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his proclivity for moving nature pho
tography set to a smidgen ol plot.
The reclusive lilmmaker—the most
European writer-director ever bom in
Waco. Texas—has always had an eye
for quintessentialfy American land
scapes. be they 17th or 20th century,
and Virginia circa 1607 is no excep
tion Voiceovers adorn longing shots
ol unmolested wilderness, peopled by
'naturals* whose lives seem paradisia
cal in contrast to the harsh winter faced
by the civilized invaders love it or hate
it (you have no other choices). The
New World ruminates on the place that
has become ‘our land' with a depiction
more realistic than any ever bdore
committed to film. (Carmike)
THE PINK PANTHER (PG) Tasked
with finding the Pink Panther diamond
by Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kevin
Kline). Inspector Clouseau (Steve
Martin) pacXs his meager sleuth
ing skills into a carry-on to chase
prime suspect and international pop
sensation Xania (Beyoncfi Knowles)
across the Atlantic. Martins Clouseau
never reaches Peter Sellers' level of
habitation, but it is the silver-haired
comedian's most playful performance
since Bowfinger No classic, the Pink
Panthert ninth life ranks as merely its
sixth funniest (Beechwood. Carmike.
Highway 17 Theatres)
THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES:
THE RISE OF THE POLITICS OF
FEAR (NR) 2004 ‘Baby It s Cold
Outside.' the first episode of the three-
part BBC senes of documentary films,
charges those same politicos aho
exaggerated the Cold War communist
threat are now inflating the terrorist
menace Director-wnter-producer-nar-
rator Adam Curtis is |ust asking for
controversy, as he charts the connec
tions between Americas neo-con
servatives and tsiam s radicals while
shedding light upon the inaccuracies of
some popular beliefs about these two
groups The three one-hour episodes
were re-edited into a two-and-a-hall
hour feature for screening at the
Cannes Film Festival. Shows Thursday.
2/23 (Common Ground)
REMEMBER THE TITANS (PG)
2000. One ol Hollywood's better
sanitized versions of racial integration
in the South via sports. Remember
the Titans works due to Denzel
Washington’s successful portrayal of
Coach Herman Boone. Based on the
events of the 1971 football season at
Alexandria. VA's TC Williams High
School, T/fc/ishas a lot of local flavor,
being shot at several Georgia locales,
including Berry College and Druid
Hills High School. The several exist'
mg historical inaccuracies—made-up
characters, shifted chronology—donl
take away from the power of this m-
spiralional sporting landmark Shows
Saturday. 2/25 (Lay Park)
RENT (PG-13) The film version of
Jonathan Larsen's Pul'tzer- and Tony
Award-winning musical about life,
love and AIDS in the Big Apple brings
with it good news and bad First,
the good news Taye Diggs (Benny),
Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Angel).
Jesse L. Martin (Collins), Idina Menzel
(Maureen). Adam Pascal (Roger), and
Anthony Rapp (Mark) all reprise their
roles from Rent s original Broadway
run The bad news is Chris Columbus
was chosen to direct Shows Friday.
2/24-Sunday. 2/26 (Tate)
RUNNING SCARED iR) Wayne
Kramer, the writer-director ot the Acade
puts Paul Walker through the action
motions as Joey, a mob tlunkie who
must toss some 'hot* guns Failing
to do so leads to a dead body, an
angry psychotic Russian (John Noble,
LctRs Denethor). a dirty cop (Chazz
Paimmleri) and Joey s none-too-
pleased wife (Vera Farmiga. ‘Roar’). II
Kramer can keep all these balls m the
au and moving. Running Scared might
be a brisk winter diversion Opens
Friday (Call Theatres)
THELMA & LOUISE (R) 1991. Ridley
Scott directed this “90s nonpareil
example ct female aggression and true
liberation. Catlie Khouri won an Oscar
for her tale ot an Arkansas waitress
(Susan Sarandon) and housewife
(Geena Davis) on the run in a '66
T-Bird after shooting a rapist Shows
Wednesday. 3/1 (Tate)
UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION (R)
This sequel lo the surprise werewolves,
vampires, and The Matrix (*Oti my?*)
hit of 2003 might better be subtitled
‘Devolution.* but then I would be im
plying that the story was ever evolved
Starring Kate Beckinsale (Carmike)
WALK THE LINE (PG-13) Walk the
Line glides along on the aping skills
ol Joaquin Phoenix, who becomes
the Man in Black just as Jamie Foxx
became Ray Charles Its heart is the
romance between Johnny and soulmate
June Carter (Reese Witherspoon) No
narrative surprises and no directo
rial trickery are added to enhance the
simplicity of the centra! love story.
(Georgia Square 5)
WHEN A STRANGER CALLS
(PG-13) As a big bad tan of horror,
imagine my surprise at the Empire
State Building heights ol terror gener
ated by this PG-13 remake by the
director ot Tomb Raider From the
audience's constant shrieking, this
Stranger s call communicates its ter
rifying message (Carmike). Ends
Thursday (Beechwood). Shows Friday,
2/25-Saturday. 2/26 (Highway 17
Theatres)
WOLF CREEK (R) What starts as a
lazily beautiful travelogue ends as a
harrowing example ot a holiday gone
wrong Writer/ director Greg McLean
makes like a little Tobe Hooper, creat
ing a sort of Australian Cham Saw
Massacre Woll Creek ts tb unforgiving
as its outback surroundings Ends
Thursday (Georgia Square 5)
Drew Wheeler
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INSPIRED
EIGHT BELOW (PG) & FREEDOMtAND (R) Does
“inspired by true events/ a true story" actually
mean anything these days? “Inspired" connotes a
source or cause, but when paired with "true," it
denotes a jumping off point, a beginning kernel
of truth that will become something else entirely
when popped. Two of this past weekend's new
releases bring this overused Hollywood phrasing
into sharp relief. One connects itself to reality
in order to generate higher stakes drama; the
other steers clear of such associations despite
being built directly upon the foundation of "true
events." But is either film's success or failure
dependent upon this trueness?
Suggested by Nankyoku Monogatari, the 1983
Japanese blockbuster that was inspired by actual
1957 events involving dogs in the employ of the
Japanese Antarctic Expedition, Eight Below is
such a fascinating, naturally thrilling adventure
that it begs the question. What does claiming
an origin based in truth add to a picture? Can
real-life exhilaration wring excitement out of a
name becomes unnecessary. It doesn't hurt that
the film's eight stars are the most gorgeous to
grace the big screen this year. Eight Below even
successfully negotiates the human element,
never allowing guide /dog lover Gerry Shepherd
(Walker), clueless Or. Davis (Bruce Greenwood) or
cartographic sidekick Coop (Jason Biggs, stuck in
a comic mode too broad for this survivalist flick),
to bog tne movie down. Heartwarming and spine-
tingling, Eight Below makes good on its arrogant
tagline. It just might be "The Most Amazing
Story Of Survival, Friendship And Adventure Ever
Told," in 2006, at the very least.
On the other end of the "inspired by" spec
trum is the filmed adaptation of Richard Price's
racial potboiler Freedomlond, a true instance of a
film being inspired by, though not based on, true
events—whether it claims to be or not. The gen
esis of Price's novel and subsequent screenplay-
bloodied, white single mother Brenda Martin
(Julianne Moore) stumbling out of the Armstrong
Housing Projects claiming a black man inadver-
Samuel L Jackson and Julianne Moore
humdrum film? Does "inspired by..." sprinkle ad
ditional inspiration to a lifeless tale? Typically,
that little phrase shuts down my acceptance
receptors quicker than you can say "A film by
Brett Ratner," as most films inspired by truth
contain little of that virtue in their running time.
Fortunately with Eight Below, veracity means very
little. The film, Disney's reversion to the nature
adventures of its past, declares, before it has
even begun, that true events lie behind this tale
of friendship and survival in the harsh elements
of Antarctica. Once upon a time, a group of sled
dogs survived a six-month Antarctic vacation,
during which no one—that includes screenwriter
David DiGilio—knows what happened. Left be
hind by their human protectors (including the
comfortingly wooden Paul Walker), these eight
heroes must fight for their existence over 175
days in the white wilderness, its beautiful, vast
snow and icescapes veiling the ever-present
glacial dangers. If you thought those marching
penguins had it bad, you've yet to see these
brave canines battle hunger, leopard seals and
the aurora australis.
I'm no animal person (I like—but don't
love—our furry friends), but this film by Frank
Marshall, no stranger to snowy disaster (he
directed the can libal footballer flick Alive), is
massively exciting and entertaining. Unlike the
interchangeable protagonists dogging many
films with animal stars, the pups of Eight Below,
especially matriarchal Maya and blue-eyed baby
Max, display such distinct, albeit archetypal,
personalities (Buck is the dumb muscle, Dewey
and Truman the inseparable twins, and Old Jack
the venerable vet on the verge of retirement)
that the presence of people to call them by
tently kidnapped her child in a carjacking—was
obviously borne of child killer Susan Smith. Into
this semi-reality steps Detective Lorenzo "Big
Daddy" Council (Samuel L. Jackson), a man torn
between "working the projects and protecting
them." Council must discover the truth behind
Martin's claims if he wants to disarm the racial
time bomb before it blows apart the tenuous
peace he has negotiated between the govern
ment housing residents and their white neighbors
in the nearby city of Gannon. Council's task is
complicated by Brenda's brother (Ron Eldard),
a detective for a police department notorious
for its mistreatment of Armstrong residents who
venture into the Gannon city limits, and an eerie
group of child finders, led by a grieving-with-
a-vengeance mom played by Edie Falco ("The
Sopranos"). Standing between Council and the
truth is shuttered children's facility Freedomland
Village, though Price fails to integrate this titu
lar hell into the investigation. Price does a much
better job scripting the heated racial exchanges
that could have made this film more important.
In fact, a director like Spike Lee or Michael
Mann could have pieced together a picture with
more panache and style than Joe Roth. And
while Jackson delivers his top performance since
Cooch Caiter. that doesn't mean much. Would
this psychically difficult film be improved were
it to acknowledge its real-life source material?
Probably not, so long as Roth captains the ship.
freedomland, a tale of hopelessness and festering
race relations, is one of those fantastically tex
tured novels that seems buUt for the screen, but
ends up flattened by Hollywood's iron.
Drew Wheeler
FEBRUARY 22,2006 • FLAGPOLE.COM 17