I was beyond offended.
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sonofindiandelta — 15 years ago(August 03, 2010 09:20 PM)
It's a way to show how jaded and cool they think the are. Ususally people don't laugh alone, thus either someone else was giggling or it was a deliberate laugh or for some weird reason he really found it funny.
I think Tarantino deals with this line alot, the line between the horrific and the hilarious. I can imagine him laughing at a movie like this, as he obviously doesn't think that film can portray serious subjects overtly. -
Grizzleberries — 11 years ago(October 07, 2014 11:26 PM)
beep morons, some people just have to beep on everything, just to show everyone how cool and different they are.. beep useless morons.. there are too many ppl on the planet.. if there ever is a culling of the herd, i vote we off these useless, self absorbed beep first!
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watersmells_likesky — 16 years ago(January 24, 2010 10:28 PM)
Winter-is-Coming. Yeah, we're probably in the same class at the U of M haha. I hope he doesn't laugh through every film we watch. But this one I thought was especially disturbing compared to Das Boot.
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Winter-is-Coming — 16 years ago(January 25, 2010 10:38 PM)
Agreed watersmells. And I guess we are in the same class,funny that even on the net its still a small world. Das Boot doesn't compare to the disturbing content of Come and See, but it is one of my favorite war films.
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PuraguCryostato — 15 years ago(April 26, 2010 10:32 AM)
Well, it depends. The person who was laughing could have been ignorant of the history behind this film. The scenes shot in this film were based on eye witness testimony although many metaphors were also used to convey the atmosphere of WW2 in Belarus. It's very easy to be ignorant of the history behind the film because people in the West don't often realise how terrible life was under German Nazi and Soviet occupations. These scenes are genuine. The Germans really behaved like this as said there is more than meets the eye to this scene and there may be some over dramatisations but beyond that it's true - over 600 villages with men, women and children were butchered by the Germans in WW2 in that region. People in the West also don't have a point of reference to such terrible events. In America the last war fought on home territory was the Civil War in the 19th Century, that's beyond living memory. They don't have missing relatives or can visit sites where entire villages were wiped out and which are now covered with trees - as you can in Eastern Europe from Poland to Russia. In Europe especially in the East, human life - and the life of civilians was worth less than the lives of their livestock. People in Western Europe - except those who suffered themselves and lost loved ones, would not be able to relate to these events as the Germans treated Western Europeans amicably in comparison to what they did to people in the East.
That's not to say that ordinary Western Europeans and Americans couldn't have gone through other personal tragedies e.g. accidents, crime and 911 - just that far fewer people went through hell in the West and so the social consciousness is different.
Then again the person in question could be immature, mentally deficient (mild forms of mental retardation exist), have emotional and behavioural problems such as anti-social personality disorder (even a mild form) and so lack the ability to empathise with the victim. He may also just not realise that unlike Nightmare on Elm Street this film is based on fact. -
CDRShepard — 15 years ago(May 01, 2010 02:27 PM)
"mentally deficient (mild forms of mental retardation exist), have emotional and behavioural problems such as anti-social personality disorder (even a mild form) and so lack the ability to empathise with the victim. "
Wow, that sounds pretty harsh but is probably true. Most likely though the person in question was probably just some very immature douche bag, that is no surprise because I have seen TONS of immature punks at the colleges I've been to. -
coleburg83 — 15 years ago(May 06, 2010 02:12 PM)
It's because all Eastern bloc movies seem to use the same melodramatic overacting and reaction shots all the time. Not to mention the cheesy fireworks they used to show gunfire. I liked the movie, but a high school drama class who had the budget could have made it better. I don't know what it is with the Russians and making crazy faces on camera. An audience in 2010 can easily laugh at some of those ridiculous cartoonish close up shots. I remember watching the Russian "War and Peace" movie in a class and everyone was laughing at the reaction shots. You don't see that in Western cinema at all for obvious reasons. Can you imagine a war movie like Platoon or Full Metal Jacket that were made around the same with the protagonist making crazy faces to show emotions at the shocking parts? The acting and overall effects are in an entirely different league. It's almost insulting that this movie is rated up there with them. .
I know people will get all uppity because I spelled it out, but you know as well as I do that the cartoonish close up's and cheesy special effects take away a lot from the movie's quality.You did just fine, Clarence. Now go git yo'self some hot cornbread!
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mastholte — 15 years ago(May 07, 2010 01:10 AM)
Coleburg, I think the phenomenon that you describe depends on time, not on place. The cultural needs and the artistic means at every given period of time are comparable for different countries, such the US and the USSR, just like many other aspects of life, despite political and economical dissentions.
As for Idi i Smotri in particular, mind you it was released in 1985.
If you see any 'crazy faces' there, just look for what caused those expressions. Also, have you read the statement shown on screen before the closing? -
coleburg83 — 15 years ago(May 07, 2010 11:19 AM)
You must be joking mastholte. You can't possibly compare this movie to the quality of for instance the top American movies of the time period. As I said, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket were made around the same time. Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter that some idiotic reviewers have actually called inferior movies were made in the previous decade. It's not comparable at all. Reaction shots and close up's of crazy faces to show emotion have not been used since the silent era in mainstream American cinema. Hell the cartoonish Gone with the Wind made in the 1930's had more realism than this movie. At least they didn't use fireworks and flares to show gunfire and explosions.
The movie has a great script/story, but in reference to the topic, one can easily laugh at the technique of using crazy expressions in close up shots to show emotion.You did just fine, Clarence. Now go git yo'self some hot cornbread!
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mastholte — 15 years ago(May 07, 2010 11:49 AM)
I'm not joking. The movie in question was not made in Hollywood and it's not mainstream. Which means it gives you a chance to peep into a quite different reality.. A chance that you lose by trying to fit it into existing patterns for top, quality, realism, technique, etc. I'm not saying it's the best film in the world, no - but who on earth said it ought to have been shot like your favourite war movies, huh?? BTW, Apocalypse Now had crazy faces all right, and crazy phrases on top of that. I'm sure you don't understand the spoken language of Idi i Smotri, it would be helpful if you did.
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mastholte — 15 years ago(May 07, 2010 12:24 PM)
It wasn't. Year 1985 was exactly the breaking point in the history of the USSR, which ended in its break-up in 1991. Many works of art such as these could not reach the mass audience before Perestroika. And that period of rethinking the history was too short and too intense to be labelled as 'mainstream'. It was actually a burst of energy accumulated under the pressure.
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silfag — 9 years ago(May 17, 2016 11:36 PM)
I really think "Idi i Smotri" is much better than "Platoon" or "Full Metal Jacket"
I see no problem in laughing at some no-comedy movies. I always laugh at horror movies!(really think them funny).
But laughing at "Idi i Smotri" or other movies which go the same way One can do that only if not following the story, the plot, and paying attention only to visual effects and acting.