WCBE 90.5 FM (NPR): "The Motorcycle Diaries," "Silver City"

WCBE #186-FINAL
It's Movie Time with John DeSando & Clay Lowe
“The Motorcycle Diaries,” “Silver City”
Taped: 4:00 pm, October 6, 2004
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, October 8, 2004
Streaming live on the web at http://www.wcbe.org.

Script:

Clay
“The Motorcycle Diaries” will have you doing good when you head down the road . . .

John
“Silver City” is "Primary Colors" without Bill Clinton . . .


MUSIC UP AGAIN, THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle Antczak
It's Movie Time in Mid-Ohio with John DeSando and Clay Lowe . . .

MUSIC UP, THEN UNDER AND SLOWLY DOWN AND OUT

DeSando
I'm John DeSando

Clay
And I'm Clay Lowe.

John (“The Motorcycle Diaries”)
Clay:

A cocktail of motorcycle, youth, idealism, and the open road is inevitably spirit altering. But put that “drink” in the hands of 24-year-old Ernesto “Che” Guevara and 30-year-old Alberto Granado and transformation is inevitable. Most notably, in “Motorcycle Diaries,” a new film based on his recollections, the introverted Che gradually sees in the 7500-mile trek from Argentina to Venezuela the injustices suffered by the underprivileged.

This picaresque journey through South America is exhilarating: Sometimes you see the motorcycle tumbling amid the beauty of mountains and desert and other times you linger with hand-held tightness on the changing landscape of Che’s beautiful face. This is, after all, the boy who would be rebel.

No one should be surprised to see Robert Redford’s name as executive producer—there’s another name of someone who cares.

Wordsworth, an inveterate wanderer himself, knew the conjunction of wisdom, humility, and humanism: “Give unto me, made lowly wise/ The spirit of self-sacrifice.”

Clay ("The Motorcycle Diaries”)
Well John, heading down the open road with Jack Kerouac or Walt Whitman would not be a sacrifice for me. But giving up the good life for the sake of standing up to the forces of repression, now that’s one our President might call a “tough one.”

Something there is about the endless highway, though, that challenges us to explore places we’ve never been, and to do things we’ve never done before. And that’s exactly what happened to the two young Don Quixote’s in Che Guevara’s “The Motorcycle Diaries.” A beautifully written film, with actor Gael García Bernal often reciting passages from Guevara’s own narrative journals. [The movie’s poetic script is matched only by it’s equally beautiful cinematography, and the sensitive performances that Walter Salles has elicited from his handsome and talented performers.]

As humorous and romantic as any film you’ve ever seen, the responses of these two young men to the injustice they discover all ‘round them, are as inspiring as any of the moments you’ve ever seen on the screen.

“I hear America singing,” wrote Walt Whitman --- and in “The Motorcycle Diaries” --- America sings on.

John (“Silver City”)
What film depicts corrupt politicians and businessmen controlling a vast local resource and a hapless detective investigating a murder involving those leaders? “Chinatown” is correct; “Silver City” is also correct. However, there is no qualitative similarity: Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown” is a classic; John Sayles’ new “Silver City” is a contemporary curiosity.

The ultra-liberal Sayles writes and directs about a political campaign for the governorship of Colorado that barely disguises its protagonists as George Bush and Karl Rove knockoffs played by Chris Cooper and Richard Dreyfuss respectively.

The comparison to Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 911” is inevitable. The heavy-handedness of “Silver” makes Moore’s work look almost subtle, yet Sayles must be praised for his dissenting voice in parlous times for free speech.

John, Viscount Morley in “Rousseau,” wrote, “Those who would treat politics and morality apart will never understand the one or the other.”

Our filmmakers understand both.

Clay
John, I love ensemble acting and so does filmmaker John Sayles. From “Passion Fish” to “Lone Star” to “Silver City”, his love of his cast has always been his thing. But sorting out the players in “Silver City,” and trying to keep track of its intricate plot, issues a challenge that most of us are either unwilling, or unable to endure.

Chris Cooper does cleverly capture the linguistic permutations of President Bush. And Michael Murphy, as always, is totally believable, as a wheeling and dealing political insider. You’ll also have to love Darryl Hannah, as the candidate’s unwilling sister, who has found in this movie one of her best roles in years. And if you’re simply into another film about human greed and intrigue, then “Silver City” will fill your bill. But if you want to find movies that do it better, then check out Robert Redford’s “The Candidate,” which you’ll find down the street at your favorite video store.

But enough of politics and its menacing mendacities, because it’s grading time.


John
Hooray!

HIT DRUMS

John
“Motorcycle Diaries” earns an “A” because it AIN’T about motorcycles, it’s the people, Stupid . . .

Clay
“Motorcycle Diaries” gets an “A” because AMERICA is more than just the U.S. . . .

John
"Silver City" earns a "B" for not being BAD enough about contemporary politics . . . .

Clay
"Silver City” gets a “B” because it BARELY scratches the surface . . .

HIT CD: “TANIA LIBERTAD COSTA NEGRA (CUT 1: “LA COTORRITA,”) SLOWLY SNEAK UNDER, THEN UP BETWEEN END OF SHOW AND ANNOUNCER

John
On my 6000 mile motorcycle trip to Jasper, I never met the hot chicks Guevera did. Do you think I should have gone with Karl Rove and worn a big Bush buckle?

I’m outta here.

Clay
John, a fun loving ROVER like you doesn’t need a Bush Bashing Buckle to KERRY you through. Ride on, my dear friend . . .

I’m outta here too.

See you at the movies, folks!

MUSIC UP, THEN UNDER

Richelle:
The Award Winning "It's Movie Time" with John DeSando and Clay Lowe is produced by Richelle Antczak in conjunction with 90.5 FM, WCBE in Columbus 106.7 FM in Newark, WYSO, etc.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

Copyright 2004 by John DeSando & Clay Lowe