Odeon Films in English Through Mid-March

This month the Odeon presents three English language films, all with Italian subtitles.  Dark Waters, an environmental thriller, relates the story of huge corporations, their impact on ordinary people and one man’s quest to hold them accountable.  Two documentaries, Hare Krishna and Leonard and Marianne: Words of Love, shed light on the 1960s, its counterculture and spiritual growth movements and the influences on young artists of the era.

 Friday, March 6 (4:45 & 7 pm) and Saturday March 7 (4 & 6:30 pm), DARK WATERS

Inspired by a true story Mark Ruffalo plays a lawyer who pursues the mystery of an increasing number of unexplained deaths that lead back to one of the largest corporations in the US and their product Teflon.  The film begins with a West Virginia farmer whose cows keep inexplicably dying in the pasture.  He connects with an attorney who had previously defended chemical companies.  As the attorney persists in exposing the truth, he jeopardizes his reputation, his family and his life.  Directed by Todd Haynes the film co-stars Anne Hathaway and Tim Robbins.

Sunday, March 8 (8:30 pm), MARIANNE AND LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE

This documentary based on the life of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen and his muse, Norwegian Marianne Ihlen.  With footage shot on the Greek Island of Hydra in 1960, filmmaker Nick Broomfield chronicles the history of the Bohemian island refuge where members of the literary world gathered and expressed free spirits and free love.  As Cohen achieved fame and fortune, Ihlen got left behind. The movie depicts the emotional damage to her son and her self-esteem in her devotion to a rising star.

Sunday, March 15 (8:15 pm), HARE KRISHNA! THE MANTRA, THE MOVEMENT AND THE SWAMI WHO STARTED IT ALL

Another documentary relates the story of the life of Srila Prabhupada, the aging Indian Swami who travels to New York penniless in the 1960s on a mission to create a worldwide spiritual movement.  The movement, known as Hare Krishna, spread rapidly throughout the musical, artistic and cultural world born in Haight Ashbury, London and New York.  Interviews with Swami Prabhupada and his followers reveal the division in America with issues such as the Vietnam war, racial injustice and free speech during the turbulent 60s and 70s.  George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Janis Joplin, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, Bob Dylan and other cultural icons are among those interviewed.  (rita kungel)