The Last Face (2016)

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Siskoid
The Last Face is a lot like the other Sean Penn-directed movie I've seen, Into the Wild, in that lacks control over what it's trying to say, and ends up saying the wrong things. I've no doubt, Penn wanted to say something about the need for humanitarian intervention in the Third World here, but leaning hard into a romance between two doctors without borders(ish) relegates Africa to a background horror show that "fridges" a whole continent for the purpose of motivating a love affair. There were a couple moments where I thought we might get at something, namely when the physicians felt real despair that their actions were having no effect at all, and I did think Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem's characters were, in and of themselves, complex and interesting. Trying to define them by their romance adds absolutely nothing of value and feels particularly insulting as a focus given the ugly real-world drama going on around them. Never mind the pompous narration and the pointless, tension-draining achronology of the film. Very nice score by Hans Zimmer, however, though the acoustic instrumental version of "Otherside" only made me realize the Red Hot Chili Peppers owe the Eurythmics a paycheck. 4 years 1 month ago