Review: "Risen"

"Risen" has the unfortunate timing of arriving a couple of weeks after "Hail, Caesar!", the Coen brothers' spoof of old Hollywood mores. George Clooney starred as a pompous stiff of an actor playing a Roman officer who gets swept up in the adoration of the Christ. Then I saw the ads for this movie and thought, "Uh oh..."

At second blush it seems like it has the potential to be an ill-thought attempt to mash up Biblical tales with modern storytelling tropes, with Joseph Fiennes playing a Roman tribune tasked with investigating the disappearance of Jesus' body. It starts off with all the hallmarks of a crime procedural: talking to witnesses, gathering evidence, unexpected twists.

I think I may have even muttered under my breath, "CSI: Judea?"

But after these early hesitations I warmed to the movie. It's well-acted and earnest without becoming cloying. A lot of those Golden Age epics touching on Christian themes could be smarmy as all get out, but director Kevin Reynolds ("Waterworld"), who co-wrote the script with Paul Aiello, keeps things sober and on an even keel.

Fiennes, as ambitious officer Clavius, acts as our clear-eyed observer into the Resurrection mythology. He's skeptical without being an amoral heel who only cares about power -- like Pontius Pilate (Peter Firth), who just wants things tidied up before the Emperor arrives for a visit. He orders Clavius to put an end to the crucifixion and get rid of the bodies.

Except, of course, Jesus' corpse goes missing, and the people start whispering about having risen from the dead. Clavius, along with his impressionable new right-hand man, Lucius (Tom Felton), starts the task of ferreting out the truth. Eventually this forces the rational, pragmatic Roman to start questioning if miracles really are in the offing.

Cliff Curtis plays Jesus (here called Yeshua in Hebrew), whom we first see turned to bloody bits at the end of his ordeal. But this is not "The Passion of the Christ," obsessed with the rending of flesh, but the humanistic tale of what came after. Things build to Clavius being presented with Jesus after the resurrection, alive and smiling, showing his disciples the holes in his hands and side. The Roman decides to follow as they flee to Galilee, his role transformed from conducting interrogations to bearing witness.

The Apostles are depicted as everyday men capable of great faith and doubt, who are ensorcelled by this purported son of the one true God. Stewart Scudamore is a powerful presence as Peter, the oldest and unofficial leader of Jesus' followers. He even gets to show unexpected flashes of humor.

"I haven't every answer," Peter responds to Clavius' many inquiries. "We're astonished, too."

I didn't think I'd like "Risen," but the movie surprised me. It's neither a mushy call to the faithful or a revisionist take laboring to cast doubt on scripture. Rather, it simply depicts how the story of Jesus might have played out in the moment, without that overly dramatic sense of portent that normally invades films about Christianity.

Whether you're a doubter, true believer or indifferent, it's a story of peace and hope worth embracing.

Reeling Backward: "Aces High (1976)

As regular readers of this space may know, I have a long fascination with World War I aviation. I've continually sought out movies about pilots of that era to watch -- and mostly continue to be disappointed in what I've found. I'm afraid "Aces High," a 1976 film starring Malcolm McDowell that had stirred in me a great deal of anticipation, will be added to the list of less-than-sterling WWI dogfighting flicks.

The source of my interest started in an unlikely venue: video games. I was thrilled with the 1990 game "Red Baron," which offered a historically accurate portrayal of air combat from 1914 to 1918. From there, visits to the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum and reading several books on the subject only increased my ardor for the derring-do of these 20th century knights jousting in the skies, often with an antiquated notion of chivalry.

A big part of my fascination also likely explains why so many of these films leave me wanting more. I loved researching the airplanes, guns and hardware of WWI air combat. Remember, barely a decade after the Wright brothers first flew, men were using the rickety contraptions in warfare. Technological innovation soars during times of war, as various sides try to gain the strategic upper hand -- in this case, by gaining tactical advantages in the air.

The introduction of a new model of plane could tip the tide of the battle in the skies, as pilots with now-inferior aircraft attempted to take on adversaries with faster or more maneuverable planes.

I liked the fact that in "Aces High" the pilots actually discuss the various airplanes, their capabilities and advantages. Most of the squadron uses R.A.F. S.E.5s, a mainstay of the British flying corp, while one of the older pilot favors the French Nieuport 17.

The combat sequences in the film are generally quite good -- showing the air duels from the perspective of the pilot's cockpit. I also appreciated the fact that director Jack Gold often shot two or more planes together instead of just using special effects. So we can see exactly how close the combatants in a dogfight really were. (Allegedly the film re-used some air combat footage from "The Blue Max" and a Roger Corman movie.)

McDowell plays Maj. John Gresham, commander of a British squadron headquartered in a dilapidated air field 10 miles from the front lines. Gresham is an excellent pilot and stern commander, relying on small core of veterans to see their missions a success. There is a constant stream of inexperienced recruits coming through who quickly die -- 14 days is the current average -- and the stress has driven Gresham to drinking heavily.

His right-hand man is Capt. Sinclair, whom everyone calls "Uncle," due to his being older and less brash than the cocky younger fellows. Sinclair is played by Christopher Plummer, in a subtle turn.

Things change when young Stephen Croft (Peter Firth) is assigned to the squadron. He was Gresham's protege when they were at school together, and his sister is engaged to the commander. Over the course of a week of increasingly dangerous missions, Croft goes from being completely inept in the cockpit to more confident, has his heart broken and sees his admiration of Gresham angrily rejected.

"Aces High" just never really comes together as a human story. Though the air fights are well done and engaging, the on-the-ground action relies on familiar tropes about young men at war. As a glimpse at the early history of aviation combat, it scores well, but as a complete story it's shooting blanks.

I've got a few more WWI aviation flicks in my Netflix queue -- maybe I'll get lucky someday.

2.5 stars out of four

Reeling Backward: "Tess"

Nastassja Kinski was one of those foreign actresses who briefly invades American cinema, creating a stir with her exotic beauty and daring roles. For some, like Ingrid Bergman, it can turn into a major film career in the States. But for Kinski and many others, fame was fleeting. By the mid-1980s she was relegated to supporting roles in movies like "The Hotel New Hampshire" and "Paris, Texas." By 1985, her star -- at least in the U.S. -- had faded to dusk.

Some have said that the overt sexuality of many of her early roles doomed her from being accepted as a serious actress. That's possible; I still consider 1982's "Cat People" to be one of the most erotic American films ever made, and Kinski's performance as a young woman discovering her burgeoning sexuality made quite an impression on a youngster just hitting puberty -- not to mention her frequent, lengthy nude scenes. (I like to joke that the only major female star I've seen spend a larger percentage of a movie in the buff is Jennifer Jason Leigh in "Flesh + Blood.")

So I was interested to see how she fared in a straight dramatic role. "Tess," made in 1979 for recently exiled director Roman Polanski (a former lover of Kinski's), was nominated for a slew of Oscars, including Best Picture, and won three statues for art direction, cinematography and costumes. Kinski herself was not nominated, which must have been considered a major snub at the time. But she gives a solid, vibrant performance as a woman repeatedly wronged by the men in her life.

I have not read "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy. I was interested to learn that the little-used subtitle of the novel is "A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented." In the film version, Tess' greatest obstacle to happiness is her own sense of guilt, which eventually takes on the form of self-loathing. She comes to believe that she does not deserve for good things to happen to her -- so of course she ends up preventing them from coming to pass.

In the novel, it is left deliberately unclear whether poverty-stricken Tess is seduced or coerced by rich fop Alec. But Polanski's film (which he also co-wrote) is unequivocal in its depiction of her being raped. She eventually bears a son, which is sickly and dies after only a week. The scene where Tess demands that the baby be allowed to be buried in the church cemetery, and is refused, is perhaps the film's most powerful. She buries the child herself just outside the cemetery walls -- an apt metaphor for Tess' place in society.

Tess Durbeyfield is sent to the home of the d'Urbervilles after discovering that they are scions of one of the oldest and most celebrated families in Europe. Her parents hope that the wealthy Mrs. d'Urberville will take pity on her poor relations. But it turns out they are not even related: the name and title were purchased by a wealthy family. Alec, smitten by Tess' beauty, arranges for her to have a job on the estate, and after his attempts at seduction are rebuffed, he assaults her in the forest.

Her troubles are just beginning. After the death of her baby, she thinks she's found a quiet respite working as a milk maid at the Crick farm, but the presence of Angel Clare (Peter Firth) leads to a dilemma. Angel and Tess fall deeply in love, and Tess faces a horrible choice about whether to tell her love about her notorious past.

She does (eventually, after some delay), and Angel's reaction is hard to fathom in these modern times, but is understandable for a pastor's son of the 1800s. Angel rejects Tess, refusing even to sleep with her on their wedding night. "You are not the woman I fell in love with," he tells her before departing for Brazil.

Things go on from there, with Tess eventually falling under the spell of Alec once again. It's a heartbreaking film, one in which tragedy triumphs over love again and again. One is tempted to relate this theme to Polanski's own life, which is a litany of pain where he has occupied the roles of both victim and victimizer.

I won't dwell there too much, although I must say it is an amazing and bold choice to make a film in which rape is a major component shortly after being convicted of sodomizing a 13-year-old girl. Polanski fled the U.S. before being sentenced, and is still considered a fugitive. He is cinema's dark genius, brilliant and contemptible.

3.5 stars