Finding Colin Firth by Mia March
Reviewed by Gerti

I had never heard of author Mia March before picking up this book, "Finding Colin Firth", for the title.  But her raison d'etre becomes clear when you see that her previous work was called "The Meryl Streep Movie Club."  This is an author who wisely or wickedly want to get published, and to do that, she links her story to an actor with a legion of fans in order to get that fan base to purchase the book.

Why do you think she doesn't really love Colin Firth, you might ask?  The evidence is there in one of the early chapters, as one of the primary characters, Veronica Russo, quotes Colin Firth as peaking love words, as Fitzwilliam Darcy, to Elizabeth Bennet in "Pride and Prejudice."  The problem is, these works are not spoken in the film adaptation of the book starring Colin Firth.  Rather, they are spoken by Matthew MacFayden in a more recent version of Pride and Prejudice, and only a true Firth nerd would know that.  I knew that.  So on page 23, author March had already lost all credibility with me.  I was so mad, I couldn't read "Finding Colin Firth" again for weeks.

Finally, I forced myself to pick it up again and finish it.  So about the story and characters, yes, it is a pleasant read because of the charming tale of Veronica Russo, her magical pies, and her long-lost daughter, Bea.  Bea Crane is in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, trying to track down her birth mother and learn her story.  Firths is in Maine filming a movie.  Other characters in the book, including writer Gemma Hendricks, are introduced to the glory of Firth by watching all his movies (and there are a lot of them!) which I suspect is what this author did when her editor (or agent) suggested she write a book with Firth's name in the title.

But in the plot, Gemma is writing a story about a home of unwed mother in town, and both Veronica and Bea are connected to that place, since Veronica gave birth to Bea in the parking lot 22 years before.  There are other characters--Bea has a pseudo-romance with a charming producer from the film crew, and tutors another crew member's sister on "To Kill a Mockingbird" (of course, since this author seems determined to make her fortune on iconic things).  Veronica teaches a pie-making class in town and there is a love interest/conflict for her there, too; one of her students is a high school friend of the guy who got her pregnant in the first place, and then denied the baby.

The narration shifts from one of the 3 main female characters to the other (sometimes irritating), as they deal with issues surrounding pregnancy, having kids, and mother/daughter relationships.  But the male characters are like whipped cream on pies; the women decide whether they want them in their lives or not.  I would have enjoyed this book more if I felt the author wasn't just using Colin Firth and my love for him (and Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice") in order to sell books.  march's ignorance about him made me angry and sad, and tainted the book for me, even though her writing is clever and honest.

2-disc documentary review of: The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl directed by Roy MillerReviewed by Gerti

I can't help but compare famed German film maker, Leni Riefenstahl with the protagonist of the recent movie, "Woman in Gold."  Both are strong women, both had to live through WWII and changes their respective countries went through as a result of the war, including the political and social upheaval that came about before and after it.  However, Maria Altmann in WIG was Jewish, so her story included emigrating to the US.  In contrast, Leni Riefenstahl was an actress and director who knew German leader Adolf Hitler, and as such, her life's work is surrounded by criticism and controversy.

While writer/director Roy Muller calls this a documentary, it is not an impartial one, showing a real agenda on his part.  It doesn't deal at all with LR's childhood or early days in Berlin, beginning only when she was an actress starring in mountain climbing movies for her mentor and lover, director Arnold Fanck.   It doesn't even discuss her nude work in other movies, as Muller seems determined to get to her film for the 1934 Nazi party congress as quickly as possible.  As a result, most of the 3 hours is spent discussing LR's work on "Triumph of the Will" and "Olympia", a look at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

Her cinematic innovations are amazing, and both of those black and white movies look modern and dynamic today, although shot eight decades ago.  Riefenstahl puts cameras in places (like up flagpoles) no one had ever thought of before, and used moving camera work with an amazing number of angles, totally changing the way sports were filmed.  Of course, the move she made about the Nazi congress in Nuremberg looks stirring and monumental as well, hence the critiques that continue to dog her reputation, even after her death.  I've recently watched both movies, and I believe her when she says that even when TOTW was finally edited, the clearest message she heard was one of renewal and peace.  It's not naive on her part, for Hitler speaks often of peace, and only in hindsight are his intentions for seizing control of the German nation clear.

The second disc is made up of Riefenstahl's time after WWII, and includes her fascination with African culture and undersea photography.  It seems a waste of time to me to dwell on these at length, as she didn't make movies out of either topic, despite shooting endless reels of film.  It is only her movies that are most worthy of discussion.  For those who haven't seen TOTW or Olympia, the scenes Muller chose to share here are representative of Riefenstahl's artistic prowess.  But most revealing are the many hours of interviews, as it shows LR to be a feisty subject and eternal filmmaker, even when in front of the lens.  She directs Muller regarding how she should be framed for shots, with the mountains in the background, etc.  This is a reasonable overview of a great, but controversial artist.  Contains enough nudity, though, to make it inappropriate for younger viewers.

Movie review, The Wall by Julian Poelsler
Reviewed by Gerti

When you think of "The Wall," most likely you think of the album and movie by the British rock band, Pink Floyd.  That's probably why so few people, myself included, have heard of this brilliant post-apocalyptic film of the same name, main in 2013 by Austrian director, Julian Poesler.  It is based on a book by Marlen Haushofer, and stars the unknown-to-me actress Martina Gedeck, who is onscreen almost the whole time.

It tells the story of a woman, played by Gedeck, who accompanies an elderly couple to their hunting cabin in the upper Austrian alps.  The pair decide upon arriving to walk down to the nearest village, but when they fail to arrive that evening, their companion simply thinks they were too tired to return by foot the same day.  By the next morning, however, she fears the worst for them, and rushed down the path they took that afternoon to try and find them, in case one has suffered a heart attack or some other injury.  She takes with her the couple's dog, Lynx, who the day before had curiously refused to accompany them.

What she finds is that an invisible wall, clear as a window, cuts her off from the rest of humanity.  She feels along its length like a mime, and eventually tries driving the couple's Mercedes into it.  The car crashes; the wall is that strong.  She spends much of the early film trying to test its limits in size and strength, seeing if she can go down the other side of the mountain to get past it, but she cannot.  She and Lynx are trapped, but trapped in such a paradise, that it seems as though loneliness is her only enemy.

Over time, she and Lynx meet a pregnant cow, who has a calf and keep them supplied with milk.  Their party of survivors grows larger when a stray cat turns up in a terrible rainstorm.  That cat also has a kitten, but things turn out badly for both young animals.  As the months and years go by, you see the woman's life through her diary written on the reverse sides of calendars she finds at the cabin.  She narrates her story for the viewer, an impressive one of hope and despair, fear, and ultimately survival.

The story and the movie are uniquely Austrian.  Breathtaking Alpine scenes are shown to the most beautiful violin music, in contrast to the harsh, insipid rock 'n'roll the older couple played on their way to the cabin.  The woman has deep and poignant thought about the meaning of life, the relationship of man to nature, and her relationship to her animal companions.  In this apocalypse, she learns to plant and harvest food, caring for her small group and interacting with the other animals of the forest.  She regards herself as a "one off", sole survivor in a world without other humans, until one day something terrible happens.  

The movie is a love letter to the Alps, and a deep conversation about what it means to be human, for good or evil.  It is haunting and spectacular all at once.