A History lesson

Rating: 4/10 (30 July 2007)

A History lesson - no, not about the Arabs and WW I - about film history and the history of film criticism and possibly public taste in film.
How could such a mind numbing film win so many awards and draw the crowds that it did? Possibly, the public is influenced by critics and award granters. I wager many came out thinking - such great reviews - I must have missed something; too bad I fell asleep. Others probably came out thinking - I'll never be hoodwinked by critics again!
Some films can be thought of as acceptable/good or even excellent when view only once, but upon subsequent viewing loses much of its appeal. The fist time I saw the film, I was quite taken by it, and viewed the director's cut to enjoy the few minutes of deleted scenes. I couldn't identify the cut scenes and viewed it again with no success. Upon reflection I noted that those added minutes did not add to the enjoyment of the film and that the film might be even better with more scenes deleted. (Since then I have been unable to stay awake during an entire screening in about a half dozen attempts.) A quick perusal of IMDb rave reviews found that virtually all viewers had only seen the film once, and while very young. If seen again, most (I think all) would marvel at how different their memories are from reality.
So, the recommendation is if you've not yet seen it, enjoy a peek into yesteryear and marvel at how tastes were so different and how lucky we are not to have such films anymore. If you saw it years ago, remember the old saying - You can never go home. Don't disappoint yourselves; it isn't as you remember. Everything was bigger and better when you were young.