There is not a more propagandistic website on Earth than Drudge Report.
Do you know what propaganda looks like?
“Putin doesn’t want his people to see images of the war.”
“Russian Air Force incapable of complex military operations (invasion failing).”
“Zelensky is the reincarnation of Rasputin.”
“Russian soldiers raping Ukrainian women.”
“Russia [who secured both Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia] are nuclear ‘terrorists'”. [For securing the facilities. All while the facilities are undamaged and not showing a rise in radiation leakage.]
“Russia is planning public executions.”
Might as well throw in some chestnut like “Russia shish-kebabbing Ukrainian infants on bayonets”.
Do you see where this is going?
“Two more top Russian commanders kiled.”
DO YOU BELIEVE ANY OF THIS BULLSHIT???
The same media that lied to you for two years about COVID and masks and vaccines and lab leaks now wants you to TRUST THEM and #StandWithUkraine .
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKK THAT!
What are the possibilities that Putin is beholden to Klaus Schwab?
I’d say 1%.
What is the possibility that Putin is doing the right thing.
I’d say 99%.
But the only problem is this: it completely overshadows the exceedingly-successful “freedom convoys” of truckers and also makes it impossible for any news about COVID duplicity to make it on any mainstream news.
So the timing is, one may see, unfortunate.
The whole COVID narrative was rapidly collapsing.
The virus was burning out with Omicron.
Serious, serious questions about impropriety from Moderna and Pfizer were arising.
And they CONTINUE to arise.
But you won’t hear about them.
The Ukraine war is like a giant school shooting.
This will be THE ONLY STORY in the news for months.
Perhaps years.
There are two reasons that people do things.
The “good” reason and the real reason.
Why did Putin invade Ukraine?
Because Zelensky announced 11 months ago that his intention was to retake Crimea by force.
And why else did Putin invade?
Because Zelensky announced seven months ago that Ukraine’s desire and intention was to join NATO.
Any other possible reasons?
Zbigniew Brzezinski called Ukraine the “bread basket” of the former Soviet Union.
What is the only thing which could rival oil right now in terms of astronomical inflation and actual scarcity?
Food.
Wheat.
Food security.
Putin may be securing this bread basket for Russia.
But the golden nugget embedded in the article was this:
How long will Alphabet Inc. leave it up?
You have the title.
The Wayback Machine has no working records of the YouTube video.
I would archive it, but I’m sick of fucking signing up for shit and being tracked.
So fuck it.
You can track it down.
And we’re gonna do a little oral transmission here.
Spoiler alert:
this film review will be strictly spoilers and nothing but.
Not my usual m.o..
I’m not selling anything.
I don’t generate income by you clicking on this story.
I have no link to any content creator above.
I write very strange film reviews.
It’s called free fucking speech.
I also write music.
All my music is free to stream and download.
And I’m not gonna post a link.
Go find it.
The purpose of this article is strictly to get information out.
I am a conservative.
The same kind of conservative Donald Trump is.
Like it, or leave it.
I belive in Jesus.
I love God.
If you don’t like my foul mouth, then you can leave now.
I curse because I’m angry.
And I curse because I will not be told what I can and cannot say.
This is my website.
I’m using my free speech.
I’m gonna walk until they make me run.
So I’m here today to tell you about what I think is going on.
I scour the internet every day (especially these past 22 days) in an effort to avail myself of actionable intelligence.
I have a thirst for knowledge.
But more than that, I have a thirst for truth.
I support QAnon.
I support Trump.
I love my country: the United States of America.
I support our military.
I support our law enforcement officers.
And now I’m going to get around to the fucking point.
I watched this entire one hour, eight minute, and 44 second video – – – – – – so that you don’t have to.
But I still recommend you watch it.
And archive it (if at all possible).
Wayback Machine is my jam.
I’ve never been asked to “log in” until today.
Whatever…
Fuck it.
You can work a little too.
Here’s the beef.
This whole video is good.
All of the guests are good.
But there is one particular guest (the first one) who drops what I find to be some new and illuminating information.
The guest is Major Jeffrey Prather.
It should be noted that several of the six guests (including Maj. Prather) appear to be forthcoming content creators for this new outlet: American Media Periscope.
I’ve never heard of this outlet.
I get the impression that they have only been around a couple of weeks.
AND ALREADY TWEETED OUT BY THE PRESIDENT!
Which brings me back to my point.
Something in here MUST be salient.
And my guess is that it is the first guest: Major Prather.
If you haven’t heard of Sidney Powell by now, you have been living under a rock.
While most of America is being blasted with “Sidney Powell is even too crazy for Trump” blah blah bullshit, those who know (Trump voters) are well aware that Ms. Powell is an accomplished lawyer.
Her most recent claim to notoriety is successfully defending General Michael Flynn from the petty bitterness of sore losers.
Update: if you’re just waking up, the Flynn case has been dismissed (within the past 24 hours). This according to a tweet by one of Flynn’s brothers. Go find it yourself. I.e., Flynn’s not gonna need a pardon.
We’ve known this for awhile.
The government has no case when the government has no prosecutor.
Judge Emmet Sullivan is a really atrocious example of a judicial activist.
An activist.
Not a judge.
Sullivan dragged out the case another three months…after the Department of Justice withdrew its case.
But I digress…
It does not take a fucking genius to imagine that the exceedingly-persecuted Michael Flynn might be very grateful indeed for the legal services of Sidney Powell.
Flynn fought hard for Trump in 2016.
Flynn was unfairly targeted by Obama’s illegal Crossfire Hurricane program (run by the FBI).
Flynn’s life has been ruined (in a worldly sense).
But he has survived.
I believe the man had to sell his home to pay his legal fees.
Thirty years in the U.S. Army and that’s the treatment he got from Obama, Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Lisa Page, Loretta Lynch, Susan Rice, Bruce Ohr, Rod Rosenstein, John Brennan, James Clapper, and (last but not least) Joe Biden.
So Michael Flynn has some scores to settle.
Because of his ongoing case, he was essentially precluded by the judge from publicly speaking for the past four years.
What a illegal travesty!
So now we come to what should be obvious to any thinking individual as the massively-fraudulent election of 2020.
We have been waiting three years for any of those aforementioned people to get in trouble…FOR ANYTHING!
We would have been happy if Hillary Clinton had gotten a fucking parking ticket, but she didn’t.
We have waited through:
-Jeff Sessions
-John Huber
-John Bash?
-Bill Barr
and
-John Durham.
We have been built up by a bunch of tick-tock bullshit.
Maybe it had a purpose.
Surely it did.
But what I am about to report casts it in a slightly different light.
You can decide for yourself whether what I convey seems plausible.
I belive Q is legit.
But it is a HIGHLY, HIGHLY complex and nuanced PSYOP.
I do not believe it is a fucking LARP.
And if it’s a LARP, then so what?
It has been effective.
WILDLY-effective.
It is a part of world history.
It has gotten people DIGGING like never before.
Me and a few other people tried to expose 9/11 as an inside job/false-flag stand down/what have you.
We didn’t really prevail.
We were ignored.
Maybe we were completely wrong to doubt the official story of 9/11.
But I don’t think so.
I researched that event like my life depended on it.
BECAUSE IT CHANGED THE WORLD…FOR THE WORSE.
We didn’t need to go to war in Afghanistan.
And we didn’t need to stay there 20 years.
We didn’t need to go to Iraq.
Again.
Correct me if I’m wrong (and I’m sure you will), but I think we could have arrested Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and a few others and called it a day.
Which brings us to the current times.
There wasn’t enough of a GREAT AWAKENING to reach critical mass.
But that was 19 years ago.
I can’t really recall Q ever having talked about 9/11.
That’s alright.
Maybe Q will tell us that 9/11 was actually the work of 19 beardy guys with boxcutters working out of a cave in Afghanistan.
And maybe that’s the whole story.
But I don’t buy it.
I believe the CIA was involved.
So does Dr. Steve Pieczenik.
Do yourself a favor and buy his eBook American Warrior in Crises.
I get nothing for plugging that.
He’s not a friend of mine.
I’ve never spoken to or exchanged correspondence with him.
I just respect his work.
Immensely!
Is he always right?
Probably not.
But for my money, he’s as close as we get to truth in this day and age.
So here’s the rub.
Flynn has some scores to settle.
The other military people who saw Flynn become a political prisoner also have some scores to settle…ON HIS BEHALF.
You cannot fail to serve your country (like Obama) and then turn around and ruin a guy’s life who did (for 30 years!).
You shouldn’t prosecute a guy for a process crime and, in so doing, make him lose his house.
I think I donated 20 bucks to Flynn.
Damn right I did!
I worked at Starbucks.
And I was proud to give my hard-earned money to a MILITARY spy chief.
And there’s the rub.
I used to want to work in intelligence.
Maybe I still do.
But I’m old.
Washed up.
And, honestly, I’m a fucking musician.
So just call me Sherlock Holmes.
And a shabby one at that (perhaps).
But I take great pride in TRYING to know what’s going on.
Because, again, I LOVE MY COUNTRY!
And who taught me to truly love my country?
Donald Trump.
And who else?
Steve Pieczenik.
And who else?
Michael Flynn.
If you don’t think that Sidney Powell is privy to some very interesting information by way of representing General Flynn, then you are incredibly naive.
Which finally brings us to this YouTube video.
Major Prather.
Major Prather (according to his LinkedIn) worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency for 17 years…and in a very high position at that!
General Flynn headed the DIA.
It might be said that the DIA is the military rival in the U.S. to the civilian CIA.
That’s right: the CIA is a civilian intelligence organization.
A weird thing.
Created in 1947.
The CIA’s predecessor was the OSS: a military intelligence unit.
Although the OSS were a bit kooky (thanks to their head William J. Donovan), at least they were putting themselves in harm’s way.
But again I digress.
The CIA has lost a little more than 100 officers/operatives in the past 73 years.
That’s the official number.
And it sounds about right.
The DIA has officially lost 21.
That number makes less sense.
But it makes sense in that the DIA is sort of the cream of the crop for military intelligence in the United States.
The NSA may be thought of as being even more elite (and powerful as a unit) because of the unique types of intelligence gathering they do.
The NSA supplies intel to the CIA, FBI, DIA, etc.
The NSA is a military intelligence organization.
Back to these casualty numbers.
The CIA has officially lost 133 of its employees on the job…in 73 years.
The DIA has officially lost 21 of its employees on the job…in 59 years.
But that doesn’t really tell the true story.
Sure, the CIA has its paramilitary strike teams.
They used to be called SAD/SOG (Special Activities Division/Special Operations Group).
These officers were largely recruited from the military special operations units: Army Delta Force, Navy SEALs, MARSOC, etc.
Other than these agents, the CIA is more pencil-pusher, wear a tie, James Bond shit.
And I do mean shit.
Once upon a time, the CIA used to help overthrow communist governments.
This might seem inhumane.
Until you live under communism.
In which case, you see just how humane it really is.
But the CIA has gotten away from that mission.
So much so that they ended up with a Director who had once voted for a communist for U.S. President.
That’s right: John Brennan voted for Gus Hall.
It should have been a disqualifying factor by some estimations.
The CIA and FBI apparently share the same requirement upon beginning official employment: you must pass a lie detector test…and one of the questions is something to the effect of “have you ever supported a group that has sought the overthrow of the U.S. government.”
John Brennan admittedly had a tough time answering that question.
But he might as well have answered:
“Not yet.”
To my eyes, John Brennan is clearly a traitor to the U.S.
Following closely behind him is Michael Hayden (who led both the CIA and NSA respectively).
But Michael Flynn is cut from a different cloth.
He’s a spymaster.
But he cut his teeth doing the real thing.
Serving in Army intelligence (INSCOM).
Putting himself in harm’s way.
The same cannot be said of John Brennan (and most of the CIA).
[Michael Hayden is a strange case of…well, I don’t know…I just have to assume he is corrupted and coopted to such an extraordinary level that he doesn’t even really love his country any more (if he ever did in the first place)–he loves himself…first and foremost]
So I give Major Jeffrey Prather (formerly of the DIA) a great deal of respect as a foregone conclusion.
[keep in mind…the DIA has had its share of bad eggs…James Clapper chiefly among them]
If you watch no other section of the video I posted above, watch the segment with Prather.
Akamai.
Where do they fit in to this election?
Which brings up 9/11.
And the incredibly strange/significant “death” of Daniel Lewin.
Yes, I know I put death in quotes.
I’m about as sure Daniel Lewin died on 9/11 as I am sure that Adam Lanza was a master with an assault rifle.
Which is to say, not very sure.
But the Electoral College will meet on my birthday: December 14th.
Massachusetts.
Akamai.
Serbia.
Ok, we know about Dominion Voting Systems and all the programmers they have/had in Serbia. A bit of a strange locale. Wonder if the company memos are in Cyrillic?
China.
I don’t now why I wrote that down.
I’m going off notes.
Frankfurt.
Ok, yes.
Obviously.
Something appears to have happened there.
I’m not sure what Prather’s point was on this.
What was seized?
From Scytl?
From the CIA?
And seized by whom?
The U.S. Army?
I should take this opportunity to point out a strange assertion of Prather’s.
I find this one a little hard to believe, but I suppose it’s possible.
Prather asserts that the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and Marines have all had their computer systems compromised.
Might this have something to do with the DoD contract with AWS?
Amazon Web Services.
The CIA uses them too.
Look it up, you lazy fucker!
It’s an article…in The Atlantic.
Dig!
There have been rumors that the votes in (for example) Michigan were sent by Dominion Voting Systems by way of AWS (which is to say, over the internet? cloud???) to Europe in order for the votes to be tallied.
Giuliani has pointed out just how ludicrous this is.
And it is!
But what’s the exact chain?
We know there is a company called Scytl.
They are headquartered in Barcelona.
They are rumored to have a “back up” data site (servers) in Frankfurt.
There is good evidence that internet traffic in Frankfurt, Germany on the night of the U.S. election set records for that city.
Look it up.
Find it.
WikiLeaks exposed the fact that the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt is a giant CIA hacking base.
This can be found in the Vault 7 materials from WikiLeaks.
So, did the CIA hack our election?
Seems to me like a high probability.
Indeed, Prather outlines this dichotomy: the civil war in the U.S. has already started…and the SO/LIC confrontation can so far best be described as DIA vs. CIA (or, perhaps more accurately, military vs. CIA).
I believe this is probably accurate.
It is borne out by all the intelligence I have personally gathered (OSINT) over the past few years.
The CIA has lost its way.
I once applied there.
Thank God I didn’t get the job.
I also once tried to sell my soul to the Devil (true story), but that tale can wait…
I am saved by the grace of Jesus Christ.
I am the worst among sinners.
Which is why I need the grace of Jesus more than anyone.
I also applied for Air Force Intelligence once.
Didn’t get it.
Maybe because I have a fucking music degree and an MBA.
Not exactly what’s commonly thought needed to assess China’s answer to the F-35.
Which brings us to Prather’s point.
According to Major Prather, only the U.S. Air Force and the newly created Space Force have retained the security of their computer networks.
This is a bold claim.
I don’t have anything to really gauge it on.
Except that I have a soft spot for INSCOM (because of Q and Flynn) and a soft spot for the 4th POG (because they followed me on Twitter for some odd reason [before Jack Dorsey squashed me like a bug]).
Prather then pivots to his concerns.
He talked about possibly-imminent “interdictions” against Iran.
We have heard Q talk about Iran.
I love Iranian psychedelic music from the ’60s.
Before the Islamic revolutionaries fucked everything up.
I have nothing against Muslims.
I love them.
I have nothing against Iranians.
I love them.
I LOVE Kiarostami [RIP].
But let’s take stock for a moment here.
Joe Biden “won”.
Netanyahu pretty fucking quickly called to congratulate Joe.
And THEN…YESTERDAY Netanyahu calls to congratulate Jonathan Pollard on his release.
What in the actual fuck?!?
How pro-Israeli does a President [Trump] have to be in order to get a little respect from Israel?
Ok, ok.
I know.
Maybe Netanyahu is working with Trump behind the scenes.
Entirely possible.
Maybe we should have a sort of FVEY agreement with Israel.
But probably not.
Because, you know, remember the U.S.S. Liberty (you fuckers!).
Back to 9/11.
I have no idea if the Israelis were involved.
There was definitely some suspicious shit.
Zim-American Israeli Shipping.
Vacating the WTC right before the attacks.
And the moving truck company [Dominick Suter].
Mossad had some strange presence in and around NYC leading up to 9/11.
I don’t know what they were doing there.
And then there were the Mossad “art students” (which Pieczenik has attested to from personal experience).
All I know is this.
9/11 could not have gone undetected (and undeterred) by our military.
To the list of Rumsfeld and Cheney (Liz’s dad), we should add Ralph Eberhart, Richard Myers, etc. And almost certainly Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Perle, etc.
Keep in mind, nobody ever got in trouble.
The two tallest buildings in America fell down (were blown up) and all we did was waterboard KSM 183 times.
Perhaps Flynn and Anthony Shaffer could set me straight on some stuff.
I get the general gist of Able Danger.
But it still doesn’t explain a lot of things.
I’m gonna have to side with Pieczenik on this one: we’ve seen one long procession of (unpunished) false-flags since 9/11.
Now comes the pain.
Pieczenik seemed really sure about those watermarks on the ballots.
And I believe him.
Shaffer seemed to corroborate their likelihood.
But I was of the understanding that DHS was running this election sting.
After watching this YouTube video, it has dawned on me just how suspicious Chad Wolf has been acting.
See something, say something, right?
Why wouldn’t he fire Chris Krebs?
Even more importantly, what in the actual fuck was CISA doing on the night of the election?
Alexandra Bruce brings up some pretty excellent points in this video.
If I understand her correctly, she seems to be saying that cisa WAS IN ON THE WHOLE THING!
[Which would make sense in the same way that NORAD was doubtless in on 9/11]
But here is perhaps the most intriguing bit of information which Major Prather dropped.
It is his assertion that Ezra Cohen-Watnick is, in fact, Q.
Or rather, he says something to the effect that there is a [and I paraphrase] “very high likelihood” of this.
Call me dumb, but I never even thought of that possibility.
I know who ECW is (not personally, of course).
Thomas Wictor drew attention to this personage years ago.
Said there were no pictures of him because he’s military intelligence.
It’s all starting to click.
I find the ECW theory highly-plausible.
But then Prather throws a massive curveball.
Maj. Prather asserts that Bill Barr is getting ready to indict Ezra Cohen-Watnick (!).
For what?
For being Q??
A final bit of potentially disheartening information from Prather is that “Durham has done nothing” (paraphrase).
I.e., John Durham has not, and will not, bring any of the Crossfire Hurricane [coup #1] traitors to justice.
Sure, we got Clinesmith, but give me a fucking break…
I’d still rather see Hillary get a parking ticket.
So there you have it.
The other guests in the video are all quite good.
They all have some rather harrowing predictions for the coming days/weeks/months.
All seem to agree that Trump will probably prevail and be elected to a 2nd term.
But it could get really ugly.
Ms. Burke brings up the specter of military tribunals.
This must be “Axis of Evil” week here at paulydeathwish.com 🙂
As I have stated recently to a friend.
George W. Bush was the worst President the United States has ever seen.
And Barack Obama was probably the second-worst.
So what does that make me?
Democrat?
Republican?
Libertarian?
Let’s get to that question (if you even care to know) by a circuitous route, shall we?
First, we must again praise the people of Iran.
It was long ago that I saw my first Iranian film.
Taste of Cherry.
طعم گيلاس…
[Ta’m-e gīlās…]
It was such a profound experience.
There I was.
In a movie theater in Austin.
And I couldn’t have given a shit about cinema.
But I was there.
For some reason.
God only knows why.
And I saw a movie which in many ways changed my life.
[but it took many years to sink in]
Even so, I came to regard the name of its director (Abbas Kiarostami) with a sort of awe.
Yet, I doubted.
[as we all well should]
And so I said to the cinema gods, “Let Kiarostami perform his miracle again…if he be so brilliant!”
And he did.
I was supposed to be watching Life, and Nothing More…
But I made a mistake.
Because my French is so bad.
[you know, Kiarostami died in Paris last year (may God rest his soul)]
I needed 1991, but I chose 1990.
And it was another miracle.
Close-Up.
I don’t know.
Is it…
کلوزآپ ?
Or…
نمای نزدیک ?
[“Klūzāp”? Or “nemā-ye nazdīk”?]
Because the unfailing Google Translate (now the second-most popular “tr” search after “Trump” [as “translate”]) tells me that both terms mean “close-up”.
But who can translate Trump?
[ahhh…]
Perhaps only an Iranian?
Well, we would be in good hands if director Jafar Panahi was that man.
Why?
Because Mr. Panahi has made a film which is of the same rarefied air as the two Kiarostami films which I have referenced.
The work is called Jafar Panahi’s Taxi, and it is currently available on Netflix in the U.S.
No, it’s not a really trite game show.
No, it’s not some premise for an uncreative pornographer.
Jafar Panahi’s Taxi ( تاکسی) pushes the limits of barebones filmmaking in much the same way that the Palestinian masterpiece 5 Broken Cameras did.
[yes, I know the latter film was an Israeli coproduction…with an Israeli co-director…but the film was very much Palestinian in its inmost heart]
What our director Mr. Panahi adds to the method (budget cinematography) is an uncertainty of reality.
Frankly, I have never seen a film quite like Jafar Panahi’s Taxi.
Is it a documentary? Is it staged?
One thing’s for sure.
If it’s staged, the injured man and his wailing wife deserve Oscars “toot sweet”!
Truly, it is panic-inducing…
Which is not true of this film in general.
No, dear eggshell friends (if you’re out there)…don’t be afraid.
Jafar Panahi’s Taxi will only take you on a “wondrous boat ride” (so to speak) for a brief, more-or-less manageable period of time.
The rest of the film is fascinating…engrossing…painfully and gloriously perplexing.
Yes, Mr. Panahi borrows Kiarostami’s favorite device: filming from a moving vehicle.
But so what?!?
Panahi was an assistant director to Kiarostami.
And Abbas certainly wasn’t the first to film out of a car window.
But let’s examine for a moment…
Yes, the special part of this method is that the camera is turned INWARDS.
And so we feel we are seeing Homayoun Ershadi vacillate between life and death…all over again.
Or we feel we are seeing the calm, gracious mannerisms of Mohsen Makhmalbaf transposed from motorcycle to taxicab.
But what we are seeing most of all is a director stepping in front of the camera.
Like Truffaut.
And Chaplin before him.
Godard has done it to excellent effect as well.
And Jafar Panahi is like an empty reed of meditation as he navigates an unending stream of chaos which enters his faux-taxi.
But the most poignant moments are when Hana Saeidi reminds us of the childish joy of being an auto passenger…and when the lawyer Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh addresses us…we, the watchers of cinema.
Who will watch those watching the watchers?
It’s like Juvenal in a hall of mirrors.
But Ms. Sotoudeh breaks the fourth wall and takes us to a very special place.
Prison.
And so, again, frankly: we don’t know how Jafar Panahi’s Taxi was ever made.
Isn’t Iran one of the most intolerant countries on Earth?
Just what is going on here??
All of this Shostakovich-ean rebellion is really breathtaking when under the microscope of close viewing.
But Jafar Panahi remains stone-faced.
Like Buster Keaton.
Yet, this is largely no comedy.
This is a big “fuck you” to the government of Iran.
And yet, it is the most subtle “fuck you” ever committed to film.
Only a genius can do such things.
DSCH
etc.
Yes, dear friends. Mr. Panahi has been banned from making films.
And yet he made one.
And then another.
And then this one.
So we salute you, Mr. Panahi.
We appreciate such in America.
To illustrate:
<–fuck you, fuck you–>, and most of all…fuck you ^
That is freedom.
It is ugly.
Messy.
But it works.
And so as a Donald Trump supporter (yes, me), I say, “bring it on, you whiny, sub-literate protesters!”
Maybe they’re right.
But it’s their right.
To protest.
And so we mix and knead.
And we need the yeast of dissent to ever grow again.
In the Basque Country, with Bilbao, they speak the fascinating Euskara (or Basque language).
And in Galicia, where clothing giant Inditex (Zara) is located, they speak Galego (or Galician).
[Even Google Translate recognizes Galician now.]
And that’s all in Spain!
But how was I to know this?
Being a boy from Texas.
Well, I did my research…
Let me tell you: it’s not easy finding a Basque language guide here.
Even in a diverse city such as Austin!
But now I am in San Antonio.
And here we have another Mexican film.
But it’s not in Spanish.
Yes, Mexico is linguistically rich too.
This film is in Tarahumara.
Yes.
That’s a language.
Spoken by about 85,000 people.
AND…it’s one of 63 “national languages” of Mexico!!
Other sources count 69 languages in the country (including Spanish).
Tarahumara is one of four languages in Mexico which fall under the Taracahita branch of Uto-Aztecan languages.
And when you watch this wonderful film (currently available on Netflix in the U.S.), you will see the distinctive, beautiful faces of the child actors who carry on this “Aztec” heritage.
But don’t be confused.
The Uto-Aztecan languages stretch as far north as Idaho (Uto, as in Ute language, as in Utah).
And as far south as El Salvador.
But suffice it to say.
Even Mexicans might be hard-pressed to understand the dialogue of Cochochi.
Thank God for subtitles!
Our film is directed by Israel Cardenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán.
And they do a fantastic job.
The film is sparse.
Quiet.
The child actors evoke the magic of Víctor Erice’s masterpiece El espíritu de la colmena.
And while Cochochi seems to emanate from another planet (kind of like that “Martian” language Basque…[or, for that matter, Welsh]), there are faint glimmers of cinematic quotation here and there.
Perhaps a sudden splash of color…some sunflowers…in an otherwise bleak, earth-tone color palette…à la Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry.
Or even the delicacy of time passing…perhaps what Deleuze meant by the “time-image” all those years ago…but what I instinctively associate with Ingmar Bergman–that eerie silence which characterizes nature in its most remote regions.
The Rarámuri people depicted in this film (our Tarahumara speakers) live (in this case) in the state of Chihuahua.
Northwestern Mexico.
[The Rarámuri people are also found in the states of Durango and Sonora]
Our actors have the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains as their backdrop.
Places like Copper Canyon.
But this is no Bogart film.
Each and every movement and bit of dialogue which our directors elicit from their players is an act of loving capture.
Priceless moments which convey a multitude of new thoughts to those unfamiliar with the Rarámuri people.
Our main actors play themselves in the movie.
Yes, in much the way you would expect Robert Flaherty to make a film.
But keep in mind that the French title of Blue is the Warmest Color is La Vie d’Adèle – Chapitres 1 & 2.
As in Adèle Exarchopoulos.
As in, the actress (Exarchopoulos) was playing a character which bore her name: Adèle.
[at least her first name]
But the stars of our film are two young actors who don’t even have Spanish Wikipedia pages.
Luis Antonio Lerma Torres plays Tony (short for Antonio).
His full name is utilized for that of his character.
Tony is great in this film.
But the real star is Evaristo Corpus Lerma Torres.
Evaristo gives a performance which is unforgettable.
Quiet. Understated. Real.
But don’t be fooled…
These two film brothers (real life as well?) need each other.
Their personalities play off one another.
To call this a road film would be slightly inaccurate.
There aren’t really roads here.
At least with paving.
And while there are a couple of rusty pickup trucks which transport members of various communities around…creeping along the dirt roads (gratis, of course)…the real drama involves a horse.
Indeed, there are horses about.
Donkeys.
Sheep.
But this one horse is very important.
Because Tony and Evaristo have “borrowed” it…from their grandfather.
This is really a transcendent story of mercy and love…of patience…and of the brilliance of nature.
Animals are smart.
And miracles can be in the wise words of grandfathers…
There is no warning. No real foreshadowing of what awaits Miloš Hrma.
And I, of course, will not give away the game.
But let me tell you about this watershed moment in cinema.
You could say Czech New Wave. You could also say Czechoslovak New Wave.
In the case of the auteur in question, Jiří Menzel, it is the former.
The movement was already going by this point.
1966. Almost the midpoint, if we say 1962-1972.
But none of that matters too much.
What matters is this film.
Closely Watched Trains. Ostře sledované vlaky.
And so we started with Romania. A new wave. A current phenomenon. Briefly in vogue. And completely deserving of the praise.
And we made a point to look elsewhere. To Iran. Because of Kiarostami.
And now we add a much older New Wave. It is of particular interest to our first location (Romania).
In globetrotting through movies we hit some odd, beautiful destinations. Nations.
Czechoslovakia. No more. Today. Czech Republic. Slovakia. And Ukraine.
But none of this matters much either.
What matters is Miloš Hrma. The shy boy.
We know.
Intimately.
Not easy.
If the meek shall inherit the earth (Earth?), then it’s a long time in coming.
I am fond. Quoting Neil Young.
“Vampire Blues”
“Good times are coming/But they sure coming slow”
Indeed.
That is the situation of Václav Neckář’s character Miloš.
He has the delight of love. Snow in the air. Smoke from a steam locomotive. A cloud of fleeting sparks.
Our heart beats rapidly for cute Jitka Bendová. And we think of football. We try to ignore the Bond girl essence of her name.
Because she is one of the most poetic faces in cinema. No Wikipedia page for her. At least not in English.
But it is this love between Miloš and Máša which gives us hope.
An adieu from the caboose (football, football).
No doubt Wes Anderson plumbed the depths of Closely Watched Trains while searching for his own cinematic language.
In fact, the beginning of this film is very much like the beginning of every Wes Anderson film.
An exposition of characters.
Some with peg-legs.
An old crazy uncle.
A cow with too many udders.
But the most crucial is the hypnotist.
If there is a precursor to Jiří Menzel (and there must be), then it is Renoir. Renoir meets Eisenstein. And sex.
Did I fail to mention?
Closely Watched Trains is a sexual tension which can no longer be crystalized.
And thus history served us well by preserving this document of a different age.
It is a naughty film, but not by today’s standards.
It is sex…as directed by Hitchcock.
And for that it is sexier. More tense. Taut.
Consider, for instance, the stamps. Ooh la la.
If you go ga-ga for Gyllenhaal in Secretary, then you must see the breakthrough moment. In cinema.
Like the first kiss. May Irwin. Thomas Edison. But actually William Heise. 1896.
Big black maria. Something/Anything?
Yes, in fact.
First, and most importantly, the telegraphist (as played by Jitka Zelenohorská). Almost like Chantal Goya in Masculin Féminin, but better. Same year. 1966. Maybe Menzel got an idea from Godard. In any case, Zelenohorská gives one for the ages. Deliciously naughty.
And lest you run off feeling less-than-substantive edification, it is political as anything. That’s where Eisenstein comes in. A brief moment of cinematic intercutting.
And the war. Like Les Carabiniers. 1963. The Rossellini inspiration via Godard, perhaps?
But really it is a new cinema. Czech! Mind-blowing…
Sex is more erotic with a laugh. Surreal. Real. More real than real.
In a stunning final coup Menzel brought us Naďa Urbánková.
One minute you’re thinking about a girl, another you’ve been rounded up by the state security apparatus.
And then they realize you’re nuts.
And they have pity on you.
Release you into the swaying grass.
And like Chaplin you waltz off into the sunset to fulfill your destiny.
Really, I shouldn’t have to comment on the commodification of time. Is that not the essence of capitalism?
Into your busy lives cram another blog post. Another sloppy film review. A film.
A more professional critic would start by alluding to the copious literature which points to this film as Godard’s return to form.
A strange phrase. Which form?
Because really, for me, Godard begins here. The known Godard is Parisian Godard…la nouvelle vague.
The unknown Godard is everything else. As an American consumer it is rather inconvenient to obtain all but the classic films from our auteur. After Week-end (1967), the DVDs become exponentially harder to come by.
But, as a rule, I digress. Liberally. Often. Without fail.
This, then, would seem to be Godard emerging from the black forest of political filmmaking and ethical soul-searching to find the inklings of his mature style.
It is not an original thought. The English-language biographies cover this thoroughly. The device in question is (for lack of a more exact term) slow-motion.
It is the playful wonder of a man who still has the curiosity of a boy.
Technology changing. New idiosyncrasies to each bit of gear on the market.
It is the same now. Stash your camera on the top shelf and soon you will not know how to make films.
Your equipment will be obsolete and your knowledge outdated.
But that is all tertiary (tertiary?) in importance.
To our film.
We have characters; plot. A walk in the wilderness and Godard (with the indispensable Anne-Marie Miéville) returned to a somewhat recognizable form. As always, however, the form is highly subverted. One might even say perverted in this particular instance. It is a strange beauty. Incomparable. A triumph. A mere glimpse of things to come.
Always playing on archetypes, Godard casts singer Jacques Dutronc as Paul Godard. There can be little doubt that this character is meant to represent the filmmaker himself. Every marker is there: the ubiquitous cigar, the glasses, the mannerisms, the disheveled college professor sartorial ensembles…
The stunning Nathalie Baye plays Denise Rimbaud. Here is where the ark types. Arc-en-ciel. A panorama of wispy clouds. Yes, Arthur is never far…nor Baudelaire…nor Sartre and Duras. And Marguerite? Faust. Your soul for a job.
Yes, prostitution returns. The grand Godardian theme. Isabelle Huppert plays the role of the sex worker Isabelle Rivière.
The setting? Switzerland. We see the signs at the station. Nyon. Not Lyon, Nyon. It brings us back to that area we visited in Godard’s second film (though it was banned and thus delayed in release) Le Petit Soldat.
The famous scenes are of Baye on a bicycle–of Dutronc in a classroom before a chalkboard reading “Cain et Abel” and “Film et video.”
Yes, the sexual aspects of this film are heavy. This perhaps proves that Godard’s return to mainstream filmmaking was not the end of his rebellious period.
Though there is a plot and there are discernible characters, it is not always clear what is going on. What cannot be disputed is the sadness which Godard brings to light with yet another exposé of whoring. Likewise, it might be gathered that the filmmaker is commenting on the perception of rural Switzerland as pristine and bucolic. The perverse element of our film echoes previous erotic episodes of Pasolini and Buñuel.
Finally, one can’t help wondering whether the film in question had a formative effect on the Iranian director Kiarostami. As in the later Taste of Cherry, Godard has one last trick up his sleeve to end out Sauve qui peut (la vie).
Indeed, Jean-Luc Godard was starting to find his magic touch again with this film…and its traces attested to a talent which was richer and better than ever before.
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