Reading b1 esercitazione

READING COMPREHENSION

Film reviews

A. SPELLBOUND

Can you spell "logorrhea" or "chthonic"? A conversation? Could you spell them when you were 16 years old? Jeffrey Blitz's riveting documentary follows the fortunes of eight school children taking part in the finals of the National Spelling Bee competition. Angela is the daughter of impoverished immigrant parents who can't speak a word of English. Ashley is a young black girl who lives with her single mother and two sisters. Some of these children study their dictionaries for up to eight hours a day, but Blitz never tries to make fun of them. This is a film about chasing the American Dream, getting ahead and improving your position in society and provides a rich portrait of a nation that is as funny, fascinating and moving as any feature film.

B. RAISING VICTOR VARGAS

Writer-director Peter Sollett’s debut feature, is set in the Hispanic community of Manhattan and is about two teenagers in love. It is a truly unusual film - always sharp and true to life, never sentimental or false. Unfortunately, the decision to cast largely amateur local people in the leading roles means that the acting is sometimes a bit wooden. Generally though, the performances are convincing enough to do justice to the sweet unpredictable story. It’s refreshing to watch a film about the Hispanic community in which nobody is attacked with a knife or spontaneously dances a samba. Raising Victor Vargas is a gently subversive tale of a young man’s sentimental education – without the sentiment.

C. WINGED MIGRATION

Winged Migration is an extraordinary documentary following birds as they make their annual migrations. The distances involved are staggering, with some birds flying more than 6,000 miles to find somewhere less chilly to spend the winter. Cameras attached to gliders and balloons not only allow us to gain literally, a bird’s-eye view of the creatures in flight, but also reveal the earth in all its glory. There are also moments of real pathos. Birds that have flown for weeks on end are shot down for sport by hunters in America. The only disappointment is the boring, pseudo-religious New Age sound track. Writer-director Jacques Perrin’s commentary is also dull and uninformative. These criticisms apart, however, Winged Migration is an impressive and exquisitely photographed film.

D. ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO

Robert Rodriguez wrote, directed, edited and designed, scored and supervised the visual effects on Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Antonio Banderas plays a gunslinger out to foil an assassination plot against the president. This being Central America, men are cynical and cruel and life is as cheap as tortilla chips. Any semblance of plot gets confused and then lost amid the endless bloody shoot-outs, burning bodies and crashing cars. The film may look great, but this cannot take you against the boredom of having suffered so mindless displays of action violence. Antonio Banderas sets his lines with a handsome concentration on his face, and manages most of the films choreography is long flowing hair. Johnny Depp usually adds grace and colour to the worst material but even he is defeated by the sheer banality of Rodriguez's film.

E. BACKWOODS HUNTER

This documentary about hunting in North America is completely in favour of hunters, an unusual position in our environmentally concerned times. But the film goes some way to explaining why so many white American males spend their weekends crawling through the forest with their guns on the trail of the defenceless furry animals. The photography of the scenery is breath taking and young director Carl Longstrom creates a very real feeling of "oneness with nature", and of the tension of the hunt with his skilful editing. The soundtrack is also terrific, and it's worth seeing the film just to hear the great bluegrass and backwoods music. Another bonus is that while most of the characters interviewed are fat, rightwing red necks as you would expect, there are one or two fascinating oddballs. Not for soft-hearted film goers, however, as there are some very graphic killing scenes.

F. MUSICA!

The plot of Jorge Samirez's latest film is a little bit tenuous, to say the least, and centres on the attempts of a local gangster to take over a club in the Latin American community of Chicago. There is a little bit of love interest – a member of the gang falls in love with one of the members of the club – but these are only elements on which to hang the main theme of the film, which is dance. If you like to tango, this is the film for you. The performers range from bashful young kids through to fat old ladies and are all riveting to watch, but Joachim Torque, who plays the young gangster in love, is a superlative dancer and not bad to look at either. The acting is unconvincing and the script appalling but as long as you suspend belief and tap your feet along to the music this a thoroughly entertaining film.

G. EL PUEBLO

First time director Julio Cordobar's El Pueblo is one of those rare films that stays with you when you have left the cinema. It tells the story of a Mexican village where most of the inhabitants are the employees of a multi national canned fruit company. The company practically owns the village but one day some workers decide to break away and start up their own pineapple canning business. Predictably the multi-national does everything it can to stop the rebel workers, from bribery and corruption to murder, but the workers do not give in easily. The film is everything a film should be: exciting and thought provoking, amusing and moving. The cast of unknowns are directed superbly by Cordobar and the photography and editing are breathtaking. Highly recommended.

READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1 The people below all want to see a film. Decide which film (letters A-G) would be the most suitable for which person (Numbers 1-6) nb One film is not suitable for anyone.

• PERSON 1 Rosa would like to see a light hearted film with a bit of everything - love and murder. She loves Latin American dancing.
• PERSON 2 Lea would like to see a good realistic film about love and personal relationships. She hates films with well known stars. She is interested in Latin American culture.
• PERSON 3 Peter doesn’t mind if he sees a feature film or a documentary but the important thing is that the film makes him think. He finds love films a bit boring. He is interested in anything about Central or Southern American culture.
• PERSON 4 Steve would like to see a good documentary. He is a writer for Greenpeace and is particularly interested in the effect human activity has on animal behaviour.
• PERSON 5 Jane would like to see a good documentary. She is a teacher and finds anything about the way of life in the States fascinating. She is very sentimental about woodland animals but doesn’t like birds.
• PERSON 6 Sally doesn’t mind if she sees a feature film or a documentary. She loves country music and is fascinated by life in rural North America.

QUESTION 2

Are the following sentences true or false? Circle the right answer.

1. The two schoolchildren mentioned in review A are from rich backgrounds. TRUE FALSE
2. Raising Victor Vargas is Peter Sollett’s first film. TRUE FALSE
3. The reviewer likes the music in Winged Migration. TRUE FALSE
4. Even Johnny Depp doesn’t help film D. according to the reviewer. TRUE FALSE
5. According to the reviewer the only good thing about film E is the music. TRUE FALSE
6. The reviewer of film F thinks Joachim Torque is good-looking. TRUE FALSE
7. The reviewer of film G doesn’t think the acting was much good. TRUE FALSE

QUESTION 3

There is a sentence missing from each text. The sentences which were taken out of the texts are below. Which sentence goes with which text?

1. The music is great too.
2. They fight back in an unpredictable and hilarious way.
3. Others meet a terrible end in oil pollution.
4. One of these is Crowfoot, the Native American, who makes a living as a guide.
5. Indeed, he does a superb job of drawing both the humour and the humanity out of his interviewees.
6. Needless to say, the script is terrible.
7. And the characters are unusual too, unlike the stereotypes trotted out by Hollywood films.