Goodreads Book Giveaway
Out of the Picture
by Augustus Cileone
Released February 03
2015
Giveaway ends in 25 days (March 20, 2015)
5 copies available, 17 people requesting
Monday, February 23, 2015
Book Giveaway
There is a book giveaway of my novel, Out of the Picture, the mystery for movie lovers at Goodreads. Just click on "giveaway details" below.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Out of the Picture
by Augustus Cileone
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Out of the Picture
by Augustus Cileone
Sunday, February 22, 2015
The Andromeda Strain
Before we look at this week’s film, I would like to announce
that the novel, Out of the Picture,
the mystery for movie lovers that I mentioned in last week’s post, is now
available also as an ebook on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Again, all author earnings will be donated to
Kitty Cottage, an animal shelter. You can find out about this organization
at http://kittycottage.org.
The link for Kindle is:
The link for Nook is:
SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.
The basic plot involves scientists at a secret underground
facility trying to deal with an extremely deadly space germ which was brought
to earth by an exploratory satellite.
However, the story, which on the surface awes us with technology, is
actually showing the dangers of scientific exploration and its dehumanizing
effects. Dr. Stone, played by Arthur Hill, is the Nobel Prize winner who had
Project Wildfire built to deal with extraterrestrial infection. His name alone
conveys the lack of emotion in this scientist.
When the surgeon, Dr, Mark Hall (James Olson), says he has two patients
(the only survivors of the infected town in New Mexico where the capsule lands), Stone
corrects him by saying "the team has two subjects." Hall becomes
angry, because Stone's attitude is that they are guinea pigs to be tested upon.
Although later, even Hall, given the circumstances, says that he may have to
experiment on the survivor who is a baby by denying the child food to find out more about the germ. When
Andromeda breaks out later, Hall can't type into the computer under the
pressure. He lets the ice-in-his-blood Stone do the data entry.
The setting is maybe more important than the characters in
this tale. Wildfire is a subsurface cylindrical building with each level more
biologically pure than the one above. As
the capsule, patients (the other is a Sterno drinker, who tellingly says to the spacesuit wearing Hall, "You did this. You're not human" - an indictment of scientists), and Stone and the others descend
to the lowest level, they are cleansed of all contaminants. They no longer eat
food, but rely on pre-fabricated supplements. In essence, they have their
humanity stripped away as they are lowered (de-evolution in the face of
technological advancement?) to the bottom where rests a nuclear device made to
cleanse the facility in the event of an outbreak. Is it coincidental that they
are heading for the spot where the symbol of ultimate human annihilation
sits? Science has created weapons of
mass destruction already, and now they have brought back from space something
that could wipe out life on the planet. David Wayne's character, Dr. Charles
Dutton, recognizes that the maps used to chart Andromeda's path are for biological
warfare. He and Dr. Ruth Leavett (Kate Reid) are outraged, accusing the
military of having deliberately searched for a biological weapon.
The cylindrical nature of the site reminds one of
Dante's Inferno. When they enter Wildfire, the door closes behind them with the
statement written on it, "No return ... through this access." It recalls
the Dante reference to abandon all hope, he who enters here. In the end, Hall,
aided by Stone, has to fight the "safeguards" in the building, which
are based on ignorant assumptions, and which will bury them by exploding the
bomb that will feed Andromeda instead of killing it.
Scientists and their inventions are, therefore,
satirized in this film. The poor people of Piedmont New Mexico bring the
satellite to the one man of science in the town – the doctor. He proceeds to
open it, unleashing death from the high tech Pandora's Box. Despite their renowned intelligence, these
scientists can't deal with simple concepts or problems. Dr. Hall is the
safeguard person to prevent the bomb from going off in error. His designation
is based on some weird odd-man theory about single males being the right
persons to make the decision. Any women out there want to cast their votes on
that one? But, Hall can't seem to understand that he has to insert his key and
turn it only when the countdown has already started. A couple of times he acts
like he can do it before the countdown is activated. The scientists also think
automatically that they can sterilize Piedmont
by dropping a nuclear bomb on it. It is only at the last moment that they
realize that action will actually feed Andromeda's capability to convert energy
into matter. They are at a loss as to why they haven't received a communication
about the bomb being dropped. It is later discovered that a sliver of paper
fell between the bell and hammer which prevented notification of a message. Here,
advanced technology is thwarted by the simplest of things. The scientists are also
shown as cold-blooded as they sacrifice one animal after another as they try to
determine the size and means of transmission of the germ. This film is a reversal of the end of War of the Worlds. In that film, earth germs kill aliens. In this
one, an alien germ kills humans. Despite all our scientific advancement, Stone,
at the end of the film, at a government inquest, when asked what do we do in
the event of another attack, can only repeat, "Yes, what do we do?"
The film next week is Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Brazil
Before I get into a discussion of the movie, I wanted to let
you know that I have a new novel out.
It’s entitled Out of the Picture.
For all of you film lovers (as well as mystery and animal lovers), the book is
geared to you. It is a murder mystery loaded with film references. It also has
an anti-animal abuse theme in it. All
author earnings will be donated to Kitty Cottage, an animal shelter. You
can find out about this organization at http://kittycottage.org.
You can enter the Amazon Giveaway for the book by clicking
on the link below for a chance to win a free copy. There’s not much time left,
though. The giveaway runs through Feb. 17, 2015:
You can order the book at the Amazon link below.
(A version of this post first appeared on the Bryn Mawr Film Institute Blog)
SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.
I probably would have called the movie Jamaica
So, it's not surprising that a movie like Brazil
Probably the most effective images Gilliam
employs in the movie are ugly air ducts that snake through every room in this
brave new world. They look like the tentacles of a huge octopus invading everyone's lives. The kraken has been
released! In a great scene where Robert DeNiro appears as a renegade repairman
dressed like a military commando, he opens up the walls of Lowry's flat and the
ducts expand and contract, as if breathing. This metaphor is an apt one showing
the intrusion of the government as a living monster into individual lives. This
privacy invasion is also seen when the two main characters are physically
prodded by machines in the scenes where Lowry goes to his mother's party, and
Jill confronts a government official about the wrongful abduction of her
neighbor.
It also seems that the film is saying that the more
mechanistic we become, there are more chances for the machines to break down. There
are numerous illustrations of this fact, what with Lowry's coffee machine
pouring liquid on his toast, his air conditioning breaking down, and plastic
surgery operations becoming fatal. When "Central Services" is called
to fix things, they are either unavailable, don't have the proper paperwork, or
create more damage instead of repairing anything. The phones in the film have
the most annoying ring tone around, sounding like a demonic dentist drill. Of
course, the more things break down, the more the population is dependent on
those in control of the systems in place.
Totalitarian regimes try to control their subjects by
manipulating the outward appearance of the world in contrast to the underlying
reality. The emphasis on having plastic surgery in the film illustrates this
idea. Also, in the movie, the food at the restaurant served to each person is a
yucky mush. But, each plate is accompanied by a picture of a savory meal,
implying that is the reality they are to buy into. And explosions are ignored
as room screens are placed around the diners' tables, promoting the idea that
one should ignore the negative facts in the environment.
The paperwork here is labyrinthine, where you need a receipt
to show proof that you have received a receipt. It is paralyzing and strikes
fear into people (such as Lowry's boss, played by Ian Holm) if procedures
aren't followed. Which appears to be the goal of the ruling bureaucracy. Gilliam
seems to be saying that this type of world wants its inhabitants to be
frustrated and feel powerless. Another brilliant and devastating image occurs
when in Lowry's dream state the resistance blows up the Ministry of Information
and there is paper everywhere. The paper covers and entangles DeNiro, and he
disappears in it, symbolizing how the individual is lost in the whirlwind of
bureaucratic red tape. The effect of the dehumanizing bureaucracy is shown in
the offices where Lowry goes after his promotion. There are numbers on office
doors, not names. His office is so small it looks like a closet, or the size of
a prison cell. People are seen as becoming diminished and restricted. But,
Gilliam never shows us any manipulating, all powerful heads of state. It’s as if this bureaucratic and mechanistic
construct here has a life of its own.
One of the posted signs in the street says "Suspicion
breeds confidence." People have been taught to suspect each other. That
way, they will not become stronger by banding together. Later in the film,
Lowry asks Jill to trust him, and realizes that he has to earn her trust if
they are to succeed. There is another sign which reads "Happiness – we're
all in it together," which is an anesthetizing slogan to placate the
people. When DeNiro says, "We are all in it together" it is genuine
because it is in the context of the power of joined resistance to authoritarianism.
The sound track has the song "Brazil " being played. It is a
Latin-infused, fun, liberating song which is in contrast to the life of the
characters. Lowry escapes his claustrophobic, penal colony of a world by losing
himself into a dream state. There, he flies on Daedalian wings in the sky,
pursuing his blonde fantasy (also Jill), doing battle with the monsters
imprisoning her. (Robin Williams lives in a similar fantasy in Gilliam's The Fisher King). In the end, when he is
a restrained captive, his body may be enslaved, but his mind, through
imagination, has escaped into freedom.
Next week’s movie is The Andromeda Strain.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Spellbound
SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.
My father loved Alfred Hitchcock and I guess he handed that
affection down to me. He didn't delve into the psychology of the characters or
the subtext like his nerdy son. He just liked the suspense, which is reason
enough to enjoy the director’s works. But, this blog centers on “meaningful
movies,” so here I go digging again.
Even though Hitchcock always was interested in the
psychological workings of individuals in his films (Psycho, Vertigo, Marnie), Spellbound
is his most overt take on the professionals who practice psychoanalysis.
Here, Ingrid Bergman’s Dr. Constance Petersen is a psychiatrist at Green
Manors, a euphemistic name for a psychiatric asylum. “Green” suggests
innocence, but can also mean ignorant – perhaps some of the doctors are not as
insightful as they think. “Constance ” suggests
the word “constant,” and she is, at the beginning, a person of even temper,
always reducing everything to unemotional science. She believes the abstract
notion of love is really about concrete attributes such as voice tone or
coloring. A colleague, Dr. Fleurot (John Emery) comments about how cold and
detached she is. He says that hugging her would be like “hugging a textbook.”
He goes on to say that this lack of passion makes her less of a doctor, and a
woman. But, he is not offering love to Constance ,
only lust. When she feels true love for Gregory Peck’s character, her passion
and female instincts kick in, and she is “constant” in her belief in him and in
her persistence in finding him innocent.
Let’s look more at the attitude toward women in this film,
where there is more than what appears on the surface (which is what psychology
is about). Early in the film we meet patient Mary Carmichael (Rhonda Fleming).
On the outside she is sexy and seductive around men. But, she scratches the
male attendant who escorts her to Petersen’s office. She then reveals that she
hates all men. She says she would pretend to kiss a man, and then bite off his mustache.
At this point, she is the opposite of Constance, who appears to be all
superego, compared to Mary’s representation of the id.
Gregory Peck is introduced as Dr. Anthony Edwardes, the
person who is to take over as head of Green Manors. Dr. Murchison (Leo G.
Carroll) is stepping down after returning from a vacation which was needed
because the job “crumbled” him (another example of undermining the males in the
profession). The chemistry between Edwardes and Constance is immediate. Dr.
Fleurot’s assessment of Constance is shown as
flawed as we now see she is truly an emotional person. Dr. Fleurot is not very
good at his profession, since he could not see what was below the surface of Constance ’s outer scientist. Her id and superego are in
conflict at times, as she says she is there for Peck as a doctor, but then
quickly surrenders to his kisses. But Fleurot is not the only male who lacks
insight in the film. The house detective at the hotel where Peck’s character
stays assumes Constance is either a teacher or
librarian, stereotypical roles for women. (It’s interesting that the female
psychiatrist of producer David O. Selznick was an advisor on this movie).
When Constance goes
to her mentor, Dr. Alexander Brulov (Michael Chekhov) for help, he says that
“women make the best psychoanalysts – until they are married. Then they make
the best patients.” He also says that a woman in love operates at the lowest
level of intelligence. This medieval attitude comes from the belief that when
it comes to love, women are the weaker vessel. The film contradicts this belief
by presenting a woman who can be in love and also use her deductive powers to get
at the truth behind her lover’s problems and solve the murder at the center of
the plot. She tells Brulov basically that her heart can see better than her
mind, and that she couldn't feel the love she feels for a murderer. Even Peck’s
John Ballantyne (his real name) slanders women. When Constance
pushes him to remember traumatic events, he resists, saying that “I hate a smug
woman.” He spouts other misogynistic lines as she presses him. But, his
response is defensive, trying to stop her from removing the psychological
bandage his psyche has applied to his damaged mind.
The plight of an innocent man pursued for being considered
guilty of a crime is depicted in several of Hitchcock’s films. Here, the
director explores the concept of guilt in depth. Peck appears at Green Manors
as a psychiatrist who has written a book entitled The Labyrinth of the Guilty Mind. Indeed, the movie shows how guilt
can twist the personality. Early on we encounter a patient, Mr. Garmes (Norman
Lloyd) who believes he has killed his father. Constance
tells him that his guilt is due to a childhood trauma that makes him feel
guilty about events he did not commit.
This part of the plot is a foreshadowing of what happened to
Peck’s character. “Edwardes” can’t even remember the book he has written. He
has disturbing reactions to black lines on white backgrounds (markings on a
table cover, a robe, a bed spread, etc.). When Constance
sees that the autograph in his book does not match the writing of his name on a
note, she knows he is an impostor. Actually, Peck’s character has amnesia. He
is only known as “J. B.” which are the initials on a cigarette case which we
later learn stand for John Ballantyne, a doctor. Constance
deduces his profession by the fact that he knows answers to medical questions. As
the story unfolds, we find that Edwardes died at a ski resort when Balantyne
was there. He believes he killed Edwardes, as do the police. Guilt has twisted
his mind to see innocent black and white markings as sinister, as do other
everyday objects. For Garmes, a letter opener becomes a weapon. For Ballantyne,
just the sight of Constance cutting her meat
seems ominous, as does his own shaving razor. Even the names “Ballantyne” and
“Edwardes” seem distorted versions of their usual spellings.
I was a claims examiner for the Department of Veterans
Affairs for many years, and I know a little bit about post-traumatic stress
disorder. This film was made in 1945. Back then, psychologically traumatized
soldiers were said to have experienced “shell shock.” In this film Ballantyne
remembers that the burn scars on his arm came from his medical transport plane
being shot down by the Germans. He was seeking psychiatric help from Edwardes
at a ski lodge. While they were skiing, Edwardes accidently went over a cliff.
Ballantyne, as a child, accidentally killed his brother by pushing him onto a
pointed fence when he was sliding down a snowy roof. Since the traumatic situations
were so alike, Ballantyne’s mind planted the guilt of the psychiatrist’s death
into its own psyche. The amnesia and the taking on of Edwardes’ persona were
ways to avoid the realization of the death. Ballantyne has “survivor guilt” as
many of today’s soldiers experience after living following the deaths of
comrades. The way he becomes upset at the white and dark markings are ways of
avoiding the stimuli that represent his trauma, namely the ski tracks in the
snow. This avoidance symptom is also seen in PTSD patients. Also, when
Ballantyne is seen walking down the steps toward Dr. Brulov, he looks like a
marionette, a somnambulist out of The.Cabinet
of Dr. Caligari. When sitting on the couch, his head is tilted back and to
the side, and he is motionless, like a doll. He is “bound” by the “spell” cast
over him by his unfounded guilt. The trauma has numbed him, distancing him from
his own feelings, as a way of coping with the traumas he has experienced. This
symptom, too, is associated with PTSD.
However, Edwardes was shot. Ballantyne is arrested. But Constance catches Dr. Murchison in a lie about how well
he knew Dr. Edwardes. She reinterprets Ballantyne’s dream (whose design in the
film was by Salvador Dali). A misshapen wheel in the dream symbolizes a revolver,
which was used to kill the victim. (There was a foreboding of this detail when
Brulov says that when a psychiatrist travels with a patient, it’s like carrying
“a loaded gun”). Constance realizes that
Murchison killed Edwardes to prevent him from taking over as head of the
asylum. In her confrontation with Murchison, she logically persuades him not to
kill her, because it would seem premeditated, while Edwardes’ killing could be
seen by the authorities as due to Murchison’s mental breakdown. After she
leaves, Murchison’s guilt makes him turn the revolver on himself, and the true
guilty one is punished.
Hitchcock uses doors as symbols in this film. When Peck and
Bergman first lock eyes on each other, doors are seen opening for her,
symbolizing her emotional, sexual freedom. When Ballantyne is in the operating
room he has a spell where he talks about opening the doors, which can mean the
desire to see the truth about his situation. They both awaken the truth in each
other about their emotions. But, we also see the doors of the prison cell
closing on Ballantyne when guilt is wrongly assigned.
The last image shown to us is that of the doorman at the
hotel. The words on his cap, which is on his head (the house of the brain),
read “Gateman.” We are the ones who free or imprison our minds. That is why
Hitchcock places the quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar at the opening of the film: “The fault in not in our
stars … but in ourselves.”
Can you name another film in which Gregory Peck’s character
had amnesia? The answer will be in next week’s post.
Next week’s film is Brazil
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Prometheus
SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.
Prometheus – someone who definitely was caught between a
rock and a hard place. This film has its problems, too. I didn't really connect
with the characters. The idea that we are descended from aliens was explored
previously in books (Chariots of the Gods),
TV (the X-Files), and film (2001: A Space Odyssey). There are some plot questions: Why do
the aliens need to disintegrate one of their kind to alter the gene pool at the
dawn of man instead of just adding the DNA to the environment? Why are there cave
drawings of the aliens pointing us to a world that is not really their own, but
which may be a weapons development planet?
If you have answers, please let me know.
However, there is an interesting theme here, namely, the old
Greek warning against hubris (excessive pride). The Titan Prometheus stole fire
from the Gods to give it to humans – obviously a presumptuous act – for which
he was tortured by being bound to a rock and having a bird tear at his liver.
Here, the spacecraft in the film is named after him. He is referenced in the
movie by one of the scientists, who basically says the ancient thief's time has
come. This statement implies scientists want to find divine powers and make
them their own. So, they go off to the planet to find our extraterrestrial
parents. However, we discover that our otherworldly ancestors are not to be
admired. They have a serious God-complex. They have a large sculpture of
themselves, not of God, in their cave, indicating they worship themselves. They
intervene in other worlds and create life and then decide to destroy it. Why? The
film leaves it open – but it could be that they are just emotionally detached scientists,
too (although technologically advanced ones), conducting experiments, which, in
the end, destroys them.
The android in the film is called David, who admires the
movie Lawrence of Arabia because Lawrence is able to
tolerate pain. How does he do it? The secret is "not minding" – what
a good line for a cold hearted robot. Lawrence
also fashioned himself somewhat of a god, intervening in another culture's
world. David asks one of the scientists on the ship why create something
(ironic, since humans made him and he is thus questioning his own creation). The
scientist responds by saying, basically, because he can. It appears the apple
does not fall far from the tree. David, the unfeeling robot, the offspring of
humans, also performs experiments without concern for the individuals involved,
spiking the drink of one of the scientists with deadly mutating goo, which
leads to Noomie Repace's character becoming impregnated with the prototype of
the creature in the Alien films (Ridley Scott is the director here, too). She
cannot give birth to a human baby. She can only gestate a monster, indicating
that her science creates abominations when ego outweighs good judgment. It is
interesting to note that it is the nonhuman David who takes her crucifix, which
symbolizes her deference to a power greater than her own, which at the end she
takes back, her original belief having been vindicated. But, aren't all of the
Alien films about overweening pride? Don't they all say that things would have
been fine if we hadn't gone where we shouldn't have intervened, and awakened
the sleeping dragons?
However, Repace's character goes off with David at the end
to seek the beings that seeded the earth with their DNA. She hopes to find out
why they wanted to destroy us. David
asks what's the difference. She says she is human and he is a robot, and she
needs to know. Hasn't she learned anything from what has transpired? Or, is it, despite the possible hazardous
consequences for the quest for knowledge, it is in our nature to keep exploring
for answers?
Next week’s movie is Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound.
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