#EDIT4
Zurlini’s final is also his finest, relying on the masterpiece of literature of the same name by Dino Buzzati to work with, he combines it with the beautiful landscapes of Iran where much of the film takes place. Most notably the Bam fortress which in history served as a frontier to the roaming Afghan raiders who are the Tartars in the film. Zurlini was heavily inspired by the paintings of Giorgio de Chirico especially The Red Tower evidently so by…
A glimpse into the inner political structure and murky practises of the triads and more specifically a look into how the organisation handles succession in the form of an election. In this political process which we discover is steeped in tradition and heritage the symbol of the baton, central to the story, serves not only as an artefact of prestige but one of ultimate dominion for the next chairman, leading the major claimants into a race for ascendency. Far from…
The single greatest documentary ever made. A monumental piece that took 10 years to film, spanning 30 episodes filled to the brim with History, Geography, Ethnography, Linguistics, Theology, Philosophy and many other fields across a millennia. Capturing for the first time on film artefacts, peoples and locations never seen before. The importance of this incredible work is only heightened year on year with the creeping advent of modernity to the traditional lifestyles of people’s of the Orient coupled with the…
The greatest of all epics put to film, a truly monumental achievement that will never be replicated. War and Peace directed by Sergei Bondarchuk is adapted from Leo Tolstoys’s eminent novel of the same name. Bondarchuk makes flesh the drama, philosophical pondering, time period and most impressively the scale of the battle sequences which Tolstoy so vividly described.
The melodrama is tackled with sincerity and tenderness, the anguish faced by the characters is palpable, their every joy, despair and revival…
