1.

All about my mother

“All about my mother” is a Spanish film & one of its own kinds. It’s a weird movie & I
haven’t watched any movie like this before. It centralizes around Manuela, a nurse who
looks after her son Esteban. I felt very bad when Esteban dies in an accident. But this is
just the beginning. After agreeing to donate her son’s heart she moves to Barcelona to
find Lola, Esteban’s father. There she meets Rosa, who is pregnant by Lola. After giving
birth, Rosa dies of AIDS that she got from Lola. This increases my fear that even Rosa’s
child could have AIDS, which he surprisingly doesn’t has. This is revealed in the end.
Rosa’s father suffering from Alzheimer’s doesn’t recognize Rosa & is confused when he
sees Manuela with a kid in his house. Agrado’s appearance & witty humour adds beauty
to the film that deals with many serious issues like AIDS & existentialism. The movie
forces me to think about Manuela’s sacrifices that she makes to please everyone from
Esteban to Huma. The movie is one of its own kinds.

2. Precious

Precious is a story about Claireece, a sixteen year old obese illiterate. She is in
hopelessly dejected condition. She is abused physically and mentally by her mother. Her
father, Carl has impregnated her twice. She is expelled from her school because of this.
In her imagination, Precious dreams of an imaginary world, where everyone loves her.
It is very difficult to imagine that a teen age girl could be abused to such a low level in a
country like America that is perceived as super power in post world war period. The
movie brings out the real suffering of the black who couldn’t reap the benefits of
capitalism and are left out from mainstream.

Precious joins a new school with the help of her earlier school principal. Her new
teacher inspires her to start reading. After she gives birth to her second child, her
mother continues to abuse her. So she flees from her home permanently along with her
child. Her teacher finds a home for her and Precious continues academically. As soon as
I thought that the problems of Precious will be resolved, her mother comes and tells
Precious that her father died of AIDS. Later Precious finds that she is HIV positive while
Abdul (her son) is not. This is the fiercest situation I could have dreamt of for Precious,
but it turns out to be true. But brave Precious severs her ties with her mother and plans
to complete GED test.

3. An affair of love

It is an unusual love story directed by Frédéric Fonteynes. He and she, both the
characters being anonymous, come in contact with each other for pure sexual reasons.
She (Nathalie Baye) gives a classified in a pornographic journal to realize her sexual
fantasy. He (Sergi Lopez) responds to this classified. The way in which the story is
written in the flashback is exceptional. The two come alternately on the camera telling
their own version of story to the interviewer. Their versions of their first meeting are
inconsistent with each other.
They meet once a week and eventually fall in love with each other and they cannot go
further without lifetime commitment. They soon meet an old man who mistakenly
enters their room. The old man is later found to lying down because of heart attack. He
and she soon realize that they are a part of the society and are not insulated from it.
Later they decide to meet at the cafe to proceed towards a final commitment but instead
they part forever.

The movie makes me think whether they could have continued the way they used to
have sex forever or was it necessary for them to get married. Was it the pressure of the
society because of which they couldn’t marry or was it because of their personal short
comings. What role did the old man and his wife’s story played in her and his
relationship. The movie also questions the institution of marriage as a whole. At the end
of the day it helps me understand love, sex and marriage better.

4. Innocent Voices

The movie is a story of an 11 year old boy, Chava of El Salvador. The movie shows the
period when there was Civil war in El Salvador. As soon as the boys turned 12 year old,
they used to be picked up by military to fight against guerrillas. Chava sees army coming
to his school and picking children who are 12 year or above. Chava’s mother sews
clothes to make living for her and her family. His uncle Beto is with the guerrillas. He
wants to take Chava to fight from the side of guerrillas. Chava is also in love with a girl
in his class. He has to move with his mother and siblings to his grandmother’s home
which is a safer place. One guerrilla tells Chava about the army recruitment the next
day. Chava saves entire children by warning them. Chava, with his two friends decide to
join guerrillas but are chased and attacked at the camp by the army. Chava luckily
escapes the army because of a guerrilla attack. Chava runs home to find his mother but
finds his home burnt. She decides to send him abroad. Chava leaves and promises to
take his brother before he turns 12.

The movie helped me to understand Salvadorian war in depth. Recruiting 12 year old
kids in army is inhuman. Statistics show that over 75000 people were killed in this civil
war. The struggle of FMLN against autocratic government began in 1960s when reforms
challenged the alliance of authoritarian dictatorship. Because of fraudulent elections in
1970s leftists started demonstrations demanding fair elections and improved social
conditions. In 1980s, US directed counter insurgency war against FMLN. The whole
story is the depiction of how a powerful force could direct residents of a country to such
a low level of existence.

5. In the name of the father

It is a true story based on the British overzealous prosecuting in IRA bombings in 1970s.
Gerry Colon and his three friends are forced to confess that they have committed the
bombings just because they are from Belfast. Gerry’s father and other relatives from
London are also held responsible. He, along with his father, spends 15 years in prison
before Gerry is proved innocent. His father’s health deteriorates and he eventually
passes away. Gerry is ultimately helped by a British lawyer Gareth Pierce. The film
shows the relationship of a father and the son. The way Gerry’s father treats him when
he commits small thefts in Belfast is something we all can relate to our lives. This
generation gap exists among all fathers and sons. Gerry’s aggression is controlled by his
father during their stay in prison.

6. Funny Games

Funny Games is a remake of an Australian film written and directed by Michael Haneke.
The film begins when George, Ann and their son Georgie arrive at their lake house. Peter
and Paul come to meet them with a neighbour. The men start doing some mischief with
them. They destroy the phone and eggs. At this point of time, I was thinking that it’s just
the beginning of the movie and soon George will direct the men out of his home. I didn’t
know till then that the whole movie is concentrated on the behaviour of the aforesaid
men.

When George asks the men to leave, they break his leg with a golf club and take the
family as hostage. They start playing merciless games with them. They kill their dog.
While doing all the hedonistic things, they bet whether the family would be able to
survive till 9 a.m in the morning and ridicule each other for their past stories that don’t
have any evidence. Georgie escapes but Paul catches him and kills him when he tries to
run again.

As the men leave, Ann escapes to find some help while George tries to start the phone.
But Ann is again caught and brought back. She is asked to choose how she wants her
husband to die either slowly with a knife or quickly with shotgun. Ann picks up the
shotgun and kills Peter. But Paul rewinds the movie till the point when she catches
shotgun. At this point of time, the movie reaches the epitome of cruelty.

He grabs her arm next time and says that she isn’t allowed to break the rules. They kill
George and bring bound Ann out early morning and drop her in the lake. They go to
some other people asking for eggs and hence the cycle begins again. At multiple points
of cruelty, Paul looks out of the screen towards audience asking that whether they
enjoyed the cruelty or want more of it. The movie makes me feel that how insensitive to
violence we have become by watching it on television again and again.

7. The Chorus

The Chorus is a wonderful French movie directed by Christophe Barratier. It is the story
of a teacher named Clement Mathieu that runs in flashback. He comes to teach music at
a boarding school. He observes that the boys are ruthlessly punished by the headmaster
Rachin. They are even sent to school jail, a lonely room that is separate from their
classrooms/dorms. The boys are now used to such punishments and they don’t care
anymore. Clement decides to change this by being kind and humorous. The movie
shows how a teacher could transform the long existing atmosphere of an institute by
using his ways of teaching.
One boy injures an elderly care taker by a trap. Clement knows the boy but he protects
him and suggests him to nurse the injured instead. He later decides to form a choir. He
discovers that one of the naughtiest boys, Morhange, has a wonderful voice and gives
him a chance to sing a solo if he behaves properly.

Rachin bans the band and hence they start practising at night. Meanwhile Mondain has
arrived to the school. He has all the bad habits including smoking in the class. Mondan is
sent to school jail for two weeks. As soon as he is released, he runs away. At the same
time some money is found stolen and Rachin blames Mondain for the same. He is given
to the police. Later it is found that he hasn’t stolen it. Still Rachin doesn’t tell police
about this. This shows the real character of Rachin. His strictness could have been
assumed to be his care for the children. But this act clearly showed that he was cruel.
Clement starts liking Morhange’s single mother but later discovers that she has found
an engineer for herself. Despite all this, he chooses to stay in the school and work
towards transforming it.

One day in the absence of Rachin, Clement takes all the boys out for enjoying.
Meanwhile the school catches fire. Hence the boys are saved. Clement is fired for
breaking the rules. As he is boarding the bus to leave, Pepinot insists that he too wants
to go with him. First Clement resists, but later agrees. This shows his emotional
attachment to the kids. He treated them as his own children.

8. Music box

Music box is a film about Anne whose father Mike Laszlo, a Hungarian-American
immigrant, is accused of heinous crimes against Jews. Despite oppositions, Anne decides
to defend her father as she believes he is innocent and her son loves him. As a daughter,
after spending so many years with Mike, Anne can’t believe that Mike is guilty. This
shows a natural feeling of a daughter towards her father.

As the trial proceeds, there are testimonials of many people who have survived Mishka.
An expert from FBI endorses his I-Card to be authentic. The whole case revolves around
this I-Card. Maszlo claims that it is a plot of communist Hungarian government. Anne,
who is trying every possible mechanism to prove Mike innocent, gets a KGB operative
who states that USSR shared a technique of forging I-Cards with Hungary.

The opposition lawyer finds out someone in Budapest who is an eye-witness to Mishka.
Anne’s legal assistant gives her address of the person in Budapest whom Mike has made
huge payments to. She wants Anne not to be biased as her father was under trial. Before
the judge could conduct a testimony, a stranger gives Anne some documents that are
signed by the witness stating that Mishka was a different man.

After the trial, Anne goes to the address mentioned by her assistant. She finds a pawn
shop ticket there. As she retrieves the item back in America, it turns out to be a music
box. When she winds it up, it dispenses photos of young Mike enjoying himself killing
Jews. Hence Mike is Mishka.
Anne goes to Mikey’s birthday party and confronts her father. Still he continues to deny
his guilt. Anne sends all the photos to the prosecution lawyer. Her father is proved
guilty. She has to console her son after the images get published in news paper.
So in the end Anne could have kept quiet and proved her father innocent. But she chose
to reveal everything because she wanted justice to happen. Earlier she thought that her
father was innocent. So she was defending him. She couldn’t have imagined in the worst
of her dreams that her father was guilty of such heinous crimes. But as soon as she
confronts the truth, she reveals it.

9. The colour of paradise

This is the movie that I liked the most. I was completely spell-bound throughout.

The movie revolves around Mohammad who is a teenage blind boy. He studies in a
school of blind in Tehran. While he is waiting for his father, Hashem to come to pick him
up for summer vacation he saves a baby bird from a cat. The sequence is so beautifully
depicted that this becomes learning for a lifetime. The way Mohammad saves the bird
despite being physically challenged is commendable. Mohammed’s widower father is
ashamed of him. He wants him to stay in the hostel even in vacation. But on the refusal
by school authorities he finally decides to take Mohammad home.

Hashem hides Mohammad’s existence from the family of the girl he is planning to
marry. Meanwhile, Mohammad roams around beautiful hills in is village. His granny and
sisters love him. He amuses students and teacher in the school when he reads a lesson
properly in Braille. This shows the extreme intelligence that Mohammad is blessed with.
Hashem fears that his bride-to-be’s family will come to know about Mohammad and will
cancel the marriage proposal. So he takes him to a blind carpenter who agrees to keep
him. Mohammad is unhappy there and thinks that no one loves him. As an audience I
felt pity for the little boy.

Mohammad’s granny is heartbroken to find that Hashem has given him away. She
decides to leave home but collapses on her way. Hashem brings her home but she
eventually dies. Hashem also curses his destiny and this shows how helpless he was. On
getting the news of death, the bride’s family cancels the marriage as they consider this
as inauspicious. This shows their dogma. Hence Hashem loses both Mohammad and the
bride.

He decides to bring Mohammad back. On their way back, a wooden bridge collapses and
Mohammad falls into the river. Hashem thinks that he will be free from his burden but
then decides to save Mohammad. This shows how much he loved Mohammad
inherently that he couldn’t let him die. But both of them are carried away by the
turbulent water.

In the end, Hashem wakes up on a sea shore and tries to search Mohammad who is
motionless. But his fingers are shown to move as sunlight falls on them.

10. A love to hide

A love to hide is directed by Christian Faure. It shows the scenario of Paris in 1940s. It is
under German occupation. The cruelty with which Jews were treated is fully depicted in
the movie. The way Jews and gays were forced to go to concentration camps is
horrifying. Sara’s family was killed as they were Jewish. She goes to Jean to save her life.
Jean adjusts her with Phillippe, his friend.

Jean’s family owns a laundry and his brother Jacques, is in jail because he was a black
marketer. He also has a crush on Sara. He later comes to know that his brother is a gay.
He asks a German friend cum policeman to arrest his brother because of a small fight on
a condition that he will imprisoned only for one day. But as expected once Germans
arrest Jean, he was sent to concentration camp. When he is there, Jacques and Sara
make all efforts to bring him back but to no avail.

The movie also showed how gays and Jews were supposed to wear different signs like
pink triangle on their arm. When Jean returns from the camp, his brother and Jacques
have already died. He is completely burnt out because of hormonal drugs. He dies the
next day after his arrival. The movie gave me an opportunity to look into the scenario of
German dominated Europe of 1940s. It also makes me feel that different sexual
orientations are as natural as straight. So gays should be allowed to live in society as
everybody else. Today’s extremist forces are Nazis of modern world. Democratic
countries should curtail them if they want everyone in the society to prosper. Then only
we will be able to implement democracy in its real sense.

11. Behind the sun

It is a Brazilian movie on honour killing directed by Walter Salles. This is a story of two
families from rural Brazil who alternately keep killing people from each other’s family
over a dispute of land. They have been doing so since generations. Tonho, a twenty year
old man is supposed to take revenge of the assassination of his elder brother. If he
succeeds in his mission then someone from the rival family will come to kill him. The
families keep track of the changing colour of the blood stains on the shirt of the family
member who has died.

The movie shows how the lives of Tonho and his younger brother, Pacu are restricted.
They work the whole day producing sugar from their sugar cane plantation. Their only
solace is Clara, a beautiful circus performer. She is the one who has given Pacu his name.
Both Tonho and Pacu love Clara.

Tonho’s father forces him to go on his mission as soon as the colour of blood has
changed completely. He succeeds in his mission but has to live a life of fear. He doesn’t
know when someone from rival family will come to kill him. When the son of the rival
family arrives, he mistakenly kills Pacu. Tonho decides to leave his home and go away to
live with Clara.

The movie gives an insight into the extent to which the lives of people could be
restricted. Tonho has to work like a cattle whole day. His father has restricted the whole
purpose of his life to revenge the killing of his elder brother. His brother doesn’t have a
name. The movie makes me think the purpose of existence of people like them.
 12. Two women
Two women is written and directed by Tahmineh Milani. It revolves around the lives of
two women from Iran – Fereshteh and Roya. The instances that are shown in the movie
are very different from the common perception about conservative Muslim countries in
the outside world. In the beginning Roya is shown as a successful architect. Her husband
is dressed in western formals and is not at all conservative.

The whole story runs in the flashback after Roya gets a call from Fareshteh. Fareshteh
was sharp and confident student. Her family was not as affluent as Roya’s. They came in
contact when Roya requested Fareshteh to help her in her studies. Fareshteh agreed
and hence they became good friends.

The scene of stalker following Fareshteh was also shown very effectively. Fareshteh was
helpless for no mistake of her own. As Ahmed bailed Fareshteh from the jail after her
accident she was forced to marry him. Over a period of time Fareshteh lost her identity
as she was not allowed to continue her studies after marriage, to go out or to use
telephone.

I feel this is true of women in other countries as well. Indian women also sacrifice their
personal desires after marriage. This shows the truth of patriarchal society that
women’s lives are governed by their husbands. Fareshteh could have been an excellent
architect if her father would have allowed her to study further. This shows how much
talent this world loses because women are not allowed to follow their will.

When Fareshteh meets Roya after so many years, she is already a mother of two teenage
kids. The stalker, who came out of jail after fourteen years, harmed Ahmed who
eventually dies. Fareshteh is highly scared and bursts into tears. But this gives audience
a hope that she will make something good out of her life.