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THE FILM STRIP: The Real Life South African Hero Patrick Chamusso speaks; Derek Luke Confronted by Dad; Tim Robbins Violence Downplayed.
Plus, Black Man Assassinates President, Babel star Gael Garcia Bernal reacts to wall
*Derek Luke plays the real life South African hero in "Catch a Fire." Fortunately, just as Nelson Mandela was around to tell his story, Patrick Chamusso's real life saga is now at theaters.
When writers first approached Chamusso, however, he did not think his story was worthy of the big screen since he did not spend nearly as long as Mandela did in prison.
"I wanted this story to be told so that people like me, the common man like me knows that everyone is important in the space of this universe," Chamusso explained. It's not only those with money that are important. If a man down there where we're not even counted sees this film, it will be very important to them. In the place that I live, there is not even any running water. It's very poor there."
Chamusso is very proud of the film. "I was very impressed with how accurate the story was and I'm very proud that the story is being told while I'm still around. Even though Tim [Robbins] enacts the viciousness that was done, I think he did that so that the film would be able to be watched, people could stomach it."
One of the themes of the film is forgiveness, which Chamusso found was necessary.
"Although I was sentenced to 24 years in prison, I was there for only ten," he stated. Two to three years I was very angry. There were those sentenced 30 years to life. So I told myself it's not good to be angry. I got involved in political discussions on a daily basis. We came to the conclusions that let us forgive these people because we made examples of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and those countries which are not doing well because of their anger. Why can't we just forgive these people to show them that we're not as vicious as they thought. We came to the decision that it's good to forgive someone. If you forgive someone you will live in peace."
In addition to being a part of a movement that freed his people from apartheid, Chamusso has established a home for orphaned children.
"I have a website, www.twosisters.org.za and an e-mail Patrick@twosisters.org.za," he says. "Some of the most important necessities for the children are food and medicine for their treatments. People can assist me financially with enabling me to be able to feed them, to educate them, to get a bigger house to accommodate them because the house that I have is too small for the number of children that I take in." Are you listening Madonna?
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Patrick Chamusso & Derek Luke
When Derek Luke told his father he was going to South Africa to do a film, "He got really excited and angry." Trying to understand why he had been rebuked by his dad who had "traveled the world,” Luke inquired: "Have you been? And he says, 'I couldn't get in.' I said what do you mean you couldn't get in? He says, ‘I tried to go in the 80s but I couldn't get in.' I said you knew about this and you didn't tell me? That started a whole new revelation."
The whole idea of torturing an innocent man and changing his political perspective is just as relevant today, of which Tim Robbins is well aware.
"That's one of the things that when I read the script I thought it made it particularly relevant to now," Robbins allowed. "It was a combination of that, and essentially that bad police work can create more criminals than you want or desire." Could Robbins forgive as the oppressed native Africans did? "I can admire it," Robbins admits, "and I can relate to it, but I would hope that I would have the same generosity of spirit were I presented with the same challenge."
Told that Luke had mentioned he took him to a Reggae club and he was the only white guy there, Robbins laughed because he was told by the filmmakers to separate himself from the Blacks so that he could stay in character.
"Well, I'll tell you exactly what it was. When you spend your entire day with White Afrikaners, those kinds of nights were what Africa was about for me." Robbins and his wife Susan Sarandon have long been proponents of civil rights and social issues. So much so, that they were maligned in that insidious and dreadful Trey Parker/Matt Stone film, "Team America: World Police."
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The controversial film Death of a President has met with a lot of criticisms because it depicts President George W. Bush being downed by an assassin's bullet. The Gabriel Range film, however, was the winner of the International Critics' Prize at the Toronto Film Festival. When the British filmmaker was in town to promote his film, The Film Strip wanted to know why a Black man--as if African Americans don't have enough problems in this country--had to be the man to kill the president.
"It's important that the Claybon family was a military family," Range responded. "The race isn't an important element. I think minorities have a disproportionately high number in the War in Iraq."
The war in Iraq has caused repercussions throughout the world and some of those reactions are captured in "Babel." Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu says, "I did a film I thought was about differences and alienation. But I found myself at the end realizing that the film is about how close we are, how emotionally we share hope and we share pain which connect all these characters. They're all attached by the same pain and vulnerability.
"This film was very difficult for me as a director. I had to put together and translate five different languages, three different continents, four different stories and create one only single official grammar, official language to translate all those diverse elements on one single canvas. 'Babel' is a metaphor of the story in the bible where, in his anger, God makes those trying to build a tower to heaven speak different languages and civilization collapsed."
Gael Garcia Bernal, one of the stars of "Babel," told The Film Strip he feels there is a breakdown of communication when the President has to sign a bill to build a wall to keep illegal Mexicans out of the country. Ironically, Bernal has an incident in the film where he is confronted by border police to explain his mother and her two white charges in his car. Commenting on this issue, he says:
"It's sad that in the capitalist world that we live in, you have to go to one place or the other to look for better opportunities. There should be a plan, a sincere and concrete plan to allow these people through. The issue of securing the borders and stuff, again, it's one of those things that's not being attacked the way that it should be because - by the way, the terrorists came from Canada. So they closed the border in Canada and they landed in a plane. ". This wall - maybe they're not going to build it because it costs a lot of money and they don't have enough money. It will rival the Wall of China. It's one of the biggest walls that's ever going to be built. Even the Wall of China was destroyed, or part of it. So, all walls are meant to be built and then to be destroyed. [Laughs] So I just think that it's not even a short term solution because it's going to be impossible to stop people from looking for a better living outside of Mexico especially with Mexico shamefully not taking care of the people that are leaving, that are going to other places to work."
In the Crates
There are no horrible DVDs out this week in time for Halloween that I would recommend. But digging in crates I found "Blackula," starring the great actor William Marshall, Denise Nicholas, Vonetta McGee, Gordon Pinsent, and Thalmus Rasulala. If you want to be frightened out of your wits, pick up a copy of "Jeepers Kreepers 2." Not much of a fan of zombies, but there is also George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead." Interestingly, Blacks weren't the first to die in his films. Not only did they not die, but they were the zombies with the brains.
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