"Anita" a Tale of Survival and Hope in Argentina

“Anita” a Story of Survival and Hope

By Skip Sheffield

Argentina is a fascinating country on the other side of the world from the USA, yet in many ways familiar.
There are probably more European immigrants in Argentina than any other South American country. Both former Nazis and Jews fleeing from persecution resettled in Argentina before, during and after World War II.
I offer this as background for an Argentinean film called “Anita.” The Anita of the title is a young Argentine woman with Down syndrome. Anita lives with her mother (award-winning Argentine actress Alejandro Manzo) in Buenos Aries. Anita’s mother runs a small stationery shop she inherited from her late husband. One morning her mother leaves Anita in the shop so she can attend a Jewish anti-defamation league meeting. She locks the door and cautions Anita not to leave.
A horrendous explosion occurs while Anita is up on a footstool. The blast blows out the windows and door of the shop. Anita is knocked unconscious, but she recovers and wanders out through the wreckage in search of her mother.
Writer-director Marcos Carnevale was inspired by an actual anti-Jewish terrorist attack in Buenos Aries on July 18, 1994. The attack claimed the lives of 86 innocent victims and injured hundreds more. It was the single deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history. The perpetrators have never been located or prosecuted, though the origins of the attack are strongly suspected to be in the Hezbollah anti-Israel, anti-West hate group in Iran.
But “Anita” is not about politics, violence or religion. It is about one mentally-challenged woman’s survival, with the help of complete strangers. “Anita” celebrates human compassion. Not all of Anita’s protectors are willing or selfless. Some pass the buck, so to speak, but conscience inevitably draws them back in.
For this reason I find “Anita” a wondrously hopeful film. If you believe in the inherent goodness of human beings, it is the “feel-good” movie of the season.

into eternity

“Into Eternity” a Truly Scary Movie

By Skip Sheffield

Forget your monsters, aliens, giant righting robots, vampires or zombies. “Into Eternity” is one of the scariest movies I’ve seen in years.
“Into Eternity” is a documentary film by Danish multimedia artist Michael Madsen. It is only 75 minutes long in English, Finnish and Swedish language, with subtitles, but it will stop and make you think for a long, long time.
Onkalo is the name of a subterranean storage facility on a remote island in Finland. “Onkalo” means hiding place in Finnish, and that is what the government intends to do with the radioactive nuclear waste from its power plants: bury it in bedrock far below earth and then seal it up for all eternity- or at least for 100,000 years, which is how long it takes for radioactivity to dissipate from plutonium and uranium. The huge challenge is that humans have never constructed anything that has endured even a tenth of that time. What will the world be like 100,000 years hence? Will there even be human life?
“Into Eternity” poses very basic philosophical questions as the director films the work in progress at the gloomy, eerie site. Excavation for Onkalo began in 2003, and construction won’t be finished until the 22nd century. There is a debate as to whether the site should have prominent warning signs on it, or be totally unmarked. Given the curious nature of humans, some future treasure-hunter could discover the concrete seal and think great riches are contained inside. Because language and communication is always changing, would humans understand any of the current languages or international symbols?
The tragic recent earthquake in Japan has driven home the very real threat of radiation sickness and death unleashed from the world’s nuclear reactors after natural disasters. Finland is only 16th in the world in nuclear power. The USA is No. 1, with France and Japan in second and third place. How safe are the current above-ground nuclear waste storage containers? How long will they remain safe?
These are very troubling questions. It is a credit to the people of Finland that they have decided to do something about it. We face serious potential problems here in America that could affect us and our offspring for all eternity.
“Into Eternity” is the opposite of an escapist movie. It is a film that challenges, frightens, troubles and angers the viewer, yet there a spooky beauty to it, accompanied by an equally spooky soundtrack contemporary composer Karten Fundal and the great Finnish
composer, Jean Sibelius. Proceed at your own risk. Life is complicated, and growing more complex every year.

Waldermar Torenstra and Karina Smulders in "Bride Flight"

As Newspapers Go, So Goes the New York Times?

By Skip Sheffield

Love it or hate it, the New York Times sets the standard for US journalism. What would happen if the great gray lady of newspapers sickened and died?
That is the disturbing question posed by the documentary “Page One: Inside the New York Times,” opening at FAU’s Living Room Theaters.
Filmmaker Andrew Rossi uses a kind of scattershot approach, starting with gloomy obituaries on once-great newspapers, then focusing on talking heads such as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, then moving on to editors, reporters, editorial writers, pundits and famous authors like Gay Talese and Tom Wolfe.
One guy who keeps popping up is NYT columnist David Carr, a raspy-voiced guy who is a self-admitted former crack addict. Carr has a wry sense of humor, but he is an odd choice to represent the most respected news source in America. More conventional is current executive editor Bill Keller, whom we see holding editorial meetings, but we don’t really learn about the complexities of gathering the news worldwide. We do see the NYT’s gorgeous new headquarters, which ironically has already been sold and leased back to the newspaper
It helps to care about print newspapers to be interested in “Page One.” I care deeply about newspapers, though I no longer make a full-time living as a journalist. I think a transition to mostly online is inevitable. I subscribe to New York Times online, and it helps me feel plugged in.
For the foreseeable future I think we will still have flagship print papers such as New York Times and Washington Post, but smaller, lower level papers such as the entire now-bankrupt Tribune Company will continue to close their doors. However, I think community newspapers such as Boca Raton Tribune will continue to be read as long as they are supported by advertising.


“Bride Flight” Sprawling, Sexy and Soapy in New Zealand

“Bride Flight’ is a big, sprawling, soapy, sexy saga using a real event as a springboard: the final 1953 Great Air Race from London to Christchurch, New Zealand aboard the winning KLM Dutch airliner.
Aboard the plane are three women who strike up an instant friendship. Esther (Anna Drijver) is a Jewish fashion designer whose family was wiped out in the Holocaust. Marjorie (Elise Schaap) aspires to conventional marriage and motherhood, but it will not turn out exactly as she hoped. Ada (Karina Smulders) is a dewy beauty who instantly falls for handsome passenger Frank (Waldermar Torenstra) although she is promised to another man in New Zealand.
That man is Derk (Micha Hulsof) is a priggish ultra-conservative minister who spurns Ada’s advances on their wedding night, yet becomes a stern father to three kids.
It is the on and off relationship between Ada and Frank that provides the sexy part of the story. Marieke van der Pol’s screenplay veers between 1953 and sometime in the 1960s, when Frank has become a successful winery owner. The very beginning and very end of the film is set near the present and the death and funeral of Frank.
Director Ben Sombogaart has a way with the camera and the scenic vistas of New Zealand. “Bride Flight” is gorgeous and a bit too long at two and a half hours, but between the soap opera-complicated plot devices, there is some hot stuff, Dutch-style. Yes, Smulders smolders.

Cars 2 a Flimsy Retread

“Cars 2” an Unreliable Re-Tread

By Skip Sheffield

“Cars 2” just isn’t the same without the voice and presence of Paul Newman. The young audience won’t notice or care about this, but an old gearhead like me is affected adversely. Movie star Paul Newman, who died Sept. 26, 2008, was probably the most famous non-career car racing enthusiast in America.
Newman’s character of Doc Hudson, represented by a 1951 Hudson Hornet, was the heart and soul of “Cars,” the 2006 Pixar computer-animated release. Doc was both a doctor and a judge in the fictitious town of Radiator Springs, Arizona. The town was located on the once busy Route 66, which famously “winds from Chicago to L.A.” When the new and improved Interstate 40 was built, it by-passed Radiator Springs and many other small towns like it.
“Cars” was an unexpected hit because there are so many car freaks in America, and the story, written by Pixar founder John Lassiter and Joe Ranft, honored history and folklore while providing light entertainment by an all-star cast of anthropomorphic motor vehicles.
Alas “Cars 2” is a shoddy re-tread of the original concept. Lassiter is back as co-director with Brad Lewis, but Joe Ranft was killed, ironically in a car accident before the first film was released.
Lassiter and screenwriter Ben Queen must have felt the need to transplant the two main characters: young racer Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and his tow-truck sidekick Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) to foreign locales for fun and merriment. The fatal flaw in this plan is that it gave way too much screen time to the comedian who calls himself Larry the Cable Guy. Larry is a one-trick pony; which is drawling, dim-witted rube.
Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer voice two new characters: Finn McMissile (Caine in James Bond mode) and Holly Shiftwell (Mortimer as a Bond babe).
These characters get sidetracked as Lightning and Mater blunder their way through Japan, Italy and the U.K. Returning voices Cheech Marin, Jeff Gordon and Bonnie Hunt are largely ignored.
The film is in 3-D, which I am told by my fully-sighted friend Beth, is quite effective. The theater which hosted our advance screening chose to play the film at deafening volume, perhaps in an effort to keep everyone awake. Sorry kids, I’m afraid “Cars 2” will try the patience of even the most loyal Disney/Pixar fans.

Live Life Long and Love Horses

Forever is a Long Time

By Skip Sheffield

Who wants to live forever?
Not I, but hmm, the older I become, the more I realize life isn’t just for the young.
“How To Live Forever” is a documentary about really old people. We are talking seriously old, like 100 years or more.
Once he passed the half-century mark and his mother passed away,filmmaker Mark Wexler began seriously contemplating his mortality. Why do some people live much longer than others? There is no simple answer, though it is obvious if you abuse your body you will lessen your chances of longevity. Yet in his three years of world travels Wexler found some confounding contradictions. Take Buster, a 101-year-old British bloke who has been smoking since age 7 and still enjoys pints of beer when not running marathons. If there was ever a pillar of health and physical fitness in was Jack LaLanne, but the beloved fitness guru died after this film was made, of pneumonia at age 96, on Jan. 23, 2011.
Wexler visited the world oldest woman, Edna Parker, in a nursing home in Shelbyville, Ind. She too has died since this film’s completion, at age 115.
Wexler visited Okinawa, which has some of the happiest, healthiest senior citizens in the world. Wexler noted they kept busy; they had good nutrition and low-stress lifestyles.
On the other side of the coin is actress Suzanne Somers, who advocates ingesting massive amounts of hormones, including estrogen, progesterone, DHEA, human growth hormones and melatonin.
It would seem that attitude has a lot to do with longevity. Food critic Jonathan Gold declares the eating is the “great pleasure of life,” and you can tell it’s the truth for him.
You will find no hard, fast certainties in “How To Live Forever,” but it certainly is food for thought.


“Buck” a Real Horse-Whisperer

“Buck’ is another documentary opening in our area. Buck Brannaman is a lifelong cowboy and horse trainer who has a well-documented reputation as an effective “horse-whisperer.” Brannaman became a national figure when he signed on as a consultant to writer Nicholas Evans and film producer Robert Evans for Redford’s 1998 film “The Horse Whisperer.”
If you love horses, you will love “Buck.” I happen to love horses, and I discovered quite early I have an affinity with the magnificent creatures. As it turns out that is the key to understanding horses. You can’t fear them and you can’t force them to do your will.
“Everything is a dance,” Brannaman explains, and he proceeds to show how with love and gentle persuasion you can get a horse to bend to your will.
Brannaman specializes in re-training damaged, unruly horses in clinics he teaches all over the country. He is a mild-mannered man, but Brannaman can scarcely conceal his contempt when he learns a horse owner has abused her horse. In the course of filming, director Cindy Meehl uncovers the fact that Buck and his brother, who were childhood rodeo stars, were beaten regularly by their alcoholic, abusive father.
So “Buck” is as much about the man as it is about his near-mythical powers with horses. Brannaman may be the first cowboy in America who is as much at home with Oprah Winfrey as he is in the saddle.

Three and a half stars

How To Succeed in Boca

“How to Succeed” a Big Success

By Skip Sheffield

In the wake of the sad news of the Chapter 7 bankruptcy and sudden closing of Florida Stage, it is gratifying to report live theater is alive and well in Boca Raton. A terrific production of “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” continues through Sunday, June 26 at Caldwell Theatre Company, 7901 N. Federal Highway.
The show is produced by Vicki & Peter Halmos Family Foundation, parent corporation of Entre’Acte Theatrix, which is in turn an offshoot of Palm Beach Principal Players: a “Conservatory for the Serious Young Actors.”
There are a lot of serious actors in this production, and yes they are younger than what you typically see in professional productions. Make no mistake though, these kids are pros, and the production values are first-rate, from costumes to sets, props, lighting and sound.
“How To Succeed” is a chestnut from 1961 that made a Broadway star of Robert Morse as a conniving corporate climber, J. Pierpont Finch.
Here Finch is played by Shane Blanford, who studied at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. The title of the show comes from a manual that Finch, a window-washer who would be a CEO, is reading chapter by chapter. The character of Finch breaks the “fourth wall” regularly by looking smug and smiling directly at the audience (with pinpoint spotlight to make sure we’ll notice) every time he advances up the corporate ladder of the “World Wide Wicket Company.”
Finch’s rapid rise from lowly mail room clerk comes at the expense of anyone who gets in his way, but the biggest casualty is Bud Frump (Greg Halmos), the newly-hired head of the mail room. Bud isn’t exactly a ball of fire. The fact of the matter is the only reason he has a job at WWW is because he is the boss’s nephew.
That boss is J.B. Biggley (John Costanzo), a pompous, insincere and easily flattered jerk; in other words, a typical boss.
The first person to notice Finch is Rosemary Pilkington (Leah Sessa), a corporate secretary who longs for marriage as a traditional wife and helpmate, as expressed in the self-deprecating “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm.” Rosemary’s best buddy Smitty (Lisa Kerstin) has similar 1950s domestic aspirations. Yes, this is a dated show, and some of the references will be missed by the younger audience, but the basic satire on corporate structure is still solid and applicable.
Frank Loesser’s catchy songs are beautifully sung by the ensemble cast and fervently played by a four-piece onstage combo. The score isn’t in the category of all-time classics, but the two best-known tunes, “I Believe in You” and “Brotherhood of Man” are like old friends come by to visit.
The wardrobe, particularly the dresses on the women, is a colorful rainbow riot, and Kimberly Dawn Smith’s choreography, which is a big part of the production, is on target and graceful. The original choreography by the way was by Bob Fosse, who refused credit because he didn’t want to slight the published choreographer.
“How To Succeed” was adapted from a satirical book by Shepherd Mead, published in 1952. The revamped book musical by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, was good enough for a Pulitzer Prize in 1962. I don’t know if producer Vicki Halmos is clairvoyant or simply in-the-know, but a new Broadway revival starring Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe opened March 27, 2011 and is a big hit commercially and critically.
Here’s hoping for everyone in the South Florida Theater community that Entre’Acte Theatrix has a big hit on its hands, for it certainly is well-deserved.
Tickets are $25 and $30 ($10 student rush) and may be reserved by calling 561-241-7432 or 877-245-7432.

Good Hair in South Florida

Best “Hair” Ever at Broward Center

By Skip Sheffield

When the musical “Hair” made its debut at Joe Papp’s Public Theatre in October, 1967, it was already dated. The hippie era it celebrated- if it ever existed- had fizzled out into violence, crime and acrimony.
Yet the characters created by Jerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermott lived on to become a part of American culture.
In a sense “Hair” is as much a period piece as “Oklahoma” or “South Pacific,” but it is back, younger, livelier and sexier than ever in a revival that continues through Sunday, June 5 at Arsht Center in Miami. The show moves to Broward Center June 7-19.
This newest version of this modern, mythical, free-form classic combines various incarnations of the story, including the original stage show and the 1979 movie, with added songs and dialogue.
Though it makes for a longer show, this is the best all-around “Hair” I have ever seen. The two male leads, the draft-fearing slacker Claude and free-loving hedonist Berger are powerfully realized by Paris Remillard and Steel Burkhardt.
Peace activist Sheila, who is loved by Claude but lusts for Berger, is realized with sexy sweetness by Caren Lyn Tackett.
Jeanie is pregnant and proud, and Kacie Sheik brings good humor to what could be a troubled character. Matt DeAngelis nicely brings out the sexual ambiguity of Woof.
One of the members of the “tribe” is played by Olympic Heights High School and proud FSU graduate, Mike Evariste.
There is a terrific band up on scaffolding onstage, lead by pianist David Truskinoff and complete with horn section.. The band doesn’t really let loose until Act II, when guitarist Josh Weinstein begins unleashing power chords and Hendrix-flavored feedback.
“Hair” is an in-the-aisles, in-your-face and tousle-your-hair experience. If you are nervous about having your comfort zone invaded, this is probably not a show for you. If nudity and sex offend, by all means stay away, for the Act I finale includes nude bodies of all shapes and sizes, in their newborn glory.
It seems almost quaint now the way “hair’ celebrates pot-smoking, free love and civil disobedience, but if you enjoy it as a period piece you see the cartoonish aspects of this wacky mid-American “tribe.”
There is a serious side to “Hair” that is not lost. Young lives were being sacrificed to what turned out to be an unwinnable war, and Claude becomes the martyr symbol for soldiers offered up for sacrifice.
For sheer joy and entertainment, it is doubtful you will discover any show this year that tops this “Hair.”
Tickets are $25-$69 at Broward Center. Call 954-462-0222.