The Thing 1982

Made in 1982, “The Thing” is one of the many adaptations of “Who Goes There?”, a science fiction novel written by John W. Campbell Jr., including “The Thing From Another World (1951), “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers” (1956), “Alien” (1978), and a modern remake of the object of this review, “The Thing” (2011).

The Thing adds many steps further on special effects for the time it was conceived.  To the knowledge of this reviewer, the movie still has the most graphic and impressive horror effects to be made, even if it dates some thirty years back. This is due mostly to the care for realism the production sought. For instance,  the studio temperature was lowered and the actors had to drink hot beverages before shooting, so the their breath should be seen on screen.  Its director, John Carpenter on his debut with Universal Pictures, has been able to stamp his particular view on the subjects of his movies.  Being a lawless, earthquake thorn, Los Angeles (Escape From L.A.) or a chinese neighborhood unraveling secrets and ancient hocus pocus (Big Trouble In Little China), most of his films display his own and inimitable signature.  

With The Thing there is no difference. The viewer is presented with a dark, sober and realistic recreation of an Antarctic American research base. Right from the very beginning the ominous story begins to unfold, as a Swedish colleague lands at the American site and starts shooting its personnel.  The threat is revealed as an alien creature that mimics life forms, including humans. From this point onwards what was meant (or imagined by the audience) to be only a horror movie turns out to be also a psychological thriller, very well explored by Carpenter, as the characters don’t know who is the alien disguised as a human.  This dual feature heightens  “The Thing” apart from other horror movies, and, thus, the cult status it is often credited nowadays.

Kurt Russell, as the helicopter pilot Mc Ready, displays possibly the best acting of the many partnerships he has made with John Carpenter. The hammy, macho-man, performance seen on “Escape From L.A.” is mostly gone, so the audience remains with a character that is still always master of its actions but not immune to the neurotic suspicion the base crew is plagued with. For the rest of the crew, Carpenter casted many unknown actors, so their roles resembles no other previous acting, in a way that provides more authenticity. For instance, Tom Hanks on “The Terminal” and on “Forrest Gump” looks remarkably the same naïve guy, being difficult not think you’re seeing different people who are alike.

“The Thing” attained a deserved cult status, on the other hand, it endured an undeserved weak theater reception. This is often explained as an E.T. effect, as the homonymous  movie was released almost simultaneously, and the audiences went on cherishing gentle, good doers, extraterrestrials, in spite of those evil, insidious, alien creatures John Carpenter presented us.

 @jpvbm

Das Boot (The Boat)

History is written by the victors. This phrase, usually attributed to Churchill, is no less true to war movies.  Common sense amongst hollywoodian movies, germans are often shown as selfish, completely insensible, or even clumsy.  This is not a matter of taking sides on past conflicts, but about a movie which is more even tempered with facts,  which characters are capable of fear, anxiety, and, ultimately, apathy with themselves.

Wolfgangs Petersen’s masterpiece portrays a german U-Boat, its crew and its captain, on a usual mission throughout the Atlantic during World War II, at a time when the allied were already using their deadly sonars. Thus, the movie is more about survival then praying, although “wolfpack” naval tactic is more than hinted during it. The director was very successful on creating a true claustrophobic  ambience, using a hand-held Arriflex camera, as the viewer seems to be thrown into the submarine with the rest of the crew. Although shot in the early eighties, Das Boot has very convincing special effects, even if compared with modern computer generated productions. Better still, the best feature is that Das Boot imposes an authenticity right from the first scene, when the captain is being driven to a cabaret at night, prior to sailing the next day. It is as if the actual seriousness of the past events were accurately reproduced. Nothing seems to have been left behind: the binge drinking in anticipation of missions, the brief and uninspiring speech preceding sail, the daily Enigma dispatches, the elusive enemies ships under the periscope, and even the meals, taken on a tight stretch of corridor.

The film relies on the known and often used newbie approach, when someone alien to the process is put on the plot. This allows the spectator to get hold of the story, just as the novice character is being introduced to the métier. In this case the war correspondent Werner is sent to join the crew and report to the Reich about the naval campaign. What begins as an adventure unfolds into a fight against the allied cruisers, and also into psychological endurance of the harsh environment. There is not much dispute amongst egos, but Wolfgang Petersen made sure to include different colors of soldiers, ranging from the ardent nazi to rather practical and even critical officers. 
 

There are no particular lessons of grandeur.  Survival and accomplishment of duty were the only motto at times when life was a zero sum game. Possibly the best war movie ever made, and, surely, the definite war submarine film.