Cinema Cycle - The Night Porter

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE: 05/12/2014

TITLE: The Night Porter

FORMAT: Laserdisc

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 59 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 26.8 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 175 miles

SYNOPSIS: A group of ex-Nazi officers in post war Vienna conspire to control and erase their past lives.  One of their victims returns and rekindles a war-time sadomasochistic relationship with one of the officers.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: There were a lot of perverted Nazis in WWII and it is difficult to hid from your past.  Shame and guilt will triumph over love almost every time.

PROS AND CONS:  This is a difficult film to describe.  First of all, it is Italian.  While the dialogue is in English, the film has a definite Italian feel to it.  The film is somewhat overshadowed by its imagery of Nazi SS officers and naked women in perverted situations.  The core of the film is about how power corrupts and how those that abused it seek to hide and erase their past once their authority has vanished.  When something or someone comes out of the past and reignites the passions that took place long ago, it does not sit well with those trying to hide from it.  

The acting in this film is good.  I have a better appreciation for Dirk Bogarde as an actor after watching it.  It is easy to see why Charlotte Rampling was considered such a controversial actress in the late 1970s.   She was striking to look at and had no problems acting out uncomfortable and awkward situations on film.  This film borders on an ‘X’ rating in some scenes. The soundtrack and cinematography are almost dream-like in certain ways which is typical of Italian cinema in the 1970s and 80s.

This film's plot is subtle and the viewer has to pay attention to understand what is going on.  The lives and motivations of the characters are not spelled out and you have to watch carefully to figure out what they are doing and why.  

To read an overview of this project, check out the initial post for this series.

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.