Sheltering Sky
was
anticipated
eagerly by
Bertoluccis's
many fans, but
it disappeared
almost
immediately,
amid
half-hearted
reviews and
poor
word-of-mouth.
It grossed
only $2
million
dollars, and
must have lost
a fortune for
everyone
involved.
What went
wrong?
Two things.
The first and
most obvious
is that some
books were
never meant to
be movies. The
essence of the
book consists
of the
interior
processes of
Kit and Port.
Those were not
easy to
convert to a
watchable
story. The
film moves
slowly and
relies on too
much
voice-over
exposition.
The second is
that
Bertolucci's
casting
choices were
questionable.
It seems to me
that John
Malkovich and
Debra Winger
were too
world-weary
and
condescending
for roles that
would have
played out
better if
portrayed as
fragile
idealists
unable to
understand the
situation they
were really
entering.
Malkovich was
an especially
odd choice to
play the
doomed Port.
Port is
supposed to be
a beautiful,
spoiled, but
sincere rich
liberal kid
who can't
really relate
to other
people very
well because
he's too
self-absorbed.
You might
easily picture
Robert Redford
in the role.
Malkovich does
a lot of
things well,
but beauty and
sincerity are
not among
them. He
brings his
usual creepy
air of
superiority to
the part,
which adds a
mocking tone
from the
start. He was
so
condescending
in his
precious
pseudo-intellectual
babble about
the
distinction
between an
traveler and a
tourist, for
example, that
when he became
terminally
ill, my
reaction was,
"What did you
think would
happen when
you drank the
local water,
ate street
food, and had
casual sex
with the local
people?
Weren't you
committing
suicide in the
first place?
You shouldn't
be too
surprised at
your success."
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Sleep
With Me
1994
Parker
Posey
1080hd film clip
(sample below)
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