CHAPTER 17 – INTERNATIONAL CINEMA IN THE 1980s
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following is not true of British cinema in the 1980s?
a. continued to be characterized by a left wing-right wing split
b. was preoccupied by sex—of all kinds
c. both a and b
d. neither a nor b
2. Merchant-Ivory’s Room with a View won American Academy Awards for
a. screenplay adaptation.
b. direction.
c. costumes.
d. all of the above
3. What is true of the left-wing realist cinema of Great Britain in the 1980s as seen in movies like
Mona Lisa?
a. set in the here and now
b. written directly for the screen
c. explored the implications of harsh social conditions
d. all of the above
4. All of the following are true of Scottish director Bill Forsyth’s movies except
a. concocts rambling tales
b. uses non-actorish Scots
c. follows the grand British tradition
d. makes minimalist comedies
5. Stephen Frears’s movie making career was going nowhere until he teamed up with writer
a. Ruth Prawar Jhabvala
b. Hanif Kureshi
c. Neil Jordan
d. Chris Bernard
6. All of the following are characteristics of Spain’s Pedro Almodóvar except?
a. is a gifted storyteller
b. loves to shock the bourgeoisie
c. mocks the stereotypes of Spanish machismo
d. employs a matter-of-fact surrealism
7. Which of the following foreign directors has also found great success in American cinema?
a. Claude Berri
b. Percy Adlon
c. Paul Verhoeven
d. István Szabó
8. Which of the following comedic films was made in that most unlikely of countries West
Germany in the 80s?
a. Sugarbaby
b. Men
c. neither of the above
d. both of the above
9. Which of the following is true about Soviet cinema in the 80s?
a. Filmmakers where encouraged to make more commercial movie.
b. Many movies pandered to the public’s escapist fantasies.
c. Filmmakers began to enjoy a new found artistic freedom.
d. all of the above
10. Which one of the following Eastern European countries was very “outspoken, individualistic,
and obsessed with moral issues”?
a. Yugoslavia
b. Hungary
c. Romania
d. none of the above
11. The courageous Polish film that defied the Official Lie of government was
a. Man of Iron
b. Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears
c. Mephisto
d. Pelle the Conqueror
12. Third World filmmakers faced many problems in making movies, including
a. language
b. politics
c. Capital
d. all of the above
13. Which of the following styles is the style of choice among most Third World directors?
a. formalism
b. realism
c. classicism
d. none of the above
14. The place of women in Third World movies is
a. an oppressed individual.
b. earth goddess.
c. irrepressible artist.
d. successful businessperson.
15. The Cannes award-winning move “that demonstrates that all people [especially women] in
the story are prisoners, as much of their own minds and values as of the state” is
a. Pixote
b. The Gods Must Be Crazy
c. Yol
d. The Hour of the Star
16. One of the most popular forms of Japanese movies in the 1980s was
a. yakuza
b. buriko
c. animation
d. all of the above
17. Japanese audiences became increasingly internationalized in the 80s especially enjoying films
made in
a. Germany
b. Australia
c. China
d. America
True/False
(Place a T or an F in the line following the sentence.)
1. British filmmaking in the 1980s combined films that, on the one hand, exhibited class-
consciousness and, on the other hand, showed an obsession with the 1950s.
2. Being from a naturally reserved culture, British filmmakers avoid the subject of sex at all costs
in their films.
3. The interesting fact about the British filmmaking tandem Merchant-Ivory is that neither is
British — nor is their principal screenwriter.
4. Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar hs been favorably compared to the great Spanish
surrealist Salvador Dali.
5. Paul Verhoeven has restricted his films to issues concerning life in the Netherlands (i.e.
Holland).
6. The cinema of West Germany continued its dynamic growth in theme and technique in the
80s.
7. Under the Brezhnev regime in the Soviet Union, Soviet filmmakers began to make more
accessible and commercial films.
8. Of all the many problems film directors in Third World countries had to face in the 80s,
politics was not one of them.
9. Realism is still the style of choice among Third World movie directors because, among other
reasons, realism is cheaper.
10. Wealth and women, especially in the Third World, go hand in hand as is made clear in the
Turkish film Yol.
Matching
1) Pedro Almodóvar ___
2) Paul Verhoeven ___
3) Jamie Ulys ___
4) Stephen Frears ___
5) Ivan Szabó ____
6) Yilmaz Güney ___
7) Hugh Hudson ___
8) Hector Babenco ___
9) Juzo Itami ___
10) Claude Berri ___
a. My Beautiful Laundrette
b. Manon of the Spring
c. Yol
d. Pixote
e. The Fourth Man
f. Tampopo
g. Mephisto
h. The Gods Must Be Crazy
i. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
j. Chariots of Fire
ANS:
Short Answer
1. What was the character of the British film renaissance of the 80s?
2. What is the character of the work of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar ?
3. What was the meaning of the “New Model” idea in the Soviet bloc in the 80s as it related to
movie making?
4. Why is realism the style preferred among filmmakers in the Third World in the 80s?
Essay Questions
1. In what way(s) was the division/ tension between the Masterpiece Theatre-like filmmakers and
the Kitchen Sink-like filmmakers beneficial or problematic?
2. In what way(s) was the globalization/internationalization beneficial or problematic to
filmmaking in general?
3. What qualities do the films of Netherlands director Paul Verhoeven possess that would make
them popular with audiences?
4. Why did the movies of Poland and Hungary become intense examinations of various kinds of
morality?