Once Upon A Noodle

by Anastasia Papas (the godmotherr)

Once Upon A Time In America is but a classic mafia movie of the past 40 years. Next to 

The Godfather trilogy (may Michael Corleone rest in peace) this film, starring Robert De Niro, is one of the most famous films done by Sergio Leone. It is actually speculated to be the film that ultimately sent Leone to his deathbed (I mean with 4 hours of film and one's vision is still not complete how must one feel?) Nevertheless, I took it upon myself to watch the film that so many people spoke so highly of. 

In the year 1984 Leone's Once Upon A Time In America (based off of Harry Grey's novel Hoods) was released to the public. It boasted various well-established actors such as the already mentioned Robert De Niro, James Woods (the voice of Hades from my childhood Hercules), Elizabeth McGovern and Joe Pesci (my fellow goodfella). The film tells a story of a man, Noodles (De Niro) who is forced to run away from his hometown after some of his mafia business goes wrong. It shows us Noodles as an old man reminiscing about his past and simultaneously piecing the puzzle as to who is looking for him now in his old age. From childish thievery to full blown rape and murder, the film shows the progression of personality amongst a gang of 4 boys (sorry Dominic) whom Noodles was a part of. Noodles, Maxie, Cockeye and Patsy rise up from their jewish slum in the Lower East side of New York and become the bosses of their town, but not without the typical mafia call for bloodshed and theft. 

Once Upon A Time In America is more than a mafia movie. It is a film about betrayal amongst brothers. From the first moment Noodles met Maxie it was evident that Maxie would be some kind of threat to Noodles' happiness. That was so clear to me when young Maxie swooped right infront of Noodles, beating him to the drunkard Noodles intended on robbing. Yes, thereafter they do manage to become friends because when pitted against the police what kind of gangster would rat out his fellow gangster? Regardless, their bond in the film is always stressed as the most important thing the two of them could ever have. They constantly make promises to one another and always want to prove to the other that their friendship is priceless (not even Carol can get in the way of that). It is evident that the two are in a power struggle for the entirety of the film and Noodles is ultimately the one who loses. Before Noodles goes to prison, him and Maxie are almost at the same power level - in my opinion - because Noodles is the first out of the boys to actually kill someone. However, Noodles loses all his time in prison when Maxie only becomes stronger and more knowledgeable about the business the young boys had always intended on being in. When Noodles leaves prison he and Maxie are quite different. What Maxie knew, Noodles did not know because Maxie had the time to learn and grow when Noodles was mindfully stuck in prison. Perhaps if Noodles and Maxie had grown up together and not separated Maxie would not have had the mind to do what he did. But then again, Maxie was always the greediest and smartest of the gang. 

I'm not going to lie, I did not in the slightest, catch the ending of this one. So I took to the internet to read some analyses and have my questions answered. And as always, I returned triumphant to break it down for you all. In the end of this 4 hour film, Noodles (as his old self) finally comes into contact with Maxie again who is disguised as Mr Bailey - a pseudonym he undertakes after faking his own death. It is made known at this point in the film that Maxie has taken everything Noodles ever wanted. So he provides Noodles with the opportunity to shoot him, but now wise, old Noodles knows better. He leaves through the door Mr Bailey has assigned for him to leave after the scheduled assassination that never occurred and finds himself on the streets. It is there where he sees an enormous garbage truck parked right outside the gate of Mr Bailey's estate. Maxie planned to have Noodles killed after he himself was assassinated which indicates that even in death Maxie had to have a one-up on Noodles. What's interesting about the scene between Maxie and Noodles is that Noodles insists on calling Maxie "Mr Bailey" and goes on to say, "Many years ago I tried to save a friend of mine by turning him in. He was a very close friend. Things worked out bad for him and for me." This line from Noodles clearly shows that he feels nothing more for Maxie and that perhaps he knew all along that Maxie was behind the deaths of their friends.

The last thought that I would like to unpack is the theme of innocence that surrounds Deborah and the overall portrayal of women in the film. I am aware that the role of women in society during this time is no where near what it is today, but it still bothers me that instances of rape in this film are completely normalized and underplayed. In the scene where the gang robs Carol and her husband the rape scene that ensues between Carol and Noodles is outwardly disgusting. Moreover, the fact that Carol is okay with her own rape and allows herself to become a part of this mafia family baffles me. It is clear that most females in this film are no more than sexual objects, but I hoped more from Leone with Deborah's character. Deborah is the pinnacle of innocence and purity in this film and like all things once innocent, she becomes damaged and tainted. I suppose that is done as a brutally honest correlation to the real world and everything fundamentally wrong with the mafia way, but that is not what really upset me. What upset me was the way in which it was handled thereafter. Noodles comes nowhere near to apologizing and Deborah seems to have forgiven him when he shows up 40 years later at her door. This absence of confrontation as well as the fact that the movie does not confront it either (besides a long silence amongst the gang when Noodles stirs his tea) truly depresses me. If not for this lack of attention I probably would have appreciated the film on a higher level.

There is so much more to this film than what I have written here. After all, it is 4 hours long. Packed with questions and an ambiguous ending, I could go on for hours about any part - especially the question of whether or not some parts of the movie are a hallucination - but alas, I only have so much time. Not only does this movie have an impeccable storyline, the actors have done an excellent job of portraying their characters honestly and beautifully. In addition, the score by Ennio Morricone is a masterpiece and adds meaning to all and every part of the film. So go forth friends, watch this fairytale, but again I must warn you. If you are not okay with blood, rape and strong language watch with caution. If you are, proceed. And if you figure out why Noodles is nicknamed Noodles, please let me know. 

The Verdict: 8/10

- the godmotherr

The Sea is an Armchair: Dogtooth

by Anastasia Papas (the godmotherr)

I found out about Dogtooth while watching an interview of Colin Farrell promoting his new film, The Lobster, and he was relaying his first encounter with director Yorgos Lanthimos' films. "What the f*** did we just see?" was but one of the comments Farrell had for the film after watching it with his sister in Philadelphia. I immediately looked up the trailer and was instantly attracted to the ideas the film was indulging in. I recognized the name Yorgos Lanthimos as a greek name and I suppose I also felt somewhat obligated to support my fellow hellenic by watching the film. With a boastful rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes (my film bible) I knew it was a film I would have to see. Without much research thereafter I entered the greek world of family, sex and ultimate deception. 

Dogtooth, starring Angeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni as well as Christos Passalis, was written and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and was released in the year 2009 (one year after the Josef Fritzl case broke). The film focuses on a greek family consisting of a mother, a father, two daughters and a son that all live in the middle of nowhere, far, far away from society. The parents of this family (played by Christos Stergioglou and Michele Valley) have raised their children outside of the educational norm of the present day. Instead of going to school and learning the conventional vocabulary, the children are forced to remain within the confines of their home lot and learn the meaning of words through their mother's homemade voice-recording tapes. An example of one of the words the children learn is the meaning of the sea. "A sea is a leather armchair with wooden arms like the one we have in our living room." This is done so as to further solidify the children's absence of understanding or knowledge of anything behind their wooden gate. The film follows the family and the parents' many measures to guard their children from the 'evils' of the outside world. The only two people who ever leave and enter the compound is the father - to work and to purchase the household needs - and a women named Christina (Anna Kalaitzidou)  - the only named character in the entire film. Christina is a security guard who is paid by the father to sexually please the son in the family. She forms relationships with the children until one day she goes too far and is relieved of her prostitute duties. Dogtooth is an extreme model of concerned, conservative parents who box in their children and the consequences of them doing so.

I can honestly say that after watching the film I had no idea what I had seen. I understood the basics of everything, but I knew I had missed a lot of meaning that Lanthimos intended. So I did what I always do after watching a film and researched the hell out of it. I read countless articles and interviews until I was satisfied I understood enough to analyze it on my own. Before that though, I had a lengthy discussion about it with my fellow critical movie analyzer, Martin Puga. So where do I start with such a deep movie? 

One of the things I found most intriguing was the way in which Lanthimos gave each child their distinct personality. The youngest daughter (Tsoni) is portrayed somewhat as a medic. She often gives massages and other medical treatments and diagnoses to her older sister and is always using drugs in her creation of new games. The older daughter (Papoulia) is seen as the most rebellious of the children. She is the one who ultimately escapes (escape perhaps is the optimistic view of the ending) and is the first and only one to question and explore beyond her mental confines. What is interesting about the eldest daughter is that she provides herself with a name, Bruce. This chosen identifier is one of the first actions she takes against her world and allows her to enter the path to individuality and knowledge. The son (Passalis) is perhaps the least impressionable character to me because he lacks his own character. The son's character is found in the way that he is treated in the family. He is the only son and despite the fact that all three children are in their 20s, the son is the only one who is thought by the parents to need to be sexually satisfied. Enter: Christina. Herein lies an important theme of the film: the sexist gender roles in greek families. It is important to note that in a traditional greek family the males are always placed above the females in the family. That being said, females in greek families are made to be taken care of and protected and that kind of treatment creates controlling personalities. This sexist balance is clearly shown in Dogtooth. We have one pioneering father, one behind-the-scenes puppet-master mother, two innocent daughters and one sexually catered for son. The ultimate sexist blow in the entire film is that even though innocence in the daughters is necessary, what is more necessary is the son's sexual needs. This is clearly demonstrated when one of the daughters must replace Christina in the film.

One of the characters that interested me was the father (Stergioglou) and the way Lanthimos chose to represent him. What I found incredibly annoying about the film was the fact that the subtitles did not truly translate what was happening in the film. The reason I did not hate the father as much as I maybe should have was the fact that he treated his children with affection like any other father and yes, his and his wife's practices were unacceptable, but it is evident that he is doing this because he believes it is the best for his family. He often uses terms of endearment when speaking to his children, such as "agapi mou" and "koukla" - words I understand as a greek-speaking person - but that is not once shown in the subtitles. I understand that it is impossible to directly translate from one text to another without it making no sense, but these terms that the father uses are important for the audience to see so as to make a better judge of his character. I asked my friend, Martin, about how he felt about the father figure in the film and he told me that he hated him entirely. However, if those translations had been in the subtitles perhaps he would have had an alternative perspective. 

Finally, one of the last symbolisms I want to divulge in is the movie's title, Dogtooth. Besides the fact that the falling out of the dogtooth is said by the parents to be the only indication to the children that they are old enough to leave the house, there are essentially no dogs in the film. The only scene in the entire film where a dog is present is when the father of the family is at the dog training centre trying to collect his dog which, may I add, has the most common name given by greek people to their dogs: Rex. In the film the dog is not yet trained therefore he is not allowed to leave the training centre, much to the father's dismay. Other than this incident there is not a lot of emphasis or reasoning behind the whole spectacle. I asked myself why would Lanthimos choose a dog to represent so much in the film? It came to my awareness that dogs are always labelled as loving and loyal and these two qualities are always treasured in a family unit, especially a greek one. In the act of having a trained dog in the house it would set a clear example of obedience to the children. Additionally, it is crucial that the dog be trained as it is the only external source for the children, besides Christina, and an untrained dog would give the children the wrong ideas. 

Overall, after the initial confusion subsided, Dogtooth was an amazing film to immerse my mind in. It proved to me how important education is and more specifically how powerful the education we receive is. We are what we know and it's scary how influenced we are by that. And more than that, the film really involves so many different themes. What's captivating about the film is the fact that nothing is spelled out for the audience which allows for thought, something that a lot of movies nowadays do not call the need for. So if you're ever interested in watching something that completely and utterly confuses you and simultaneously amazes you this film is the optimal choice. I encourage you to watch this movie and formulate your own opinions and theories behind each seemingly random moment in the movie, but I must warn you that this film is not for the fainthearted. If loveless, mechanical sex scenes, blatant nudity and blood are not in your comfort zone watch with caution. If not, proceed and bewilder your mind. It will be an extravagant experience. 

The Verdict: 9/10

- the godmotherr