worldcinema

The Syrian Bride & A band's Visit

2008-11-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

“The Syrian Bride” filmed in the valley region of the Golan Heights depicts the struggles of the people living in that region. As part of the Golan Heights is still occupied by Israel and the people living there considering themselves as Syrians, there is a constant hatred brewing among the two parties. The Druze people still view the occupation of Israelis as a threat to their actual identity and ethnicity. When Israel won the 1967 war, they occupied the Syrian border region of Golan Heights and slowly established it as a part of their territory.

The movie creates a picture of the atmosphere in that region and the problems the people face day to day. As Syria and Israel both claim the Golan Heights to be a part of their territory, there is a constant battle and argument between them. Any kind of official procedure is viewed as an attempt to further establish one country’s right on the region. The very idea of being a part of Israel is despicable to the Druze. The conflict intensifies when the idea of someone crossing the border between Israel controlled area and going into Syria arises. Both country’s border control disregards the others procedures and mandates.

The movie also draws attention to the fact that the passports of the Druze people declare their nationalities as “Unidentified”. The identity of one is the most important thing in one’s life and the Druze people are even denied that because of the nature of the conflict. As they consider themselves as “Syrians”, they also do not wish to obtain an Israeli passport which they can get. The sense of losing their own identity and integrating into something they are not is unfathomable to them. Any person who considers such atrocity of obtaining an Israeli passport or is remotely even supporting the Israelis is deemed to be a traitor against their nation and people. They are usually casted out of the community and are called “contributors”.

To negotiate between the two countries border control, there is a strong presence of United Nations representatives. The conflicts can anytime turn into violent bloodshed and massacre and to control that any kind of official business is handled by the United Nations. But the role of the United Nations in that region is highly circumstantial. They cannot control or predict how each and every case will play out and have to fully rely on both countries officials’ level of negotiation.
The Druze people are also against any form of inter-ethnic marriages as they fear it will slowly abolish their ethnicity. They oppose marriage outside of the region or Syria. When the eldest son in the family returns home after eight years with his Russian Wife, the father does not talk to him or even acknowledge his wife. The village elders also threaten the father with “cast out” if he welcomes the son and his Russian wife into the family.

This conflict in particular is not the usual religious conflict that is pictured in the media about the Middle East, but it goes beyond that. It is a fight for justice for the Druze people and their will to be part of a nation. It is a fight for their identity and their culture. The scope of the conflict cannot be resolved by inaction or the passive control of United Nations. Decades of dispute create the atmosphere of hatred in the region between the two parties and can only boil over at certain point resulting in violence.

“A band’s visit” had a different sort of message than “The Syrian Bride”; it was an attempt to endorse diplomacy between Egypt and Israel through culture. After the 1967 war, there is still a sense of contempt among the nations involved in that war. As the band comes to Israel, it introduces us to the life in the southern region of Israel. These regions of Israel are really undeveloped and the living condition just meets minimum level. Hot and dry desert condition exists throughout the region.

The band’s journey comprised of unexpected turns as they are stranded in a different city for a day and are forced to stay there overnight with the locals. The band gets split into groups of twos and threes as the locals arrange for them to stay and their interactions with the locals change their viewpoints. The movie focused on how people in these regions do not possess the similar disgruntled feeling towards each other and they can actually help each other.

Because of the difficult living conditions in that region and the minimum level of development, there are not many offices or large buildings in sight and not even in a busy transportation system. During the day and night, the city roads are empty and no one is visible in the streets. The city’s nightlife is a joke as like 10 or 20 people meet at a small disco roller skating ring. And apart from the apartments and small shops, there is nothing in the city, not even a park. When the band leader and the local girl were sitting on a bench, she described that she just imagines about the beach and parks and it helps her block out the reality.

The movie was very simple with a few dry jokes and situations. But it really depicted the life in that part of Israel and how the people struggle there. It also had that underline message that Arabs are much more acceptable towards the Israelis and there has been progress made in towards reaching a diplomatic understanding between the countries. It also promotes the idea of accepting people regardless of their differences and be open to suggestion by different people as they can turn out to be the very thing you might be looking for.

Cidade De Deus

2008-10-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

“City of God” directed by Fernando Meirelles does not create the world of corruption, violence, gangs and poverty which is predominant in Brazil; rather it takes a backstage entry into the slum life. It explores the cruelty of reality in the alleys of city slum through the story of children in the Favela of Rio de Janeiro. These slum areas which grow up on the outskirts of the cities depict the living condition and struggles of people. The story line of the movie is through the eye of the Narrator, who describes how City of God came into existence starting in the 60s. When the poor people in the cities are forced to leave due to poverty, they resort to petty theft in order to survive.

Violence is such a big part of survival in these places. You are either the one putting down competition or being put down. There is no middle ground, no safety, and no sense of value for life. The idea to join a gang is the same as any other place: sense of belonging, temporary protection and the chance to have a better living condition than anyone else. Like any other gang drama, you know what the end result will be: the cycle of violence comes full circle. The narrator is not the hero in the movie, rather is a mere spectator who cannot actually fight against or oppose the idea of such violence. The only thing he is able to do is survive.

The movie also portrays the drugs and corruption which is an integral part of these areas. Police do not interfere or enforce any laws in these regions and turn blind eye to ongoing gang wars and violence. Their incentive is two-folds usually: they get monetary funding to do nothing and also avoid getting killed. The main business which is run in these regions is drugs. In the movie, the narrator mentions about an old lady’s apartment where she used to sell weed later turned into the operational headquarter for cocaine for the gangs.

But as most gang-drug-violence movies go, you expect the rise and fall of the person in power and gang wars break out like epidemics. You can sense that there is already someone waiting in the wings to assume the charge and become the next Godfather. It is a circle of life and however dysfunctional and unfair it may be, it has a way of balancing things out. Either to fight to remain at the top or you just fight to survive.

The movie can be compared to Martin Scorcese’s “Good Fellas” as both movies bring to life the struggles of the forgotten class of people and the evil within humans who do not remorse. Ethics take a back seat to the fight for survival and opportunities are scarce to escape the barbarous reality in these slums.

Middle of the World

2008-10-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

Brazil, one of the largest nations is the only Portuguese speaking country in the South American continent. Brazil was part of the Portuguese colony for more than four centuries. Many aspects beside the language have integrated into the existing culture of the people. The population is also diverse in Brazil as Portuguese settlers brought African people into the country during their colonial era.

“Middle of the World” is based on a true story of a struggling family living in the middle of Brazil take on a six month long, 2000 kilometer journey in search of a better living condition and employment. Wagner Moura stars as Romao, an illiterate truck driver who gets tired of his meager existence in the northeast of Brazil. Together with his wife Rose (Claudia Abreu), Romao concocts a scheme to bring his entire family to Rio de Janeiro on bicycles. Along this long road trip, they experience several life-changing events.

The movie depicts many social and cultural issues that exist in Brazil. When the Portuguese first arrived in the region, they came as missionaries and preached Christianity to the locals and also the Africans in the region. They also established churches and Christianity became the main religion of the people. Religion is a great part of their lives in Brazil. Throughout the movie, it showed how people value Christian teachings. Despite being hungry, the family decides to walk up their patron saints church and seek guidance and pray. The lead character, Romao, tries to lift the table believing that only someone who has not sinned can lift the table believing that it was much more important than feeding his kids or even resting after the whole day of exhausting journey.

The movie also draws attention to how underdeveloped the interior part of Brazil is. Lack of opportunities for employment and meager wages drive people from different regions of the country towards the coastal cities. The transportation network is also not well developed. Non existing transportation system makes it difficult for people with little money to travel. Only meaningful transportation hubs that exist are the gas stations which are located hundreds of kilometers apart. In the movie, the family has to pedal whole day in order to reach the next gas station before nightfall. On the other hand, the cities are developed with rise apartment complexes, highways and transportation system such as buses, trains and cars.

The interior regions of Brazil also have strong gang influence and crime rates and are not regulated by the local police. It makes these regions a safe haven for criminals who deal in cocaine, firearms and many other illegal items. In the movie, when the family stops to rest at an abandoned house, they are confronted by a gang carrying firearms and they slash the older son’s nose with a knife. The gang leader describes that this place is full of thugs and criminals and job opportunities are only related to unlawful activities.

The movie creates and successfully depicts the impoverished condition which many Brazilian families face day to day. It also talks about the human spirit of optimism in the face of adversity. The movie’s focus on Christian teachings resonate the undying nature of human spirit and idea of finding hope. But it leaves an important question in the mind of the viewers. What happens to families who cannot complete such rigorous journeys or never get the opportunity they have been looking for, do they survive or get lost in oblivion?

Tsotsi

2008-10-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

After the post –apartheid era, the landscape of South Africa changed. But still many forms of social dysfunction and crimes within ethnic groups took center stage. It continues to plague the lower class people and draws them to different criminal activities. “Tsotsi” is a story of a young gangster who grows up in the streets after running away from the domestic violence. Living in the outskirts of Johannesburg, he stays above the poverty line by assaulting rich people at gunpoint. In such a brutal environment, he develops a remorseless persona. But as events unfold later in the movie, his remorseless persona takes a jolt in the stomach and turns him from a menacing criminal who does not have any chance for redemption to well, human.

After the post apartheid time, even though the racial discrimination which existed had ceased, people still are struggling in South Africa to surface above the intransigent poverty. Millions of people live in the outskirts of big cities like Johannesburg. To get away from the reality of the condition of life in those slumps, people resort to drinking. The “Teacher” in the movie, portrays the struggle of an educated yet poor person who resorts to drinking to forget the reality.

Violence is also another aspect which breeds out of poverty. Use of violence in the streets is a way of survival for the people living in the slumps. Starting from threatening people on gunpoint to extort money to carjacking and even murdering someone is evident and prominent in the society. These forms of violence contribute largely towards increasing crime rates in the country and deteriorate living conditions. But many people living under the poverty line see them as opportunities. The character of Lena, the car parts dealer, buys stolen cars from gang members and runs a successful organized business employing wannabe gang members in his crew.

South Africa has the highest number of HIV/AIDS infected people in the world. The growing number of infected people is a huge concern for the government. To enhance knowledge about the deadly disease and protect the citizens, large billboard can be seen at public locations encouraging people to get tested. Despite governmental efforts to raise awareness, there is a “taboo” associated with the disease itself and people infected of the disease. Any kind of association with infected people is considered by many as a threat and staying away is the only way to avoid the risk of being transmitted.

The movie “Tsotsi” focused on the black of people in Johannesburg and portrayed both ends of social spectrum. In one hand, there is a wealthy family who can afford the very best in terms of living conditions, luxury while the people living in the outskirts of Johannesburg feature the worst living condition. The director used such contrasting situation to portray how even after the apartheid era and economical development, the social condition and poverty has not declined in South Africa.

Yesterday

2008-10-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

“Yesterday” is the first international drama movie made in the local Zulu language at the rolling foothills of Zululand in the eastern Kwazulu-Natal province. The movie showed the charming yet harsh desolate location of South Africa. Dry, arid conditions throughout the region make it difficult to even do day to day activities in the region. People rely on forms of agriculture to support themselves in those areas.

The movie depicts the journey of an AIDS- infected woman named Yesterday in the Zulu province and her struggles. It is about how she reacts to the news that she has contracted AIDS from her migrant husband who works in Johannesburg and tries to manage her family even though all her day to day activities get harder for her to do.

South Africa has the highest number of AIDS infected people in the world and one out of every four women is HIV positive. This widespread disease is the reason that South Africa is the only country in the world forecasting a decline in their population.

To add to the misery of the infected people, there are inadequate facilities to take care of infected people throughout the country. Most of the people either do not know or cannot get required medical treatment even to ease their pain or sufferings. When Yesterday visits a regional AIDS patient facility in order to get her husband admitted, the hospital administration tells her to get her husband’s name in the waitlist due to limited capabilities at the hospital.

When one in every nine people in the country is infected by HIV, there needs to be education about how the virus is transmitted, what to do in order to protect oneself from contracting the virus. It is surprising that still people do not know about the facts about the disease. Lack of education system throughout different regions in the country contributes to the increasing number of HIV-infected people in the regions. As the movie showed, when the village people learn about Yesterday and her husband’s HIV, they want to cast them out of the village. They believed that just being in close proximity with the infected people can make them HIV positive too. Yesterday also told about a girl, who contracted HIV in another village and was stoned to death by the villagers.

South Africa is a highly developed country based on its natural resources such as Gold, Coal and Diamond mines. It provides employment to huge influx of people from all over the country who migrate to cities. Despite of the developments, the country is only developed in the cities. Villages and different regions still lack basic transportation network. Dirt roads are the main transportation channel throughout these regions. They also lack medical facilities for people in those regions. People have to stand in lines to get to see a doctor once a week as the government does not provide sufficient funding to employ more than one doctor in one region. People commuting for hours can be turned away from the clinics.

Even though the movie is a fiction and also can be a masterpiece in its story telling and the performances by the actors, it is the harsh reality people face in South Africa. The fear and ignorance associated with HIV/AIDS is deep-rooted in the regions and something the poverty-stricken countryside people face every day. The end scene in the movie when yesterday’s daughter Beauty, goes to school serves as the underlying message of the movie. The way to fight the fear and ignorance associated with HIV/AIDS is to educate the young generation.

Singapore Dreaming

2008-10-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

Singapore, a small island in the Southeast Asia, is an important financial center of the world economy. The people living in the island nation have one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. The movie” Singapore Dreaming” follows a patriarchal working class family’s dream and the harsh reality they face in terms of fulfilling those dreams. The movie depicts the growing obsession of success in a capitalistic economy and the hardships faced by people.

The movie addresses many social issues in the day to day life of a Singaporean family. The movie depicts a gender discrimination that exists in the society. The father and mother have high aspirations for their son and sends him to United States to study while their elder daughter is neglected despite the fact that the son failed even to get admission in a local university. The daughter complains about the parents caring for their son more than her through out the movie. A son is viewed as an asset who will contribute to the family and thus viewed as a security investment for the future.

Most of the Singaporean working class people live in Government apartments through out the country. For most, it is the dream to move out of those apartments to a better remote high profile area. The father buys lottery tickets in the view that the money will enable him to fulfill his desire. When his son returns from United States, he believes that it will take him one step closer to fulfilling his dreams. Even though most Singaporeans live in these apartments, they dislike the strict government rules and regulations. The scene where the sign shows “No urination in the elevators, violators will be prosecuted” and the Irene’s husband urinates anyways in the elevator just to show his disregards to the law.

The movie is made from the viewpoint of a Singaporean and the way they think of success. As it is true for all capitalistic nations, the opportunities are highly competitive. When Ck goes in for an interview, his degree is viewed useless as the employer mentions that they cannot afford take the risk to hire him as his degree is not from MIT, Stanford. In one scene where Ck explains his new car to his fiancé, his words summarize the way people think in the society. “If you want to make it big, you have to show you already made it”.

Singapore Dreaming also portrays how employers treat sub ordinates in the society. Irene, who works as a secretary is called into the office during her father’s funeral on an emergency to photocopy a few papers and get her boss a cup of coffee. The boss’s behavior resonates that he owns the employees and can treat him as he pleases. In another scene, when Irene rushes to help the boss’s wife despite being pregnant, the boss’s wife orders her to clean up the apartment. The successful people in the society treat their subordinates like their personal property.

The Taoism funeral ceremonies, where they create replicas of everything that was important to the deceased and at the end incinerate everything served as a metaphor. The dreams and aspirations of the father turned to dust along with him and accompanied him to the next life.

The movie draws attention to the fact that success in life is more than mere material possessions one owns. Running after materialistic dreams often blurs the importance of family ties, emotions of people surrounding one. After the funeral of the father, the dysfunctions and tensions among the family members become more apparent.

Crying Ladies

2008-10-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

Philippines, the multi-island nation had been under the rule of the Spanish monarchy for over three centuries and as a result, the culture and language absorbed some Spanish features. Philippines were under the rule of United States following the Spanish-American War of 1898. So the country’s culture has infused Spanish, American and local customs together. Because of that reason, English is prominently used in the country and many Spanish words have made their place into the language. Because of the Spanish and American influence, almost 86% of the country’s populations belong to different sects of Christianity where majority of them are Roman Catholics.

“Crying Ladies” is a story of three working class women who get hired by the Chua Family to cry at the wake ceremony for the deceased. It is a Chinese ritual to bid farewell and they believe that the more people mourn for the deceased, the more the Gods will be pleased with that deceased. Stella, the lead character in the movie, is a second generation mourner and divorcee mother. Choleng is a character torn between her religious beliefs and her affair with her friend’s husband. Aling is a shopkeeper holding onto her fading memory of a movie career. As all three of them get hired by the Chu family, they all deal with their problems throughout the movie. Stella struggles to find a better job in order to keep her son close to her and weighs the pros and cons of keeping her son, Bong, with her rather than sending him away with his dad and step mom to another far away city. Choleng seeks refuge in confession in her church and tries to obtain peace of mind by doing charity. Aling seeks to make her daughter a model in order to hold on to her memory of movie fame.

The movie depicts that more and more people are moving away from their ancient beliefs and rituals in the society. When the Chua family starts looking for criers for the funeral, they face that situation. Once a prominent feature for families with Chinese heritage has now slowly faded away in the face of modern day lifestyle.
The movie addresses many social norms or activities people are involved in.

Gambling is a one such activity which people indulge in to try and win. The shop owner who sells caskets runs a gambling place behind the store and invites all his friends to gamble. It serves as a getaway for them for the reality and provides them with a sense of achievement.

Bribery is a norm people face every day in the society. Starting from small to big, everything involves bribe. Two scenes in the movie depict how people accept bribes to make jobs easier for people and at the same time earn some cash on the side. First, the traffic police stop a driver entering a one way street and then accept an “Oakley” sunglass as bribe and let the driver leaves without a ticket. Second, Wilson gives money to two different persons so that the funeral procession can take a shorter route on the streets and not face the difficulty of going all the way around couple blocks.

The radio, television and different agencies create and promote different game shows to attract people and most of the time, prey on people’s dreams. Reality shows and game shows attract huge number to participants and audiences. Hundreds of people show up to participate in the game shows to win or just appear on TV and some of these game shows are designed to embarrass the participants. The game show Stella decided to join asks them to appear in funny getups in order to just get into the audience. On the contrary, they also have some talent agencies which actually provide opportunities to people with talents.

Karaoke is a huge part of Philippine culture. Almost every bar or social gathering has a karaoke machine and people really enjoy karaoke. At the end of the movie, at every bar, club, party Stella appears on all the Karaoke channels or machines as she is the star of the karaoke videos.

The movie portrays basic principle that rather than pretending to be something else, it is much better to recognize your own potential. Also changing different behavioral aspects of own character can serve to create better opportunity for personal growth.

Once Were Warriors

2008-10-07T20:38:00.001-07:00

“Once were warriors” is a very violent depiction of people of the Maori culture in the modern day New Zealand. The movie introduces the themes of violence, gender differences, and class distinctions among the modern day Maori descendants who have lost the real values and culture.The movie is about a middle aged mother of five, Beth, who is trying desperately to keep the family together. But as the violence and abuses mount up, it becomes more and more difficult for her to do that.

In the movie, there is a distinct gender difference noticeable. The man is regarded as the leader of the household and the woman in the family do not have any say in it. Jake the muss, just decides to throw a party in his house without regards to the disturbance or inconvenience it might create for his family members. Continuous bad behavior towards the women signifies that fact. The women in the group also accept that fact. The quote of one of the friend of the wife resonate this fact: “Keep your mouth shut and legs open”. Women are objectifies and they cannot disagree with the men. Jake beats up his wife in front of his friends brutally and still does not get stopped by his friends. She is literally punched and kicked repeatedly, but no one comes to her aid. Grace, the daughter of Jake and Beth, gets raped by a friend of her father, Bully. Bully tells her it was her fault she came down stairs while they were drinking. She actually believes that if she tells anything to her dad, she would be blamed and be subject to more violence. This idea of male dominance and undermining of female rights was apparent throughout the movie.

Violence is the main theme in the movie. Every aspect of life beginning from family to friend circle revolves around violence. Violence in the family tears up the family and creates such an environment which leads to one of their son to be sent into special school to learn the actual teachings of Maori culture. Starting from domestic violence which creates hatred among the kids to eventual suicide by Grace exemplified how violence tears apart a family.

The character of Jake portrays how the modern generation of Maoris has moved away from their actual values and resort to alcoholism and gambling to battle their frustrations. Gambling is a huge part of New Zealand's economy and horse racing is really prominent. On every scene, when Jake is with his friends, there is heavy drinking all around which usually led to violence.

The movie portrays the social economic issues such as the struggles of Maori descendants. They are depicted as a poor class of people who account for 15 percent of the population, but more than half of them are serving prison sentences. Most of them get involved in criminal activities or become gang members.
Tattoos or “Moko” are part of their culture and marks important events in their lives. Every Maori descendant is believed to be a warrior and the tattoos mark their status and ranks. It is also believed to make them more attractive to the opposite sex.

The Maoris have their own rituals and believes. When they are doing the Haka, a traditional Maori dance, they envision of reaching up to their ancestors and channeling all their blessings into their own. Many facial gestures are made to intimidate the opponents such as showing the whites of their eyes, or poking out their tongues.

Although such strong tradition and believes exist among the Maoris, they have adopted just the violent part of their culture as shown in the movie. Beth’s last words summarize the whole movie as she said that we once were warriors. Warriors, who had principles, who fought for the right- not the modern day alcoholic, abusive and violent characters who moved away from Maori teachings and values.

Rabbit Proof Fence

2008-10-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

The population in Australia is meager in terms of their land mass. But most of the continental country is largely inhabitable condition. Only vegetation on the continent happens along the coast. The most part of central Australia is largely dry, infertile, hot condition which is not ideal for living. There is little or no vegetation and scarce water resources. Most of the people living in those regions are Aboriginal people.

“Rabbit Proof Fence” depicts the struggle the Aboriginal people faced in the hands of the British immigrant who tried to introduce their own cultures to them by force. The idea of a “third race” to exist along with the white and aborigines was something the Whites did not want. They wanted to select a few “half-caste” girls and put them through a training program so that they qualify into the white culture. The idea was to gradually eliminating the third race and the cultural differences by “breeding out”.

“Rabbit proof Fence” introduces the law which gave a government official, Mr. Neville, right to have control over the “half-caste” girls throughout the region. This law was made under the assumption of racial distinction and a way to change the future of those kids. The assumption was that by making those girls educated and providing with them the opportunity to learn the cultural values and traditions, they can be accepted into the society.

It also served as a plan to eliminate the third race by taking all the girls who were fair skinned and having them mix into the society. The philosophy was that through generations, the existence of racial features will disappear and everyone would be white skinned and cultured. Racial superiority served as a force in the migration of thousands of mixed raced girls to facilities like Moore River Native Settlement. If a mixed race exists, then the Whites will have to provide them with rights which they declined the aborigines. Also it would blur the line of racial superiority of the whites over the aborigines.

The movie also shows a distinct treatment of aborigines who worked for the white people. The Tracker, who works at Moore River Native Settlement, is denied a leave from work to attend to a family event without any reasons. Also the woman, who works for a family, is sexually abused by the man of the family. She begs the three little girls to stay with her so that they can save her. It depicts the nature of how the aboriginal people, who worked for the whites, were mistreated, abused and did not have many rights.

The movie also showed great variations among the religion of the whites and the aborigines. The whites practiced Christianity while the aborigines practiced polytheism and believed in natural forces for guidance. The Eagle flying was a symbol of that and the girl believed that it was watching over her. When she passes out in the desert due to fatigue and dehydration, she seemed to gain energy because of the eagle’s presence. She believes that as long as she has the eagle over her head, she will not face any dangers.

The fence which extended all the way around the country served as a symbolism to how the British viewed themselves quite different from the Aborigines. The fence was built to protect the crops from the rabbits, just as the law to take the aboriginal kids to training facilities was adopted to eliminate the concept of a mixed race.

Beijing bicycle

2008-09-30T20:26:00.001-07:00

China, one of the largest countries in terms of land mass also has the largest population in the world. It is surrounded by the East China Sea, Korea Bay, South China Sea and Yellow Sea. China’s vast landmass experiences different climates ranging from subtropical in the south to subarctic in the north. The geographical terrain of china ranges from configuration of broad plains, expansive deserts, and lofty mountain ranges, including vast areas of inhospitable terrain. The eastern half of the country, its seacoast fringed with offshore islands, is a region of fertile lowlands, foothills and mountains, deserts, steppes, and subtropical areas. The western half of China is a region of sunken basins, rolling plateaus, and towering massifs, including a portion of the highest tableland on earth. Despite all the diversity in the landmass of China, their population is mostly situated on the coastline cities. The booming economy also contributes to an influx of people moving to the city areas. More and more people are seeking better opportunities in the city’s factories, service industry and booming real estate developments. The movie” Beijing Bicycle” showed number of high rising buildings being built around the whole city.
The movie introduces a young man who comes from outside of Beijing in search of a better job opportunity in the city. He starts working for a delivery service on bicycle. His motivation for the job is he will own the bike as soon as he pays it off. Working towards owning his first possession, he is really attached to the bike. When he starts his job, the manager starts explaining job requirements. The way he talks to the employees, draws attention to how the City people treat people from other parts of the country. The manager’s behavior and attitude resonates that he thinks the employees can never be comparable to him in terms of social status. As the young man loses his bike, he becomes stubborn to find it and tries to track down his bike. Most of the people in Beijing use bikes for their day to day activities and the city are swarmed with bikes. To find one bike out of millions is quite impossible. The movie shows how people use bikes for activities such as going to school or work, shopping. In one scene, it shows two people trying to carry a fridge on the back of a bike.
The movie also introduces a school student who lives in the slumps of Beijing. People live in close small quarters and use common facilities for cooking and cleaning. The young school kid is desperate to get a bike, but his father cannot afford it. So he steals money and coincidentally buys a stolen bike from the second hand market. But when the owner, the delivery service guy, tracks down this bike, he tries to run away with it. For a long time in the movie, they both try different means to get the bike to themselves. Such is the importance of the bike to them; they even fight over it for a long time. After series of events, they make an arrangement of using the bike every other day.
At the end of the movie, the owner of the bike carries a broken bicycle on his shoulder on his shoulder thru traffic. On the background, the bikes were in a distant view and cars of different company swarmed the street. The director tried to paint the picture of rapid economical change and environmental changes that are taking place in China. The mean of transport which dominated the backdrop is quickly fading and making way for the automotive industry. He also tried to create the sense of moving forward accepting the changes than to cling on to outdated technology.

Eat,Drink,Man, Woman

2008-09-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

The main island of the archipelago is Taiwan Island, which comprises about 98 % of the current jurisdiction of the Republic of China; the other 2 % consists of the smaller islands of the archipelago - Orchid Island and the Pescadores, along with the tiny islets - Green Island and Hsiao Liuchiu. The archipelago is separated from mainland China by the Taiwan Strait, which ranges from 220km at its widest point to 130km at its narrowest point. Taiwan is bounded by the Bashi Channel in the south, the East China Sea in the north, and the Pacific Ocean in the east. The climate on the island is generally marine and varies widely by season in the Northern part and the mountain areas. The South, however, belongs to the tropical belt and is warm and humid all year. From May to June Taiwan experiences almost daily showers.
The movie “Eat, Drink, Man, Woman” directed by Ang Lee really painted a picture of life in Taiwan. It tells a story of a widower trying to maintain his relationships with his daughters. The old man plays a master chef who is really enthusiastic about his culinary. The movie focuses on the lives of his daughters and how the subsequent events affect his life.
The movie starts of with the old man working on a Friday banquet just for his daughters. The idea of family getting together for weekly dinner and sharing important announcements are tied together to their family values. But still they provide everyone with sense of privacy in terms of career paths they choose. One of the daughters’ works for an Airline Company, one of them is a teacher and another one works at a fast food restaurant.
Even though they family practices traditional Taoism, the prominent religion in Taiwan, they are also free to have different religious beliefs. The older daughter goes to church, offers prayer before she is having a meal. While others do not participate in, they still respect each other.
Taiwan has been a democratic state and participated in trade relations all over the globe. They are an important player in the capitalistic economies and the movie portrays that. Throughout the movie, references are made to people who left for United States for higher education or just living in the United States. The airline company is involved in deals in Netherlands and Australia. The booming economy in Taiwan also introduced the factor of people trying to move away from family homes to city apartment complexes. In one scene, the second daughter makes an announcement at dinner that she will be moving to a new luxury apartment in the city.

Veer Zaara

2008-09-22T09:59:00.001-07:00

“Veer –Zaara” an epic Indian love story which was filmed at the northern region of India known as Punjab. This region is distinct based on the geography and culture from rest of India. The movie created and displayed cultural similarities between India and Pakistan. Throughout the movie there is noticeable use of English words or sentences. As the whole sub continent was ruled by the British Empire for nearly a century, the strong influence is noticeable. After the ruling of British Empire, the sub continent was divided into regions. Areas with high concentration Hindus was part of India and high concentration of Muslims became Pakistan. A mass exodus followed during the period of separation. A conflict between the two neighboring countries exists still now and three different wars have not built any bridges to mend their viewpoints. This movie was created to enforce the idea of similarities between the two cultures and change the preconceived notion of the youth.
The region of Punjab in Northern India is fueled by agriculture. Their weather is suitable for wheat, sunflower, mustard seed cultivation and in the movie vast fields of mustard seed flowers can be seen. The tractor is a common way of transportation for the village folks. The movie also focuses on how the people in villages have to take own initiative in order to prosper. There is a strong sense of community ties in the movie portrayed by the whole village. In a scene where the actor, Veer, is coming into the town, the entire village gathers round to welcome him. The movie also sheds light on their cultural and family values.
In both of the countries, the society is male dominated and roles of women are limited to household duties and responsibilities. The women are deemed to play a role of good daughter and sister before getting married. After marriage, only role for them is to be an ideal wife and mother. Women going to school for education and doing a job is viewed unreasonable. In the movie, when the actress, Zaara, goes to the village and asks the village elder about why he has worked so hard for the male students’ education; but at the same time crippled any chance for girls’ education in the village. The present day culture is much more liberal about women rights. But still the women face scrutiny in different professions. The lawyer, Saamiya gets her first case after years of working as an associate. But the case is deemed impossible to win and despite the case being a low profile case, the government asks one of their best lawyers to represent the Government. Saamiya describes the situation to her colleague as the government’s attempt to nip the bud on her becoming an inspiration to women.
The movie portrays the culture of arranged marriage which is still a practiced tradition. The practice of Dowry, a promised amount of money paid to the groom’s family, still exists in both cultures. The idea of respecting elders and parents goes above and beyond one’s own preferences. In the movie, Zaara agrees to marry someone else for the sake of her family’s reputation and to obey her father’s wishes. In one scene, where Zaara’s mom visits veer, shows the respect he has for her. He instantly agrees to obey her wishes and even makes Zaara understand that they cannot be together. This scene epitomizes the sense of respect he has for obeying an elder that he is willing to leave his beloved.
This movie was made to create a sense of acceptance and similarities between the cultures and appreciate each other’s subtle differences. India and Pakistan not only share boundaries, but also have overlapping cultures. The new generation appreciates and accepts these facts and does not drag bad memories of the past while interacting with each other. The movie succeeds in achieving the feat of conveying these messages.

Run Lola Run

2008-09-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

“Run Lola Run” is an innovative movie which does not qualify under certain norm of Genre. A fast paced movie where the plot line is simple: Lola needs to get hundred thousand marks for her boyfriend who owes the mob in twenty minutes. The director rather chose three alternate versions of storytelling and endings for the audience than mainstream movies. The movie had an extensive use of techno music which is a great part of German culture and lifestyle. Animation was also used in the movie extensively.
“Run Lola Run” builds upon the idea of minuscule things occurring affect the following events significantly with greater consequences. As Lola decides to help her boyfriend Mani, she starts running towards a certain location. She runs across the city of Berlin rather than taking the possible subways, or cabs available on the street. The major transportation modes for people in Berlin were either the trains or cars or cabs.
The cultural aspect depicted in the movie illustrates the family values are quite westernized. Lola’s parents both were unhappy in their marriage and were having discreet affairs. Also, in the first scenario, when Lola asks her dada to help her out, he vents his frustration about not being appreciated at home and wants to leave the family to start a new family. He also refuses to help her and kicks her out. In the subsequent scenario, he is reluctant to give her the money. The lack of bond between family members is visible in the movie. But people not related to her family are quick to dish out advice in regards to what is right or wrong. In contrast to lack of communication and bond between families, strangers help out people like when Lola was crying, a strange old woman approached her and asked why she is crying. Also, Mani is helped by another old lady who gives him a phone card to help him out in distress. A sense of social responsibility exists in people. The homeless person, who finds the bag full of money in the train, buys another stranger food as he meets at a roadside industry.
Casino is also a huge part of German society and in the movie it creates an atmosphere where only high end people are deemed acceptable to gamble at a casino. A certain sense of dress etiquette and behavior is acceptable. Lola in the third scenario, when she runs in to the casino draws questionable looks as of her appearance and demeanor. The security is signaled to remove her from the casino as they feel she is bothering the whole casino’s guests.
In one scene, when Lola robs her dad’s bank, her dad refers to the cameras recording everything and the police would arrest her any minute. To that she replies that police are always late. But as soon as she walks out, she sees police cars and swat teams ready to move in. She could not believe her eyes. The response time for the police to arrive to a crime scene is usually long. The movie also depicts the strong mob connection and dealings in Germany.

Good bye Lenin

2008-09-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

Situated in the center of Europe, Germany is seventh largest country in Europe. It shares border with more countries than any other in the continent. Its neighbors are Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Austria and Switzerland in the south, France and Luxembourg in the south-west and Belgium and the Netherlands in the north-west. After the Second World War, Germany suffered huge territorial losses as it was occupied by the Allied forces. Regions controlled by the United States, France and United Kingdom merged and created Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union controlled territory established German Democratic Republic. They were informally known as "West Germany" and "East Germany" and the two parts of Berlin as "West Berlin" and "East Berlin".
“Good Bye Lenin” focused on the life of East Germans just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Christiane Kerner dedicated her life to the perpetuation of Communist Party Ideology. She creates the perfect portrayal of East Germans before the fall of the “Berlin Wall”. She works her whole life teaching the ideologies of communism and truly believes the principles of communism are the best way for East Germans to prosper. In a scene, Christiane is helping a neighbor write a petition, she gets her point across about capitalism and western influence in a dry sarcastic manner clearly indicating her believes about the West.
The movie takes a twist when she witnesses her son, Alex, being arrested by the Police and she suffers a heart attack. The scene where her son gets arrested clearly shows how the Police were beating people who gathered for a protest. Any demonstrations against the Government are not permitted under the Communist ideology and anyone involved in such demonstrations could be arrested and prosecuted.
As Christiane suffered a heart attack and was comatose, the borders between East and West Germany fell, the wall collapsed and people were migrating to the West for better opportunities. The official end of the cold war happened. A society under communistic government is denied many different amenities such as types of media coverage such as movies, news and radio programs. So when the Berlin Wall fell and the amenities of capitalism and western influence hit the East Germany society, they embraced it. In one scene, Alex walks into a video store and sees a group of people watching an X rated movie in public. This scene illustrates the cultural gap between both societies and how the adjustment process works when trying to adapt new things into the culture.
In the movie, Alex tries to protect his mother suffering from another potential heart attack if she gets too excited or surprised. It would be devastating for a person who has worked her whole life teaching the principles of communism and who believed in those principles, to see them fail in front of her eyes. Knowing this, Alex tried to protect her from the truth about the fall of the Berlin wall and reunification of Germany. In one scene, the building opposite to them has this huge advertisement of “Coca-cola” and Christiane gets surprised to see an ad of western product in East Germany. Alex and his friend create this false news report explaining the incident with the advertisement in a typical East German news way. This scene shows the idea of news in the communistic East Germany was to downgrade the Western ideas and products and also create conspiracy theories to support their claims. In the movie, they claimed in the mock-news that Coca-cola was an East German invention and the formula was stolen by the West.
The capitalistic influence drew businesses and organizations into East Germany and their products, services were available everywhere. McDonalds opened up stores in East Berlin and Alex’s sister started working there. When Christiane wanders into the street one day, she notices all the cars around her are mostly BMWs; there are advertisements of “IKEA” all around the roads, large billboards on buildings.
The induction of western products and services drove out the ghosts of communism in Germany. The scene where the statue of Lenin is being carried away in air, symbolized the end of communism and arrival of capitalism.

"My Sassy Girl"-Korea

2008-09-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

The Korean cultural structure is based on the teachings of Confucianism principles. The movie” My Sassy Girl” describes certain aspects of what the Koreans believe. Their beliefs resonate through their actions and the characters in the movie really show those principles in practice. Koreans respect their elders and are obedient to their commands even if the command is ridiculous. The narrator saves and intoxicated girl on the subway. In the course of event, she manages to throw up all over an older person. Furiously the old man orders the narrator to take her home and the narrator obeys his order even though, he does not even know her. After carrying her off the train, the narrator contemplates on leaving the girl at the station; but the sense of social responsibility stops him from doing so. The narrator takes her to a motel so that they don’t have to stay on the street. In going through her bag to find out more about the girl, the narrator finds her ID and discovers she is younger than him. The next morning he asks her not to talk to her in a rude manner as he is older than her, and treat him with respect. The narrator also witnesses the girl telling off some younger girls whom she suspected of providing services to wealthy gentlemen at a bar. They believe the social responsibility falls upon everyone in the society and it is an obligation to fulfill those duties.
As the narrator goes home and even though he is an engineering student enrolled in a college, he still lives with his parents. This is a common practice in their culture and people tend to live in extended families with parents and even grandparents. There is an environment and tradition of younger family member staying with older ones in order to learn etiquette. The narrator’s dad spies on his son and even asks him about his internet activities in order to control and mold their characters. One more characteristic of their culture is to beat up their kids if they make mistakes. The narrator describes that his mother will beat him up with whatever that is in her hands.
Korean society system is a male-dominated society. One scene, where a runaway soldier meets up with the narrator and the girl, he describes her as being the evil one for getting involved in an affair with one of his colleagues. In a male-dominated society, women are more scrutinized for their mistakes than men.
Throughout different phases of their lives, they follow the teachings of Confucianism. Starting from infancy, they are under parental control. In a scene, when the girl brings the narrator to her home, her parents forbid him to see her anymore. To respect her parents’ wishes, they stop seeing each other for a while. Then there is a woman whom we see at the very end, the narrator’s aunt, she persistently asks the narrator to visit her and meet a girl. His aunt wishes to arrange his marriage to someone she knows. This is a very common practice in Asian cultures and most marriages are arranged by the families.

Train man

2008-09-09T08:31:00.001-07:00

The movie “Train Man” paints a clear picture of Japanese culture and its functions throughout. Inspired by a true story which started on a bulletin board, the movie is a light hearted romantic comedy. It depicts various norms of Japanese life and cultures. The lead character is called Otaku, a computer geek, who is submerged in his own world and feels comfortable only when he is alone or wandering around different gadget stores in city of Akhibara. In one scene, there is a package sitting on his bed, and throughout the whole movie, no family member is even shown. He lives in his own bubble – isolated, with minimum interaction at work and most of his interactions are with online chat room, bulletin board friends. He gets ignored at work and even by a roadside vendor who is selling cosmetic products because of his appearance.
The movie shifts gear when Otaku saves a group of women from harassment by a drunken guy on the train. This is the first time he interacts with people in real life rather than on his computer. In that scene, he asks the drunken guy to back off and leave the women alone. Even though, it might seem a feeble attempt on part of Otaku to save the women from harassment, one has to consider the culture. Japanese culture does not allow people to be involved in inappropriate behavior, and it is the duty of everyone to maintain the social tranquility. Exceptions are made if alcohol is involved. And in that scene, the person was clearly intoxicated and such behavior on his part was normal. In the next scene, when the police was taking statements from Otaku and the group of women, Otaku started to walk away right after getting done with his statement. But one of the women came up to him and asked his address so that she can send him a thank you gift. He wrote down his address and in the meanwhile kept on apologizing to the woman as his actions lead to everyone being at the police station. The idea is to take care of everyone in the society and fulfill their duties towards one another in order to keep the harmony.
Then as Otaku receives a supposedly expensive tea set “Hermes” from the woman at the train station, he becomes excited and confused. His online friends suggest him to ask her out. In order to impress her, he takes their suggestion of various changes in himself like hairstyles, wardrobe etc. But living in the flashy and false persona became difficult for Otaku and he initially gave up trying to be with the girl anymore. Then, he got inspired by the words of his online friends who helped him along the way and in many ways, he helped them change. He ran through the Akhibara gadget section to find her. The place where he used to spend all his time just became a backdrop in the scene as he was running towards something much more meaningful and important. Otaku’s character is quite contrast to drawing the idea of a male-dominated society which the Japanese society in general represents. In one scene, when Otaku is waiting for the girl outside of her building, she comes out with her colleagues. Rather than waiting for her, the Japanese guy tells the other colleague to just keep walking.

Le Grande seduction

2008-09-02T19:56:00.000-07:00

"Le Grande Seduction" movie illustrates the issue faced by a small town in Canada which draws attention to struggling fishing business. The first scene in the movie creates a fairy tale vibe of how the small community used to be when the fishing business was at its peak. Due to the environmental problems, the business of fishing slowly diminished. A fairy tale ending was in the view of the main actor to return back to the way things were. But reality check was when all the towns household had to rely on welfare checks to sustain.

The movie really focuses on the functions of a small town and how desperately all the town folks wanted to have a hard working job rather than collecting welfare. The issues which rose were unavailable workforce even to start a factory, no qualified doctors in the town and the bank's unwillingness to grant a loan because of lack of collateral. Faced with all these uncertainties, town folks wanted to leave in search of better living conditions.

This movie really creates the small town lifestyle and problems faced by the fishing business community located on the coast of Canada's Quebec region. The only mean of transport is by boat to the unattached island community . The bank shown in the movie is so small that even the bank could replace the manager by an automatic machine.

The only hope for the town folks to work and sustain a better living condition is to have a doctor sign a contract which will enable them to fulfill a major requirement of establishing a factory.

The little girl who sold the sun

2008-09-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

“The little girl who sold the sun” draws comparison between global market competitions among different nations of the world. A crippled girl called Sili represents a Senegalese economy while the street boys represent the competition. Sili manages to get into newspaper selling on the street where aggression is only the way of survival and those who are weak do not seem to have any chance. A dead kitten on the side of the road symbolizes the fierce competitive environment.

The first scene in the movie holds out a clear image of life in Senegal. A woman is wrongly accused on the street and arrested, while everyone else watches the show. Membety tried to create a picture of the injustice in society. Another scene in which Sili is trying to buy things and a police officer just accuses her of getting the money in an illegal way.

A different approach to sales pitch of Sili attracts a clientele which then turns into a turf war later and everyone trying a cutthroat approach in order to regain competitive advantage. But her clientele actually go out of their way to buy her papers and she becomes financially independent. The director symbolized the independence of Senegal from the use of French Franc as suggested by The Sun as the same as Sili’s financial independence. Sili represented a new Senegal, moving towards improvement in their economy leaving behind the chaos, anarchy, injustice, corruption which essentially crippled the country’s economy.