Brief movie reviews: The Call of the Oboe (Brazil, 1998)

Every film festival has at least one -- a film in which the revival of the local cinema brought a town back to life.  First is was   Cinema Paradiso; then it was Elephants and Bicycles. This year, it's The Call of the Oboe. 

While the plot line is familiar, the presence of the oboe player, as the accompanist who permits the revival of the cinema and its silent films, is a nice twist.  Besides, now I'll always know what the oboe sounds like when I'm listening to an orchestra play.  Double value for my money, I'd say.

The Bridge (France, 1999)

There was an irony to seeing a film directed by a starring Gerard Depardieu that seemed to be a rip-off of a mediocre American film.   The irony, of course, is that I first saw him in "Green Card", an American rip-off of a Quebec/France film starring Genevieve Bujold and set in Montreal.

This film, about a decent working-class guy and his wife and son, is a rip-off of The Bridges of Madison County, although it toys in minor ways with the plot and the ending (as all good rip-offs do).  While I missed the film of The Bridges of Madison County (on purpose, after reading the novel), it seems unlikely that there is not a link beyond the name.  The movie is lame, lame, lame.. like the book the original film was based on.  Yawn.

Postmen in the Mountains (China, 1999)

This film was delightful, I thought, though it made Canadian films look like action-packed adventures in terms of pacing.  The director, when he introduced the film, said it was about relationships between people, and so it was: particularly it was about the relationship between a father and son.

The father, who had been retired from his job as rural postman in the mountains of China (no, I don't know which mountains), was showing his son -- the new postman -- the ropes on his last round through his route.  The scenery is stunning, the insights about human nature applicable regardless of cultural gaps, and the pace is reassuring in some way.

I don't drive.  I never did. I never learned. Yes, I think it's a skill that would be useful to have.  Yes, I often wished I did drive, particularly on long road trips when my life partner is exhausted and sleepy, and I'm wide awake and could take over.  If I could. Drive, that is.

This came up today because our current vehicle (inherited from my father when he died) has been requiring more and more repairs of late, and has twice had the air-conditioning replaced at a cost of more than $1000 each time.  Today, when we were driving our dog to the vet for his annual shots, my vents on the passenger side were blowing out hot air.  Then no vents were blowing out any air.  The fan had died.

Now, it could be a fuse. Or it could be something worse.   And even if it's not anything worse this time, it will be soon.  Inevitably. We're about to turn 200,000 kilometres (that's 120,000 miles for our American friends), and it's almost ten years old.  As an old friend of my mother's used to say: "It's earned its keep."  So, tonight was the night we went to look at new vehicles.

We've talked about how this would happen.  We've narrowed it down to 4-wheel drive; room for four people, luggage and a dog; and something functional rather than glamourous, since I don't drive, and my life partner hates driving, no matter what the vehicle is.  So, we thought, either a Ford Explorer or a Suburu wagon.   We looked at both.  The latter was about half the price of ther former, so that decision was made quickly.  And tomorrow, when we know whether we need a fuse or a new car, we'll go test-drive the sucker.

But here's what I want to know.  How do so many people afford houses that cost upward of $250,000 and cars that cost upwards of $40,000? (Translation again for the Americans: That would be $175,000 and $27,500 respectively in "real" dollars.)  Are there that many people in North American making that much money?  And why are shelter and transportation so expensive?

When I thought about this, I realized that only a particular kind of shelter and transportation cost so much.  Renting apartments and using buses or buying used card doesn't cost that much.  But the house and the shiny car are still standards of success, aren't they? 

Among my peers, they aren't status symbols, but they are signs of maturity, of having been frugal or wise or lucky or all three.  But if I were to believe what I saw on television shows, or in movies, or on ads, I'd believe that without these unbelievably expensive accoutrements, one had failed.  But failed at what? Failed to accumulate the most expensive "things" on earth?  Granted, the house might at least maintain its value and be worth something for retirement.  But a Ford that cost $40,000? We're not talking Mercedes Benz, or even Volvos.  This is a Ford!

Clearly I'm missing something about the value of a car beyond transportation.  But whatever it is, I don't think I'd be persuaded that it was worth what it costs, except to those who derive great pleasure from the time they spend behind the wheel or as passengers in these giant metal contraptions just waiting to rust and break down. 

Much as driving would be a "good thing" to know how to do, I have to admit to being glad to having avoided one more incredibly expensive habit early in life.  If we only need a new fuse to get air moving in our old car, we'll avoid it for a while longer.  I'm crossing my fingers.

Next entry

Archived entries