Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1985)
Movies “Passage” examines class struggle By MARCY BASILE Movie Reviewer Have you ever had a day that can only be described with ad jectives like terrible, horrible, no good and very bad? (If you said anything closely resem bling “no,” I don’t think you are telling the truth.) Maybe it’s karma when everything that could go wrong does. Last Friday I travelled all the way to Houston intent on see ing the noon showing of “A Passage to India.” I expected a fun time. Well, if I overlook the man who gagged during the entire movie, the tipsy busi nessmen who had decided to take the rest of the day off to see a movie that had just been nominated for a Golden Globe, the group of little old ladies that shuffled in 30 minutes af ter the movie started (“Marge. Hey Marge. There’s a good seat over here next to this man who i s gagging!”) and a soundman with a hearing aid, I guess I had an adequately decent fun time. Now, you may think my ex periences in Houston have nothing to do with reviewing a movie, but trust me, I know what I’m doing. (You’ll see. I’m not as ditzy as some might be lieve.) Why was “A Passage to In dia” getting all the rave re views? The question burned in my mind. I mean, come on, no movie is so good that it is prac tically nominated before it is even released, right? Wrong. This one is good enough. “A Passage to India” delves into the minds and attitudes of those Britons living in India during the pre-Ghandi days. The story centers around two British women, Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft) and Adele Quested (Judy Davis) and their relationship with Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee), an Indian doctor. These women have just come over on the boat and don’t realize that, as one rather stuff/ English matron puts it, “East is East. It’s a matter of culture.” Both learn the rule quickly and just as quickly de cide that it’s a stupid rule which shouldn’t apply to them. Now Adele is not one of God’s most beautiful creatures. Dr. Aziz himself claims that she is one of the homeliest women he’s ever seen. (Wouldn’t you just love to be in Judy Davis’ shoes when that line is said?) Remember that line. OK. Here’s where my day fits into this story. It matches Dr. Aziz’s. He invites Adele and Mrs. Moore to a picnic at the famed Marabar caves. (Up to this time, no one is quite sure what the caves are famous for but they go anyway.) Dr. Aziz should have slept in that day. Nothing goes right. During the tour of the first cave, Mrs. Moore spazzes and decides to sit out the higher caves. Adele -Music and Dr. Aziz go in search of the hidden cave secrets. Suddenly, Adele goes beserk and tears out down the mountain side, right through the only thorn thicket around. (No one said homely women had to be smart.) All seems to be innocent, right? No, no, Nanette. Adele gets picked up by a fellow Bri ton, effectively spoiling the rest of the cutting for Dr. Aziz and Mrs. Moore. What happened in those higher caves that caused Adele to freak and accuse Dr. Aziz of rape? (Now if a terri ble, horrible, no-good, very bad day doesn’t describe that day in Dr. Aziz’s life, I don’t know what does.) One of the best parts of “A Passage to India” is the dan gling ending. OK, so you know what the outcome of the trial is, what actually happened to Mrs. Moore and who everyone ends up marrying, but do you really know what happened in that cave so high above the in quisitive eyes of Mrs. Moore? I think not. No matter how much you try to read into what happens in the cave, you never really figure out what happens. Filmed on location in India, “A Passage to India” shows off that country’s wonderful scen ery. Director David (“Bridge Over The River Kwai”, “Law rence of Arabia” and “Doctor Zhivago”) Lean excells in his use of existing landscape. It’s Lean’s first movie since “Doc tor Zhivago,” and it’s simply wonderful. The only part I could find fault with is the ending. Per haps if Lean had stopped with the outcome of Dr. Aziz’s trial, the ending would have been even more confusing and bet ter. Regardless of this minor detail, a better acted, better written and more beautiful film would be hard to find among the flock of films avail able in the B-CS area this week end.^ By WALTER SMITH Music Revieiver eurthymics 1984 FOR THE LOVE OF BIG BROTHER VIRGIN RECORDS Annie Lennox, the famed gender-bender, and her musi cal accomplice created a dis turbing ripple in the compla cency of stoic UK with this album. Eurythmics originally were contracted to provide the soundtrack to the cinematic version of George Orwell’s 1984.” For their work, they re- c ^ ve d a tidy sum that report edly was in excess of the direc tor s and producer’s wages combined. Annie and Dave se cluded themselves in a Carib bean recording studio and emerged a week later wielding these songs. ,, Th< r film’s executives h ° the music was trash, as did Orwell’s estate. Shortly a ter the movie was released in England, distributors pulled the original version so a new version with a soundtrack of only classical music could be released. They repeated the time ’ this tin fvu m bad a combina- uon of the previous two sound- racks. We’ll have to see what version Americans will get to see when it’s released here late] this year. But until then, you can lister to the album at least. And lis ten you should because Euryth mics sound truly inspired or this LP. But I suppose a group really would have to be en grossed with an idea in ordei to crank out an album’s worth of music in less than a week. The selections of “1984’ range from the elegant and ef fervescent to the secular anc spunky. “Julia” is a largo lan- guishment chock full of pierc ing pathos. “Sexcrime,” on th( other hand, is a torrid tune that just might transform you into a whirling dervish. Eurythmics concocted £ sonic ambience on this LP tha is best experienced in the isola tion of headphones, but it will still sound great blaring from a car’s decrepit A.M. radio. MALCOLM MCLAREN FANS ISLAND RECORDS If anyone would have told me a few months ago that I soon would be dancing at Stu dio 54 to an aria from the Puc cini opera, “Madam Butterfly,” I just would have laughed in his face. But I haven’t uttered even the slightest chuckle be cause that is exactly what tran spired during the Christmas holidays. No, Studio 54 hasn’t gone “artsy,"well, at least not in the legitimate sense. But Malcolm McLaren has melded operatic and popular dance music on his latest vinyl endeavor with veiy intriguing results. While opera purists may take offense to this blasephemous dese cration, they actually should praise McLaren for his innova tive methods of exposing the masses to “culture. ” Besides “Madam Butterfly/ McLaren revamped sections of Puccini’s “Turandot” and “Gianni Schicchi,” as well as Bizet’s “Carmen.” He retains some of the authenticity of the originals by interspersing his street-wise sounds with actual operatic singing. McLaren makes this lesson in art easier by updating the messages into the modern lingo and lifestyles of the aver age unbanite. In his version of “Carmen,” McLaren cast that fielded gypsy as a Time Square hooker. Insightful, perhaps, but I don’t expect this modern izing trend to make its way to the Met. McLaren always is one to veer off at tangents from the norm. From his early days as producer for the likes of the Sex Pistols and Bow Wow Wow to his recent dabblings in “Double Dutch,” he’s been at the lead ing edge of the new music scene. Now he throws opera into the works — and just when you thought you knew what New Wave was all about. ^ -3-