Good and Evil are Never Far Apart

Winter in Wartime

Dutch, English Subtitles

2008, 103 Minutes

5 Stars

This movie was reviewed earlier, by Carole, a friend of Rainy Day. This is Rainy Day's review. This is a coming of age story, about Michiel, who lives with his family in Nazi occupied Holland. He is an innocent boy of 13, swept into the war during it's last winter of 1945. His friends are part of the resistance, but have kept him out, at least until they are arrested and killed. He finds the British pilot, wounded, and hiding, and with the help of his sister, helps him escape. His father, mayor of the town, is arrested and executed, his uncle steps in to help. The Nazi soldiers are portrayed as what many were—young men following orders, not ideologue's of the Reich. Rainy Day is fairly sure it is historically accurate to the time and place.

Trailer.

Spirited Away (truly!)

Spirited Away

anime, English (or Japanese with subtitles)

2001, 125 minutes

5 Stars

Chihiro and her family are moving to the suburbs and her father takes a wrong turn. They end up at what he thinks is an old theme park, instead it is a place for the different Japanese mythological gods to come and relax, human are not allowed. Her parents find an open restaurant, with wonderful food, but no one to serve them, or take their money, and they start eating only to turn into pigs. Chihiro, a rather sullen child, now discovers her parents as pigs to eventually be slaughtered, and she must find a way to rescue them and to get back to the real world. She learns the value of friendship and love. It is possibly the best movie Hayao Miyazaki has done. But Rainy Day hasn't seen all of them, yet.

For a trailer, click here.

From a Guest Blogger

Winter in Wartime

Dutch, English Subtitles

103 minutes, 2008
4 Stars

This is a Dutch movie, beautifully acted and filmed.  Its takes place during the winter of 1945, the last year of World War 2.  It’s the story of a 14 year old boy growing up in a town that is occupied by the German army.  His father is the local mayor and appears to be on good terms with the Germans.  The boy finds a British pilot, whose plane was shot down and has been wounded when he bailed out.  The boy hides him, but must enlist the aid of his sister to treat his wounds.  There is a shortage of food, so he must steal food for the Englishman.  After his father is arrested, and also several of his friends, he alone must help the pilot escape from Holland.  There are some heart wrenching scenes in this movie.

Carole would like to know if you've seen this movie, and did it follow your impressions of the last days of World War 2?

Today's review is by Carole, a friend of Rainy Day, and another inveterate movie-watcher. Carole watches a completely different type of movie, so Rainy Day thought it would be nice for her gentle readers to get a different perspective now and then. If you would like to submit a review of a movie you like, please let Rainy Day know through the comments section of this blog.

Last Movie of Kurosawa and Mifune

Red Beard

Japanese, good subtitles, Netflix

3 hr 5 min (including intermission)

5 (out of 5) Stars

The last movie Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune made together. It is a ‘coming of age’ movie with Yuzo Kayama playing an arrogant young doctor who finds himself working at a government run clinic that treats destitute patients. Kayama is angry at the ‘step down’ – sure he was destined to become physician to the Shogun, not work in a clinic of this sort, he is angry. Mifune is the curmudgeonly older doctor who patiently guides the young upstart to his full potential. Netflix classifies the movie as Cerebral. I call it a darned good film, one of Kurosawa’s and Mifune’s best.

Have you seen Red Beard? What did you think about it? Rainy Day would like to know what you thought of the movie.