"M" (1931)

Starring: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut

First, the Lowdown: A child killer in Germany finds himself running from both the law and the German underworld.

I always thought that Peter Lorre was creepy, but it's nothing compared to seeing him speak his native language. Lorre plays Hans Beckert, a quiet and unassuming man who has a penchant for killing little girls. When the film opens a schoolgirl, Else, is lured from her daily route home by Beckert, who plies her with candy and toys and then takes her to an empty lot to kill her. (The scene is really subtle here: the girls death is implied by her rubber ball rolling free.)

Lorre plays the role of a predatory killer very realistically. His mannerisms show a man who is very socially awkward and probably can only bring himself to comfortably interact with children. Lorre is perfectly benign until he kills, had we not been introduced to Beckert's murderous nature, we would have thought of him more as a victim of mistaken identity than anything else. Is inconspicuousness aside, hearing Beckert whistling Hall Of The Mountain King from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt suite is guaranteed to raise the heebie-jeebie levels in your system.

Else's murder is highly publicized and sends the citizens of Berlin into a fever of panic. Beckert's letters to the daily news only add fuel to the public hysteria, and soon average citizens are accusing each other of the brutal crime. The police are overwhelmed from the intense pressure put upon them by both the Minister and the public at large.

Acting on the suspicion that the killer is hiding in the lower quarters that house much of Berlin's underworld, the police initiate daily raids to flush him out. The raids, however, do nothing to expose their quarry and everything to anger the underworld.

Sickened by the repeated raids, and the dent to their business that happens in their wake, the crime gangs organize with the intent of finding Beckert on his own. To achieve this, they enlist in the beggar's guild, who can watch the streets unnoticed. While on patrol, a blind peddler hears Beckert whistling Mountain King"in the distance, and has him followed by a young man. Upon seeing Beckert with a young girl, their suspicions are confirmed so to make Beckert easy to track, the man puts chalk mark of the letter "M" (for Mörder, or murderer) on Beckert's back.

A chase ensues, with the criminal underground coming out of the proverbial woodwork to close in on their prey. Once he realizes that he's been caught and that he's being followed, Beckert become more and more animalistic. The expression of fear is akin to a fox fleeing the hounds. (Lorre's bizarrely spaced eyes are used to their full effect in this sequence.) As he's being pursued, you can't help but sympathize with Beckert and begin hoping that he'll be taken in by the police as treated with an even hand rather than the unrestrained wrath of an increasingly agitated group of hooligans.

One interesting thing to note is that M was released just one year prior to Adolf Hitler's rise to power and was made during a time where the Nazi party was gaining much support and sympathy from the German public. (Who were also growing ever more hysterical under the weight of the German economic collapse.) In the following years Goebbels would use Lorre (who was Jewish) in his role as Beckert as an example of the degenerate nature of the Jews.

Line of the movies: "Who knows what it's like to be me?"

Five stars. Not verified by the FDA.

"The Battle of Algiers" (1966)

(Originally released as La Battaglia di Algeri)

Starring: Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi

First, the Lowdown: An unbiased account of the events leading to the Algerian independence from the French.

Fear is the great equalizer. Fear makes idiots of all men. The more we fear, the more we find ourselves controlled.

A personal example: when the 9/11 attacks happened, my ex-wife and I were living in a crappy multiplex. One of its few saving graces was that it was only a block away from a 7-11. This particular franchise was owned and operated by a Middle Eastern family (I think they were Pakistani, I never asked where precisely they were from). The brother of the owner was a devout Sikh and always wore a neatly-kept blue turban. This man was proud to be working at a 7-11, a job most people think as menial. Every time I went it, he would be behind the counter practically beaming at everyone who came into the shop. He was a happy and content to be working at a convenience store as any merchant at a bazaar.

Then a group of religious fanatics slammed three airplanes into prominent buildings, and the United States was swathed in a blanket of jingoism and fear. My wife was a nervous wreck at the time, raising a newborn baby during a time of crisis is no picnic. To restore a bit of normalcy to a now-chaotic world, I went to the 7-11 to get some Slurpees and hopefully make things right with the world. What I saw when I got there sickened me. The counter was surrounded by a group of men, about 18-25, who out of fear and ignorance were hurling insults and racist epithets toward a man who's only crime was wearing a turban as part of his faith. The man's once smiling face was lined with worry . He kept trying to get his attackers to leave, but couldn't bring himself to use any force.

Fortunately someone had called the police and a officer came and dispersed the angry group. When I made my purchase I noticed the mans hands were shaking and he sheepishly apologized. I told him "I'm glad you're here," and he smiled again.

The Battle of Algiers capitalizes much on people's fear, on both sides of its focal conflict. In a scene that brought the above anecdote to mind, a terrorist bomb goes off at a race track, the predominantly European crowd flees the destruction while an Algerian boy who is vending the event looks on in worry. A group of Europeans, feeling fearful and helpless, start attacking the boy, accusing him of bringing the destruction upon them. He collapses in a mass of people (including women and children) and is saved by a police officer who lifts him out of the crowd.

The movie focuses on Ali La Pointe and his involvement with the National Liberation Front (FLN). Recruited in prison after witnessing the execution (by guillotine) of a Algerian nationalist, Ali La Pointe signs up believing he can change what his country has turned into. Only to find out that once provoked, the French authorities are equally ruthless.

The French occupation of Algeria was indicative of many of its other colonies. The exploitation and suppression of the native majority; the racism of the occupying colonials: all signs pointing to eventual unrest and insurrection. It's interesting how this pattern has been routinely repeated over the course of history, yet no one's taken note of it. Point in fact, the Foreign Legion's recent retreat in Indochina (now Vietnam) had left them further emboldened to prevent it from happening elsewhere.

Thus our stage is set: Loyal nationalists trying to shrug off the bonds of colonial oppression against a patriotic military determined not to lose again. The actual streets of Algiers were used to film this movie, giving the scenes of bombed buildings, police actions, and riots an almost newscast feel to it. For the time it was made, "Algiers" is a very graphic movie. Shots of the dead pulled from the rubble of a collapsed tenement look straight from a war atrocity film.

Throughout the movie there is the pall of fear. Fear of losing another conflict (the military), fear of losing their lives in a random attack (the colonists), fear of losing their country and way of life entirely (the Algerians). Algiers underscores much of how fear can motivate or paralyze.

The movie is thankfully apolitical in its reporting. It was based on the memoirs of Yacef Saadi a political prisoner at the time (who has a starring role in the movie), and rather than being a rallying cry for revolution (as apparently Saadi originally wanted the movie), it is an even-handed portrayal of how revolution makes victims out of both sides.

Line of the movie: "Acts of violence don't win wars. Neither wars nor revolutions."

Five stars. Not to be used for investment purposes.

"The 400 Blows" (1959)

(Originally released as Les Quatre cents coups)

Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Rémy

First, the Lowdown: The trials of a lower-class boy in France and his fall into delinquency.

I've always liked Truffaut's work. His cinematic style is almost documentary, but never voyeuristic. He engages the audience and nearly forces it to be a witness to whatever is portrayed on the screen.

Jean-Pierre Léaud is Antoine Doinel, a neglected and misunderstood adolescent. (Is there any other kind?) Uninterested in his schoolwork (big surprise) he is perpetually belittled by his headmaster. Home life for Antoine is not exactly ideal as both his mother and stepfather are at a loss as to what to do with him. The family income is pretty limited, so Antoine's clothes (and bed) are in poor condition.

Finally tired of the verbal (and sometimes physical) abuses subjected to him, Antoine skips school at the prodding of his friend René. The next day when he fails to provide an excuse for his absence from his parents, Antoine tells the headmaster that his mother has died. Unfortunately Antoine didn't think of the administration checking up on this news and Antoine is put through the wringer again. Sick and tired of being treated poorly, Antoine decides to run away, only to find out things aren't much better on the outside.

If this film was made in the United States during the late 1950s, it would've been an over-the-top melodrama, with authority figures soapboxing at both Antoine and his parents. Fingers would've wagged, brows would've furrowed, the movie would've been about Antoine's experimentation with drugs and finally climaxed with the murder of a supporting character (by Antoine or someone associated with him.)

Fortunately there's none of that in here. The camera never takes sides, aside from always showing you Antoine's limited frame of reference. And even still, Truffaut allows the camera to admit that Antoine's perspective is fairly narrow. As a focal character, Antoine is incredibly flawed, but never entirely unsympathetic.

Line of the movie: "Sometimes when I tell the truth no one believes me, so I prefer to lie."

Five stars. Not responsible for lost or stolen items.

"Throne Of Blood" (1957)

(Originally released as Kumonosu jo)

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura

First, the Lowdown: It's Macbeth in feudal Japan.

"Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none..."

I'm really racking up the Kurosawa flicks this month. First Rashomon, now this. (My next review is going to be of The 400 Blows, so brace yourself.) Not to worry, pretty soon I'll out of this "required foreign film viewing" kick and get back to the goofy stuff that I'm famous for.

Macbeth is my favorite tragedy by Shakespeare. I was introduced to it in fourth grade and have always loved it. A drama that is both creepy and mystical, Macbeth has such a pall of despair around it that many in theatre speak of it in hushed tones. (If someone could explain to me the superstition that surrounds this play, I'd appreciate it.)

After being introduced to the ancient Greek tragedies by Sophocles later in high school did I notice quite a few parallels between Macbeth and the tale of Oedipus. But Macbeth embraces his destiny (a little TOO much) while Oedipus flees his. In both tales, each man's life spirals ever downward to a fateful end like water swirling in a drain.

The Japanese are pretty big on dramatic tragedy, so I'm not surprised that Macbeth would translate so well to their ancient Feudal history. (Kurosawa would visit Shakespeare again almost 30 years later with Ran.) In fact I sometimes wonder how well Hamlet or Richard III would interpret. (Actually, I'd love to see Richard III done as a Tokugawa-era drama.)

Kurosawa is in pretty good form in this movie. Toshiro Mifune (Kurosawa's Al Pacino) is wearing his "stern samurai" hat this time (as opposed to the "goofy samurai" he dons in other films) looking like he had stepped out of an ancient portrait of Miyamoto Musashi. For the most part, "Throne of Blood" is visually compelling.

My major problem with the movie is that it starts out and progresses with all the pacing of a typical Kurosawa epic, but in the last third everything comes to a quick resolution. Too quick for my taste. It felt as if the director were under too tight of a deadline to produce an end-product. I wonder if another 30 minutes would've helped.

Line of the movie: "Children kill their parents and parents their children in order to get ahead." Lady Asaji, understated but manipulative.

Four stars. Exact change only.

"Rashomon" (1950)

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori

First the Lowdown: A murder in medieval Japan retold from multiple perspectives.

Akira Kurosawa, the John Ford of the samurai movie. That's all I'm going to say about the man. My experience with Kurosawa's films is on the light side and there are far more comprehensive filmographies out there. So if you really want to read up on him, I suggest going to your local library.

When I was watching Rashomon, I was reminded of a Sufi fable: Two men appear before a judge to plead their case. After the first man makes his statement, the judge says "That's right." After the second man makes his opposing statement, the judge says "That's right." Frustrated, the clerk of the court exclaims to the judge, "Both men can't be right!" The judge replies, "That's right."

Rashomon is about the death of a man in a forest, either by murder or suicide. The event is told by multiple perspectives: a famous bandit accused of the murder, the man's wife, even from the murdered man himself as spoken through a medium (in a pretty chilling sequence.) This in turn is being related to an anonymous stranger seeking shelter from the rain (in the ruined gates of Rashomon) by two men who also offered meager testimony.

In a nutshell, a man traveling with his wife are ambushed by the bandit Tajomaru (played by Kurosawa regular Toshiro Mifune). Tajomaru, being smitten with the man's wife is determined to kidnap her. And somewhere along this chain of events, the husband ends up dead.

Those are really the only "facts" that are presented, because they are the only elements in each testimony offered that line up. Who killed the man and why varies from person to person. It's a mystery of Agatha Christie-like proportions, and there's no Hercule Poirot to sort things out.

My favorite aspect of this movie is that the characters testimony is told directly to the camera, as if the audience were the magistrate that is mediating the trial. It's a pretty subtle way of letting the viewer come to their own conclusions, based on the nebulous and contradictory evidence given. All in all, one message that finally stand out is "Everything is both true and false."

Line of the movie: "I even heard that the demon living here in Rashomon fled in fear of the ferocity of man."

Five stars. This package is sold by weight.