Oscar® Winner for Best Actress in a supporting roleVicky Cristina Barcelona
for mature thematic material involving sexuality, and smoking.
Reviewed by: Jonathan Rodriguez
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Very Offensive |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Adults |
| Genre: | Romance Comedy Drama |
| Length: | 1 hr. 36 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2008 |
| USA Release: |
August 15, 2008 (692 theaters) DVD release: January 27, 2009 |
Should I save sex for marriage? Answer
How far is too far? What are the guidelines for dating relationships? Answer
What are the consequences of sexual immorality? Answer
Suicide, what does the Bible say? Answer
If a Christian commits suicide, will they go to Heaven? Answer
What’s wrong with being gay? Answer
Homosexual behavior versus the Bible: Are people born gay? Does homosexuality harm anyone? Is it anyone's business? Are homosexual and heterosexual relationships equally valid?
| Featuring | Javier Bardem, Patricia Clarkson, Penélope Cruz, Kevin Dunn, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Messina, Manel Barceló, Lloll Bertran, Josep Maria Domènech, Abel Folk, Lluís Homar, Joel Joan, Jaume Montané, Zak Orth, Julio Perillán, Carrie Preston, Mireia Ros, Sílvia Sabaté, Pablo Schreiber, Pilar Servent, Christopher Evan Welch |
| Director |
Woody Allen |
| Producer | Letty Aronson, Bernat Elias, Charles H. Joffe, Javier Méndez, Helen Robin, Jack Rollins, Jaume Roures, Stephen Tenenbaum, Gareth Wiley |
| Distributor |
 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), owned by Amazon® through MGM Holdings, Inc. |
“Life is the ultimate work of art”
Woody Allen films are, generally speaking, an acquired taste. I know many people who hear his name and shudder—memories of movies they didn't like flooding back in to their minds. His movies recently almost have to be viewed in a certain order to fully appreciate his talent; one movie watched out of turn could likely turn you off from his movies altogether.
Frankly, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” isn't for rookies to the Woody Allen experience. It's a pleasant, enjoyable film, but I can easily see how others would dislike this film a lot, and that has nothing to do with the film's content, which, sadly, should likely keep Christians away, also.
The film is about two very close friends, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) who jump at the opportunity to spend the summer staying with Vicky's relatives in Barcelona. They visit a local art gallery where Cristina can't take her eyes off of “the man in the red shirt.” She learns that he is a local painter, who gained notoriety for a nasty divorce from his artist wife, who tried to kill him. Or he tried to kill her. Nobody is really quite sure, and it doesn't matter to Cristina, who jumps at the opportunity to spend the weekend with the man in the red shirt, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem).
Vicky reluctantly joins them, mostly to keep an eye on Cristina, who is infamous for picking the wrong guys. Juan Antonio wants them both, and he makes this very clear when he asks them both to join him in his bed. Vicky is appalled, Cristina intrigued, But, a bout of food poisoning puts Cristina out of commission for a few days, forcing Vicky (who is engaged to be married) to spend a few days sightseeing with a man she initially loathes.
I will not spoil the chain of events for those interested in seeing the film, but I will add that things get even more complicated when Juan Antonio's ex wife, Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz) shows up, after just being rescued from a suicide attempt.
The content of “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” is fairly typical for a Woody Allen film, with a little more sexual content than we have seen from him recently. There is some language, and various uses of the Lord's name in vain. Some comic violence is seen as Maria Elena goes crazy with a gun.
The main problem Christians will have with the film is the hedonistic ways the characters live. Each seems to live only for the moment—what is pleasing them at that particular time. Sure, each character learns a little something along the way, but the path it takes to get there is fairly crude. Each character seems to have sex with each other, either on screen or implied. Vicky and Cristina don't, but it seems like everyone else does. There are a few on screen sex scenes, mostly rolling around under covers. Cristina is seen after sex with a blanket barely covering anything. Later on, she is seen kissing Maria Elena, more than once, and it is explained that they, and Juan Antonio, have a very passionate love triangle that works for each of them.
Vicky is contemplating throwing away her happy, committed relationship for something fleeting. The characters in these movies make their decisions with no regard for future consequences, and God is most certainly not the center of their decision-making process.
So, how can I say I liked a movie like this? Well, I have a fondness for the way Woody Allen draws up his characters. He understands people in a way very few writers and directors do and puts them in situations that force real thoughts and reactions to events that are not all that typical. While Woody Allen may always allow his characters free reign to their lustful desires, he finds a very interesting way to end this film. I won't obviously get into it here, but the last sentence of this movie speaks volumes about how he may actually view these mindless flings.
I should also mention that the movie is heavily narrated, which may get on some people's nerves. I enjoyed it, because it almost felt like we were watching a storybook. However, even though I enjoyed the film, I cannot recommend this film to Christians based on content we frankly don't need to expose ourselves to.
Violence: Minor / Profanity: Moderate / Sex/Nudity: Heavy
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
Johannson portrays a woman who is perfectly willing to bed a complete stranger, shortly after meeting him, with no other reasoning than saying, “Look, I took an instant liking to this guy.” Hall, portrays her supposedly more level-headed friend, (and her acting is deplorable.) However, Hall's behavior reveals she is only more of a hypocrite than her debauched best friend. Neither of the woman, who are described as college educated, seem to consider the very real risk of contracting HIV, or risking pregnancy as possible results of such reckless living.
Domestic violence is portrayed as humorous; the character portrayed by a stony Javier Bardem is described as having tried to murder his wife. Johanssen writes off what should be a horrifying aspect of Bardem's character, as actually being a positive. “At least he is not from a cookie cutter mold,” Johanssen says, incredibly.
Bardem's character invites both women to share a sexual encounter with all the casualness of someone who might invite others to share a cup of coffee. Hall's character, who is extremely cynical, hypocritical, and deceitful to her fiancee, has a one night stand with Bardem's character, and then is willing to throw away her entire future, and lies to her fiancee to hide her dalliance. She seems to feel no guilt over deceiving her fiancee, or hoping for a second dalliance with a man with whom her best friend lives with. But then, none of the characters seem to have any respect for any one else's relationship, or sense of morality or ethics. Premarital sex, extramarital sex, and sexual perversion are given very light treatment, as though these issues were conventional and almost without consequence. Resolution is portrayed as being as easy as making a decision to remove oneself from the situation. Hall's marriage is played out as actually being made stronger by her deception and adultery.
I believe as Christians, we can safely make the case that sexual sin is never without consequence, and that sexual perversion is neither conventional, nor an option. Christians should be aware that Hall's character boldly takes the Lord's name in vain, repeatedly. As Christians, we should not forget that many actors in Hollywood are self-described atheists, and often what may seem as mere fictional characterization is not always so innocent. Bardem is on record for talking about his hatred for the church.
While we as Christians may feel powerless against what seem to be extremely powerful Hollywood biggies, we must remember that we ourselves, collectively, are also very powerful. And the way to make OUR voice heard, and uphold our own morals and values, is to hit films like this right where our voices will be heard the loudest: in the pocketbook. We would do well to refuse to see films like this, not in the theatres, not in our homes.
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 2½
Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 2
My Ratings: Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 3