Three movies lately

First, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.  Yep, that was pretty fun.  The two kids of fairy tale fame grow up to be arrow-shooting, gun-slinging, kung fu fighting, witch exterminating bounty hunters.  Even though the mild twist to the fairy tale that was revealed near the ending was rather predictable, that’s fine.  This isn’t something meant to be thought-provoking and deeply moving, after all.  The costumes and set design are good, the witches looked absolutely horrid, the visual effects were as expected, the fight scenes were quick and gregarious, and the cast was gorgeous.  I wish though that I didn’t see it in 3D – gave me quite the headache, and those 3D glasses are simply too uncomfortable and bothersome on top of my own eyeglasses.

Second, Les Miserables.  I’ve seen the film adaptation starring Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush, and I liked that version more than this.  But that’s not to say that the 2012 film was all that bad.  Of course the story was good, this is Victor Hugo.  And the songs were wonderful, coming from the musical as they were.  I liked Hugh Jackman most – 100% performance there from a guy who seems to have it all and can do anything.  The costumes and set design – great.  Well and good.  I won’t deny that it’s good, see for yourself.  But, I still prefer the 1998 film.  Hmm… to each his own, n'est–ce pas?  

Third, Pitch Perfect.  It aired in 2012 and follows the grand tradition of singing-group-inspired flicks that go back to times long gone.  This one was of course rather in the mold of Glee, it being the most recent popular similar-themed media bonanza.  So there you go.  Beca, a girl with personal space and friendship issues goes to college at the insistence of her professor father.  She wants to be a music producer and practically has her headphones stuck to her pretty little head most of the time.  At college she meets the “Troublemakers” (boy group) and the “Bellas” (girl group, duh) and learns of their competitive endeavors.  The Bellas, however, are beleaguered by a besmirched recent history and is having much trouble recruiting new members.  Beca strikes a bargain with daddy and ends up joining the Bellas, and she ends up revolutionizing the world of  a capella singing as everyone knows it.  Along the way, she forms warm, fuzzy friendships, reconciles with her dad, wins the coveted trophy, and falls in love with the boy.  What other possible ending could there be?  I thought it was pretty cute, if you liked this kind of cute, and it made me want to see The Breakfast Club (yes, that perennial favorite from the 1980’s) again.  And the singing wasn’t bad. 

Enchantment - Orson Scott Card

Book jacket synopsis:

The moment young Ivan stumbled upon a clearing in the dense Carpathian forest, his life was forever changed.  Atop a pedestal encircled by fallen leaves, the beautiful princess Katerina lay as still as death – while a malevolent presence stirred in the hidden depths below.

Now years later, Ivan is compelled to return.  He finds the clearing just as he left it.  This time he does not run…

This is probably the third or fourth time I’ve reread this book.  It’s one of those stories that I gravitate towards when the world around me seems to have lost all its magic, and all its inhabitants seem to be moving about merely following patterns that loop back and never change.

As the title suggests, it’s a story that lets me want to believe that there are still some things beautiful and wonderful in the world.  I’ve mentioned before that I’ve always had a special fondness for fairy tales, and that Sleeping Beauty is my favourite.  Well, this particular adaptation of Sleeping Beauty is one of the best I’ve ever encountered so far.

We meet Ivan, a ten-year-old Russian boy, suffering from identity crisis.  His parents have suddenly decided that everyone will turn Jew – and that this will have serious implications as to which parts of his anatomy will remain unscathed; all this in a desperate effort to escape Russia.  They sojourn at a relative’s farm in Ukraine, where on one of his running sprees, Ivan finds the sleeping princess Katerina and runs away, frightened by the palpable evil that guards her resting place.  The family flies to America where Ivan grows up to be a scholar and an athlete; but not for one moment has he forgotten the mysterious clearing, and the sleeping beauty that lies in the middle of a great chasm filled with dead leaves. He returns to her, unable to move on with his life unless he does, and when he does find her he takes his destiny in hand and his life – as well as Katerina’s – become hopelessly entangled in events that lead them to discover what truly mattered in their lives.  But did he actually end up saving the princess, or bringing her further trouble?  Was Ivan the man that the princess needed, or will he end up regretting his actions and wishing he had left Katerina trapped under the curse forever? 

Baba Yaga is certainly powerful, but it is never enough.  She ensorcells Bear, the god of winter, and taps into his power, using it to get even more.  The curse she placed on Katerina and the Bear seemed fool proof, until Ivan came along.  And now she must use all her wiles and employ all her magic to get everything back to how she wishes it to be.  But even as they find themselves betrayed left and right by people supposedly trustworthy, Ivan and Katerina manage to find some allies of their own. 

I love how this book sent me back in time to when I was a kid eating up all the books on folk tales in my school library.  I remember the tales from Russia; Baba Yaga and the Bear, and brave Ivan who had as many or even more adventures than did the more western Jack.  I loved that the characters that peopled this story weren’t glamorized.  They all had their own problems to deal with – even the witch and the gods had their unpleasant circumstances to face.  I love that both Ivan and Katerina were not your stereotypical fairy tale prince and princess.  They both surely had their many failings right along with the qualities that redeem them in each other’s eyes.  But their journey is a long and perilous one, filled with magic and science, bitterness and betrayal, and intertwined along with theirs are the lives of everyone around them. How were they to know that they held the fragile balance of the world in their hands?  Too many times in the book did it seem doubtful that goodness, nobility, sacrifice, and even love would make any difference in their efforts against their terrible and powerful adversary.  And I am taken along for the ride.  I follow them across the unseen bridge through time and space into two different worlds, each with their own brand of good and evil, of truth and lies, and most of all, of magic. 

As long as I can read, and as long as the pages of this book are intact, I believe I shall never tire of reading it over and over.  Rarely is there ever such a book that comes this close to the soul that once it is found, it is ever let go.  I hope you find such a book yourself, and gain a revitalizing source of magic when and where there seems to be no more magic to be found. 

In A Dark Wood - Amanda Craig

Book jacket synopsis:

“Thirty-nine, recently divorced, jobless, Benedick Hunter is an actor heading in the exact opposite direction of happily ever after: everything from spending time with his own children to the prospect of dating brings him down.  So when he comes across a children’s book his mother, Laura, wrote, he decides that her life and work – haunting stories replete with sinister woods and wicked witches and brave girls who battle giants – holds the key to figuring out why his own life is such a mess.”

“Setting out to find out why Laura killed herself when he was six, Benedick travels from his native England to the U.S. in search of her friends and his own long-lost relatives.  As he grows obsessed with Laura’s books and their veiled references to reality, Benedick enters into a dark wood – a dark wood that is both hilariously real and terrifyingly psychological.  It is then that his story becomes an exploration not only of his mother’s genius but also of the nature of depression, and of the healing power of storytelling in our lives.”

I picked this book up during a book sale.  I suppose anything with references to fairy tales will easily catch my eye.  It’s not the kind of book I’d usually go for, but I’m glad I gave it a chance.  This is not going to make the list of my top fifty favorites, but I found it quite a worthwhile read for a number of reasons.  First, the narration is good and involving.  The narrator’s voice is brutally intense at times and poignantly fragile at others; it is very easy to get absorbed into the persona’s voice and thought process.  My second reason is the presence of those wonderful fairy tales (or adaptations of fairy tales) that are integral to the progression of the story.  Some of them may seem familiar at first, but through each tale lies an undercurrent of darkness and fear.  I found it wonderful that the author of this book managed to create the atmosphere of the story through these eerily scary stories that were supposed to be meant for the enjoyment of children.  And then there are scattered throughout the book little pieces wisdom and clarity that I couldn’t help but acknowledge.  To quote a couple: 

“What is the law but a vision of how life should be?  Isn’t that what the fairy tale – which was originally for adults as much as for children – is deeply concerned with?  With justice?  What is the phrase every parent hears most often from a child?  It’s not fair.”

“When you fall in love with someone you see them through a palimpsest of all their former selves.  It’s as if you’ve always known them and always will, as if time itself has collapsed.”

The imagery in the story is so clear and beguiling.  In the picture book of my mind I saw each leaf, each castle, and every witch’s hut.  I smelled the polluted air of big cities and the green-brown earth smell of forest floors. The pictures drew out my empathy for the persona. I felt drawn to Benedick and could very well relate to his confusion and anger, how lost he is and how I wished he’d be all right in the end. 

The end of the story came as a surprise.  I never thought things would turn out the way they did; the author of the novel did well by not really hinting at the twist towards the end.  And I felt glad at such an unexpected and unconventional ending.  I thought that the ending of the story put all the events that happened before into much clearer perspective.  It was well-executed, to say the least.

I recommend this book to anyone who would appreciate something that could be quite difficult to categorize.  It’s not really a “drama”, not really a romance, either.  It’s not a mystery, not horror story, nor a fantasy.  Suffice it to say that it’s a good book that will be appreciated by a discerning reader who shies away from the mundane and shallow, and appreciates a tale that stirs the imagination and provokes the contemplation of happiness, loss, sanity, the inner child, and life.  Life, above all.