Smorgasbord of emotions

As my time in film class comes to an end I have begun to think and reflect on this past semester. Before the class, I thought films in black and white were painful to watch. For the most part, that belief still holds true. I saw films like Double Indemnity and La Strada that cemented my feelings. However, films like High Noon showed me that films not in color are tolerable if the script is good and the actors portray a colorful personality. Another thing I gained from this class was extreme respect for the foreign film and film industry. Films like Chungking Express and Wages of Fear, despite the fact that they weren’t my favorite films, showed me a different type of film style and its ability to transcend continents and cultures. I also learned how to tackle certain issues in films. A prime example of this is M, the amazingly scary film about a serial killer in pre WWII Germany. I was totally open-minded when I viewed that film and allowed myself to be immersed in and saturated with the film. It turned out to be my favorite film of the year. Not only did it portray such a haunting and real topic so beautifully and effectively, it showed the world the type of society that was prewar Germany. It, like all films, was a snapshot of that time period. It just so happens that this was a snapshot that would change the course of history and human nature. I would write more, but my eyes are welling up like Nathaniel’s after his “brother” was killed in Last of the Mohicans.