Movies you have recently watched

A few weeks ago the local PBS station broadcast the interesting film, Remains of the Day. Starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, it covers, in a sense, the relationship between a very traditional butler and a lonely housekeeper to landed nobility in pre and post war Britain.

The plot involves the unfortunate political choices of the fictional lord of the manor, who hosts meetings with British and German politicians who seek to appease Hitler (Lord Halifax, PM Chamberlain, Foreign Secretary Eden, etc) but also the complex relationship between Hopkins and Thompson's characters. It is a study in unexpressed love and affection. Hopkins in particular delivers as stellar performance. It reminds me in a certain way of his equally stunning performance as Hannibal Lecter, the serial cannibalistic murderer in the film of that name. The similarity is Hopkins' ability to convey powerful and deep emotions without any overt display thereof.

It is also a study of an obsolete culture where those in service are expected to submerge their personal lives to the needs of their employer, while remaining intellectually and emotionally separate. In some ways that subservience exists today in America, although it's not so much to the nobility but rather to the almighty dollar. In that context, I was reminded that Trump and his first wife Ivana sought to set themselves up as American nobility, complete with all the gilded trappings, but absent the noblesse oblige of true aristocrats.

Long but recommended.

Interesting.

I'll probably catch them when they come round on public TV movie night in a few years.

I've never been much of a fan of the real Alexander Hamilton. More of a Jefferson guy. Definitely not a fan of Burr. Hamilton's story seems essentially tragic, so I'm puzzled about how a movie about him could be so amusing.