“Bombay”

“Bombay” was released in 1995. The majority of the film, Bombay, is set between December 1992 and January 1993, when the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid controversy was taking place and causing major religious tensions in Bombay, India. The film is about a Hindu journalist, Shekhar, and a Muslim woman, Shaila Bano, who fall in love and get married in spite of their parents’ opposition towards their relationship. They move to Bombay and give birth to a pair of twins whom they begin to raise in the peace and harmony of their simply home. However, in December 1992, political tensions developed into full-fledged riots and violence—even in the tolerant city of Mumbai, India. In the midst of the riots, Shekhar and Shaila’s parents decide to put their differences aside and travel to Bombay to visit their children. Shekhar and Shaila become separate from their children when a fire suddenly breaks out in their home and both Shekhar and Shaila’s fathers are killed instantly. Shekhar and Shaila begin to search for their children everywhere including morgues, while the twins also get separated from each other. Although the children wind up in very different situations, they eventually find each other and their parents too by the end of the film.

Conveying the message of tolerance and humanity, the film seeks to unite the people of opposing religious sects as a people of India rather than a people of Hinduism and/or Islam. This unity is first depicted in the rarely possible marital union of a Hindu man to a Muslim girl. Later, it is depicted when the fathers of Shekhar and Shaila set aside their differences and stand up for one another in the face of violence. The dilemma of this unique family’s shared heritage is finally caught on when the matter of life and death reduces to one question, “Are you a Hindu or a Muslim?” In this case, the marital union in this film doesn’t even allow for Shekhar and Shaila’s family to be separated based on this criteria. They represent an ideal version of India, a version in which it is not possible to separate the two groups of people simply because they can identify with both.

Since I am also of Indian heritage, I found it difficult to view this film and its message objectively. I was struck by the amount of danger and violence the people of India inflicted on each other during the period depicted in film, especially since it was based on the opposition of two religions that I always understood to be very peaceful. It certainly leads me to question the ethics and philosophies of both religions and my own faith as well.

"Not One Less"

"Not One Less"

"Not One Less" was released 1999. In an effort to prevent any students any students from leaving the school, the young character of Wei Minzhi embarks on a journey to retrieve one of her students in the film, Not One Less, directed by Zhang Yimou. In a rural village in China called Shuiquan during the 1990s, Wei is the only available substitute for teacher, Gao Enman, who must take a month’s leave to take care of family business. Being only 13 years old herself, Wei does not even have a high school education and so she is instructed to merely copy Gao’s texts on to the board and then make the students copy them into their notebooks, while only using one piece of chalk per day. Furthermore, she is instructed not to let any students leave the school until he returns by incentivizing her with a 10-yuan bonus. Unfortunately, one day Wei discovers that Zhang, the class troublemaker has left to the city of Zhangjiakou, in order to find work. Unperturbed in her decision to not lose any of the children, Wei raises money with the help of her remaining students and travels to Zhangjakou to find Zhang. While doing so, Wei incorporates math concepts in her teaching so that her students can apply them to figure out how much money needs to be raised for the bust tickets and the amount of time it will take. When she finally arrives to the city, Wei is unable to locate Zhang and seeks assistance from a television station manager so that she can broadcast a “missing person” ad. Wei ends up being on a talk show to feature the topic of rural education and luckily enough, Zhang sees it. Wei and Zhang are finally united and then return to their village with the help of the station manager with a truckload of school supplies donated by local viewers.

The film revolves around the difficulties in providing education in rural China. For example, in reference to Gao’s instruction to conserve chalk because the village simply cannot afford to purchase more, he standardized the size of written characters that Wei must copy onto the board. Wei also had to sleep in the shabby school building and share a bed with other female students. What’s more is that Gao hadn’t even been paid for the six months prior to Wei’s arrival. What struck me about the film was simply Wei’s unintentional perseverance. She obviously lacked money and, thus, any form of authority, yet she was able to overcome her barriers by her actions. In addition, I was reminded of the power of television through Wei’s eyes. I realized that once a person is on camera, she is automatically influencing people at mass, whether she has money or not and whether she wants to or not.

"Children of Heaven"

"Children of Heaven"

"Children of Heaven" was released in 1999. The movie was directed by Majid Majidi. This film is an Iranian film about a secret between two siblings, Ali and Zahra, which results in a great adventure. Ali loses his sisters shoes, which were given in for repair, while picking up potatoes from the grocery store. The shoes were accidentally picked up by a blind man. Afraid of getting beaten by their father, Ali and Zahra keep this secret to themselves and construct a scheme to make do with only one pair of shoes. They decide to share the pair of shoes; Zahra wears them to school in the morning and return them to Ali so he can attend his afternoon classes. While this seemed to be a strategic idea, Ali was often late to school and scolded by the principle several times. Knowing their financial status, Ali traveled with his father to help earn a few extra dollars. In an attempt to attain a new pair of shoes for Zahra, Ali takes part in a race hoping to come in third, which would guarantee him a vacation camp and pair of new shoes, but ends up placing first.

The theme of this movie is based largely on sibling love and the morals embedded deeply within them. Despite losing her shoes, Zahra agrees to not tell on her brother knowing the consequences and the burden it might put on her family financially. Although a struggle, the two children share the pair of shoes with very little confrontation. They both try very hard to keep this secret from their parents whom they seem to respect a lot. Ali helps his father earning a few extra dollars at the age of nine, and Zahra helps her mother with the chores and looks after her new-born sibling. They understand their role as children during that period of time and never seem to complain about the situation they are in. When Zahra follows the girl who has her shoes home, she learns that her father is blind. Feeling sympathy for them, she walks away allowing the girl to keep her shoes. Ali refuses to burden his father by his mistake, and takes it upon himself to get his sisters shoes back and thus takes part in a race.

Children of Heaven, was a wonderful movie not only for children but for adults as well. It shows the innocence of the children and the great lengths they will go to help each other and their parents. The movie shows how much respect these children have for their parents, and the responsibility they take on at such a young age, despite being children and how their way of life differs from that of the western world. Throughout the movie however, one can’t help but wonder whether these children will one day grow up to resent the lost childhood they never got to experience.

"Eat Drink Man Woman"

Eat Drink Man Woman

"Eat Drink Man Woman" was released in1996 and was directed by Ang Lee. The movie tells the story of an old widowed chef, Chef Chu and his three daughters. Chef Chu lives in Taipei, Taiwan with his three beautiful daughters, Jia-Jen, Jia-Chien, and Jia-Ning. The film begins with Chef Chu, who is losing his sense of taste, preparing a Sunday ritual dinner as an attempt to compensate for the lack of communication between him and his daughters. The four can hardly relate to one another making these Sunday dinners torturous for the three daughters. As the movie progresses, the three daughters along with the father, discover love. Jia-Jen, a devoted Christian, falls for the volleyball coach, Jia-Ning, who works at a fast food joint, falls in love and becomes pregnant by her boyfriend, Jia-Chien, an airline executive, begins to pursue her love for cooking, and Chef Chu gets his sense of taste back and begins a relationship with one of his daughters schoolmates.

The theme of this movie is that, like food, love is also a necessity of life. Unspoken love seems to be the subject of concern in the family. Chef Chu uses his ritual dinner as a way of expressing his love towards his three daughters. The three daughters on the other hand are not only disconnected from their father but from each other as well. As the movie progresses, they each discover true love. Jia-Jen falls for a volleyball coach, Jia-Ning falls in love with her co-workers ex-boyfriend, and although Jia-Chien doesn’t quite end up with her partner at work, she takes over the responsibility of keeping the Sunday ritual dinners and pursues her love for cooking, just as her father. Another theme seems to be intergenerational conflict. Being widowed for sixteen years, Chef Chu has lost all means of communication with his daughters. He mentions during the movie, that he doesn’t understand them, nor does he want to while the daughters find his traditional dinners torturous and the meals unsatisfying.

The movie was an excellent portrayal of love, relationships, and culture. It was nice how despite no longer being able to successfully communicate with his daughters, Chef Chu still manages to spend time with them. The daughters who at first seemed so cold and almost stoic learned soon discovered love as the movie progressed. The movie also showed how western civilization played a large part in the lives of the daughters which was very interesting. The eldest daughter remained pure which was common in the Chinese culture, however converted to Christianity. The middle daughter, Jia-Chien, a career woman, showed a sense of western culture in her strictly physical relationship with her boyfriend. Finally, the youngest daughter works at a Wendy’s fast food joint and becomes impregnated by her boyfriend. Overall, the movie was very enlightening.

“Y tu mamá también”

“Y tu mamá también”

“Y tu mamá también” was released in 2001. The movie was directed by Alonso Cuaron. The movie is about two teenage boys that are looking for an adventure. The boys’ names are Julio and Tenoch. These boys are about to lose their girlfriends because the girls are going on a trip to Italy. The boys decide to go on a trip to the beach. They decide to ask a woman named Luisa, who is Tenoch’s cousin’s wife. Luisa is in her late twenties. She says no at first but then decided to join them after finding out that her husband has been cheating on her. The boys really didn’t know how to get to this secluded beach, but were sure that they could find the way. They spend the car ride talking about their relationships and sexual encounters. Julio and Tenoch’s bragged about their manhood. Luisa just talked about her first love and how he had passed. One night at the hotel Tenoch goes into Luisa’s room and finds her crying. Luisa makes a move on Tenoch and they end up having awkward sex. Julio find out about this ends up telling Tenoch about having an affair with his girlfriend. Luisa doesn’t like all this tension between the boys so she decides to even the score by making a move on Julio. It doesn’t work and the boys get even more mad at each other until Luisa threatens them by saying she would leave. So when they finally get to the beach, they all have their time to relax. That night they all get drunk and start joking around with each other. All three of them have sex. In the morning, Luisa wakes up and decides to stay there to explore her options in life. The boys go back and end up breaking up with their girlfriends. At the end of the movie Julio and Tenoch find out that Luisa had cancer and that she had died a month after the trip. Luisa knew about it this whole time. Tenoch's walks away and they never see each other ever again.

“Y tu mamá también” has many themes. The film revolves around a love triangle, and friendship. Julio and Tenoch are great friends. In the beginning of the movie, they are willing to do anything together, but by the end of the movie they actually find out more about one another and they realize that they can both do better in life. Luisa didn’t really care if she messed with their friendship. It seemed like she just wanted one more bang before she had to leave. I’ve seen this movie a couple times. It still shocks me because it is full of controversy. I’ve seen this movie on documentaries such as “this film is not yet rated”. I just find the story to be a little insane. It is a great movie; I just wish it they could’ve gone more in depth with the character’s background information.

“Talk to Her”

“Talk to Her”

“Talk to Her” was released in 2002. The film was directed by Pedro Almodovar. The film is about two men that randomly meet up at a theater. Their names are Benigno and Marco. Benigno works at a private clinic, where Benigno and Marco end up meeting. Marco is a journalist. Marco has a girlfriend named Lydia. Lydia is a bullfighter that has ended up in the clinic because she was gored by a bull and has been a coma ever since. Benigno also has a love interest. He starts falling for a patient he has been watching over. Her name is Alicia. She is a ballet dancer. She has been there for over 4 years. Benigno starts reading and talking to her. Marco and Benigno become good friends telling each other stories about their lives. They talk about their past and how they got to where they are right now. They share personal stories such as break ups, pregnancies, and details on how the women were out into the coma.

The major theme of this movie is examining, and traveling. They travel back in time and think about all the things that they have done. They take the time and realize that everything has happened for a reason and that they can’t take it back. Marco explains that he had to leave Lydia because Lydia was said to have an affair with her ex. He also talks about going to Jordan because he had to write a tourist guide.

“Talk to Her” reminded me a lot of the American film “The Notebook”. In The Notebook”, there is a man trying to help his wife remember what happened to them in the past. In “Talk to Her”, these two men share their stories and feelings about their lives and their women. In both movies, there are flashbacks. Both movies need to go back in time and show the audience why they are in the position they are in now.

“Three Colors: Blue”

“Three Colors: Blue”

“Three Colors: Blue” was released in 1993. The film was directed by Krysztof Kieslowski. This movie is the first of a trilogy. The movie starts off explaining Julie’s situation. She had just lost her husband and daughter in an automobile accident. She was the only one that survived. When she was still in the hospital, she tried many times to commit suicide. When she got out of the hospital, she decided not to go back to where she used to live. Instead she decided to move to Paris without notifying any one. She starts to distance herself from her old life. She doesn’t want to be associated with the people she used to know. Even her friend Olivier. Julie and Olivier both want to find out that Julie’s husband’s mistress was. Julie’s goal is for Olivier to not find about the mistress. Julie finds the mistress and gives her husband’s house just because she was going to have baby. Olivier is forced not to interfere with all of this. In the final scene of the movie, the audience gets to see all of things that Julie has done. All of her actions and how she has affected the people around her. This is also when you get to see Julie actually cry in the film. It is the first time. Julie is a strong independent woman.

When the movie first started I was amazed by the blue color theme. It made the scenes look intense and important. The music in this movie was also amazing. This movie was confusing. It took me awhile to figure things out. I’m still confused about some parts but I like if I watch it couple more times, I should be fine. Julie seemed like a sweet lady, but she was totally crazy. She had such much going on in her head. Blue is supposed to stand for liberty. I’m guessing that she is trying to shed away all of these problems so she can be free again. Julie becomes such a cold hearted person, and I feel as if she doesn’t know how to be normal again. She lost everything had so fast. She lost her husband and child. Her recovery has taken time. I’m speechless. I was never really sure how the movie ended. It was confusing.