Friday Night at the Movies

  

Back on March 4^th, the night of the Oscars I took the evening off to settle in and see what everyone was wearing for glorious attire, hair and makeup styles and of course, the winners of best awards. I was keen on seeing clips of The Post and Darkest Hour because the stars of these two films are two of my favorites- Meryl and Gary Oldman. To me they are not mere actors but true personas of their respective characters and in this case, of actual people and not so open to interpretation by the emulator. Even Oldman’s wife was purported, by him at the Golden Globes, to say that when she went to bed it seemed as if she was going to bed with Churchill but glad that she’d wake up to her husband! When you can fool a spouse, loved one or someone who knows you very well you’re a thespian of the highest order, as far as I’m concerned.

Meryl Streep never ceases to amaze me no matter who she depicts and she’s had some challenges which have increased her abilities even just within the scope of her work in the 21^st century. Most recently she has shown an uncanny ability to become the heroine in question whether it’s Julia Childs, Margaret Thatcher or a previously obscure woman such as Florence Foster Jenkins. Portraying living people must be a challenge unique to its genre but portraying people no longer living would be more difficult because they are no longer available to consult or observe and inquire about events in their life and how they felt- if given the opportunity.

    

I read Katherine Graham’s book, Personal History, some years after it was originally published in 1997 (on loan from my Aunt Florence) during two flights and a week long visit to Washington, D.C. in August of 2002- only a year after my grand tour of castles which coincided with 9/11 ! I felt pressure to turn it into a fast read because there are well over six hundred pages of it but the wealth of information it packed boggled my mind and it was written quite in the manner that the title implies. When I was finished I felt that I truly knew Ms Graham as well as any of my family members. Her husband Eugene and children- particularly her daughter Lally- were very well drawn in the book and the struggles and personal pain well conveyed.

     Since The Post actually centers on her inherited role as the editor and publisher of the Washington Post a good part of what I read wasn’t a part of the movie. In fact, very much like the movie All the President’s Men it was meant to center on herself and Nixon era Washington, D.C. The plot of the film conveys how she handled the hottest potato that any newspaper ever dealt with in U.S. history- that of Watergate. Her book covers history that predates her in 1908 (when her parents met) clear up to the 1990s where it wraps up rather tersely but still packed with information.

 https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/gary-oldman-oscar/

     After the Oscars aired I became determined to see these two films in the context I think all films should still be viewed. At a theater near me, of course! So, on March 16^th, for the first Friday in I-don’t-know-how-long I took off for the hills (literally) for a movie watching marathon. What would we do without the dollar movies, huh? I skipped dinner for this so it was in order to get something at concessions and get in the right theater to watch Darkest Hour which had already started at 6:45. I think I only missed the first five minutes but I had the sinking feeling that this movie started with some bang because other than knowing that Oldman was looking every bit like Churchill- had he been a little less corpulent in his life- I didn’t know at what point in WWII we were looking at and as it turns out, was irrelevant according to the viewpoint of this film. There was some humor which I noted went over the heads of Americans but because of my travel savvy caused me to be the first and sometimes the only person laughing like a hyena at the quips. This screenplay, written by Anthony McCarten, certainly gave me a perspective on Churchill I would’ve otherwise never understood on my own. Gary was, of course, absolutely brilliant and owned the part. I’ll bet that no one else will ever try to personify Churchill again except for a spot or two on Saturday Night Live- where nothing is sacred.

     I had to wait a little in the lobby before The Post started for the last show of the evening at 9:45 p.m. I’m sure I was bug-eyed by then but didn’t care about that at all. I was about to see the marvelous craft of Meryl. In fact, she once again shed Meryl and became Katherine Graham during a time in her life which put her at her most stressed and drawn besides the hospitalization and subsequent suicide of her husband, Phil. Meryl didn’t look physically drawn but I feel she did a tremendous job in making it emotionally apparent and I’m very interested to know how Ms Graham would’ve felt about the performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIlKOu5GzmE   (video clip of The Post)

    

Unfortunately, Katherine (or Kay as she was known by those who knew her well) passed away in 2001. Only a year before I read her book she had a fatal fall on a visit to Sun Valley, Idaho with a blow to the head. Within three days she passed away and was interred at the historic Oak Hill Cemetery which is just across the street from a former home of hers in Georgetown. As abruptly and almost rudely as her end was, her life played out quite rich in experiences and associations with people. I was in awe at how much detail of her life she remembered well enough to write a book without wordiness or embellishment. The movie’s screenplay doesn’t really cover a large part of her life but the drama it centers on begins in the twenty-second chapter of Personal History and the events leading up to 1972- that unforgettable year for anyone who lived through it.

     Any film which brings to light the way that newspapers compete and interact with each other is a subject of real fascination for me. I believe in the printed word every bit as much as having additional media such as the internet. It’s my opinion but I have a lot of company whether the media people want to believe it or not. Having the printed word unassociated with government control of any kind is absolutely essential to a democracy. People do not seem to understand that the internet is not wildly free country. (If you watched Zuckerberg on T.V.- a billionaire, you understand- saying, “Sir, yes, sir” over and over again you have seen what kind of control the government plans on exerting on the American populace.)

     If you have not seen these films I urge you to, by whatever means. Awards aside, these were the blockbusters of the year as far as I’m concerned. Check them out !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrfXHYgTRps   (Meryl being interviewed about the part)