Maybe a Little Cloudy
I'm not a big fan of movie reviews that get into all the details of the cast, production crew and those sorts of things. As a result, you won't see me dropping many names in any of my reviews. Incidentally, I've never studied film and do not intend to.
So, what about this Sunshine movie? Well it certainly is a long movie. It lasts about 3 hours. It is not an action movie. For these reasons alone it is doomed to be ignored by mainstream movie goers and people in or just out of high school who scream like chimpanzees to simply be 'entertained' (these are the people who have seen both Scary Movies and demand a third). This movie is not about entertainment per se. Sunshine has epic aspirations.
The epic hero Odysseus is exchanged for a family, the Sunshine family (it is pronounced differently, but I won't try to spell it). Our hero does not wander about the Agean trying to find home, but wanders through time.
Basically, the Sunshine family gets established in Budapest during the 1840s and we follow the lives of three generations of the Sunshine men. Incidentally all of the three men are played by Ralph Fiennes. They struggle to find their place in society.. None of them are content to accept the traditional Jewish role of the outsider. The first becomes a highly educated and very successful judge in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In order to do so, he must change his name from Sunshine (which using the proper pronunciation does not sound Hungarian) to Sors.
The real action begins at midnight at the dawn of the 20th Century. Everything before this is setup. The story of Sunshine is the story of the last century. The century's tragedy is the tragedy of sunshine. The first Sors is a strong supporter of the liberal/nationalist Emperor. He is heartbroken that the First World War is over. He wanted to win. His marriage to his sister/first cousin (another story) fails at the same time as the war. At this point a cycle begins. Revolution and regime come and go.
The story is not hard to follow. Generation after generation of the Sunshine family get caught up in each regime and swept away in ideology. There are communists, nationalists, Stalinists, and revolutionaries. The constant backdrop is the last century. A Sunshine goes to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as the Hungarian Fencing Champ. The Second World War sees the Sunshine (recent Catholics) hoping for exemption from the Jewish Laws. The hope was in vain and a Sunshine is lost in the Holocaust. Communism liberates Hungary at the end of the war. Their are reprisals. Then Stalin dies and the purges come. Then Hungary revolts against communism. Then the Soviets crush the revolution. And so it goes.
The Sunshine family tries to fit in. They change their name, abandon their faith finally they lose their history. The three generations of Sunshine are linked together by Valerie. The first cousin of the Judge who was raised as his sister. They marry against their parents wishes. She is perhaps the most enigmatic of all the characters. It is said that she is the only Sunshine that was ever able to breath freely. That is what the movie is all about. Being able to breath freely. Being able to be yourself.
The movie achieves its goal and it is a fascinating movie to watch. The period pieces are done with incredible beauty. Thematically you feel as though you are being pulled into a whirlpool as the century progresses. Round and round you go from regime to regime, and from generation to generation the same mistakes are made and the same fate awaits.
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My problem with the movie was personal. I didn't like the thematic substance. It belittles politics by portraying it all as extremist and flawed. It does this quite well. I won't hold this against the film. As far as I'm concerned, a movie should be reviewed and judged on form not substance. Anyway, when one of the Sunshines is dying (the judge's brother, and a communist) asks Valerie "what was the purpose of this wretched life?" to which she responds "life itself, we were happy once." To me, this is unsatisfactory. To others this is revolutionary. It is a bury your head in the sand mentality. And, of course, this is what Valerie does. She is content to survive. None of the critics I know have pointed this out. Valerie survives the liquidation of the Budapest ghetto. The many loves of her life have died. She has betrayed some of them. Her husband/brother/cousin who she convinces to love her ends up doing just that. Valerie cheats on him, we find out near the end, but when divorcing him she uses the argument he gave at the beginning. It is her joy, that is important to her. She does things with good reason. In the context of the movie her reasons are justified and act as a foil to contrast the ambition and obsessions of the men. She is content to love and be loved, and failing that she is content with the memories of joy and happiness. To me, the Sunshine men have a much more noble goal even if their goals are flawed. At some level they all seek to secure a place for joy and happiness to exist. Valerie's virtue is she can find some joy despite the misery around her. Fine, but does that make her life a paragon for others? The film does not deal with my problems, and that's fine. What the film does show it that Valerie is content having been happy and trying to photograph life (find good things in life without changing it). She preserves the times when things were beautiful and happy. She wants to go on trying to sing her way through life. And she does. The last male Sunshine finally accepts his grandmother's philosophy and tries to find himself. His redemption is not complete, but then time has not stopped. It is a good ending to a good movie. It is his acceptance of his grandmother's creed that legitimizes the creed. As a virtue of the survivor Valerie's ideals have value, but beyond the ordinary life they are problematic. They are the virtues of acquiescence and subjectivism. Assuming we are meant to be disgusted with the men and their regimes then we are left with Valerie. Hopefully the last Sunshine will be able to come up with some 'golden mean' between the two. It, however seems unlikely.
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It is not a revolutionary movie. The Red Violin is better at using time as a setting and throwing away the focus on single character Heroes Technically the photography seems to be well beyond the average. It is very well acted and the plot and themes are well developed.
On the official Chris' Choice scale Sunshine gets four stars.
****
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