Thursday
Jun072012
Thursday, June 7, 2012 at 10:09AM Hemingway & Gellhorn follows the lives of Ernest Hemingway and the journalist
Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway's third wife. It takes place during during most of the important historical events spanning their relationship including: the Spanish Civil War in Franco's Spain, WW II complete with the Allied Invasion of Europe at Normandy Beach, the Russian Invasion of Finland, the turmoil in China as Communism rose in reaction to the Japanese invasion, and in pre-Castro Cuba.
Martha Gellhorn, the Collier's reporter who becomes a war correspondent and marries Ernest Hemingway as she travels up the ladder of fame, is by far the main character here. A very well made-up aged Martha (Nicole Kidman) opens the story as she is being interviewed for a TV program. We immediately are in flashbacks to how this stern woman met Hemingway in a Key West bar, matched him quip for poorly written quip and finally follows him in a very phony setup: Hemingway (Clive Owens in a poor performance) is traveling with John Dos Passos (David Strathairn), Spanish patriot Paco Zarra (Rodrigo Santoro) and crew to shoot a film by Joris Ivens (Lars Ulrich) to show the public the atrocities of Franco in the Spanish Revolution. Everyone drinks a lot and Hemingway finally gets Gellhorn to his bed in Madrid (he is currently married to the very Catholic Pauline (Molly Parker) who upon discovery his adultery refuses to divorce him). As the situation in Spain declines, Hemingway and Gellhorn are inspired to write--Hemingway to complete For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Martha flies off to various war fronts as a war correspondent. Together they fight their way through experiences in China and other hot spots until ultimately Hemingway remains drunk in Cuba 'fighting off German U boats' and Gellhorn gives up on him.
Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway's third wife. It takes place during during most of the important historical events spanning their relationship including: the Spanish Civil War in Franco's Spain, WW II complete with the Allied Invasion of Europe at Normandy Beach, the Russian Invasion of Finland, the turmoil in China as Communism rose in reaction to the Japanese invasion, and in pre-Castro Cuba. Martha Gellhorn, the Collier's reporter who becomes a war correspondent and marries Ernest Hemingway as she travels up the ladder of fame, is by far the main character here. A very well made-up aged Martha (Nicole Kidman) opens the story as she is being interviewed for a TV program. We immediately are in flashbacks to how this stern woman met Hemingway in a Key West bar, matched him quip for poorly written quip and finally follows him in a very phony setup: Hemingway (Clive Owens in a poor performance) is traveling with John Dos Passos (David Strathairn), Spanish patriot Paco Zarra (Rodrigo Santoro) and crew to shoot a film by Joris Ivens (Lars Ulrich) to show the public the atrocities of Franco in the Spanish Revolution. Everyone drinks a lot and Hemingway finally gets Gellhorn to his bed in Madrid (he is currently married to the very Catholic Pauline (Molly Parker) who upon discovery his adultery refuses to divorce him). As the situation in Spain declines, Hemingway and Gellhorn are inspired to write--Hemingway to complete For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Martha flies off to various war fronts as a war correspondent. Together they fight their way through experiences in China and other hot spots until ultimately Hemingway remains drunk in Cuba 'fighting off German U boats' and Gellhorn gives up on him.
While the videography is great placing Owens and Kidman in old footage of the historical events, this is a mediocre film with less than stellar acting. Nonetheless, it is a good movie to think about the turbulent world during the middle of the 20th century.
Reader Comments