Clearcut (Richard Bugajski, 1991) HDTVRip 720p VO

[Initiand]

Clearcut (1991) HDTV (ARTE) 720p x264 ger-eng


Originaltitel: Clearcut
Drama | ecological Thriller | Western
country: Kanada
Produktionsjahr: 1991
Produktionsfirma: Cinexus/Telefilm
Runtime: 98 Minuten
Cast: Graham Greene (Arthur), Ron Lea (Peter), Michael Hogan (Bud), Floyd Red Crow Westerman (Wilf), Rebecca Jenkins (Louise)
Producer: Stephen J. Roth, Ian McDougall
Director: Richard Bugajski
Writers: Robert Forsyth, M.T. Kelly (based on novel "A Dream Like Mine")
Music: Shane Harvey

El abogado pacifista Peter pierde un proceso que ha llevado a favor de los indios contra una fábrica maderera. La tala radical de los bosques en sus tierras ancestrales continúa. El indio Arthur busca la venganza y secuestra al gerente de la fábrica maderera. En los bosques de Canadá comienza una lucha por la supervivencia.
El abogado pacifista Peter va de Toronto al norte de Canadá, para dar las malas noticias a los indios que allí habitan: el proceso en el que representó sus intereses contra una fábrica maderera se ha perdido en primera instancia. La tala radical de los bosques en el hábitat de los indios continúa impunemente. Con manifestaciones y bloqueos, los indios tratan en vano de detener los bulldozers de la fábrica. Desesperado y desanimado, Peter contempla la brutalidad de los blancos, sobre los que destaca Bud Rickert, con sus cínicas peroratas para justificarse.
Cuando Peter se encuentra con el indio Arthur, queda sorprendido. Este hombre parece ser capaz de leer misteriosamente los pensamientos del abogado blanco. Pero, en contra de lo esperado, el indio pasa de las bromas jocosas sobre la venganza y la tortura a la acción. Él secuestró al gerente de la fábrica maderera y se lo lleva - así como el abogado - como rehenes.
Impotente debe asistir el pacifista Peter a los actos cada vez más crueles del indio. Sólo cuando decide tomar un arma, será capaz de poner fin al doloroso juego del gato y el ratón del guerrero sediento de venganza.

La película canadiense "La venganza del lobo", que en el "Año Colombino" de 1992, llegó por primera vez a los cines, es sin duda la película más dura e implacable sobre el tema de la colonización blanca de América del Norte, con todas sus terribles consecuencias. La película muestra sin miramientos la violencia del hombre blanco contra los nativos americanos y la destrucción implacable del hábitat de la "People of the First Nation", así como también la reacción cruel de los oprimidos. El director Ryszard Bugajski envía a sus dos protagonistas blancos a un viaje del horror por los bosques canadienses: un viaje a los lugares de culto de los indios, que resulta ser una pesadilla, pero también un viaje revelador a su propio interior.
"La venganza del lobo" es también una respuesta provocativa del exiliado polaco Bugajski a los sueños rosados y utópicos de integración del cine de Hollywood, que con la epopeya india de Kevin Costner "Bailando con lobos" había fantaseado un año antes una coexistencia pacífica entre pieles rojas y blancos por las pantallas del mundo.
Pero al menos hay una cosa en común estas dos películas tan diferentes: Graham Greene, uno de los actores de ascendencia india más famosos y de éxito, que desde su papel como un 'hombre de medicina' amante de la paz en la película de Costner ha sido tan perjudicado. Pero quien haya visto al destacado actor de teatro y de cine en este papel tendrá que cambiar su opinión. No como un "noble salvaje" toma aquí Greene la causa del piel roja, sino como un cruel ángel vengador que desaparece tan misteriosamente como apareció.

El exiliado polaco Richard Bugajski transmite su mensaje con imágenes impresionantes, pero de una brutalidad extrema. En su intransigencia brusca, su thriller es la contrapartida del éxito de Hollywood "Bailando con lobos", que pretende la armonía, donde Graham Greene interpretaba a un curandero amante de la paz.
Veredicto del Cine: La venganza del lobo es cruel, pero justificada

THX @Toeless for the translation

Spoiler:

After "Dances With Wolves" and "Thunderheart," it appears that Graham Greene has become the movies' politically correct spokesperson. But this time out he's not the wise-cracking, lovable North American Indian who shows the white man the error of his ways. Instead, he's a wise-cracking, mean-spirited North American Indian — actually a trickster spirit in human form — out to punish the white man with terror and torture.

A Canadian film, "Clearcut" is an uneasy blend of North American Indian folklore and "Deliverance," focusing on a mild-mannered attorney (Ron Lea) who, as the film opens, has just lost a major court case. He had filed against a paper mill on behalf of Native Americans whose land is being ravaged. And his anger at the injustice inadvertently conjures up the spirit of Greene, who invokes his revenge on behalf of the earth.

Actually, who — or what — Greene is and where he comes from isn't really very clear most of the way. I had the advantage of being able to read the press kit after seeing the film.

"Clearcut" is an angry film, so angry that it provokes Greene's character to do some despicable things in his self-righteous indignation. The central plot has Greene kidnapping Lea and the paper mill manager (Michael Hogan), taking them deep into the wilderness and torturing both of them — Hogan physically and Lea psychologically — along the way.

Some of this is hard to take, and it isn't tempered by Greene's occasional witty asides. In fact, Greene's powerful screen presence shifts the entire film into a realm of earthy realism (despite the fantasy overtones) that occasionally make the film un-comfortable.

The other performances are good, though — especially Hogan, whose character's charming demeanor hides a very cold heart.

rottentomatoes

An aerial view of a forest in northern Canada devastated by the lumber industry "looks like the moon on a bad day," one character in the film "Clearcut" says. To another observer, the same sight "looks like money."

Those remarks define the bitter regional war that ignites this Canadian film, which opens today at the Gramercy Theater. As the movie begins, a local lumber company that is the area's economic wellspring has just won a legal skirmish against an Indian tribe whose sacred ground has been violated by a road used to truck timber from the forest to the mill. Peter (Ron Lea), the big-city lawyer for the Indians' cause, arrives in time to witness a bloody battle between the police and the Indians, who are trying to prevent the company's logging trucks from entering their territory.

"Clearcut," adapted from M. T. Kelly's novel "A Dream Like Mine," soon shifts from a political drama into a thriller with a supernatural edge. As a gesture of solidarity with his clients, the lawyer takes part in an Indian sweat lodge ceremony, during which he has hallucinations of blood oozing from trees and other grisly visions. Soon after, he meets Arthur (Graham Greene), an arrogant young Indian-rights advocate with an ominous gleam in his eye and a lust for violent revenge.

Peter, who underestimates the ferocity of Arthur's rage, becomes a reluctant accessory to kidnapping when the Indian grabs the mill's manager, Bud Rickets (Michael Hogan), at a gas station and takes him hostage. Peter changes from unwilling collaborator to hostage after Arthur transports them by canoe across a lake into a virgin wilderness.

The bulk of "Clearcut" concentrates on the prisoners' desperate struggle for survival at the hands of a vengeful sadist with magical powers. Arthur knows how to hone the end of a stick and spear a fish with a single thrust into the water. He also possesses second sight. And since he has the ability to be in more than one place at the same time, escape is all but impossible.

Things become increasingly dire as the three make their way through the wilderness. One morning Peter awakens to find Arthur meticulously flaying one of Bud's legs. When he protests the torture, Arthur replies that what he is doing is no worse than the conduct of American soldiers who used to play catch with the breasts of Navajo women. Ultimately Peter, who has always eschewed violence, is driven to fight for his life.

"Clearcut" suggests a low-budget Canadian answer to "Deliverance," but heavily streaked with mysticism and environmental politics. Although the film never comes out and says it, Arthur is actually an Indian trickster spirit conjured into human form by Peter's anger. Also known as Wisakedjak, he is the same bloodthirsty spirit who is described to Peter during the sweat lodge ceremony by Wilf (Floyd Red Crow Westerman), the tribe's wise, long-suffering chief.

The film, directed by Richard Bugajski, is scrupulously fair to its characters and the issues they represent. Arthur radiates the glamour of a survivalist who is so perfectly attuned to nature that he moves through the wilderness with the confidence of a god. But he also kidnaps, tortures and kills with the casual ease of the most dangerous movie psychopaths. In Mr. Greene's riveting portrayal, he exudes a sinister, slightly comic buoyancy.

Mr. Hogan's burly mill-manager is considerably more sympathetic than Mr. Lea's lawyer. A rugged outdoorsman who is as fiery in his way as Arthur, he argues forcefully that closing the mill would destroy the livelihood of thousands.

Even if Peter is on the side of the angels, as the film seems to suggest, he is a weak-willed do-gooder who doesn't really understand the people whose rights he is championing. His forced journey into the wilderness is his initiation into a spiritual authenticity.

These strong, beautifully balanced performances infuse what is essentially an adventure movie with gripping psychological undercurrents. The deepest character is the tribe's chief, a man of few words whom Mr. Westerman imbues with an anguished benignity. All-knowing yet powerless to change the course of events, this elder is the film's grieving spiritual guide.

Código: Seleccionar todo

Nombre completo                          : D:\Share\Clearcut (1991) HDTV (ARTE) 720p x264 ger-eng.mkv
Formato                                  : Matroska
Formato de la versión                    : Version 2
Tamaño del archivo                       : 2,54GIB
Duración                                 : 1h 33min.
Modo de tasa de bits                     : Variable
Tasa de bits total                       : 3 874Kbps
Fecha de codificación                    : UTC 2012-10-14 06:29:29
Aplicación de codifición                 : mkvmerge v5.8.0 ('No Sleep / Pillow') built on Sep  2 2012 15:37:04
Librería de codificación                 : libebml v1.2.3 + libmatroska v1.3.0

Video
ID                                       : 1
Formato                                  : AVC
Formato/Info                             : Advanced Video Codec
Formato del perfil                       : High@L4.1
Ajustes del formato, CABAC               : Si
Ajustes del formato, RefFrames           : 5marcos
ID Códec                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duración                                 : 1h 33min.
Tipo de tasa de bits                     : Variable
Tasa de bits                             : 3 490Kbps
Tasa de bits máxima                      : 40,0Mbps
Ancho                                    : 1 280pixeles
Alto                                     : 544pixeles
Relación de aspecto                      : 2,35:1
Velocidad de cuadro                      : 30,000fps
ColorSpace                               : YUV
ChromaSubsampling                        : 4:2:0
BitDepth/String                          : 8bits
Tipo de exploración                      : Progresivo
Bits/(Pixel*cuadro)                      : 0.167
Tamaño de pista                          : 2,23GIB (88%)
Librería de codificación                 : x264 core 125 r2200 999b753
Opciones de codificación                 : cabac=1 / ref=6 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=3 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / slices=4 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=1 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=1 / weightp=1 / keyint=30 / keyint_min=1 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=30 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=3490 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=40000 / vbv_bufsize=30000 / nal_hrd=vbr / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Idioma                                   : Inglés
Default                                  : Si
Forced                                   : No

Audio #1
ID                                       : 2
Formato                                  : AC-3
Formato/Info                             : Audio Coding 3
Format_Settings_ModeExtension            : CM (complete main)
Ajustes del formato, Endianness          : Big
ID Códec                                 : A_AC3
Duración                                 : 1h 33min.
Tipo de tasa de bits                     : Constante
Tasa de bits                             : 192Kbps
Canal(es)                                : 2canales
Posiciones del canal                     : Front: L R
Velocidad de muestreo                    : 48,0KHz
BitDepth/String                          : 16bits
Tamaño de pista                          : 129MB (5%)
Idioma                                   : Alemán
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

Audio #2
ID                                       : 3
Formato                                  : AC-3
Formato/Info                             : Audio Coding 3
Format_Settings_ModeExtension            : CM (complete main)
Ajustes del formato, Endianness          : Big
ID Códec                                 : A_AC3
Duración                                 : 1h 33min.
Tipo de tasa de bits                     : Constante
Tasa de bits                             : 192Kbps
Canal(es)                                : 2canales
Posiciones del canal                     : Front: L R
Velocidad de muestreo                    : 48,0KHz
BitDepth/String                          : 16bits
Tamaño de pista                          : 129MB (5%)
Idioma                                   : Inglés
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

 Clearcut (1991) HDTV (ARTE) 720p x264 ger-eng.mkv [2.54 Gb] 

no subs, except Estonian.

[Bunker]

Thanks a lot, Ini. I was looking for a good copy of this film, and here you are.

[rubeum]

Un gran filme, muy poco conocido en España - como en general suele ocurrir con el cine canadiense-. La realidad de la colonización - especialmente esclarecedor el discurso tergiversador con el que se pretende enmascarar la violencia y el expolio practicado contra los aborígenes, a caballo entre el cinismo tecnocrático y la moralina supremacista, que recuerda a discursos más recientes y cercanos en el espacio- en una mirada tan lúcida como inmisericorde.