The Invisible War
Directed
by Kirby Dick
Opened
June 22, 2012
invisiblewarmovie.com
Stella Days
Directed
by Thaddeus O’Sullivan
Opened
June 22, 2012; available on demand June 19
tribecafilm.com
Collaborator
Written
and directed by Martin Donovan
Opens
July 6, 2012; available on demand June 20
tribecafilm.com
One
of the most important documentaries in years, The Invisible War
powerfully gives voice to women who were raped or sexually abused while serving
in the U.S. military, an outcome shockingly more possible than being shot by
the enemy in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Despite
our best and brightest women joining the armed forces due to patriotism or long
family traditions, their lives have been unconscionably ruined by a strictly
male-centered mentality that puts women under enormous added pressure just for
being women. Being violated physically is just the beginning of the nightmare:
what they endure afterward—if they decide to report the abuse, which many don’t
for fear of reprisals—is as distressing emotionally as the rape was.
Director
Kirby Dick—whose other valuable documentaries are This Film Is Not Yet Rated and Outrage—not
only gets several women to recount their compelling but heartbreaking stories, showing
what lies ahead for those still being abused, but also buttresses his argument
with head-scratching statistics about how widespread the abuse is and how
little the army has done to combat it. (Laughable examples of PSAs designed to
raise awareness within the armed services do little but consolidate the “blame
the victim” mentality still prevalent in wider society as well.)
The Invisible War lays bare how
our otherwise estimable armed forces are tarnished by this horrific debasement of
so many unfortunate victims (there are some males among them): in eye-opening
interviews with senior members of the military both clued in and clueless, that
disconnect remains, despite recent advances, post-screening for Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta, to try and remedy some of the injustices done to those
who make claims against fellow soldiers.
Stella
Days is
based on Michael Doorley’s memoir of rural Ireland in the 1950s when a country
still heavily influenced by the Catholic Church is taking baby steps to
modernize, despite vociferous opposition by conservative leaders to remain in
the dark ages.
Into
the breach steps Father Daniel Barry, a liberal-leaning priest who, with the
help of new school teacher Tim, to open a small movie theater for a population
that’s barely seen any. Leading the anti-movie charge is Brendan, an
ultra-conservative zealot running for office, hoping to keep his constituency
from entering the 20th century, even belatedly.
Although
Stella Days is mainly a feel-good melodrama,
director Thaddeus O’Sullivan keeps sentiment at bay by approaching the subject
with humor, especially when showing the absurd convictions of Father Barry’s
parishioners. However, although Father Barry is skeptical, he’s still a believer,
and never does he or O’Sullivan mock such heartfelt sentiments.
With
on-target performances by Martin Sheen as Father Barry and Stephen Rea as Brendan,
Stella Days is worth spending time
with.
Martin
Donovan first came to attention in Hal Hartley’s romantic comedy Trust (1990), in which Donovan and the late, great Adrienne Shelley traded
quips in Hartley’s arch but affecting classic. So it’s no surprise that Collaborator,
Donovan’s first film as writer and director, borrows from Hartley in its
deadpan study of two men thrown together by unlikely circumstances.
Donovan
plays Robert Longfellow, a playwright on the downside of his career and his
marriage, who returns to L.A. from New York City to visit his mother. He also rekindles
an affair with Emma, an actress who starred in several of his plays, and runs
into Gus, a shady ex-felon from the neighborhood he’s known since they were
kids: the men drink beers and kick around old times, and when Gus pulls a gun
on Robert as the police surround Robert’s mother’s home, he finds his messy
personal life is shown to a riveted television audience.
As
writer, Donovan has created intriguingly bizarre characters of the sort Hartley
did, as well as tart dialogue between the mismatched men compensating for the
contrived relationships between Robert and Emma (underplayed sweetly by Olivia
Williams) and his wife Alice (stiffly played by ex-Hole bassist Melissa auf der
Maur).
As
director, Donovan leans too heavily on the men’s absurd situation, and the
title’s double entendre is too literally spelled out in the men’s final confrontation.
As actor, Donovan doesn’t stretch himself as the put-upon hero, while David
Morse persuasively portrays a loser grasping at anything resembling a life
preserver. The actors provide the movie’s true collaboration.
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