The epic apology for his racist BIRTH OF A NATION, INTOLERANCE is often used as an apology for film critics who want to recognize D.W. Griffith’s accomplishments without embracing the hard to recommend NATION. In retrospect, Griffith’s follow-up to his most notorious film is an overlong experiment that saves itself by coming together so well in the end. At its time of release, audiences were turned off by the four interwoven stories from four unconnected ages as well as the three plus hour running time. Modern audiences will have the same issues. Much like a crumbling ancient ruin, there is much to admire about INTOLERANCE as a historical document, but as a modern piece of art it has not held up over the test of time.

The subtitle for the film is “Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages,” which is actually a better description than intolerance of what connects the four tales. The modern story sees the intolerance of the reform movement, leading to the closure of a mine and the poverty of its workers. In the wake of the mine closing, an Irish boy (Robert Harron) gives up a life of crime to marry the innocent little Dear One (Mae Marsh). Framed for two crimes, the boy is sent to the gallows for a murder he did not commit and Dear One tries everything to save him. The Babylonian story sees a poor Mountain Girl (Constance Talmadge) fighting to defender the peace-loving secular Prince Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) and his Princess Beloved (Seena Owen) from the forces of Cyrus (George Siegmann), who has Babylon’s traitorous priests on his side. The next segment is set in 1572 in France where Catholic Catherine de Medici (Josephine Crowell) convinces her son King Charles IX of France (Frank Bennett) to carry out the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre and how these events affect the Huguenot lovers, Brown Eyes (Margery Wilson) and Prosper Latour (Eugene Pallette). The fourth and shortest tale chronicles key events in the life and crucifixion of Christ (Howard Gaye). Also intercut between all the stories is Lillian Gish as the Mother Mary rocking Jesus’ cradle.

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This pseudo-critique of the Catholic church has as much depth as a piece of artistic social rebellion as someone running into a church and screaming obscenities at the top of their lungs when no one else is around. Possibly amusing to the perpetrator, but no one else. Director Ken Russell strings together every possible image and/or action that could offend a devotee without any real substance behind it. Further diluting this “expose” is the setting of 17th Century France when it is clear the modern church is its target, yet never clearly laying out what point, if any, it wants to make about the modern church. This self-indulgent mess will most certainly ruffle the feathers of the more prudish viewer, however everyone else will be laughing their pants off at the absurdity of it all.

After the governor of the fortified city of Loudun dies, Father Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed, GLADIATOR) promises to carry on the work of the politician to create a place where Catholics and protestants can live in peace. Grandier is a philanderer and proud. He flippantly disregards a woman he impregnates. Then he meets Madeleine (Gemma Jones, BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY) and falls hopelessly in love. Defying church doctrine about priests marrying, Grandier conducts a private wedding between himself and Madeleine. Meanwhile, the power-hungry Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher Logue, THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLESS) plots to bring down Loudon’s walls and Grandier, so that he can inflict total Catholic rule over the country.

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A few months back the American Film Institute announced its 10th anniversary edition of its 100 Years 100 Movies List of the best American films of all time. Taking a note from Sight & Sound’s famed best of all time list, AFI will be revamping the list every 10 years to allow in newer films that were not eligible previously as well as gauge changing thoughts on cinema. Films moved up and down the list and 23 films were replaced with other films. Only three films that fell off really surprised me. THE THIRD MAN, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and PATTON really deserve to stay on the list. With GIANT falling off too, does it mean that James Dean has lost some of his iconic status in the last 10 years? Other films that fell out of favor, which deserve the place as the best of all time include AMADEUS, FANTASIA, CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE THIRD KIND and FARGO. But I’m not going to shed any tears that JAZZ SINGER or AN AMERICAN IN PARIS dropped from the list.

The AFI list will inspire several lineups over the course of the year. Four will be dedicated to the great new films that made the list. Maybe I’ll go out on a limb and pick the five best films that fell off the list. The best new films to join the coveted list include IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, 12 ANGRY MEN, DO THE RIGHT THING, BLADE RUNNER, SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and TOY STORY. The weakest include TITANIC and INTOLERANCE. The later is a make up vote for people feeling awkward for including BIRTH OF A NATION on the original list. INTOLERANCE isn’t completely worthless, but on a filmic level it’s not as good as NATION, but it makes people feel better about themselves. If you don’t want to embrace the racism of NATION, but want to honor D.W. Griffith, there are much better films on his resume that could have been chosen. I love THE SIXTH SENSE, but I wouldn’t consider it one of the 100 best American films of all time. Though not my favorite Buster Keaton film, THE GENERAL comes in at #18, fixing the awful Keaton omission from the original list. There are three films on the new list that I haven’t seen — CABARET (#63), SPARTACUS (#81) and SUNRISE (#82). But for this week’s lineup I chose the two highest ranking new films (that deserve to be on the list), two of the best films from the ’60s that are new to the list (that I’ve seen) and another deserving correction of an omission from the first list.

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Dedicated rabble-rouser and liberal advocate Michael Moore has returned with a new documentary skewering the U.S. health care system. Whether you’re liberal or conservative, most Americans have or most likely will have some horror story, thanks to our broken medical establishment. This is the footing from which Moore comes from, making his least divisive and most emotional film ever.

Possibly taking a note from his critics that he mucked the camera in his other films, Moore doesn’t make an appearance in SICKO until far after the mid-point. The film starts with personal stories from folks who have been affected by bad HMOs. One uninsured man had to chose whether to reattach the tip his ring finger or his middle finger after a sawing accident. A woman’s ambulance ride after a bad accident was rejected by her insurance because it wasn’t pre-approved. Another woman was approved for surgery, but later rejected because her insurance company said she failed to list a yeast infection on her application, thus voiding her policy for withholding a prior medical condition. In two heartrending sequences, a mother talks about being forced to take her sick infant from one hospital to another because the closer hospital was not in her medical group and another woman who works at a hospital talks about the hospital’s medical board rejecting her husband’s bone marrow transplant, because it’s an “experimental” treatment.

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Sorry ahead of time for the lateness on this week’s edition. This Weekend’s Film Festival drips of pulpy cool, bloody gore and a heap load of fun. With HOT FUZZ and 300 both arriving on DVD this week, the exuberant and over-the-top fun of cinema needs to be showcased. I’ve collected five flicks that have directors in common, genres in common and creators in common. But what all these films have in common is a love for genre filmmaking and its excesses. It’s not a marathon of style over substance, but a parade of how style can enhance substance. These are dark entertainments that have tongues pressed firmly in their cheeks around many hairpin turns. Others know exactly what something needs to be to become iconically cool. It’s two fisted gun totin’ action this week. You might just have to install seat belts on your sofa.

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