Riveting, Inspiring, Absorbing, Provoking, Just a GREAT All-Around Gift, November 7, 2008
Tadanobu Asano
I was going to multi-task as a I usually do, watching a DVD while reading a book (Constitutional History of Secession)–that idea lasted less than 30 seconds.
From the very first visual this movie grabbed me. This was so good that I spent a third of the time standing up in front of the TV (in part to read the subtitles but in part because this is what I do when a movie really grabs me intellectually and spiritually), and a third leaning forward ffrom the sofa in the fireplace room.
The movie ENDS with battle scenes. The build-up is spectacular on all fronts–cinematography, casting, script, acting–there is not a single bit of this movie that is not five-star wake up and smell the roses GREAT.
I am sitting here thinking of what else to say, just shaking my head. At every level, from personal loyalty to personal strength to family ties to blood brothers to brave in battle to the nuances of corruption, I had a RIVETING good time with this movie. I was ABSORBED.
A few other DVDs I admire as much as this one, but each a slightly different kind of absorbtion. This movie (above) is epic in every sense of the word. The first DVD, is an alterantive view of Tibet which is on the other side of China from Mongolia, but in my view equally important as Mongolia, both autonomous cultural zones.
Tibet – Cry of the Snow Lion
Gladiator (Widescreen Edition)
Henry V
Braveheart (Special Collector's Edition)
Lawrence of Arabia (Collector's Edition, 2 discs) – DVD
The Last Samurai (Full Screen Edition)
We Were Soldiers (Widescreen Edition)
The Snow Walker
A Man Called Horse
