TAHRIR: LIBERATION SQUARE--You are there in Stefano Savona's antidote to the typical media coverage of Eqyptian Spring

No more sounds bites extolling Facebook's role in cre-ating Egyptian independence or some such rot. Oh, the big FB is mentioned, all right, in this documentary from last year, in which film-maker Stefano Savona traveled to Egypt to stay on the ground and get up-close and personal with as many of the protesters as possible. And one of them does indeed mention using Facebook to connect with another organizers of one of the groups pushing for freedom. But what Savona's brave and generally interesting film makes clear is how important was the in-person, live-body massing of such a horde of people (several photos below) without which little could have happened.

Keeping his camera at ground level almost all of the film's 93 minutes, Savona, shown at left, uses no narration in TAHRIR: LIBERATION SQUARE but simply stays close enough to overhear conversations, arguments, and of course, the slogans and chants that are epidemic at all protests and that unfortunately -- unless you are among those doing the yelling -- are possibly the most boring way to spend one's time that has ever been invented. I am guessing that, for a filmmaker in the midst of all this, there must be something nearly hypnotic about the repetitive chanting because most filmmakers (from Buñuel during the Spanish Civil War right through to Savona) keep their camera on this occupation for far too long. I would estimate that a good fifteen or twenty minutes could be excised from Tahrir, with no negative ramifications. Sure, let's hear that slogan, once, twice -- OK, three times -- then, please: cut.

By far the most interesting parts of the film are the conversations and arguments among the protesters, one of whom we note wearing a New York Yankees baseball cap. During these sections of the film, Americans -- New Yorkers in particular -- will be reminded of the Occupy Movement, except that here In Egypt, there is indeed a unified goal that is clearly stated/demanded: Get rid of Mubarek. But then what? We see the President/Dictator speaking on TV; eventually the protesters drown him out. "I almost started to believe him again," one woman later notes, "but then his thugs attacked and killed eleven people. That's when I understood: They're all rotten."

Around the 17-minute point, there's a wonderful and rather lengthy political discussion that the camera takes in. It is then that the conversations/arguments grow more intense, fraught and fascintating. And what we hear unfortunately seems prescient of what is now happening. Just the other day The New York Times posited that the dictator may eventually get a new trial in which he's simply let off. And then what? Around the halfway mark, some one asks, "Has he resigned yet?" "No." "Then we keep going."

Though Mr. Savona has made almost yearly trips to Egypt for two decades, according to the press information, even he was surprised that the protests actually happened. Hearing these on-the-ground conversations makes clear the large divisions in Egypt between those who want a secular state and those who want it Muslim. Just how far can The Muslim Brotherhood be trusted? "They are our enemies!" says one. "No!" comes the reply. For me, the section involving a 62-year man speaking extemporaneously and personally proves more moving and important than all the sloganeering you could shout.

We get politics and intellect (young women arguing over what line of action fulfills the Constitution), spectacle (oh, those crowds -- above!), suspense (Are they going to clear the square by using tear gas or snipers from that tall building over there?), and a seemingly happy ending accompanied by poetry, as a young man reads a very meaningful and lovely poem.

While we don't see the attacks themselves we do witness the removal of some of the wounded. Finally it happens: Mubarek and Suleiman cede their power to the Army Council. "The future is going to be better,"someone cries. "Egypt: It's your time!" Thanks to Savona, we've seen some of the Egyptian 99 per cent. But the freedom that these people demonstrated and sometimes died for? Shit. You could weep.

Tahrir: Liberation Square begins its first New York theatrical showing with a one-week run this Monday, June 11 through Sunday, June 17 as part of the Documentary in Bloom series at the Maysles Cinema in the Bronx. Click here for tickets and/or directions.

Max Ophüls' LOLA MONTÈS, as it should be seen. Thank you, Rialto, Criterion and Cinémathèque Française

What becomes a legend most? Perhaps not actually seeing her/it until the all fuss has died down. In the case of LOLA MONTÈS, that legendary movie from Max Ophüls, this has meant waiting 55 years.
It was worth it.

As the beautifully transferred disc from Criterion explains, the film flopped upon its initial release. (Ophüls -- shown below and one of France's foremost filmmakers -- was not expected to come up with a dud.) Consequently,

the producers took over the film, shortening and re-cutting so that it moved along in sequential order. And it still proved unpopular. Last year Bruce Goldstein's Rialto Pictures, specializing in the restoration of little-seen classics, brought us this new/near-original version, restored by the Cinémathèque Française. The film re-opened in NYC at Film Forum, and now The Criterion Collection has released in DVD,with a full package of extras.  As for its legendary, can-you-top-this reputation, no less than the stalwart and long-lived critic Andrew Sarris declared it "the greatest film ever made."  TrustMovies won't go that far (better than The Leopard?  Better than Women in Trouble?) but he will say, "Yup: it's definitely among the best."

Not being much of a fan of Ophüls' The Earrings of Madame De..., I approached Lola with some trepidation.  Within moments, I was fully captured.  The filmmaker's rich use of color and location, his intelligent and dry dialog and adaptation (with Annette Wademant) of the novel by Cécil Saint-Laurent, his exquisite camerawork (yes, those tracking shots, but ah, the rolling of the boat when Lola finds herself at sea) and especially in his creation of character after character in just a few, briefs strokes, this master movie-maker reaches the epitome of true, less-is-more sophistication.

For a "loose" woman, Lola's affairs, even given the 1950s time frame in which the film was made, are shown in quite circumspect manner, yet this simply adds to the movie's charm and its ability to capture the essence rather than the obvious. The metaphor of the circus-as-life is both a brilliant concept and one that is executed astutely, too.  As good a Nero as he was in Quo Vadis, Peter Ustinov is even better here (below, left) as the circus master and Lola's later-life mentor/lover: He brings a combination of intelligence, cynicism and sadness to the role that is remarkable.  And Martine Carol, below right, though certainly no great actress, was beautiful enough and used so well by her director that she provided everything necessary to fill the role.

Lola Montès looks oddly true to both the time in which it takes place (the 1800s) and the time in which it was made (the 1950s).  Just listening again to that absolutely wonderful little theme song (which I had not heard  for nearly forty years), repeated in so many different ways throughout the film, was a surprise treat.  As was seeing the late German actor Oscar Werner (playing a student), younger here than I had ever encountered him.  Mostly though, the movie is full of the French passion for fully understanding a situation and then using philosophy to explain it properly.  (The scene in the carriage between Lola and that student is just one of the many examples of this.)

What makes the film particularly adult and memorable is its ability to present a remembered life -- full of incident and beauty -- in all its complexity, with our heroine and her ringmaster fully accepting responsibility for what has gone before, as well as for the present and what lies ahead. (This is so unlike the characters in Madame De..., who remain utter twits throughout.) Had I seen the movie when it first appeared, I would have been but 14 and far too young to be the ideal viewer.  Even in my early adulthood, I doubt I could have appreciated Ophüls' achievement.  If you're not amazed, charmed, saddened and floored by this film, wait a few years (or decades) and try it again.  Its classic status can only grow.

Lola Montès is available for sale or rent from all the usual suspects.