I had read an article in the SMH suggesting that viewers in India, where the film is set, might not enjoy the movie because it depicts the terrible Western idealisation of ‘happy’ slum-life. Western ideas about ‘happiness’ and the way that we seem to be constantly in pursuit of it but rarely attaining it run rampant in weekend papers. There is always some article chiding us to look to poor underdeveloped countries such as Bhutan where ‘life is simple’ and people are happy. These articles are patronising and, frankly, hypocritical. If the writer truly believes that life in a place like Bhutan would make us happy, why does s/he not go and live there? Therefore I was quite apprehensive going to see this movie because I cannot stand Hollywood films that depict poverty as a ‘simple but happy life’.
I think Slumdog Millionaire managed to avoid this cliché reasonably well. In fact, life in a slum look decidedly horrific in many, many scenes—in particular the one where the whole (Muslim) slum area is attacked by a pack of violent men intent on killing any person of the Muslim faith in their path.
The main character is Jamal. We meet him when he is a young man competing on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’. With each question he is led back into his past and this is how the story of his childhood and love for Latika is related to us. It is a brilliant framework for telling a story and we find ourselves shifting comfortably between the past and the present television studio until the end when the two collide.
The first question takes us back to Jamal and his older brother Salim as small children trying to make a living and go to school in a slum in Bombay. After the religious attack on his slum during which he witnesses the killing of his mother, he and his brother become street children and are joined by Latika, a little girl also orphaned after the attack. They become the ‘Three Musketeers’ until they are kidnapped and forced into the begging trade by a man so evil it makes your stomach turn.
Latika becomes separated from them but Jamal does not forget her. The middle of the movie follows the two brothers trying to make ends meet—riding from train to train, eating and stealing whatever they can. Theirs is a nomadic and hand-to-mouth survival existence. They eventually make their way back to Bombay because Jamal wants to find Latika. Salim, who has always had a nasty streak in him turns against his brother and becomes a gun-toting gang member. The climax of the story is suspenseful and very Bollywood-esque.
Overall the movie is a combination of Bollywood and art-house Hollywood. The romance between Jamal and Latika was unbelievable, mainly because they were children when they separated. The acting by the adult characters was exaggerated too—I don’t watch Bollywood movies, but I guess this is a characteristic of the Bollywood genre. Unfortunately I did not like Jamal—the older he got the more macho and exaggerated his behaviour became.
Despite its minimal shortcomings, I recommend it for its entertainment value.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Brokeback Mountain
Spanning approximately twenty years beginning in 1967, this is a story of the forbidden love between two ‘cowboys’ in Wyoming. Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis (Heath Ledger) meet when they are both posted to a sheep minding job on Brokeback Mountain. The job that lasts for several months involves one of them sleeping with the sheep looking after them, and the other minding the camp (located a two hour horse ride away) and doing the cooking—keeping house essentially. Severe isolation and a helping hand from Jack leads Ennis into Jack’s arms one night (actually, the scene wasn’t nearly that romantic—it was rough and very macho). And so begins an exquisitely beautiful and deeply tragic romance between the two men.
Both men return once the season is over to ‘normal lives’ of marriage, fatherhood and providing for their families. After a four year absence, they meet again and rekindle their relationship in secret—something they decide to continue two or three times a year. Jack wants more. He is a romantic and believes they can make it work if they just ‘get a ranch together’. Ennis is more practical. He feels society’s eyes on him and fears the consequences if they are ever discovered. It is the classic Hollywood love story in that it explores that ‘will they ever be together?’ tension. Clearly Ang Lee decided to make the gay lovers ‘cowboys’—you could not think of a more macho occupation, particularly in that era—to intensify the difficulties the lovers would encounter.
The storyline was relatively original; the scenery was stunning and the music was perfectly suited. I think, however, that it was the superb acting from both lead characters that made this an extraordinarily powerful movie experience. The unbearable angst felt by Innys as he attempts to resolve his actions with everything he has learnt about ‘being a man’ would have been frustrating to watch if it were not for Heath Ledger’s tenderness. Even more unbearable was Jack Twist’s broken heart. The depth of feeling that Gyllenhaal conveyed as a suffocated and oppressed young man overflowing with love and hungry for it to be reciprocated was painful to watch because he made me feel his sadness and heartbreak.
Both men return once the season is over to ‘normal lives’ of marriage, fatherhood and providing for their families. After a four year absence, they meet again and rekindle their relationship in secret—something they decide to continue two or three times a year. Jack wants more. He is a romantic and believes they can make it work if they just ‘get a ranch together’. Ennis is more practical. He feels society’s eyes on him and fears the consequences if they are ever discovered. It is the classic Hollywood love story in that it explores that ‘will they ever be together?’ tension. Clearly Ang Lee decided to make the gay lovers ‘cowboys’—you could not think of a more macho occupation, particularly in that era—to intensify the difficulties the lovers would encounter.
The storyline was relatively original; the scenery was stunning and the music was perfectly suited. I think, however, that it was the superb acting from both lead characters that made this an extraordinarily powerful movie experience. The unbearable angst felt by Innys as he attempts to resolve his actions with everything he has learnt about ‘being a man’ would have been frustrating to watch if it were not for Heath Ledger’s tenderness. Even more unbearable was Jack Twist’s broken heart. The depth of feeling that Gyllenhaal conveyed as a suffocated and oppressed young man overflowing with love and hungry for it to be reciprocated was painful to watch because he made me feel his sadness and heartbreak.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
This movie is based on a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald which was in turn influenced by an idea of Mark Twain’s. Twain’s idea was that a man’s life should be the other way around because he is at his best at the beginning of it and at his worst at the end. The movie’s premise is that timing is everything and that age will always catch up with us – it even caught up with Benjamin Button who aged in reverse.
Benjamin is born as an old man in New Orleans in the early 1900s. Doctors are at a loss to explain aging symptoms, such as arthritis, similar to those of men in their eighties. As the years pass he becomes younger. People around him, including his mother and biological father, die one after the other, just as they probably would have if was aging normally. He finds love with Daisy, played by Cate Blanchett, who he has known since she was a small child (and he an old man). Theirs is the classic Hollywood romance of star-crossed lovers destined to be together one day, but destined also for a rough ride getting there. It is not until Daisy is in her 30s that they become lovers and it is perfect timing as Benjamin is now in the prime of his life. Blanchett does a wonderful job of demonstrating the narcissisms of youth and the beauty of aging. Her younger character was indeed completely self-absorbed and a strong contrast to the more likeable woman she becomes. As she tells Benjamin one day, “I’m so glad we didn’t get together when I was 26—I was so young”.
Daisy and Benjamin ‘meet in the middle’ at around 42 around about the time Daisy falls pregnant. After the birth of their daughter, Benjamin decides to leave Daisy because he thinks he can’t be a good father to a child if he only continues to get younger. Furthermore he does not want to become another child for Daisy to look after. I was very disappointed with this turn of events and thought that the love story could have been so much deeper and stronger had he remained with Daisy. After all, a committed and loving couple don’t just separate when the going gets tough—regardless of what happens they look after each other. Furthermore, I couldn’t think of a better father for a child. A man who gets younger as his daughter gets older—perfect! Instead, Benjamin goes to India. Images of him washing in the Ganges, riding a motorbike and being a ‘solitary male’ follow. What a cliché!
Apart from this disappointing turn of events, the movie was a success overall. The acting was very good—Brad Pitt is absolutely brilliant as a curious old man and again as a thoughtful and sensitive young man. I wish Cate Blanchett had aged a bit more—she was absolutely stunning until she was over 60. Maybe I’m just jealous!
The moral of the story was clearly to grab hold of life because time waits for no-one. I certainly emerged from the 3 hour film with the reinforced idea that because time catches up with us no matter what we do, we ought to make the most of every day.
Benjamin is born as an old man in New Orleans in the early 1900s. Doctors are at a loss to explain aging symptoms, such as arthritis, similar to those of men in their eighties. As the years pass he becomes younger. People around him, including his mother and biological father, die one after the other, just as they probably would have if was aging normally. He finds love with Daisy, played by Cate Blanchett, who he has known since she was a small child (and he an old man). Theirs is the classic Hollywood romance of star-crossed lovers destined to be together one day, but destined also for a rough ride getting there. It is not until Daisy is in her 30s that they become lovers and it is perfect timing as Benjamin is now in the prime of his life. Blanchett does a wonderful job of demonstrating the narcissisms of youth and the beauty of aging. Her younger character was indeed completely self-absorbed and a strong contrast to the more likeable woman she becomes. As she tells Benjamin one day, “I’m so glad we didn’t get together when I was 26—I was so young”.
Daisy and Benjamin ‘meet in the middle’ at around 42 around about the time Daisy falls pregnant. After the birth of their daughter, Benjamin decides to leave Daisy because he thinks he can’t be a good father to a child if he only continues to get younger. Furthermore he does not want to become another child for Daisy to look after. I was very disappointed with this turn of events and thought that the love story could have been so much deeper and stronger had he remained with Daisy. After all, a committed and loving couple don’t just separate when the going gets tough—regardless of what happens they look after each other. Furthermore, I couldn’t think of a better father for a child. A man who gets younger as his daughter gets older—perfect! Instead, Benjamin goes to India. Images of him washing in the Ganges, riding a motorbike and being a ‘solitary male’ follow. What a cliché!
Apart from this disappointing turn of events, the movie was a success overall. The acting was very good—Brad Pitt is absolutely brilliant as a curious old man and again as a thoughtful and sensitive young man. I wish Cate Blanchett had aged a bit more—she was absolutely stunning until she was over 60. Maybe I’m just jealous!
The moral of the story was clearly to grab hold of life because time waits for no-one. I certainly emerged from the 3 hour film with the reinforced idea that because time catches up with us no matter what we do, we ought to make the most of every day.
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