Page 10 - The Behrend College Collegian Thursday, November 13, 1997 Leo, played by Bond Davis, gets support from his friends, left to right, Bo (Joe Getway), Heather (Amanda Pieper), Eddie (Michael Lechner), and Miriam (Jennifer Quadri) in Only You, a comedy playing inthe Studio Theatre. Performances are Novemberl3, 14, and 15 at 8 p.m. and November 16 at 2:30 p.m. For reservations or more information, please call 898-6016. THE, REASOIIS TO EXPO:ZIG - 10E PEEK 71 PEAK KEEP PILITIG Utz* c\s‘ c \ i sN 5 6 D S S ) Nr A 0 S 6 S‘&i 0 41 9c) e e s Peeb'n Pel b 4 T RESORT & CONFERENCE CE ER 1405 Olds Road • Clymer, NY 14724 FL (716) 355-4141 • Fax (7140 355-4541 Features M • 4111 Land and Freedom portrays politics of Spanish Civil War Kristi McKim features editor "Ideas are the basis of us. Un less we win the war, there's no point in having ideology," states David, a young Englishman, in the film Land and Freedom (1995, United Kingdom). Defending one's ide ologies and right to formulate ideas is the primary conflict depicted in this film. The war to which David refers is the Spanish Civil War of the 1930 s—a political struggle of Spanish peasants against the pres sures of a growing fascist European continent. Screened in Reed Lecture Hall Monday, November 10, Land and Freedom is the final film of the Fall Foreign Film Series at Penn State Behrend. Winner of the Felix Award for Best European Film and the International Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film Festi- val, this film presents a focused hu manistic portrait of the larger spread of fascism across Europe. By focusing on the effects of so cial unrest and war upon a few char acters, director Ken Loach captures the comradeship and emotional re lationships which are bolstered and/ or disrupted by political upheaval. The issue of land collectivization is debated in a particularly impor tant scene of a community meet- ing; the people practice their demo cratic rights by voting to collectiv ize the land. Thus, capitalism and private ownership develop into communism and collectivization primarily by means of the people's democratic choice. In this way, the film suggests an alternative to the free market economy, as it upholds the necessity for shared ownership and communistic ideals. The audience is reminded of the key role of the land in this film, as extensive scenes of the landscape's rolling hills and rich green mead ows affirm the splendor of land— and its centrality to the issues ad dressed within the film. The land figures as a primary character, as even the film's title, Land and Free director Ken Loach captures the comradeship and emotional rela tionships which are bolstered and/or disrupted by political upheaval. dom, equates a direct correlation between the people's freedom and control of the land. While Loach should be com mended for his detailed portrait of humanity in a time of crisis, con siderable concerns arise with regard to the film's ethnocentricity. Cer tainly, Land and Freedom calls at tention to the plight of Spanish peasants in the early half of this century; but it does not do so with- 1 4.4 " 0c ) out establishing the English man as the center of the film. The Englishman, David (lan Hart), serves as the settler, leader, and mediator who interferes with and attempts to assimilate into this collectivized, international militia. In scenes where the Spanish, Irish, Scottish, French, Italian, and American soldiers debate the po litical tactics for their joint affilia tion, David is portrayed as the only character who can bring the people to act rationally and cooperatively. Because of this, the film seems to suggest a centrality of the English culture, within a narrative which seems originally intended to illus trate the importance of the Spanish people's freedom and autonomy. In order for the film to affirm the Spaniards' own pursuit of freedom, though, it should not in clude an Englishman as its primary character. Beyond these problems of ethnocen tricity, the film provides an insight, however "Anglicized," into an im portant event of global history. By emphasizing the sources of conflict (via debate and dialogue) rather than the actual bloody battle scenes, the film becomes a political docu ment in itself—it affirms one's free dom to pursue humanistic concerns regardless of consequence. os?\ 4*- -ft • .
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers