DECEMBER 2013: All Is Lost and Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom

All Is Lost

Director: J.C. Chandor
With: Robert Redford

I love survival films and we're blessed to have so many in 2013. All Is Lost is one and I was really excited when I first saw its trailer because it looked like it's going to be a difficult yet fun (and dramatic) adventure ala Life of Pi. But there is no fun in All Is Lost. As Robert Redford's character struggle in the sea, alone with his yacht, the film is really mindnumbingly silent and depressing. It doesn't help that there's almost no dialogue in it and it's also accompanied by Alex Ebert's eerily creepy score, emphasizing the character's loneliness that will definitely make you feel like death is upon you. It's a total downer. It is such a quiet film focused on a character with eyes having almost no emotions, you can't help but wonder what's in this reserved character's mind more especially that the film started with a philosophical note hinting that it was written by him in the middle of his journey.

I thought J.C. Chandor did a great job in building up the character though, as it took a long time for him to break down. It's as if through this means, he made sure that he grips the audience as they observe on what this mysterious character is going to do next with his limited options. Robert Redford supported this manner by being so nonchalant and mysterious. He singlehandedly carried the film for sure but didn't carry it as high as I expected until that FUCKKKKKKK moment which may be the only time he impressed me in this film. :/ But after that, he went back to being okay. Yes, it's hard to convey a message without saying anything and depending everything with his facial expressions, but I got none from him. :/ One may argue that Redford made his character more authentic, but I find that absurd because he's so calm in the midst of all those horrible comeuppance.

At the end of the film, one would think it is a one heck of an abstract because there are so many possible meanings that may be implied by the film. One possible meaning is that the main character is a wandering ghost trying to survive the purgatory of life. This could suggest why he's so quiet and calm throughout the film. LOL. Another possible meaning is that when the main character finally lost all of his hope, that's when he found the light to survive. LOL I could go on and on but I do think that the end was made for us to ponder, to reflect, and Chandor succeed in that aspect. The end made me understand the quiet approach shown and the haunting vibe displayed throughout the film.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Director: Justin Chadwick
With: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris

I didn't expect Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom to earn some nods from some of the major awards guilds. We still don't know if it's going to gain some Oscar nods but if it does, then kudos to Harvey Weinstein. ;)

Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom runs for 2 and a half hours, long enough to establish a decent biopic but everything went wrong when every scene seems like they're not allowed to last more than 1 minute.  I don't know much about Nelson Mandela (yes, sue me) but I can tell from watching this film that he has a lot of achievements and very important ones, for that matter. Why? Because they sacrificed the quality of the film by bloating it with Nelson Mandela's numerous achievements and good deeds. It moves so fast that it's hard to savor anything from the film. The best thing out of this is that the film never dragged, but one would feel exhausted after finishing the whole film.

Some of its good points, though is that it didn't patronize Nelson Mandela. Well, it's hard to create a film without being gracious to him after what he did but it's not vacant of Mandela's imperfections. Still, we all learn from the film how unbelievably KIND Nelson Mandela was. Another good point are the performances of Idris Elba and Naomie Harris. Idris Elba is an effective leading man here as he managed to portray an icon with such class, passion and poise. On the other hand, Naomie Harris as Winnie Mandela shocked the hell out of me with her powerful showing. No kidding with the shock as I could not explain where her amazingly loud, full and deep voice is coming from. With her performance, I can tell how strong and independent Winnie Mandela is. If it were up to me, she's up there among the best supporting actresses in 2013 films.

The life of Nelson Mandela, to me, is something that would probably catered better in a TV series. One can argue that Clint Eastwood was successful in Invictus, another film about Mandela. But instead of tackling Mandela's whole lifetime, Eastwood focused on a single Mandela subject with other major characters.  That's the main problem of this film, it didn't know when to stop, didn't know when to trim. But then again, I came out of watching this film learning more about how compassionate Nelson Mandela was about people and I guess, that's what matters. One thing that stayed with me is this quote:

"No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." - Nelson Mandela, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom