#Five Directors on The Battle of Algiers (2004)

[itsnothingbutluck]

And after the revolution did the terrorism stop? The wide-eyed acceptance of Spike Lee and Oliver Stone notwithstanding, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" is  the simpleminded abstraction of the self-righteous.

[justforbooks]

Roger Ebert on the Nature of Film: 'A Movie is Not a Logical Art Form'

One of the great questions that pervades the understanding of cinema is simply this: What is its purpose? There are countless theories that attempt to answer it. Film theorists, like Rudolf Arnheim believed that film is art, in that it shouldn't (and doesn't) represent or replicate real life, whereas André Bazin thought films capture an "objective reality". Roger Ebert had his theories as well, and in a commentary on Dark City, he suggests that film isn't the medium to use when trying to express a logical and intellectual argument.

I've always felt that movies are an emotional medium -- that movies are not the way to make an intellectual argument. If you want to make a political or a philosophical argument, then the ideal medium exists, and that medium is the printed word -- a movie is not a logical art form. When we watch a film, the director is essentially standing behind us and saying, "Look here," and "Look there," "Hear this," and "Hear that," and "Feel this," and "Feel the way I want you to feel." And we give up conscious control over our intelligence. We become voyeurs. We become people who are absorbed into the story, if the story is working. And it's an emotional experience.

There is so much to say about the many theoretical arguments concerning film, which will have to come at a later time, but suffice it to say that Ebert is not alone is his assertion that the very nature of film is the same as its purpose: emotional evocation.

Ebert compiled "best of the year" movie lists beginning in 1967 until 2012, thereby helping provide an overview of his critical preferences.  His top choices were:

1967:  Bonnie and Clyde

1968:  The Battle of Algiers

1969:  Z

1970:  Five Easy Pieces

1971:  The Last Picture Show

1972:  The Godfather

1973:  Cries and Whispers

1974:  Scenes from a Marriage

1975:  Nashville

1976:  Small Change

1977:  3 Women

1978:  An Unmarried Woman

1979:  Apocalypse Now

1980:  The Black Stallion

1981:  My Dinner with Andre

1982:  Sophie's Choice

1983:  The Right Stuff

1984:  Amadeus

1985:  The Color Purple

1986:  Platoon

1987:  House of Games

1988:  Mississippi Burning

1989:  Do the Right Thing

1990:  Goodfellas

1991:  JFK

1992:  Malcolm X

1993:  Schindler's List

1994:  Hoop Dreams

1995:  Leaving Las Vegas

1996:  Fargo

1997:  Eve's Bayou

1998:  Dark City

1999:  Being John Malkovich

2000:  Almost Famous

2001:  Monster's Ball

2002:  Minority Report

2003:  Monster

2004:  Million Dollar Baby

2005:  Crash

2006:  Pan's Labyrinth

2007:  Juno

2008:  Synecdoche, New York

2009:  The Hurt Locker

2010:  The Social Network

2011:  A Separation

2012:  Argo

Ebert revisited and sometimes revised his opinions. After ranking E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial third on his 1982 list, it was the only movie from that year to appear on his later "Best Films of the 1980s" list (where it also ranked third). He made similar reevaluations of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and Ran (1985). Three Colours trilogy (Blue (1993), White (1994), and Red (also 1994)), and Pulp Fiction (1994) originally ranked second and third on Ebert's 1994 list; both were included on his "Best Films of the 1990s" list, but their order had reversed. 

In 2006, Ebert noted his own "tendency to place what I now consider the year's best film in second place, perhaps because I was trying to make some kind of point with my top pick", adding, "In 1968, I should have ranked 2001 above The Battle of Algiers.  In 1971, McCabe & Mrs. Miller was better than The Last Picture Show. In 1974, Chinatown was probably better, in a different way, than Scenes from a Marriage. In 1976, how could I rank Small Change above Taxi Driver?  In 1978, I would put Days of Heaven above An Unmarried Woman. And in 1980, of course, Raging Bull was a better film than The Black Stallion … although I later chose Raging Bull as the best film of the entire decade of the 1980s, it was only the second-best film of 1980 … am I the same person I was in 1968, 1971, or 1980? I hope not."

Since Ebert died, his website has continued the practice, with the site's primary contributors each offering individual Top Ten lists, with their rankings combined into a communal top ten list.

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