(Movie) District 9 directed by Neill Blomkamp

One of the best science fiction movies that I have seen. The reason I loved it was because it had the same philosophy as the best tales of science fiction. Peel away the surface and you find a story that speaks not of tomorrow, but of today. The science fiction genre is just a tool to tell an attention grabbing, engaging story.

The movie is told partly in the form of a documentary that seems to talk about some event in the near past (something extraordinary happened, we understand, something not ‘approved’). And partly, the movie is told in real time. The premise is that an alien mother ship got stranded over the top of Johannesburg. The human expectations of finding something exciting (either salvation or doom) in the event (haven’t we all hoped for witnessing contact with extra-terrestrials?) is soon dashed when they find malnourished and ETs, decidedly disgusting in appearance on the ship who seem to be disoriented and directionless. They are ‘rehabilitated’ in refugee camps that soon becomes a cordoned off area, an apartheid zone - as clashes increase between humans and ETs. Zones become earmarked as ‘ETs not allowed’ or ‘humans only’ that does not take too much of an imagination to realize as being a spin off from the apartheid signs of ‘Whites only’ and so on.

As the ETs begin to try and get rights for themselves, protests are triggered all over the city with calls for removing the settlement. That is when a private MNC (MNU) comes to the scene to ostensibly help in removal of the ETs and plan their rehabilitation on the outskirts. However they have an ulterior motive, which soon becomes apparent and forms the core of the story. As the rehabilitation drive begins, our story begins…

It’s a rollercoaster of a movie that can be seen as a action thriller at one level. For me, it never flagged in its pace. Till the end, you keep on guessing how it can end and if it can end happily. I loved the ending by the way. Lets the movie end with a yearning.

But what is really great about this movie is that it raises a lot of issues –  political and social without ever becoming in the least bit preachy. There are no speeches or highly aware individual. That most of are really pawns and can only do and understand so much is what the movie brings out. Small things shown in the movie make a big difference in the whole viewing experience - like the discrimination against the ETs that comes so naturally, the derogatory nicknaming of the ETs by the humans as ‘prawns’ based on their appearance, the involvement of private armies of large corporations (makes you think of Iraq), the dilemma of acceptance of people (in this case – species) who look and act differently, the unlikely brotherhood that can develop between people when they finally understand each other. All things that you can relate to easily.

And because the ETs and the humans differ so markedly in appearance and language makes the ‘message’ of the movie even more apparent. And when the ETs show traits like love, sorrow and loyalty, which ironically ‘humanizes’ them, well, you understand what the movie is all about

It’s a movie that people who love a good story told differently will enjoy. It has a certain grim humour about it that goes with the mood of the movie. I love the movie for what it said but I loved it more for the way it said it.

Labels: human, movies, satire, science-fiction, south africa

posted by Protik Basu @ 7:16 PM 0 Comments

(Movie) Levity directed by Ed Solomon

There are these movies that come as a fresh breath even though they deal with a dark side of us precisely because of the beautiful manner in which they treat this dark side – without apology, without self-pity and without clichéd ‘reasoned’ explanations for a the way a person is…this is also one of those movies whose scenes play themselves in your mind long after you have seen them, because they touch you deep inside….

The movie is about an ex-con Manuel Jordan (Thornton), who has been convicted for murder, who is given parole after 23 years. He seeks to find some meaning in the search for redemption from the sister of the man who who he killed, without being able to tell her his true identity – until the end. Along the way he meets characters who relate to him in their own way and who accept him in their universe – a preacher with a secret (Morgan Freeman), a young girl who is fighting her own demons (Kirsten Dunst) and the slain man’s sister herself (Holly Hunter)…

And Billy Bob Thornton…what can you say about him? He simply excels in this role. His gaze can be both terrifyingly penetrating and vacant at the same time. In fact I think, a major portion of his role is communicated through his eyes – the pain, the search for redemption, the sorrow of what is lost and the anguish at seeing someone wasting their life away.

I believe that no one can play the role of a man searching for redemption better than Thornton. He can play a character that is vulnerable and yet strong at the same time while retaining that aura that can only come out of a character who has seen more than he ever wanted to…

The film is not a one-man show either. Every single character has a large role to play in what the movie aims to give to us. The story slowly unfolds in a little over an hour and a half, at the end of which each person finds a place where they can find some meaning. Its not a fairy tale ending (Thank God for such endings) which makes the story all the more compelling….

This is a movie that leaves you with a nice hum in a little corner of your mind – that part of it that deals with life’s different mysteries that really have no answers and which so few things these days are able to touch upon…that, more than anything else makes this movie one of my all time favourites…

This central quote from the movie (narrated in the voice of Thornton) has become of my favourite quotes…these are one of those lines that make you pause and think…

“I read a book that was written in the 11th century. A man said that there was five steps toward making amends. The first involved acknowledging what you did. The second involved remorse. The third involved making right with your neighbour. Like if you stole his chicken, you'd have to go and bring him another. Only then were you able to go to step four, which was making it right with God. But it wasn't until step five that you could really get redeemed. It had to do with being at the same place and the same situation. That as it goes, you'd go and do something different. Only I can't bring Abner Easely back like he was some stolen chicken. Certainly made sure of that 23 years ago. And I don't believe in some God that's gonna open His arms to me even if I did. So there goes steps three and four. And as for step five, time makes sure we're never in the same place twice, no matter how much we wish it. Which is why, for me, I know I'll never be redeemed.”

Labels: human, indie, movies, psychological, redemption

posted by Protik Basu @ 11:57 PM 0 Comments