Movies You May Not Have Seen #1
Jan. 28th, 2005 09:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynTalked with my sister last night and found out what they're going to do treatment-wise, and it's so depressing and hopeless that I can hardly talk. So I'm working on my "My twin sister is going to die" denial-mastery by pretending I care about other things. So I thought I would do my first Movies You May Not Have Seen recommendation today, because it feels like a fitting movie to talk about with these emotions.
The Navigator is a 1989 film from New Zealand that many people seem to confuse with the treacly Disney movie from around the same time called Flight of the Navigator. It probably hasn't been helped by the fact that The Navigator has been tagged, especially in North America, with numerous subtitles that don't seem to help sell people on its brilliance. It appears to have three separate titles, one of which was on the old VHS tape "A Medieval Adventure" and another of which has been tagged on to the DVD -- "A Time-Travel Adventure." When it came out in theatres here, it was just plain ol' The Navigator, and I think the subtitles make it sound cheesy, which doesn't do it much service when the cover is also kind of crappy and won't pop out at someone on the shelf.
This is a brilliant small movie that uses both black and white and color film to tell a story of a small village in 14th-century Cumbria so terrified of the coming plague that they are willing to follow the visions of a young boy (played by Hamish McFarlane in a surprisingly self-assured performance) to do the impossible in the hopes it may protect them from "the Death." He sees them tunneling (they are miners) through to the other side of the world, and raising the tallest spire in Christendom -- their effort of which will reward them with an escape from the plague. They do manage to tunnel through to the other side: modern New Zealand, complete with cars, trains, television, and even a nuclear sub. Their adventures are often funny as they try to navigate this bizarre, terrifying landscape, but it gradually turns darker as Griffin, the boy, begins to understand what the pieces of his vision mean.
There's a brief glimpse of Griffin viewing the world-famous television commercial from Down Under about AIDS, where Death is bowling people down. This is a significant moment because Griffin recognizes who Death is alone among all the images he sees in modern times; in his limited learning, of course, images like the figure of Death play a significant role. It's also important because the film can be seen as a metaphor for the desperate, uninformed fight to protect ourselves against a modern plague.
But it's not as high-handed as that makes it sound: it's a visually breathtaking movie (anyone who's seen Vincent Ward's other major film, What Dreams May Come, will know what an amazing visual stylist he is) with a core tale of adventure both modern and historical, and mysticism. Griffin's adoration of his brother Connor frames the story; it's Connor's adventuring that informs the village of the plague sweeping their way, and also what makes them believe they're capable of raising the spire in the first place. Unfortunately the only disc available in North America that I know of comes from a small distributor called Hen's Tooth Video, and the print is not widescreen, so we lose a great deal of the larger beauty of the film; it's also clearly made from a VHS tape, possibly not even a video master, so it's filled with flaws. With a movie so small and unnoticed (it was a big art-house hit in Seattle, but not many other places), I should be grateful to have it at all on DVD, but... something this striking should be treated better. I don't know if it has been Down Under, but I hope so. The soundtrack, however, is not marred -- it's an incredible, haunting mix of chanting, modern-day symphonic styles, ambient sounds, and gorgeous, lyrical singing.
There will be people who will gripe about its downbeat ending, I'm sure, but I think those people might be missing the core message of the movie -- that even in the face of terrifying odds, faith and vision can help us fight back, can help us survive as a community of people. And that love can bring both wonder and dread.
The Navigator is a 1989 film from New Zealand that many people seem to confuse with the treacly Disney movie from around the same time called Flight of the Navigator. It probably hasn't been helped by the fact that The Navigator has been tagged, especially in North America, with numerous subtitles that don't seem to help sell people on its brilliance. It appears to have three separate titles, one of which was on the old VHS tape "A Medieval Adventure" and another of which has been tagged on to the DVD -- "A Time-Travel Adventure." When it came out in theatres here, it was just plain ol' The Navigator, and I think the subtitles make it sound cheesy, which doesn't do it much service when the cover is also kind of crappy and won't pop out at someone on the shelf.
This is a brilliant small movie that uses both black and white and color film to tell a story of a small village in 14th-century Cumbria so terrified of the coming plague that they are willing to follow the visions of a young boy (played by Hamish McFarlane in a surprisingly self-assured performance) to do the impossible in the hopes it may protect them from "the Death." He sees them tunneling (they are miners) through to the other side of the world, and raising the tallest spire in Christendom -- their effort of which will reward them with an escape from the plague. They do manage to tunnel through to the other side: modern New Zealand, complete with cars, trains, television, and even a nuclear sub. Their adventures are often funny as they try to navigate this bizarre, terrifying landscape, but it gradually turns darker as Griffin, the boy, begins to understand what the pieces of his vision mean.
There's a brief glimpse of Griffin viewing the world-famous television commercial from Down Under about AIDS, where Death is bowling people down. This is a significant moment because Griffin recognizes who Death is alone among all the images he sees in modern times; in his limited learning, of course, images like the figure of Death play a significant role. It's also important because the film can be seen as a metaphor for the desperate, uninformed fight to protect ourselves against a modern plague.
But it's not as high-handed as that makes it sound: it's a visually breathtaking movie (anyone who's seen Vincent Ward's other major film, What Dreams May Come, will know what an amazing visual stylist he is) with a core tale of adventure both modern and historical, and mysticism. Griffin's adoration of his brother Connor frames the story; it's Connor's adventuring that informs the village of the plague sweeping their way, and also what makes them believe they're capable of raising the spire in the first place. Unfortunately the only disc available in North America that I know of comes from a small distributor called Hen's Tooth Video, and the print is not widescreen, so we lose a great deal of the larger beauty of the film; it's also clearly made from a VHS tape, possibly not even a video master, so it's filled with flaws. With a movie so small and unnoticed (it was a big art-house hit in Seattle, but not many other places), I should be grateful to have it at all on DVD, but... something this striking should be treated better. I don't know if it has been Down Under, but I hope so. The soundtrack, however, is not marred -- it's an incredible, haunting mix of chanting, modern-day symphonic styles, ambient sounds, and gorgeous, lyrical singing.
There will be people who will gripe about its downbeat ending, I'm sure, but I think those people might be missing the core message of the movie -- that even in the face of terrifying odds, faith and vision can help us fight back, can help us survive as a community of people. And that love can bring both wonder and dread.
