classic movies-The Curious Case of BENJAMIN BUTTON

Saw Benjamin Button at Satyam Cinemas on 28th Feb, Sat. I knew already about the film that it’s not the usual kind of a David Fincher film but it’s more like the Darabont way of filming. I read a few reviews and was eager to see it, and as soon as the film was released, booked a ticket and went to see it. It was an evening, and I was sporting a new haircut (‘Downspike’), and while in to the lobby, felt that I’m in line with the general mood set (Tee hee).

This is an abridged version of Scott Fitzgerald’s short story with the same name, written in 1921.

The film began.

We see an old lady in a hospital (Cate Blanchett, with a brilliant make up), at her last few minutes (hours, may be). She tells the story of a blind clockmaker who made a huge clock to be hung at the New Orleans railway station, and while he was making it, happens to lose his son at the world war I, and then decides to make the clock to tick backwards, as he believed that it will bring his son back to life, and the other victims of the world war. After the clock was hung at the railway station, he disappeared from public view. We see him sailing a boat in to the sea. That was the last of him.

After telling the story of the blind clockmaker, the old lady asks her daughter to read out a journal. The daughter starts to read it aloud for her dying mother.

The daughter’s voice slowly changes to that of a male. It’s a journal of a man named Benjamin Button. It begins in New Orleans at the end of the World War 1. We see a mother giving birth to a baby boy, and the father rushes in to see the mother, after being told that she is going to die. The father sees the child, and is terrorized, as the child has all the physical appearance of a very elderly man, with wrinkled skin and with cataract. The father keeps staring at the child, and suddenly, grabs it and runs away. He places the child at the entrance of an old age home.

The caretaker of the home picks up the child, and decides to keep him with her. She announces the arrival of this queer child to the members of the home, and there starts the story. Benjamin, the child starts to grow backwards. While during the birth, the child features the look and feel of a very old man, and from that day, starts growing backwards. Initially, the boy is not even able to walk, and moves in a wheelchair. The boy looks exactly like an old man, and is considered to be one, by many.

After a few years, Benjamin meets Daisy, the grand daughter of an old lady who comes to live at the home. They both develop a good friendship, and roam around.

Benjamin, now physically at his sixties (mentally, at his teen) goes to work in a ship, as a sweeper. He also meets a new person called Mr. Button, who comes to visit Benjamin one day (his father, who left him at the home). Mr. Button asks Benjamin that he will visit him at times, and Benjamin accepts. He develops a good friendship with the ship’s captain who takes him to bars and to women (The captain asks Benjamin, thinking that he is an old man, about any experiences with women, and Benjamin says no. The captain gets flabbergasted and takes him to women). They go to various places, with the ship. At every new place, Benjamin sends a postcard to daisy, as asked by her when he left for work.

Once, at Russia, Benjamin gets to meet a lady named Elizabeth. They both get attracted, and they spend every night at the hotel reception, and they talk till daybreak. She is already married, and slowly the friendship turns in to an affair. Benjamin writes about this to Daisy that he has fallen in Love with the lady. Suddenly, on the day the pearl harbor got attacked, Elizabeth disappears, leaving a note thanking him for everything.

Benjamin’s ship is requested by the US navy to join the World War 2, and after some travel, where Benjamin tells that even though they are in to the war, they didn’t see even a glimpse of it, spots a German submarine and engages in a battle. The boat gets severely damaged. At the end, Benjamin escapes death and returns home. While on his return, he sees a humming bird. It’s quite unnatural for humming birds to be seen at such heights (he is standing on the upper deck of a sailing ship), and it gives him a different perspective about life and death.

While at home, Mr. Button again meets Benjamin, and reveals the truth that he is Benjamin’s father. Mr. Button asks Benjamin to take care of all his properties. Benjamin’s immediate reaction is to go home to his foster mother, but eventually, he accepts his father’s will.

By this time, Daisy becomes a successful Ballet dancer. Benjamin meets Daisy and she wants to make love to him. Benjamin refuses, and Daisy leaves. Later, Benjamin learns that Daisy has fallen in love with a fellow dancer, and he decides that their lives have separated, from that instance.

Suddenly, one day Benjamin receives the news that Daisy has met with an accident at Rome and rushes to see her (The montage shown about why Daisy met with the accident is a very creative one). Daisy doesn’t want him there, and Benjamin stays for a few days at Rome. She also is very surprised at his youthful look (by this time, we get to see the original Brad Pitt. All the while, from the beginning, the reverse process of Benjamin getting younger is nicely shown). After a few years, Daisy returns to Benjamin.

They both start a life full of happiness, bubbling with youthfulness. They love each other truly, and they spend time together, with Daisy all the while realizing that Benjamin is growing younger day by day, while she is growing older.

Daisy eventually gives birth to a baby gal, Caroline. Benjamin tells Daisy that she can’t raise two kinds together, as he is growing younger day by day, and one day, sells all his properties, leaves everything to Daisy and Caroline, and slowly walks out of Daisy’s life, altogether.

He goes to various places, and sends greetings to Caroline during every one of her birthdays. One day, when Caroline is 12, Benjamin meets Daisy in her dancing school. He looks absolutely young by this time, like a teenage boy ( I was reminded of Varanam Aayiram schoolboy Surya. They both have worked hard supported with a stunning Make up!). Daisy introduces Caroline and her husband to Benjamin, and tells them Benjamin is an old relative. That night, Daisy meets Benjamin in the hotel, and makes love. Daisy and Benjamin realize that soon, Benjamin is going to turn so young.

Benjamin again disappears. Daisy gets a phone call from her friends one day that they have found a boy named Benjamin, who likes to play piano (It was taught to him by Daisy’s grand ma) and who is always in a state of confusion, and is not able to connect with people. She meets a very young boy there, realizing that Benjamin just has a few more years. From that day, Daisy visits him frequently, taking good care. Benjamin had lost his memories, and he just sees Daisy as yet another old woman.

One fine day, the clock at the railway Station which was ticking backwards, is removed. Immediately, we see Benjamin, now a baby, at Daisy’s lap, slowly closing his eyes. He dies peacefully.

Back at the hospital, while the hurricane Katrina thundering down outside, Caroline leaves her mother’s room for a smoke. At this time, a humming bird flatters it’s wings at the window, and Daisy sees this. She closes her eyes slowly, and dies. We are shown a room, where the backward running clock is kept in a box, still ticking. Slowly, water floods the room and raises to the brim of the box, as the clock still keeps ticking. The movie ends.

Well, this is all about Benjamin Button. The movie is nicely made. The visual effects are very good, and the acting is excellent. Although we see some glitches in the make up for Brad Pitt to show him older (Just like Kamal Hassan terrorizing everyone with his amateurish make ups In Dasavatharam), this is balanced by the acting and music.

Cate Blanchett is stunning. She looks very beautiful as a ballet dancer. Slim, charming and strikingly good. Brad Pitt has also done a good role (The theatre was erupting wildly with whistles and claps when we see a young Benjamin riding a bike, with sunglasses). The only hiccup with this movie is that the story was lacking the emotion. It was like an ordinary story. It would have been more effective if the story had the emotion and interest which would keep the audience ‘in’ to it. I felt that this film cannot be watched twice, and there is something missing in the story, altogether. Had this film had the emotional content, it would have been the definite Oscar winner, surging ahead of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, which was filled with this emotional content, which ultimately won the Oscar, even though it had hardcore masala embedded all over it.

In short, I experienced the same feeling I had, after watching ‘The scent of a woman’. David Fincher has definitely proved that he can also take dramas. Nice effort.

Go see Benjamin Button, for the sheer technical delight this movie offers.

world classic movies-spring,summer,fall,winter and spring

Our life is a complicated mixture of various aspects. We are not in a constant mood every day. Hour by hour, minute by minute, the mood changes, and hence the character. When we look back at how we fare honestly, we will realize about the deeds we have committed which affected others intentionally. Are there ways to drive away the guilt in our mind and to calm it down? What will happen if the actions committed in haste settle down in our mind like rust and it becomes difficult to scrap them away from the layers of our mind to make it clean? Is salvation a mirage?

There are too many unanswered questions in life. Even though we know the answers ourselves, we fear pursuing them, and are afraid to get rid of the guilt. What will happen if we get to live life as per what the mind says, and then what if we want to be clean and to spend the rest of our lives in remorse?

Spring, summer, fall, winter and spring is one such epic tale which spans three generations.

Spring

We see two big artistical gates open up slowly and reveal the stunning image of a Buddhist temple in the middle of a lake. All around, it’s surrounded by mountains and forests and looking at the temple itself is like looking at heaven. We get to see an old pontiff and his very young apprentice. There is a small Buddha statue in the temple, placed inside a bowl- like erection filled with water. There are a few goldfishes in the water. The Buddha is smiling, and the statue is a spectacular one. There is a door placed on two sides of the hall, and the little boy is sleeping on one side. The monk opens the door and awakens the boy. There is no necessity to open the door, as there is empty space all around it. It’s only needed to walk around the door to go to the other side, but that’s not the custom. The initial ten minutes of the film doesn’t have more than a few lines of dialogue. They go to the shore, collect herbs and return back. There is a dog in the temple, and the boy plays with the dog. We see a small montage of the young boy playing in the temple. The visuals are stunning.

One day, while in the forest, the little boy playfully catches a fish, ties a stone to it with a string and leaves it back. The fish is unable to pull the weight of the stone and shudders in the water. The boy laughs. He then does the same treatment to a frog and a snake. The monk silently watches from the back. While the boy is sleeping in the temple, the monk ties a big rock at his back with a rope. In the morning, the boy comes to the monk dragging the rock and complains that he is unable to walk. The monk asks the boy didn’t he do the same thing to the fish? Didn’t he do the same thing to the frog? Didn’t he do the same thing to the snake? The boy answers yes to all the questions, and the monk asks him to go to the forest and free the fish, frog ad the snake from their burdens. If any of them dies, then the boy will carry the burden in his heart to the rest of his life, the Abbott adds.

The boy goes to the forest, dragging the stone and trips down a few times. The monk secretly follows him. The boy finds the fish dead. He frees the frog, and the snake also is dead. The boy starts to cry deeply, as he is now aware of his blunder. The monk watches.

Summer

The doors open again, and we see the temple. The apprentice had grown to his teen age. He collects herbs as usual, and he meets a mother and her young daughter. He brings them both to the temple. We see a Rooster now in the temple. The monk has become even more aged. The mother says her daughter is sick, and the master invites them in. The daughter has to stay for a few days to become alright. The mother leaves the next day. Gradually, the teenage apprentice starts to glance at the daughter with lust. It is very natural, and once, he tries to touch the sleeping girl. She slaps him, and the trainee instantaneously turns to Buddha and starts praying fanatically. The girl gently touches him after seeing his predicament, and the door opens. The monk comes in, asks the boy why is he praying in such an untimely hour, and the boy keeps on praying.

The boy then starts playing with the girl in the temple, and the monk looks at this with a smile. They gradually become close, and once, the boy pushes her in the lake and takes her to the shore, and they make passionate love. That night, the apprentice is unable to sleep, and he keeps looking at the girl sleeping on the other side. The girl opens up her blanket, inviting him and the boy secretly goes to her. He tries to open the door in font of him, but fearing the creaking sound, goes through the empty space near the door. It has been filmed like the boy is breaking a custom. They make love.

This continues for a few days, and while they are asleep in the boat after making love, the monk notices. He drags the boat to the temple and pulls the plug, so that water floods in to the boat. They wake up with a jolt, and the boy pleads to the monk to forgive him. The monk says it’s a very natural thing, and desire leads to attachment and it will further lead to killing and orders the girl to leave as she has become alright. The apprentice cannot endure her absence, and at night, steals the Buddha idol and leaves the temple.

Fall

The doors open up again and we see the temple. The surrounding has changed. We see a very old monk returning from a neighboring village with a food parcel. He now carries a cat with him. On the parcel paper, the monk reads the news that a man has killed his wife and has fled. It’s the apprentice. The monk modifies the small shrunken cloths of the apprentice as he expects him at any moment. The apprentice returns to the temple. He has changed a lot, and looks like a guy from a city. He is angry to the core and breaks down to the monk that he cannot tolerate his wife going with another person. The monk tells that sometimes, others too will start liking our beautiful possessions. The apprentice stabs his knife on the floor of the temple many times, unable to control his temper over his wife he murdered. He tries to kill himself by sealing his eyes, nose and mouth by cloth. The monk beats him up brutally. The monk says he cannot kill himself. He ties the apprentice to the ceiling and places a burning candle beneath the rope. The apprentice falls down. The monk then writes down the hymns of the Prajñāpāramitā Hrdaya – a sacred Mahayana Buddhist sutra – using the cat’s tail on the wooden floor of the temple and orders the disciple to carve them out with his knife.

At the beginning, the apprentice does this with anger, and slowly his anger dissipates. He does it obediently. Two police officers come to the temple in search of the murderer, and the monk says it will take a day to finish up the carving. The apprentice carves all through the night, and faints. The police officers and the monk start painting the carved out sutras. The apprentice wakes up after a long time, and sees the entire floor painted with the carved out sutras. He then goes with the police officers in the boat. The boat stops in the water without moving further, and the monk waves his hand. The boat then moves. Later, the monk creates a pyre in the boat, sits inside sealing his nose, eyes and mouth using cloth, and burns himself.

Winter

After many years, the doors open again, and we see snow everywhere. The entire lake has frozen. We see a middle aged man (Kim Ki Duk himself). He slowly walks towards the temple, and offers his salute. He then goes to the frozen boat, salutes it and digs out the bones of the old pontiff. He places the bones in a red cloth and places it as the ‘bindi’ – the dot in the forehead - of the Buddha he earlier carved in the snow. We see a snake this time inside the temple. He cleans the temple and starts practicing the vigorous meditative customs, in the freezing winter. One day, a lady comes to the temple with her child, covering her face. She stays there and at the night, leaves the temple secretly, placing her child at the temple. She staggers in to a hole in the ice the monk dug when he arrived, and dies. The monk pulls the body from the ice the next day.

The monk now ties a big stone at his back, and starts to climb the tallest mountain nearby, as repentance to all his deeds he committed in his life. He painfully climbs the mountain finally and places the statue on top. From there, the temple looks like a tiny dot.

Spring, again

Now, we see the cycle complete. There is a little boy at the temple with the monk. The little boy plays with a Tortoise now. We are reminded about the monk, who did the same in his younger days, torturing the fish, frog and the snake. The movie ends with the beautiful shot of the status at the mountain, and the temple looking like a tiny dot.

Spring, summer, fall, winter and spring is a touchy tale about the cycle of life. What we did will come back to us. This concept is told in pictures. Everywhere in the film, I just felt like I’m walking inside the jungle surrounding the temple. The cinematography is excellent. I’ve never seen such a beautiful location anywhere.

Also, during every season, a different animal is used to portray the seasons. A dog, a rooster, a cat and a snake. There are a lot of allegorical meanings attached to them.

At times, when Kim Ki Duk shows us the mystical temple through long shots, it felt like heaven. I felt contented just seeing the shot.

There is also the untold story of the old pontiff we see at the beginning, that he might have also faced such a life, before he came to the temple. The movie makes us to think a lot.

The music too, is wonderful. For the first ten minutes, I didn’t hear a single chord other than the small bit playing when the doors are opened. That too, the music is not boisterous. It uses the exact music we hear at Buddhist temples. Not a chord more; not a chord less.

Watching this film was a wonderful experience which cannot be expressed. Watch it and feel the peace in your heart.

classic movie series-Angels & Demons - Bond with brains

After the great success of ‘Da Vinci Code’, Robert Langdon has become a household name among world movie fans, and among high expectations, ‘Angels & Demons’ released last week in India. It features Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, Ewan Mcgregor and Ayelet Zurer among the leading roles. The screenplay is by David Koepp & Akiva Goldsman. Now, Koepp is a fantastic writer who can influence the audience with his writing style. Examples: Mission Impossible, Jurassic Park, Spiderman, Snake Eyes, Panic room, Indiana Jones and the kingdom of crystal skulls and many more. One of the most talented writers of Hollywood. Ron Howard has directed this one too, as like Da Vinci Code.

The novel Angels & Demons is a prequel to Da Vinci Code. This is the first ever Novel to feature Robert Langdon, the symbologist from the Harward University. Went to see this movie keeping in mind all these details. I have not read the novel, and hence was totally unaware about the story or the plot.

The movie begins in a laboratory (CERN – Geneva). Something called antimatter – which contains a powerful magnetic field, which, when the batteries run out, can destroy the surroundings like a nuclear bomb. Three vials of this antimatter are stored in the laboratory and one vial is stolen suddenly, when the chief scientist Vittoria Vetra ( Ayelet Zurer) finds her father dead and his eye pulled out to break in to the storage area.

We then cut to the Vatican where the Pope’s funeral is taking place. All the cardinals arrive to elect the next Pope and the everyday activities are taken care by Patrick Mckenna (Ewan Mcgregor), who holds the designation of a camerlengo – a cardinal under the Pope’s office to carry out the various religious ablutions.

We see Robert Langdon approached by a representative of the Vatican. He tells Langdon that four cardinals have been kidnapped along with one vial of antimatter, and they have received a threat that one cardinal will be killed an hour, starting at 8 PM. Also, they have a video which shows the antimatter placed in a secret location, with the battery power slowly running out. When the entire power runs out, Vatican will be destroyed completely.


Robert Langdon arrives at Vatican. After hearing the recorded telephone threat, he finds out that a secret organization called ‘the Illuminati’ – which is about 400 years old – is responsible for the threat and he also discovers that each cardinal will be executed at one altar in the Vatican – the location unknown. With such a clue in his hand, he begins his journey of moving around Vatican to find out the four altars and to stop the killing and to find out the antimatter. This is the synopsis of the movie.

Unlike Da Vinci Code, this movie is a bit lesser in pace and suspense, as it doesn’t have any startling revelations or any mysterious secrets being revealed. Having said that, the movie has its own touch of intricacies about Vatican and about the various churches and altars and about – yes – Galileo Galili’s book which contains the information about all the altars in his period.

Tom Hanks has done justice to the role of Robert Langdon, as we hold his image when we read or talk about the symbologist, just like we think about Brosnan or Connery when we refer Bond. Also, somehow he fits in to the role with ease and they both have many similarities – just think about having Will Smith or Stallone as Langdon – and you will know what I am talking about. Tom Hanks and Langdon, both are like refined gentlemen who believe brain rather than in the gun. They both appear like they will solve any mystery which relates to working out with the mind and the brain.

The new leading lady is Ayelet Zurer. She too has acted well, the type of female leads we see in action oriented movies – as a side kick to the protagonist who occasionally surprises him with her wift reactions and sudden deductions.

Ewan Mcgregor – well, I was unable to recognize him in the movie at first look. He absolutely looked like a cardinal of Vatican with a tight face which reflects the responsibility he has been awarded with – the power to run the Pope’s office until a new one is elected. Nice piece of acting. But, half way through, his character becomes very predictable.

Near the end of the movie, we know what’s going to happen finally. This reduces the pace to a certain extent. But, even then, this movie can be watched as a sheer entertainer we get to see usually in the summer.

Overall, my rating will be 6.5 out of ten. See Robert Langdon work like a highly educated, decent Bond - bond with a Ph.D, and enjoy the show, folks!

PS:- I was fascinated to read that Clint Eastwood expressed interest in directing this film! But eventually it had to be Ron Howard, as he did Da Vinci Code.

world classic films- Before Sunset

imagine you are meeting someone after a very long time – say nine years. You didn’t have any kind of details about the other person in these nine years, and you absolutely have no idea about the whereabouts. Suddenly, while you are casually looking at some point, if that person stands there looking and smiling at you, what will your reaction be? Especially if that person is of the opposite gender?

Before Sunset is a beautiful portrayal of emotions. It is the sequel of ‘After Sunset’ which was released in 1995. In the movie, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) has grown to be an acclaimed writer, and he writes a book about the girl he met nine years ago at Vienna. While talking at a book store in Paris which is incidentally the last leg of his promotional tour, he suddenly looks at Celine (Julie Delphy), the girl whom he met nine years ago for a few hours. He quickly finishes his talk, and even though he has very little time left to catch his flight, he goes to Celine and asks her to have a coffee with him.

Celine accepts and they both start to walk towards Celine’s favorite coffee shop, a few blocks away. They have very little time left before they separate again. They start talking about their plan to meet at Vienna after six months when they first met, and how Celine missed the meeting as her Grand ma passed away. She asks Jesse was he present at Vienna and was he disappointed since Celine didn’t turn up, and Jesse tells he too missed the meeting. As Celine asks Jesse to give a valid reason for his absence, she discovers that Jesse indeed was present at Vienna to meet Celine. This makes her sad, and Jesse convinces her that there is nothing to be done, as that was the way things went.

Slowly, their conversation turns personal, and Celine discovers that Jesse is married and has a kid. Celine too has a boyfriend who is a photojournalist. They talk about various topics – about Celine mostly and their interests. Gradually, Celine starts talking what’s hidden in her heart. She tells Jesse that since they separated after their first meeting, she is unable to be united with any male. She tells that every time she is with a male, she feels lonely inside, and only when she is lonely without anyone by her side, she feels comfortable. That’s the reason her boyfriend is a photojournalist, traveling across countries most times.

She expresses her anguish about not being with Jesse. They both know in their minds that after their first meeting, they have never been happier in their lives. In some way, every incident happened in their lives for the past nine years reminded them of each other.

Celine becomes emotional while they travel to her apartment in a hired car. She starts to cry, having had all her memories about their first meeting and the irony of life that they were never together after the first meet. Jesse gently tries to stroke her head, and pulls back. Jesse tells Celine about his married life, and how sour it is. Just for the sake of his son, he tells Celine, that they both are living together, and there is nothing similar between them both, and every day it’s like hell.

They both realize that they have created a vacuum in their minds since they first met, and only they can fill the vacuum in each other’s hearts. But, it’s impossible to get united after these years, as they both have their own lives to pursue. They both know about this bitter truth, but even then, they want to be with each other till the last possible second.

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.