contents Issue Seven.

March/April 2010
thebigpicture presents Features

Back inCinemas
0 4 | Spotlight
Mamma Mia!:
Cinema's most maniacal
movie matriarchs

1 4 | Art & Film

vote on the Small Screen to see films on the Big Screen Jersey Boy:
Painter, artist and poet
Michael Medina

24 | Widescreen
Absent Presence:
The synagogue as
cinema by photographer
Wojciech Wilczyk

3 0 | 1000 Words
Lionel Stander:
One actor's bold stand
against the horror of the
Hollywood Blacklist

34 Regulars
0 4 | Reel World
Manchurian candidate
Cast your vote now for one of the following classic films: 1 8 | One Sheet
‘It's a terrible thing to
Don't Look Back
Calamity Jane
hate your mother. But I
didn't always hate her. 3 4 | On Location
Desperately Seeking Susan When I was a child, I
only kind of disliked her.'
Washington D.C.

Electric Dreams Raymond Shaw 3 8 | Screengem

Anton's bolt gun
Sexy Beast

cover image the manchurian candidate (courtesy park circus ltd.)

4 2 | Parting Shot

Theatre of Blood 21 JumpSuits

Zelig 4 4 | Competition
Picture This

Voting closes March 31st

Results and screening details posted 1st April
24 4 6 | Listings
Back on the big screen

The Big Picture ISSN 1759-0922 © 2010 intellect Ltd. Published by Intellect Ltd. The Mill, Parnall Road. Bristol BS16 3JG / www.intellectbooks.com
vote Editorial office Tel. 0117 9589910 / E: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com Publisher Masoud Yazdani Senior Editor & Design Gabriel Solomons Editor Scott Jordan Harris
now! Contributors Jez Conolly, Nicholas Page, Emma Simmonds, Daniel Steadman, Scott Jordan Harris, Tony Nourmand, Alison Elangasinghe, Gabriel Solomons
Special thanks to John Letham, Sara Carlsson and all at Park Circus, Jelena Stanovnik, Michael Pierce at Curzon Cinemas and Gabriel Swartland at City Screen
Please send all email enquiries to: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com / www.thebigpicturemagazine.com l The Big Picture magazine is published six times a year

www.thebigpicturemagazine.com Published by intellect | Produced in partnership with www.parkcircus.com

march/april 2010 3
 reel world Google 'a Manchurian Candidate'.
Disconcertingly, the second
result (beneath the film) is
f i l m b e yo n d t h e b o r d e r s o f t h e s c r e e n
an article by hard-line lunatic
David Kupelian characterizing
the 2008 US presidential
election as ‘a choice between
a genuine war hero and
a genuine Manchurian
candidate’. (‘Obama was
programmed for years by his
atheist, Muslim father [sic],
by the communist sex pervert
Frank Marshall Davis, by con
man Tony Rezko, by domestic
terrorist Bill Ayers… by black
is liberation theology screamer
manchurian
barack Jeremiah Wright.’) As evidence
obama
a
c a n d i d at e ? m a n c h u r i a n
No film title has become a more evocative
phrase, or a more emotive insult, than the term
‘Manchurian candidate’. scot t jordan harris
can d i d a t e ?
examines its continued usage.
4 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
that such insane accusations
are evenly spread across the
political spectrum, Google’s
second suggested search – after
‘Barack Obama Manchurian
candidate’ – is ‘John McCain
Manchurian candidate’. As Eric
D. Snider of Film.com writes
(in an article which Google
ranks higher than Kupelian’s
entry) ‘just about everyone
who has run for president has
at some point been called a
“Manchurian candidate”’.
Similarly, almost every assassin
since the 1960s (Sirhan
Sirhan, slayer of Robert F.
Kennedy, most famously)
has also, at some point, been
described as ‘a Manchurian
candidate’. But what does
the term mean? Does the
title of John Frankenheimer’s
film (and, of course, Richard
Condon’s source novel) refer
to the character of Raymond
Shaw, who is programmed
in Manchuria to return to
wa s
si rh an
si rh an
a
the US and murder in order
to advance the communist
cause, but who never stands
for office, or to Senator Iselin,
the vice-presidential candidate
who benefits from Shaw’s
unconscious killings but never
visits Manchuria and is never
brainwashed? ‘A Manchurian
candidate’ is one of the most
fascinating phrases ever to leak
from film into international
English: use it and everyone
will know what you mean, but
very few could write a decent
definition. [tbp]
march/april 2010 5
 spotlight left
angela lansbury and Laurence Harvey
below
frank sinatra and Laurence Harvey
c i n e m a ' s m a n i a c a l m at r i a r c h s

The Manchurian
Candidate (1962)
Dir. John Frankenheimer

John Frankenheimer’s
superlative thriller is a riveting
medley of dastardly political
machinations, romance, betrayal
and brainwashing. Sergeant
Raymond Shaw (Laurence
Harvey) returns from battle in
Korea with a Medal of Honour.
With demonic conviction,
Angela Lansbury plays
Shaw’s mother, Mrs Iselin, a
woman with ‘a tendency to
refer to anyone who disagrees
with anything she says as a
communist’. The power behind
her senator husband, Mrs Iselin
is an arch manipulator and
shrewd political mover and
shaker. When Raymond’s war
comrades – including Major Ben
Marco (Frank Sinatra) – are
plagued by identical nightmares
it transpires that Raymond’s
heroics are but a planted
memory, which conceals a far
more disturbing truth. In one of
the great cinematic reveals, it is
dear mother who steps out from
behind the curtain to announce
herself as the most formidable
force in the film: a mother
willing to use her son to dispatch
the opponents to her ideology.

The Manchurian Candidate is

back in UK cinemas from 16 April.
cover
feature

Mamma
Y

a superlative

Mia!
Whether control freaks, political players,
thriller that's a
riveting medley of
dastardly political
machinations,
nymphomaniacs or even the ungrateful dead, romance, betrayal ➜
these memorable movie mothers exert unholy & brainwashing.
influence over their offspring. emma simmonds
➜
surveys cinema’s most maniacal matriarchs.
Images courtesy of Park Circus Limited

6 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com march/april 2010 7

Kobal (2)
Ma Mere (2005)
Dir. Christophe Honoré
Helene is an
icy, extreme Pierre (Louis Garrel) is a
sullen, awkward teenager
libertarian: a who has been raised by his
damaged and grandmother. As the film
opens, he is visiting his parents
deeply troubled at their Canary Islands villa,
husk of a human where a tense and possibly
even violent marital situation
being.➜
is apparent. The almost
immediate death of his father
conspicuously attracts little
fanfare or emotional reaction.
Instead, it leads his mother –
who refers to him ominously
as her ‘young lover’ – to take
him out to the local nightspot,
where she begins to unfurl
her true, reckless and sexually
uninhibited nature. Hélène is
an icy, extreme libertarian: a
damaged and deeply troubled
husk of a human being, partial
to gnomic pronouncements
and hedonistic excess. Once
left her chilling character has
LOUIS GARREL & ISABELLE HUPPERT
been revealed, we watch scene
top right after unsettling scene. She
ANN-MARGRET, ROGER DALTREY & OLIver REED
manipulates her son, and
her young female friends,
spotlight into taboo sexual situations
featuring prostitution,
sadomasochism and, eventually,
c i n e m a ' s m a n i a c a l m at r i a r c h s
an unsurprisingly destructive
act of incest.
8 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
spotlight mamma mia!
Tommy (1975)
Dir. Ken Russell
The result of an extraordinary
collaboration between incendi-
ary filmmaker Ken Russell
and rock group The Who, the
hallucinogenic ‘rock opera’
Tommy tells the story of a boy
rendered deaf, dumb and blind
after witnessing his fighter-pilot
father being murdered by his
mother’s new lover (Oliver
Reed). As played by Roger
Daltrey, Tommy grows into an
unlikely pinball champion (in
a world where such a skill is
highly lucrative). Blazing at the
centre of this dizzying spectacle
is Hollywood siren Ann-Mar-
gret, who gives a superbly
unhinged and impressively un-
self-conscious performance as
Tommy’s tragedienne mother,
belting out her lines and at-
tacking her role with demented
relish. We see her grief-stricken,
guilt-ridden, recklessly incom-
petent, deranged and cavort-
ing in baked beans, before
her ultimate reinvention as an
entrepreneurial Virgin Mary
figure. Like the rest of this
barking mad musical, Margret’s
performance exists primarily in
the higher register.
march/april 2010 9
 spotlight
c i n e m a ' s m a n i a c a l m at r i a r c h s
This adaptation Mommie
Dearest (1981)
doesn’t so much Dir. Frank Perry
tarnish Joan
Crawford’s According to her adopted
reputation as take daughter, Christina, having Joan
Crawford as a mother made
a sledgehammer for a joyless, chaotic ordeal of a
and smash it. childhood. This picture, based
on Christina’s book of the same
➜ name, paints Crawford as a
compulsive cleaner, demented
perfectionist, alcoholic, man-
eater and, most damningly, a
cruel, brittle and occasionally
violent mother. Faye Dunaway
wears those famous eyebrows
with aplomb, impressively
capturing Crawford’s trademark
zeal wrapped in a straitjacket
of composure. The sequence
in which Joan finds a lone wire
hanger in Christina’s rack of
dresses and, ranting and hissing,
beats her savagely with it is
one of the most infamously
awful scenes in cinema.
The book and film’s legacy
are such that the expression
‘mommie dearest’ has become
an ironic synonym for a callous
mother. This adaptation
doesn’t so much tarnish Joan
Crawford’s reputation as take a
sledgehammer and smash it.
10 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
During the
incomparably
gruesome finale,
Vera morphs
spectacularly
into a mutant
Braindead (1992) monolith
Dir. Peter Jackson matriarch.
➜
Lionel Cosgrove (Timothy
Balme) is a young man
drowning in an abundance of
maternal attention. Despite
a veneer of respectability,
his mum, Vera (Elizabeth
Moody), is a tyrant in a twinset
and keeps her only child in
virtual servitude. This being
early Peter Jackson, Lionel’s
circuitous route to freedom
comes when a poisonous
rat-monkey takes a chunk out
of his mother’s arm whilst
she’s spying on his tentative
courtship with the charming
Paquita (Diana Perñalver).
Although the infection
ultimately proves fatal, Vera
is unsurprisingly made of
steelier stuff than the average
mortal: for her, death is paltry
opposition. As the infection
spreads throughout the town,
Lionel and Paquita are soon
battling hoards of the undead.
During the incomparably
gruesome finale, Vera morphs
spectacularly into a mutant
monolith matriarch; as Lionel
slides inexorably toward her
giant swollen belly (back from
whence he came!) she informs
him, with twisted satisfaction,
‘No one will ever love you like
your mother’.
above left
MARA HOBEL & FAYE DUNAWAY
opposite
DIANA PErÑALVER as paquita
Kobal (2)
march/april 2010 11
 spotlight
c i n e m a ' s m a n i a c a l m at r i a r c h s

Psycho (1960)

Kobal
Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

Norman Bates (Anthony

Perkins) lives by the motto ‘a
boy’s best friend is his mother’.
The mother in question is first
heard as she barks at her son
with an almost supernatural
gusto, ostensibly from the
family home which overlooks
the Bates Motel. Yet it is almost
as if it were a voice from the
ether, a voice of damnation, not
so much heard as felt. She is the
domineering moral custodian
to Norman’s peeping Tom.
It seems that, whilst Norman
merely looks, Mrs Bates strikes
out, both punishing and
figuratively enacting Norman’s
sexual desires. Of course, it
It seems that, is subsequently revealed that
whilst Norman Norman’s mother has been
merely looks, Mrs dead for years, murdered by her
jealous son as she lay alongside
Bates strikes out, her lover. Unable to stay parted
both punishing from her, Norman plunders
and figuratively the grave, reinstating her
corpse in the family home and
enacting Norman’s resurrecting her character in
sexual desires. his mind. The psychiatrist who
➜ examines Norman concludes
sadly, ‘He tried to be his mother
and now he is.’ [tbp]

left
the unknown threat

also see... Harold & Maude (1971)

12 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com march/april 2010 13

 art&film
pa i n t i n g i n s p i r e d b y c i n e m a
I met Michael Medina online.
Having learnt The Big Picture
was searching for artists whose
work responded to cinema, he
contacted me and modestly
proposed I might want to read
his poetry. I apologized: as a
visually-focused magazine,
there was little we could do
with a poet. ‘No problem,’ said
Michael: ‘he was also a painter.’
Here’s an introduction to the
evocative, and occasionally
controversial, visions of
Michael Medina.
Jersey Boy
Most people reading this will
be able to recall seeing Titanic
in a crowded cinema in 1997,
but I doubt it had the effect on
many of them that it had on
you. Tell us what happened.
Michael Medina is a painter, poet and teacher – but his My fellow cinemagoers
were coughing and sneezing
Twitter name is @FillmBuffDude. scot t jordan harris throughout the picture. I didn’t
spoke with an artist whose every work is informed by film. enjoy the spread of their germs,
or the film. The following days
Paintings photographed by Jeff Leifer. ➜ saw my body break down.
Breathing was difficult. I was
14 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
'A visit to the hospital
determined that my Titanic
trip was the likely cause of
what was found to be my
meningitis. I was 22, and
convinced I was dying. '
(over) After The Last Party’s Over (1999)
(left) untitled 2 (1998)
ready to collapse. A visit to the
hospital determined that my
trip to see Titanic was the likely
cause of what was found to be
my meningitis. I was 22, and
convinced I was dying.
Heavily medicated, I lay
bedridden in a deep and
kaleidoscopic dream. Colours
rushed and images shuffled in
my mind. I didn’t come out
of that near coma until the
next afternoon – but when I
did visions and verses welled
inside me. My first creation:
an abstract Mother Theresa-
like figure, loosened from her
chains, with a bevy of fallen
daisies at her feet. A lyrical
explanation of the composition
was included. I became an
instant painter/poet that day.
Nevertheless, as a lover of film,
I saw (and still see myself)
as a director of pigment and
wordplay.
One of your most striking
pictures was inspired by
Spike Lee’s famous remark
that racism is as integral to
America as baseball or apple
pie. Talk me through the
creation, and the composition,
of that painting.
After the Last Party’s Over, a
painting I created in 1999,
was a response to a comment
director Spike Lee had made in
a 1993 political documentary
called The Last Party. He said,
‘When you’re talking about
America, you’re talking about
baseball, apple pie, and racism’.
The harsh parallels he
was drawing, led me into a
biblical parallel between the
institutionalized racism Lee
described, and the system
which existed when Jesus faced
the paranoid government of
Rome. Fearing a Jewish revolt,
the Romans made Jesus an
➜
march/april 2010 15
art&film michael medina
untitled 1 (1998)
16 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
example of what could happen
to those opposed to their
authority. Hence: the crown
of thorns and the cross in the
painting.
This piece proved
prophetic when The Passion
of the Christ became the
subject of passionate debate
over Mel Gibson’s alleged
anti-Semitism. The themes
in the work came full circle
when, later that year, Gibson’s
sentiments about the content
of his movie mirrored
another infamous Spike Lee
statement, about the depiction
of Jewish people in film:
‘There’s an unwritten law
that you cannot have a Jewish
character in a film who isn’t
100 per cent perfect, or you’re
labeled anti-Semitic’.
You’ve stated that The Time
Travelers is influenced by
Kenneth Anger, Tim Burton,
and Sergei Parajanov, and
also contains a reference to
Michael Moore’s Bowling for
Columbine. Tell us how.
This piece was created a week
after September 11, 2001. It
was painted on the top floor
of the Art building at Rutgers
University in Newark, New
Jersey, where wall-to-wall
windows provided a clear view
of the still-smoking aftermath of
the attacks. We, as art students,
naturally tried to internalize
what we had witnessed just
a week beforehand from that
same room.
A fellow student, who was
also a film buff, began to
discuss what he felt should be
our nation’s response to the
attacks. Somehow, Michael
Moore’s name entered into
our conversation, and the
student mentioned that
Moore had been working
on a documentary about
Columbine and the fascination
that Americans have with guns.
I told him that any attempts
Moore was to make at a
cautionary tale about what had
already happened would just
be pointless.
I was in the process
of painting, so I added a
hieroglyphic depiction of the
Columbine shooting with a
tribute to Christian martyr,
Rachel Joy Scott. At that point,
I began filling the painting with
any images that referred to
time and prophesy. From there,
I added subliminal comments
on everything from Kenneth
Anger’s ties to the Ordo Templi
Orientis, to the parables of
Christ towards the Pharisees.
The Russian director Sergei
Parajanov came to mind, as
his work pays tribute to past
decades while, simultaneously,
touches of contemporary
filmmaking technique link the
past and present in a single
moment.
The Time Travelers speaks
of the passage of time and
filmmaking converging: the
concept of film as a series of
still photographs is the central
focus of the work. Everything
is painted to seem ‘frozen in
time’, while even the series of
glowing green lines running
off the edge of the interior
and into space offer a literal
‘timeline’ of sorts. They also
remind the viewer that, like
time, film is a moving series of
frozen moments.
What influence has Parajanov
had on your work in general?
To any artist who is lucky
➜ turn’, resulting in irrevocable
enough to discover his genius,
Parajanov can only serve as an
inspiration. What impresses
me most is his hands-on
approach in presenting a
personal vision on screen. Not
only did he direct and write his
stunningly potent film Color
of Pomegranates, but he also
served as art director, editor,
and even choreographer.
Parajanov’s love of his
art is a phenomenon with
which any artist can identify.
Refusing to succumb to the
tyranny of Russian socialism,
his imprisonment in the 1970s
freed his spirit; he continued
to create, making wonderful,
spiritually-rich collage works
that are as visually striking as
anything he put on celluloid.
As a Christian, I’ve become
aware that some of the themes
in my own work have, at times,
been misunderstood by many,
but Parajanov has taught me
a valuable truth: in order to
create art that is respectable,
you must stay within the
confines of your familiarities.
To stray from what you know
and who you are is to lose your
dignity as an artist.
Aside from painting, you also
write poetry – and that, too,
is heavily influenced by film.
Why is it that your passion for
movies has pushed you, not to
make films, but to make other
works influenced by them?
I’ll bet my house any film-
lover has entertained some
daydream of directing their
'The Time Travelers speaks favourite picture, or one
based on their own unsung
of the passage of time and screenplay. This has always
been a dream of mine as
filmmaking converging; the well, but, since it’s still a
dream, I have only a growing
concept of film as a series appreciation for others who
have given their life to film.
of still photographs is the They’re truly risk-takers,
since not only are they not
central focus of the work.' guaranteed success, but even
when they achieve it, they can
take what critics label ‘a wrong
(above) The Time Travellers (2001) damage to their reputation.
Perhaps, if I ever have the
means, I’ll make a turkey or
two. Until then, I’ll remain in
awe of those amazing risk-
takers. [tbp]
This interview will continue on
The Big Picture website.
alsosee... [filmmaker ] Sergei Parajanov [film ] Color of Pomegranates
march/april 2010 17
 one sheet
deconstructing film posters

Don'�
LookBack
Paranoia isn’t pretty – unless it’s represented on
one of these classic movie posters. tony nourmand ,
of the Reel Poster Gallery, examines the images used
to advertise four first-rate paranoia thrillers.

H o l ly w o o d h as a lways
liked the classic good-guy-
versus-bad-guy tale. The bad
guys invariably embody the
greatest socio or political fears
of the day, from the drug
lords of the 1920s and the
Mafia bosses of the 1930s,
to the Nazis of the 1940s. In
the 1950s and 1960s the bad
guy embodied the threat to
democracy posed by the cold
war. This was an altogether
murkier and harder enemy
to pin down and one that hid
behind layers of conspiracy,
secrets and lies. Against such
a political backdrop, the
spy thriller was box-office
gold. Alongside the more
straightforward narratives of
the Bond films or Our Man
Flint (1966), there were also
more complex and intelligent
films coming out of this genre.
The most celebrated of these
remains The Ipcress File (1965).
The Ipcress File was a fresh
examination of espionage. In
place of a debonair, Oxbridge-
educated man of mystery,
Michael Caine’s Harry Palmer
was a truculent, unglamorous
hero. The use of Harry’s
glasses as a framing device in
the film, and on this stunning
rare British poster, serve to
emphasize both this fresh
take on the genre and also
the themes of paranoia, and
of being constantly watched,
which pervade the film. ➜

The Ipcress File (1965) Original british / Art by Angelo Cesselon ➜

gofurther... www.reelposter.com [artist ] Zdenêk Vlach [artist ] Jerzy Flisak

18 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
onesheet paranoia
The threat to
American society was
no longer coming from
the cold war enemy
to the East, but from
within America’s
own government and
leading institutions.
The Parallax View / Pohled Spolecnosti Parallax (1974)
Original Czechoslovakian / Art by Zdenek Vlach
All the President’s Men (1976)
Original us / Artist Unknown
Ten years l ater , and back
across the Atlantic, the thriller
genre had taken a darker turn.
The 1970s saw the birth of a
sub-genre of subversive and
Orwellian ‘paranoia thrillers’.
The threat to American
society was no longer coming
from the cold war enemy
to the East, but from within
America’s own government
and leading institutions. These
themes were a reflection of
an American society reeling
from Vietnam, Watergate and
various corporate scandals.
20 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
The Parallax View (1974) and
All the President’s Men (1976)
are parts two and three of Alan
J. Pakula’s ‘paranoia trilogy’
(which began with Klute in
1971), and two of the standout
films in the sub-genre. Zdenêk
Vlach (1942–1999) was one
of the leading Czech poster
artists of his generation,
designing over 200 film posters
between 1963 and 1989 and
winning several awards for his
work; his startling poster for
The Parallax View depicts the
faceless corporation that is the
enemy in the film.
Although much more traditional
in style, one interesting design
feature of the American poster
for All the President’s Men is
the dense newspaper print
running behind the image of
Dustin Hoffman and Robert
Redford. It is a fitting touch, as
the story of the two Washington
Post journalists who uncovered
the Watergate scandal remains
not only one of the greatest
paranoia thrillers, but also one
of the greatest journalism films
ever made.
Released in the same year as
The Parallax View, Francis Ford
Coppola’s The Conversation
was another paranoid parable,
swimming in conspiracy
theories and uncertainties.
The film was a comment on
the erosion of privacy within
American society and this
striking Polish poster is an apt
reflection of this. Famous for
his satirical cartoons, Jerzy
Flisak (b. 1930) was a perfect
choice: he is a respected
graphic artist who has designed
several book and magazine
covers and won a number of
awards. His work has been
exhibited worldwide. [tbp]
march/april 2010 21
 AfricAn / nigeriAn
onesheet paranoia The Conversation / Rozmowa (1974) Original Polish / Art by Jerzy Flisak
AmericAn – Hollywood
AmericAn – independent
directory of
ArAb
AustrAlAsiAn world
britisH
cAnAdiAn
cinema
cHinese
eAst europeAn
frencH‘Japanese filmmakers have constantly been at the forefront
of international cinema, delivering distinctive films across a
germAn wide range of genres; the Directory of World Cinema: Japan
is intended to complement their cinematic achievements by
irAniAnproviding an informed insight into a national cinema that is as
culturally representative as it is socially revealing.’ – John Berra
indiAn
itAliAn The Directory of World Cinema: Japan provides an insight into the cinema of
Japan through reviews of significant titles and case studies of leading directors,

JApAnese alongside explorations of the cultural and industrial origins of key genres. The
cinematic lineage of samurai warriors, yakuza enforcers and atomic monsters

russiAn take their place alongside the politically charged works of the Japanese new
wave, making this a truly unique volume. A printed version of the Directory is

swedisH now available, please visit www.intellectbooks.com to find out more.

Visit the website and explore the volume for free

turkisH * Learn more about the project and the rest of the series

spAnisH / portuguese
* Comment on any of the reviews
* Write your own film or director reviews

soutH AmericAn / brAziliAn

* Offer to edit a volume of the directory

Forthcoming volumes include: American Independent | Australia & New Zealand

rest of tHe world (including

isrAel, www
koreA, . worldcinemadirectory.
denmArk, fin org
22 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
lAnd, norwAy And icelAnd,
 widescreen
film in a wider context

Following the H olocaust

and the near-annihilation of
Poland’s Jewish population
during World War II, much
of the religious landscape of
the country was transformed
forever.
Synagogues and prayer
houses – the cornerstones of
Jewish religious and cultural
life – were either destroyed
or else ‘converted’ to suit
other purposes, becoming
garages, fire stations,
warehouses or – in the best
circumstances – libraries and
cultural centres. Occasionally
though, and in what could
be seen as an attempt on the
part of the Polish authorities
to raise spirits following
the devastating German
occupation, a few synagogues
were converted into cinemas.
Polish photographer
Wojciech Wilczyk was
intrigued enough by this
example of ‘architectural
reclamation’ to search out and
document the current state of
every remaining synagogue
and prayer house dotted
around his country – the result
of which is the stunning book,
and accompanying exhibition,
There’s No Such Thing as
an Innocent Eye. Aided by
Eleonora Bergman and Jan
Jagielski’s catalogue Preserved
Synagogues and Prayer Houses
of Poland (published by the
Jewish Historical Institute
in 1996), Wilczyk was able
to locate and photograph
each site methodically, often
encountering local people with
surprising and – on occasion
– shocking views about his

Absent
wolsztyn, synagogue poznanska street 17 project. The final collection
of photographs – stark, un-
stylized images that treat the

Presenc�
subject honestly and with
respect – is a timely reminder
of how important it is not just
to remember the past, but
also to act responsibly in the
It’s not often that a movie theatre’s actual physicality present. ➜

comes into question, but, as these images by Polish

photographer Wojciech Wilczyk testify, there are
some places in which cinema never belonged.
(top) obrzycko synagogue krupicka street 5
Introduction and interview by Gabriel Solomons. ➜ (above) pszczyna synagogue bramkowa street

24 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com march/april 2010 25

widescreen absent presence
(left) slomniki synagogue krakowska street 23
(below) lasczow beit hamidrash
'I didn’t shoot the interiors,
even though I tried on
more than one occasion.
All the synagogues, Beyt
Ha-Midrash and houses
of prayer were destroyed
after September 1939 (they
were burnt, devastated or
stripped) and their interiors
suffered the most damage.'
26 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
What was the reasoning
behind the title of the book/
exhibition – There's No Such
Thing as an Innocent Eye?
I took the project’s name from
the title of the review by the
Polish art critic Bogusław
Deptuła, who reviewed the
2006 ‘New Documentary’
group exhibition which
included some of my work.
In his text he accused the
artists who took part of a
‘lack of social engagement’ – a
comment that I treated as a
personal challenge. The title
refers to an understanding
of ‘realism’ in painting at the
end of the eighteenth century
that was concerned with
the limitations of objective
representations of reality.
Of course, one can read the
title quite literally and in a
way put the blame on the
observer. Frankly, I’ve chosen
a deliberately ambiguous title.
There were some surprising
remarks and comments
made by people that you
encountered and which appear
at the end of your book.
Did any of these remarks –
especially the anti-Semitic
ones – shock you in any way?
Did they reaffirm current
resentments against the Jews
that you knew existed, or did
travelling into some of these
more remote Polish outposts
offer any new insights?
I was shocked indeed that all
these anti-Semitic stereotypes
still persist to this extent,
especially as there are hardly
any Jews still living in Poland.
I would not say that I have
learned anything new – my
experience rather confirmed
what I had already known.
All of the photographs are
exterior shots. Did you
document the interiors in any
way and, if not, was there the
urge to do so?
I didn’t shoot the interiors,
even though I tried on more
than one occasion. All the
synagogues, Beyt Ha-Midrash
and houses of prayer were
destroyed after September
1939 (they were burnt,
devastated or stripped) and
their interiors suffered the ➜
march/april 2010 27
widescreen absent presence
bydgoszcz-fordon synagogue 21 stycznia street 22
'The Poles – taking into
account the memory of Polish
Jews, our former neighbours
– should treat these buildings
with respect and should care
for them, because they are
‘natural’ monuments to the
millions murdered.'
28 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
most damage. I eventually
decided that every building
would be represented in the
book with only one photo,
as including photos of the
interiors would have made the
project incoherent.
Were many of the residents
you encountered aware of the
buildings’ histories? Did any
of these encounters affect the
work you were doing?
A lot of the residents were
aware of the buildings’
histories, but unpleasant
situations, and sometimes even
hostility from the locals, only
spurred me on to continue
with the project.
Do you have any personal
feelings about the way that
these synagogues have been
transformed? In other words:
do you feel they have been
'desecrated' in any way by
the nature of their ongoing
modifications?
I’m aware that in Western
Europe many church buildings
are sold or converted for
different functions. However,
the situation with former
Polish synagogues is quite
different, as the people who
conducted prayers in them
were brutally exterminated by
the Nazis. The Poles – taking
into account the memory
of Polish Jews, our former
neighbours – should treat
these buildings with respect
and should care for them,
because they are ‘natural’
monuments to the millions
murdered. I’m an atheist, but
felt uncomfortable visiting
Liverpool two years ago
(top) lipno old synagogue mickiewicza street 33 (while taking part in the
(above) nowy targ synagogue jana kazimierza street 17 photographic project Cities
on the Edge curated by John
Davies) because a former
church had been converted
into a climbing centre.
So why were these synagogues
converted into cinemas?
The majority of synagogues
have a big open space, used
as a prayer room, suitable
not only for cinemas, but
also for garages, fire stations,
warehouses, or – in the best
more photography See more of Wojciech Wilczyk's project work at www.wilczykphoto.com
scenario – for libraries or
cultural institutions. After
World War II, the communists
nationalized all the former
private synagogues, Beyt Ha-
Midrash or houses of prayer.
Why Polish people didn’t
object to converting these
buildings, or to their further
destruction, is a very good
question. It is also a great
disgrace of our nation.
There are recurring themes of
death, decay, transformation,
abandonment, religion and
memory in your photographic
work. What is it that fascinates
you about these subjects?
For a long time I was
interested in contemporary
motifs of vanitas
(emptiness) that can be
seen and experienced in our
surrounding reality – most
probably because I’m a bit of a
pessimist. At present, though,
I’m more drawn to socially
engaged, ‘interventionist’
themes. My most recent
project, which I’m currently
working on, is of graffiti by
Polish football fans with all the
accompanying racist symbols
and slogans.
Have you received good
feedback to the book and
exhibition?
As far as I know people have
reacted really positively to
the project. It’s been good
to receive recognition and
understanding, not only from
professionals specializing in
the history of Polish Jewry or
synagogue architecture, but
also from contemporary art
curators, critics and artists.
Are there any plans to bring
the exhibition to the UK?
Unfortunately, for now there
are no exhibition plans for
the UK. After Chemnitz
(Germany), the exhibition will
move to Bucharest, then in the
autumn to Paris and by the end
of this year to the USA. [tbp]
There's No Such Thing as an
Innocent Eye is available from
select bookstores. See more at:
www.wilczykphoto.com
march/april 2010 29
 1000 words (right) lionel stander attends the house
of unamerican commitee hearings (1953)
m o m e n t s t h at c h a n g e d c i n e m a f o r e v e r

The
To a generation of TV viewers
he was instantly recognizable
as Max, craggy chauffeur
put to them by HUAC
members). Propelled by
rampant and hysterical fears
about communism’s increasing

horror
to Jonathan and Jennifer
in the super-cheesy 1980s’
series Hart to Hart. When
not grooming the family
influence in Hollywood, over
300 industry personnel were
denied employment because of
their suspected political beliefs

of the
dog, Freeway, Max was to
be heard declaring of his
employers: ‘When they met
– it was moider!’ But over 30
years earlier Lionel Stander’s
and/or social associations.
Stander was certainly active
in leftist politics, but never
officially a member of the

Hollywood
career had taken a sudden
left turn, and this resulted in
a fateful appointment before
the members of the House
communist party. Among his
many extra-curricular activities,
he was an organizer of the
Screen Actors Guild (SAG),

Blacklist
of Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC).
The HUAC was a
congressional committee that
a member of the Hollywood
Anti-Fascist League and
a supporter of the activist
Conference of Studio Unions

changed
held hearings on the film and
entertainment industries on
numerous occasions between
1938 and 1958. One product
(CSU) in its fight against the
Mafia-controlled International
Alliance of Stage Employees.
Stander had felt the heat

not only
of this McCarthy-era ministry
was the now infamous
Hollywood Blacklist (born
on 25 November 1947 when
from the HUAC as early as
1940, when he began to have
difficulty finding work because
of his outspoken views. Prior to

American
ten writers and directors,
soon to become known as ‘the
Hollywood Ten’, were cited
for contempt of Congress for
this he had enjoyed a successful
early career, working with
the likes of Frank Capra and
Preston Sturges.

film,
refusing to answer questions ➜ The HUAC’s struggle to
present concrete examples
of subversion was illustrated
by their citing of Stander
whistling the ‘Internationale’

but also
while waiting for an elevator
in No Time to Marry (Harry
Lachman, 1938). After three
years without work he took At a further hearing in

American
the opportunity to make ten
films between 1943 and 1946,
when the HUAC was inactive
because of the war, but its
society,
resurgence, and establishment
of the blacklist, brought
Stander back into radar range
of the committee. In a hearing
'Here was a man prepared
to display courage and no
small measure of theatrical
April 1951, actor and known
communist sympathizer Marc
Lawrence named Stander as
a member of his Hollywood
communist cell, testifying that
Stander ‘was the guy who
introduced me to the party line’.
Upon hearing of this, Stander

forever.
dated 21 March 1951, the
actor Larry Parks, one of the
committee’s so-called ‘friendly
witnesses’, gave Stander’s name
under questioning. Although no
further accusation was made
Jez Connolly takes a look at one actor against him during the hearing,
Stander, who had worked
who made a stand against it. consistently on television shows
in the months before Parks’
lionel stander ➜ testimony, again fell from
favour within the industry.
ability in his disparaging of
the committee.'
sued Lawrence for slander, and
contacted HUAC chairman
John S. Wood to request an
opportunity to appear before the
committee and swear under oath
that he was not a communist.
Over two years later, on 6
May 1953, Stander finally had
his moment in front of the
committee. His appearance
marked a turning point in
the hearings: here was a man ➜

30 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com march/april 2010 31


prepared to display courage
and no small measure of
theatrical ability to disparage
the committee. He began by
pledging his full support in the
fight against ‘subversive’ activities
and went on to tell his inquisitors:
'I know of a group of fanatics
who are desperately trying to
undermine the Constitution of
the United States by depriving
artists and others of life, liberty,
and pursuit of happiness
without process of law … and
these people are engaged in the
conspiracy, outside all the legal
processes, to undermine our
very fundamental American
concepts upon which our entire
'For the rest of the system of jurisprudence exists.'
Stander was, of course,
decade Stander worked referring to the HUAC itself.
as a stockbroker on Wall
Street, a journeyman
stage actor, a corporate
In an interview (for Tender
Comrades: A Backstory of the
Hollywood Blacklist, by Patrick
McGilligan and Paul Buhle)
conducted just before his death
in 1994, Stander explained why
he took the brave decision to
spokesman, even a New come out fighting:
'I decided that when I
Orleans Mardi Gras king.' appeared before the Committee
I would expose them as being
the un-Americans … I defied
the Committee, using every
constitutional amendment there
was to keep them from shutting
me up … I attacked them as
being part of a conspiracy to
impose censorship on American
theater and film, because as
soon as you tell people who
they can’t and won’t hire, you
also tell them what they can and
can’t present. That was my line,
and I got away with it.'
also see... [book] Tender Comrades, A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist [tv show] Heart to Heart
32 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
1000 words lionel stander
celebrates 45 years of cinema coverage
Published bi-monthly by the internationally
renowned film society of lincoln center,
After the hearing, Stander
was mobbed by reporters and
the next day he was on the
film comment provides global coverage
front page of every major US
newspaper. He was a hero to in cinema including exclusive interviews,
many people for his courageous
stand, but anti-communists
hated him all the more. He may
in-depth reviews, discussions on new releases
have made an impact that day,
but to say he ‘got away with it’ and classic films, authoritative profiles on
is far from the case. His screen-
acting career went into free
fall. For the rest of the decade
he worked as a stockbroker on
Wall Street, a journeyman stage
’’ !
luminaries in the industry, and developments
in the art of filmmaking.
actor, a corporate spokesman,
’’
’’
even a New Orleans Mardi
Gras king. He didn't return
to Broadway until 1961 and
I love every aspect of motion pictures, and I’m committed to it for life.
to film until 1963, in Larry
Moyer’s low-budget beatnik film comment has that same commitment when it comes to
picture The Moving Finger.
’’
writing about motion pictures.
Around this time he struck
up a working relationship with
Tony Richardson, for whom
he provided numerous stage
performances. In 1966 Roman
’’
— Clint Eastwood film comment connects me to a time when films and filmmakers
actually mattered and were treated as being worthy of serious discussion.
There’s no other cinema magazine remotely like it.
’’
Polanski cast Stander in his
only starring role, as the thug
Dickie in Cul-de-sac, opposite
Françoise Dorléac and Donald
— stEvEn sodE rbErgh
Pleasence. Stander stayed in
Europe and eventually settled
film comment regularly publishes some of the best film writers in the
in Rome, where he appeared in world, and they probe and parse cinema in a way that deepen our experience of it.
many spaghetti westerns, most
notably playing a bartender — utn E indEpE ndEnt pr Ess award b Est arts CovEragE
named Max in Sergio Leone's
Once Upon a Time in the West
(1968). While in Rome Stander
befriended Robert Wagner,
and it was this acquaintance Film CommEnt.Com subsCrib E:
that led to the TV role with
which Stander became most 1.888.313.6085 US 1 yr (6 issues) save 10% of our standard rate
associated: a role that marked 1.973.627.5162 International us $27 /canada&mexico $36 /international
his return to the American
mainstream. [tbp]
Film Comment PO Box 3000, $63 use code 2 bKFr9 when ordering.
Denville NJ 07834 USA
 on location
below
james stewart

t h e p l a c e s t h at m a k e s t h e m o v i e s

In the looming shadow of the

White House, dreams are made
and broken. nichol as page steps
tentatively into Washington State,
Hollywood’s most treacherous
arena of political intrigue.
All images: Kobal Collection

Mr. Smith Goes

to Washington (1939)
Dir. Frank Capra
USA, 129 minutes
Starring James Stewart,
Jean Arthur, Claude Rains

Not only his last film for Columbia

Pictures, but also perhaps his most
successful, Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith
Goes to Washington stars a fresh-faced
James Stewart as Jefferson Smith, an
innocent country kid who becomes
embroiled in the dangerous game
of politics. It is a role that, while not
necessarily written for Stewart, later
became a somewhat archetypal one
in the late actor’s long and sparkling
career. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
also marks a turning point in Capra’s
career as a director, for it is in this film
that Capra sheds the optimism that so
defined his earlier work.

34 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com march/april 2010 35

 Kobal (2)
opposite

on location ruth roman

right
dustin hoffman, Robert Redford
t h e p l a c e s t h at m a k e s t h e m o v i e s and company

washington
below

d.c.
kevin costner

All the President’s

Men (1976)
Dir. Alan J. Pakula
USA, 138 minutes
Starring Dustin Hoffman,
Robert Redford, Jack Warden

Concerning Woodward and

Bernstein (the two Washington
Post journalists whose tireless
investigation of the Watergate
scandal essentially ended the
Nixon presidency), Alan J.
Pakula’s All the President’s
Men is the classic political
thriller. Released almost five
years after the scandal had
gripped America, and a couple
years after the resignation of
President Richard Nixon, All
the President’s Men was very
well-received when released in
1976: riding the star power of
lead duo Dustin Hoffman and
Strangers Robert Redford to commercial
on a Train (1951) and critical success.
Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
USA, 101 minutes
Starring Robert Walker,
Farley Granger, Ruth Roman JFK (1991)
Dir. Oliver Stone
Less political than some of his USA, 189 minutes
other work, and indeed most Starring Kevin Costner, Gary
of the other films on this list, Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones
Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers
on a Train was released in 1951
Oliver Stone’s account of
and marked the great director’s
the Kennedy assassination
return to form after a string
provoked much criticism
of commercial failures. Co-
when it was released due to
adapted by famed noir-writer
its controversial nature and
Raymond Chandler from a
glaring factual inconsistencies.
novel by Patricia Highsmith,
Despite raising some public
Strangers on a Train follows two
awareness as to what really
young men as they ‘exchange
happened in Dealey Plaza on
murders’. The film explores one
22 November 1963, as well
of Hitchcock’s favourite themes:
as pushing the government to
the evil lurking in even the most
hand over secret files related
ordinary of lives.
to the event, JFK was a mixed
bag for Stone, with Hollywood
both rewarding and scalding
the director for tackling such a
also see... The More the Merrier (1943) / Born Yesterday (1950) / In the Line of Fire (1993) controversial subject.

36 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com march/april 2010 37

 screengem
e vo c at i v e o b j e c t s o n s c r e e n

Chigurh is
anton fully intended

Bol�
chigurh's to be the devil
Y
himself: a
chilling, one-
man apocalypse.

Pistol
Y

A slaughterhouse gadget put to alarmingly

inappropriate use, the bolt pistol employed by
No Country For Old Men’s emotionless assassin
perfectly complements its owner’s discreet
malice. daniel steadman examines the
ultimate rustic murder weapon.

An assass i n ’s w e a p o n should
be unobtrusive. It should be
plain and easily concealed.
A contraption comprising an
orange, hose-like tube attached
to a 2-foot-tall steel canister
would appear not to fit this
description – but reason does
not apply to Anton Chigurh,
the monstrous, mop-haired
madman who stalks the lonely
deserts of the Coen brothers’
No Country for Old Men.
Few cinematic murder
weapons are as malevolent,
bizarre or effective as
Chigurh’s customized bolt
pistol. A brutal device intended
to stun farm animals; the
body is essentially a highly
pressurized air canister,
operated by a levered trigger
mechanism. Releasing this
concentrated gas (through a
steel nozzle) perforates the
skull whilst leaving a relatively
clean wound – intended for
preventing meat spoilage, but
equally useful for dispatching
the unfortunates on a hit
man’s hit list. Chigurh is
fully intended to be the devil
himself: a chilling, one-man
apocalypse. The trail of death
he leaves behind is notable
for its lack of fuss. There’s no
attempt to make the life of an
assassin seem courageous or
even trivial: it’s just a gory,
necessary job. Though Javier
Bardem’s career-defining
performance wrings much
of the menace from the
character, he’s only half of a
pair of unforgettable killing
machines. Both fascinate us: as
an audience we’re transfixed
by the majesty of this weapon,
watching filled with horror and
sickened intrigue. [tbp]

more screengems? Email us your ideas for a screengem to: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com

38 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com march/april 2010 39

 Intellect
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 parting shot
i m i tat i o n i s t h e s i n c e r e s t f o r m o f f l at t e r y
(below) taimak as leroy green the last dragon
'In The Last
Dragon the suit is

21
(bottom) uma thurman as beatrice kiddo kill bill (vol.1)

B r u c e L e e i s f i l m ’s m o st
imitated idol. Aside from worn by a young
his renowned influence on
fans, followers and reputable black kung-

Jump
filmmakers, Lee's brilliant
career and early death inspired fu aficionado,
the infamously atrocious
Bruceploitation picture, nicknamed ‘Bruce
a substandard sub-genre
populated with impersonators Leroy’, who is

Suits
with names like Bruce Le,
Bruce Li, Bruce Lo and Lee forced to face
Bruce. Whilst no one has
ever recreated Lee’s onscreen ‘the Shogun of
skills, his onscreen apparel has
proved easier to imitate. Harlem… Sho’nuff’.
Both Lee and his famed yellow
and black jumpsuit appeared in
1978’s Game of Death for only
minutes: the film’s centrepiece
Worn by fans, film stars and – at the pagoda sequence was filmed in
Kill Bill premiere – by Jonathon Ross, 1972 (Lee died the following
year) and the remainder of
Bruce Lee’s Game of Death jumpsuit is the movie was constructed
perhaps cinema’s most influential outfit. around it, with Lee’s role
played by an absurd series
s c o t t j o rdan harris tries it on. of interchangeable stand-ins.
Nevertheless, the segment
was so outstanding, and the
international hunger for Lee
so insatiable, that the jumpsuit
became instantly iconic. It
reappeared, on the back of the
aforementioned mimic Bruce
Le, in the ridiculous rip-off
Enter the Game of Death (1980)
and again in parodic American
martial arts movie The Last
Dragon (1985), in which it is
worn by a young black kung-fu
aficionado, nicknamed ‘Bruce
Leroy’, who is forced to face
‘the Shogun of Harlem…
Sho’nuff ’.
No movie was ever more aware
of the history of the kung-fu
film than Kill Bill (2003/4).
When, in its first volume, Uma
Thurman’s Beatrice Kiddo
arrives in Tokyo hunting Lucy
Liu’s O-Ren Ishii, and fights
her enemy’s entire private
army, there was, of course, only
one outfit Quentin Tarantino
would allow her to wear. [tbp]

go further Enter the Game of Death (1980) / Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (2000)

42 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com march/april 2009 43

 competition
Picture
This
what?
Y
Name both actors and the film for a chance
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Y the big
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 Backpages

Film Index Back in Cinemas

So you’ve read about the films, now go watch ‘em! Putting the movies back where they belong...

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Dir. John Frankenheimer
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
This edition of The Big Picture has been
g see page 6/7 g see page 36 produced in partnership with Park Circus,
Ma Mere (2005) All the President's Men (1976) who are committed to bringing classic
Dir. Christophe Honoré Dir. Alan J. Pakula
g see page 8/9 g see page 37
films back to the big screen.
Tommy (1975) JFK (1991)
Dir.Kurt Russell Dir. Oliver Stone
g see page 9 g see page 37 coming coming coming
Mommie Dearest (1981) No Country for Old Men (2007) soon soon soon
Dir. Frank Perry Dirs. Joel & Ethan Coen
g see page 10 g see page 39

Braindead (1992) Game of Death (1978) Looking for something less sugary
Dir. Peter Jackson Dir. Robert Clouse
g see page 11 g see page 42
after Easter indulgencies? John
Psycho (1960) The Last Dragon (1985) Frankenheimer's Award-winning 1962 cool
Dir. Alfred Hitchcock Dir. Michael Schultz
cult classic The Manchurian Candidate
g see page 12/13 g see page 43

Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

will be back in cinemas this spring.
Dir. Frank Capra Dir. Quentin Tarantino
g see page 34/35 g see page 43
With an all-star cast including Frank
Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and
Angela Lansbury, this political suspense
thriller centres on the mysterious
In the next issue of The Big Picture, read behaviour of a US Army hero.
more about Pandora And The Flying
Dutchman, Albert Lewin's stylish 1950 The Manchurian Candidate is being re-
masterpiece starring James Mason and Ava released from 16 April at BFI Southbank
Gardner. The restored version of the film will and selected cinemas around the country.
be opening from 14 May at BFI Southbank
and selected cinemas. More details of cinema screenings of these
and other classic movies from the Park Circus
catalogue can be accessed via:
www.backincinemas.com
the
big picture thebigpicture disclaimer
issue 8
available The views and opinions of all texts, including
10 may editorial and regular columns, are those of the
2010 authors and do not necessarily represent or
reflect those of the editors or publishers.

The Big Picture magazine is published six times a

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46 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com