Category: Movie

Five Years ago – And the Movie: ‘June again’

Five years ago we did not know yet that Peter had cancer. Five years ago we were getting ready for another trip to Berlin. Five years ago Peter turned 81,

In the movie ‘June again’ June, the matriarch, is played by Noni Hazlehurst. After a severe stroke and several smaller strokes, June does not know what happened over the past five years. So five years have gone, and then, to everyone’s surprise, she is gradually able to remember things about her life that went on before she had the stroke. The family is quite shocked, when totally unexpectedly, June is in their lives again! So this is ‘June again’ after five years!

I wonder, if I had such a severe stroke now, what would I miss out on over the next five years? Since I absolutely do not believe in euthanasia, I guess I would have to accept it, if, against all odds, I survived such a stroke. I just do not want anyone to help me to survive something like this!

Now back to the example in the movie. So, June obviously did survive the stroke, but she is severely disabled. In all likelihood no permanent cure can be counted on. So she does need constant looking after. The family leaves her in a home, where admittedly she is being treated very well, but without any significant family contact.

In this make feel good movie June ends up with loads of family contact, and even the love of her life meeting her again and staying with her in the twilight of her life! Well, this is as good an ending as can be. There is lots of love and caring all around. So I find it is a make feel good movie, even though it makes me think a lot about it how problematic caring for old people actually is in our society!

Solomon and Sheba

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_and_Sheba

For the 1995 film, see Solomon & Sheba (1995 film).
Solomon and Sheba
Solomonshebalc7.jpeg

Lobby card
Directed by King Vidor
Produced by Ted Richmond
Screenplay by Anthony Veiller
Paul Dudley
George Bruce
Story by Crane Wilbur
Based on Books of Kings
Books of Chronicles
Starring Yul Brynner
Gina Lollobrigida
Music by Mario Nascimbene
Cinematography Fred A. Young
Edited by Otto Ludwig
Production
company
Edward Small Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • October 27, 1959 (London premiere)
  • December 25, 1959 (New York City premiere)
Running time
 141 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $5 million[1]
Box office $12,200,000[2]

Solomon and Sheba is a 1959 American epic historical romance film directed by King Vidor, shot in Technirama (color by Technicolor), and distributed by United Artists.[3] The film dramatizes events described in The Bible—the tenth chapter of the First Kings and the ninth chapter of Second Chronicles.

It starred Yul Brynner as Solomon and Gina Lollobrigida as Sheba; and features George Sanders as Adonijah, Marisa Pavan as Abishag, and David Farrar as the Pharaoh. The screenplay by Anthony Veiller, Paul Dudley, and George Bruce, was based on a story by Crane Wilbur.[4] In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor’s career.[5]

‘Catastrophic’ fire conditions October 2019

 

https://auntyuta.com/2019/10/24/cardless-cash/

I wrote in my post from 24th of October: “Soon I’ll receive a new Visa card in the mail.” Well, this card still has not arrived. In the meantime I got several reminders from wordpress that my subscription renewal is due. They wrote:

“. . .   your subscription renewal for auntyuta.com didn’t go through. . . ”

They reckon, it might be because my card they have on file expired. Well, it really should not have expired, but unfortunately this machine in the shopping centre just swallowed it. There was no way to retrieve it. So my bank had to cancel it. But why did I not get a new card? Nobody can explain this to me how it can take such a long time to mail it to me.

To pay for my American WordPress subscription I need a Visa card. Since yesterday I am now in possession of a green eftpos card. But this is no good for payments in other countries. I can use it only in Australia.

Just this afternoon Peter came to the rescue again. He paid  the subscription with his Visa card. I am so glad that he did this for me. Now, we are both at a very advanced age. I am rather scared that Peter might die before I die. What do I do then? There are so many things that I depend on Peter for.

For some reason or another I felt very low in energy this morning. This is why  Peter helped with the cooking. He made an excellent Bolognaise sauce and I cooked some vegies to go with it. We both liked the meal very much.

Now, for the record: The bushfire season in Australia has started early. Conditions for bushfires are already very bad. Hardly any moisture, in a lot of parts in Australia severely high temperatures with a lot of winds. Last Tuesday we were warned about ‘catastrophic’ fire conditions. To be prepared for quick escapes. Not to expect to get a knock at the door to warn usabout approaching fires. To leave the house early. To go to a safe place.

We have quite a bit of very dry bushland near our home with a lot of undergrowth. Because our whole area was at the highest warning we thought we better leave early. We packed a few things and drove to a shopping centre where we had a bit of lunch. Later on we saw a movie in a cinema that is close to the shopping centre where we parked our car.

This is the movie we saw:

 

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=bushfires+in+australia&oq=bushfires&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l4j69i60.9773j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

After the movie we had some refreshments in the shopping centre and did a bit of shopping. In the meantime a cool breaze had come up. The emergencyinformationof theNSWRuraldid not mention any more warnings. (Peter checked it on his phone)

https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me

So we happily drove home. By 6pm we were home again. We were very tired but very happy that we still had a home!

 

 

 

Everyone Dies Alone

https://auntyuta.com/2019/01/03/alone-in-berlin-everyone-dies-alone-youtube-video/

 

On the third of January 2019 I wrote and published the following about this movie that is based on a true story:

“Hans Fallada’s book is based on a true story, and this film was made based on Fallada’s book. We saw the film in German. When I say German, I would like to point out, most actors spoke with a very strong Berlin dialect! The acting was very good. However some of the characters in this story are so disgusting that it is hard to watch them. And these very disgusting characters were the ones in powerful positions and the more gentle and better educated characters were always powerless to do anything against the most horrible excesses of those in power. The film shows what happens to simple, not very well educated people that just lead an ordinary life when for some reason they object to how the regime treats them – in this case the Nazi regime.

This movie is set in 1940 in Berlin. Maybe at the time the majority of the population would not have objected much to the way the war was handled by the Nazis. They may have still believed that it was important to support all the war efforts. The propaganda was, that you had to make sacrifices for the good of the nation. If your son died in battle, even if it was your only son, you should be proud of him that he died a war hero. And so on. Only slowly, after several years of war, more and more people would regard this continuing war as madness and wanting to protest against it. It was common knowledge that any protesters would be severely punished. The resistance fighters would have been well aware that protesting against the regime would mean certain death if they were caught.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyone_Dies_Alone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Everyone Dies Alone (Original title: Jeder stirbt für sich allein) is a 1976 West German drama film adapted from the Hans Fallada novel Every Man Dies Alone. The book was based on the story of two ordinary Germans, Otto and Elise Hampel, who committed acts of civil disobedience against the Third Reich, were caught and sentenced to death.

As It Is in Heaven

https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/19648

Directed by Kay Pollak
“An astonishing Swedish drama about a church choir and its creative director who take a meaningful and loving journey together.”
. . . .

Published on Mar 7, 2016

This song is from a movie that translated from Swedish means As in Heaven. This song is sung by a character who gets beaten by her husband. It is a very emotional scene, it’s her first time performing in front of an audience, and when she gets home her husband beats her mercilessly for it. This is my own translation, and it is not word for word exactly, and it’s a rather hard song to translate, because some sentences doesn’t make much sense in Swedish either. Love the song though. I take no credit for this song.

 

We saw this video wirh the full length movie today:

As It Is in Heaven

It is a movie with beautiful music, and I thought the acting of the cast was superb. I enjoyed it very much.

Alone in Berlin – Everyone Dies Alone: YouTube Video



Today we watched this movie with Hildegard Knef.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyone_Dies_Alone

Hans Fallada’s book is based on a true story, and this film was made based on Fallada’s book. We saw the film in German. When I say German, I would like to point out, most actors spoke with a very strong Berlin dialect! The acting was very good. However some of the characters in this story are so disgusting that it is hard to watch them. And these very disgusting characters were the ones in powerful positions and the more gentle and better educated characters were always powerless to do anything against the most horrible excesses of those in power. The film shows what happens to simple, not very well educated people that just lead an ordinary life when for some reason they object to how the regime treats them – in this case the Nazi regime.

This movie is set into 1940 in Berlin. Maybe at the time the majority of the population would not have objected much to the way the war was handled by the Nazis. They may have still believed that it was important to support all the war efforts. The propaganda was, that you had to make sacrifices for the good of the nation. If your son died in battle, even if it was your only son, you should be proud of him that he died a war hero. And so on. Only slowly, after several years of war, more and more people would regard this continuing war as madness and wanting to protest against it. It was common knowledge that any protesters would be severely punished. The resistance fighters would have been well aware that protesting against the regime could mean certain death if they were caught.

Jeder stirbt für sich allein Trailer German Deutsch: Alone in Berlin Trailer)

A ‘short’ Diary Entry

Today is Sunday, the 4th of November 2018

Last Sunday Peter and I went to a wedding. I wrote about it here:

https://auntielive.wordpress.com/2018/11/04/some-more-wedding-pictures/

and here as well:

https://auntielive.wordpress.com/2018/11/03/279/asplendidwedding/

My brother Peter Uwe turned 77 exactly one week ago. I would very much like to talk to him tonight on skype. I hope that this is going to be possible.

We have just been watching another German movie:

“Vater  braucht eine Frau”

https://www.moviepilot.de/movies/vater-braucht-eine-frau/casts

Regie Matthias Tiefenbacher Regisseur/in
Drehbuch Christoph Mattner Drehbuchautor/in
Peter Studhalter Drehbuchautor/in

Cast & Besetzung

August ZirnerPeter Beilhorn

Peter Lohmeyer Dr. Frank Neu
Georg Hans Benny Neu
Ursula Karven Steffi Bungert
Sonsee Neu Verena Plank
Nadine Fano Saskia Neu
Maximilian Köster Thomas Neu
Benjamin Seidel Felix Neu
Jonas Laux Saskias Opernbekanntschaft

It was about a father who’s children wanted him to find a mother for them because their mother had died some years ago when the youngest child was three. The children are now between six and fourteen. The fourteen year old is a girl, the others are boys. The father, Frank Neu,  is a lawyer within a successful law-firm. His partner, Peter, also a lawyer, is very concerned about this lone father with four motherless children. The family lives in a beautiful home. The housekeeper they employ does not stay for very long. She probably thinks the children are too much of a handful. Apparently several housekeepers have left in the past.

It turns out that a very qualified young woman with degrees in child education and a very efficient housekeeper and lover of children is looking for a job. Her name is Verena. The children love her straight away. Peter and I, we both guessed that she would end up becoming  the mother of these four children. But the father in the meantime has befriended a divorced photographer. Her name is Stephanie. When she meets up with her ex-husband, apparently to celebrate something, Frank falsely assumes that this man is her lover. Frank is devastated. It shows that he has had developed quite a lot of feelings for Steffi.

In the meantime we find out that Verena and Peter get on well with each other. It looks like Peter has a lot to do with bringing Steffi and Frank together again. Fourteen year old Saskia understands towards the end, that it is Steffi who may become her mother and not Verena. But come to think of it, Verena may be around the family anyway, even if she goes into a relationship with Frank’s friend and partner Peter. Steffi, with her profession as a photographer is bound to travel a lot on assignments. So it is going to be good for the children to have Verena around when needed. They can all be good friends, right?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0326349/

I thought this would be just a ‘short’ diary entry. I kept thinking about it how a bunch of kids do need a good home environment and how this can be given to them if for instance the mother dies. Well, I did find it interesting what sort of solutions opened up in the story of this movie. So this diary entry show a bit what sort of reflections I find can come up in a movie like this one. To me a movie like this is light entertainment and in parts pretty funny. And as I said a movie like this one makes me think a lot about the various different relationships that are possible and might also be in the interest of children who happen to be half orphans

 

 

 

 

 

“Our Souls at Night”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Souls_at_Night_(film)

We watched this movie yesterday. Peter and I, we both thought it was a good one.  I read the plot in Wikipedia and it says beautifully in a condensed way everything about the theme of the movie.  I copy here the plot the way I found it in Wikipedia:

“Louis Waters is a widower. One evening he is visited by Addie, a widow who lives next door. She invites him to sometimes sleep over – platonically – talking in bed to combat loneliness. They try it out, and like it. The community finds out, but assume it’s a sexual relationship. After Louis’ coffee shop friends make a joke, Louis walks out mad. Addie’s friend Ruth asks her a few questions. To stop the gossip, the two have Sunday lunch together at a restaurant.

Addie’s son Gene dumps his seven year old child Jamie with her. Louis helps her care for him, sets up his train set and gets Jamie a dog. The boy even sleeps with the elderly couple in a real family setting. After Gene learns of the relationship, he takes Jamie back even though his wife has left him. Louis and Addie go on a trip and get around to having sex.

Addie falls down and ends up in the hospital. Her son wants her to move in with him and Jamie. She decides that family must come first and the couple spend their last night together. Both she and Louis are back to sleeping alone. So Louis sends her the train set and a cell-phone. After getting into bed, she calls him and they start talking as old friends. And the movie ends.”

Cast

. . . . .

“The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2017.[6] It was released on September 29, 2017 on Netflix streaming. ”

Personally I do like movies that deal with relationships among people, be it romantic relationships or family relationships or important friendships. There is some of all of this in this slow moving movie.

I guess there are all sorts of ways to combat loneliness in old age. It seems to me we are bound to feel lonely without some significant personal contacts. 

 

Going non-traditional

This is about the movie “My Happy Family”.

NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS 2017 – NANA EKVTIMISHVILI, SIMON GROSS: MY HAPPY FAMILY/CHEMI BEDNIERI OJAKNI (2017)

Peter and I watch quite regularly ‘Der Tag’, that is a program on the Deutsche Welle (DW). Today film director Simon Groß was interviewed on that program. Simon pointed out that he made the above movie together with his wife and that to have a close working relationship with your wife may cause some problems.

In the  movie,. the middle aged school-teacher,  who  lives with her husband in an extended very large family, decides she has to move out and live on her own because ‘she cannot breathe”.

This movie is set in Georgia, ” where the language has a special lilt, and where any festive gathering means people will sing, in a rich, resonant chorus. . . .”

Here is a bit more of what it says in one of the reviews to the movie:

“Manana and Soso live with her family, which she’s sick of (and we can see why). They consist of her querulous and bossy mother (Berta Khapava), her brother, her grandfather, her husband, son Lasha (Giorgi Tabidze) and daughter Nino (Tsisia Qumsashvili) and daughter’s husband, augmented on occasion by aunts, uncles and other relatives, as needed. The big squabbles concern Manana’s decision to move into a cheap apartment on her own, leaving her husband and all the rest, but the squabbles themselves show us why Manana would want to take this liberating step. It’s not that she can’t get along with her husband. She can’t breathe.

Her departure is against the wishes of everyone over 25. But it’s a foregone conclusion we’re aware of from the first scene, when she views a sunny if shabby flat in an unfashionable but quiet neighborhood. The price is right, and the decision is made. The objections confirm its validity. But will Manana stay with this decision? Will the tomatoes she plants on the balcony bear fruit? Stay tuned – though the film ends with a question mark, as it should. The conflicts here depicted between traditional and nuclear families, couples and independence, aren’t easily resolved. . . . .”

http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3592

I am intrigued by the questions that come up because of the movie’s ending. Who knows the answers to all these questions:

Is it better to live in a traditional or in a nuclear family?

Is it better if couples live together or is there some benefit to a couple’s relationship if they each have their own place?

What makes for happy families?

 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0344144/

 

 

Screenshot 2017-07-15 12.40.13

http://www.simongross.de/