SXSW1998–God Said, Ha!/Men With Guns

I saw two more movies at the South By Southwest Film Festival yesterday. Both of them were pretty good.

The first was God Said, Ha!, Julia Sweeney’s new one-woman show. It’s all about her family and how they dealt with her brother, Mike’s, cancer and her cancer. Just her on a stage doing what basically amounts to an hour and a half stand-up routine with a heart.

As with all movies like this it tends to be hit or miss. The difference is that it hits more than it misses. She does a very good job of not going off on too many tangents. Some people won’t be able to take the way she talks about cancer, but that’s how her family dealt with it. Her brother had a very dark sense of humor about it. When she announced her cancer he said, “You just couldn’t take it, could you? I had all of the cancer spotlight.” When he was getting really bad and was taken to the hospital because of his vomitting and other symptoms he told her, “It’s not so funny now that you’ve got it.”

It’s hard to know how people will react to something like this. I’ve never really known anyone with cancer, so I can take it in the manner that it was meant to be taken: a cathartic release of feelings and a wish to help other people who are going through the same thing. Maybe if I did know someone I would take it differently. In my opinion it was handled very well. Not to mention the fact that her story about her Pat character is hilarious.

Oh, and all you Tarantino watchers out there, he executive produced this one and makes an appearance at the end. I hear he also talked Julia into doing it. The second movie I saw yesterday was John Sayles’ new one, Men With Guns. Once again Sayles has made a great movie that’s hard to sum up in just a few lines. Let’s see if I can try. A doctor, Dr. Fuentes (no relation to Daisy), in an unnamed South American country is looking for some of his students that he sent to help the poor Indians in the less inhabited parts of the country. He starts to find out that all of the students have been killed by the mysterious “men with guns.” He has been in the city all of his life, so he really doesn’t know how to deal with the elements. Every time he tries to talk to people in the villages they run away. They think he is part of the Army that is taking their friends and families. Along the way he meets up with Conejo, a young boy who has no one in his village and guides him through the jungle, and Domingo, a soldier who sort of forces his way into their lives. There is also Padre Portillo, a priest who has lost his faith. Together they find out exactly what is going on in the poorer part of their country.

Sayles is notorious for making very slow moving movies that tell a winding tale of dramatic twists and turns. This one is no different. The main difference here is that it is all in Spanish and different dialects of Indian languages. The announcer before the film began was a friend of Sayles’. He said that he equates this film to Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music. Reed had just put out “Walk On The Wild Side” and had his biggest hit. Everyone knew and loved the song. His next move was to put out an album that no one could understand. It has since gone down as one of the worst albums ever made. That’s not the comparison we’re making here. Lone Star, Sayles’ last movie, was his biggest hit. Now he’s made a movie that no one can watch without subtitles. Even if you speak fluent Spanish you can’t understand the Indians. Indians would only understand about four scenes because of all the Spanish and the different dialects of the Indian languages. And then there’s some English thrown in for good measure. (Mandy Patinkin plays an American tourist who wonders why there are no fajitas in this country.)

All of the performances are great. Federico Luppi is a veteran Spanish actor who is pretty much completely unknown in the states. He shows the pain of the doctor who has lost almost everything on his trip and yet keeps the dignity that a doctor would have through it all. Dan Rivera Gonzalez plays Conejo with just the right sarcastic twist that a boy of his age would have after going through as much as he has been through. He does a great job with a demanding role. I expect to see him pop up in some more movies soon. Damian Delgado plays the soldier with enough heart to make you care about him but enough harshness to make you not quite trust him. Damian Alcazar plays the priest with very strong reminders of Robin Williams in his dramatic roles. Think of Dead Poet’s Society and Good Will Hunting and you’ll see what I mean. This is not the live wire Robin I’m talking about. This is the sensitive “I’m trying to teach you how to live with yourself” Robin. Alcazar is excellent.

When this movie makes it to the theatres in a few months, go see it. If you like John Sayles at all you’ll really like it. It may not be his best work, but it’s still a very thought prevoking film. Just try to keep up with the subtitles.