Film lovers can take a trip back in time in more ways than one this week, as Movie Monday presents the director’s cut screening of 1981 German classic Das Boot.
Few modern movies have given North Americans much detail about the making of war from the “other side,” but this amazing film takes us into the community of men in a compressed space – hunting and being hunted. It’s the fictional but authentic story of submarine U-96 and its crew during the Battle of the Atlantic in the winter of 1941, as they set out on yet another hazardous patrol.
We experience both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and meet the men serving aboard U-boats as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country.
This 210-minute subtitled epic (intermission halfway through) is rated R for coarse and suggestive language & wartime violence. Start time is 6:30 p.m. Watch the trailer at https://vimeo.com/203561988.
It’s busy right up until Christmas at Movie Monday. Here’s what’s coming up:
Nov. 19 The Woman Who Loves Giraffes – In this lovely 2018 documentary we follow Dr. Anne Innis Dagg as she re-traces the steps of her groundbreaking 1956 solo journey to South Africa (at 23) to study giraffes in the wild – years before Jane Goodall started her work with primates. Director Alison Reid will be part of a Q&A on the night. Rated G, 83 minutes. EXTRA: The film will also be showing at 7 and 8:45 p.m. Nov. 20 and 21 at Cinecenta at UVic.
Nov. 26 Ageless Gardens – Join us for a visual celebration of gardens – and gardeners – with a special emphasis on the role gardens can play in healthy aging. As local filmmakers Mark Bradley, Ian Toews and David Springbett show us with this 2017 series, the physical, mental, and social aspects of gardening can be important therapeutic factors in health and wellness. Gardening can bring us food, exercise, and keep our minds sharp as we age. Learning to adapt to changing physical, familial, and social situations is key to continuing to garden into our retirement years. Rated G, approx 90 min.
Dec. 3 La Bolduc – This is a charming 2018 portrait of a real-life French Canadian superstar at the beginning of the 20th century. In Montreal, a poor and uneducated mother of a family managed to get her family out of poverty through her a resounding popularity of her Francophone Stompin’ Tom-like folk songs. Rated G, 103 minutes.
Dec. 10 Jane – An intimate and exclusive documentary about Jane Goodall, featuring restored footage from the National Geographic Archives that has not been seen in 50 years, Helmed by a name documentary director, we’ll use this footage to tell the story of one of the most influential and beloved figures in the natural history world, framed as Jane makes a return trip to Gombe 50 years after she first set foot there to launch a career that changed the world. Rated PG, 90 minutes
Dec. 17 Tyrus – People worldwide have seen the Disney animated classic Bambi and been deeply moved by it, but few can tell you the name of the artist who set the unique visual theme of the film. But Tyrus’ artist reach went to pottery, kite building, calligraphy, film storyboarding and more. Few are aware of this pioneering artist’s impact on American art and popular culture. Until his death at the age of 106, Tyrus Wong (1910-2016) was America’s oldest living Chinese-American artist and one of the last remaining artists from the golden age of Disney animation. 63 minutes
Thursday, Dec. 27 The Indian in the Cupboard – On his ninth birthday, Omri is presented with many gifts - the most unusual being a cupboard. But this is no ordinary wooden box. It is endowed with magical power that transforms Omri’s plastic toy figurines into living creatures. The first miniature to be animated is a 19th century Iroquois warrior named Little Bear, who is terrified at first by his alien surroundings but soon bonds with his gigantic playmate. 1995, Rated PG, 96 minutes
Movie Monday films are shown at 6:30 p.m. the Eric Martin Pavilion, 1900 Fort St. Parking is available in the Caribbean Apartments lot next door on Fort Street. For more information, visit moviemonday.ca or find them on Facebook.