Movie: Barcelona (Whit Stillman, 1994)
-You can't say Americans are not more violent than other people.
-All those people killed in shootings in America?
-Oh, shootings, yes. But that doesn't mean Americans are more violent than other people. We're just better shots.
Write lines like that, and you got me hooked! Barcelona is filled with such sharp dialogue, which is not a surprise if you've seen Stillman's Metropolitan and Love & Friendship. The film's timeliness, on the other hand, was quite unexpected. Fred's (Chris Eigeman) defense of American violence is a case of professional deformation. He is an American officer sent on a diplomatic mission to Barcelona to make the case for the arrival of an American navy fleet. The film takes place in 1987, five years after Spain became part of NATO and Fred is horrified to learn that many Spaniards are opposed to this alliance. Unfortunately, a ballpoint pen is not enough to erase graffiti demanding that "American pigs go home".
I am one of those people who hoped that NATO would one day become obsolete, and that it was on its way to be so. Unfortunately the last few weeks have shown that it is still a necessary evil. Barcelona sees it as an unnecessary good, and is wistful about its disappearing relevance, connecting this to broader musings about Americanism at the tail end of the Cold War. This is an incredibly rare film that is both proud of American patriotism and the military/conservative values associated with it, and acceptant that it will, and maybe should, have a diminished importance in the world. It often reminds of the many 70's and 80's films nostalgically remembering the lost values of the 50's and 60's. To say it a bit pretentiously, it is an 'End of History' film, viewing this ending with sadness, from a liberal-conservative American point of view. Stillman, who has made only 5 movies in 32 years, is self-aware and fully understands why this perspective may be annoying to Americans and obnoxious to non-Americans. It makes Barcelona quite an endearing romantic comedy.
He is also an intelligent and good filmmaker, maybe best highlighted by the scene in which Ted (Taylor Nichols), drives his cousin Fred around Barcelona, showing him its highlights, including 'the cathedral', which remains unnamed. The camera mostly stays inside the car focusing on the two Americans as they travel across the city, discuss their romantic and professional prospects, and pay little attention to their surroundings. Ted is a salesman who has memorised all the great business self help books, but is still afraid to get fired. He is also a nebbish, insecure Woody Allen-like character (though Protestant instead of Jewish) who after his latest rejection vows to only date homely, plain-looking women and rediscovers the Bible (when he reads it, he covers it up by The Economist). Once the bickering cousins meet two attractive Spanish women (played by Mira Sorvino and Tushka Bergen), you'd expect the film to proceed along the usual lines, but it takes a surprisingly dark turn that Stillman handles extremely well. He takes seriously the potential implications of what's happened, without letting the romance and the comedy escape from him.
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