Life rushes on. We are distracted. We forget things. And sometimes we will ourselves to this forgetfulness, especially of those aspects of the past that pain us deeply. Or shame us greatly.
American movies mostly cater to this amnesia. If their primary task is to help us escape our trials of the moment, one of their secondary goals is to ease the burdens of the past. These days, history in the movies is essentially set decoration, something shimmering and elegant to place behind the well- spoken characters of a Merchant-Ivory film once a year, a Martin Scorsese film once a lifetime....