Jul. 27, 2002 - 5:16 pm
here's the first one off of the new list. nominated for Best Picture of 1992, but lost of course to Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992). warning: spoilers to follow.
i thought this movie was going to be totally about the relationship between the man and the transvestite. like it was all them falling in love and then at the end he finds out that she's actually a man. actually it's quite a bit more complicated than that though. there's this whole thing with the IRA. at the beginning of the film Stephen Rea's character Fergus takes a British soldier hostage and they become friends. before the man has to be executed. he feels indebted to the soldier and moves into the man's former life, even taking care of his girlfriend.
wow, i didn't know Forest Whitaker could be so good. this is the best acting i've ever seen from him. he understood and acted his character perfectly. as the man waiting to be executed, just looking for a friend. and he even had a seemingly flawless British accent. it seriously freaked me out. i couldn't believe it was him. i didn't think that was within his range.
i almost wish i could have watched this film without having known "the secret" beforehand. i wonder if i would've figured it out or not. i'd like to think that i would have, but Jaye Davidson was extremely convincing.
oh and it might be useful for me to comment that the woman pictured on the cover of this film (shown above) is actually a female character from the film. she's one of the IRA people. it's not the transvestite, so don't be confused like i was for years.
this is definitely a film worth remembering. it really makes you think about the nature of love, sexuality, and friendship. it's complex and quite good.