Reel World

  "Foreign films teach you a new language, but it's not the language you think.  It's the language of cinema" - Vera Blasi, Academy Member. One of the great rewards of watching foreign films is the infinite ways it can open up the world for you as a viewer.  You identify with a character from another time and place.  You share their thoughts and feelings--their hopes and fears.  A sense of intimacy and humanity is created through the experience and we go from an "Us vs. Them" mentality to a "We are Them, They are Us" way of thinking. This month, there are five films made by foreign directors on our screening schedule: Sophie Scholl: The Final Days  (German - trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x14U3R3-dFE ), The Pianist  (Polish - trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFwGqLa_oAo ), Three Colors: Blue  (France/Czech Republic - trailer link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxz-FQvRxbY ), Life is Beautiful  (Italian - trailer link

As we know as film students and enthusiasts, film is one of the most all-encompassing, expressive art forms there is.  It utilizes sound, visuals, music, and motion to engage all of the senses and communicate deep themes, experiences, and meaning like no other medium.  Perhaps that is why whether you are documenting the events and moments or telling a story, film is the most effective way to communicate the horror, heartbreak, heroism, and sacrifice of war. The war genre in film is defined by its use of actual combat fighting or conflict as the primary plot or background for the action of the film.  Typical elements in war film plots include POW camp experiences and escapes, submarine/air/land/naval warfare, espionage, personal stories of heroism, tough trench and infantry experiences, or male-bonding adventures.  Themes are centered around main ideas of combat, survival in brutal conditions, escape, gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of futility and inhumanity in battle, the effe