Public Servant Lifestyle

Tim Green from the British Video Association talks us through the latest home video and DVD releases.

There are some battles so logic-defying and so dramatic that they are destined to turn from history into legend. One thinks of Rorke’s Drift (1879), of Dunkirk (1940) and of Luton against Millwall (1985). But possibly the earliest and most jaw dropping of the lot was Sparta versus Persia in 480 BC. What a fixture that was. Now, it’s been made into a highly stylised and extremely violent movie. 300 (15, Warner, 116 mins) may feature lots of sandals, but there’s not a folk singer in sight.

Frank Miller

300 is adapted from the graphic novel by Frank Miller, and based on the legendary Battle Of Thermopylae, when the 100,000-strong Persian Army was resisted by just 300 Spartans. Boy, those guys were hard. The initial battle forms the first part of the movie. Thereafter, the Spartan king Leonidas (Gerard Butler) is given four days to surrender by his Persian counterpart. He doesn’t. Carnage ensues.

If you have any mates who think that Hollywood is lazy and stuck in an artistic rut, you could so worse than show them 300. It looks unlike anything else you’ve ever seen, with the possible exception of last year’s Sin City. The whole thing was shot on green-screen sets, so all those brooding skies and fields are artificial and drawn in. This emphasises the comic book roots of the film and gives everything a weird yet radiant glow.

I still can’t decide how gay it all is. Certainly, there’s lots of preening, and the men are all gorgeous, oiled and muscular. But the good guys (Sparta) do spend a lot of time enjoying carnal relations with women – as if to say “We’re not gay! We’re not gay.” Maybe. But the underpants are very tight.

The Hitcher (18, Universal, 84 mins) remakes the 1986 horror classic of the same name, replacing the quietly menacing Rutger Hauer with the gruffly brutal Sean Bean. It starts when a young couple pick up a hitchhiker in a rainstorm. Big mistake, as he happens to be a deranged murderer. Although they shake him off, the couple find themselves framed for his misdeeds and are forced to find him and clear their names. Only in the movies, eh?

Those that loved the original will be pleasantly surprised by how good this remake is. There are some important differences. The gender roles are switched in the new film, with the girl emerging as the stronger character of the two lovers. This changes the flavour of the famously horrible scene in the middle of the film. I leave you to decide whether it’s an improvement or not. Elsewhere, the remake is not quite as relentlessly dark as the original. It’s even got jokes, such as when a religious book called Will I Go to Heaven? is dropped on the road, covered in blood. I didn’t say it was a funny joke.

From remake to original. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (PG, Universal, 77 mins), made in 1956, had such an effect on the public and on filmmakers that is has been re-imagined time and again. Perhaps the best of the re-workings came in 1978, with Leonard Nimoy and Donald Sutherland. But this black and white original, new to DVD, still packs a punch. It stars Kevin McCarthy as a Doctor Bennell who realises that the reason his townsfolk are undergoing weird personality changes is that they are not human at all, but alien replacements grown in large pods. Bennell wants to tell the world. But whom can he trust?

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers became a classic because it reflected the paranoia of the times. Back then it was communists everyone was scared of. But every generation has its bogeymen – hippies, hoodies, paedophiles – so we can all feel the fear. Great stuff.

As Seen On TV

Ken Loach is revered across Europe as a visionary director. Here, we think of him as a grouchy old lefty. This is why his new film, It's a Free World (15, Fox, 96 mins), will enjoy a lengthy cinema run on the continent while going speedily to DVD here. Not great for Ken, but very nice for armchair movie buffs like us. Now, Loach may be a lefty, but his films are not boring rants about monetary policy. Kes is one of the best British films ever made – and that was about a kid with a kestrel, for goodness’ sake.

The subject matter of It’s a Free World is migrant workers. Cleverly, Loach avoids the obvious approach of showing victimised asylum seekers being exploited and chooses to tell his story from the point of view of the agency owner, Angie, who places them in work. As the film progresses we see Angie descend from a fairly decent woman (although no saint) to an avaricious exploiter of the helpless. However, it’s not Angie but the system that comes under attack: she’s merely doing what she must to make money. Halfway through, the film makes a welcome diversion into thriller territory when Angie becomes the target of criminal gangs. Terrific.

Breaking News (15, Tartan, 90 mins) is another fascinating thriller from Hong Kong, mixing cracking action with a genuinely original premise, this time about the all-powerful media circus. A humiliating defeat for the police by bank robbers is filmed and broadcast on TV. Shamed, the police decide to capture the gang and film it themselves only to find the criminals are pretty good at media spin too. I can see this one being re-made by Hollywood.

The Scorpion (18, Momentum, 98 mins) will be carefully studied by fight fans as it’s apparently the first film set inside the world of MMA or ‘mixed martial arts’. Made in France, it’s the story of Angelo, a Thai boxer who emerges from prison straight into the dark world of underground fighting. A series of injustices harden his resolve to turn himself into a fighting machine called The Scorpion. Not your standard wordy French drama.

And finally, another foreign language film, Ten Canoes (15, Universal, 91 mins). This is yet another product of the Aboriginal movie industry. Yeah, aren’t you just sick of them? Joking aside, it’s excellent stuff, with storytelling to match the magnificent Northern Australian scenery. Set a thousand years ago, the film follows a group of tribesmen led by elder Ridjimiraril on a hunt for magpie geese. When Ridjimiraril discovers that a younger tribesman, Dayindi, fancies his third wife, he tells him a cautionary tale from the past. Ten Canoes won an award at the Cannes Film Festival. Ray Mears isn’t in it.

For more information on all matters to do with video and DVD retail and distribution in the UK visit the British Video Association website.

Tim Green column is copyright © BVA 2007. PSP Ltd is not responsible for the contents of external websites.

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