Investigation Based on Four Movies - Essay Example

?C103 World Film Questions (choose five out of eight First question The s of the films mentioned provide a succinct idea of what viewers can expect upon watching the movie, albeit in distinct ways. In a sense, the movies Amelie, Slumdog Millionaire and The Pianist are similar to each other because they refer to the lead character of the movie. And yet, they are also quite different. The movie Slumdog Millionaire intrigues its audience with its title as it presents a contradiction. How can a veritable “slumdog” – a derisive term for someone in the fringes of society, so enmeshed in poverty as to be comparable to a mongrel – turn out to be a millionaire? The title in itself gives a hint of the plot, somehow one feels that it is bound to be a rags to riches story. In contrast, the movie The Pianist describes a man, caught in the horrors of war, who gets by because of his amazing talents and the compassion and humanity of other people. The title The Pianist is somehow still distinct from the Amelie because the latter is a proper name, while the former is not. The movie Amelie and the use of the name of the lead character as the title of the film suggests an intimacy that perhaps is not there in the two other films. The third movie wishes to establish an intimate and personal connection between the movie watcher and the character, drawing the watcher into the life and emotions of the character. So while all three movies focus on characters, the way they choose to do so are in different ways, all of which, however, set the stage for the unfolding of each of the movies’ rich narratives. Second question The depiction of space and place in the movie Slumdog is best seen during the scene when the two boys who come from the slums work as “tourists” in the Taj Mahal. One can see the resplendence of the Taj Mahal as a towering symbol of Indian elite and it contrasts starkly with the material realities of the two boys who show tourists around. What is striking as well is the ease with which the boys, especially Jamal, walk around the Taj Mahal, as if comfortable in its splendor and luxury. This to me suggests an image of India that is replete with contrasts and dissonances, but somehow these contrasts and dissonances merge seamlessly into each other: as though poverty is used to and not appalled by the obscenity of wealth, and luxury has become so indifferent to poverty. One is jarred to the core by the horrific scenes of child exploitation, as for example a syndicate in the business of collecting beggars and deliberately maiming children so they can bring in more income. And then we are shown the busy streets of India’s gleaming urban landscape, the call center capital of the world where dreams are fashioned from the magic wand of outsourcing. One too is struck by the scene where Jamal jumps into literal feces, an apt metaphor for the lives the “slumdogs” lead. And yet the characters, particularly the poor ones, accept this dichotomy with indifference, even acceptance. The images of space and place highlight the contrasts with clarity, and one is left with an image of India as a country straddling between economic greatness and dire poverty, an uneasy mixture that will soon explode in its face. Fourth question Ciki is a Bosniak soldier who finds himself in a trench with a Bosnian Serb during the height of the Bosnian war. He finds himself in an absurd situation with Nino, the Bosnian Serb, as they confront each other while under threat of an exploding land mine but stop short of killing each other. As the media gathers and international human rights observers join the fray, the exchange between Ciki and Nino becomes an interesting tableau of both the capacity of human beings for comedy amidst the tragedy of war. Ciki is extremely important to the film because he moves the story forward and delivers the necessary decisions and actions to allow the plot to unfold, e.g., jumping over Cera so the bomb would not explode, shooting Nino. Jane Livingstone is also in the film No Man’s Land and is a media reporter covering the stand-off between Ciki and Nino. Her character is important because she depicts the role of international media in conflict situations. While well-meaning, she is primarily after a story and the network that is her employer seeks to get first “scoop.” All the network sees is a set of camera images, a good story – there is a physical and metaphysical distance between these images and the horrific realities of war on the ground. Ultimately, that is what her character seeks to drive home to the audience. Wilm Hosenfeld is the German Army officer who helped Wladyslaw Szpilman, the pianist and lead character in the movie The Pianist, to hide after he heard Szpilman play. He smuggled him in the attic of an old house and makes sure he gets food. When the Germans are forced to retreat, he was taken to a prisoner’s camp run by the Soviets but not before he gives Szpilman his jacket, which almost gets the latter into trouble. His character is important because without him, Szpilman would have faced certain death, and his character makes sure one of the most poignant points of the movie is made: that there is compassion and humanity even amidst the ugliness of war. Fifth question “I was a pianist” This is the line uttered by the lead character Szpilman in the movie The Pianist when asked by a German officer who captures him what is it that he does. After he tells him, the German officer, then makes Szpilman play on a piano. It is a very moving line because of the simple word “was.” The word “was” emphasizes the atrocity of war. “I was a pianist” speaks of a condition in the past, a condition different from what he is at present given the circumstances. It conveys the capacity of war to suppress human genius and talent, but this is at once belied by the next scene in the movie of Szpilman playing on the piano. Then the message becomes clear: war can never suppress human genius and talent. The music remains as pure as the war is sullied and ugly. “The truth alone triumphs” This is one of the answers to the questions asked to Jamal in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. He is asked what is seen under the three lions that is the emblem of India and the answer is “the truth alone triumphs.” It is a line whose meaning resonates in the movie, perhaps also demonstrating the contradiction of an India that supposedly espouses truth (being the slogan under its national emblem) but at the same time allows so many lies: the lie of development, the lie of equality of opportunities, the lie that India takes care of its children. “Because I have a gun and you don’t!” This line was uttered by Ciki in the film No Man’s Land, as he was forcing Nino, his Serbian adversary, to admit at gunpoint that the Serbs were to blame. When Nino, angered by Ciki’s bullying, asked why he was giving orders and why he was persistently making Nino admit under duress that his own people were at fault, Ciki uttered the line “because I have a gun and you don’t.” It is a powerful line that underscores the sheer nonsensical tragedy of war: whoever has the weapon has the power, whoever can kill makes the decisions. Truth is unimportant, integrity is immaterial. Sixth question The image of a child and the vision of childhood in the movies Amelie and Slumdog Millionaire are very similar, although they take place in two contexts that could not be more different from each other. The movie Amelie takes place in Montmartre whilst Slumdog takes place in the streets and alleys of India. However, the image and vision of childhood remain markedly the same in both films: innocent, naivete, a gentleness that is lost to adults. In Amelie, the lead character Amelie does her best to please and bring happiness to others – a calling she discovered after returning an old childhood box to its now adult owner. In the movie Slumdog, on the other hand, we see how Jamal and his friends still manage to maintain the innocence and lightheartedness of childhood despite the grinding poverty that attends their lives. We see how from the squalor, they somehow manage to construct, as children are wont to do, a magical place where there is fun and laughter. Both movies also grapple with similar themes of young love and innocent romance – Amelie as a quirky matchmaker who believes in true love and then finally meets her own, and Jamal with Latika, his childhood best friend. Their feelings for each other were rekindled when they meet again as adults. Both movies depict the innocence and gentleness of childhood in their lead characters as they navigate their way carefully through life. Jamal may have gotten jaded through time, but there remains in him that innocent little boy, kept in a sacred place and shielded from the cynical world. Read More