Friday, June 16, 2006

Human life don't mean as much to them as it does to us!

Though 'Fanaa' was too tempting to write 'bout(I would’ve gladly ripped it to pieces),better sense prevailed and here comes a rant on some amazing movies I happened to watch last month.

12 Angry Men:


It is not only Indians who have misunderstood the Western culture but it seems to be a case of vice-versa as observed by me during my last visit to Europe.
Some of my collegues (Italians, Dutch and French) had only great things to tell about India - how spiritual Indians are, how we are never materialistic and how our movies always depict moral values.
I am not saying that we are not all of that but we are also not an epitome of the aforementioned list of values. We are, I think, not any more or any less materialistic than those in the West (the booming Multiplexes, the new shopping Malls and the number of cars on our roads are evidence enough for this fact)
If you are wondering about the relevance of the above thoughts in regard with this movie, I would say that this movie I think is testimony of the fact that not all movies in Hollywood are devoid of any moral values.
Without any special effects, without any modern gadgets, without the use of any out door locations and finally without a single lady in it, this movie manages to get appreciation from all quarters.

12 men are part of the jury which is to declare a young boy in question whether he is guilty or not guilty of murdering his father. What starts off with 11 to 1 for Guilty against Not Guilty ultimately ends in the 12 voting as Not Guilty. The forceful dialogues and the way the quirkiness of each individual is brought to surface make it a movie that one should add in their Must-Watch-in-your-lifetime lists.
See a wonderful review of it here.
(the title of the rant is based on a statement made in this movie)

The Hours:

I don’t know if statistics exist but if it does, it would surely state that the largest number of suicides, of famous people from all walks of life, would be by writers (Hemingway, Plath and Poe (??) spring to my mind).
Based on Pulitzer Winning book of Michael Cunningham, this deals with women in three different time periods enmeshed in a single common thread - Virginia Woolf and suicide. Since I haven’t read the book, I could appreciate the movie which seemed to oscillate between three women all of them associated with some form of depression.
While Virginia Woolf writes the book 'Mrs. Dalloway' in 1925, another woman Lara Brown reads it in 1950 and yet another woman who is lovingly nicknamed Mrs. Dalloway, by her poet friend, is preparing to throw a party for him.
I am sure the book would have been brilliant because the essence of thoughts wouldn’t have been rendered on the screen so effectively. But it still is a wonderful movie to watch - all the three actors -Nicole Kidman, Mery Streep and Julianne Moore couldn’t have done more justice to their characters. Those of you who do not like the type of slow movies should keep off this one because it has a very unconventional movie which wouldn’t seem to make much sense and would be particularly make you feel low if you are in that existing state of mind, but yes folks who love Woolf’s books would definitely not give this movie a miss.
Memorable lines : “To look life in the face, always, to look life in the face and to know it for what it is. At last to know it, to love it for what it is, and then, to put it away. Leonard, always the years between us, always the years. Always the love. Always the hours”

Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Mara :


the movie opens with the wonderful lines 'Himmat karne walon ki haar nahi hoti' (Courageous people never get defeated).
A retired Hindi Professor who suffers from dementia who believes that he was the one who killed Gandhi and how his daughter with the help of a psychiatrist deals with the situation forms the plot of the story.
The nuances of a father-daughter relationship as well as the sibling rivalry while trying to deal with their mentally-ill father are captured quite sensitively.
Thankfully the cliché of the doctor romancing the daughter is avoided and a sensible ending makes this a very lovable movie.
The Gandhian philosophy that is advocated in the last scene of the movie and the inspiring poem which is repeated thoughout the movie as the professor's favorite poem are very socially relevant in today’s India.
And of course the memorable lines are :

Kucch Kiye Bina Hi.. Jay Jay Kar Nahin Hoti
Himmat Karne Walon Ki.. Haar Nahin Hoti

Lehroon Se Darr Kar.. Naauka Paar Nahin Hoti
Himmat Karne Walon Ki.. Haar Nahin Hoti



One must be wondering what a weird selection - an age old vintage classic(12 Angry Men), a vague interpretation of Cunningham’s book (The Hours) and now a flop Hindi movie (Maine Gandhi …) ?? But these are my very own recommendations and you can watch them or give them a miss depending on your take on movies.

For all those interested in books, I have started a parallel blog 'bout books which you can check here.

9 comments:

Mr. J said...

Nice reviews you put up here. Hhmm... and the other blog too. kewl ;) Keep em' coming.

Deepak said...

I definitely must watch 12 Angry Men!

I hadn't been too moved by The Hours. I watched it on a TV channel with a million commercial breaks in between. That may have been one of the reasons why I thought there wasn't much cohesion between the various parts.

Anonymous said...

That is an awesome blog. You have a wonderful style of writing.
Have book-marked your blog with my other regular ones.

Keep up the good work!

Anu said...

I saw The hours when it was first released. I still remember Nicole Kidman's acting. She was really wonderful. The restlessness, the distraction, the cigarette. I should watch the 12 Angry men.

Sin said...

Haven't watched any of the 3! Will definitely add them to my list. :)

Mukund said...

i guess this was the list of movies u had promised to send me!

Swathi Sambhani aka Chimera said...

@John
yup 've alwayz wanted to start a blog on books, so here i come

@deppe
even otherwise 'The Hours' would appear loosely knitted, i can imagine what a million commercial breaks wud've done to it.

@archana
so i din keep it a secret from u for too long :)
thanx for all the encouragement .

@Anu
yup Kidman truly deserved the oscar, must say

@truth fairy
so finally u have come out of ur newly-wedded cocoon.... herez a Hug which says 'welcome back'

@mukund
no, this is just the subset of the movie list i had promised u.

zee said...

I've watched 12 Angry Men and The Hours ! Loved both of them.
I kept thinking about the movie "Hours" long after I watched it. The character portrayal and their psyche was brilliant. Good reviews.

Swathi Sambhani aka Chimera said...

@venus
guess Nicole Kidman really deserved that Oscar.