The sheltering sky, this film is something. It’s hard to put into words or describe completely It is an experience that will give you a feeling that by the end of it you may not be truly able to discern what it is that you were left with.
I could go on and on about the cinematography which is brilliant and well composed, and the score that has such a grandiose nature to it but yet a haunting hollow undertone beneath it I could go on about that, but that’s not the film. The film is to me a meditation on what it really means when you’re trying to escape from emptiness when you’re so desperately scared of what will happen to you when you are left with nothing except your fears, the worst parts of yourselves and how far you’ll go running into the sun we seem like freedom when in reality all it is is bringing you closer to death.
The performances by John Malkovich and Deborah Winger are so subtle, maximalist at times and almost melodramatic. which, in a way brilliantly describes these characters psychological torment you have these two aristocratic seems to be well off individuals who are trapped in a marriage that is no longer a connection between two but more of a separated companion, and it feels like those gone and forgotten romantic desires are still there but in reality, just as this North Africa journey is, it is only a substitute for what is truly hiding. The pain that is being faced in the both of them. They’re so scared to face that they would rather indulge in adultery and affairs. It’s repugnant, but also human, which Bertolucci kind of always manages to capture in his films with his characters.
Now moving onto the journey itself from what occurs into it I think Bertolucci in some capacity is touching on this kind of emblematic idolization that we associate with foreign countries. This is the same in Lawrence of Arabia, associating them with this rarity. And so we attach this idea that it will give us a some condolence and allow us to be free that it will give us a a breath of peace and our mind. but when we are truly met with the reality that these places are just the same as us just as beautiful and brilliant and destructive and absorbing, it is a truth that we so terribly do not wanna face.
my main gripes with with the film comes mainly from the last act, which after a very powerful midpoint, kind of just teeters into a meandering, which goes nowhere and really just does not match up in the same way in an emotional regard. but even with these criticisms overall, it is still a wonderful film.
The sheltering sky, this film is something. It’s hard to put into words or describe completely It is an experience that will give you a feeling that by the end of it you may not be truly able to discern what it is that you were left with.
I could go on and on about the cinematography which is brilliant and well composed, and the score that has such a grandiose nature to it but yet a haunting hollow undertone beneath it I could go on about that, but that’s not the film. The film is to me a meditation on what it really means when you’re trying to escape from emptiness when you’re so desperately scared of what will happen to you when you are left with nothing except your fears, the worst parts of yourselves and how far you’ll go running into the sun we seem like freedom when in reality all it is is bringing you closer to death.
The performances by John Malkovich and Deborah Winger are so subtle, maximalist at times and almost melodramatic. which, in a way brilliantly describes these characters psychological torment you have these two aristocratic seems to be well off individuals who are trapped in a marriage that is no longer a connection between two but more of a separated companion, and it feels like those gone and forgotten romantic desires are still there but in reality, just as this North Africa journey is, it is only a substitute for what is truly hiding. The pain that is being faced in the both of them. They’re so scared to face that they would rather indulge in adultery and affairs. It’s repugnant, but also human, which Bertolucci kind of always manages to capture in his films with his characters.
Now moving onto the journey itself from what occurs into it I think Bertolucci in some capacity is touching on this kind of emblematic idolization that we associate with foreign countries. This is the same in Lawrence of Arabia, associating them with this rarity. And so we attach this idea that it will give us a some condolence and allow us to be free that it will give us a a breath of peace and our mind. but when we are truly met with the reality that these places are just the same as us just as beautiful and brilliant and destructive and absorbing, it is a truth that we so terribly do not wanna face.
my main gripes with with the film comes mainly from the last act, which after a very powerful midpoint, kind of just teeters into a meandering, which goes nowhere and really just does not match up in the same way in an emotional regard. but even with these criticisms overall, it is still a wonderful film.
