Knight at the Movies Archives
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Joan Didion's quote about her first impression of El Salvador describes perfectly two anxiety producing movies
Two movies opening this week, the political thriller The Kingdom and the riveting documentary Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) have more
than a dangerous foreign location in common. Both focus on current events in places that are teeming with extreme violence,
fanaticism, corruption, mistrust of outsiders and the heightened dangers that come as the chasm between rich and poor widens. And
both movies, deeply unsettling, are terrific examples of their particular genre and leave one feeling uneasy long after they’re over.
Over the credit sequence for The Kingdom we get a quick, informative overview of the history of oil production in Saudi Arabia that
sets the stage for the violent opening sequence. In return for American protection we read, the Saudi’s have set up protected areas
for American oil workers known as “The Kingdom” that in all but geographical location emulates the US. A lively softball game is in
progress within the closely guarded compound but is attacked by a small band of terrorists with horrifying results. The Saudi’s refuse
US criminal specialists in the form of a special FBI unit headed by Jaime Foxx and including Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, and
Jason Bateman to enter the country to investigate.
As expected Foxx doesn’t take “no” for an answer and after some fancy footwork he and his crew are allowed limited access to the
crime scene in The Kingdom. Once there, however, the frustrating limits and social protocols the team of investigators are forced to
endure seems designed to hamstring their every effort to find the culprits and speaks loudly to the cultural differences between
America and the Middle East.
Foxx is determined to bring the expertise of his unit to bear on the investigation and travel outside the confines of The Kingdom
and he and the team slowly win over their suspicious Saudi compatriots, especially the head of their security force. By the time
permission is granted at last for the team to proceed outside the confines of the protected area this incredibly dangerous proposition
feels palpable and has scary consequences for the team. At that point the movie escalates into a nail biting cat and mouse last half
hour that’s terrifically entertaining.
Actor-director Peter Berg (who makes a cameo) follows up his inspirational Friday Night Lights with a solid political thriller that also
serves as a cautionary tale. But the ironic message of The Kingdom – that both sides are committed to winning at any cost whether
through peaceful means or violence – while not exactly subtle isn’t slammed over the head by Berg either (though for once could
one of these action heroes not have one of those angelic looking little kids waiting with wide eyed innocence for their daddy’s safe
return?). Perhaps the highest rave I can give the filmmakers is that while driving home from the screening in heavy city traffic I saw
the possibility of a terrorist attack on every street corner.
Residents of Sao Paulo, Brazil – a city of 20 million – would understand my trepidation. As Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) which
opens exclusively this Friday at Chicago's Piper’s Alley, tells it, this is one of the most dangerous places on earth. This powerful and
disturbing documentary, one of the best of the year, was produced and directed by first timer Jason Kohn. It vividly shows the effect
the long term, huge divide between rich and poor has had on Brazil. Kohn’s fascinating and horrifying movie is augmented by the
hottest soundtrack of the year – the sultriness of the Brazilian music underscores the film’s alluring, dangerous subject matter and
adds tension and bite. Sun drenched Sao Paulo, the movie’s primary location, is packed with dense glass and chrome skyscrapers,
ringed by massive slums and is beset with violent crime, especially kidnapping. The rich ride around in bullet proof cars or fly high
above the reach of the kidnappers in private helicopters. The massive city has 80 officers in its anti-kidnapping unit (who proudly
display their arsenal of weaponry), a drop of water in an ocean of crime and corruption.
Many of the Sao Paulo’s wealthiest opt to have tracking devices implanted under their skin so families can trace them should they be
kidnapped. But enterprising kidnappers stick grenades in the mouth or on the person of the victim to keep potential rescuers at bay
and footage of one of these victims shown in a ransom videotape opens the movie. Cutting off the ear(s) of the kidnap victim is so
common that a plastic surgeon expert at replacing them has grown rich because of the surplus of patients. The surgeon and one of
his patients are extensively interviewed (in a matter of fact voice the victim recalls watching Hitchcock’s The Birds on a television set
as the kidnappers cut off her ear). Later there is an interview with a masked professional bank robber and kidnapper – an
unapologetic man with nine children to support who still lives in the slums surrounding the city and fancies himself a modern day
Robin Hood.
Kohn also focuses a great deal of footage on a corrupt politician who investigators suspect siphoned off government billions intended
to help the poor into his personal coffers yet remains popular with his poverty level constituents. One of the politician’s money
laundering schemes involved the country’s largest frog farm and throughout Manda Bala Kohn repeatedly returns to footage of the
thousands of frogs, grown from tadpoles which end up being consumed by the wealthy of the country – an apt metaphor for a culture
that continues to thrive feeding on its own.
than a dangerous foreign location in common. Both focus on current events in places that are teeming with extreme violence,
fanaticism, corruption, mistrust of outsiders and the heightened dangers that come as the chasm between rich and poor widens. And
both movies, deeply unsettling, are terrific examples of their particular genre and leave one feeling uneasy long after they’re over.
Over the credit sequence for The Kingdom we get a quick, informative overview of the history of oil production in Saudi Arabia that
sets the stage for the violent opening sequence. In return for American protection we read, the Saudi’s have set up protected areas
for American oil workers known as “The Kingdom” that in all but geographical location emulates the US. A lively softball game is in
progress within the closely guarded compound but is attacked by a small band of terrorists with horrifying results. The Saudi’s refuse
US criminal specialists in the form of a special FBI unit headed by Jaime Foxx and including Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, and
Jason Bateman to enter the country to investigate.
As expected Foxx doesn’t take “no” for an answer and after some fancy footwork he and his crew are allowed limited access to the
crime scene in The Kingdom. Once there, however, the frustrating limits and social protocols the team of investigators are forced to
endure seems designed to hamstring their every effort to find the culprits and speaks loudly to the cultural differences between
America and the Middle East.
Foxx is determined to bring the expertise of his unit to bear on the investigation and travel outside the confines of The Kingdom
and he and the team slowly win over their suspicious Saudi compatriots, especially the head of their security force. By the time
permission is granted at last for the team to proceed outside the confines of the protected area this incredibly dangerous proposition
feels palpable and has scary consequences for the team. At that point the movie escalates into a nail biting cat and mouse last half
hour that’s terrifically entertaining.
Actor-director Peter Berg (who makes a cameo) follows up his inspirational Friday Night Lights with a solid political thriller that also
serves as a cautionary tale. But the ironic message of The Kingdom – that both sides are committed to winning at any cost whether
through peaceful means or violence – while not exactly subtle isn’t slammed over the head by Berg either (though for once could
one of these action heroes not have one of those angelic looking little kids waiting with wide eyed innocence for their daddy’s safe
return?). Perhaps the highest rave I can give the filmmakers is that while driving home from the screening in heavy city traffic I saw
the possibility of a terrorist attack on every street corner.
Residents of Sao Paulo, Brazil – a city of 20 million – would understand my trepidation. As Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) which
opens exclusively this Friday at Chicago's Piper’s Alley, tells it, this is one of the most dangerous places on earth. This powerful and
disturbing documentary, one of the best of the year, was produced and directed by first timer Jason Kohn. It vividly shows the effect
the long term, huge divide between rich and poor has had on Brazil. Kohn’s fascinating and horrifying movie is augmented by the
hottest soundtrack of the year – the sultriness of the Brazilian music underscores the film’s alluring, dangerous subject matter and
adds tension and bite. Sun drenched Sao Paulo, the movie’s primary location, is packed with dense glass and chrome skyscrapers,
ringed by massive slums and is beset with violent crime, especially kidnapping. The rich ride around in bullet proof cars or fly high
above the reach of the kidnappers in private helicopters. The massive city has 80 officers in its anti-kidnapping unit (who proudly
display their arsenal of weaponry), a drop of water in an ocean of crime and corruption.
Many of the Sao Paulo’s wealthiest opt to have tracking devices implanted under their skin so families can trace them should they be
kidnapped. But enterprising kidnappers stick grenades in the mouth or on the person of the victim to keep potential rescuers at bay
and footage of one of these victims shown in a ransom videotape opens the movie. Cutting off the ear(s) of the kidnap victim is so
common that a plastic surgeon expert at replacing them has grown rich because of the surplus of patients. The surgeon and one of
his patients are extensively interviewed (in a matter of fact voice the victim recalls watching Hitchcock’s The Birds on a television set
as the kidnappers cut off her ear). Later there is an interview with a masked professional bank robber and kidnapper – an
unapologetic man with nine children to support who still lives in the slums surrounding the city and fancies himself a modern day
Robin Hood.
Kohn also focuses a great deal of footage on a corrupt politician who investigators suspect siphoned off government billions intended
to help the poor into his personal coffers yet remains popular with his poverty level constituents. One of the politician’s money
laundering schemes involved the country’s largest frog farm and throughout Manda Bala Kohn repeatedly returns to footage of the
thousands of frogs, grown from tadpoles which end up being consumed by the wealthy of the country – an apt metaphor for a culture
that continues to thrive feeding on its own.
"Terror is the Given of the Place":
The Kingdom-Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
9-26-07 Windy City Times Knight at the Movies Column
By Richard Knight, Jr.
The Kingdom-Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
9-26-07 Windy City Times Knight at the Movies Column
By Richard Knight, Jr.
