Finally saw this, had some issues with the plot
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independent-tek — 11 years ago(January 21, 2015 04:50 PM)
First let me say I am glad I do not go to the movies with you. Talk about sucking the life out of what is supposed to be an entertaining experience. I saw this movie in a theater when it first came out and searched diligently for a video tape copy every year until I finally got one in 1990 or 1991. I have the DVD and several digital copies now and watch this movie 2 or 3 times a year. I often watch this movie back to back with Le Salaire de la peur.
Most of your criticisms fall into the category "I do not have any imagination". Movies do not have to literally explain everything. You are supposed to be able to add something of your own, making the film a personal experience.
Questions should come to mind as you watch the movie such as:
Could I ever be so desperate, so afraid, that I could do something like this?
Have I ever felt so alone that suicide was an alternative?
Have I ever been in a place so foreign, so alien, surrounded by people but disconnected from reality?
This film combines so many elements, so perfectly that I feel all those emotions and even physical effects of those emotions every time I watch it.
The cinematography is stunning. The soundtrack augments and builds and builds to an almost hypnotic point.
The locations push the feeling of isolation and reinforce the theme of one man fighting for a chance at another day, albeit another day in hell.
I could go over your "issues" with this film, but I know that my explanations will never give you an imagination. -
Garvante — 11 years ago(February 22, 2015 05:40 AM)
I can offer some insight for issue #2.
Older german home releases are differently cut, missing 40 minutes of material from the international version, but having added 15 minutes of new material. In this version, it is shown that the regular on-sight nitro storage has been emptied by the same terrorists who blew up the site, which is the reason for them having to go back to an older abandoned dig site and look for nitro there. -
doodleboy — 10 years ago(December 11, 2015 08:45 AM)
- I think once they got there they realized it was hell on earth, and they'd at least like to have the money, if not the escape to somewhere else. Somewhere else with $10k-$40k is better than slaving away with corrupt cops hounding you (not to mention the legit passports)
- yeah, i didn't get this either. Why can't they get fresh dynamite shipped in? I mean, i don't think Fedex (or whatever) overnighted HazMat material to remote locations back in the '70s, but surely one of those chopper pilots could fly to Manila and get some, right?
- yes, i agree. I think this scene could have been omitted, and the metaphor of "this is purgatory/hell" is made a little more plain.
- The French guy was not born into money. He married the rich daughter, and pissed away the fortune thru malfeasance. Hence his reliance on his partner (brother in law)'s relationship with the father. People back then knew more about the cars they drove - especially bus drivers and laborers. If you broke down, you didn't have cellphone for AAA service. You also might've worked in a motor pool in the army or something.
- People overcome their fear after a moment or two, and remember why they're doing it all in the first place.
- Sure. He's exhausted and whatnot, right? Your mind wanders.
- Well, but what if something when wrong with the workers at the site once they got the crate? If you need a second attempt, you'll need a second crate. You can't wait for another risky round-trip to bring you another crate
- True, but as long as he doesn't fall, there shouldn't be any hard jarring motion to set it off. We saw enough "close calls" in the truck that he knows he can walk with it.
- I think this was a tribute to the original movie, where the girl was younger & the romantic interest. Also, in the beginning, Schieder is looking longingly at the girl in the Coke ad - not at her, but at the Coke she's drinking. The French guy made it apparent he'd had a tryst with the cleaning lady, and she came out to say goodbye to him. When the bossman hands off French's personal letter, Schieder has (IMO) a goodbye dance with the girl in honor of French's memory. Or maybe Schieder just wants to feel like a person again, having come so close to death.
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DoomMarineid — 10 years ago(March 12, 2016 05:58 PM)
(late reply, no beep
#4: Pre-Internet, boys were raised to be men. Thing like changing fluids, tires, how to handle wrenches, hammers, axes, and more were a common part of growing up. Many girls as well were taught by their fathers how to change oil and spin a wrench before they were allowed to drive the family car. It would be expected for men of the age shown in the film to be capable of all these things, even the French man whose father was a fisherman after all and would have hard a rough life growing up. Don't forget, these vehicles were not modern computer controlled cars with electronically controlled ignitions, these were decades old trucks held together with bolts and welded metal. The ability to gap a plug and adjust a carburetor would have been standard knowledge of any real man. Have you ever even looked under the hood of your own car? If not, you are not a real man.
#7: There was no guarantee that each crate would be usable. They only tested one of them, and even then it was uncertain. They would have brought all the crates in case one of them didn't work. -
dgcasey — 9 years ago(June 11, 2016 12:07 AM)
Have you ever even looked under the hood of your own car? If not, you are not a real man.
I have and I long for the days of my '66 Mustang with 287 engine in it. I could do a tune-up on that car in less than twenty minutes and that was when I was 16-18 years old. Got really good as changing the alternator on that thing and could do it in ten minutes or less, sitting in the parking lot of the Checker Auto store. Rebuilding the carburetors was a fun, hour long task and adjusting the rocker arm clearance was like the workings of a heart surgeon.
Nowadays, most guys couldn't change their oil if their lives depended on it. Change a flat? What, are you kidding me? They will be on their cell phones, either calling their dads to come save them or they will be calling the AAA help line. -
