Word: heroism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...like Lori's anguished "Please don't let him die!" But most of the piece has a steely passion that is evident in Ward's frazzled manliness and, especially, in Streep's carefully natural performance. She has the small gestures and tight, hectoring voice of a woman untrained for heroism, and, finally, the exhaustion of a longtime caregiver. It's been said of Streep that she learns each new role as if it were a foreign language. Here, though, she's acting, not Acting--inhabiting the part rather than overwhelming it. She has reduced her mannerisms and raised her game...
Cuteness is harmless, but its powers are so easily manipulated. I fear that Elmo heroism could hide the real priorities we should envision as we approach the 21st century--the concerns and values that tire us out, that cause us to sleep uncomfortably in our beds. It seems the hard issues of the early 90s have made the national consciousness tired: AIDS, the environment, global nuclear disarmament. We can't be Elmo and approach these issues ready to learn for a bit and then rely on others to shape our ideas; we need not to see a complex world...
Since the stumbling block to appreciating this film is perhaps all too clear, a review of the film's finer qualities is perhaps in order: the war stuff. If nothing else, director Richard Attenborough has captured the spirit of grand old heroism through images of wartime Italy. The screen fills now with ranks charging across the fetid trenches, now with peaceful shots of classical architecture, eloquently summing up the destruction of innocence by the ravages...
...even that moment was soon overtaken by the hyped and sodden Summer Olympics in Atlanta, in which heroism and tragedy were defined by a small female gymnast with a twisted ankle...
...their fans showered ersatz rats--panther food--on their far more established foes: the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Alas, the Panthers were swept away in the finals by the Colorado Avalanche, but their 1-0 triple-overtime loss in Game 4 was unforgettable, as was the heroism of goalie John Van Biesbrouck...