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In Reply to: "Russians have a reputation of viewing music and events from a view in which emotions are not an important factor." posted by sjb on November 14, 2004 at 19:09:09:
"Have you listened to Russian composers, conductors and musicians? Read Russian poets?"Yes, yes, yes, and no. My comments did not apply to the creators of the arts, only the patrons. You know, the same people who look at a beautiful painting and spend time analyzing the lines. Or the people who listen to music as though they are listening to a seminar on brain surgery, and can talk about nothing other than the missed notes, or the "sound" of the performance, or the intricacies of the score. I doubt the great composers wrote their symphonies hoping against hope that all people would analyze were the notes.
My point was that it appears Victor spends more time analyzing and thinking about a film than simply enjoying the film. My experience with Russian (Soviet is probably more accurate) people that I have known confirms for me that they tend to be more analytical. Which is fine. My observations tell me they spend less time enjoying life.
But this viewpoint would lead one to miss the purpose of the opening scene in Ryan, which Victor clearly has missed. It was meant to be experienced, not analyzed. Could Spielberg have made it more "artsy?" Less gory? Maybe. But why? That was not his goal. His clearly stated goal was to place the viewer in the position of the soldier in the heat of battle on the beach of Normandy. Why? Because no filmmaker had ever done so before. Having never been there, I can only accept what those who have been there have said - that he succeeded.
Victor was asked how would have done it differently. Predicably, no response. If I told Victor how to design amplifiers, or how to make his amplifiers better, he would probably tell me I was full of "kaka". Which I would not presume to do. But then he expouses his film critism not with the intent of contributing to the dialog, or willing to appreciate other's viewpoints, but rather with the notion that his opinions are provided from on high.
The first rule of critism is to review the film that has been made, not the film you wish had been made. The only question in the opening scene is whether Spielberg acheived his goal. Which he did. Not whether the viewer wishes Spielberg had done it differently. It was done differently - that film is The Longest Day. But as Ambrose pointed out, the sound choices in that film were made so that the viewer could hear the actors, not the actual sound of battle. In addition, veterans tell us that very few people were actually shot in the heart, or killed by a single bullet. More frequently, soldiers actually had guts spilling out, were picking up body parts, etc, and died slowly. Too much blood and guts? Welcome to the real world.
We probably do not need to see such carnage. But I do believe that it is important for those of us (including Victor) who have benefitted from these soldiers sacrifices to actually know what they went through. If there is another medium which can place me closer, other than enlisting, let me know.
To Victor, theirs is a story to be made into "art", as though art cannot tell it to us like it is. Well, I have seen the "art", and it has not made me appreciate their sacrifice. I was very moved. Probably more so than I have ever been at any movie. I have only cried in one other movie. Oddly, I did not loose it at the movie, but when I got home and thought about what these solders went through. And that their deaths have allowed me to breathe the air I breathe. Victor thinks that is a bad thing. Because Spielberg showed me the way it is? Truth is stranger than fiction? Well, truth is also stronger than fiction.
Victor tell us that the opening sequence plays on emotions. Well, he has yet to identify what emotions he is referring to. And why is appealing to emotions a bad thing? Wizard of Oz appealed to emotions. And I am proud to say I love the film.
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Follow Ups
- Re: "Russians have a reputation of viewing music and events from a view in which emotions are not an important factor." - jamesgarvin 14:02:24 11/15/04 (0)
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