The Cinemaniac Corner: Africa, Paris, Santiago

The Cinemaniac Corner

Among the many movies about or concerned with travelling, three come to my mind in a quick mental review. How different are the places visited in them!

THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)

I'm sure that this film would not have been so famous and unforgettable if the main characters had not been played by Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. But, in a certain sense, the weakness of the plot is made up for by the beautiful work and thorny relationship portrayed by these classic stars. It is no doubt his great performance that won Humphrey's solitary 'Oscar' for this movie. But the work of both actors makes the film worthy of being included in the essential 'must see' list.

The story takes place in Uganda during the First World War. The Germans attack a Methodist mission run out by Rose (Katherine Hepburn), and she has no choice but to escape together with the alcoholic skipper of a small riverboat named Charlie (Humphrey Bogart). Yes, you guessed it! The boat’s name is 'the African Queen'. And yes, you also guessed it! After a long personal struggle and many dangerous adventures, Rose falls in love with Charlie.

This captivating relationship is the most interesting part of this film directed by John Huston, an amazing adventure about a stuck-up missionary and an apparently cynical bachelor.

The rest of it involves the suicidal goal of reaching the lake by going through the forest on the river, facing waterfalls, rapids, and even the Germans, but I don't want to ruin the ending if you haven't seen it yet.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (2011)

Can we travel through time, visit other decades, go back to past years? That is part of the attractive charm of this mature movie by Woody Allen, although his fondness of the capital of France is also easily observed.

It could be labelled as a romantic comedy fantasy film, and it's all about a couple who move to Paris because of his work commitments in a thorny trip together with her wealthy parents, in the days just before their wedding. They are soon captivated by the romantic atmosphere of the city and this directly affects their relationship.

Gil, the man, tries to convince his girlfriend to live in Paris so that he can finish his first novel easily. Inez, the woman, wants to settle down as a married couple in Malibu. Suddenly, a pretty Parisian woman enters Gil’s life, and the group is completed by an insufferable pedant called Paul.

The best part of the movie starts when, on one certain night, Gil gets drunk and gets lost in the streets of the Latin Quarter. At midnight, a 1920s car pulls up and its passengers ask him to join a party. What comes later is astonishing, as he meets well-known artists in the flesh such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and even Luis Buñuel, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí.

Later on, the trip moves back to even earlier periods of history such as the Belle Époque and the Renaissance. But I don´t want to give away the ending.

I’ll only remark that we meet some odd secondary characters played by actors such as Daniel Lundh, Adrien Brody, and even… Carla Bruni!

THE WAY (2010)

I Know that the artistic level of this film can't be compared with the previous movies, but I think it is an honest attempt to treat a topic I love: the Camino de Santiago, which in my opinion is much more than just a trip along European walking trails in the North of Spain.

Emilio Estevez directs the film and Martin Sheen plays the main character, Thomas, who happens to be an American ophthalmologist who has to travel to the Pyrenees after receiving the news of the death of his son Daniel as he tried to start walking the 'Camino' (in real life Emilio Estevez is Martin Sheen’s son). He then decides to follow his son’s footsteps and walk the Camino to Compostela in his place.

This dreadful tragedy determines the plot, which develops along the pilgrimage route, with the participation of a small group of funny folks: Thomas, an overweight man from Holland, a Canadian woman who is the victim of her husband’s abuse and wants to give up from smoking, and a young man from Ireland who considers himself a great writer.

One of the thorniest details is that Thomas carries with him his son’s ashes, and scatters some of them over the countryside every now and then while walking, until he gets to the coast of Finisterre.

Although it is obvious that the film makes some concessions to Spanish stereotypes, you can find enough similarities to real situations, some enjoyable, others really challenging, if you have had the experience of walking the Camino.

The film is not merely the chronicle of a hiking experience along the trail of the yellow shells; it aims to show a trip with lot more significance for one's inner life, using the freedom and loneliness of a month’s walk! 

The Thanksgiving Turkey