Recent Films 2024

Here are brief comments on recently released movies. SPOILER ALERT! The plots will be discussed.

Megalopolis

After watching this film, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, I thought that it was an over-the-top, self-indulgent mess, but I was still glad I saw it. It is fascinating to look at, with its imagined futuristic look, and it has interesting themes. However, it comes off as a bombastic piece, with silly, instead of satiric, characters, like Shia LaBeouf’s Clodio Pulcher. So, I guess I was conflicted. In the film Wonder Boys, Katie Holmes’s character tells the writer, played by Michael Douglas, that he made no choices to leave out material in his overstuffed novel. I feel that is what happened here.

Coppola had been working on this project for a long time and ended up contributing $120 million of his own money to get it made. He recently stated that his main purpose in the story was to compare the United States to the Roman Empire. Thus, the names of the characters and even the male haircuts conjure up that ancient civilization. Adam Driver is Cesar Catilina and Giancarlo Esposito is Mayor Cicero. Lucius Sergius Catilina and Marcus Tullius Cicero were citizens of the Roman Republic and were political enemies. Coppola said that the film suggests that the United States is like Rome, which had a republic with senators, and great thinkers, like Marcus Aurelius (who is quoted in the movie). However, Rome succumbed to self-indulgence and a lack of morality, which led to its fall, and the United States can be headed that way, too. IMDb notes that “several of the famous New York landmarks referenced in this movie are actually mirrored or transposed from their real-life counterparts. The Statue of Liberty is shown with the torch in her left hand, and the Nedick's restaurant in the historic Madison Square Garden is shown on the opposite side of the entrance in the movie.” Those reversals may symbolize how American civilization has changed course and is headed in the wrong direction.

Cesar is a brilliant architect who has invented an indestructible substance. In addition, he seems to be able to stop time. Yet, he uses a T-square, an old-fashioned technical drawing device. There are other analog elements, non-digital clocks for instance. Coppola possibly wanted to show that there has been progress over time. The quotes from Aurelius and Shakespeare may be stressing the highlights of civilization despite the downturns. Fundi Romaine (Lawrence Fishburne) has a cautionary remark when he says, “When does an empire die? Does it collapse in one terrible moment? No, no... But there comes a time when its people no longer believe in it.” Cesar says, “Don't let the now destroy the forever." Coppola said that there is the hope that people can still use their strengths to create a positive future.

However, Fishburne’s character is a narrator at the beginning of the movie, who looks like he will be a major character, but then he and his voice disappear. Dustin Hoffman’s character is suddenly killed off by a tumbling building. Again, the film lacks focus and needs editing.

Conclave:

Those used to superhero films may find this movie a bit wordy and lacking in action. But the words here are significant, and this movie uses the death of a pope and the process of choosing a new one as a metaphor for the division between different factions in our world today.

After the pope dies, Cardinal-Dean Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes, in an excellent performance) oversees the conclave in the Sistine Chapel in Rome where the cardinals must choose the new leader of the Catholic Church. The film conveys the claustrophobic atmosphere of the situation as these men are locked in together until they reach a decision. Instead of this gathering being a peaceful, inspirational process that Lawrence anticipates, it turns into a “war,” as Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) loudly informs Lawrence. There are liberals (such as Bellini), conservatives, and even a racist reactionary, Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto). Bellini says that Tedesco and his group were “savage” in their treatment of the late pope, trying to desecrate his memory. The film suggests that this kind of nastiness is what is happening in the world outside the supposed insulation of the church members. That connection is reinforced by terrorist attacks outside the conclave which cause debris to invade the religious sanctuary and crash down on the interior of the chapel.

The conflicting forces here are either looking to the past or the future. There is a new cardinal, Benitez (Carlos Diehz), who was a late moment appointment by the dead pope. He brings real life experiences of war to the cloistered group. He announces his view when he says, “The Church is not the past. It is what we do next.” There is also the battle between certitude and doubt. Lawrence, who is a questioner, delivers a homily where he says, “There is one sin which I have come to fear above all else … certainty.” He goes on to say that “certainty is the great enemy of unity … the deadly enemy of tolerance.” The film says that those with absolute stances that demonize others, who are different, will perpetuate war among the world’s inhabitants.

The resolution of the story is unexpected and conducive to discussion.

Here:

This film reunites the Forrest Gump team: actors Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, and director Robert Zemeckis. The title refers to all action taking place on one spot on Earth in what becomes Pennsylvania since the extinction of the dinosaurs from a meteor strike, through the Ice Age, pre-Columbian times, the American Revolutionary War, and parts of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Most of the early images are brief, and the story becomes more detailed once it gets to the WWII era.

The uniqueness of the movie comes from the fact that the camera is fixed (until the very end). It does not pan or do close-ups. The actors approach the camera lens when a close-up is warranted. Most of the activity takes place in the living room of one house that is bought by different occupants. The film jumps back and forth in time by opening what are like computer “windows” to transition between scenes.

The action primarily focuses on the Young Family. One can hardly recognize the beautiful Kelly Reilly of Yellowstone as the conservatively dressed matriarch, Rose. Likewise, her husband, Al, is portrayed by Englishman Paul Bettany, who gets the American accent perfectly. Zemeckis has always been a technically savvy director (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Contact, and the Back to the Future films), and he uses computer de-aging technology to present the younger versions of Hanks and Wright.

There are historical backdrops in the movie in the forms of music, a TV showing programs, and references to the Spanish Flu, WWII, and even COVID. But the plot centers on the characters and their relationships. Zemeckis uses the image of a hummingbird in several shots. It suggests a feeling of continuity that links the shifting events he depicts. It may remind one of the feather in Gump, which implied change, arbitrariness, and union in one symbol.

There may be too much sentimentality here, and the film could have used a bit more humor, but it is an interesting piece of filmmaking.

Gladiator II:

This movie is grand in the old epic sense, with sweeping vistas and grand sets. The CGI use is well done, although the killer baboons, while scary, look fake.

This film is definitely a sequel to the initial film released in 2000. Ridley Scott is again the director, and Connie Nielsen reprises the role of Lucilla, the daughter of slain Emperor Marcus Aurelius and brother of the dead Emperor Commodus who had their father murdered.

There are many other ties to the previous film. especially in the form of the main character, Lucius (Paul Mescal), who turns out to be the son of Russell Crowe’s character, Maximus, in the original movie, and the grandson of Aurelius. Mescal brings gravity to the role as he deals with his being exiled by his mother, Lucilla, and the fact that she married General Acasius (Pedro Pascal) who is responsible for the death of his wife. Lucius loses his wife as did his father. Lucius, like his dad, also becomes a gladiator after becoming a captive. Lucilla eventually realizes Lucius is her son when he exhibits similar fighting techniques, such as planting his sword in the sand and grabbing a handful of the dirt in the Coliseum. In the original Gladiator Maximus is already a general and there is more time spent developing how he wins over the following of the other gladiators, while Lucius’s ability to lead appears abrupt.

While all the performances are solid here, the one that stands out is that of Denzel Washington’s Macrinus, an ex-slave of Marcus Aurelius, who became a gladiator and then won his freedom. (Don’t be surprised if Washington is nominated for a supporting actor Oscar). He now provides gladiators for the games and supplies arms, food, and oil to the empire. He is an Iago-like figure, who implements chess-like moves as he plays others, including the two co-emperors, against each other as he plots to gain power. Scott may be making a reference to current times as the senators compromise their morality by caving to the whims of those in power.

Macrinus is a realist who says that only the strong should survive. Lucius fights for the idealism for which Rome once embodied, a place which stands for liberty and justice. As Francis Ford Coppola said about Megalopolis, comparing America to the Roman Empire, he wanted to show that the ability to forge a positive future is still present.

Thelma and Louise

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Since this 1991 film directed by Ridley Scott deals with the sexual abuse of women, I thought I would issue a reminder about my new novel, The Bigger Picture. It is a mystery for movie lovers, and it contains a #MeToo theme. All of my earnings are being donated to the Bryn Mawr Film Institute. The link to Amazon is: https://www.amazon.com/Bigger-Picture-Augustus-Cileone/dp/0997096284/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1527711220&sr=1-1&keywords=cileonea

Men do not come off well in this Oscar winning script by Callie Khouri. However, the movie serves up its indictment of the male predatory inclination toward women with a side order of humor which helps to make the message entertaining. The first shot is of a road in the open, unpopulated part of the American landscape. It sets the stage for the road picture that follows, only this story’s travelers are two women instead of the usual couple of male buddies. But, it is also the vastness of the land on either side of the paved passageway, which can represent the accepted path to follow, that gives a sense of freedom from the restraints that society dictates. This film is about outlaws in the broadest sense, those who find themselves rebelling against repressive confinements (a theme similar to last week’s Kiss of the Spider Woman).

Susan Sarandon’s Louise Sawyer (the last name reminding us of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, making a connection between Louise and an adventurer and rule-breaker) works as a waitress in a diner type restaurant. She is obviously making meager earnings in a marginal job usually assigned to women. She tells some female adolescent customers who are smoking that they are too young to engage in that vice. She makes it relevant to them by saying it will ruin their sex drives. This scene establishes Louise as a wannabe maternal figure who has never achieved motherhood. The next shot undermines her advice as we see her smoking. So, she doesn’t practice what she preaches. This duality in her nature appears several times in the story.

Louise is excited about breaking away from her dreary job by going on a short getaway with her friend, Thelma (Geena Davis). But in a phone call, Louise learns that Thelma hasn’t “asked” husband Darryl (Christopher McDonald) if she can go. Thelma shows how up to this point she is intimidated and subservient to her spouse. Darryl curses at her and is impatient with Thelma when she asks if he wants something special for dinner. He says he doesn’t “give a shit” what’s on the menu, exhibiting his uncaring attitude toward his marriage. He says his job workload on Fridays might prevent him from coming home for dinner. She questions why is it so busy on a Friday evening all of the time. There is an implication that Thelma suspects he’s having an affair, but she is too timid to confront him with an accusation. He is condescending as he says it’s a good thing she isn’t in his trade, the carpet business, which he makes sound like it’s equivalent to working for NASA. The two women have plans to go to the mountains where they can stay at a cabin owned by Louise’s friend. Louise says they can learn to fish since it must be easy if Darryl can do it. Louise can be comically insulting about Darryl’s intelligence since she knows Thelma must regrettably agree with her.

We initially find that Louise is the more rebellious one, but her protege, Thelma, surpasses her as the story goes on. Louise tries calling Jimmy (Michael Madsen), her boyfriend, but he is not answering, and his absence, playing gigs in his spare time as a musician, is a sore point for Louise, pointing to her belief that men are not there when she needs them. In her kitchen sink area, instead of the usual handle, there is a figure of a man straddled over the faucet that makes the spout look like a large penis. This image shows how Louise is sexually uninhibited, but it also conveys that she wants to be the one in control of how that spout is used. She drives a flashy Ford Thunderbird convertible. The Thunderbird is a muscle car,  and the bird it is named after, in Native American stories, causes lightning and thunder. Thus, the automobile is symbolic of Thelma’s desire for female empowerment.

Thelma starts the journey in a state of trepidation, and upsets Louise by bringing along a revolver for protection against psycho killers, bears, and snakes. Thelma tells Louise to hold the gun, thinking she knows more about how to handle it. This act sets the stage for what happens shortly, and is ironic, since Thelma will eventually show her ease with handling a firearm. She tells Louise that she wants to take along a lantern in case a psycho is after them up in the mountains and cuts off their electricity. Louise says jokingly that the lantern will come in handy, as if it will be a great deterrent against a maniac killer. Louise kids Thelma’s fearful logic by saying maybe she should take her car, too, in case the psycho steals their spark plugs, and then they will have spares.

Thelma says she didn’t tell Darryl about going on the trip. Louise is shocked but impressed that she defied her husband’s wishes, which, according to Thelma, is that she just stay home and never have any fun. Thelma just left a note and food to microwave. Thelma starts to hold a cigarette. When Louise asks what she’s doing, Thelma says, “Smokin.’ Hey, I’m Louise.” She is beginning to mimic her renegade pal, becoming her student. She is like a catholic schoolgirl escaping the priest’s iron rule. But, when Thelma hikes her legs up on the car seat, which can reveal too much as the wind blows up her skirt, Louise wants her to be a bit more modest. Her protective, motherly side appears again, which derives from what we later  learn was a traumatic event that she experienced while living in Texas before moving to Arkansas.

Thelma wants to go to a truck stop, but again Louise, showing her worry about being around strange men, wants to keep going. She eventually gives in when Thelma reminds her that Louise was the one who wanted her friend to “let down her hair,” and have some fun. They stop at the Silver Bullet (a sign that women may need a weapon like the one that kills werewolves, equating some men with the bestial monster). There are lots of people in this joint, playing pool, and listening to country music. Louise says she has not seen a place like this since she left Texas (which means she wanted to leave behind the life that this bar signifies). Thelma orders a Wild Turkey, with emphasis on the “wild” part, which shows how Thelma appears to want to cut herself loose from her constricted life (but which also points to the “be careful what you wish for” warning). Louise is worried about Thelma opening herself up to exploitation by reacting too quickly and extremely to her newfound freedom. Thelma, resembling a rebellious teenager, says it’s her vacation, and Louise is as bad as Darryl, trying to control her. Louise responds by saying she is just surprised because Thelma is usually so sedate. Thelma says she’s had it with being sedate. Louise plays along and also orders some alcohol, but Louise wants them to have girl fun, without men.

A handsome guy named Harlan (Timothy Carhart) hits on them right away. The waitress, (Carol Mansell) knows his philandering ways, and asks if he is bothering the women. Thelma says to the questioning Harlan that she and Louise were out looking for some fun. Thelma is an innocent who trusts and reveals too much around what the experienced Louise sees as a potentially dangerous threat. Louise tries to put the guy off, telling him to mind his own business, and blows smoke in his face. Thelma promises to dance with Harlan later, and after he walks away, blames Louise (who has those two sides to her) for sending out mixed messages about having a good time and then acting like a chaperone. Thelma says she knows that Louise is upset with Jimmy, and Louise’s plan is that once Jimmy sees she’s not around he’ll be begging her to come back. In the meantime, Thelma says she wants to enjoy herself. Harlan treats them to drinks. Thelma says to Louise that they should dance, but Louise thinks Thelma means the two of them, as can be seen by her bewildered look when Thelma goes off with Harlan. Again, Louise wants to keep the vacation restricted to themselves. Louise dances with a guy, too, and then they all do line dancing. But, Louise goes back to the table leaving her dance partner with a  regretful look on his face (Scott is good at getting the actors to convey their feelings without using words).

Thelma has drunk too much and, along with the dancing, feels dizzy. Louise says she is going to the restroom and then wants to leave. Harlan says Thelma needs to get some fresh air, and they go outside to the parking lot. Louise is in the Ladies’ Room which is filled with women doing their makeup and griping at each other about getting space in front of the mirror. The quick scene shows how women are put in the position of worrying about their looks so they can attract men. They are made to turn on each other in this competition with other females. Outside, Harlan starts to make advances, but Thelma says she has to keep walking, and wants to go back inside. Harlan just wants what he wants, and tries to hike up her skirt. He says he wants to kiss her, while saying he won’t hurt her. This reassurance is actually a reminder that the threat of harm is present. She says she’s married, and he says so is he. She says it to stop any sexual intimacy, but he acts like it’s okay as long as they will be consenting cheaters. His promise not to hurt her is a lie, and he hits her when she resists. When she fights back, he hits her hard twice, and says that she dare not hit him, as the thought of a woman using force to turn away an attacker won’t be tolerated. Harlan is ready to rape Thelma when Louise shows up pointing, appropriately, Thelma’s gun at his head. He backs off. After the two women start to walk away, Harlan says he should have raped Thelma, and uses vulgar language toward Louise. She then shoots him. Here, and in the rest of the movie, men who feel they have the upper hand are deprived, legally and illegally, of their power by Thelma and Louise.

Louise wants to flee immediately, and Thelma drives them away. Thelma is hysterical and wants to go to the police and say Harlan was trying to rape her. But, Louise, as we learn based on her own experience, knows the reality behind the situation they are in. Since Thelma was dancing and laughing with Harlan, society will not take her word that Harlan went too far. The implication is that the sexist legal system is prejudicial in blaming the female victim for encouraging the male sexual behavior, arguing that the male can’t be responsible for his actions once aroused. They pull over, and Louise, temporarily derailed by the situation, vomits, but then is able to take over the driving, and the situation. At a coffee stop, Louise says they must not panic. She tells Thelma that nobody saw them at the shooting. In response to Thelma’s objections, Louise says if Thelma wasn’t so into having fun they wouldn’t be in this situation. Louise here is practically taking the position that women who arouse men are at fault for the abusive actions that follow. Thelma rightly and shockingly asks, “you mean this is my fault?” Louise, after what happened to her in Texas, knows Thelma didn’t do anything wrong. Louise knows that you don’t blame the victim when it is the perpetrator who inflicted the suffering. Thelma calls home in the middle of the night, reaching out to her husband in her desperate situation. But, there is no answer, as we see the untouched note she left next to the uncooked TV dinner in the microwave. Darryl was out, probably cheating on his wife, so he is no help to Thelma in her time of need.

Harlan is dead, and Detective Hal Slocumb (Harvey Keitel) questions the truck stop waitress who says that the two women, whom she says she can identify, who were associating with Harlan, weren’t the type to kill him. She says Harlan’s ways caught up with him, and she hopes it was his wife who did him in, but it was probably an old girlfriend, or her husband that committed the crime. She seems to be trying to protect Thelma and Louise in an act of sisterhood (similar to the women in Big Little Lies).

While stopping at a motel, Louise says they need more money, and the two squabble about what to do next. Louise cries, and says she can’t go back to jail (does she know how rape victims are treated because she was incarcerated for what she did to her rapist?) While alone, Louise is very upset, vigorously wiping Harlan’s blood off of her, like a guilt-ridden Lady Macbeth. She calls Jimmy to get him to wire her money. She reaches out to her man, like Thelma did. When she asks Jimmy if he loves her, he gives a halfhearted “Yeah.” So she, like Thelma, feels that she can’t rely totally on a man. But, Jimmy is more decent than Darryl, and says he’ll get her the cash, which Louise says should be sent to Oklahoma City, where they will be headed.

While Hal’s boss, Max (Stephen Tobolowsky), says to put out an APB on the women based on the descriptions they have, Louise tells Thelma that after they acquire the money, she wants to head to Mexico. She wants to know if Thelma is willing to go with her. Louise doesn’t want to involve their men in what’s happened, so she tells Thelma to call Darryl and say they’re having a good time and she will be back home soon. But Louise also doesn’t want to involve Darryl and Jimmy more than necessary since she just doesn’t trust men after her violent encounters with them. Both Louise and Thelma feel increasing anger toward males. At a stop, Louise is hostile to a guy gawking at her, as she feels she can’t escape the leers of men. While on the phone with Darryl, Thelma can’t even get her husband to care about what she is saying. He just yells at her for taking off, and is annoyed because she has interrupted the football game he’s watching. He demands that she come home that night. She gets angry, says he’s her husband not her daddy, so he can’t demand anything of her. She is finally asserting herself with him, and tells him to go “f---” himself.”

On her way out of the phone booth, Thelma bumps into J. D. (Brad Pitt, in the role that put him on the road to stardom). She seems flustered, and the first thing he says is “crazy women.” Notice his use of the plural; he’s not just talking about one individual, but instead makes an unfounded generalization about “women” as a whole group. But, he is a great looking guy, and because it is difficult for women to break away from how they have been brought up, Thelma puts on some makeup in the car to enhance her attractiveness. J. D. is very mannerly and tells Thelma he needs a ride because he is trying to get back to school, which is an obvious line to anyone who has a lick of sense. She again, despite her being attacked by Harlan, is too believing and open, revealing to him that they are going to Oklahoma City. Louise blows J. D off. Thelma says he was so polite and wants to give him a lift, but Louise just looks at Thelma and says her name, as if to imply “why don’t you wise up,” especially given that they are on the run. Thelma goes into a store and buys little bottles of booze, even though the shopkeeper says it’s cheaper to purchase a big bottle. Thelma is mentally caught between two worlds: her “sedate,” in-her-place safety with Darryl; and the wild, fugitive mind-set to which she is trying to acclimate herself. Buying the liquor shows on the one hand that she wants to cut loose, but purchasing the tiny bottles lets her think she is still hanging onto her protected, married world by indulging herself responsibly.

Louise guns the car in reverse to get to the gas pump, which shows how even though she is trying to hold onto control, there is turmoil underneath wanting to break out. Thelma asks how long will it take to get to Mexico, which shows she is onboard with the plan, and Louise just smiles to show she is glad her friend is hanging in there with her. Thelma observes J. D. walking away from them, and says what a nice butt he has. Her sexual passion is breaking free, and she is acting more like the pursuer instead of the pursued. Louise, wary of men, diverts her by asking Thelma to find roads on the map to Mexico from Oklahoma City which do not go through Texas. Thelma points out how impractical it is to avoid Texas, but Louise won’t tell Thelma what happened there that makes her want to avoid the state.

We are not given a step-by-step exposition of the detective work here, since that is not the focus of the film. So, how Hal learns out about the identity of the women is not well explained, except someone at the truck stop described Louise’s car. As Hal shows up at Thelma’s place, and basically breaks in to gather information, we see the women singing in the car, feeling free despite the circumstances. They run into J. D. again, and Thelma acts like a dog begging for a bone, sexual innuendo intended, and Louise reluctantly gives J. D. a lift. Meanwhile Hal visits Darryl, tells him about the shooting at the Silver Bullet, and says his wife is involved.

While Louise drives, J. D. asks why Thelma has no children. She says her husband is too much of a kid himself and prides himself on being infantile. Louise gets off a zinger saying, “He’s got a lot to be proud of.” Thelma says she started dating Darryl at age 14 and married him at 18.  She candidly, and probably too quickly , admits to not having been intimate with anybody else. Her statement shows how limited her life has been. J. D. notes that the way Louise drove off the road (the symbol of the legal path) in a hurry to avoid a police car makes him suspect they are in trouble. He jokingly plays down his suspicions by saying maybe she has too many parking tickets. Louise, again not trusting men, wants to separate themselves from J. D., wisely not wanting him to know more about them in case he is later questioned by the police.

Hal reports to Max that Thelma and Louise never reached the cabin they were going to. He somehow finds out Thelma took a gun with her, but Darryl said she never touched it. The fingerprints on the car where Harlan was shot match those of Thelma, which Hal probably got from her house, but gain we are not given this information. Meanwhile, Jimmy surprises Louise by showing up at the motel where she is supposed to pick up the money. Jimmy gets two rooms for the women. While alone, Thelma says she thinks that Louise really likes Jimmy, but Louise says he just likes the “chase” part of going after a girl. Louise shows her cynical attitude about men and romance here. Thelma, following up on the “chase” line and the fact that they are on the run, jokes by saying Jimmy “sure got his work cut out for him now, don’t he,” Louise, not in a joking mood, then tells Thelma to guard the money. Why she gives the cash to Thelma doesn’t make much sense, except as a contrivance to present a problem later in the plot.

In the room they are sharing, Jimmy wants Louise to tell him what’s going on. He displays his temper when she doesn’t respond, knocking over a table. Louise, who will not tolerate such aggressive male behavior, starts to leave. He calms down, and then offers her an engagement ring. He says he was afraid he was going to lose her, but she says that’s not a good reason to get married. She says she thought it’s what she once dreamed of, but given what’s happened, she no longer sees a romantic relationship with a man as being possible in her life. He says that she’s not the only one who didn’t have their dreams come true. She says to him what she said once said to Thelma - “we both got what we settled for.” She seems to be saying that they are all responsible for having low aspirations, capitulating to the burdens the world places on them.

We have the two women paired off, as J. D. shows up at Thelma’s room. While playing a slap-hand game, J. D. says Thelma has to take off her hand jewelry, including her wedding ring, which symbolically makes her free to be with him. She knows he’s no student, and he admits to robbing liquor and convenience stores, and a gas station. He’s also on the run, having violated his parole. Since Thelma is on the off-road to breaking rules, she is intrigued by him. She picks his brain about his robberies. He says he checks out a place, and his rendition of what he says when he robs an establishment is very civilized and humorous. He says, comically, that armed robbery doesn’t have to be such a negative experience. It can be something to tell your grandchildren about, sort of an upside-down version of a benign anecdote. Thelma and Louise don’t seem to be cut out for lasting relationships. Their intimacies here with men are brief. Louise has sort of a goodbye tryst as she is nostalgic about how she and Jimmy first met. In contrast, Thelma’s lovemaking with J. D. contains the heat of her first true passionate encounter.

Before he leaves, Jimmy promises he won’t say anything about seeing Louise. At breakfast, Thelma has mussed hair, and love marks on her neck. She says now she knows why there is so much fuss about sex, having broken the rules by indulging in an extramarital fling to achieve her physical self-fulfillment. Louise, in a kind of odd motherly tone treating the grown Thelma as her child, says she is so happy “you finally got laid properly. That’s so sweet.” She almost sounds as if she is praising her daughter for getting a part in the school play. But, Thelma’s gain comes with a cost when Louise realizes Thelma left J. D. alone with their money, which he ran off with. So, even though Thelma had a life-altering experience, in the end, the man still exploited the woman. Louise breaks down, feeling powerless. Thelma, learning from her mentor, takes charge and says it will be okay. Thelma tells Louise not to worry, and she is the one who tells her they must get going. Louise was previously the one to urge moving on. Thelma now takes command.

The cops show up and tell Darryl that they tapped his phones and want to try to figure out where his wife is. They tell him don’t let on that he knows anything about what happened. Max tells Darryl to be gentle on the phone and say how much he loves Thelma. Darryl looks like this advice sounds crazy to him, as if expressing affection is alien for a man. Max says, “women love that shit.” He is just as guilty of not being able to understand women, implying men aren’t really sweet and caring by nature, but they just have to pretend to be once in a while to get what they want from women.

While Thelma goes into a market, Louise gazes at some old women in a building. The expression on her face implies that she is thinking about how she will appear when she ages. Her fear of losing her attractiveness is evident as she starts to put on some makeup (mirroring Thelma earlier), because she, too, as a woman, has been programmed to be constantly concerned about how she looks. Louise’s lapse into traditional female role playing is placed in counterpoint to Thelma’s unladylike running out of the store after robbing it. We see on the surveillance tape reviewed by the cops that Thelma used J. D.’s amusing style to rob the place. She said, “Who will win a prize for keeping their cool.” She said the people in the store had a choice. They will either have an interesting tale to tell their friends or will get to wear toe tags. She says, “If nobody loses their heads, nobody will lose their heads.” The policemen and Darryl watch the tape and are practically rendered speechless by Thelma’s audacity, showing how she derailed their expectations that she, as a woman, would act meekly. Louise says maybe Thelma found her calling, and Thelma says it’s “the call of the wild.” They are now outlaws because playing their prescribed parts in the male world was like being in jail already, and now they whoop it up because they feel liberated from their gender prison. Yet, ironically, they still follow some of society’s rules, trying to find an anchor that will stop them from being totally socially adrift. That is why Louise, despite their other serious infractions, tells Thelma, in comical contrast, not to litter.

At a rest stop, Louise takes off her jewelry, just as Thelma removed her rings when she was with J. D., and exchanges the objects for an old man’s hat. It’s as if she doesn’t want to devalue herself anymore by being adorned in order to be pleasing to a man’s eye. The women discuss their legal stance by admitting that there is no evidence showing that Harlan tried to rape Thelma. Louise humorously says they can’t argue Thelma’s stealing from the store was allowable since there is no such thing as “justifiable armed robbery.” So, the legal system comes up short for them since it won’t give enough weight to their word about what happened.

Even though Jimmy said he wouldn't say anything about meeting Louise, once the police confront him, we find out that he told the cops that he delivered the money to Louise. This is another example of a woman being betrayed by a man. Darryl is at the police station when J. D. shows up, whom the cops bring in for questioning because he has on him the same amount of money that Jimmy delivered. Jimmy told them he saw J. D. with the women at the motel and then identified J. D. from mugshots. Alone, Hal, who seems to be the only one with sympathy for Thelma and Louise, blames J. D. for having stolen their money that caused them to commit the robbery. Otherwise they would have had a chance to prove why there was violence at the Silver Bullet. Darryl’s ego gets knocked down another peg when he is humiliated as J. D. lets him know he had sex with his wife.

Louise wants to know if the police are onto them so she wants Thelma to call Darryl (Don’t they realize that the store Thelma robbed would have a surveillance camera?). If Thelma suspects by the way Darryl reacts that there’s something not right, she is supposed to hang up so as not to be traced. Since he is never nice to Thelma, all Darryl has to say is “Hello” in an upbeat way to make Thelma hang up and say he knows about their situation. Louise calls back to talk to the cops. Hal says they have not charged them with murder yet, and they just want them for questioning. He says he doesn’t think they will make it to Mexico. Louise hangs up, and is angry, as Thelma admits that she told J. D. about going to Mexico. Louise says what they had “going for them” was the police didn’t know where they were or where they were going, and now “that’s gone.” Louise tells Thelma she has to stop being so open with people. They are fugitives now, and have to start acting like it. Here, Louise pulls away from her inertia and starts to deal with the situation again.

Driving at night through the southwestern part of America, Thelma comments on the beauty of this natural (that is, uninhabited, unrestricted) landscape. She says she always wanted to travel but never had the opportunity to do so. Louise says now she has. Through crime, ironically, Thelma gains freedom to do what she couldn’t while enslaved in her gender bondage. Louise stops and gets out to look at the territory, losing herself in its vastness. Maybe she is already thinking this place is where it will end for them. Perhaps society is not a place for women who defy men’s power. On the road again, Thelma starts laughing hysterically as a release from the horror of killing a man. While giggling, she says, of Harlan, “Guess he didn’t expect that.” Louise says it’s not funny. Thelma guesses that’s what happened to Louise, that she was raped in Texas. Louise stops the car and says emphatically that she is not going to talk about that. So, even though we don’t have the details, we understand, while not approving, of why Louise shot Harlan. It was a sort of retribution against all male sexual aggression.

A trooper pulls them over for speeding. He swaggers over to their car, oozing macho intimidation, gets Louise into his car, and is ready to use the police radio. Thelma comes up with her gun and puts it to his head. His bloated manliness is immediately deflated. The women are very polite and apologetic, still ironically adhering to certain social conventions, with Thelma saying if he gets on the radio he will find out they are wanted in two states, and that will ruin their plans. She tells Louise to take the officer’s gun and shoot the radio. Flabbergasted by Thelma’s calm strength, Louise comically shoots the car radio, and Thelma has to tell her to shoot the police radio. Thelma tells the trooper that one would never have thought they were capable of this behavior just a few days ago, but if he had met her husband then he would understand. Thelma shoots holes in the trunk so the officer can breathe. Before getting into the trunk, the cop, completely stripped of his inflated male authority, starts to break down in tears and says he has a wife and kids. Thelma says he’s lucky. She tells him to be good to his wife. Her husband wasn’t nice to her, and “look how I turned out.” So humor upends the seriousness of the scene, but turns it into a cautionary warning to all men (see Dietland, The Handmaid’s Tale) that if they don’t cease their abuse, they will pay for it.

Both women are practical now, getting used to their fugitive situation. They pick up extra ammunition from the trooper’s car. Thelma says it’s crazy, but she seems to have a knack for being an outlaw, her rebelliousness having been dormant, waiting for a chance to surface. Louise now shows some regret saying that they could both get killed, and maybe they should have gone to the cops, as Thelma had suggested early on. In a complete reversal, Thelma is a convert to realism, no longer believing that they would get justice within the system. She says that nobody would have believed them because of the way she was dancing with Harlan. She says people would have said she was “asking for it.” She says Harlan had hurt her and would have hurt her worse if Louise hadn’t shown up. Her life would have been ruined anyway. At least this way Thelma says she’s having some fun. She only regrets she wasn’t the one who shot him.

Max says Thelma and Louise are either smart or lucky they have not been caught yet. Hal, in a dire forecast about those who buck the system, says brains will “only get you so far and luck always runs out.” Louise calls Hal, and in response to his question about where she is, she says they are not in the middle of nowhere but can see it. Both women have developed a sort of gallows humor. She says it was just an accident how all this happened, and Hal says he believes that was the case, But it has snowballed, so now Louise says she thinks of the words “incarceration,” “cavity search,” and “death by electrocution.” She’s starting to feel that coming out alive doesn’t sound so appealing, which is a foreshadowing of the end of the film. Hal says he knows what happened to her in Texas, so he understands her motivations. She hangs up, but the police traced the call. Hal wants to be at the apprehension to keep things cool, because in these situations, he says, “the volume gets turned up,’ and Hal thinks the girls will get shot.

Louise wanted Thelma to commit to going to Mexico, but now it is Thelma who wants Louise to assure her that she isn’t giving up. Thelma says something inside of her has “crossed over,” and she can’t go back. She is beyond the point of return in her mind, the place where one has broken the rules and no longer can abide by them. Louise promises that she won’t make any deals with the police which would compromise their freedom. Louise says that Hal said they will be charged with murder, and their only choice is between coming in dead or alive. Thelma, again using gallows humor, asks, “Didn’t he say anything positive?”

Thelma, while riding along, says she is wide awake, more awake than ever before, seeing things in a different light, like a woman no longer having the wool pulled over her eyes about the role she was told to play. She is like Neo being given the truth about the falseness of his world in The Matrix. Thelma says she is looking forward to Mexico, and Louise says they will be sipping Margaritas. They ride along enjoying loud music. They keep running into a vulgar trucker who makes overtly sexual propositions. They finally engage him and when he asks if they are ready to get serious, Louise says “I think so.” But, she means to get serious in a very different way from what the trucker thinks. They pull over, and, he, like the trooper, swaggers over to them, ready to party. They tell him his behavior is lewd and disgusting. They ask how would he like it if men treated his mother, sister, or wife the way he treated them? Louise demands an apology for his unacceptable behavior. He just curses them. Louise then shoots out the tires on his rig. He just curses them more. They then shoot at his tanker and it blows up in flames. He, along with Harlan, Darryl, and the trooper, have been, literally or figuratively, shot down off their perches of abusive power.

After the phone trace, the police are now in pursuit of the women, and a car chase ensues. Louise’s fancy driving creates some Keystone Cop entertainment as the police cars get demolished, either getting involved in collisions, getting caught under a low bridge, or flipping over. The comic scene still illustrates the theme of the women undermining the male show of force. Thelma says no matter what, she’s glad she went along with Louise. With more gallows humor, Louise asks how does Thelma like the vacation so far? Thelma says she went a little crazy, and Louise says she always had it in her, just now she took the opportunity to express her outrageous side.

They are going so fast that they swerve at the end of the road and realize that they are looking at The Grand Canyon. Thelma says it looks beautiful, and perhaps so does death, now, given the alternatives. The openness of the wilderness that made them feel free is now invaded by the males hunting them. The attractive view of the Grand Canyon is undermined as the police helicopter swoops up in front of the scenery. The women have run out of alternative routes, and of freedom in this life. The men are there with their guns, their show of force, telling them again what to do. They are told to raise their hands. Otherwise, it will be considered an act of aggression against the police if the women are not subservient. Hal says to his boss, Max, “how many times can these women be f----- over?” Thelma says let’s not get caught, but instead, keep going. Louise kisses Thelma, who may really be the love of her life, and they grab hands as Louise bravely floors the car. We see various scenes that represent their lives flashing before our eyes. These two can only be free by driving into the canyon itself, merging their outlaw souls with its natural sovereignty.

The next film is Blow-Up.

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.