MIREILLE’S MUSINGS: What I’ve been watching this fall

Watching movies is one of my favorite pastimes. Here are a few of my recent faves:

“At the end of the day, we can all endure much more than we think we can.” These are Frida (Kahlo)'s words in the remarkable film Frida. I had seen it when it came out and loved it but seeing it again makes me love it more. Whatever Julie Taymor does is brilliant, and the magical Salma Hayek as Frida can't be topped. The film is a feast for the senses. It's a great work of art showing an extraordinary woman's emotions. Friendship, love, betrayal, rage, tears, screams, passion, cruelty, compassion, tenderness and much more...it's all there and very powerful.

The French love Woody Allen depicting human beings not "bien dans leur peau." His latest film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger shows a group of characters who want more and wind up with less, a sad picture of 21st century society. The meaning of life and mortality are major topics and some of the couples are pathetic dealing with either. Men take a beating and women don't fare so well either. None of the characters knows about the little pleasures...maybe it's time for a return to Paris and a trace of joie de vivre Woody style? Can't wait till the next one...it is indeed in Paris

Des Hommes et des Dieux ("Of men and gods") is a beautiful and exceptional film about the trappist monks in Algeria's Atlas region in 1996, a few months before they were kidnapped and killed. This film won the "grand prix" in Cannes and hopefully will get an Oscar. It's unlike the standard code of films today, read special effects, speed, sex, cynicism, etc.; it is about universal values like courage, solidarity, fraternity, love, the meaning of life...and death and commitment (facing threats, in this case terrorism).