Movies That Helped You Understand People More

The Prime of Miss Jean Brody taught "an early teen version of me" that teachers sometimes prioritize personal obsessions over teaching academic disciplines.  By my juror high school year, I researched prospective teachers and casually interviewed them...before I signed up for their classes. 

Speaking of Polanski, I recommend "Knife In The Water" which does tell a lot about sexual competition, ego.

Edited by MortSahlFan - May 26 2023 at 12:24

omphaloskepsis wrote: Jacob Schoolcraft wrote: Roman Polanski directed a couple of films that accurately portrayed the personalities of wealthy devil worshippers....in the real world. I sometimes think that he was exposed to individuals belonging to wealthy cults in Europe and perhaps captured it on film. Examples in Rosemary's Baby begin with the elderly couple living upstairs from Rosemary and Guy's apartment who are very hospitable and Cunning. No one in particular acts mysterious or questionable to the average person and Roman Polanski somehow nailed that aspect . The ending of Rosemary's Baby I find a preposterous silly notion because I don't buy into the supernatural, but his characterization of these people is one hundred percent. The character actors are not dressed in black nor do they project a dark image and that is pretty realistic in many cases and it's based on hooking people psychologically and luring them in for ritual sacrifice. The Ninth Gate presents some of the same secretive underground wealth tied into devil worship which characterizes the story. It's pretty accurate regarding its representation of the characters tracking down Johnny Depp to steal a book from him. That's actually very realistic and Polanski truly captures that aspect of wealthy people who follow the left hand path as if he had been exposed to it. The ending I find ridiculous as I find the notion of trusting your life to some ritual in a book to be delusional..but he is one of the few directors who captures the reality of these types of people and their traits. Maybe you're right.  I never considered that Polanski may have known wealthy devil worshiping types. I've often wondered the exact same thing about Stanley Kubrick and "Eyes Wide Shut".

I forgot about Eyes Wide Shut! Thats a strange story idea. Thanks for mentioning this

I appreciate good camera work. I like ideas for the camera to enhance the film..for example in a few Woody Allen films where 8 or 9 people are seated at a huge dinner table eating and talking...while the camera guides us slowly around the table in a 3 to 4 minute scene. I know Woody Allen borrowed this idea from a very innovative European film director, but my mind draws a blank. The camera work enhances the acting for the dinner table scene and creates a moment which holds my interest.

Roman Polanski has a track record of capturing the personality of wealthy Satan worshippers and he puts emphasis on the reality that they come as your friends and certainly not dark and sinister.

I love his 1986 Pirates movie. It's full of a Monty Python style humor, but also captures the time period perfectly. Walter Mathew is amazingly shockingly great with his role as Captain Red. I never realized he was that class of an actor.

A movie doesn't literally help you to understand people, but it does give you an idea about their lifestyle if the film director is brilliant and the script is written well.

Interestingly the film Menantico Blues re-captures a strange experience I had as a young teenager while camping at Menantico. Several teenagers dealt with the same situation and everybody in school was talking about it. Some of them crossed paths with a cult that frightened them.

First you would hear sing-song chanting and then the sound of pounding drums. Eventually the sing-song turned into screaming and moaning. Very eerie. They wore robes and masks and there were at least 40 people...at least!! Schoolmates said they were mostly adults and that it was an organization.

In the movie this is all depicted by actors wearing robes and masks. The style of humor in the film is corny and the image of Menantico residents is "hill people" with "back in the woods" environment. They add a lot of deadpan humor to the script and if you were unaware of Menantico in 1970 you'd probably think it's a joke or complete made up B.S. It isn't. It really did happen and it's strange seeing it on film after 53 years of silence...as the newspapers didn't report anything about this làrge group of people beyond speculation.

The movie covers the ritual sacrifice that took place there. A young man we knew in Vineland. A youth whose studies in Black Magic convinced him that if he was murdered by his two friends that he would be resurrected as a captain to rule over 40 leagues of demons.