John Rabe (5 Stars)

"John Rabe", directed by Florian Gallenberger, dramatises the extraordinary true story of John Rabe, a German businessman who helped save thousands of Chinese civilians during the Nanjing Massacre of 1937. The film follows Rabe, played by Ulrich Tukur, as he reluctantly becomes the head of the Nanking Safety Zone Committee, organising a refuge for civilians while Japanese troops occupy the city.

The film's most striking element is Tukur's restrained performance. He portrays Rabe not as a conventional hero but as a pragmatic administrator who gradually realises the moral weight of his position. This understated approach helps ground the film amid the harrowing historical backdrop. The supporting cast, including Daniel Brühl and Steve Buscemi, add an international dimension that reflects the multinational effort behind the safety zone.

While the film inevitably condenses events and simplifies some political complexities, it succeeds in highlighting a little known chapter of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Its depiction of the violence in Nanjing is disturbing without becoming gratuitous, keeping the focus on the humanitarian struggle rather than spectacle.

Overall, "John Rabe" is a sober historical drama that sheds light on a remarkable figure whose actions saved many lives during one of the darkest episodes of the twentieth century.

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Reservoir Dogs (5 Stars)

Michael Madsen is dead.

I heard the news late last night. It saddens me, because he was an outstanding actor. I have about a dozen films in which he appears, most of them directed by Quentin Tarantino. I wasn't sure what film of his to watch today, and then I read that he's best known for his role as the psychopathic Vic Vega in "Reservoir Dogs". After a few minutes thought I agreed with this statement, but actually he's hardly known at all. He's an actor that only dedicated film fans know. When I mention him to my friends the reaction is "Michael who?" It's only when I mention a few films that they say, "Ah, so that was him".

In case you're one of the people who doesn't know him – which I doubt if you're reading my blog – he's the man who dances to "Stuck in the middle with you" by Stealers Wheel while torturing a policeman. I'm not a fan of the song, fortunately, because the scene has ruined it for me. Every time I hear the song I can't help thinking of Michael Madsen dancing with a knife.

"Reservoir Dogs" is a milestone in the history of cinema. It was an independent film that proved that independent films could have great artistic value. It took a few years to be recognised, but now it's a cult film which has a lasting legacy. There were many famous actors in the film, but Michael Madsen, relatively unknown at the time, contributed to its success.

The film opens with a scene in a restaurant in which eight men are sitting at a table discussing popular music and tips. Mr. Pink refuses to tip and complains that waitresses have to pay taxes on their tips. That was 1992. Now Donald Trump has passed a law that tips are no longer taxed. Good for him. His opponents claim that he's only done this to gain favour with lower paid voters, but I think it's something he always had on his mind. I too have always considered it somehow immoral to tax tips. Tips are a gift that I give a waitress out of the goodness of my heart, so the IRS shouldn't take part of it. Mr. Pink thinks it's wrong, so do I, and so does Donald Trump. That's one of the few good laws that he's passed since becoming president.

Farewell, Michael Madsen. You'll be missed by your friends and fans.

Success Rate:  + 0.3

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Reservoir Dogs (5 Stars)

Today I finally saw "Reservoir Dogs" in the cinema, 30 years too late. I just have one question:

Who shot Nice Guy Eddie?

Success Rate:  + 0.3

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John Rabe (5 Stars)

True Stories #31

Name: John Rabe

Lived: 23 November 1882 – 5 January 1950

Film dates: November to December 1937

Film made in 2009

John Rabe was one of the greatest heroes of the 20th Century, but his name is hardly known outside of China. In his home country he never found recognition for what he'd done. When he returned home to Germany in 1938 he was considered a traitor, because he spoke out against Germany's ally Japan. After the Second World War the allied forces considered him to be a Nazi, so he wasn't able to work and lived in poverty.

John Rabe was the head of Siemens in Nanking. The film says nothing about his life prior to November 1937, so I'll have to fill it in. He was sent to China in 1910, so he missed the horrors of the First World War. As a patriotic German he supported Adolf Hitler when he came into power. He was naive. He thought Hitler was a good man. As a German living so far from home in a pre-Internet age I would probably have thought the same.

He didn't just love Germany, he loved his new country. He cared for his Chinese workers. It wasn't just about them doing their work. He taught them other things, such as the Nazi salute. He wanted to make good Germans out of them.

Then Japan invaded China. The conquest didn't happen overnight. It takes months to overpower a large country. When the attacks on Nanking began, John Rabe saw it as his responsibility to protect the Chinese. First he protected his workers, and then he allowed people from the city to take refuge within the Siemens compound.

When the Japanese attacked, John Rabe called his workers to hide beneath a German flag. As soon as they saw the swastika, the Japanese aircraft turned away. It may seem strange to us looking back, but the Chinese saw the swastika as the symbol of hope.

The atrocities of the Japanese occupying forces were horrific, but what's worst is that they considered their actions noble. The Japanese army didn't keep prisoners, they killed any Chinese soldiers that they captured. Japanese officers who were descended from samurai showed off the enemies they'd decapitated, and the photos were published in Japanese newspapers. The Germans also carried out atrocities, but at least they didn't boast about them.

Valerie Dupres was the headmistress of the International Girls College in Nanking.

Robert Wilson was an American doctor struggling to save lives, a difficult task when he had to perform operations with anaesthetics.

With the help of Valerie Dupres, Dr. Wilson and a few others, John Rabe created a safety zone that was (mostly) off limits to Japanese soldiers. It offered protection to 200,000 Chinese civilians.

Over the last 70 years it's become customary to talk about war crimes. It's expected that wars are carried out in a civil matter. The Geneva Convention is older, predating both world wars, but not every country adhered to it. Japan definitely didn't. At the risk of sounding cynical, it's my belief that wars can't be fought fairly. The main priority of a war is to win, not to minimise the casualties of the other side. That's something Vladimir Putin understands. He doesn't care about collateral damage, as long as Russia wins. When Russian forces are marching across Europe slaughtering men, women and children, it will be a mistake to retaliate fairly. The only thing a despot like Putin understands is force. If we don't fight back hard, he'll never stop.

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Pulp Fiction (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #50

This is Quentin Tarantino's second film, made in 1994, two years after "Reservoir Dogs". Many of the scenes look like a reunion of the Reservoir Dogs actors. Of the six dogs, four of the actors appear in "Pulp Fiction": Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi and Tim Roth. Their characters were all killed in "Reservoir Dogs", so some people have come to the conclusion that "Pulp Fiction" is a prequel that takes place in the same universe as "Reservoir Dogs". This is reinforced by the fact that a fifth Reservoir Dog (Vic Vega) has the same family name as one of the gangsters in "Pulp Fiction" (Vincent Vega). This is impossible, because the Reservoir Dogs were men who didn't know one another's names. It's not a shared universe, it's just Quentin Tarantino using good actors that he's worked with before.

I'm aware that it's not just these two films. There have been attempts to tie all of Quentin Tarantino's films together, including "From Dusk Till Dawn". That's just ridiculous. Is Mia Wallace the same person as Beatrix Kiddo in "Kill Bill"? Impossible! I've read the arguments in favour of a single universe, the Tarantinoverse, but I shan't quote them here because I don't believe they hold up. The only thing I like about the theories is that the word Tarantinoverse sounds so cool.

Most films tell a story with a single consistent narrative, unless they're true stories. A typical film goes from A to B with only minor deviations. "Pulp Fiction" is full of random incidents which have an influence on the main narrative. This gives "Pulp Fiction" the feeling of a true story, without it actually being true. Important characters are introduced late in the film. If someone who had never seen the film read a summary of the plot he'd say it's bad screenwriting. It breaks all the rules. And yet the end result is a work of pure brilliance.

The gangsters Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent (John Travolta) are professional killers. They're friends who work together for their boss, Marcellus Wallace, but there's one big difference between them: Jules believes in miracles, Vincent doesn't. Only Jules survives to the end of the film. Is it his faith that saves him? I'll let you decide for yourself.

This is a trademark Quentin Tarantino scene of people looking into a car trunk, although Vincent is distracted. Maybe a girl dressed in a mini-skirt is walking by.

Here's another Quentin Tarantino trademark, a foot close up. Do you recognise the actress? I'll give the answer at the bottom of this post, so don't read on until you know.

I shan't keep you in suspense with the second actress with naked feet. It's Angela Jones, playing a barefoot taxi driver called Esmarelda. I don't get it. Isn't it too difficult to drive a car without shoes?

Never mind the feet, I'm more interested in Angela's beautiful face. There's an aura of evil about her. Is it just the way she looks in the film? I'll never know.

The film is well known for its non-linear narrative. Today I watched it while asking myself if it would be better if the scenes had been re-ordered to make the film chronological (with slight rewriting, of course). For the first half of the film I wasn't sure, but by the end of the film I was convinced that the non-linear narrative is advantageous to the plot. The first half tells Vincent's story, and the second half tells Jules' story, even though they appear together in some of the scenes.

Did you recognise the feet in my little test? They belong to Uma Thurman. We'll see a lot more of them in "Kill Bill".

Success Rate:  + 24.7

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Despite the recently added daisy-chaining of my top 100 posts, here's a summary of my films so far as an assistance to my new readers.

51. Evita (1996)
52. Assaunt on Precinct 13 (1976)
53. Death Proof (2007)
54. Falling Down (1993)
55. Adaptation (2002)
56. The Raid 2 (2014)
57. Summer in Orange (2011)
58. Flowers of War (2011)
59. Scream (1996)
60. Scream 2 (1997)
61. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
62. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
63. The Gift (2000)
64. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
65. Ip Man (2008)
66. Ip Man 2 (2010)
67. Snatch (2000)
68. Lock, stock and two smoking barrels (1998)
69. Tragedy Girls (2017)
70. Gladiator (2000)
71. Enter the Dragon (1973)
72. Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
73. The Legend of 1900 (1998)
74. Young Frankenstein (1974)
75. The Virgin Psychics (2015)
76. The Man who would be King (1975)
77. John Rabe (2009)
78. The Paperboy (1994)
79. The Walk (2015)
80. Perfume (2006)
81. The Green Mile (1999)
82. Little Nicky (2000)
83. Monster (2003)
84. Gloomy Sunday (1999)
85. We are the night (2010)
86. Dark Water (2002)
87. What to do in case of fire (2001)
88. The Shining (1980)
89. Azumi (2003/2005)
90. The Mummy (1999)
91. Wie Feuer und Flamme (2001)
92. Attack of the 50 Foot Centerfold (1995)
94. Titanic (1997)
95. Mad City (1997)
96. Leon (1994)
97. Iron Rose (1973)
98. Kick-Ass (2010)
99. Rush Hour (1998)
100. Bella Martha (2001)

Reservoir Dogs (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #61

It's difficult to define what a cult film is, but if any film is a cult film it has to be "Reservoir Dogs". It's an independent film that was made with a (relatively) low budget. It went almost unnoticed when it was released in 1992, and it wasn't fully appreciated until it was released on videotape in 1995. Critics went overboard with praise, some calling it the greatest independent film of all time. Video rental stores could hardly keep up with the demand.

The film is deliciously minimalistic. With the exception of flashbacks, the whole film takes place in an empty warehouse. The film is about a jewel robbery, but we don't see the robbery itself. The robbery is described in detail in the conversations in the warehouse. We don't need to see it. It's possible that the reason for omitting the robbery was to save money, but it gives the film greater artistic value.

The flashbacks show the planning for the robbery, although the robbers spend more time talking about other things than the robbery itself. The conversations are what make the film. This is the trademark of all films written by Quentin Tarantino, whether he directs them or not.

Nina Siemaszko didn't quite make it into the film. Her only scene was deleted.

It's a shame. She seems like a fun character. Quentin Tarantino probably decided that she didn't fit the film's style. He wanted to make an all-male film.

"Reservoir Dogs" is a perfect film. I can't fault it in any way. I can only fault myself for putting it so low in my top films list.

Success Rate:  + 0.3

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John Rabe (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #77

I always say that you should be careful judging people by their religious or political affiliations. That's something I have to say to myself. For instance, if I meet someone who says that he voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election I immediately have a stereotyped picture of the person in my head. Based on this one piece of information I think that I know what the person is about. That's wrong. I should take time to talk to the person and get to know him better. That might modify my opinion about him.

John Rabe, who was the head of Siemens in Nanking in the 1930's, was a Nazi. Nazis are bad, aren't they? "Well", you might say, "some people were just party members without subscribing to Nazi policies". That didn't apply to John Rabe. He was head of the local Nazi Party in Nanjing, which was made up mostly of Siemens employees.

So he must have been a bad man? Wait! There's one more thing you need to know about him. He loved China and he loved the Chinese. That put him in a conflict of interests with the German government, which was Japan's ally at the time. When Japan attacked the city of Nanjing, committing countless terrible atrocities,  John Rabe wrote to Adolf Hitler personally, asking him to intervene. He received no reply to his letter, but when he returned to Germany in early 1938, he was arrested as a traitor.

What did he do in China that made him a traitor? He set up an International Safety Zone in Nanking, which saved the lives of more than 200,000 Chinese. Nevertheless, the Japanese still killed 300,000 civilians in Nanking, most of them within a single week in December 1937. After the war the generals responsible were executed as war criminals, but Japan is still in a state of denial. In the 1980's the generals were posthumously pardoned. Japanese historians now claim that no more than 200 civilians were killed. They ignore the proof shown in photos smuggled out of Nanjing.

The Japanese occupying forces acted with impunity. Captured Chinese soldiers were executed. Women were raped. There were competitions among the officers about who could behead the most prisoners with a sword. There were reports of these competitions in Japanese newspapers at the time, which must be an embarrassment for modern Japanese historians.

John Rabe was a hero. In Germany he's a forgotten hero. It's not usual to sing the praises of Nazis. In China he's still remembered, and children learn about him in school. He was the Good Nazi of Nanjing.

The film has been made with documentary precision. There's an international cast of German, Chinese, Japanese and American actors. I greatly praise the German director Florian Gallenberger for casting actors of the correct nationalities, so there's no mix up of the accents. Unfortunately, the film's original version with everyone speaking their own languages is only available on the German Blu-ray. All international versions are dubbed. Even the German DVD release has the Chinese and Japanese dialogue dubbed into German. I'm listing the different versions in the box below, but I can only recommend the German Blu-ray, even if you're an English speaker. It has English subtitles as well, so it's worth buying it as an import.

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Fargo (5 Stars)

Today is the first time I've watched "Fargo", even though it was made long ago in 1996. It was a gap in my film education. Watching it today, I was stunned. It was nothing like what I expected. Despite its low key pacing, it's very Tarantino-ish in its screenplay. There are so many random elements that have nothing to do with the story, technically speaking, but by being included the characters are stronger and the whole film is better rounded. Think of all the talk about quarter pounders in "Pulp Fiction". Not relevant, maybe, but it's part of what makes the film a masterpiece. In "Fargo" we have the painting for a postage stamp and the emotionally unstable ex-boyfriend, to name just two small details. Genius! This is a film I should have watched 24 years ago.

Have my readers all seen it already? It's a story about a simple plan that goes terribly wrong. A car salesman wants to extort a million dollars from his rich father-in-law, so he pays two crooks to kidnap his own wife and hold her for ransom. What should have been a smooth operation turns into a disaster as the body count slowly rises.

The story takes place in the snow-covered plains of Minnesota. Without the desolate white background the film would only have been half as interesting.

Success Rate:  + 6.7

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Kumiko The Treasure Hunter (4 Stars)

First I'd like to make a few short remarks about the film's title. There's no comma. There's no colon. It's exactly as shown above in the poster, "Kumiko The Treasure Hunter". That might seem like a grammatical error, but the director David Zellner says that he put a lot of thought into the use of the comma and finally decided against it. Unfortunately, everyone has chosen to ignore his wishes. The Blu-ray disc in my hand has a comma after "Kumiko", the IMDB page uses a comma, and the English Wikipedia page uses a comma. He says he wants to imitate the title of "Aguirre The Wrath Of God", in which no comma is used. Really? I've used commas in my reviews of the film, but I rushed to check my Blu-ray (the German edition), and there it is: "Aguirre Der Zorn Gottes", without a comma or colon. That would normally be incorrect in German as well. English releases are inconsistent; some use a comma, some don't.

The connection with "Aguirre" is no coincidence. In the film Kumiko compares herself with a Spanish Conquistador. I didn't listen to the director's commentary until after I watched the film, but now I can see the underlying similarities. If you compare Kumiko with Aguirre, in her moods and her determination, the director's vision becomes clearer.

Kumiko is 29 and lives in a small apartment in Tokyo with her rabbit Bunzo. Her life is dreary. Her office job is boring, and after work she eats pot noodles in the dark. Nothing interests her, until she finds a video tape buried in a cave by the beach. It's the film "Fargo". She watches it, and she's convinced that it's a true story. In the film a suitcase is buried containing a million dollars. Kumiko wants to find the money, even though it's on the other side of the world.

Kumiko flies to Minneapolis using a stolen company credit card. She has no idea of the distance involved. Fargo is 250 miles from the airport. She's so impatient to reach her goal that when her bus breaks down and has to wait for repair, she doesn't wait, she attempts to walk the rest of the distance on foot.

The film has the slow-burning style of the Cohen Brothers films, and could almost be called a sequel to "Fargo", but it adds other elements. Her journey through America, particularly the people that she meets on the way, reminds me of Nicolas Cage's journey in "Wild at Heart". It's not an easy movie to watch, but the beautiful cinematography more than makes up for the slow pace.

The only question I have to ask myself is why Kumiko even cares about finding the money. She shows so little interest in her life that I can't imagine what she would want to spend the money on. A bigger house for eating pot noodles? It seems that the treasure hunt is the goal in itself. She thinks that if she can find the treasure it will prove to everyone, especially herself, that she can achieve something. I can imagine her finding the suitcase with the money, then putting it on a pedestal, never wanting to spend it.

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The Dead Don't Die (4 Stars)

Jim Jarmusch is never predictable. Every new film is a surprise for the audiences. We never know what to predict. "The Dead Don't Die" isn't a surprise because it's a zombie film, but because it's so funny. It's a zombie comedy with the emphasis on the comedy. I honestly thought Jim Jarmusch was too serious to make a film like this.

The setting is Centerville, a small American town presumably in the centre of the USA. It only has 738 inhabitants, but it has a diner, a motel, a hardware store, a funeral parlour, a cemetery, a police station, a juvenile detention centre, an old people's home and a gas station. That's all any town needs, isn't it? The only thing I can think of that's missing is a church, but there must have been one. It wasn't shown because it wasn't important to the plot. What about a school? In a town that small the children are probably sent by bus to the next large town.

Polar fracking has tipped the Earth off its axis and changed the speed of rotation. This has caused the dead to rise from the graves as zombies. The main characters are the policemen Cliff Robertson and Ronnie Peterson, played by Bill Murray and Adam Driver. (I wonder if the similarity of the the name Peterson to Adam Driver's character in Jim Jarmusch's last film, "Paterson", is deliberate).

Ronnie repeatedly breaks the fourth wall by referring to things outside of the film. He knows that things will end badly because he's read the script. This adds to the film's hilarity.

I can imagine that this isn't a film that everyone will like. Jim Jarmusch's films are always a matter of taste. I didn't even like "Only Lovers Left Alive" until the second time I saw it. The cinema audience today seemed to enjoy it, judging by the laughter throughout the room. I can recommend it to my readers. If you don't like it, watch it a second time. Then tell me what you think. That's what my comments box is for.

The film's theme song, "The Dead Don't Die" by Sturgill Simpson, is the most blood curdling thing about the film. I shuddered every time it played. It will give me nightmares when I close my eyes tonight.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (4 Stars)

As a child Albert Weinselstein was bullied. Nobody liked him. On his tenth birthday his mother bought him a magic kit, featuring a promotional videotape by the stage magician Rance Holloway. One of the first things Rance said was that everyone loves magicians, so Burt's future career path was fixed. He wanted to be loved and admired. While practising magic tricks in school he attracted the attention of a sickly boy called Anthony Mertz, also an outsider. They became friends and partners in magic.

15 years later they're stage magicians. They're given an exclusive contract to work at Bally's Casino in Las Vegas. As Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelton they become the world's most famous magicians.

But all isn't good beneath the surface. Burt has become arrogant. He has a string of one-night stands with women he meets at his shows, and he mistreats the people he works with, including his old friend Anton.

Times are changing. After 10 years of performing the same tricks at Bally's, the audiences start to dwindle. People prefer to watch an amateur magician called Steve Gray, who does spectacular stunts on the streets of Las Vegas that he broadcasts online as webisodes.

Burt and Anton's boss, the casino owner Doug Munny, suggests that they do new tricks that are more like Steve's. They should try to appeal to younger audiences. Their attempts to change their style fail. They split up and lose their contract at Bally's.

This is a very good film that shows what really happens in the glitzy world of Las Vegas. Steve Carrell is appropriately shallow as Burt Wonderstone, and Jim Carrey has manic brilliance as a street magician, while James Gandolfini plays himself, charming and charismatic. We know that he must be ruthless and evil as a millionaire businessman, but his bad qualities are well hidden.

After watching the film I had a nagging feeling that something was wrong. Something prevents it winning my top rating. After thinking about it over a coffee I have the answer. The comedy elements in the film are inappropriate. Overall the film isn't a comedy, but comic moments are intermittently thrown into the film to make the audience laugh. The film would have been more effective if the comedy had been cut. The pathos and the tragedy would have been more powerful without the jokes.

Nevertheless, the film didn't deserve to be a box office failure. I recommend that you watch it and leave a comment to tell me what you think.

Success Rate:  - 1.2

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The Death of Stalin (5 Stars)

I was lucky to be able to buy this film for a cheap price on Blu-ray so soon after the cinema release. It was on special offer at Amazon, and it seems I placed my order at just the right time. The price is now back to its usual level, over twice as high as what I paid. If there's something you want you ought to check prices regularly.

The film is a comedy, but it's a very dark comedy. So much of it is too true to be funny, but we can't help laughing at it anyway. Stalin was a hero in his lifetime, to the Russian people at least, but as soon as he was dead he was vilified by his successors who exposed all the evil he had done. The same will happen with Vladimir Putin. At the moment he's popular in Russia. Almost everyone believes his lies. After his death the history books will be rewritten, and Putin will be remembered as the most evil ruler of the 21st Century.

I hope his death will be soon, before he gets a chance to start World War Three.

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Addendum on 24th October 2018

Would you believe it? Today somebody asked me what the picture has to do with the film. If he'd watched the film he would know, but okay, my blog is supposed to be for people who haven't watched the films I write about. It's a picture of Andrea Riseborough who plays the part of Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Stalina. Now you know. The photos I publish in my blog may be obscure at times, but they're always relevant. Almost always. It depends on my mood.

Reservoir Dogs (5 Stars)

This is a film that came out of nowhere. Even though elements were borrowed from other classic films, nothing like it had ever been made before. It was an independent film made at a time when independent films were assumed to have low production quality. "Reservoir Dogs" was a milestone in independent film making, the proof that a film could have outstanding artistic quality on a small budget, in this case only $1.2 million.

Even though "Reservoir Dogs" was a commercial success, relative to its budget, it remained relatively unknown after its release. Most film fans didn't watch it until after the success of "Pulp Fiction" two years later.

When speaking about the film many people concentrate on its violence. Yes, the film has occasional bursts of violence, and for most of the film a man is lying bleeding on a ramp, but that's not what the film is about. What makes "Reservoir Dogs" outstanding is the conversations between the characters. This begins in the opening scene when there's a discussion on the meaning of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" which progresses into a debate on whether or not to tip waitresses. This became the trademark for Quentin Tarantino's films. We get to know the characters through what they talk about, even if the conversations are irrelevant to the plot of the film itself.

I didn't include "Reservoir Dogs" in my list of 30 films to watch before you die. I picked "Pulp Fiction" instead as an example of Tarantino's films. In retrospect I think I made the wrong choice. "Pulp Fiction" is maybe a better film, but "Reservoir Dogs" has greater significance in the history of cinema.

Success Rate:  + 0.3

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The Death of Stalin (5 Stars)

I had to wait a long time. This film was released in British cinemas last October, and my friends were telling me how good it was, some even calling it the best film of the year. It took a whole six months to find its way into German cinemas, much longer than the usual two to four week delay. The cinema was packed, even though it was shown in English.

The film is about the death of the Russian dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953. It's always a catastrophe when a country's leader dies, but it's even worse when a dictator dies, because the whole government is built around his person. Added to this is the problem that it's more common for the leader of a dictatorship to die than the leader of a democracy, because in democracies the leaders usually resign from office when they get older. Dictators cling to power until their last breath.

"The Death of Stalin" keeps close to the historical facts, but it makes fun of them for the purpose of humour. A typical joke is that when Stalin collapses they can't call a doctor because Stalin has had all the doctors in Moscow executed. While it's certainly not true that Stalin killed all the doctors in Moscow, the satirical humour is obvious. Stalin was the most evil ruler ever in Russia, totally paranoid in his efforts to cling to power. It's estimated that he killed at least 10 million Russians, maybe as many as 50 million, making him a bigger murderer than Adolf Hitler.

This film has been banned in Russia because it insults their former glorious leader. The Russian government claims it's a propaganda film made by the British government. That's typical. Dictatorships don't understand that in democratic countries the government has nothing to do with making films.

It should be noted, if this film had been made any time between 1959 and 1999 it wouldn't have been banned in Russia. Shortly after his death Stalin was denounced as a tyrant by his successor, Nikita Khrushchev. For at least 40 years he was considered an enemy of the Russian people. This changed when Vladimir Putin came to power. Putin admires Stalin and has made him a hero in the eyes of the Russian people. Putin sees himself as a new Stalin, a strong man who can wage war and kill millions.

The film is excellent. The cinema audience was laughing loud throughout. On screen people were shooting one another in the chaotic aftermath of Stalin's death, and it was hilarious. I already know that this will be one of my top 10 films of 2018.

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P.S. Before I left the house my son-in-law said that it's wrong to go to the cinema on Easter Monday. People should stay at home. Maybe he's more Christian than I am and knows a Bible verse that I haven't read yet.

The Ridiculous 6 (3 Stars)

In the mid 19th Century a white boy was found by the Apaches after the murder of his mother. He was given the name White Knife and brought up as the son of the chief. 25 years later he's shortly before his marriage to Smoking Fox, when his real father, Frank Stockburn, finds him and tells him his name is Tommy. Frank has been an outlaw all his life, but now he only has a few months to live, and he wants to make amends by giving Tommy the $50,000 he stole in his career. He tells Tommy where the money is buried, but the next morning his old gang members arrive and want the money. He gives them a false location, and they take Frank with him in case he's lying.

Tommy wants to dig up the money and give it to the gang to save his father's life, but he can't find it. The only way he can raise so much money at short notice is by robbery, but the Indian chief has taught him to be an honourable man. However, he tells Tommy that it's permissible to steal money from bad people, so Tommy sets out in pursuit of the gang, robbing on the way, but only taking money from other bandits or from banks in towns that don't have a church.

On his travels he discovers that his father used to be a lady's man. He finds five boys who were illegitimately conceived by women his father had used on his travels. These five boys join up with Tommy on the quest to rescue their father.

The film see-saws between brilliant hilarity and stupidly tasteless scenes. The funniest scene is a gunman being beheaded but continuing to shoot. The most disgusting scene is a donkey with diarrhoea. The film profits from majestically filmed scenery, but the story itself is dull, and I found the use of dim-witted characters in the lead roles annoying. Two of my favourite actors, Harvey Keitel and Steve Buscemi, appear in supporting roles, but they're not enough to win the film a higher rating.

Adam Sandler plays the lead role of Tommy Stockburn aka White Knife. His beautiful wife Jackie Sandler plays an Indian squaw called Never Wears Bra. To be fair, no Indians ever wore bras, but in Jackie's case it's obvious. Bras weren't invented until 1889, so no white women wore bras either.

"The Ridiculous 6" is a Netflix original film. It isn't available on disc, it's exclusive to Netflix. Now that Netflix finally streams films in full HD resolution with Google Chrome it's a more attractive web site.

John Rabe (5 Stars)

This film caused a stir when it was released in Germany in 2009. It tells the story of a forgotten hero, a German who saved 200,000 lives by standing up to the Japanese empire in 1937. At least, he's been forgotten in Germany. In China he's considered to be a hero of mythical proportions. A memorial plaque presented to Germany by the Chinese government in 2012 calls him a living Buddha.

So why was he forgotten in Germany? The answer is simple: John Rabe was a Nazi. In Germany it's not considered respectable to praise Nazis. John Rabe wasn't just a party member, he was more than a Mitläufer, he was an ardent follower of Adolf Hitler. He even wrote poems about Hitler.

To be fair, John Rabe really didn't know what was going on in Germany. He was sent to work for Siemens in China in 1911 and remained there until 1938. He missed the First World War. All he knew about Hitler was what he read in the newspapers, and due to the successful propaganda machinery the news was all good. He can be forgiven for believing that Hitler was a magnificent leader who would lead Germany to greatness.

When the Japanese army attacked Nanking John Rabe was given a ticket to return to Germany. He refused to leave. He remained to create a security zone, a demilitarised refuge for the Chinese. The Japanese killed 300,000 men, women and children, most of them within a single week in December 1937. John Rabe's security zone saved the lives of 200,000 others.

There are different versions of this film available, in German, English and Chinese. I recommend the original version, which is only available on the German Blu-ray release. This is the version that keeps all the original dialogue, spoken in German, English, Chinese and Japanese, with appropriate sub-titles. Even the German DVD release only contains the German language version with all the other languages dubbed.

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