The city is a fortress. Toronto is a sometimes dense collection of buildings of various sizes worthy of comparisons to the Big Apple. And don't even try to navigate it yourself. Needless to say, I will be using friendly cab drivers from this point forward.

HOTEL RWANDA

There is a moment in HOTEL RWANDA when you know all hope is lost, Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) has telephoned Brussels to inform his superiors of the status of their hotel in the wake of rebel insurgency. Listen carefully because Cheadle sells the pain so perfectly in his voice that one can only gasp.

Based on the true story of upscale hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina who in 1994 hid around a 1200 Tutsis refugees during the conflict with the Hutu militia in Rwanda. This is a powerful story about a country in which power is often displayed by the machete and human life while precious and valued is graded by the shade of your skin or the width of your nose. HOTEL RWANDA boasts an impressive cast with Nick Nolte playing the weary UN Colonel Oliver and others like Joaquin Phoenix appearing in a smaller role as a western photojournalist.

Cheadle's performance is extremely good as his inhabits almost every scene and is expected to heft a Rwandan accent. After an initial adjustment, Cheadle's voice seems natural. But it is expressions that will garner him much critical praise. One can read the pain and concentration on his face in every scene as his Rusesabagina must match his wits against the considerable brawn and cruelty of those in the Hutu militia. As unsettlingly ironic and captivating as NO MAN'S LAND which one the Oscar and also showed the oddness of UN peacekeeping actions in a country racked with strife, HOTEL RWANDA will not be missed when it finds its way into theaters next year.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Al Pacino as Shylock, you say? Yes, and he is marvelous. The bearded furrowed brow and rough voice combined with the diminutive stature of one of the greatest actors ever combine to pump passion and interest into every Shylock moment. And the rest of the film plays well around it.

I heard someone say when leaving the theater, "yeah, it's one of the bard's lesser plays." Well, if only we mere mortal writers were so lucky to produce anything as fine as Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. The story plays excellently today. It has to do with bloody collateral for a loan, and if you don't already know it's a "pound of flesh." Antonio (Jeremy Irons) is a Christian who signs a bond with the Jewish lender Shylock and pledges as security a piece of himself, a pound of his very flesh. The money is meant to be used by his good beloved friend Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes) to woo the fair and rich maiden Portia (Lynn Collins). Their hope is that his gamble will pay off many times over.

The classic story told in the bard's original dialogue flows well and everyone delivers the lines with the right amount of inflection. I did not notice any one performance that seemed forced or out of place for the type of material (a round peg is not forced into a square hole in order to boost the movie's star power). Pacino is the standout, choosing a voice cadence that is strong but a bit underplayed for the actor all us have grown accustomed. While a little long (I'm sure that modifications in the play were made to bring this to the screen), it held audience attention right to the conclusion with the final courtroom type scenes playing as grand entertainment.

WAVELENTHS PROGRAMME 1

This collection of short subjects is challenging and ambitious. Most of them are silent films experimenting with film and digital video. The program I attended included two films ST. IGNATIUS CHURCH EXPOSURE: LENTEN LIGHT CONVERSIONS and FREE TO GO (INTERLUDE).

ST. IGNATIUS involved the exposure of 16mm film without the use of a camera in church during the 40 days of lent. The result was colored lines of various intensity for 6 minutes.

FREE TO GO was another silent piece that utilized digital video and light to create what appeared to be animation. FREE TO GO reminded me of the animated techniques employed by Richard Linklater in WAKING LIFE.

Needless to say that the Wavelengths programs will be difficult viewing and only the most patient should attend. Silent cinema is problematic for today's audiences whose bubbly personalities are tweaked by great amounts of coffee. But is in experimentation of this sort that new ways to make movies and, perhaps, to tell stories can be found.

EI's coverage is ongoing, check for another update tomorrow.

For more information about the Festival visit the festival website: http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2004/default.asp

Jonathan W. Hickman