• Movies

by LargeMarge67 on 12.11.11

“If you lose your purpose, it’s like you’re broken.” Papa Georges

Every once in a while, a film is released that captures the imagination and proves what a true art form movies can be. Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese, is exactly that and more. It is the story of Hugo Cabret (played brilliantly by Asa Butterfield), an orphaned boy who lives with his gruff Uncle Claude (Ray Winstone) in the catacombs above a railway station in 1930s Paris, France. We follow his daily routine of winding the clocks, observing the activities of the passengers and shop keepers below and trying to locate mechanical parts for his sole but most prized possession; an automaton in disrepair, which his father got from a museum.

When he is nabbed by a store owner (Ben Kingsley) for trying to steal a mechanical toy mouse, the tale finds its footing and thoughtfully explores the themes of redemption, overcoming loss and loneliness and discovering one’s destiny.

The very first shot of the film foreshadows everything that follows. The gears of a machine transform into the bustling city of Paris and, much like a machine’s gears, each person plays a key role in its successful function. This metaphor is not lost on Hugo who, with the wisdom of a sage, says at one point, “The world is one big machine. There are no extra parts” and “Everyone is here for a reason.” When these words are spoken you realize that they have become the boy’s mantra for surviving the tragic turns his life has taken. It is a heartbreaking and powerful moment that had me questioning my own purpose in the grand scheme of things. In the hands of a lesser director, this material could have quickly become sickeningly melodramatic but that is not the case here. Scorsese takes John Logan’s script (based on the novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick) and gives it depth and dimension through the use of his remarkable skills as a visual storyteller. In one particular scene, a germinating courtship between the flower girl, Lisette (Emily Mortimer), and the Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) begins to bloom in front of the flower stand. The vivid color scheme of the flowers, combined with a mural illustrating an eye with an arrow pointing to a heart, says more than any lines of dialogue ever could and cheap sentimentality, believe it or not, is completely avoided.

To me, the most compelling thing about Hugo is not how it succeeds as a piece of escapist entertainment, which it does without question, but the way in which it oozes cinematic history from every pore. If you are not familiar with the name George Méliés, you will be after watching this movie. Méliés was the original auteur filmmaker and made 531 films between 1896 and 1914. An image from a film he made in 1902 and what many consider his masterpiece, Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon), is one of the most iconic in film history and immediately recognizable to any cinefile.

Before making the transition to filmmaking, Méliés was a highly-regarded and financially successful magician whose assistant was his wife, Jeanne (played by Helen McCrory in the film). He took his skills as an illusionist and transferred them to his film projects and is considered by many to be the “Father of Special Effects”.

Scorsese has always been an avid film historian and he uses his extensive knowledge to pay homage to pictures that have helped shape his own work. The character of Hugo is very similar to Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as he oversees the interactions of people from his perch in the clockworks and yearns for the antidote to his loneliness. While Hugo doesn’t have a physical disfigurement, he does have a deformed spirit, which he hopes to remedy through the repair of the automaton.  He finds some solace after meeting Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz), who becomes his own version of Esméralda; a pretty girl who lives in the world he can only observe but is more pure of heart than any of those around her.

There are also references to classic films like Safety Last (1923), in which Harold Lloyd hangs precariously from the hands of a large clock, and Méliés’ own L’Arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat (retitled Train Pulling Into a Station for English-speaking audiences). Hugo’s automaton even bears a striking resemblance to the robot, Maria, from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and all of these little details are not just thrown in haphazardly; they serve the story and become characters in their own right.

Back in my college days, I sat through many a film history class and found myself bored to tears. I had no appreciation for the importance of the past and its effect on the present. After seeing this film, I believe I must be evolving because I remembered those classes and what I learned in them, which made Hugo work for me on a whole other level. Terms like German Expressionism and naturalism suddenly popped into my head and gave a texture to the experience that it wouldn’t have otherwise had. If you have the frame of reference, this is a movie that will pull you into its world and envelope you in wonder. Having said that, I think many viewers may be put off by this movie. A majority of Scorsese’s films are like a clenched fist that pummels your jaw and leaves your teeth bloodied, which always works well for those stories. Hugo, in contrast, is a pair of welcoming arms that offer a warm embrace and is unlike anything he has created before. The pacing of the film is a bit slow, as the characters and story elements are given ample time to develop, but this was not a problem for me at all. If you are a huge Michael Bay fan, the lack of frenetic editing and camera movement will drive you insane. Then again, you must already be insane if you love the work of a guy who was molested by an explosion as a child! (Sorry…got a bit off track there.)

This is Martin Scorsese’s most personal and powerful work to date and the culmination of a lifelong love affair with film. Papa Georges’ statement in the film, “If you lose your purpose, it’s like you’re broken” rings very true. I am glad that Scorsese found his purpose and shows no signs of being broken. Hugo is a perfect holiday film for the whole family and one that will become part of this great director’s legacy. Go see it…