2003 July - Historical Films

Pelikula@TitusBrandsma / July 2003 (Films with Historical Backdrop) BURNT BY THE SUN / Utomlyonnye Solnstem 1994 - RUS/FRA - 152 min. Russia, 1936: revolutionary hero Colonel Kotov is spending an idyllic summer in his dacha with his young wife and six-year-old daughter Nadia and other assorted family and friends. Things change dramatically with the unheralded arrival of Cousin Dmitri from Moscow, who charms the women and little Nadia with his games and pianistic bravura. But Kotov isn't fooled: this is the time of Stalin's repression, with telephone calls in the middle of the night spelling doom - and he knows that Dmitri isn't paying a social call. 1994 Academy Awards Best Foreign Film (win); 1994 Cannes Film Festival Special Grand Jury Prize (win), Ecumenical Jury Prize (win), Palm d'Or (nom); 1996 Argentinian Film Critics Association Awards Best Foreign Film (nom); 1996 BAFTA Film Award Best Film not in the English Language (nom). Direction: Nikita Mikhalkov. Production: Leonid Verechtchaguine. Screenplay: Nikita Mikhalkov, Rustam Ibragimbekov. Cinematography: Vilen Kalyuta. Editing: Enzio Meniconi. Production Design: Vladimir Aronin, Alexander Samulekin. Music Score: Eduard Artemyev. Cast: Nikita Mikhalkov, Oleg Menshikov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, André Oumansky, Yevgeny Mironov, Nadia Mikhalkov, Vyacheslav Tikhonov.

PISO DALAWANG PISO 2002 - PHI - 29 min. Piso Dalawang Piso is a 30-minute feature narrative of a young man's love for his country and freedom. This is the story of Gerry/Ka Ralyon, an activist who dies in the process of getting justice for the oppressed masses. Ironically, in his dying hours, Gerry ends up in a toilet and meets two members of these oppressed masses whose only reality is living with what they earn from toilet fees: "piso ang ihi, dalawang piso ang tae." Direction: Dennis Empalmado. Production: National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Screenplay: Dennis Empalmado, Vladimir Rivera. Cinematography: Eric Cajandab de la Cruz, Albert Banzon, Maisa Demetillo, MFI. Editing: Chuck Escasa. Production Design: Yeye Calderon. Art Direction: Ronnie 'Jet' Villamor, Jun 'Kahoy' Sabayton. Music: Jerico Torres. Sound: Raffy 'Bulan' Luna. Production Manager: Ava Yap. Assistant Director: Tado. Second Assistant Director: Elmo Endrico. Script Consultant & Subtitling: Diego Vargas. Stills/Documentation: Ruel 'Tahimik' Lozendo. Line Producer: Eric Cajandab de la Cruz. Production Assistant: Arlene Empalmado, Myan Domingo, Jonnette Jakosalem. Project Proposal Writer: Geraldine Borja Flores. Title design: Ellen Ramos. Cast: Yul Servo, Isko Salvador, Metring David, Sheryl Maala, Tito Quesada, Elmo Endrico, Howlin' Dave, Rey Langit, Arney Nucum, Raul Morit, Roxlee, Tado, Tim Yap.

THE GREAT DICTATOR 1940 - USA - 126 min. During the last days of the First World War, a clumsy soldier saves the life of devoted military pilot Schultz. Unfortunately, their flight from the advancing enemy ends in a severe crash with the clumsy soldier losing his memories. After quite some years in the hospital, the amnesia patient gets released and reopens his old barber shop in the Jewish ghetto. But times have changed in the country of Tomania: Dictator Adenoid Hynkel, who accidentally looks very similar to the barber, has laid his merciless grip on the country, and the Jewish people are discriminated against. One day, the barber gets in trouble and is brought before a commanding officer, who turns out to be his old comrade Schultz. So, the ghetto enjoys protection from then on. Meanwhile, Dictator Hynkel develops big plans, he wants to become Dictator of the whole world and needs a scapegoat for the public. Soon, Schultz is being arrested for being too Jewish-friendly, and all Jews except those who managed to flee are transported into Concentration Camps. Hynkel is planning to march into Osterlich to show off against Napaloni, Dictator of Bacteria, who already has deployed his troops along the other border of the small country. Meanwhile, Schultz and the barber manage to escape, guised in military uniforms. As luck would have it, Schultz and the barber are picked up by Tomanian forces and the barber is mixed up with Hynkel himself. The small barber now gets the once-in-a-lifetime chance to speak to the people of Osterlich and all of Tomania, who listen eagerly on the radio. 1940 Academy Awards Best Picture (nom), Best Actor (nom), Best Supporting Actor (nom), Best Original Screenplay (nom), Best Musical Score (nom); 1940 National Board of Review of Motion Picture 10 Best Films; 1940 New York Times 10 Best Films; 1940 New York Film Critics Circle Best Picture (win), Best Actor (win, refused to accept the award). Direction/Production/Screenplay: Charles Chaplin. Cinematography: Karl Struss. Roland H. "Rollie" Totheroh. Editing: Willard Nico. Art Direction: Russell J. Spencer. Music Score: Meredith Willson. Cast: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell, Billy Gilbert. SOURCES: imdb.com, allmovie.com, up film center