The Bowdoin Orient

November 17, 2000
Volume CXXXII, Number 10

The Film Society brings you the
Moutainfilm Festival

by JIM FLANAGAN - COLUMNIST

  Things are starting to get chilly here in Maine. Soon the snow will be falling, and who doesn't enjoy a nice walk on a snowy evening? So to commemorate this wonderful time that is approaching, the Film Society is bringing you a program of films celebrating nature and all it's glory. Part of the weekend (Saturday night to be exact) features the arrival of the touring portion of the Mountainfilm Festival, a 23 year old film festival based out of Telluride, CO.
  This is a truly special treat that will bring some great films to Bowdoin. But first, on Friday night, we'll be presenting a couple of movies showing what may happen next time you venture out into the wilderness to go camping. As always, the events are free and open to the public; but this time, there is a little catch.
  You will need a ticket to see Mountainfilm. They are available at the Smith Union info desk. The tickets are free with a Bowdoin ID, but will cost the public $5. All the films will be shown in Smith Auditorium in Sills Hall.

Deliverance - Friday at 7pm
The Great Outdoors - Friday at 9pm
The Mountainfilm Festival - Saturday at 7pm

Friday at 7pm
Deliverance (1972)
Directed by: John Boorman
Starring: John Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox,
Ned Beatty, James Dickey
  This film shows you what you do not want to happen when you are alone in the woods. Four businessmen decide to take a weekend canoeing trip in a remote backwoods part of our country. Along the way, there are a number of accidents, plus a run-in with a group of inbred rednecks. These folks are scary!
  They make Cleatus the Slack-jawed Yokel look like a member of High Society. The scenes with these people are the best, and the most famous. You have the classic "Squeal like a pig" scene, which is very disturbing. But the film's highlight comes right before the canoes are put into the water.
  While in the hillbilly village, our characters come across a boy with a banjo. One of the heroes happens to have his guitar with him, and he and the boy begin to play. That's right, Dueling Banjos. What a great song. You all probably can hum it, but once you've seen the song in the context of the film, it will never feel the same when you hear it. Rated R

Friday at 9pm
The Great Outdoors (1988)
Directed by: Howard Deutch
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Stephanie Faracy, Annette Bening
Candy and his family head out to a lakeside camping area to get away from the city life. He is optimistic about the trip, but his family is not. Their fears are justified when the in-laws (Aykroyd and his family) show up to ruin things. John Hughes, the king of 80's comedies, wrote the film, so there are lots of silly gags and situations, but no overall deep message. Still, it's a fun film that you'll enjoy. Rated PG

Saturday at 7pm
The Mountainfilm Festival
  This event will feature three hours of shorts and features from around the world that celebrate nature. The films will approach nature from many different angles, some of which are education, conservation, entertainment and adventure. The event is co-sponsored by the Film Society, the Outing Club and the Bowdoin Greens (thanks guys!). Since this is such a big event and seating is limited, you will need a ticket to get in.
  But don't worry, you can get them for free from the friendly people at the Smith Union info desk. The tour director, Rick Silverman, will present the event. He has a wide range of films to show, but here are some descriptions (supplied by the tour's main office) of the films that will most likely be presented.
  ODE TO AVALANCHE - Few forces in nature are as frightening, or as dazzling, as an avalanche. Marvels of physics, they have the capacity to sweep climbers or skiers to their death, destroy entire villages and fill the senses with awe.
  GATHERERS FROM THE SKY - The Minang live on the shores of Sumatra's Lake Maninjao inside a crater formed by three volcanoes and surrounded by three million coconut trees. But the Minang no longer climb these trees, instead relying upon monkeys for the harvest. Bourhan is now an old man, however, and no longer can train monkeys... yet a strained marriage and his wife's inheritance begin to unravel his plans for a calmer life.
  TURTLE WORLD - A lushly animated allegory about a turtle passing through space, and providing a richly forested home to the monkeys that come to dwell upon its shell. In their industriousness, however, they begin to exploit the resources of their paradisiacal state. The consequence is their falling from grace.
  LEGACY: KILLING A RAIN FOREST - Simply contrasting the clear reality of on-site photography with the continuing public relations blitz of the timber industry, this film documents the barbaric annihilation of British Columbia's last great coastal forests. The frightening legacy the film describes is almost as chilling for its illustration of the effectiveness of the modern "big lie" as it is for its undeniable proof that we are losing so much of the world's natural resources.
   SULPHUR PASSAGE - A visual and oral tour-de-force, this film captures the energies of the people of British Columbia to resist the further decimation of the Clayoquot sound. Based on a reference to a famed rallying cry of the Spanish Civil War, this film is the collaborative product of dozens of filmmakers, musicians, and activists ...an eloquent effort to save this great temperate rain forest...and a harkening back to an earlier era when the lyrics of folksingers and balladeers drove our own revolutions.
  THE FATAL GAME - Australian Mike Rheinberger, 52, had tried six times to reach the summit of Everest and failed. It remained his ultimate dream. The seventh time he would not give up. With New Zealand guide and cameraman Mark Whetu to record the great moment of his life, he summited. Perhaps he should have been more concerned that it was so late in the day and their hopes of descending to camp six were disappearing in the sunset. But, dreams and games have a mesmerizing quality, and both men became captured in the same strange dance.
   THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES - Based upon a Jean Giono novella, and lovingly illustrated by Academy Award-winning animator Frederic Bach, this story of a man1s life of quiet fulfillment in an obscure region of France. This Academy Award-winning film remains the favorite Festival film...beautiful and powerful and inspiring.