Ali All That Heaven Allows Analysis

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. later known as Muhammad Ali, was a black boxer, and was proud of it. Many African Americans were ashamed of their color, but Ali was different. He was the first boxer to win the Heavyweight Championship 3 different times. He had a great personality and was liked by the people. During his life, he made big decisions that changed the course of his life completely. Muhammad Ali's journey through life was a great inspiration for African American people, but Ali himself deserves the admiration of everyone.

Holocaust film has emerged as its own genre throughout time. Originally, directors ignored the possibility of Holocaust films, then the content started to take form in non-fiction recordings. Eventually, the genre of Holocaust film took off and today there is an abundance of Holocaust related films that appear when one scrolls through movie streaming sites. The Pawnbroker (1964), directed by Sidney Lumet, is a perfect example of a film that deals with both the lasting effect of the Holocaust and the stereotyping of a multitude of characters. Exploring the Holocaust in media through The Pawnbroker and The Pawnbroker’s film techniques, serve as a prime example for not only how Holocaust survivors felt emotionally imprisoned, but stereotypes different groups as well. Critics responded harshly to this stereotypical labeling and this shows how the meaning of the film has been interpreted by society differently over time.

This film highlights the flaws of humanity in a western world. The films ability to touch on topics of classism, prostitution, and alcoholism makes the content mature and unlike typical western films. This revolutionary and innovative western created a foundation for many future films. The sophistication of the content, and lack of adherence to the production code makes this film an “adult”

When people look at two extremely different stories such as Night and Life is Beautiful, they would not expect there to be many similarities. However, these two devastating tales are more alike than suspected. Both Night and Life is Beautiful may be two accounts of the holocaust, but that does not mean that they bring the same thing to the table. They both may include a somewhat similar father-son relationship, yet they still aren’t that same. Night, a tragic memoir of Eliezer Wiesel, and Life is Beautiful, a humorous and still somewhat depressing movie of Guido and his family, have numerous similarities as well as drastic differences between them.

Throughout history there have been many influential people who have lived in this country. Some were politicians, some were actors, and some were even athletes. One such man was a gifted boxer named Muhammad Ali. He made his mark as an amateur, then as a professional. "The Greatest" was the self-proclaimed nickname of Ali, but so many people agreed that it stuck. He went through trials and tribulations in his life, which make him a historic icon. Muhammad Ali is known for being "The Greatest" boxer of all time, but unlike other athletes he is remembered for his out of the ring actions as well as his athletic accomplishments.

Muhammad Ali had an outstanding record of 56 wins, 5 loses, and had 37 knockouts even to some opponents treat people thought he would never beat like the big bear AKA Sunny Liston.

The 1974 melodrama film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Angst essen Seele auf) produced and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder follows German charwoman Emmi Kurowski and her struggles against society concomitant with her relationship with Moroccan guest worker Ali. Situated in West Germany and filmed the year after the halt on the recruitment of guest workers, this movie can be interpreted as a response to the debates and issues surrounding the presence of foreign workers. Native germans frequently disputed and contended the treatment, contributions, and potential to integrate into the German society that historically rejected the identity as a country of immigration. The staircase clips from Ali: Fear Eats the Soul highlight the susceptibility

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, a film made in 1974 and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, is influenced by Douglas Sirk’s 1955 melodrama All That Heaven Allows. Even though there are similarities in Fassbinder’s film, there are also differences. For example, Fassbinder changes the setting, period, and tone in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. He transforms the “story from a romanticized if somewhat satirized New England in the fifties to a de – romanticized Munich in the seventies and uses ensemble players rather than star actors” (Reimer 282).

exactly why the branch is there and who it is from. If the film had

Any movie can have a romantic plotline, consisting of a picturesque town, a lonely woman, and forbidden love, but only one can narrate societal hypocrisies and social stigmas while paying homage to a classic Hollywood melodrama directed by a German-expressionism-influenced director from the 1950s. Enter stage right, Far from Heaven. Directed by Todd Haynes, this film, set in the 1950s, tells the story of Cathy Whitaker, a suburban housewife who seems to have the perfect life—until it starts to fall apart, and she has to learn how to keep her husband’s homosexuality and her personal infatuation with her gardener, an African American man, from affecting her flawless image and place in society. This movie was heavily influenced by the midcentury melodrama All That Heaven Allows, directed by Douglas Sirk, as suggested by the somewhat similar plotlines, but their similarities are heavily apparent in the cinematography and mise-en-scène. What makes Far from Heaven unique from its predecessor, though, is how it uses modernized topics in its storyline in order to unveil the hypocrisy of society and the Whitakers’ dysfunctional relationship.

The 1960s were a time of revolutionary ideas and new modes of expression. These new ways of thinking and speaking opened the door to major reforms of American society and culture. People were now standing up for what they believed in, for example, protesting against the mistreatment of African-Americans and refusing to follow the Military Selective Service Act, a law which forced men between the ages 18-26 to fight in the controversial Vietnam War (Youth Movement). Not everyone embraced this new attitude that contained a challenge to existing governmental authority. As an expert on the draft, Phillip MacFarlane wrote, “ Some critics decry the loss of the citizen-soldier as a threat to democracy”(MacFarlane). One prominent anti-war figure

Francois Truffaut continued on to say that Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog, made in 1955, was the “greatest film ever made”. The 30-minute film based on the horrors of the Holocaust and Nazi concentration camps after World War II combines Resnais’ own cinematography with original images and footage of the captives in their unfathomable state. The film is lead with a somber narrative that not only accompanies the sobering images being shown but both compliments them and puts them into perspective. Carl R. Plantigna’s chapter from his book ‘Rhetoric and Representation in

The film Life Is Beautiful, 1998, directed by Roberto Benigni, is about a Jewish man who charmed the woman he loved only to later be separated by being placed in a concentration camp. His love for her and his son drives him to continue being cheerful despite his surroundings. The film includes a range of themes, the most prevalent being love.

Prior to traveling together to Africa has been suspended by the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X still decides to go to Africa but Ali refuses to speak to him and respects the Nation of Islam’s decision to suspend him. As Muhammad Ali returned to the United States he is stripped of his heavyweight championship, boxing license, passport suspended and sent to jail for refusal to be drafted during the Vietnam War. Muhammad Ali left the sport of boxing for three years until his conviction was overturned and challenges Joe Frazier to a boxing match so he can regain his heavyweight championship. Joe Frazier defeats Ali and gives him his first loss of his career. Joe Frazier then loses his championship to George Foreman. Ali then challenges Foreman and goes to Zaire to face him for the title. While in Africa Ali has an affair with a woman named Veronica Porsche. Ali’s wife, Belinda Ali, found out and he is unsure about his love for either of the women. During the title fight Ali has been taking a defensive approach and is allowing Foreman to wildly swing at him to get him fatigued quickly. Ali’s strategy was proven successful when he takes advantage of Foreman’s fatigue and goes on the offensive and knocks Foreman out. The movie ends with Muhammad Ali regaining the Heavyweight Championship.

In the 1950’s the melodrama genre came to age and there is no better example than Douglas Sirk’s All that Heaven Allows. The melodrama followed some basic characteristics which can be identified in the film. First and foremost the narrative of the melodrama focused on the family. All that Heaven Allows follows the narrative of the typical melodrama but at the same time also challenges the social conventions. While Sirk follows many of the key themes he does so in a more detached fashion. The protagonist Cary is bound to her community by her social class. Change was occurring in society and the melodrama displayed people’s restraint to this. In All that Heaven Allows Sirk began his focus on the female and her desires in contrast to the more conservative male focused melodrama. As with the melodrama the legibility of the story, displayed through the plot, is simple and easy to follow. “Our engagement with the story depends on our understanding of the pattern of change and stability, cause and effect, time and space” (Bordwell and Thompson, 2008). The linear time flow of the film allows for it’s simple understanding. This is added to by the expressiveness of the melodrama, where everything is brought into the open and nothing is left unsaid. The expressiveness of the melodrama is also represented in the highly expressive mise-en-scene. Sirks use of colour, the human figure, camera work, lighting and music allow him to portray suppressed meaning and significance.