Oh boy. I quite honestly have NO idea what to say about
this one. Not that it offends me, however - it might offend others,
therefore I am going to be very brief with my remarks. I debated not
putting a review and synopsis up at all - for fear of offending folks -
and still, I almost feel like I should post a disclaimer anyway
simply for Gerry's sake stating that it's part of his professional
résume and therefore it gets reviewed by me. I am not here
to give a ruling on the decency and integrity of the role - I am merely
here to state whether or not I felt he did a good job with it. My
opinion? Yes. He did. Bottom line? He's funny. Not
"fall-down-roll-on-the-floor-die-of-laughter-funny" - but funny
nonetheless. Sort of dopey, dorkey funny. The film was made in 2001 by
Ariel Vromen and is a 15 -18 minute short. Good thing. It's a take on a
really old joke - which really ought to prove to one and all that not
only does Gerry have a sense of humor but great comedic timing as
well. He'd really have to in order to do what he had to do for
this film. The uniforms? Don't get me started -(remember I used to be a costume designer
about a million years ago) and there is no way that ANY officer
would have had hair as long as Gerry's - so obviously it's
not wonderful, and made on shoestring budget, but it's honestly not
that bad either.
My understanding (and I may be completely off the mark so don't quote
me here) is that it was a student film. The "making of" portion
is actually funnier than that actual short itself and really worth the
watch - provided that the initial film doesn't offend. It might. Like I
said, some like it, some don't. It most definitely will not interest
everyone.
The
storyline revolves around Captain Charles Bellamy, a French
Foreign Legion Officer who is posted to the desert and is homesick and
very much missing his lovely wife. Letters are exchanged between them
which naturally just frustrate him. There is a camel at the post that
all of the men treat with utmost respect and she is called the "Jewel
of The Sarah." After smoking a little opium, he of course
fantasizes about his wife, and prompted to "ride" the camel by a local
named Mahmud - he misunderstands and gets kicked to death. To
give the film a bit of a plot, we see the good captain's son
visiting a now aged Renaud, a French officer at the post with Bellamy,
trying to get to the bottom of how his father died. I'm
not telling the punchline. (insert gigantic smiley here)
Page © Dubhodhar July 22, 2006
