Midnight Oil:Movies and More

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"Fahrenheit 451" (1966) , inspired by Ray Bradbury's science fiction novel of the same name, delivers a disturbing vision of a futuristic world where books are contraband to be burned by the state. For those of us who love books, this is a truly scary and undesirable future reality.

Werner Oskar stars as the fireman who begins to question the purpose behind burning books in the oppressive police state. Julie Christie plays the double role of the witless wife of the fireman, Linda, and the open minded free spirit, Clarisse.The fireman eventually must choose between the two women and the two ways of looking at his profession

Check out Thom Ernst's blog for the scoop on his interview with the original author, Ray Bradbury, for the TVO Saturday Night at the Movies Interviews.

View the TVO video web preview for "Fahrenheit 451" (includes snippets of the Bradbury interview)

See the video trailer for "Fahrenheit 451" (1966)

“The Snake Pit”  has Olivia de Havilland play the part of Virginia Cunningham, a young woman who finds herself locked up in a mental asylum. The film is taken from a novel by Mary Jane Ward and is  directed by Anotole Litvak. It combines the point of view of the disoriented and harassed patient, Virginia, with external elements that keep the film firmly grounded in reality. In spite of the efforts of her loving husband (Mark Stevens) and Dr. Mark Kik (Leo Genn) to reach her, the harrowing experiences of the mental patient continue for a full two hours. “The Snake Pit” is  an unusually honest film about mental illness for 1948, even if it does enter the realms of the melodramatic and over the top psycho-analysis at times.

Catch the TVO video trailer for "The Snake Pit" (1948

“Shine”(1996)  tells the story of Australian pianist, David Helfgott, a man whose artistic talents and fragile mental state are negatively impacted by the post-war trauma of his troubled father. Helfgott makes an unlikely comeback after a dramatic mental breakdown and institutionalization. Geoffrey Rush (adult) and Noah Taylor (adolescent) both won critical acclaim for their portrayal of Helfgott’s character. While the issue of whether “Shine” tells the “entirely true” story of the child prodigy gone wrong may be debatable, what is clear is that this film certainly is a good story worth listening to in its empathetic treatment of the individual and the artist.

The film “Shine”(1996) was previously presented in the context of TVOntario’s “Brain Week – From Brilliant to Broken” . Be sure to catch the SNAM Interviews for “Shine” called “Art and Madness”, a most interesting examination of the relationship of mental illness and artistic genius as depicted in film.

>>More to see: Looking for more out of life?

See the video trailer for the movie "Shine" (1996)

"West is West" (1987) is a bit of an unusual mix. A young Indian man from Bombay shows up in San Francisco intent on gaining admission to the country and to the University of California. Things go terribly amiss and Vikram (Ashutosh Gowariker) ends up living the less than desirable version of the American dream as an illegal immigrant. Bollywood and its stylized vision of life in India is never far away from Vikram's imagination. The American girlfriend, played by Heidi Carpenter, somehow gets incoroporated into the mix (or should I say mix up) and goes from gothic to glamourous (Bollywood style). But it all works somehow.

It should work because Ashutosh Gowariker has been able to make a success of himself back in India going from actor to writer/director/producer with much critical acclaim. While "West is West" may not be the greatest movie ever, it certainly tells an important story about the immigrant experience that is perhaps not heard often enough in North America.

View the TVO Saturday Night at the Movie Interview segment dealing with the immigrant experience "East Meets West" featuring video clips from "West is West" (1987)