BAGDAD CAFE
Germany, 1988, 108 minutes, Colour.
Marianne Sagebrecht, Jack Palance, C.C.H.Pounder.
Directed by Percy Adlon.
Bagdad Cafe is a small but delightful comedy. It was written by director Percy Adlon with his wife Elinore. Adlon had made such films in his native Germany as Celeste (about Proust's maid) and Sugar Baby. The latter starred Marianne Sagebrecht. He used her in Bagdad Cafe and in his next film, Rosalie Goes Shopping, made also in the US.
Marianne Sagebracht is a large lady but with a strong and vibrant on-screen personality. She makes the abandoned German housewife, stuck in the American desert, quite credible. She has a charm and shows how people's lives can be transformed. (Sagebrecht also appeared in several American movies including her role as a maid in The War of the Roses.)
Black actress C.C.H. Pounder is strong in the role of Brenda, the manager of the Bagdad Cafe. The supporting cast includes Jack Palance as a former Hollywood set painter who is attracted by Sagebracht and offers to marry her. There is a collection of odd people at the Bagdad Cafe, especially Brenda's husband Sal who walks out on her to a car and caravan across the way, their musician son and his little baby, a daughter who prefers going out with bikies, an Indian assistant, an Indian sheriff, a young woman who seems out of place in any society, a hitch-hiker with boomerangs. They all come under the spell of Sagebracht. The song, `Calling You', was nominated for an Oscar in 1988.
1.Entertaining comedy drama? Its appeal: plot, characters, sentiment?
2.The German origins of the film: director, writers, actress? Europeans and their perspective on America, the West, the blacks, Indians, American society and its tensions?
3.The colour photography, the artificial colouring, the perceptions of the desert, of Bagdad and its surroundings, of the cafe, of the interior of the cafe, of the motel rooms? A particular perspective on the US?
4.The title, the exotic aspects of Bagdad? A small Bagdad in the Nevada desert? The truck stop? The role of the cafe, the clientele, the people who stayed there, the people who passed by? The Bagdad community?
5.The opening: Jasmin and her husband, the breakdown, the red colouring of the sequence, the anger of the husband, the clash with Jasmin, putting her out? Her suit, hat, case, wandering the desert, refusing Sal's lift? The quaint picture of her walking through the desert? The irony that she had her husband's case with his clothes?
6.The introduction to the Bagdad Cafe: Brenda, her angers and shouting, her criticisms? Sal and his return from town, forgetting the coffee machine, his irresponsibility, Brenda's denunciation, their continued arguments, his leaving, going away to the caravan? Continually watching what was happening through the binoculars? The son playing the piano, his classical style? The baby and its neglect? The daughter, her clothes, wanting money, the bikies? Her mother's lenience towards her? The Indian behind the counter, serving the coffee? Cox and his having gone native, the painter? His enjoyment of living around the Bagdad Cafe?
7.The arrival of Jasmin, everybody's reaction? Her being lost in the desert, bewildered? Being self-possessed? The inquiries, Brenda, interviewing her, the traveller's cheques, her reaction to the motel room? The cups of coffee and her advice about how to make it? The suitcase and her husband's clothes? Brenda and her suspicions and calling the sheriff? The interview and everything in order? Her cleaning the motel room? Her going to the cafe, waiting till it was open? Friendliness with the Indian, advice about the coffee? The coffee thermos? Her encounter with Rudi Cox and his gentlemanliness? His painting in her room? His attentiveness? Her attraction towards the baby, the young man playing the piano? Her observing what was going on? Her decision to clean up Brenda's office, the hard work, Brenda's angry reaction, wanting her to bring the rubbish back? Brenda relenting? Her friendship with the various people: the daughter, the trying on the clothes, becoming her `girlfriend'? Eric and the boomerang-throwing? Sal and his piano-playing and her listening? Her being pleasant with the sheriff? The baby - and Brenda's anger about her not having children, Brenda relenting, her charm with the baby?
8.Jasmin and her staying at the Bagdad Cafe, gradually serving the cups, studying up the magic tricks, performing them, the truckies and the other customers enjoying it? Everybody joining in, Brenda learning the magic? The son playing the piano? People turning up from everywhere, the performances? Her friendship with Rudi, the invitation to paint her, the series of paintings from her being dressed in her suit and hat, to more relaxed, the emphasising of her sensuality and sexuality? The friendship with Rudi and relying on him?
9.The Green Card, the visa expiring, her being taken away, the cafe being empty? Her phone call, her return in the white dress, embracing Brenda? The costumes and the performances, everybody turning up? Rudi and his proposal to marry her, to enable her to stay, her saying yes - but her final words of talking it all over with Brenda before giving her consent?
10.The portrait of Jasmin, Marianne Sagebrecht and her presence, physical presence, screen personality? The simple stranger, being abandoned, being at home, relating with people, charming them and changing them?
11.Brenda, her angers, the list for the shopping, Sal and his departure, her children, the money for the concert and the daughter? Her anger at the office being tidy - but relenting? Making her daughter tidy up? The angers about the baby? Her changing, being charmed, relying on Jasmin, the routines with her?
12.The rest of the family: Sal observing from afar, the young man with the piano, encouraged, becoming part of the act? The baby? The daughter settling down, attracted to Eric? The young woman and her reading - and leaving because there was too much harmony? The sheriff, the Indian background, doing his job, friendly?
13.Rudi, his background, the coffee, charming, painting, the relationship with Jasmin, the proposal?
14.A good-natured film about good nature and the potential for human harmony instead of clash?
