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Hey Y'all:
[Sorry, about the cross-posting, but I thought castle-heads might well want
to see this also...]
I watched The Mists of Avalon tonight and thought I'd give y'all the heads
up for future showings of it on TNT (URL for more info:
http://alt.tnt.tv/movies/tntoriginals/mists/). So here it is:
Part II, Monday, July 16, 2001
8 p.m., 10 p.m., 12 a.m. (actually July 17th)
Parts I and II together, Friday, July 20, 2001
8p.m., and again at 12 a.m. (actually July 21st);
Parts I and II together again on Monday, July 30, 2001
8 p.m.
Certainly this film is terrific visually and has a great cast. The whole mis
en scène of the film is quite good -- the feel, the music, everything is
spot on! I am not mad for the voice-over technique in film narratives, but
it's working pretty well here so far. I think I have to recommend it even if
it can never be what the book is. I hadn't reread the book since it came out
all those years ago (probably an advantage in watching this film since then
I can't wince everytime they miss some significant point of the novel), but
so far I think the movie is good by comparison even if it is a little
sketchy because of the problems of developing the plot and characters of an
epic storyline within the constraints of a 3+ hour film.
One of the things I am finding really interesting is the manner in which
pagan beliefs are NOT championed in the way I recall the book championing
them. Viviane, in particular, is coming off as quite manipulative and
somewhat reprehensible. Given the context, it is easy to agree with
Morgaine's view of Viviane by the end of this first installment. Its easy
to see that one of Bradley's purposes in telling the story as she does is to
develop a tragic element in the lives of those burdened with ruling over the
lives of others, as are The Lady of Lake and The Merlin. The tragedy here is
that Viviane's schemes are too far-reaching, and heavy-handed -- she is
guilty of an almost "Greek level" of hubris. She really will stop at
nothing to obtain the fruition of her schemes! And THAT is her essential
flaw -- her otherwise perfect plans come to nothing because she forgets that
she is working within the affairs of humans FOR humans -- and those people
whose lives she effects, and their OWN obvious human motivations, are
ignored to the peril of Viviane's grander schemes. It's like a salmon trying
to go upstream in a waterfall a thousand feet high -- it just will not happen!
Ultimately, the plot is such that a very even-hand is evident in this
telling of the conflict between paganism and Xtianity. Too bad, you damn
Xtians won that conflict -- of course, things have been looking up for the
other side in the last fifty years or so...
=oP
-- Hop-Frog (blessed froggy be...)
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