Tsotsi

Tsotsi is a film written and directed by Gavin Hood, who is also the director of X-men Origins: Wolverine. The story follows a young man named Tsotsi who is a leader of a gang. Growing up he had a very abusive father and a mother that was terminally ill, he ran away from all this and became homeless. When he grew up you see that he has become a leader of this gang and calls himself Tsotsi.

One day Tsotsi shoots this girl and steals her car, but after he steals the car he realizes that there is a child in the back city. Tsotsi doesn't really know what to do so he takes the baby to his home. He realizes that he cannot take care of the child so he obtains the assistance of a woman that lives near him, who also has a child. Later on in the film Tsotsi and his gang end up robbing the husband of the women that he shot and essentially saves his life, when he shoots his friend. When he returns to retrieve the baby from the women, she convinces him to take the baby back to his father. The ending of the film is basically a stand off outside the house of the babies real parents. The police show up and it becomes a big situation but eventually Tsotsi returns the baby and is arrested.

This film was very interesting, at the beginning I was expecting it to be just another gangster film. But when the baby came into the film it became a whole different movie, which was good. The film shows that this gangster was not all that bad but at the same time still bad. In a lot of these gangster movies something happens to the gangster and he suddenly becomes this great citizen. This movie was not like that for a change. Even though he finds this baby and is taking care of it he is still not completely good. He hands the baby off to some lady and then continues on with the crime that he commits. One would expect that once he finds this baby, he will turn in to this great guy and stop all the bad things that he does, because that is what usually happens in movies. This is why I liked this movie so much, it was different. They story was very interesting, to see this gangster having to deal with this baby that he got stuck with because of his stupidity was actually quite comical. I also liked the music in the film, I don't know if that is South African music but it is really good. I had heard similar music to this in the film District 9 and I really love it. Overall this is a very good film that shows a different side of the gangster story.

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days

Sophie Scholl - The Final Days is a film directed by Marc Rothemund that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and praised by many critics. But is it really that good? Well before I get to that let me tell you a little about the film. The film follows the final days of Sophie Scholl's life, as the title suggests. Sophie Scholl is a student of the University of Munich, who is also part of a non-violent Nazi resistance group called the White Rose. Sophie and other members of the White Rose create leaflets that they attend to place all over the University. However, things go terribly wrong and Sophie and another White Rose member is captured. When Sophie is captured she denies knowing anything about the leaflets and is about to be released an order comes in to not let her go. Irrefutable evidence linking her to the leaflets is found. Sophie and three other White Rose members are charged with treason. Sophie and the three White Rose members are tried and eventually found guilty, they are all sentenced to death. They are all executed on the same day even though she was told that they wouldn't be executed for at least 90 days.

One of the major themes of the film was rebellion. The White Rose was a resistance group that knew what Hitler was doing to the Jews and the terrible losses that the army was suffering. They wanted to spread the word to all of Germany that Hitler's Germany was the enemy and what they were doing was wrong. The White Rose believed in something and they died to trying to rid the world of Hitler.

This film, being a true story, was very good. The story of this small group of college students who stood up to tyranny and injustice was very interesting. Also the way the colors in the movie were very vibrant. If you watch the scene in the courthouse, you can really see the colors of the uniforms and the Nazi symbols really pop. It was very well shot and overall a beautiful film. The pacing of the film was also masterfully done. Never during the whole movie did I feel bored. Even though the majority of the film is dialogue you never feel like looking away. To see how ignorant and stupid the Nazi's were is really quite remarkable. I had a lot of fun watching this movie and would highly recommend it.

Children of Heaven

Children of Heaven, when I first saw the title of this movie I was expecting something completely different than what i actually saw. Before I even saw this movie I had kind of decided that I hate this movie. The title just made seem like I was going to hate this movie. Well after I actually saw the movie I can say that I was kind of wrong about it. It was not perfect but it was a decent film. The films plot is pretty simple, Ali takes his sister Zahra's shoes to get them repaired but on the way back he leaves them lying around and they get misplaced. When he gets home he doesn't want his parents to find out so he makes a deal with this sister that she can use his sneakers to go to school and when she comes back from school she will give it to Ali and then he will go to school. The film from then on basically follows Ali and Zahra trying to live with the arrangement and trying to keep their parents from finding out. At the end Ali joins into this race so that he can get in third place and win shoes for Zahra. Ali tries his hardest to try and get into third but one of the other racers trip him and he loses. The film ends with Ali returning home to give Zahra the bad news, not knowing that their father is coming home with new shoes for Zahra.

One of the themes that is prevalent throughout the film is love. Ali loves his sister Zahra a lot and feels terrible that he lost her shoes. Out of love, and also some fear of his father, Ali lets his sister wear his shoes to school. Not only that Ali decides to run this grueling race just so that Zahra could have shoes of her own. Also when Ali is talking to his father about new shoes he makes sure to tell him that he should get shoes for Zahra before he gets some for himself. Ali is very caring for Zahra in this movie and it is evident throughout the film.

As for what I thought about this film, well I thought it was just OK. I didn't hate it like I thought I would but I didn't love it either. A lot of the parts in the film dragged and a good portion of the film could have been cut. I thought that the whole scene with Ali and his father gardening was way too long and could have easily been shortened. I couldn't really say that I can recommend this to anybody but I could see how some people may like this film, as it is a nice story of two siblings trying to live in a difficult situation.

Central Station

Central Station, a Brazilian film directed by Walter Salles, tells the story of the journey that two strangers take. The film begins with Dora, whose job is to write letters for people who cannot and send them out. However, she just takes the customers money and never send the letters out. One day a boy name Josue and his mother come to her asking Dora to write a letter to Josue's father. Josue has never met his father and his mother hopes to reunite the family. Things unfortunately turn out terribly as Josue's mother is run over by a car and killed.

Dora decides to take the boy, so that she could sell him and make some money. However she changes her mind after finding out that she has put the boy in danger. Dora, feeling bad, decides to help Josue look for his father but all does not go well. On the way they meet some bad people and find themselves in bad situations and they find out that the father has changed his address many times. However, a friendship grows between Dora and Josue as they face the hurdles of finding Josue's father. Eventually, the two find the brothers of Josue but not his father. Dora decides to leave Josue with his brothers, when she sees how caring they are.

One of the themes of this movie is friendship. Friendship plays a key role in the film. At the beginning Dora does not really have any friends and is a very bitter women. When she meets Josue she is very hesitant to take care of him and just wants to find his father and dump him there. But as the film progresses a strong bond forms between the two and Dora starts loving the boy and the boy starts loving the boy. The friendship between Dora and Josue really changes Dora in a very positive way. The boy in a way shows Dora how to live again and brings something to her life that has been absent from her for so long, HAPPINESS.

This film was an excellent story of how the most unexpected people can have the biggest impact on you life. At the beginning of the film you could never think that a little boy would have such an impact on her life, but it happens. I thought it was a beautifully told story that conveyed a lot of emotion. The ending where you see Dora leaving on the bus and Josue running after her was a very powerful scene and perfectly done. A fantastic film that I would recommend to anybody who loves film.

Amores Perros

Amores Perros is not like most movies, which is why it is so good. The movie actually deals with three different stories that are all connected in some way, unlike another movie that I have mentioned in this blog(Dreams), but lets not go there again. All the stories in this film stand on there own but they are all directly connected with a car accident that is seen in the first scene of the film. There are also other connections such as characters from different stories unknowingly bumping into each other or seeing each other.

The first story is about Octavio and his love for his sister-in-law, Susana. Octavio believes that Susana is being treated unfairly by his brother and wants to run away with her. But there is a problem Octavio has no money, so he decides to join in on dog fighting. This is where a lot of the controversy of the film stems from. The dog fighting scenes in the film are quite brutal and very realistic looking, which disturbed a lot of people who thought that the director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu killed real dogs for his film. But he of course denies this. Anyways, after Octavio makes enough money to run away with Susana, she runs away with her husband with the money. Octavio is devastated and continues his dog fighting until a challenger unfairly shoots Octavio's dog during a fight. Octavio in return kills him and as they are driving away he gets into the car accident, hitting another car.

The next story is about a model, Valeria, and Daniel who leaves his wife for her. Soon after Daniel and Valeria move in together Valeria gets into an accident, when Octavio's car slams into hers. She brakes both of her legs and has to deal with life in a wheelchair. She loses her dog under the floorboard which deeply disturbs her and leads to troubles in Daniel and Valeria's relationship. At the end she has to have her leg amputated after an infection but she finds her dog.

The third story is about this old man who is also sort of a hit man. He lives with a dozen dogs who is basically his family as he has not talked to his daughter in many years. After the car accident he takes in Octavio's dog who is injured and he helps him recover. He is given an assignment to kill someones brother but after Octavio's dog kills all the others he reconsiders and instead creates a confrontation between the two brother. This is one of the most interesting parts of the film. Seeing the brothers duke it out for survival. The story ends with the old man going to his daughters home and leaving her a message telling her that he is still alive. It is a touching moment for the old man who seems to have nothing and so wants to have a relationship with his daughter.

What I really loved about the film was the idea that anything that you do can have repercussion on not just your life but on the lives of people that you do not even know. It was interesting to see how this one car accident effected so many peoples lives and maybe it effected even more people that we didn't even see. The performances in the film where also amazing, the actors really made you understand the internal conflict of the character especially Emilio Echevarriam, who played the hit man. When he found the bodies of all the dogs you really felt bad for him and his performance was fantastic. The only thing I have to say about the film is that if you really love animals the dog fighting scene may be a little tough to watch as it is extremely brutal. Other than that it is a fantastic film that needs to be seen by anybody who loves cinema.

Dreams

"Dreams" was one of those movies that I just didn't really understand. For most of the film I was sitting there and just saying to myself "WHY." I understand what the director, Akira Kurosawa, was trying to do, he was close to the end of his life and he was making a movie that was trying to send a message about how we treat our world. But for some reason after watching all of the films I felt that I had just wasted two hours of my life.

The movie basically tells eight stories that are supposed to be based on dreams that the Kurosawa actually had. Two that stood out from the eight were "The Tunnel" and "Mount Fuji in Red." "The Tunnel" starts with this officer standing outside of this tunnel, when a demonic looking dog comes out of the tunnel and in a way forces him into the tunnel. He walks into the tunnel and at this time we are "graced" with one of the longest walking scenes of my life. It felt like he was walking through that tunnel for a good hour. While he was walking through the tunnel all I could think was one again "WHY!!." Why such a long shot of him just walking! Anyways, when he FINALLY reaches the end of the tunnel he walks out and he turns around to see a ghost of a fallen soldier he was in command of. The soldier does not believe that he is dead until the officer convinces him he is really dead. After the soldier leaves, the ghosts of the whole battalion that the officer was in command in shows up and the officer expresses his guilt towards the fact that he survived and they didn't. The officer orders them to leave and the dog comes back from out of the tunnel.

"Mount Fuji in Red" was basically about this power plant that blows up and all of Japan is in Panic. The story follows these few people who are trying to figure out what is going on until they finally realize that they are all going to die because of all the toxic gases in the air.

These two stories were the only ones that I found remotely interesting all the other ones I really couldn't stand. There was one story about this kid who saw a secret wedding ceremony that he wasn't supposed that kind of had my interest until it just ended abruptly. There was another story of about this peach orchard that had another long unnecessary scene of people dancing around that was just unbearable and make me as the question again "WHY!!"

I stuck till the end of this movie hoping that maybe something will redeem it, maybe these stories will somehow connect with each other in a clever way but all I got was this story about this funeral that people celebrate instead of mourn. I was very disappointed in this film as you probably already know. If somebody in the future ever asks me about this movie I think the only response I could give him is "WHY!!" Dreams was a complete NIGHTMARE.(pun intended)

Bombay

There is much to say about the film "Bombay" which takes its name from one of the biggest cities in India. The film starts out as a standard, not so special, love story that has been seen in numerous films before it and felt a bit rushed too, but I'll get to that later. But as the story progresses it takes a complete 180 and a precious story of living life in the midst of enormous racial tension emerges.

The film follows Shekhar, who is from a traditional Hindu family, and Shaila, who is from a Muslim family. Shekhar falls in love after seeing Shaila walking around the village. Shaila, however, is reluctant about Shekhar, but after seeing him follow her around numerous times she eventually falls in love with her. This is the part that I felt was a bit rushed. She barely knew the guy and she decides to marry her at there first meeting. But that is just a minor complaint.

Anyways, when Shekhar tells his father that he is going to marry a Muslim he is met with a harsh reaction and leaves home. The same happens at Shaila's home, in fact her father threatens to kill her. Both Shaila and Shekhar run away to Bombay where they get married and eventually have kids.

This is where the film takes a major turn, there is a lot of racial tensions going on between the Muslims and the Hindus in Bombay and riots between the two groups start. These riots eventually bring the parents of both Shaila and Shekhar to Bombay to make sure they are all right. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worst when a giant riot breaks out in Bombay and both groups start burning down everything. Shaila, Shekhar and there children get out of there house, but there parents aren't as lucky and they are killed. After this the children go missing and Shaila and Shekhar have to find them amidst the madness of the riots. They are eventually found and the riots end after the leaders of both sides see atrocities that are going on around them.

In the end the film turned out to be quite good. It tackled a theme of racism that is relatable to out world today. America is one of the most diverse countries in the world and there will always be some sort of racial tension around is and it was interesting to see how it plays out in other countries. It is rally amazing to see how something as small as believing in some thing different can be a good enough excuse for the killing of hundreds of people. We are all human and the judgement of our characters should not come from whether or not we believe in the same god as someone else.

This film tackled this issue excellently, and even though the first half of the movie wasn't as good as the second half it all came together quite seamlessley. It is a movie that I would highly recommend to anybody.