Course America

Time is by its very nature such an ephemeral entity that it remains one of the central enigmas of our existence. When, for example, does "what happened" become "history"? That seems an especially cogent question in this supercharged era of 24 hour news cycles, when virtually every picayune situation around the world is deemed "Urgent" or "Breaking" or some other adjective denoting something of utmost import. History Channel of course attempts to separate the wheat from the chaff, putting both minutiae as well as larger arching stories into their proper context...

Bored with their cushy suburban existence, yuppie David (Albert Brooks) talks his wife Linda (Julie Hagerty) into selling everything they own and hitting the road to "see America." As a starting-over gesture, David and Linda are romantically remarried in Las Vegas – which, ironically, proves to be the beginning of the end of their idyll. In short order, Linda loses their life's savings, the couple nearly self-destructs at Hoover Dam, they take blue-collar jobs in a go-nowhere Arizona town, and….Well, if you know your Albert Brooks, be prepared for a steady stream of manic social satire.

Legendary Italian director Sergio Leone made six important films during his career, five of which were westerns. The exception was his final film, Once Upon a Time in America, which instead explored the cinematic mythology of American organized crime. It proved to be the best film of his career, slightly better than The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and significantly better than his most acclaimed project, Once Upon a Time in the West (1969). Based upon Harry Grey's novel "The Hoods", Once Upon a Time in America depicts the rise and fall of a group of Jewish gangsters. As with The Godfather (1971), the story takes place in New York City, but the gang is formed from childhood friends rather than family members. Many elements are similar to both films: corrupt policemen, betrayal of fellow gang members, and the gradual transformation of the innocent and idealistic into hardened criminals.

Jorgen Leth - 66 scener fra Amerika / 66 Scenes from America (1981)

The great and famous throughout the world, except Russia, Jorgen Leth making films about America as he sees it. Static camera and a short authors experiences are a mosaic portrait of the United States without comment. Jorgen Leth calls the area and offers a sketch. We look and we feel uneasy. Intuitively, the author felt the coldness, hostility, isolation of American life in the winning of popular culture.