world classic movies review-A Motorcycle diaries

A bike; two absolutely mad friends; a continent to travel. This is ‘Motorcycle diaries’ in a nutshell.

Alberto Granado and his young friend Ernesto Guevara de la Serna decide to make a road trip. Not of a few kilometers but to travel around 10,000 kilometers – an entire continent – South America. Ernesto is a 23 year old medical student and Alberto is a biochemist. They both decide in 1952 January about the trip they were planning for a few years, and to start on a journey which, later is referred to as the starting point in Ernesto’s life transforming him altogether.

In an old 500 cc motorcycle called ‘La Poderosa II (The mighty one) which belongs to Alberto, they both set off for a journey inside South America. They traveled through Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, and to Miami, before returning to Argentina. Imagine such a journey in 1952 throughout an entire continent – that too, in a motorcycle! It was this journey, which transformed Ernesto from a medical student to one of the greatest revolutionary leaders the world had ever known.

They face several incidents – happy and sad – which leaves a deep impact on Ernesto’s mind. He slowly starts to understand the poverty, oppression, illness and suffering among the people of South America. Where ever they both go, they see poor people being browbeaten by filthy landlords. The poor doesn’t have proper medical aid, and they die whereas the rich landlords exploit these poor people.

All the while, Ernesto keeps writing letters to his mother in Argentina. In those letters, Ernesto gives a vivid account of the miseries of the people he has witnessed. Slowly, these incidents transform his mind, and ultimately at the end of the journey, a new Ernesto is born.

They both visit a leper center in San Pablo in the Amazon forests in Peru. Ernesto becomes touched and moved by the leper patients staying there, in one bank of the river and the doctors staying on the other bank of the river. The patients didn’t even had the minimal needs to be serviced. No cloths, no proper food, medicines and money. One night, Ernesto jumps in the river and swims across to the other bank, where the patients live – traversing a distance of two and a half kilometers.


Ernesto keeps track of all his journeys through a journal. He writes in the journal about the journey as follows.

"This isn't a tale of derring-do, nor is it merely some kind of 'cynical account'; it isn't meant to be, at least. It's a chunk of two lives running parallel for a while, with common aspirations and similar dreams. In nine months a man can think a lot of thoughts, from the height of philosophical conjecture to the most abject longing for a bowl of soup – in perfect harmony with the state of his stomach. And if, at the same time, he's a bit of an adventurer, he could have experiences which might interest other people and his random account would read something like this diary."

The original book was published only in the year 1993. From then, it has become a hit and has been in the New York Times best seller list a lot of times.

Now, for the people who didn’t guess who was Ernesto (I know 99 % would have guessed by this time), he was none other than ‘Che’ Guevara, the great guerilla warrior, who played a significant role in liberating Cuba. He slowly transforms from a medical student in to a leader who cares for the people throughout the journey.

See Motorcycle diaries, and get a chance to share the love, the fun, the joy, the hunger, the passion, the madness and the glory of two ordinary people, who traversed throughout the continent of South America.

World classic movie review-city of god

There is a lot of news these days about criminals. Are they born as criminals? However bad they might be, how do they become criminals and a menace to society? What is the root cause? If we start exploring their lives from their birth, there will be one moment – a single incident - which triggered the aftereffects. We will know that only from that incident, the person has transformed in to a criminal.

What if we witness the life of a criminal from his close quarters? What if we travel along with him in his life’s journey, witnessing every incident in his life?

‘City of God’ is one such film which excellently portrays the story of a young criminal ‘Li’l Zi’.

The film begins in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro in the sixties. We see chickens getting prepared for a feast. Everywhere its music and joy and people – mostly teenagers and young boys - are in a state of madness. One chicken escapes from the feast, and people start to chase the chicken frantically. We see a teenage boy – ‘Li’’l Zi’ – whom we don’t have a clue about – chasing the chicken and starts shooting it with his gun. The chicken enters a narrow lane and on the other side, we see another teenager of the same age – walking with his friend. The friend tells this guy that he will be killed by ‘Li’l Zi’ once he sees him. Suddenly, there appears the chicken before this guy, and behind it, Li’l Zi with his gun.

Li’l Zi shouts at the guy to catch the chicken. Slowly, the bewildered guy moves to catch it when we see police cars arrive at his back – the other end of the street. Suddenly Li’l Zi and his men start cocking their weapons and the chicken catcher understands his predicament. He is caught in the middle of a war and anyways he will be shot.

While he is frozen in his bent position, we hear his voice at the background, telling that his name is Rocket, and how he got himself in to this awkward situation, is the story he is going to narrate.

The camera rotates around him, and when it completes a circle, we se a small Rocket – in his early years – bent in the same position. They are playing football. Rocket narrates the story of three gangsters – Rocket’s elder bro Goose, Clipper and Shaggy. They three are the young rebels in the City of God, the place in Janeiro where all the poor people and castaways live. The trio loots money from the rich and distributes it to the poor people in the livelihood and hence are always sheltered by the people.

The trio plans for a heist. To make big money – and Li’l Dice – a small boy – gives them an idea to loot the nearby motel. They go on, place Li’l Dice as the watchdog and while robbing the motel along with its inhabitants, hear a warning shot from Li’l Dice and flee. After a while, back in the city of god, they learn that many people were murdered in the motel. The police track down the trio and two of the trio dies. One guy joins the church.

We now are shown what happened in the motel. We see Li’l Dice fire the warning shot, and after the trio flees, he enters the motel, shoots everyone and runs away. While he is counting the money along with his friend Benny, we see Goose approaching them and forcefully taking all their money and while he walks away, gets shot by Li’l Dice and dies.

The period is the seventies now, and Li’l Dice has grown to be the don of that place – changing his name to Li’l Zi. Rocket too grows up, but he is afraid towards the criminals and joins college. He joins the hippy group in the college which enjoys smoking weed and drinking. We learn that Carrot, a local drug dealer, is the only opponent to Li’l Zi.

Li’l Zi’s friend Benny is the mastermind behind all his operations. At one point of time, Benny is tired of all the gangster stuff and decides to call it quits. He makes friends with the hippy gang and with Rocket. He gradually woos Rocket’s girl and after her advice, decides to quit the criminal game. He hosts a final party before he leaves, and in the party, gets shot by a man aiming at Li’l Zi and dies.

Li’l Zi knows that the murderer was sent by Carrot, his only opponent. While Li’l Zi marches towards Carrot’s place along with his gang, he witnesses a young girl walking along with her boyfriend, and since the girl ignores him, humiliates the boyfriend – named Knockout Ned – a kindhearted gentleman and rapes the girl in front of Ned.

He then attacks Ned’s house and kills his uncle too. A heartbroken Ned is approached by Carrot and ultimately he joins carrot’s gang. Then starts the bloodiest gang war the city has ever witnessed – Li’l Zi trying to wipe out Carrot and Carrot retaliating.

In the mean time, Rocket doesn’t want to stay in such a hell of a city and joins a news paper. Since the magazine publishes Carrot’s photographs, Li’l Zi is offended and he thinks his photograph should also be published so that the people will get to know who the real criminal is. Since Rocket is good with the camera, Li’l Zi sends word for Rocket and makes him to photograph him and his gang in various poses.

The pictures accidentally get published in the paper and Rocket is sure he will be killed by Li’l Zi. The next day, he is approached by the magazine to shoot more photographs of the gang war. Since they offer him good money, Rocket goes to the city with his camera, and it was at this situation when the chicken was chased by Li’l Zi and landed exactly in front of Rocket in the opening scene.

Seeing Rocket, Li’l Zi asks him to take the pictures of his gang again, and while Rocket prepares for the shot, the police arrive and the fight begins. Rocket flees from the place, hiding somewhere nearby and taking pictures of the fight. Knockout Ned is killed by a boy from his own gang whose father was killed by Ned in a bank robbery earlier.

The police capture Li’l Zi and Carrot and while Carrot is being taken to the station to be shown to the press, Li’l Zi is frisked and all the money he had is being stolen by the police. Rocket takes pictures of everything. After the police are gone, the local Runts – a pack of small children who were robbing the city earlier and who were thrashed by Li’l Zi - arrive and they shoot and kill Zi, as Zi has murdered one of their boys earlier while stopping them.

Rocket has photographed everything, and he thinks about publishing the photographs in his magazine. Since the photographs of the corrupt cops will bring him danger, he decides to publish the photographs of Li’l Zi alone.

While Rocket is walking, we see the Runts talking about the people in the city who have to be killed, and they make a list. The film ends here.

‘City of God’ - a Portuguese film directed by Fernando Meirelles and Co-directed by Kátia Lund, is a strikingly made film about the young boys becoming in to gangsters. It has been filmed based on a Portuguese novel by the same name. Most of the actors were local lads.

The film features so many innovative attempts with the camera and editing and is said to be the trendsetter in these areas. It features many superb non-linear scenes – like the scene where the flashback begins, the scenes where Rocket tells the story of the motel heist, the scenes which shows how Li’l Zi became the local don eliminating his opponents etc.. The lighting is excellent, followed by the realistic music.

The film was not actually shot in Cidade de Deus (city of God) slum as it was too dangerous. It was shot in a neighboring, less dangerous area. Most of the cast were local lads. From initially about the year 2000, about a hundred children and youths were hand-picked and placed into an "actors' workshop" for several months. In contrast to more traditional methods (e.g. studying theatre and rehearsing), it focused on simulating authentic street war scenes, such as a hold-up, a scuffle, a shoot-out etc. A lot came from improvisation, as it was thought better to create an authentic, gritty atmosphere. This way, the inexperienced cast soon learned to move and act naturally.

City of God is now at the 17th place in the IMDB’s list of top 250 movies ever and it was also chosen by Times in its list of 100 top movies. A very realistic film indeed, City of God is a wonderful film.

world cinema reviews-RUN LOLA RUN

Everyday we undergo the same mundane life. Each day, we do the same actions we did the previous day, and life thus moves like a boring drama. For most of us, there is nothing exiting or interesting in life. What will happen if something important suddenly occurs, which might change our life forever? How will we face it? How will it be, if there are more possibilities and consequences for the same incident? There is always the question of ‘What if’ in every incident occurring in our lives. What will happen if we get to see all the possibilities for a single incident happening?
Run Lola Run is a wonderful attempt of presenting all the three possibilities for a same incident, in a girl’s life.
The movie begins in Berlin when Lola receives a phone call from her boyfriend Manni, who is working under the local Don Ronnie. Manni’s assignment is to bring 100,000 deutchemarks (German currency) after selling some diamonds. Manni finishes the deal, but Lola fails to pick him up after the deal, as her bike gets stolen on the morning. So, Manni takes the subway instead, and when he sees a few police officers, panics, and in the hurry, leaves the money bag in the train itself. A vagabond picks up the bag.
Now, Manni’s predicament is that he got to deliver the 100,000 deutshemarks to the local Don, Ronnie within 20 minutes, which is the deadline. If he fails, he will get killed. He calls Lola in such a situation. He shouts at her that he will rob a near-by departmental store for money. Lola pleads him to be patient and to wait for some time as she will bring him the money. She starts thinking about whom will help her with the money, and decides to go to her wealthy father.
The first of the three possibilities begins here.
Lola is thundering down the steps of her apartment, and she sees a dog downstairs. It snarls at her, making her to run faster. Since she doesn’t have any vehicle and the time is closing on her, she runs to her father’s bank to get the amount. While running, she diverts the attention of a man who has just started his car, and he jams his car with a BMW. She also passes the vagabond who has taken Manni’s money. A person tries to sell his bicycle to Lola as she is running, and she refuses.
Lola reaches her father’s bank. The father declines to give money. He further says that he is gonna marry another woman, as Lola and her mother doesn’t respect him. He also adds that he is not the real father of Lola. Saying this, he asks the security to take Lola away. Lola rushes to Manni, as there is very little time left. As she is running, she passes an ambulance which stops at some workers carrying a big piece of glass.
Lola arrives a few seconds late, and witnesses Manni entering the departmental store with his gun. Lola decides to help Manni, and she assists him in robbing. They both escape, but then are cornered by police officials. While Manni throws the money bag at the police, a tense policeman shoots Lola in her chest. While Lola is dying, we see a flashback where she is asking Manni about the kind of love he has towards Lola. Manni replies it’s genuine, but Lola remains skeptical. The first story ends.
The second possibility begins when Lola decides not to die in vein, after all her struggles. So she says ‘STOP’. At this point, the film again starts from where Lola begins to run. This time, the man with the dog at the stairs trips her down, and she starts limping a bit. Again, she once more diverts the attention of the man starting his car, who jams his car another time on the BMW. Likewise, she crosses the vagabond with Manni’s money and the bicycle seller for a second time. She goes to her father, but because of the limp, arrives a few seconds late to the bank, when she overhears a woman talking to her father that she is pregnant by someone else. An exasperated Lola robs the bank, runs out and she tries to stop the ambulance for a ride, but being diverted by her, the ambulance crashes on the piece of glass the workers were carrying. It stops there. Lola runs to Manni, and while he is about to cross the road, gets rundown by the same ambulance. After he dies, we see another flashback sequence where Manni questions Lola about the kind of love she has towards him.
The third possibility begins now. We see a faster Lola who jumps across the barking dog and growling back at it, scaring the dog. The person starting the car succeeds in his attempt, and the BMW passes by. Lola recognizes the person as her father’s colleague, and since he was able to start his car, he goes to the bank and picks up her father. As a result, Lola loses track of her father when she reaches the bank. Without knowing what to do, she keeps running. Her father, who is riding the car with his friend, gets involved in a deathly car crash, the driver distracted by the vagabond riding a cycle which he bought from the bicycle seller from the previous two stories.
Lola goes to a casino, plays roulette betting on the number ‘20’ (which symbolizes the twenty minutes she has to run) and wins a lot of money (deutshemarks 127,000). She rushes out, hides in the same ambulance which stops at the workers carrying the piece of glass. Inside, she finds the security of her father’s bank, who has suffered a heart attack. She holds his hand, and after some time, his heart beat returns to normal.
In the meantime, Manni borrows a phone card from a blind woman to call Lola. While returning the card, he accidentally catches sight of the vagabond with the money, and he chases him, gets his money back. He then goes to deliver the money back to his boss, and when Lola arrives, she sees Manni shaking the boss’s hands. Manni comes to Lola and asks what she carries in the bag in her hand. The film ends.
Run Lola Run is a fantastic attempt of a very different concept. The screenplay is amazingly handled, and the movie is a treat to watch. From Wikipedia, I learned that this concept has been inspired from the Polish director Krzystof Kieslowski, who handled the same theme in his previous movies. The director Tom Tykwer directed ‘Heaven’, which Kieslowski wanted to direct, and couldn’t do so as he died before the film.
The German film was released in 1998 and won many awards including the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, Best Film at the Seattle International Film Festival, and seven separate wins at the German Film Awards (thanks to Wiki). This film contains about 1581 transitions (edits, dissolves, fades, wipes, etc) in 71 minutes of action (i.e. excluding the credits, and pre-credits sequence). This equates to an Average Shot Length of about 2.7 seconds. Interestingly, the editing is relatively slower towards the end of the film. For most contemporary films, the opposite is the norm. Lola screams for twenty seconds in the Roulette scene, she also bets to the number twenty, the only bills she had were twenties, the first story lasts twenty minutes and twenty minutes was also the time she had to get the money.

World cinema reviews-CINEME PARADISO

There is a phase in everyone’s life which we can never forget. We sometimes yearn for this phase and hope that we get those years again to relive the happy moments for a second time. Every time we think about those years, it brings a smile on our face, and we become nostalgic. The golden years of our childhood and teenage. These memories never get erased from our mind and they keep on flashing time after time in our mind as and when we reminiscent over the happenings of the past. Just imagine what will happen if those memories are rekindled by an incident which takes us directly to those years.
Cinema Paradiso is one such journey in to the aromatic years of the past, by an individual.
Salvatore Di Vita is a critically acclaimed, successful film director, living in Rome. The movie begins with his mother, living in their hometown, Giancaldo in Sicily, trying to call Salvatore over the phone. She wants to convey him a message, but since Salvatore is not at home, she delivers the message to a lady friend of Salvatore. After talking, her daughter – Salvatore’s younger sister tells her mom that since Salvatore has not been home for the past 30 years, he will not come this time also. The mother looks at her daughter intently, and tells she knows Salvatore better than her daughter and he will surely come this time.
We cut to Salvatore, in Rome, arriving home, late at night. The lady tells Salvatore that his mom called. She tells that her mom wants Salvatore to come to Sicily so that she can be with her son for a while. Salvatore enquires the lady about did his mom call just to tell about this, and the lady replies that his mom also conveyed a message to Salvatore. Alfredo has died, and his funeral will happen the next evening. Hearing this, Salvatore lies down in bed, and as we see a tight close up of his face, begins a journey in to the past, recollecting his old memories.
The period is right away after the World War II. We see a church in Giancaldo, and Salvatore, a very young boy, aged 6, is assisting the father with the day to day activities. Salvatore’s nick name is Toto, and he is an extremely bright kid. His mom is a war widow. Toto dozes up during church activities, as they bore him to the core. The father keeps complaining about Toto and he asks Toto to go home and sleep, as he has an important work to do. Toto knows where the father is going, and pesters him up that he will also come. The father refuses and goes away.
It’s an old movie theatre. The only one present in Giancaldo. Before every movie is screened, the father sees it and raises alarm during the ‘objectionable’ scenes – the kissing scenes- and the operator marks them and chops them off before public screening. Today also, the father sits alone in the theatre, and the movie begins. During the kissing scenes, the father rings his bell, and the operator marks them. We see Toto peeking in from a small vent in the theatre. While Toto secretly watches, the operator catches him up.
We see Alfredo, the operator. A big man with a friendly smile. Alfredo likes Toto but is against Toto’s will to be in the theatre. So he orders Toto to go home. Toto sees all the film rolls of the chopped off kissing scenes, and asks Alfredo can he have them. Alfredo tells Toto they all are his, but then they have to remain in the theatre with Alfredo. A disgruntled Toto leaves to his home. Back home, he takes a film strip, which he took from the theatre and keeps looking at it. Next day, Toto goes to school. While returning, he again runs off to the theatre, to see the new film being screened. He buys ticket with the money his mom gave to buy milk, and after the movie, while returning, his mom catches Toto and asks about the milk. Toto says the money is stolen, and gets beaten up. Alfredo sees this, and runs to the rescue of the boy. Alfredo says he found the money under a seat, and gives it to Toto’s mom. While going home, Toto turns to Alfredo, secretly winks at him. Alfredo too winks at Toto. We get to understand the love they both have towards each other, by this beautiful scene.
The next day, the father takes Toto out on scorching sun, and Toto sees Alfredo coming that way in his cycle. While Alfredo crosses them, Toto suddenly falls to the ground, pretending that he is wriggling in pain. The father asks Alfredo to take him to town, and so, Toto gets a ride with his beloved Alfredo. The conversation they both share during the cycle ride is a touching one, which shows how far Alfredo has understood the boy, and how far the boy loves Alfredo. They both have become intimate friends by now.
One day, Alfredo sees Toto’s mom beating him up, as he has left a few film strips under the bed, near the lamp and this has burnt down the films. Toto’s young sister gets burnt a little, and this makes the mom furious. She complains that everything is because of Alfredo. Alfredo assures her that henceforth, he will keep Toto out of the theatre.
The next day, when Toto comes to the theatre, Alfredo asks him to get out. Toto becomes sad and goes out. This continues for a few days. One day, while writing the final yearly exams, we see the teacher announcing that the night class students are here too for the exams, and enters Alfredo! Toto cannot control his laughter, and since Alfredo doesn’t know the lessons, he pleads Toto secretly to show him the paper. Toto asks Alfredo to promise that he will teach him how to operate the projector in the theatre, and a reluctant Alfredo finally agrees.
From here on, the boy gets trained by Alfredo on handling the projector. He learns fast, as he is an intelligent kid. He loves being in the theatre and seeing a lot of movies, and Alfredo is very happy too, being with Toto. We get to see the golden character of Alfredo, as one day he screens the film on the street, for all the people who are not able to visit the theatre. During the screening, suddenly the projector gets heated up and the theatre ultimately catches fire. While trying to extinguish the fire, Alfredo loses his eyesight.
A local don, Ciccio, builds a new theatre, and names it as Cinema Paradiso. Since Alfredo has lost his eyesight, the boy Toto is the new operator. Alfredo comes to the theatre after a few days, since he cannot sit at home. Toto is very happy that his beloved Alfredo has recovered from the accident. We see Alfredo fondly stroking Toto’s face and while the stroke gets completed, we see a young teenaged Toto.
Toto is still the operator, and advices Ciccio to repair the original burnt down theatre, so that they can have two theatres in the town.
By now, Toto has developed his interest towards filming. He films various sequences and plays them to Alfredo and explains him about the situation. Once, while filming the railway station, Toto sees a beautiful girl, and films her. From that day, Toto falls madly in love with the girl, and after a few tries, is able to gain the girl’s love. He tells everything to Alfredo. Alfredo is happy that he has found a love.
The girl’s father doesn’t like the love, and plans to move to some other city. Toto also gets a call from the army, as it is mandatory for everyone to attend the military training. During the final day, the girl tells that she will be there in the theatre to meet him, and Toto waits for her. She doesn’t turn up. So Toto asks Alfredo to take charge of the projection and he rushes to the girl’s house but he finds no one. He comes back to the theatre and enquires Alfredo about anyone coming to see him and Alfredo tells no one came. Toto realizes that the girl has left the town.
Alfredo takes Toto to the sea and advices him to forget everything and to start a new life. He asks Toto to leave the town, and to never return back, as it will give him bad memories. Alfredo convinces Toto to go out of town for a new career. Toto finally decides to leave to Rome. Alfredo advices Toto in the railway station that he must never come back, come what may the situation.
The train slowly starts, and Toto waves to everyone. The train catches full speed, and the next shot, we see a plane landing. The past and the present are beautifully linked through this scene, as we see now the acclaimed director Salvatore Di Vita, coming out from the plane. Salvatore visits his home after 30 years, and he goes to the funeral, meets everyone, and becomes nostalgic.
He sees a young girl, who exactly resembles his lost love. He tracks her and finds out that she is the daughter of Elena, his love interest in the past. He stands opposite Elena’s home and phones her. She tells him there is nothing to renew in their relationship, and she cuts the call.
A distressed Salvatore goes to the seashore. While he is standing there, he hears a car pulling up. It’s Elena. She asks him to get in, and says she wants to talk to him. She tells him how heartbroken she was during the final day when she promised him that she will meet him. She says she came to the theatre a bit late, and she found Alfredo there. She explained the situation to Alfredo, and Alfredo advised her to forget Toto, as they are not going to be united at all, since Toto is leaving to the army and she is leaving to the next town. Alfredo tells Elena that he will tell everything to Toto and asks her to go with her parents.
Elena scribbles everything in a piece of paper, when Alfredo thinks she‘s gone. She pins up the paper in the wall, with her future address, among the movie bills, for Toto to come to her. She leaves the town.
Hearing this, Salvatore becomes emotional. She tells him that there is nothing to worry about, as their fate has taken them on two different roads. She says she is happy to meet him now, after 30 years. They make love in the car.
Salvatore runs to the old theatre. He goes to the devastated projection room, and searches the paper and finds it. He realizes that Alfredo did everything for his goodness sake, since if he had married the girl, he would have stayed in the town, and he would not have made it as a director. His love for Alfredo becomes even more intense.
Before leaving the town, he wants to meet Elena again, but she tells that during their teenage, they never did what they did the previous night, and that forms the perfect end to the story. So she bids him adieu in the phone and says she will not meet him again. Alfredo’s wife gives Salvatore a parcel which Alfredo wanted to give to his beloved Toto. Salvatore starts to Rome.
It was a film reel, and back home, Salvatore goes to his projection theatre, asks the operator to play the reel and sits up in silence, all alone. The film begins. It’s the collection of all those chopped off kissing scenes which the little boy Toto wanted to have. Salvatore watches all the kisses being played on the screen, with tears flowing down his eyes. He cannot hide his love towards his beloved friend Alfredo, and cries, with his heart full of emotions towards his dead friend.
The film ends with this scene.
Cinema Paradiso is an emotional journey in to the life of Salvatore Di Vita. The entire movie is a collection of all his childhood memoirs. It has been excellently filmed, and while watching, we too start loving Alfredo, the operator, along with Toto. The scenes where Alfredo talks with Toto are just beautiful. The entire movie is nearly three hours long, but not even for a single minute, I was getting bored. Instead, I was highly engrossed all through the movie, and can very well say this is one of my all time great favorites.
The theatre plays a vital role all through the film. It is in this theatre that Toto learns everything. Finally, the theatre gets demolished, since there is no one to see old movies and since the city needs a parking lot. This is a powerful scene, as we see tears in Salvatore as well as many people’s eyes. The theatre means a lot for them, and when it is destroyed, they all react as if someone close to their heart passes away.
The direction is by Guiseppe Tornatore (Malena, Star maker). This Italian film was released in the year 1989 and won the Oscars for the best foreign film in 1990. Another highlight of the movie is the brilliant, touching music by Ennio Morricone. Morricone is the dada of Hollywood music, having immortal movies like Good, bad and the ugly, For a few dollars more, A fist full of dollars, Once upon a time in the west, The untouchables, The Battle of Algiers etc.. to his credit. He has scored for over a hundred films in his career, and is easily the best of all the Hollywood music directors and composers. He has scored an excellent background music, which just entwines the heart.
Cinema Paradiso will stand to be a great film, which portrays the beautiful relationship between a boy and an old man. Salutes to Guiseppe Tornatore and Ennio Morricone for making a gem of a movie!
PS:- A few scenes were copied from this film in to a Tamil movie called ‘Veyil’. All the scenes involving Pasupathi in the cinema theatre were copied from this film.

Classic movie series-ROAD HOME REVIEW

Before starting this series, I would like to convey my heartfelt thanks for Cheziyan who wrote a wonderful article in Vikadan about world cinema which ran for around a year– the article which introduced me a lot of world movies.

There are moments in our lives which we want to keep green throughout. The moments which stay alive and which form the base of every single thought occurring in our minds, every single time. What will happen if we share those thoughts with our children and they imagine about those evergreen memories of their parents? Well, it will result in a peaceful, serene feeling in their minds combined with their love and respect towards their parents.

‘The Road Home’ is one such journey in to the mind of a young man who recollects the romantic story of his parents.

Luo Yusheng is returning to his village from the city where he lives, after receiving the news about his father’s death the previous night. His father was a schoolteacher in the village school for 40 years. Luo comes to his village, filled with snow everywhere, and reaches his home. The mayor of the village meets him, and briefs him about his father’s death. The school building has become very old, and his father, passionate about the school and the students, decides to raise money to rebuild it. He starts his travel to places wherever he can find money. The father asks various people to donate money to the school, and while on a journey, gets caught in a violent snowstorm, falls sick and ultimately dies, without fulfilling his dream of rebuilding the school. His body is kept at the city hospital, far away from the village.

The mayor tells Luo Yusheng about his grief stricken mother. He briefs that the mother wants to observe all the traditional customs prevalent in the village. Especially, she wants the father’s body to be carried my men, all along the way from the city hospital, to the village. She refuses to bring the body in a vehicle. Having heard this, the son enquires the mayor about where he can find his mom, as she is not in the house. The mayor says she is in the old school building. She goes there and stays from the moment the father has died.

The son goes to the school building. It is in a very bad shape, and the mother is sitting at the entrance, facing the school. The son touches his mother’s shoulder. The mother becomes emotional seeing her son, and she weeps, tells him about his father’s death. He brings his mother home, and at home, the mother asks her son to repair the old loom in the house. She tells him that she wants to weave a cloth to be covered on the father’s coffin. The son pleads his mother not to strain herself, but the mother insists on weaving the cloth, and the son repairs it and keeps it ready.

As the mother starts weaving the cloth in the loom, the son thinks about how his parents met for the first time. His voice starts briefing, as we cut in to a colorful farm, with beautiful mountains at the background, and we see a long road. The son tells that his father was 20 and the mother 18, when they first met. The father was the new school teacher for the newly built school in the village. That was the day when the father arrives to the village, and the village people gather around the school to welcome the new teacher. That was the first time a school is built in the village, and hence the people are elated.

An innocent village girl, Di, hears about the teacher, and she too comes to the school to see him. The first ever time she sees this new teacher, she starts to like him, and a childlike affection develops in her heart. She comes home and briefs her blind mother about the new teacher.
The next day, Di gets ready to cook a meal, as it is customary for the village people to cook for the people working in a new building. The teacher and the fellow villagers are giving the final touches to the newly built school, and hence all the village women cook for the people working at the school. Di chooses a beautiful ceramic bowl, cooks delicious onion bread, and places it at the school. She stands among other women, eagerly looking at her bowl. Somebody takes it in to the school, and after a while, it comes out empty. This continues for three days, and Di enquires a fellow villager, who is working in the school, about how the new teacher eats. The villager says that the teacher eats inside the school, and they offer him the first ever meal they pick from outside.

Di brings water everyday from a well. There are two wells situated, one near her house and the one near the school, which is a bit distant. Di chooses to bring water from the well near the school, as she hopes she can get a glance of the new teacher. Every day while taking water and returning, she looks at the school, hearing the voice of the teacher. She also waits near the long road from the school in the evenings, as the teacher would walk a few students home. She hides behind the trees and looks at the teacher everyday. Once, the teacher spots her and gives her a smile. She becomes elated, and tells him that it is her turn to cook for the teacher the next afternoon. The teacher acknowledges and leaves. She runs away full of shyness, and the teacher calls her, points to her bag, and she comes, picks it and runs away. The teacher asks her name to a student and learns it as Di. The student shouts at Di that the teacher is asking her name, and the teacher smiles, walks away.

The next day, Di cooks a meal for the teacher. He comes to her house, and while eating, Di keeps looking at him, from the kitchen. When the teacher looks at Di, she turns away. After the meal, the teacher says it was delicious, and Di asks will he be interested in eating mushrooms, and he says he will eat it in the evening, when he returns. While the teacher is gone, the blind mother warns Di that the teacher is of a different class, and it won’t work out. Di starts cooking mushrooms, and while cooking, the teacher comes to Di, says goodbye as he has to leave the village, since the management doesn’t want him there (they think he is a revolutionist). A heartbroken Di asks when will he return, and he says he will return by 27th, as the vacation begins from 28th, and he needs to be there. He says he will come after a while to eat the mushrooms. He gifts Di with a red hairpin, and says it will match her only red jacket. Di is elated to the core, as her beloved teacher has gifted her.

After a while, Di learns that the teacher has started to the city. She hurriedly places the hot mushrooms in the same ceramic bowl, and she runs to give it to the teacher. While she is running, she trips and falls down. The bowl breaks in to pieces, and the mushroom spills away. Di slowly picks up the broken pieces, and tears start rolling down her eyes. She is very innocent, and she is not able to bear the fact that her beloved teacher is gone.Voluntarily, she touches her hair to reach out the hairpin the teacher has gifted, and to her dismay, the hairpin has fallen somewhere. A heartbroken Di slowly walks home, sobbing all the way. We hear the son’s voice – “From that day, mom was searching for the hairpin every single day, all through the long road”. One day, she finds it at the entrance of her house.

At home, she keeps visiting the school building. One day, while she returns home, she finds the broken bowl mended perfectly. It’s her blind mother. Not able to withstand a heartbroken Di, her mom mends it. On 27th, at the dawn of the first light, Di rushes to the long road, and amidst a heavy snowfall, keeps waiting for the teacher all through the day. The teacher doesn’t come, and she returns home with a high fever. The next day, she starts to the city to find the teacher, and while she is walking on the road, due to the heavy snowfall, faints.

The mayor brings her home, and soon the news is spread all through the village about Di’s love towards the teacher. As the village is a very strict place with a lot of rules, this news is not welcomed in the village. Di awakens from her sickness one day, and the blind mother tells her that the teacher is back! He was there the previous evening, and sat a long time with Di. Di runs to the village school, and someone shouts that Di is there and the teacher comes out. Di starts crying.

The next day, the teacher has to leave to the town again. Di stands lonely at the long road, and we hear the son’s voice at the background. “That day, father had to leave to the town. Mom was waiting for father, with her heart filled with love. After a few days, father returned, and from then on, father never left mother”.

The flashback ends, and we return to the mother working at the loom. The son meets the mayor and they decide to hire men from the next village to carry the father’s coffin. They go to the city, and the mother too accompanies. They bring the father’s coffin, and hearing the news about the teacher’s death, his old students gather around, and they decide to carry the coffin. They refuse the money, and the journey begins. The mom slowly walks the long road, where she and her husband have walked together for many times. The mother wants the father to remember the road the last time, and that’s why she asks the coffin to be carried.

They reach the village. The coffin is buried near the well where the mother used to fetch water. The mom tells to bury her at the same place, after her death. The mom tells the son that it is her wish to see the son take the class at his father’s place, at least for one day. The son tells he has work in the city and got to go the next day.

The next day, the mom is awakened by the sound of the children reciting the lessons. Her husband’s lessons! She rushes to the school to find her son taking lessons there! Elated, tears flow down her old face, as slowly the scene changes to a young Di, eagerly waiting outside the school, hearing the father’s voice, teaching the lessons. The camera slowly shifts to the long road, where we see a young Di, running happily, after having picked up her bag, after talking-to the teacher. The movie ends with this shot.

‘The Road Home’ is a great film, about the golden memories we cherish in our heart. The film talks about the mother’s love towards the father, her affection to the school, her longing for the father and her innocence. The current scenes with the son are in black and white while the flashback scenes are in color. The cinematography is excellent accompanied by the realistic music.

This Chinese movie was released in 2000. It was directed by Yimou Zhang starring Zhang Zi Yi (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha) as Di (her debut). It won many awards, and is a very nice film. Try seeing it, and feel the aroma of your golden memories.