(Movie) This revolution will not be televised directed by Kim Bartley and Donnacha Ó Briain

 

In an age of 24 hours television, when we have the whole world beamed to us by an almost inexhaustible array of channels, "This revolution will not be televised" poses some very uncomfortable questions about what we are fed everyday from the newsrooms of the world

A paranoid's favourite statement is - "We are being lied to". This being an affront to our superior intelligence, we choose to deny, even though we realize the kernel of truth in it. Or as Kurt Cobain put it succinctly - "Just Because You're Paranoid, Don't Mean They're Not After You"

When you see something like "This Revolution will not be televised", you realize that the paranoid is probably much saner than we thought. And you wonder what else is here that you think you knew, but probably don't know s**t

The setting of the documentary is the 2002 coup attempt in Venezuela in which western influenced and financed groups and army elements tried to oust Hugo Chavez, the charismatic rebel president who had come to power on the back of a popular upsurge. Chavez was intended to become another bloody statistic in the long history of popular presidents in Latin America removed by force, the United States always being the alleged culprit. Look at what happened to Allende

Filmed by Irish filmmakers Kim Bartley and Donnacha O Briain, what was originally intended as a biographical sketch of the Hugo Chavez, turned into a fascinating look into the coup events as situations changed rapidly and drastically around them.

Labels: alternate history, america, conspiracy, documentary, media, movies, revolution, venezuela

posted by Protik Basu @ 9:34 AM 0 Comments

(Movie) Inshallah Kashmir directed by Ashvin Kumar

Banned in India by the ever faithful Big Brother of a censor board, the director took the unprecedented step of releasing this online (apparently there is no law against releasing something online…yet). Ashvin actually opened it up for download for one day – on 26th January, the Republic Day. That’s quite a symbolic gesture!!

And once you see this you know why…

Which is why you need to see it

It has been the practice of all governments to try and dictate what we must see and hear and there us always an effort by all governments to make the public buy into their version of current and historical events.

And there has been an increasing virulence of intolerance by self-appointed patriots whose sense of injustice bleed too easily. Look at what happened to Symbiosis university’s Kashmir seminar “Voices of Kashmir”, which was cancelled due to the ‘fatwa’ by the right wing fringe.

And Kashmir is one topic which will always invoke strong reactions. And this is one topic which will always see an effort to give the ‘official’ version of the story

Labels: banned, controvery, documentary, india, kashmir

posted by Protik Basu @ 7:35 PM 2 Comments

(Movie) Chevolution directed by Luis Lopez, Trisha Ziff

 

It is the story of the power of a single image

Everyone has seen the image. Some may have wondered who he is, some of us know but everyone has been struck by it – the image of a man wispily bearded, hair flowing like a mane, looking intensely, penetratingly over the shoulder of the photographer as if into infinity.

Arguably the most reproduced image in the world, the image has adorned everything from the ubiquitous T-shirts, coffee mugs, key chains, vodka bottles, swatch watches, protest marches. It can be found painted on the walls of ghettos of Miami, in the guerrilla headquarters of the Zapatistas in Mexico, in the insurrection in Palestine and Philippines and as a tattoo on the arm of Maradona. It can be equally found as a backdrop of a swish bar in Bangalore to a free clinic in most rural Bolivia.

No other image in the history of images has been used so widely in so many, often contradictory, settings. No image has  been able to evoke the sense of empathy among such a diverse group of people cutting across geography and time as has this image. No other image has spontaneously come up whenever there has been a conflict – from Sarajevo to Iraq.

Labels: che, Cuba, documentary, history, media

posted by Protik Basu @ 9:41 PM 0 Comments

(Documentary) Conspiracy Theory – Did we land on moon? directed by John Moffet

One of the most enduring conspiracy theory that just refuses to go away..and after you watch this documentary and after you follow that up with an internet trawl, its easy to know why.

The unbelievers (calling them conspiracy theorists would be tainting them unnecessarily – especially when they could be very well true!!!) come up with come damning points. The believers refute these points hotly and the unbelievers counter-point. Its an intense back and forth that rivets you.

This documentary which was shown in 2001 on Fox Networks, is however biased towards the unbelievers, a fact that you realize when you look up the issue on the internet. A documentary which is biased has a serious flaw. Having conceded that point, it does build up a convincing case for side that believes that the moon landing took place in a studio on earth. The evidence is many sided (scientific, visual, sudden and strange deaths) and they all just make you stop and think.

When one has read about set-ups that governments have manufactured around the world, many documented (and many naturally undocumented, which then become conspiracy theories) which leads me to believe, at any rate, that a hoax like this can be carried out if a powerful government is hell-bent on it. “Wag the Dog” and “Capricorn One” are just two movies which show how easily it can be done. Knowing all this and knowing that US Government needed to take a huge psychological leap forward to beat the Soviets (and also to distract from the Vietnam War), we suddenly have both the motives and the means and the capabilities (if a superpower cant pull this off, who can?)

It makes for a compelling story. And when you look at the internet forums and look at the other side of the argument, I realized that even with all the refutations made by the other side, some questions were not answered satisfactorily. Why didnt the Soviets do it? They were far ahead in terms of technology. Why are none of the astronauts allowed to live a public life? Sudden inexplicable deaths of a large number of astronauts in the period of the moon landing. When you think of these and other things, you realize that there is truly no smoke without fire. Somebody is not telling the whole truth.

Which is why I too believe in being an unbeliever. However I am open to a clear refutation. But then that's the beauty of conspiracy theories – they refuse to go away. They tend to excite our imagination, our sense of mystery and that is something we like to have. I guess, if they prove that we actually landed on moon, I would be a pretty disappointed believer!!!

Labels: conspiracy, documentary, historical, thriller

posted by Protik Basu @ 8:09 PM 0 Comments

(Movie) March of the penguins directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet

Incredible and breathtaking are two words that escape you quite soon as you start watching this documentary which has a narrative like a movie script. At the core of the script is a very human story of love, perseverance and sacrifice and yes tragedy and triumph in equal measure. The words “Human spirit” has been used so often that it is easy to forget that the the same spirit of dogged determination to survive is present in all species – from the lowly ant to mammoth whale. It is just that we have the faculty of diverse language to express it more often and very self-consciously. For the ‘dumb animals’, the ‘spirit’ is just a way of life.

Of course, what makes this movie extremely watchable is due to the fact that it has penguins in its main starring role. Who hasnt found these gentlemanly birds cute?!!! When they waddle across the wide expanse of Antarctica, swaying from side to side, they look exactly like portly Victorian gentlemen complete with a coat, who have had a little too much of the drink!!! Put a hat on them and from a distance they would look like a procession of 19th century gentlemen brought accidentally by some time machine.

That and the fact that they almost look and act like humans at times (which is us human’s primary fault of course – in our infinite ego, we like what looks like us). When they find their mates, they almost look like a couple in extreme love, standing with their heads close together, caressing each other with their beaks.

The story focuses on the whole process of the march of the penguins to the breeding ground, to the role that each mate plays in the survival of the egg and then the chick, to the dangers and the tragedies that lurk at every corner, to the final triumph of the chicks finally surviving to add to the tribe. What is implicit in the story is that nothing comes for free and the ultimately without cooperation, nothing is possible. The penguins, in fact, has a very egalitarian approach to the process (born out of necessity, no doubt), which is very endearing.

The movie is one of a love story. What makes it magnificent is the fact that it has exquisite scenic photography, great moments captured on camera and above all, it only makes the penguins look, well, very cute!!!

A great watch…

Labels: documentary, wildlife

posted by Protik Basu @ 12:10 PM 0 Comments