"Orlando" and "No Man's Land"

In addition to watching "Teorema" I watched "Orlando" and "No Man's Land."
"Orlando"was based on the novel by Virginia Woolf. I haven't read the book yet. The book was written in 1928, and the film was made in 1992. At the beginning of the book and the film the title character is a male aristocrat at the end of the Sixteenth Century. The book ends with Orlando as a modern woman in the 1920s driving a car, and the movie ends in the 1990s. From here I will just refer to the film, because I do not know how close its story line is to that of the book. Elizabeth I makes Orlando one of her favorites, and she tells him that his family home and the land around it will be as long as he does not get old and die. He does not show any signs of aging after this, but in the Eighteenth Century Orlando becomes a woman. The roles of the sexes, class differences and xenophobia are dealt with in this film.  The role of writers in different eras is also dealt with. There are places where members of the upper class act like the members of the lower class are subhuman. In one places there are some rich men skating on a frozen lake. They see a woman who was probably selling apples frozen under the ice. One of the men points at her and laughs. There are other examples of similar behavior. Orlando gets engaged to an English woman, but he falls in love with Russian woman. People comment that she is not worthy, because she is a foreigner. Orlando becomes an ambassador in a middle eastern country. The English characters look on the people as inferiors. Orlando is called upon to help defend the city where he is. Some English men are there to confer an honor on Orlando. During the battle Orlando tries to aid an injured member of the invading forces. When told to ignore the injured man he says that the man is hurt. One of the English men says that he is a man but an enemy. The metamorphosis from man to woman takes place abroad. Gender inequalities are dealt with. Orlando, since she is definitely a woman, is not able to keep the land unless she marries of bears a son. There are some very funny scenes that seem to parody romance movies. There are places where actions taken by Orlando that do not reflect well only, but later there is pay back. There is gender bending in the casting. Tilda Swinton played Orlando, and she did a very convincing performance as an androgynous man. Quentin Crisp did the best portrayal of Elizabeth I that I have seen. Jimmy Somerville performs two songs during the film. At the end of the film he appears as a feminine-looking angel. It is a hilarious film with a message.
"No Man's Land" is a dark comedy written and directed by Danis Tanović. It shows the absurdity of war. The roles of the U.N. and the media are skewered. It takes place during the Bosnian-Serb conflict. Soldiers from both sides and up together in a trench between both lines. They are forced to help each other, but both continue to see the other as the enemy. The media shows up pretending to want to tell the truth, but it is clear that they have their own agenda. The U.N. becomes involved, but they are not very effective. This is a humorous, thought-provoking movie.
These films are very different from each other, but I would recommend both of them.