FOOLISH WIVES
*****
HÄXAN
*****
Sweden
A docudramatic exposé on the
history of "Witchcraft Through the Ages" (its alternate title).
It's often horrifying - due to some of the factual attitudes it recounts,
progressive - in its depiction of nudity, as well as distinctly
anti-Christian. Also generally outrageous, as in several
sequences where witches line up to kiss the ass of Satan, played by the
director himself.
wr/dir: Benjamin Christensen
cast: Benjamin Christensen, Maren Pedersen, Clara
Pontoppidan, Elith Pio, Oscar Stribolt, Tora Teje
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NANOOK OF THE NORTH
****½
USA
The first documentary feature,
this is about the lifestyle of a lovable Eskimo and his lovable family.
Nearly all of the action was actually staged - Nanook was made to hunt a
walrus with a harpoon rather than the gun he had at hand, and his wife
wasn't really his wife but that's hardly relevant. Fiction or not, the
narrative of simple everyday survival in a daunting, majestic landscape
carries a haunting beauty. What's more, at the end you're left to ponder
how Jazz Age audiences would have reacted to it. It's really a lovely
experience.
wr/dir: Robert J. Flaherty
NOSFERATU
*****
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