Go tell the Spartans

In the book Masters of Chaos, there's an anecdote about a U.S. Special Forces unit in Afghanistan so inspired by the strength-and-honor themes of Gladiator that they took the film with them into combat, at one point rigging a projector and screening it on the hood of a truck in a remote outpost.

My best hope for '300' was that it might represent that kind of film. With Hollywood a total no-show for the war on terror, refusing to give the troops (and us) the kind of inspiration and resolve it did in World War II, even a historical epic about the ancient democratic West standing up to the ancient anti-democratic East would work at this point.

I just saw the film. I predict it will indeed be playing at Humvee drive-ins from Kuwait to Kabul in no time. I'll even send a dozen copies myself. And if it infuses America's Spartans with the sort of backbone the Greek sort had, the modern Persians (Iran) should be shaking in their boots.

Granted, 300 lacks the proto-Christian soul of kindness that the Lord of the Rings trilogy offered -- the last film event with a timely message and welcome martial spirit post 9/11. Be advised, this a sensual, blood-soaked, adults-only portrayal of the limited virtues to be offered by a pagan warrior culture like Sparta. But boiled down to its essence, the virtues of patriotism and resistance to decadent tyranny are true virtues nonetheless. And criminally rare ones today.

See my previous post for what turned out to be an accurate assessment of the film from CHUD.com, though I was even more struck by the parallels that had to be intended by the filmmakers. Right down to the heroes' explicit distaste for the word "submission," which just so happens to be the meaning of the word "Islam," which happens to be the religion of the descendants of the hordes trying to invade Europe even then to leave it a "pile of ruins," which just happens to be the image of Ground Zero burned forever in our brains after 9/11.

And what a mesmerizing, darkly beautiful piece of pure cinema. Director Zack Snyder just knocked Mel Gibson off the "most visual director working today" pedestal on which I placed him after Apocalypto, which suddenly looks trite -- and harmless as a Quaker ice cream social -- by comparison. Can't wait to see what he does next, particularly if the conservative politics of this film wasn't a happy accident of true history and Frank Miller's source material.

Can't say enough about Gerard "King Leonidas" Butler either. The guy's been banging around American and UK cinema doing quality work for a long time now, and it's great to see him in a role that could push him onto the A List at last. (Ladies, if the snarling, head-severing Gerard Butler isn't your cup of tea, be sure to catch his warm and cuddly flip side in the underrated Dear Frankie on DVD.)

WWJD... What would J. (Edgar) do?

Spy thriller Breach seems like the most openly religious film in recent memory. It begins with a man praying in church, ends with him asking for prayer, and depicts in between a conservative Christian family man doing all the things a conservative Christian family man does.

Granted, that man here is also a sexual deviant and the most devastatingly traitorous mole for America's enemies ever to escape a well-deserved death sentence.

Stands to reason. Guys who slam Hillary Clinton, decry the country's vulnerability to attack and exhort co-workers to draw nearer to God only see the light of a multiplex film projector when they're total hypocrites and sociopaths.

Still, it's a brilliant film.

Breach gives the play-by-play on the takedown of FBI agent Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper), the high-ranking Cold War veteran busted in pre-9/11 2001 after a career of selling out U.S. interests to the Russians. The extent of the damage done is still classified, though we know he handed our agents over to death on at least one occasion.

By all acounts, Hanssen was an enigma and a complicated guy. Probably more complicated than merely a troubled, well-armed, Catholic version of Jim Bakker. And had his other appetites extended beyond sex tapes of his wife and a fixation on Catherine Zeta-Jones into the same-sex realm, you can bet "sexual deviant" wouldn't have even made the script.

But apart from that and a line about the investigation of Bill Clinton being a witch hunt, Breach is a serious, gripping, and remarkably non-partisan film. Presidents come and go merely as photos on the Bureau's wall. John Ashcroft is depicted in an even light. And whatever Hanssen was or wasn't outside of church, those who took him down are depicted as heroes, the rare feds genuinely looking out for the country's best interests and proud of it.

It's also a masterpiece of Hitchcock-style tension. Expect no shootouts or car chases (high speed, anyway) but an edge-of-your-seater nonetheless.

With his Shirley Temple pout, babyfaced Ryan Phillippe is hard to buy initially as the operative planted in Hanssen's office to out-spy the master spy. But that's the point. Even the paranoid Hanssen didn't see this kid coming. As the mouse one slight step ahead of the cat, and occasionally in its mouth, Phillippe turns out to be the ideal protagonist for this kind of thriller. (Enjoy the tinglies you get from seeing the killer about to enter the office our hero is ransacking for evidence? This one's for you.)

Forget cat... Hanssen was pure snake. And Chris Cooper, with his heavily lidded gaze and darting red tongue embedded in a colorless face -- tip of the hat to cinematographer Tak Fujimoto for the cold-blooded look of the film -- somehow nearly becomes one. He's spectacular, the spookiest spook since Hannibal Lecter, the original.

Oddly, the film hedges its bets regarding Hanssen's ultimate motives, satisfied that "obsessed religious fanatic" is close enough. Yet Cooper's villainous mojo fuels a thinking man's thriller, a subtle character study already fascinating for its true crime grounding. Yes, including the religious angle... Now if only the filmmakers hadn't had such a good time working it.

Review: The Last Sin Eater

With The Nativity Story playing to nothing but the chirping of crickets over the Christmas holiday (way to support the home team, church folks), studios have to be confused – and nervous. After Passion of the Christ made a mint, several had just launched Christian divisions for the overlooked faith market. Then that market up and overlooked the sure-bet “prequel” to Passion.

Actually, I know they’re nervous. Just last month, one of Fox Faith’s first outings, the well-made psycho-thriller Thr3e, was ruthlessly yanked from theaters less than two weeks out of the gate for failing to break the bank. It deserved better support from the distributor and viewers.

Luckily, believers still claiming they'll support solid, faith-based entertainment when it’s offered have a second chance to put their money where their mouth is this weekend. The Last Sin Eater, the film version of Francine Rivers’ best seller, opens in many mid to larger markets nationwide Feb. 8.

The story, directed by veteran “Christian movie” helmer Michael Landon Jr., focuses on an isolated Welsh community in 1850’s Appalachia and the personal tragedy at the center of one family, a tragedy that puts 10-year-old Cadi Forbes in search of the “Sin Eater” – a shadowy figure in Welsh social tradition invoked to voluntarily take the sins of the dearly departed upon his own damned soul.

Think you can see where this one’s headed already? You’re right. Sort of.

But like M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village – which I suspect inspired the film’s tone as much as anything in the book – there’s more going on than meets the eye in this sleepy cove of farmers, bee keepers and porch-settin’ old folks.

Tragedy runs deep in old school Appalachian bluegrass music, and one appeal of Sin Eater is watching the source material for some of those songs in the action. It’s an uplifting story ultimately, with an effective catharsis mounted by the steady-handed Landon and a well-crafted screenplay.

At this level of the biz, of course, forget big-star name recognition. There’s Henry Thomas (E.T., All the Pretty Horses, Gangs of New York) and Academy Award winner Louise “Nurse Ratched” Fletcher, about as far from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as humanly possible. But Thomas is a glorified cameo, and Fletcher is hardly Oscar-worthy here, laboring through a measured Gaelic brogue more Swedish Chef than Old Country Welsh.

But there the criticisms end.

The cast is strategically comprised of actors you’ll recognize but probably need IMDB.com to figure out why. With one or two exceptions, they’re stellar – particularly the Sin Eater himself, played with dark, Phantom of the Opera-like gravitas by the prolific TV actor Peter Wingfield.

Then there’s Liana Liberato as Cadi. A relative newcomer with a handful of previous small-screen roles under her belt, Liberato breezes through a demanding role that, while never as high-octane as anything on Dakota Fanning's resume, suggests she’s as much a natural.

Liberato plays the pre-pubescent lost soul with conviction, giving the film its greatest strength – the ability to convince us of sin’s reality and the downward tug it can have on any life, no matter how young or otherwise “innocent.”

More than the tug sin can have, it’s the tug it should have that modern viewers most take away from the experience. The power of Christ to heal the broken heart is largely lost today, even on Christians like me, in a culture that denies any need for healing in the first place.

But I can hear you now… “Sin and tragedy? Sign me up!”

Happy to report, Liberato also nails the other side of her character, a Tom and Becky-like relationship with fellow spiritual traveler Fagan (Soren Fulton, Thunderbirds). The spunkiness of their unspoken crush is fun to watch and provides a nice emotional counterpoint to the rest.

Did I mention the “purple mountain majesties” cinematography? Worth the price of admission, particularly if you live somewhere currently under three feet of snow.

One minor quibble.

I haven’t read the book so I can’t say for sure, but from conversations with those who have, it seems they jazzed the ending a wee bit here. And in a way that – for a knee-jerk conservative like me – borders on the sort of Dances With Wolves revisionism to the American experience that never fails to work me into a frenzy.

Granted, I’m a right-wing nut job (and former history major) who often sees that stuff where never intended. Nor did I approach frenzy status. Whatever its politics, this late-inning twist to the story adds nothing to the more powerful, more real, story of Cadi and her family.

Still, a solid film recommended on multiple levels. So get out there and support this film before they stop making them again.

Next month, a review of Fox Faith’s next release, The Ultimate Gift.

To find a theater showing The Last Sin Eater near you, visit http://www.foxfaithmovies.com/.