While flying to and from New Mexico recently, I took the opportunity to watch two movies that I had never seen before. Although most of the other plane passengers seemed to be watching "
Aquaman" (2018), which was one of the many choices available, I was in the mood for a different type of movie (not that there is anything wrong with a well-made superhero movie, and I am sure I will watch this one eventually!). One of my criteria for watching an in-flight movie is that it must be available with English subtitles, because I do not like to use earphones and would rather read the dialogue while movie-watching on a plane (I know, what can I say except that I am just weird!). I found two that satisfied this requirement and also sounded worth watching, and both turned out to be great selections.
The first movie I watched on the way to Albuquerque was "
Arctic" (2018/2019) , starring
Mads Mikkelsen, an actor I had never heard of before but who I will be on the lookout for from now on. The plot was focused on the efforts of a man stranded in the Arctic to survive, and then to find help after a helicopter rescue mission goes horribly wrong and he becomes responsible for a badly injured and immobilized young woman. The best part of this movie for me was that there was very little dialogue and a minimum of subtitles. Since the main character is at first alone and then only accompanied by a mostly unconscious woman, there is no need for words. The acting is all visual, and Mikkelsen does an excellent job showing the physical and emotional demands of his predicament just by the use of facial expressions and body language. I thought this movie was even better than the
Robert Redford lone survivor movie called "
All Is Lost" (2013) - Redford's movie was not bad, but I liked "Arctic" more!
The second movie I watched on the return flight was "
At Eternity's Gate" (2018) starring
Willem Dafoe (coincidentally, Mads Mikkelsen was a supporting actor!). This movie recounts the life of
Vincent van Gogh starting with the
period he spent in Arles, up until the moment of
his death (with an interesting, if unproven, alternative explanation for van Gogh's demise). Dafoe does a superb job portraying the troubled artist - you can feel his joyful ups and troubled downs in a life predominantly ruled by his emotions, as well as a mind that even the artist himself finds unreliable.
Oscar Isaac as fellow artist
Paul Gauguin is excellent as well, leaving you uncertain as to whether the man was a good influence or a bad one for van Gogh, and indeed he could have been both. Vincent's brother
Theo van Gogh as portrayed by
Rupert Friend intrigued me enough to want to know more about Theo, who was apparently devoted to his older brother Vincent and kept every letter he received from him, although unfortunately Vincent did not do the same (it would have been so enlightening to read Theo's correspondence had it survived). I did not get to see the end of this movie on the flight, so I will be looking to do so in the near future. My husband did watch the entire movie on his travels last week, and enjoyed it, although of course as we all know it does not have a happy ending.
🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥
If you are being forced to spend a lot of time indoors to beat the heat, as we are here in Georgia, or avoiding other adverse weather conditions, you might want to watch one or both of these movies, which are available for rental on Amazon (
here and
here) or Netflix (
here and
here) - I could not find either one free online yet, but in my opinion it is worth paying to watch either one!
