The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - 5
Afive-year course
in urban decay
he course ended last
week.
It spanned a total of
five units, each broken into 10-
13 classes with one overriding
theme: the decline of the indus-
trial metropolis in a post-indus-
trial world.
The course
was chal-
lenging; it
didn't pull
punches; and
it demanded
far more than
distant peers MICHAEL
in the field.
But it had to PASSMAN
be difficult
to be worth-
while, and I can confidently say it
was the most valuable course I've
ever taken.
It was also the best television
show I've ever seen.
The final episode of HBO's
"The Wire" aired two Sundays
ago, closing out a five-season
arc that efficiently documented
the current state of inner-city
America with a degree of focus
and care previously unseen on
television. What started as a
parallel look into both Baltimore
drug traffickers and the police
department trying to shut them
down expanded into a nearly
all-encompassing look at the
city of Baltimore. Drug dealers,
politicians, stevedores, cops,
attorneys, inner-city youth, pris-
oners, public reformers, stick-up
men, broken families, reporters,
educators, junkies - "The Wire"
tapped into all of them.
The show was created by
former Baltimore Sun reporter
David Simon, whose previous
works include "Homicide: Life on
the Street" and HBO's "The Cor-
ner" mini-series. And although
Simon's career as a crime report-
er spanned 12 years, "The Wire"
might be his greatest journalistic
act. The show's 60+ hours of con-
tent aren't factually accurate, but
most of the show's threads are
rooted in actual occurrences and
all of its themes are true.
During an early fifth season
episode, a few higher-ups at the
fictional Baltimore Sun depicted
in the show muse over a possible
series for the paper to tackle. The
Baltimore School District is sug-
gested and loose plans are put
in place to delve into the city's
schools. A few episodes later,
however, a fabricated serial killer
who preys on the homeless has
attracted nearly everyone's atten-
tion at the paper, and the school-
system series is abandoned in
hopes of snatching a Pulitzer for
coverage of the non-existent-
serial-killer and his victims.
Baltimore's schools are decaying,
and the Sun never told anyone
about it.
But Simon did.
In "The Wire" 's fourth - and
arguably best - season, the
show's lens grabbed hold of four
middle school students in inner-
city Baltimore. Although they
started out as relatively naive
kids, throwing urine-filled water
balloons at rival cliques early in
the season, they end up in vastly
different and infinitely more
depressing situations by season's
end. Failed by schools and their
parents, only one of the four ends
the show with a chance to make
something of himself - unless
you consider shooting junk or
sticking up drug dealers to be
promising - and only because a
disgraced ex-cop removed him
from the home of his mother,
who let him go because she
couldn't handle the thought of
her baby being anything other
than a drug pusher. Aided by
co-executive producer Ed Burns
("The Corner"), who served as a
police officer and a schoolteacher
in Baltimore, Simon presented
everything wrong with under-
funded, inner-city schools in a
way the fictional and factual Sun
could not.
The show was not perfect,
however. The final season was
the weakest of the five but still
qualifies as the best drama on
TV - even though Emmy voters
won't show the production any
love next fall. The final season
dealt with a fake serial killer co-
manufactured by frustrated cop
Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West,
"300") and lying reporter Scott
Templeton (Thomas McCarthy,
"Michael Clayton"). McNulty
instigated the deception as a
means to divert funding to an
abandoned case against drug
kingpin Maro Stanfield (Jamie
Hector), while clips and career
ambition drove Templeton to add
his own twists.
The McNulty side of the
story was frustrating because it
seemed like an incredibly stupid
thing to do but wasn't wholly
unbelievable based on his case
history over the previous four
seasons. However, Templeton
and the Sun storyline were more
problematic. The issue was not
that Templeton fabricated stories
but that the development of his
characters and his fictional co-
workers was not on par with the
rest of the cast. By the second
episode every newsroom charac-
ter was locked in place and with
the exception of one peripheral
reporter, no one showed any
growth or made any surprising
turns.
Simon's portrayal of the Sun
was grim, and perhaps appro-
priately so, but his very open
disdain for the paper's manage-
ment shouldn't be ignored. The
Sun storyline was highly per-
sonal and it's difficult to discount
that a possible vendetta against
the paper may have led him to
approach the arc less objectively
The streets of
Baltimore have
never looked
this good
than, say, the stevedores in sea-
son two. Whereas Simon and
Burns's skewering of the city in
past seasons was generated by
an eye for institutional failure,
Simon's Sun plotline came off as
more of an attack on certain indi-
viduals rather than the institu-
tion limiting them.
Yet for all the show's hic-
cups in the final season, the last
10 episodes tied up most of the
show's plotlines to complete a
story on the scale of an epic novel
- or five of them. Film or net-
work television could not have
captured the necessary intrica-
cies of this story, as there were
legitimately no wasted shots. One
scene built on the next and before
it was done, "The Wire" had
documented two cycles of inner-
city despair and introduced a
third. The original pushers were
supplanted midway through,
only to have a younger generation
rise up by the show's conclusion.
Some people tried to break the
cycle, but it didn't matter. Sixty
episodes later, nothing had really
changed.
For as cynical - or, as Simon
recently put it, "pragmati-
cally realistic" - as the show's
message was, it is nothing but
optimistic for the future of tele-
vision. "The Wire" wasn't just an
important television show, it was
the important television show.
It's unfortunate that we're losing
the series, but it speaks volumes
for the potential of the medium if
placed in the right hands.
Sixty hours ago I didn't really
care about the plight of inner-city
America. Sure it was unfortu-
nate, but it wasn't something I
ever truly understood or thought
about. Now I do, and I don't
know how anyone could watch
"The Wire" in its entirety and not
feel similarly.
If that's not education, I don't
know what is.
Passman is just biding his time
until the return of "Battlebots."
E-mail him at mpass@umich.edu
Almost an acceptable Mylpace photo.
As the Iron Curtain crumbled
Confronting inner turmoil
during a time of
national struggle
By BLAKE GOBLE
Daily Arts Writer
This movie review isn't about abortion.
Whether loud or silent, most people have a
view on the issue, and there may never be an
end to the debate. Wherever you stand on
the issue, whether or not to have an abortion
is a critical decision. This is
the understanding that last
year's "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2
Days," the tragically under-4
viewed drama from Romania, 't
brings to the table. A brilliant 3 Weeks,
achievement of hyper-realis- 2Da
tic drama, this film needs to
be seen. At the
It's early spring in 1987 Michigan
Romania. The country is Theater
in its last days of commu- IFC
nism before dictator Nico-
lae Ceausescu's execution in
1989. Food rationing is prevalent, power short-
ages and blackouts are common and ID cards
must be presented everywhere. Abortion is
illegal and the act can put those involved in
prison for a long time. Gabita (Laura Vasiliu,
"Bless You, Prison") wants the operation, but
she's decidedly clueless about the whole thing.
Using a late abortion as a metaphor for the
delayed overthrow ofcommunism in Romania,
"4 Months" is as much a critique of bureaucra-
ARTS IN BRIEF
cy as it is a deadpan drama. It can be seen as
an act of bravery and maturity that two women
fight against their social and historical strife
to get something done. Through the eyes of
Gabita's roommate, Otilia (Anamaria Marinca,
"Youth Without Youth"), we get a stark and
subdued visualization of life in a totalitarian
state.
Gabita, for example, is a flake. Perpetually
blowing things off, she exaggerates to down-
play her troubles. Gabita claims that she's
two months late, knowing full well she's four.
Otilia is the levelheaded, but possibly preg-
nant, friend. Like a surrogate sister or mother,
Otilia asks the right questions. She's smart and
hard working, but resentful of the white-col-
lar oppression she experiences. By pitting two
good friends against each other in an incred-
ibly eye-opening day, Gabita and Otilia come to
terms with the procedure and unfortunate cir-
cumstances in which the abortion must occur.
The two must contact an underground doc-
torViarel (Vlad Ivanov, "Second in Command"),
get a room in a place that doesn't keep good
records and carefully contemplate the surgery.
In the film's finer scenes, shots last for minutes
at a time, placed at a careful and non-judgmen-
tal distance. Be it a dinner or a bus ride, it's like
we're in the thick of the women's troubles.
When Otilia brings the abortionist to meet
Gabita, who is too scared to go herself, the
camera just stands at the door of the room.
The shot lasts several minutes while the pro-
cedure is explained. Body language, dialogue
and frankness in style make this surprisingly
compelling. Something huge is about to hap-
pen, but everyone is too tense to acknowledge
it. You may not want to hear what Viarel has
to say, but it's how a secret abortion works.
Otilia must ask the necessary questions, while
Gabita just looks sullen and blank. The scene is
brilliant in its complexity and density, and it's
a seminal maturation for the characters. The
rest is up to them, and we feel for Otilia and
Gabita.
Newcomer Cristian Mungiu makes all
the right moves in crafting a plausible and
understandable situation. This is the work of
a confident and skilled storyteller. There's no
manipulative score, no quick cuts looking for
the right emotion - just brilliantly simple
human emotions and contemplation. Unlike
Mike Leigh's similar 2004 abortion drama,
"Vera Drake," "4 Months" never lingers or
stammers. It hits all the right moments, makes
the strongest arguments and works on far
greater levels.
The film may be in Romanian with English
subtitles, but the understanding and impact
are universal. Already having achieved con-
troversial status in its homeland, this film will
undoubtedly get people talking in this country,
as well. As sexually active, politically inclined
and worrisome students, we have an obliga-
tion to view "4 Months."
This may all seem like overwrought issue-
related melodrama, but "4 Months" is far
greater than that. The smartest thing "4
Months" does is the way it avoids making
abortion a moral issue. Instead, the act is por-
trayed as a political, medical, progressive, gen-
der and maturity issue. This is the kind of film
that compels us and makes us think. These
two girls take chances and prove that cour-
age - even heroism - can be found in difficult
decisions.
Film
French trio doesn't
add to the new wave
The Teenagers
Reality Check
XL
It started as a joke. The French
synth-pop trio The Teenagers
made a MySpace page in 2005 for
an imaginary group and found
their muse in the comments they
received from strangers. Real-
ity Check, their debut full-length
album, features these first efforts
at humor and new wave. Unfor-
tunately, too often the results are
just moderately funny lyrics that
don't invite repeated listens, weak
synth noise that sounds stolen
from a jungle level in "Sonic the
Hedgehog" and breathy, cheesy
hooks.
The Teenagers move through
seemingly fertile material for
laughs as they hold the formula
steady: an obsessive crush on
Scarlett Johansson ("Starlett
Johansson"), self-improvement
through their own music ("Feel-
ing Better") and a description
of various great times to kiss
("French Kiss"). During the
verses, the drum machine, tinny
guitars and keys hold back,
giving focus to the crude lyr-
ics provided by Quentin Dela-
fon and Michael Szpiner, who
speak in flawed English through
thick accents I la Right Said Fred
in "I'm Too Sexy." Eventually, the
string presets of the keyboards
give way to the choruses of high-
pitched, sappy vocals that repeat.
A lot. The '90s pop-culture refer-,
ences and clever lyrics make the
first listen enjoyable, but past the
jokes and accents, Reality Check
fails to provide any intriguing
musical maneuvering that war-
rants further listening.
BRIANHAAGSMAN
for more information call 734/615-6449
The University of Michigan College of Literature,
Science, and the Arts presents a public
lecture and reception
I
I
I
DO YOU LIKE WRITING?
DO YOU LIKE ART?
MAKE THEM WORK TOGETHER.
Work for Daily Arts.
E-mail gaerig@michigandaily.com
Lawrence 1. Alier olegiai
Professor of Astronomy
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
LSA Alumni Association, Founders Room
4:10pm
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