1. NI2 FILM REWIEWS
November 2013
“The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover”
“The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover” was the sixth movie by Peter
Greenaway. It is a dramatic love story which mixes black comedy and a thriller plot.
The film was successful at the independent film world in its moment. It was released
in October of 1989 in the UK.
The main character was played by Helen Mirren who was the wife of a cruel,
ruthless and extremely fat man, the owner of a huge and sophisticated restaurant.
The lady had an affair with a customer of the restaurant, an intellectual and sensible
man, the opposite character of her rude husband. They could develop their affair
inside the pantry of the kitchen, surrounded by chickens, pheasants and geese, with
the complicity of the cook, a kind man.
The great strength of this film was the amazing technical and artistic team who
participated in it. Besides the incredible selection of actors and actresses, the film
had the participation of Jean-Paul Gaultier as the fashion designer, Michael Nyman
as the musician composer of the unforgettable soundtrack and the director, who is
famous for renovating the cinema’s art, for investigating new codes of telling stories
and for working with the most contemporary artists around the world.
Greenaway is more than cinema; Peter Greenaway is a creator who uses the movies
for creating, an artist, a complete artist, who is as a conductor working with
designers, architects, musicians, composers, photographers, decorators and visual
artists to create not the best films in the world, but the most original ones in my
opinion.
ÁNGEL MARTÍN HUMADA

2. THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
(Directed by Kevin Macdonald)
The Last King of Scotland is an adaptation of a
novel by Giles Foden, which is loosely based on
historical facts. It is a drama, set in Uganda during
the 70’s.
The movie tells us of Idi Amin’s life, who was one of
the most bloody African dictators, through the eyes
of Doctor Nicholas Garrigan, a non-historical
character. Garrigan was firstly fascinated by Idi Amin
Dada, because at the beginning he represented a
blow of fresh air in Uganda’s political life. After that
he became the personal doctor of Idi Amin and his
Adviser. But real life is cruel and he soon realized
the fascinating Idi Amin had an awful dark side.
The interest of this film, and his distinctive characteristic, is that it represents Idi
Amin Dada’s both faces and how a dream about freedom and change of a country
can became a fatal nightmare. Forest Whitaker, who won an Oscar for this role,
built a powerful character, because he performed a real dictator who is sometimes
like a small child, sometimes terrible, but always fascinating. My only objection to
this movie would be the character of Doctor Garrigan who was a bit naïve.
This is a gripping film, and also depicts a real historic fact which represented a hope
that changed into a dreadful curse. And if you want to know why Idi Amin Dada was
the Last King of Scotland, you have to watch the film. It’ll be on tonight 18th of
November on the second channel. ;-)

3. The Untouchables
“The untouchable” is a French comedy-drama film
directed by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano. Set
in modern-day France and based on a true story.
It is a story about friendship and social classes:
Philippe is a really rich man, who becomes
disabled because of a paragliding accident. Driss,
on the other hand, is an immigrant from a marginal district who just came out
of jail. Philippe hired Driss to be his live-in caregiver, so they started to know
each other and become friends, despite the warnings of Philippe’s family, who
didn’t trust Driss because of his past.
This film is one of the best films I’ve ever seen. It makes you laugh and cry,
and teach you the value of equality and respect. Also, I love the soundtrack,
made by Ludovico Einaudi, a pianist and composer well-known in the film
world.
Original and unexpected, I recommend this film to everyone.
Joaquina Egozcue