Sunday, November 28, 2010

BANANAS (1971)

One of Woody’s early madcap comedy fully aimed to make you laugh out loudly. The president of Republic of San Marcos was shot down in front of public and live camera reporters and the power is replaced by awaited new dictator general. Woody is again what he always remained- a consistent loser and the funniest face of cynic. He’s working as machine tester who in order to win his girlfriend’s heart becomes a political rebel with mock company of Che Guevara & Castro. The film is loaded with some of the quirkiest woody moments packed with funny situations and brilliant one-liners as always-“I should be working at a job that I have some kind of aptitude for like donating sperm to an artificial insemination lab.”

Besides critiquing and mocking the new world governed by science, inventions and market hungry companies, scoop hungry television news channels it’s a fine political lampoon mocking political leaders from Castro to J. Edgar Hoover and off course communism. Watch that Exercising machine made for busy executives at office chair (reminds me Chaplin’s ‘Modern Times’) or the advertisement of New Testament cigarette impromptu before the live news coverage and reporting of live bedroom consummation after wedding- all that comes from the mind of this gifted genius and intelligent Jew of our time.

Need I say ‘must watch’ for any Woody Allen films?

Ratings- 8/10