briancham1994
Joined Jun 2005
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Der Fuehrer's Face achieves the remarkably difficult balance between entertaining the audience and imparting a propagandistic message. Created during the United States' entry into World War II, it thrusts Donald Duck into a totalitarian Nazi Germany setting with absolutely no holds barred. Hitler, the swastika and militaristic enslavement are shown in full force, uncensored, to mock the Nazis' obsession with the master race. Poor Donald is burdened with a never ending series of pointless ordeals from an exuberant orchestra to heil'ing Hitler portraits non-stop to screwing caps on shells without complaints. It's a remarkable piece of propaganda that hit the enemy right where it hurt by portraying them not as terrible, but as absurd, a charge with far greater emotional import.
The Sea Inside is a realistic Spanish drama revolving around a disabled man and the central theme of euthanasia. The down to Earth portrayal of the man's life and those around him create a very tense atmosphere as the stakes are high and there are no easy solutions. As his case becomes more and more high-profile in the media, he engages in more conflicts with others for control over his own life, showing just how entangled his decision is with everyone else's. The actors impart a real sense of gravity here, yet it's this very trait that that is the film's undoing, as the time it spends on every interaction makes the runtime very bloated and the pace very plodding.
True to form, the Marx brothers star in a movie with endless fun moments playing off their wacky characters situations. The plot revolves around a struggling opera investor who runs into several players hoping to turn their fortunes around. Starting with a ridiculous scene involving a contract and the "first party" (it would take too long to explain), it quickly devolves into endless slapstick scenes revolving around cramped ship bunks and speeches. Yet, throughout the film, there's still an emotional core where we all pin our hopes on the main players, leading to a higher audience investment than the disconnected skits of the past.