World War Z

http://impruvism.com/world-war-z/

It seems the rest of the world has seen this movie (especially all my students). While it took me a while, I finally saw it. 

I stupidly watched it right before I went to bed. 

Me = dumb.

I have totally been avoiding this movie on purpose, because the book by Max Brooks was an amazing trek through terror, and I loved every freakishly terrifying word. The themes of fear and uncertainty, with an emphasis on survival, helped me realize the need for an emergency pack in my bedroom, my car, and the garage, plus an extra gas can, a plan to get out of major city areas, and, finally, to purchase a bat (because that doesn't run out of ammo).

Am I prepared for a zombie apocalypse?  Well, as prepared as anyone can be after reading Brooks' how-to-oral-history, I suppose.

With your knowledge of my slightly strange love/respect/reverence for the book, you may understand why I'm a bit split in regards to my opinion of World War Z, which has practically nothing in common with its namesake. 

So, I decided to write this post in two perspectives: first, as if this were just any other zombie movie, and second, as a zombie movie based on one of the best books ever.

Just a Zombie Movie

If nothing else, this movie is a thrilling zombie flick, with quite a few jump-back-in-your-seat-and-scream moments. I really did enjoy watching it, especially after I decided not to keep a running tally of differences from the book.

I recommend watching it if you're in the mood for an exciting apocalyptic tale, but I do have a few, well, observations.

Spoiler alert!

First of all, the opening credits. Can I just say...Terminator, much? The scrolling letters, the music, it was practically screaming "End of the world! Humanity is doomed! The robots...I mean, zombies are coming!"

Secondly, isn't it convenient for Brad...I mean Gerry and his family that he is so important a helicopter + sharp shooters are sent out to collect them? Sorry everybody else. And I mean EVERYBODY. I guess there wouldn't have been a story otherwise...

Third on my list were the zombie piles. I get the reference to the ants in the opening credits, and it's totally freaky, but I take umbrage when I see a running zombie. It's like seeing a sparkly vampire: wrong, just wrong. 

Next, there is a point made that the zombies will pass over a dying host because they need a healthy body to infest...with the virus of being...the un-dead. Just let that sink in for a second. 

I appreciate the movie trying to bring hope amid a broiling mass of flailing, running and flying zombies, but part of the true terror that creates such zombie fever with fans is that you don't know what spreads the infection. Don't try to science-ify it. Just make them groan, "BRainS!" and we'll be happy. (by the way, this is one of the mistakes I think The Walking Dead TV show made- that whole CDC scene was such a mistake).

Those are all small complaints, and I was freaked out...I mean entertained, by this movie.

World War Z: The Book

http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/book-vs-movie-world-war-z-a-ploughshares-playlist/

Did I mention this movie was NOTHING like the book? 

If Hollywood had just stepped out on a limb and tried to tell the story in a different way than "tough-special-handsome UN investigator must go into the danger zone and save the world, because only he (and his stubble) can do it" plot, then they might have been able to create something unique.

That was half the draw of World War Z: it was such a different take on a story rehashed a hundred times.

If you haven't read the book, you should, and I hear the audio book is really well done too. It follows a UN postwar commission agent trying to discover the cause of the zombie war ten years after the fact by interviewing important survivors: those that might know something or who gave vital contributions to humanity's survival.

Here's what I would have decided to tell the director if I were the Empress of Hollywood: don't hire Brad Pitt.

http://lifetimereadingplan.blogspot.com/2011/02/troy-wars.html

I say that knowing he's the only reason 

I re-watch the massacre that is Troy.

While I hardly believe I typed those words myself, I want you to think about that for a moment. Without his huge 14 million dollar paycheck, just think of all the other actors that could have been hired to actually do the oral history justice. 

For example, how could you abandon such a salty character as Tomonaga Ijiro, a blind, Japanese gardener turned zombie assassin...armed with only a shovel who practically rids the island of Japan of zombies single-shovel-dly?

Or what about fascinating predictions of what countries would fall and which would rise, with North Korea abandoned, its citizens presumed to have retreated to underground bunkers, while Israel closes its borders and pretty much survives the war? (that was hinted at in the movie, but the strangely agile zombies destroyed even that reference)

Or the terrifying prospect of mobs of zombies crawling along the ocean floor, devouring all sea life?

Or, you know, the fact that this was called WORLD War Z, not Brad Pitt saves the World.

(sigh)

Anyhoo, I hear that the powers that be are trying to make this into a trilogy, and with its box office success, that seems to be a real possibility for World War Z. 

I'll probably go see the next installment.

Or maybe I'll wait for the rental, so I can watch it alone, in the dark, right before bed.

Never judge a book by its movie

"The book is a film that takes place in the mind of the reader. That's why we go to the movies and say, 'Oh, the book was better.' "
Paulo Coelho

Too true, random Brazilian writer I found on the Internet. 

As an English teacher, I dread the inevitable question of, "Are we going to watch the movie?" after I announce we'll be reading a new book in class. I picture myself jumping on my desk, knocking stacks of paper away with my comfortable shoes, shouting, "Don't you understand?!? The book is always better than the movie because it's YOUR imagination and connections and journey and NOBODY else can create the world you travel to in your mind!" But I've yet to have this John Keating moment in reality. I usually state, with a heavy sigh, "Yes, to practice compare and contrasting." Cue harmonic moans and groans. 

That's right children, step on my childhood memories with your unwillingness to read. 

Edmund Wilson, literary critic, once stated that "No two persons ever read the same book," and when it comes to what we see in our minds, I often find a director's vision of the characters and setting lacking my mental picture's (with it's inexhaustible supply of viewpoints and pocketbook) standards. 

HOWEVER, there are always exceptions to the rule (including that one). Eight, in my experience.

If I have to be truly honest with myself, I'd be less harsh of a judge if I accepted the fact that these are two very different story telling mediums, and maybe I should cut the screenwriters a break...NAW. If you hack up my book- because once I've read it, I own it you see-you shall suffer a tirade of jibber-jabber and insults worthy of English parliament. 

Here they are, the movies that match my esteem for the book, in the order I remembered them by, with a "short" explanation as to why:

Matilda- Omniscient narrators always help a book-to-movie-translation along, and if I had a voice describing the innards of my goings-on, Danny DeVito would be one of my top ten choices. The casting rocked, the effects are still well done 17 years later, and best of all, EVERY SINGLE ONE of my students who watch this film laugh heartily with the true enjoyment that only Roald Dahl's child-like version of reality could bring. Readership of Dahl always goes up after this movie is shared in the classroom. I personally love a good giggle, and this movie keeps the necessary plot points without loosing the book's charm.

Cloud Atlas- This beautiful movie blew me away and I actually had to watch it twice before completely comprehending it (more on that later). That being said, the complexity of the story telling may not match the layout of the excellent novel exactly, but it dazzles in its own way. If you've read the book, I'm sure you'll discover David Mitchell's six intertwining stories are treated with the greatest respect. A few plot points are changed to leave a happier product in the hands of the movie's consumer, but I personally liked those changes. What can I say? I'm a sucker for happy endings. 

Hunger Games- I shake with anticipation for the second installment after the success of the first. With the exception of the shaky camera craze that leaves me not with a sense of "being there" but "being saddled with sea-sickness and a headache," this movie did a remarkable job of visualizing children killing each other for the entertainment of the privileged.  I wondered how that would transfer from the written word. It's one thing to read it and imagine, a whole different experience to see the bright-red-bloody violence of gladiator teens. Our minds can create worlds within worlds, but we can sensor ourselves too. I guess that's why this hasn't been made into a graphic novel yet. 

A Very Long Engagement- Translated from the French novel, this WWI detective/romance is directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, of Amelie fame, starring none other than Audrey Tautou. That combo by itself is a winner in my book, and this movie doesn't fail to deliver. There is actually one scene where Audrey's character, Mathilde, receives bad news over the phone and I SWEAR, the scene looked, sounded and felt just as it had in my mind as I read the scene. That happens a grand total of never. I already liked the movie up until that point, but I adored it after that scene. 

The Princess Bride- The book read like a screenplay to begin with, so adapting this humorously twisted fantasy onto the silver screen was simply a question of the right director at the right time. This movie is chock full of everything good, from Andre the Giant to oh-so-quotable lines, I just don't know where to start gushing. I guess I'll just move on, as you have probably been wishing me to do for a while. 

Holes- Another favorite for my classroom, I love the amount of plot they squished into this film. It is one of the few movies where students have trouble finding differences from the book. It's one of the few Shia LaBeouf productions I can stomach after Transformers. I think the best thing about this movie is that the additions made for humor's sake add to the characters' development instead of changing the character's personality, unlike some movies we know (The Lightning Thief, please stand up). I'll take my italics and move on now. 

Pride and Prejudice, the BBC version- Oh yes, five and a half hours of details, details, details (not to mention Colin Firth) that only the BBC can provide. I think, quite arrogantly, that Jane Austen would have been proud. I watch this (and the next one) whenever I'm sick and need to escape from the current world for a long period of time.

Anne of Green Gables, just the first two- I grew up on this pack of four VHS (that and the Sound of Music...which actually explains a lot about me). What geeky teenage girl doesn't identify with Anne's love of literature and hyperbole, and her complete inability to see the truth that yanked on her braids and called her 'carrots'? L.M. Montgomery provided almost too much information for the Canadian movie makers to draw from, and much of the story is actually drawn from six books, not just the first two. The editing works, and let's just say, I've always wanted to be called Cordelia. 

Oh, Pinterest, you creative genius you. 

The list of movies BETTER than the book actually exists, but shall be a story saved for another day. 
The list of books that SHOULDN'T have been made into movies (at least not yet) is one I'm looking forward to writing.
The list of movies that commit high treason and should be hung, drawn and quartered for butchering the book they were "based" on is longer than Santa's naughty and nice list put together. I don't think I'll go there, except in short bursts, spread out for every body's benefit. The process will be slow and cathartic, to be sure (evil grin).