Super-Sensitive Viewer; How Violence Is NOT GOOD

Today is the 15th anniversary of the murder of Tejano singer Selena. So I'm in a bit of a sad mood.

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Several things have happened recently which just reiterate the fact that I'm a super-sensitive viewer.

On Saturday night, I was at some trashy bar and there were some 100 screens showcasing the UFC 111 - Ultimate Fighting Championship. My eyes could not avoid the fight. I would have to look down at the ground or up at the ceiling if I didn't want to see two guys beating the living daylights out of each other. We had seen 3 fights and when they were on the George St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy fight, I had had enough. My heart couldn't bear seeing Hardy's eye almost pop out of his head and both his arms be almost dislocated. I just had to get out of that bar and away from that fight.

Please don't beat up this guy. He's got a nice mohawk! And he's from Nottingham, England.

On Sunday, by good friend Mark (super genius awesome author extraordinaire) wrote a post about the film Beyond Rangoon (1995). It's a film I could never bring myself to watch. I had caught a pivotal scene in the beginning of the movie on TV some years ago and I have been traumatized ever since. The scene involved Patricia Arquette's character arriving at her home only to discover that her husband and young son have been brutally murdered. I immediately switched channels and have not touched the movie since. That one scene still haunts me to this day.

A couple of weeks ago, Classicflix randomly chose to send me Crime School (1938) in the mail and I'm glad they did. It was such a wonderful movie and I can see why certain bloggers like the Dead End Kids. My beau Carlos found many correlations between this movie and Brubaker (1980) and encouraged me to watch the latter and compare the two films. The plots are very similar yet Brubaker has a lot more violence. In one part of the movie, the new warden played by Robert Redford discovers that one of the prisoners has been there a few years longer than his sentence required. Just as this older gentlemen is to be released the bad bad prison guards decide to kill him since he holds many secrets, including the locations of the graves of murdered prisoners. When I asked Carlos if the sweet old man was going to die, he admitted that he would and I burst into tears. We had to stop the DVD so I can regain composure. Needless to say, we had to skip over that part because I just couldn't deal.

Do you remember when I told you that I hyper-ventilated the first time I saw Strangers on a Train (1951)? Yeah.

Something about an old lady being choked at a party just rubbed me the wrong way.

Anyways, Carlos tried to calm me down by telling me that these were only actors and this wasn't real. EXCUSE ME? For me at least, the whole point of watching a movie is to be swept away by it. Not to see it as something fake, but to momentarily be taken into another world, into other people's lives, into other experiences. Carlos likes to find goofs, bad cuts and other errors. He likes to figure out the plot as early on as possible. I like to find literary/cultural references and to ride the magical ride that the plot takes me on. So no. To me this isn't fake this is the real deal.

And guess what? Brubaker is based on a real story.

And guess what else? The older gentleman who was murdered in the story died in real life before the movie hit theaters. So no Carlos. This isn't fake. That man really did die. So yes, I have a real reason to shed my tears.

So for me this is all to real. I can't take the violence. Fake violence (Brubaker) or real violence (UFC 111), to me it's bad. Really really bad. I find it sad that most people are so immune to images of violence that it doesn't even faze them. I don't want to be immune. When I see someone being hurt, I want to be able to empathize. I don't want to be insensitive.

So when the character Bullen (played by the delightful David Keith) tells us about his unfortunate upbringing and the brutal murder of his twin brother, we should feel empathy. When the prison guards eletrocute him a bit to punish him, we should feel empathy. When Bullen meets his demise, we should be sad.

Isn't that the whole point of a story? That it should get us to feel something? It makes me feel too much because I am too sensitive but I worry about those who don't feel anything anymore.

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P.S. Carlos doesn't force me go to trashy bars, watch UFC fights or see violent movies against my will. He's a very sweet boyfriend, I promise!

The Glass Wall (1953)

The construction of United Nations Secretariat building in New York City, New York was completed in 1952. Although it is in New York and activities that happen on the premise are under state and local jurisdiction, the land on which this building stands is considered international territory. The edifice stands at 505 feet tall and has almost 40 stories. It was designed by architects Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer who created a modern building that stood out from the classic architecture that surrounded it. What is unique about the Secretariat building is that it looks like a giant glass wall. You can see the reflection of the city's skyline in the continuous rows of windows. It represents the uniting of nations to create a more cohesive world yet the building seems less like a beacon and more like a giant impediment. On the other side of the building is the East River which flows into the Atlantic. In some ways, the building looks like a wall blocking the US from the world and the world from the US. And the building, it's significance, it's placement and it's appearance proved to be perfect fodder for film noir.

The UN Secretariat building features prominent in The Glass Wall (1953) making the title of the film very apropos.  Peter Kaban (Vittorio Gassman) has reached a glass wall. He can see through the wall to the other side, where there lies hope for a new life and for freedom. But the wall is an illusion and he can't get through. He tries to shatter the glass wall but doing so comes with major repercussions.

After spending nearly 10 years in concentration camps and watching his entire family die in a gas chamber, Peter escapes Aushwitz and walked 300 miles to get on a shipping vessel headed towards America. He gets on the ship as a stowaway and when he gets there, he is denied entrance because of his illegal entry. He tries to reason with the goverment officials using Statute Six which allows people of Allied forces who have helped the American cause to enter America. Peter helped an American soldier named Tom but only knows very rudimentary information about his American friend and cannot convince the officials. Determined not to go back to Europe, as it would be a death sentence for him, he escapes the docked vessel and goes on the lam, looking for his friend Tom. Tom is his one chance at staying in America and for his salvation but like any good film, finding Tom isn’t easy, even when Tom starts looking for Peter.

Peter has a naivete and a wholesomeness that makes us sympathize with him. He's been through so much and it pains us to watch him go through more pain and anguish. There is an amazing scene where Peter walks around Times Square and looks around in wonderment and awe at all the flashing lights, people and general hussle and bussle. He is the film noir equivalent of a lost puppy and we are desperate to save him.

Peter becomes a psuedo-celebrity. His face is plastered on the front page of the newspaper and many people in the city recognize him because of that. He runs and runs even past the point when he doesn't have to run anymore and running would do him more harm than good. We watch Peter’s slow descent into delirium as his body starts to lose it's battle against the broken ribs that threaten to puncture his surrounding organs. His physical deterioration adds to the ascent to the story's climax. When Peter reaches The Glass Wall, he sees the reflection of the building through a puddle. It's the last beacon. It's his final destination. It's his biggest obstacle that he must face. Can he make it? Can he push himself just a bit more? Can he take himself to the brink of death in order to save his life?

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk a bit about the film’s biggest shining star, Gloria Grahame. She has a formidable role of Peter’s love interest and friend, Maggie. Maggie is disillusioned by the same system which has also rejected Peter. She's used to men wanting her body and forcing themselves on her. She's fed up with not having money. She has nothing to fight for until she meets Kaban and she'll rob small children to help him out. Maggie is as desperate as Peter and in this way they complement each other. Grahame always excelled in roles in which the character’s were jaded and fed up. She emoted frustration very well especially with her characteristic frown and pout.

This film comes at a time when Americans are still reeling after the effects of WWII and of the horror that has come to light about the Holocaust and concentration camps. A massive influx of WWII refugees infiltrated the United States, many coming through Ellis Island which is also featured in the film. Many of these immigrants were know settling into their new lives in the US and trying to become part of the local fabric. Many abandoned their pasts for their futures while others never forgot where they came from. When Peter (a Hungarian) is on the lam, he runs into a sympathetic Hungarian-American who takes him in to her home. The sympathy they show for a complete stranger, and a well-known criminal at that, really demonstrates the bond between immigrants and the people from their homeland.

This is what I call an effective movie. It’s relevant to the times, it’s shot on location, the characters are interesting and sympathetic, the pacing works and the rising tension keeps you at the edge of your seat. There are some great shots of New York City and the inside of the UN Secretariat building. The pinnacle of the film is a superb monologue delivered by Vittorio Gassman (Peter) in an empty UN conference room. If that scene doesn’t move you, you have no soul.

The Glass Wall (1953) is highly underrated and overlooked. In my honest opinion, it has to be one of the best and effective film noirs out there. I’m very appreciative that it’s finally got it’s debut on DVD through the Bad Girls of Film Noir Vol 1 boxed set. And maybe with it’s availability, this little noir will get the recognition it deserves.

Happy Birthday Carlos!

This is a special Happy Birthday greeting to my beau Carlos who turns ::mumbling:: years old today. xoxo

This is Carlos channeling Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961):