Sunday, July 06, 2025

Les oliviers de la justice (1962)

 English title: The Olive Trees of Justice.

In the late 1950s, a man returns to his native Algeria to be beside his dying father. He remembers his childhood in his father's farm and experiences the current turmoils in Algeria.

This film's main attractiveness is its location shooting in the streets of Algeria and at its countryside. The storyline provides some reflexive views about identity and colonialism. The acting and mise-en-scène is not really very polished, and overall the film is a little dull in some parts. 

The title is a little mysterious, because, although there are olives in the farm, it's really a vineyard, not an olive plantation (at least that's what the film shows us). So, a more appropriate title would be The Grapes of Justice; perhaps the author thought it would be too much like The Grapes of Wrath, which, either way, seems to be the inspiration for the source novel's title. 

Another mystery, which perhaps the novel clarifies, is how the protagonist finally decided to stay in Algeria. That decision is revealed in the captions in the beginning of the film, and, though apparently confirmed in the very last sentence he utters (in thought only), is not preceded by any previous hint; I guess the implication is that he resisted that decision till the very end, and suddenly all the events in the movie overflowed into it. But how realistic that is, considering that his wife and children are still in France, is an open question. How sincere it is from the part of an author who, himself, did not make that decision (he lived in France until his death), is also dubious.

Rating: 43

Wednesday, July 02, 2025

Cancel My Reservation (1972)

 Second viewing; previously viewed on May 29, 2020.

I decided to view this film again because I didn't understand some of the dialogue on my first viewing. I reviewed it on that date, and maybe I was a little too harsh on it:

A TV show host living in New York takes a vacation in Arizona and is framed for the murder of a young Native American woman. His wife joins him and both join efforts to prove his innocence. The owner of a big ranch is involved in some shady businesses and might be the culprit.

This film has a mix of serious criminal drama and comic gags. Most of it does not work, but can be viewed with a small effort. Some of the one-liners are funny but most are just intrusive.

Rating: 39 (unchanged)