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FLICKS: The People vs. Fritz Bauer, Sully and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week

Posted on 15 September 2016 by LeslieM

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

The People vs. Fritz Bauer is a slice of history from the 1950s. The film details German Jewish concentration camp survivor Fritz Bauer’s (Burghart Klaußner) in pursuit of Arch-Nazi bureaucrat Adolph Eichman (Michael Schenk). Despite his moral justification, Bauer is vexed by his German colleagues and meddling supervisors. Bauer pursues another course of action with the Israel Secret Service organization, Mossad.

Spoken in German with English subtitles, The People vs. Fritz Bauer is a backstage drama about a thrilling subject. We witness a happy domestic life in Argentina as Eichmann assumes another identity of a respective neighbor. Bauer and his agents are in hot pursuit, but closeted secrets nearly derail bringing in this undercover Nazi. The People vs. Fritz Bauer opens tomorrow.

On a far more happier historical subject, Sully opened with stellar box office numbers. Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks in the title role, Sully is an action-packed thriller. Given that many of us know the ending of the story, it is a miracle that this film holds an audience in suspense. Then again, this film should not have been titled Sully, but Miracle on the Hudson.

Sully opens with the title character and his copilot, Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) being investigated for landing a jet airliner in the Hudson River. Research and computer simulation makes the claim that the jet had enough fuel to return to LaGuardia Airport 30 seconds after landing. Given his 40+ years of flight experience, Sully insists that landing in the Hudson River saved 150 lives and that the computer projections are wrong.

The central conflict of Sully is man vs. machine. The special effects enhance this theme as we witness the plane landing on the Hudson from three different perspectives. Yet, it is the heroism of the New Yorkers that makes Sully such an enjoyable film. Given that this incident happened a mere eight years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Sully reveals the redemption of the American character. If the primadonna behavior of overpaid professional athletes is making you feel down, then go see the behavior of real Americans in Sully.

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week. This documentary directed by Ron Howard features 30 minutes of actual footage from the Shea Stadium concert and concludes with the final Beatles concert in Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Produced by the surviving Beatles and their widows, this film will be shown at Silverspot Cinema in Coconut Creek (www.silverspot.net) and at Savor Cinema in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend with special events. (www.fliff.com).

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