Category: Reviews: E-G

German-Jewish teenager runs east from the Nazis. He manages to talk his way into a Russian orphanage, but when the region falls under Occupation, he somehow convinces a group of soldiers that he’s a German being held against his will. Improbably tale that’s fact-based – he actually lived to tell it. More on EUROPA, EUROPA.

Aging ex-Miss Wichita (Julia Roberts) bamboozles her way into a file clerk job @ a law firm & then starts reading between the lines. To everyone’s surprise, including her own, she turns out to have a sharp mind as well as a dynamite body. Julia grins & the audience cheers. More on ERIN BROKOVICH.

A film about the conflict between Hindus & Moslems in post-colonial India that humanizes the epic “partition scenes” in GANDHI. A prosperous Parsee family watches helplessly as their world collapses around them & former friends choose sides. Haunting. More on EARTH.

Director Taymor (famous for Broadway’s LION KING) has a fabulous eye. Her life partner, composer Elliot Goldenthal, has a fabulous ear. Together, they’ve created an aesthetic masterpiece celebrating the artistic triumphs of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo & her husband, muralist Diego Rivera. Unfortunately, the brilliant spectacle sometimes overwhelms the actors.