P<fc Arts & Entertainment
Film likened to bad preteen romance novel
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Andy Manhart/Daiiy Nebraskan
By Lisa Stankus
Staff Reporter__
“Courage Mountain,” the current
movie release by Epic Productions,
has an appropriate title. It indeed did
take courage to sit through the entire
90 minutes.
The movie intends to tell a heart
warming tale of a young girl’s com
ing of age in a war-torn Italy, about
1915. It begins with all the attributes
that would make the film a pictur
esque ballad of a heroic young girl
and her struggle, which accounts for
agoodcightto 10 minutes of filming.
Then it turns into a bad version of
a prctccn romance novel, with the
strife of war and an obstacle of a
mountain separating a young heroine
from her homeland and her u uc love.
Call it predictable. Call it esti
mable. Call it Wall Disney on a heavy
dose of PCP.
The producers pul a group of young
girls in an outrageously ridiculous
situation, namely crossing the Swiss
Alps ... on fool... in the middle of
winter... with improper clothing, a
meager food supply antf no direc
tional aids. Yet they arc able to navi
gate their way from Northern France
to Switzerland. Right.
What got this group of five young
girls to the Alps in the first place was
that they had escaped from an or
phanage that would parallel the con
ditions of “Oliver Twist.” The war
had caused the closing of their exclu
sive boarding school so the girls were
placed in this institution for tempo
rary shelter.
The film stars Charlie Sheen as
the life-saving hero of the story line.
The first thing that came to mind at
this casting is “why?” Why would
Sheen accept such a schmaltzy role in
this attempted remake of a ’70s “My
Side of the Mountain.” Good skiing,
perhaps?
Sheen comcsoffasan inane moun
tain boy, with little more ambition
than what’s carried in his loins.
On the other hand, actress extraor
dinaire Leslie Caron plays the dedi
cated school headmaster whose moti
vation is to find the troupe of lost
girls. Laron plays me ruic wiui a
sensitive authenticity and is one of
the most believable characters in the
film.
The cast is rounded out by a col
lection of dirty-faced, courageous girls,
again with Dickcnscsquc characteri
zation. There arc a few moments of
quiet sincerity amongst the girls, but
for the most part, these girls were
chosen for their ability to cry on cue
and look pathetic in all the right scenes.
One of the redeeming qualities of
the film is the unspoiled beauty of
Switzerland. Cinematography was
given free rein to document the natu
ral wonders of the mountains and
hillsides of the country.
Hollywood must have thought that
the viewing public was due for a
good, old-fashioned dose of good tri
umphing over evil. It’s too bad that
they relied on a discounted script to
attempt their task.
If viewers find themselves with a
penchant for a hero-story, they can
save their money on this one. Leave
“Courage Mountain” in Switzerland.
Rent ‘ * The Sound Of M usic ’ ’ instead.
“Courage Mountain” is playing
at the Douglas 3, 13th and P streets.
6 Glory’ a pleasant alternative to Vietnam hlms
By Jim Hanna
Staff Reporter
The movie industry’s eternal love
affair with war is currently caught in
a Vietnam rut.
The last five years have been teem
ing with “Platoons,” “Full Metai
Jackets” and “Bom on the Fourth of
Julys.”
Fortunately, an excellent movie
about the Civil War is attempting to
poke its head from this deluge of
Vietnam films.
“Glory,” a lengthy yet fascinat
ing film, depicts the struggles of the
Union’s first all black infantry, the
Massachusetts 54th.
Mauhcw Broderick stars as an
ambitiouscolonel in the Union Army.
He receives a direct invitation from
the governor of Massachusscts to head
up a “colored” regiment of soldiers.
He accepts the invitation and is
greeted with a huge turnout of eager
men who want to fight.
The Union, often depicted as the
supporter and defender of the free
black during theCivil War, refuses to
offer any but the most minimal sup
port for the new infantry. They are
forced to train with poor equipment
and without proper shoes or uniforms.
Almost the entire first half of the
movie is devoted to the struggle of the
infantry to obtain needed supplies
and, as one may imagine, it becomes
rather tedious.
After a few spirited scenes of re
bellion, however, the soldiers per
suade the powers that be to provide
I... miT^VT. ... mini ■ iiJhi ..
them with good shoes and sporty Union
uniforms.
From here, the movie is again
bogged down fora whilcas the newly
uniformed 54th has to convince its
superiors that it is willing and capable
of fighting. Initially, the entire regi
ment is forced to do grunt work, like
slave labor in the evil Confederacy
they were hoping to topple.
As in any movie about war, the
battle scenes arc the most spectacular
aspect of the film. Eventually, the
Union docs gel around to letting the
soldiers fight, and they prove them
selves to be excellent fighters.
The final battle, an assault on a
Confederate fort led by the 54th, is a
horrifying yet rousing conclusion to
an overall excellent film.
The acung in the movie ranged
from outstanding to stilted and dull,
with Broderick being the chief perpe
trator of the latter. His character, Col.
Robert Shaw, is bland, lifeless and a
major distraction. A big annoyance
was his pseudo-British dialect. Ap
parently, it was a reflection of his
wealthy New England upbringing, but
it only made him sound ridiculous.
Morgan Freeman and Denzel
Washington turn in the two best per
formances from among many in the
regiment. Freeman is brilliant as usual,
and Washington proves he is worthy
of his Oscar nomination for best sup
porting actor.
As a whole, the movie is an excel
lent depiction of a hidden aspect of
the U.S. Civil War.
“Glory” is playing at the Cooper
Lincoln Theatre, 54th and 0 streets.
Kennedy Rose’s (Hai-ku features
folksy love songs, lacks spontaneity
By Matt Burton
Senior Reporter
Kennedy Rose
“Hai-ku”
Pangea/I. R.S.
Whai kind of a name is Kennedy
Rose?
They arc two symbols of Ameri
cana. The Kcnncdys and roses, there’s
even a Rose Kennedy. Actually, the
answer is more simple than this.
Kennedy Rose is Mary Ann Ken
nedy and Pam Rose.
“Hai-ku” is the debut album for
this duo. They prove that they can
harmonize well together, but they share
one fundamental problem -- Kennedy
Rose takes the love song and docs it
12 different ways.
There are so many songs focusing
on the problems of love on “Hai
ku,” that the listener begins to won
der where these two get the lime to
write songs.
But Kennedy and Rose worked
exclusively on the album. And they
prove that they can play many differ
ent kinds of instruments, from guitars
to mandolins, and create a unique
folksy sound.
“Love Like This,” opens up the
album with some New Age wind
chimes, which goes into some sup
posedly heavy guitar feedback. Then
the song switches pace and starts to
sound like some sort of high tech
Irish noise.
“Love may come and love may
go/But here inside your arms I know/
The only love you will ever show me/
Love like this.”
Spare me.
Throughout the album, Kennedy
Rose has layered so many dubs and
over-dubs on the tracks that it sounds
way too tinny and lacks spontaneity.
Some of these songs actually may
be meaningful to someone, such as
“After Your Arms,” a tunc about
needing your loved one.
“Your love is like a star that will
keep or. shining/Lighting my way to
you/Therc never was a storm or a new
horizon/That you couldn’t see me
through.”
The bottom line is, who cares?
Kennedy Rose proves itself to be the
alternative rock’s equivalent to Lionel
Richie. The folkish, country feel it
tries to get across to the listener is like
Juice Newton without balls.
Perhaps if Kennedy Rose could
keep its sound more basic, and its
song lyrics more original, it could
make a decent record.
CourtMty of LftS. Records
KMMMdyRoM
Sgffipient
vailable for ballet at Lied
Scaling is available for the Jeffrey
Ballet performances March 9-11 at
the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
The ballet company ’s appear
ance is sponsored by tlie Lied Center.
The Jorfrey Ballet will perform
“Italian Suite, Lacrymosa,” a ballet
commissioned by the center for its
opening season, and “Lc Sacrc du
Printemps” at the 8 p.m. perform
ances on March 9 and 10. They
will perform “Billy the Kid,”
“Monotones I and II” and “Suite
Sainl-Saens” at the 2 p.m. mati
nees on March 10 and 11. The
Joffrey Ballet will be accompanied
by the Lincoln Symphony Orches
tra.
Tickets for the ballet arc $24,
$20 and $14 for evening perform
ances and $22, $18 and $12 for
matinees. Tickets for University of
Nebraska-Lincdn students and
youth 18 and under are half-price.
Wesleyan comedy opens Friday night
I The Nebraska Wesleyan Uni
versity production of the classic
Greek comedy “Lysistrata” will
open Friday at Wesleyan’s
McDonald Theatre, Elder Memo
rial Speech and Theatre Center,
51st St. and Huntington Avenue.
This classic farce is the story of
how the women of ancient Greece,
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■Mi
under the leadership of the deter
mined Lysistrata, attempt to bring
an end to war by denying their
husbands all sexual favors until
they promise to never Fight again.
Performances will be at 8 p.m.
Friday and Saturday and March 9
and 10, with matinees scheduled
for 2 p.m. March 4 and 11.
$2 50 per day for 10 words on individual student
and student organization ads
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