dwpollar 1st watched 9/4/2005, 7 out of 10(Dir-Bernardo Bertolucci): Wonderfully, artistically-told story of an African woman who loses her husband to the authorities for what appears to be political reasons and is thrown in jail. She then moves into a building owned by an eccentric piano player as his maid and begins going thru medical school at the same time. Mr. Kinsky, played by David Thewlis, is infatuated with her very early on and even states that he loves her but her response is basically, show me by getting my husband out of jail. Kinsky then very secretly pursues this. Much of the story is shown to us visually and we kind of have to figure out what's going on which is an extremely fascinating use of visuals rather than dialogue that is so un-American and very European in it's style. The story unfolds not unlike a piano concerto before our eyes as the pieces of the puzzle start fitting together and Bertolucci gets us to watch the characters and be interested in them as they're going thru this. Even after Oscar wins and at an elderly age, Bertolucci is still making extremely character driven artistic movies that are each one of a kind and this one doesn't disappoint either.

whure Warning. Slight Spoiler.The idea for this movie was noble, I thought. How he would give up all that he has for a woman he loves. Not only expecting nothing ... but not telling her, because it was truly benevolent. He sells everything including his grand piano (he's a piano teacher) to get her husband back to her. But where that great idea was going simply just made the rest worse.As a character, Jason Kinsky at first is shown (intentionally or not) to be pitiful. He's goes through her stuff, moves her clothes around ... all the while she is his maid. When he finds out she's married (in a badly acted scene I might add, but more on that later) that's when he tries to get her husband back to her (he is in jail in "Africa"). This redeems him to us and to her. To show this you have your token shots of her looking at him lovingly, with those puppy dog eyes (I'm sure you all know what I mean). His selfless love wins her over... despite the fact that she is lovingly married for all we know.As a whole though this movie sucked. David Lewlis acting was perhaps worse than the dork who played Anakin Skywalker in the Phantom Menace Star Wars movies. Completly over the top. Then of course is the racism. For all you people that didn't see it, yes it wasn't as hug as say some other movies. But, whenever "Africa" is shown in the movies there is ALWAYS a guy with the thumb piano singing something "African", as in this movie. African cultures vary significantly more than European do, but you wouldn't know it from this or any other movie. When Europe is shown, you don't see "European" scenes or that "Europeans" don't all speak the official "European" language. When Europe is shown it is always some specific place, Italy in this case. However, whenever an "African" country is shown it is non-descript, with the languages, culture, music and a flag that has the continent on it (find a country ANYWHERE, where you would see the whole continent) like in this movie. To make matters worse they are in your face about it ... why does that thump piano guy keep appearing when she has memories or dreams about "Africa"?Finally, we (fortunately and very painfully) get to the ending. It sucked. Talk about not committing; the cheapest way of not resolving any conflict and making appear "dramatic".On a scale of 1 to 10 I give it a -2. I'm rating it this high because Thadie Newton's beauty is the ONLY thing that made this watchable.

nries Beautiful, for Bertolucci lovers certainly. Music, motion, actors, glowing spaces and colors are all sublime. This is a film about sacrifice, generosity, creativity, passion, and commitment, on the quiet backdrop of a very political story.

Cabrito Bertolucci's lush photography is mirrored by the velvety performances of the two co-stars. There's nothing fancy here. The lighting, camera angles, and other directorial touches support and do not supplant a simple story of two people whose generosity prompts them to take important actions independently. It is Thandie Newton's movie all the way (for that matter, so was "Flirting" almost ten years ago, and she is grown up now, yet with still that wistful, girlish smile). But David Thewlis is quirky enouhg to be believable. The fairy tale works. Bravo, Bernardo!