Mike's Musings: The Message Movie
To be perfectly honest, I'm writing this Mike's Musings because this new keyboard is so cool, and I want to keep using it. That being said, hopefully you faithful readers (the ten of you that exist) will bear with me.
Many movies contain messages. Anti-drug movies are, well, warnings against drug use. "Schindler's List" was about the importance of one man's act that saved the lives of thousands. "Bordertown" was about sleazy practices by big business and politicians leads to the rape and murder of many women in Mexico. But you couldn't find two more different movies in terms of quality than Gregory Nava's film and Spielberg's masterpiece (a review of which should be coming soon).
The key is to use real characters and an engaging story to tell it. We cared more about Oskar Schindler and Itszhak Stern and understood Amon Goeth. We were invested in their fates and those of the other characters. The same descriptors did not apply to the characters in "Bordertown." Unless I look it up, I can't remember any of their names. I remember many names and elements from "Schindler's List."
I got the idea to write this Mike's Musings because the same thing happened with "When a Man Loves a Woman." It's message is clear: alcoholism is a family disease. It's not just the fight of the ex-drinker to stay sober. It's the fight for them to regain their place in the world as a normal human being, and for their family members to heal after dealing with the roller coaster ride of living with an addict.
The problem, as I said, is that none of the characters seemed real. Alice and Michael Green were stick figures. They existed not because they were real people but because they were pawns of the script that was trying to educate us. The film was little more than an educational video with big stars in the speaking roles.
Message movies get a bad rap because many filmmakers let their passion overrule their filmmaking skills. The best ones know how to use it to augment a story.
Many movies contain messages. Anti-drug movies are, well, warnings against drug use. "Schindler's List" was about the importance of one man's act that saved the lives of thousands. "Bordertown" was about sleazy practices by big business and politicians leads to the rape and murder of many women in Mexico. But you couldn't find two more different movies in terms of quality than Gregory Nava's film and Spielberg's masterpiece (a review of which should be coming soon).
The key is to use real characters and an engaging story to tell it. We cared more about Oskar Schindler and Itszhak Stern and understood Amon Goeth. We were invested in their fates and those of the other characters. The same descriptors did not apply to the characters in "Bordertown." Unless I look it up, I can't remember any of their names. I remember many names and elements from "Schindler's List."
I got the idea to write this Mike's Musings because the same thing happened with "When a Man Loves a Woman." It's message is clear: alcoholism is a family disease. It's not just the fight of the ex-drinker to stay sober. It's the fight for them to regain their place in the world as a normal human being, and for their family members to heal after dealing with the roller coaster ride of living with an addict.
The problem, as I said, is that none of the characters seemed real. Alice and Michael Green were stick figures. They existed not because they were real people but because they were pawns of the script that was trying to educate us. The film was little more than an educational video with big stars in the speaking roles.
Message movies get a bad rap because many filmmakers let their passion overrule their filmmaking skills. The best ones know how to use it to augment a story.
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