BESIEGED (L'ASSEDIO)
Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Fine Line Features Director: Bernardo Bertolucci Writer: Bernardo Bertolucci, Claire Peploe, story by James Lasdun Cast: Thandie Newton, David Thewlis, Claudio Santamaria
Whoever said that opposites attract should get out more often. Take a gander at couples and you'll see, not surprisingly, that many look as though they could be twins. We tend to be attracted to mirror-images of ourselves, which gives rise to the trendy psychological thought that affection for others is little more than self-love, once removed. Yet films--like literature and theater--like to portray the dramatic and not the mundane; conflict and its resolution rather than flatness. We need not wonder that writers and those who adapt their formulations for the screen will seize upon the unusual. Hence, Bernard Bertolucci's interest in the allure of people for their antipodes. In "Besieged," the great Italian seizes upon a story of two people who could not be more different, a couple whose physical closeness leads almost inevitably to an emotional bond. Bertolucci, best known for the opulence he handled in "The Last Emperor" and the display of howling rebelliousness by Marlon Brando's character in "Last Tango in Paris" does an about face with "Besieged," as he believes that film-makers should not repeat themselves but should regularly break new ground.
Filming mostly in Rome but occasionally in a ramshackle village in Kenya, the Parma-born Bertolucci appears in essence to go back to the roots of cinema, to the age of the silents when gestures were more important than words, visuals taking precedence over utterances. He employs the universal abstract art of music to bring two utterly diverse people together, using MTV techniques such as jump-cutting and step-framing to manipulate time, now slowing down the drama, now accelerating the action. While James Lasdun's story of two unusual people is presumably entrancing, two gifted actors bring the printed page to remarkable life: David Thewlis, best known for his off-the-wall role in "Naked," and newcomer Thandie Newton, whose portrayal as the title figure in last year's "Beloved" was mesmerizing.
The story opens in a fictional African state. Winston, the husband of Shandurai (Thandie Newton), is arrested by a team of soldiers and placed in a military prison without a trial date. Shandurai, disgusted with the regime, flees to Rome (she somehow can speak and understand her African language, Itallan and English) where she enrolls in medical school and works as a housemaid to a English pianist and composer, Mr. Kinsky (David Thewlis). Kinsky lives in an elaborate villa which he had inherited from his wealthy aunt. The two are opposites in both culture and temperament. He is reclusive and friendless, burying himself in the playing of Grieg, Beethoven, Bach and Mozart, while Shandurai, an intensely emotional soul with more facial expressions than a Kathakali dancer, loses herself to the African rhythms of her native country which she hears on her radio. They rarely talk, Kinski settling for stealing glances at his maid while she casts furtive peeks at her employer. Mutual silence makes their few outbursts particularly melodramatic. In one agitated scene, Kinsky blurts out his love for Shandurai coupled with his willingness to do anything for her (he does), while in another Shandurai shouts, "I don't understand your music!" as though the great composers of the West emerged from The Twilight Zone. Ultimately music becomes their shared tongue as the composer visits an immigrants' church to take in the chants of African choral music and later blends African rhythms into his own inventions.
Avoiding the dull, straightforward narrative style, Bertolucci exploits the hand-held camera to do apply some quirky cuts to his movie. Given Thandie Newton's intensely photogenic features, the creative edits convey her moods to us as readily as if we were clairvoyants literally reading her mind. Newton is a stunning performer who bestows cameraman Fabio Cianchetti with an unobstructed window to her emotions. Though we have to suspend disbelief to accept her character as a medical student running through the rigors of that training in a language not her own, we accept the bond that has been formed between these two disparate individuals. This is the ultimate majesty of Bertolucci's latest creation.
Not Rated. Running Time: 93 minutes. (C) 1999 Harvey Karten
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