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M*A*S*H is the story of a Korean War hospital wing not far from the main lines. While observing the camp we get to learn about different people in the camp who use humor and fun to make the soldiers forget about the tragedy of war happening around them. The movie follows Hawkeye and Trapper in camp helping wounded soldiers while in the Surgery Theater, and while outside driving “Hot Lips’ O'Houlihan and other states of authority crazy till being set home after three months.
A theme explored in the movie is quite probably social suicide in a sense. While most movies about war center on the horror of war and the use of faith as a pillar of American believes, M*A*S*H uses and abuses both religion and war throughout the film as a satirical way of looking at a serious situation. This is sampled during parts of the movie where the characters are pulled back into reality from the one they have set up in order to keep their sanity. An example being when Hawkeye gives the fake funeral for Walter Kosciusko 'Painless Pole' Waldowski the tone of the movie is really silly- with references to the last super and the boys all making fun of the matter till Painless is actually being ‘buried’ with his possessions. While this happens the movie takes a turn for the serious actually mimicking what it would feel like to bury a soldier. So while the movie is very comical it has an underlying seriousness that surface now and again. These serious notes are what Hawkeye and the others try to forget, thus causing social suicide to save their own sanity.
Some of the memorable scenes in the movie that really caught my attention were the scenes that broke free from the realism from the rest of the movie. The wonderful thing about the movie M*A*S*H is how the use of realism really makes the characters and actions happening really immerse the viewer. With the use of Medium shots at eye level as well as the fact that the shots are done mostly continuous make the film feel as though it is a documentary, preserve the illusion that their film world is un-manipulated, an objective mirror of the actual world. The first of these scenes that break the norm would be the extreme low angle used towards the end of the film that takes a look at all of the doctors shoes, letting you see the golf shoes still on the two doctors just back from China. The low angle is great for making the view feel a little confused and really focus the viewer in on the shoes that make Hawkeye stand out so well. Another scene would be the helicopter shot from the beginning of the movie, the wide pane of the extreme long shot sets up the scene’s location as well as the feel of the rest of the movie.
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Unforgiven is the story of William “Will” Munny and his journey back into his past. After losing his wife who leaves him alone with two small children, Munny is forced back into his dark past as an assassin after a young man shows up at his door telling him about a woman who was cut up and there is a bounty on the heads of the men who did it. Needing the money, Will and his old partner Ned Logan head out to finish one last job.
The film targets the theme, as William Put it in the end “We all have it coming”. We cannot run from our pasts: they always come back to haunt you. This idea comes from the adventure it’s self. The whole movie is spent watching the main character hold onto the teachings of his former wife that made him ‘a better man’. As the character returns more and more to his past he loses more and more of his reformed self and falls back into what he was like before- The drinking and blood that followed him when he was younger. No matter how much the character struggles we already know that he is doomed to fail in some way, a tragic hero building to his own defeat. For example, When Munny finally makes it to town and is asked to surrender his guns to the sheriff; He is fighting against himself to drink the whisky offered as well as peacefully hand himself over as best he can to the law. Even with all of this he is still beat close to losing consciousness even while following orders. This seems to be an example of karma to me and it can only get worse for Munny as he fights against himself and now the town sheriff Lil Bill.
Unforgiven explores many of the myths and folklore of the old West and turns it around, but at the same time also reaffirms them. In the film violence was toned down, emotionally centering it’s self instead of using the gore card. An example of this being when The 'Schofield Kid' shoots and almost kills ‘Davey’, one of the men wanted for cutting up a woman. Davey doesn’t die quickly and bleed all over the scene, instead the viewer is reminded that Davey is a person that has attachments to friends and family. As Davey is slowly dying behind a rock and out of sight for most of the scene, he is calling out to his friends for water and help. This takes place over quite some time, where the viewer is somewhat forced to think that so called ‘bad guys’ are not ‘bad’ and that the good guys are not always doing something ‘good’. Another myth that was debunked was the typical “riding into the sunset” ending. After Munny has killed Lil Bill and the town is now freed from the tyrannical oppressor in Bill, It is pouring rain outside! The mist and fog Is heavy as Munny tries to get onto his flea bitten gray as it is called earlier in the movie and the whole town, instead of greeting him with cheers and joy are terrified of the man who killed everyone in the billiard hall.
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The Film Annie Hall is a somewhat mixed love story. It’s a story about Alvy and how the woman Annie Hall affected his life. How Alvy feels he has no future hope in love once he has lost Annie and how everything would be better with her. It is simply a reception of Alvy’s life with Annie and his ups and downs in his relationship with her.
The film was hard to explore when it came to themes, the rants and ravings the character Alvy goes through cloud and confuse the viewer in many parts. What it all boils down to is that there is no life without love. This theme is the root to everything Alvy is feeling as a person, since he feels there is no life or moving forward because there is no Annie in his future. An example of this is in Alvy’s rant about “Most of us need the eggs.” I think that what the character was trying to say in a roundabout way was that how we want love and relationships no matter how crazy they make us feel. It’s a no win situation. To really love someone is to risk it all and with that comes the risk of going a little nutty in the process.
Memorable scenes in the film would have to be the flash back scenes used in the film. The first of which being the children in the classroom towards the beginning of the film while Alvy discusses his nonexistent latency period with girls. This is important to the film because it sets up Alvy as an argumentative character as well as the film as a story of his life. The Mid shot used on the children does a great job showing some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject. This allows the viewer to focus on what the children are saying about their ‘current’ lives. There is even a small pause between “Methadone Addict.” And “I’m into Leather” as if for laugther. Another scene that was memorable would be the ending montage of Annie Hall at the end of the film. As “Old Times” sung by the actor herself plays in the background we are reminded of everything that Annie Hall meant to Alvy, All of the good times and the bad that made up his romance and relationship with her. It reinforces the emotional attachment we have to both characters and re-sums up all of the feelings by flashing them in front of us again condensing all the information and time into the last five minutes of the movie.