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lattg ®ar Uwl Romance Bridges Gap in ‘Madison County’ M This IrinH nf rprtaintv rnmpc hut r\r\nt \ " —— “This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime” Clint Eastwood says in his latest film, “The Bridges of Madison County,” and with the same certainty I find this film to be the best to hit theaters since “Driving Miss Daisy.” Adapted from the best-selling novella by Robert James Waller, “Bridges” is one of the few films that can successfully cany over from the page. What makes this film so great is its abil ity to leave be hind the sappy, cheesy love of the novel and to DEAN HAIR Bridges of Madison County A transform it into a believable and desirable whirlwind of romance. The novella is set in lowa in a four-day romance between a fiftyish National Geo graphic photographer/writer and a fortyish Italian immigrant, now farm wife. Meryl Streep, as the Italian wife (Francesca), has a perfect accent and some how seems European through her simple mannerisms, specifically, the way she slaps her cheeks when she is excited. Eastwood (Robert Kincaid) who is best known for playing gun-slinging outlaws, now masterfully presents a sincere lover who “needs and loves everyone, but no one in particular.” From their first encounter, when Kincaid pulls up in Francesca’s driveway in an old pickup and asks directions to the famous covered bridges he’s shooting for National Geographic magazine, the energy between Streep and Eastwood quickly begins to flow. Immediately a sexual tension begins to build and it quickly turns into burning passion. Robert is a divorced photographer who travels the world as a loner and finds his only satisfaction in his work. Francesca is a quiet resigned woman who moved from Italy to marry Richard (Jim Haynie), an lowan farmer who has given her a good life, but regretfully has never fulfilled all of her dreams. Though Eastwood and Streep seemed like an unlikely match in the film, they work well together and develop a sensuous ‘More Enlightened’ Stories For Today’s Children In his first collection, James Finn Gar ner liberated the Seven Dwarves of Snow White fame from the coal mines by allow ing them to run a men’s retreat. He em powered Chicken Little by revealing “Little” to be a family name, not a deroga tory size-biased nickname as believed by generations of children. Garner has done it again with his latest collection, “Once Upon A More Enlight- ened Time: More Politi cally Correct Bedtime Sto ries,” freeing the public once DFANHAIR Book Review 'Once Upon a More Enlightened Time' again from those classic fairy tales tradi tionally written by people with archaic, sexist, ageist, classist, lookist and environ mentally unsound prejudices. Included in this collection are such works as “The Princess and the Pea,” “Sleeping Persun ofßetter-Than-Average Attractive ness,” “The City Mouse and the Suburban Mouse” and “Hansel and Gretel.” The latter refers to several pre-adults who are abandoned in the forest by their tree butch ering father in a sad commentary on the plight of single-parent households. Again, Gamer attempts “to fashion these bedtime stories into literature that is totally free from bias and purged from the influ ences of a flawed cultural past in hopes of freeing our social consciousness from these blights.” His latest book fulfills its purpose, as did the first, aid is truly one of the funniest works of literature currently on the best sellers list. After reading this book creatures of na ture will no longer have to bear the burden of insecurities from humanity’s flawed ‘Princess’ Can’t Quite Dispose of Dad Is it sweet or disturbing to know that the movie industry hardens children to on screen disembowelment by age twelve, but can’t face the death of a sweet Victorian papa? Like the perky 1939 version with Shirley Temple, director AlfonseCueron’s film of “A Little Princess,” Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Victorian children’s classic, can’t quite dispose of dad. It would be nice if this were the only way warm fuzzies beat out fidelity. But dodging an everyday Victorian tragedy shows an un even commit ment to sub stantial drama. It’s not the petty differ- MARYADEVOTO | Movie Review 'A Little Princess' B- ences between the novel and the movie that hurt—it’s the lapse into formula at moments when realism, in any time pe riod, is crucial. Burnett’s novel narrates the adventures of Sara Crewe, a young girl with an imagi nation, resources and a wealthy, indulgent papa whose riches impress the pampered darlings at stem Miss Minchin’s boarding school. Whenpapadiesofbrain-fever after pour ing his fortune into questionable diamond mines, Sara abruptly falls from adored “princess” to drudge and errand-girl half starved in a drafty attic. After many trials, virtue triumphs and the diamond mines come through. Papa stays dead. Cueron's version makes some notewor thy changes. In the novel India is a lost paradise; here it persists as a metaphor for imagination. Sara (Liesel Matthews) tells ff $ M A i 'US *' With the morning comes the uneasiness that builds inside Streep (Francesca) and Eastwood (Robert) as they realize their four- day romance is quickly coming to a close. heat and power that escapes from the screen into your heart. Francesca’s long-sup pressed dreams are finally brought to life in her brief four-day romance. Soaking in a hot bubble bath, Francesca looks at the shower head still dripping from his recent shower. This is one of several scenes of intense romantic mo ments that are carefully placed throughout the film. “Bridges” is a masterpiece with only one discreet flaw. The story is told through Francesca’s children who handle the af fairs after her recentdeath.Thefilmreaches intense romantic moments and then shifts gears with the children trying to sort out their lives with the knowledge their mother has left them in her journals. These occur rences interrupt the film’s romantic rhythm and could have easily been eliminated. After reading the book, I made pan- James Finn Garner's bedtime stories create a politically correct world. story-telling past. No longer will suburban mice feel insecure about their sexuality or will hard-working middle class ants have to fear the patriarchy of the elite grasshop pers. Tortoises will not be judged on their speed-deprived legs or will mere-persuns suffer for their fishy natures. Also featured in this edition of stories is a politically correct alphabet featuring a unique method of relaying it through a politically correct rhyme. One must be careful to note that the order of the alpha bet is entirely arbitrary, for A is no better than the letters X, Y or Z. Regrettably, hundreds of tree carcasses were struck down in their prime for the good of humunkind to make the copies of her schoolmates stories of a technicolor landscape where ablue-skinned hero battles an authentically terrifying many-headed monster. The schoolgirls' rapt attention suggests how the wonders of the colonies supply something missing in a stodgy Western upbringing. Miss Mmchin’s establishment is a model institution where difference evokes resent ment, as when Sara’s fluency in French derails Miss Minchin’s plan to place her in the beginners’ class. Her exotic flair is an irritant that Miss Minchin (Eleanor Bron, who is convincingly smarmy) has to stom ach, backed as it is by enormous foreign wealth. The screenplay follows the 1939 “Prin cess” in replacing Captain Crewe’s busi nesstroubleswithwartimeservice. Cueron intercuts Sara’s bedtime stories of battling heroes with grim scenes from the front. World War I here is horrible, not heroic; it competes with the violence Sara dreams up. At one point an imaginary villain’s ex ploding arrow wafts a poisoned mist from the story-world into the tragic world of the front, where Papa’s regiment is being gassed. Is Cueron suggesting that imagina tion can be violent, or that lack of imagina tion can produce external terrors far graver? It’s never clear. After Sara’s fall into pov erty, her imaginative flights are merely passive resistance. It’s hard for this movie to develop co herently because it has a chronological identity crisis. Miss Minchin’s green-brick castle and the schoolgirls’ plush uniforms are lushly Edwardian. But the dialogue ARTS & FEATURES Though Eastwood and Streep seemed an unlikely match in the film, they work well together and develop a sensu ous heat andpower that escapes from the screen into your heart. Francesca’s long suppressed dreams are finally brought to life in her brief four-day romance. cakes from all the sap that leaped from the page at me, however this is not a problem in the film version. Where a somewhat romantic novella with poor writing which this book. However, Gamer has assured the world he has made an effort to be more Earth-conscious in the publication of “Once Upon a more Enlightened Time.” “We have made every effort to make this second volume more Earth-friendly, using natural soy inks, people-powered delivery systems and photo-degradable paper that will revert to its basic organic components within a short time if exposed to light or read in the tub,” said Gamer. However more upsetting than the inno cent slaughter of thousands of trees is the fact that once again printing restrictions have forced “The Duckling that Was Judged on Its Persunal Merits and Not on Its Physical Appearance” to be omitted from this edition. One can only hope this story will finally be liberated of its preju dices in an upcoming edition. What makes this book so humurous an excellent is that Gamer recognizes these stories to be extreme and should be taken lightly. However he is subtlely voicing his opin ion on how Americans can quickly be come caught up in the ‘political naming’ rhetoric in which each person tries to say they like and accept all the ideals of the rest of the planet. Gamer and most of us know that the majority of the population does not love nor like everyone and with this knowledge he is trying to educate the public on how they think they are acting morally correct but in fact are showing the corrupt natures which reside in all of us. “Once Upon a More Enlightened Time: More Politically Correct Bedtime Stories” is a triumph in creating politically correct masterpieces of stories flawed by centuries of prejudices. often slips into kid-movie cliches. Possibly the worst offense against pe riod drama is that the scullery maid, Becky, who in this version is black, sounds like she went to the same Midwestern school as Sara. Miss Minchin, who at some mo ments resembles the Wicked Witch of the West, can sound like 90’s docudrama espe cially when she has to deliver lines like “Real life has nothing to do with your fantasy games” or “It’s my responsibility to protect the girls of this school from animals like you.” As the movie goes along, the plot devel ops into the "good smart kids versus stupid mean grown-ups” vein; it looks less and less like “A Little Princess" (modem or Edwardian) and more and more like a little girl’s “Dead Poets Society. ” It’s less about how imagination can deal with real hard ships than about how envious tyrants, who aren’t in touch with their feelings, try to oppress the smart and spunky. Burnett’s “A Little Princess” is gripping because it shows Sara’s fighting a starving person’s obsession with the needs of her body. Sara’s imaginings are her fight to keep herself from becoming an animal that thinks only about food. Becky’s misery is a reminder that pov erty is stifling the spirit and imagination of a whole class of young girls. As Sara puts it, it’s “just an accident” that she has dance lessons while Becky hauls the coal scuttle upstairs. The movie doesn’t just lose a chance to preach by failing to address the stakes of poverty—it loses real pathos by reducing Sara’s problems to one angry woman. leaves little to desire, the film adaptation brings a sensation to the audience that can only be described as passionate and sexual love. With Streep and Eastwood combining for one of the most anticipated pairings in recent memory and with the wild success of the novella itself, “Bridges” could bank on being a summer blockbuster. However, romance films are rarely successful during the summer due to the onslaught of dozens of action-adventure films. But “Bridges” has a strength that moves beyond the ac tors and touches a chord in the audience. This film will probably not be appreci ated by young adults, particularly young men. “Bridges” is geared toward women and older, more mature audiences who have experienced the loss of love in their lives or those who have fallen into a life of conformity. In a world where people (aka Earth residents) constantly attempt to “brown nose” each othertheseblatantly ‘corrected’ stories will hopefully remind people that we are all the same regardless of the names we give each other. If this review is found to be unsatisfac tory please accept my most humble apolo gies for this is the best I can do at this stage in my persunal evolution. Annual Summer Pops Conceit! Thursday, June 8 at 7:00 pm Polk Place on UNC Campus* It's FREE! It's Informal! It's Fun! Bring a picnic & blankets or lawn chairs to the big grassy area between Wilson Library and South Building. Snacks & beverages will be available for purchase by Marriott. #feOIROLINK * ain site is cmoria^ Presented by the Carolina Union Summer Program Board, UNC Summer I Student Congress, the Town of Chapel Hill,& The Vlltage Companies. W w w Media Sponsors: The Daily Ter Heel, WUNC-FM, & the Herald-Sun Newspapers. Seasonal Migration of Students Affects Business BY ANDREW PARKINSON STAFF WRITER Every year, the population of Chapel Hill declines drastically as students finish final exams and go home for the summer. Only a small number of students stay in town through the summer to continue jobs or attend summer school. Like any other summer in Chapel Hill, this year’s reduc tion in population is affecting local busi ness. AtHealthy Bite, manager Robert Barker said 25 percent ofbusiness was completely gone. “Sometimes we lose even 50 percent, like in the last two weeks, our worst day has been cut completely in half from our average,” he said. “Obviously we make less money.” Byron Freeman, owner of the Carolina Coffee Shop, said he expected the drop-off in population. “Not only the students, but a lot of townspeople leave town too,” he said. Freeman said business had gone down at least 25 percent already. “This summer business is starting off real slow,” he said. An employee of Pepper’s Pizza also said they were not doing as much business. “The late nights definitely aren’t as busy,”hesaid. “Butit’snotlikeeverything comes to a halt. We still have meal rushes. They’re just not as long or thick.” The Rathskellar’s manager Ken Essick said business was down slightly, but it was not too bad. “We still get a lot of business from summer school and a lot of people who live in Chapel Hill,” he said. They are actually more eager to come out in foe summer because they know foe crowds are gone.” Essick pointed out that despite a solid increase in tourism during foe summer, The Rathskellar was still losing about 20 percent of its business. Perry Dowd, manager of 411 West, found similar results at her downtown res taurant. TAMMANY HALL FROM PAGE 3 that time, police discovered an ammuni tion cartridge in foe front seat and a nylon bag containing a handgun. Levon Hinton, 21, of Durham was ar rested and charged with carrying a con cealed weapon. Police believe foe two in cidents to be unrelated. “The arrest was a result of foe crime which occurred at Tammany Hall, but it was-not necessarily ineonnectioft with the shooting,” Cousins said. Thursday, June 8,1995 “A lot of locals come out more because they think foe students are gone,” she said. “We stay busy because we’re a small res taurant.” In fact, Dowd said she enjoyed foe summer relief. “It takes off a little bit of pressure,” she said. The ice cream business obviously re mains strong through the hot summer months in Chapel Hill. Fred Vom Lehn, manager of Ben & Jerry’s, said foe store experienced several lulls between final exams, graduation and summer vacation, but it was “nothing too significant.” “We don’t really notice that anyone is gone,” he said. “We do have a few less available college staff people, but overall we don’t get much of a break when foe college students are gone... which is good for us... it keeps me getting a paycheck!” He said instead of disappearing, busi ness tended to change from a college crowd to a family and children focused crowd as many restaurant owners in town have no ticed year after year. Whether business changes or not, most local businesses try harder to attract sum mer customers and at the same time try to cut back on some costs whether they be advertising or foe number of employees. “We feel we have a social responsibil ity to foe community around us, so when we have our biggest crowds, that’s when we like to let people know what we’re doing,” said Vom Lehn. “We keep a super-dean store and a friendly, courteous staff.” EdDonegan, manager of Judges said in order to compensate for the low summer population they try to give better service and diversify their product line a bit more. “You’ve got to deal with it, it’s just part of being a business here,” he said. Freeman said while foe population de creased heavily each summer, most local businesses tended to survive. “After all, Chapel Hill used to dose down totally during foe summer. At least now, it’s a twelve month business.” This shooting and other acts of violence that have occurred in Chapel Hill recently, seem to discount information from an an nual crime statistics report released by foe State Bureau of Investigation two weeks ago. The statistics showed that violent crime had decreased in Chapel Hill by 1 percent over foe past year. Cousins said that people could’t take select incidents such as this and rampart- it with statistics for foe past year. “Violentcrimeisdown,butitisn’tgone,” foe said. “You can’t compare a year’s worth of inddents to one." 7
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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June 8, 1995, edition 1
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