Hero

Before China was whole, it was divided up into six different kingdoms. Word had spread that a nameless man had killed three very strong rules of the kingdoms, all of which were enemies of the strongest ruler, Qin. When Qin heard of this news he summoned the nameless man who had killed them all to his palace and is requested to share how it was accomplished. When he had finished telling the story, Qin realized that something was wrong with the story and doesn't believe him. He believes that Nameless has defeated the rulers but only because he is working with the because they want Qin dead. He suspects this from two of them, Flying Snow and Broken Sword, because they attempted to kill him three years ago. Qin also has not let anyone within 100 paces within him since then and now, Nameless is within 10 paces and is worried that he has developed an unblockable move.

The director does an excellent job of using beautiful settings like forests, deserts and a lake surrounded by mountains. He uses bright colors for the scenes and depending on the story, the color scheme changes to fit the mood and who is telling it. They also have Chinese music playing in the background that give it the Chinese culture. The use of martial arts also portrays their culture. Although some of the scenes were obviously unrealistic, they still were realavent to the story line, unlike some other movies with martial arts who just put random fight scenes just to have them. Overall, Hero is a must see for anyone.

Jay Brunson

Hero is a Chinese martial arts film directed by Zhang Yimou, starring Jet Li. The film is about a group of assassins Broken Sword, Sky, Flying Snow and Namelss, who are all on a mission to kill the King of Qin. The movie narrates the story through a series of flashbacks that occurs during Nameless’ conversation with the king. Nameless claims to have kings the three assassins most feared by the King of Qin. The king invites Nameless to his palace to collect his rewards and brief the king of how he killed these three assassins.

Nameless begins his story by giving the king his background. He claims to be a citizen on Qin who was orphaned at a young age and trained to be a swordsman. Nameless approaches his first victim, Sky in a Weiqi parlor where they dueled. Nameless defeats Sky in front of Qin soldiers. Nameless then pursues his next victims Flying Snow and Broken Sword. He learns that they have taken refuge at a calligraphy school in the Zhao province. Nameless tells the King of Qin that used Sky and Flying Snow’s affair to drive her apart from Broken Sword. He claims that Flying Snow killed Broken Sword, which made it easier for him to defeat Flying Snow.
As the film progressed Nameless is allowed to move closer to the king in terms of distance. After the king hears his encounter with Sky he allows him to come within 20 paces and the 10 paces after he hears Nameless’ defeat of Broken Sword and Flying Snow. However, after Nameless completed his accounts of what happened the king realizes that he has been tricked. He then proceeds to tell Nameless what he thinks actually happened. The king claims that Nameless is the most feared assassin of all and that his plan to kill the king by getting within 10 paces of him. Nameless agrees with the king that he is there to kill the king. However, he corrects the king by proceeding to tell the king what actually happened.

Nameless, originally a citizen of Zhao had his family killed by Qin soldiers. He vowed to avenge his family’s death by assassinating the king. He meets with Sky, Flying Snow and Broken Sword to make a deal with them. Nameless asks them to fight him and pretend to loose so that he can get within 10 paces of the King of Qin. Broken Sword is the only one that does not want to assassinate the king and he refuses to give his reason. He meets Nameless privately and attempts to convince him to abandon his mission. His reason in signified in three words that he draws in the sand – “All under heaven”. Broken Sword claims that the only way to stop the suffering and war in China is to unite all the kingdoms under one and only the King of Qin will be able to achieve it. Nameless chooses to follow through with his mission, but chooses not to kill the king at the very last moment. The Qin soldiers bury him in a cloud of arrows. Flying Snow learns that the king is still alive and confronts Broken Sword of what he told Nameless. Broken Sword tells her the three words. Outraged she battles Broken Sword and he deliberately falls to her sword. Depressed at the loss of her loved one she kills herself with the same sword.

This movie was directed in a very unique fashion which added an extra touch to it. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie from beginning to end. The story was rooted in Chinese history and was rich with Chinese culture and beliefs. The background music and sound effects complimented the amazing action sequences. Also, the vibrant colors present throughout the movie, especially the action sequences added a lot to its oriental heritage. The director’s clever use of camera angles, background music, beautiful setting, sound effects and vibrant colors added an extra dimension to the movie, especially the action sequences. The plot is rich as it is based on history and is significant to China’s unification.

Arun Duraiswamy

Amelie

Amelie is a movie about a girl from Paris named Amelie who had been sheltered by her parents her entire life because they think she has something wrong with her heart. While she is living by herself she finds a small box of toys from the child that lived there before her and decides that she is going to help out the people around her. In the midst of helping everyone out, she is looking for love.

Through out the film, the movie switches back and forth from narrative. In the beginning it starts out showing each person and what they like and what they dislike to give a background to help understand why she turns out to be the person she is now. Also the narraration helps build suspense in certain parts of the movie.

Most everyone can relate to this movie. One theme is wanting to help people. Throughout the movie she helps a blind man cross the street and tells him about what has changed in the city, helps her dad out with the use of a gnome, starts a relationship between a customer and a coworker, and many more. The theme of love is one of the most common. Even though she has been going around helping every one, she realizes that she needs something herself, love. With the help of a neighbor, she finds what she has to do to make it work.

written by James Brunson

Swades: We the People

I recently screened the film Swades: We the People a Ashutosh Gowariker film about a successful native Indian scientist named Mohan Bhargav who moved in his early life to America to work at NASA. Despite his accomplishments his heart is heavy because he left Kaveriamma a mother figure alone in an old age home back in his native country of India. To right his conscience he travels to India as a NRI to visit her and persuade her to come back to America with him. There, he discovers the village in which electricity is fleeting and school attendance is abysmal. He also discovers an “Indian Belle”, Gita, a childhood friend with which he becomes infatuated with her because of her strong spirit and her beauty. He sets himself to improving the lives of the villagers by encouraging the attendance of the school children and by providing hydroelectric power. With these far worthier accomplishments under his belt he reluctantly returns to America where he again cannot find rest after his life changing experiences in India. He returns to live in the village and help the “grassroot” level of people in India and remains there.

                While the movie may on the surface just be about this one man’s life and the village he changed, it holds deeper meaning for the rest of India. One of the major issues this movie brings to light is the continuing problem with the caste system in Indian tradition. The movie makes countless comments about it, for example a family refuses to send their children to school because their family is of a lower caste than the rest of the villagers. Another example is the scene where the village is screening a movie. The villagers sit on the correct side of the projection screen, but when Mohan and Mela Ram go to sit down at the screening Mela Ram sits on the reverse side of the screen presumably because he is of a lower caste. This scene also shows how Mohan tries to break down the barriers of the caste system. During the musical number he lowers the screen and suddenly the villagers of higher caste are suddenly eye to eye and face to face with those of the lower caste. While the caste system is one of India’s local issues that the movie comments on it also remarks on more global issues like education.

                Literacy and education are important issues in improving a society. If there isn’t an emphasis on educating the youth in a society the society will not progress forward. In Swades educating the youth is a large point of emphases in the movie. Gita fights to improve the education of her pupils by trying to start a high school in the village, but the village elders try to take over the school building for other purposes. In the end she is able to save her school by enrolling enough students.

5 film shots

Coca-Cola and Legos, the Bane of the GDR

David Brown
Professor Tejada
English 1102 F
12 March 2009
Coca-Cola and Legos, the Bane of the GDR
One of the major aspects of modern German culture is the fall of the Berlin wall. At the end of World War Two Germany was divided into two halves. The eastern half of the country formed an authoritarian style government modeled after the soviets and was called the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The western half of Germany was liberated by the remainder of the allies and became the Federal Republic of Germany. To have a country split into two and eventually be reunited is a unique case that isn’t observed very often. It’s like an experiment where half of the control group is given one pill (capitalism) and the other is given a different pill (socialism) and we can sit back and observe the side effects of each while having all our other variables under control such as heritage, culture, and language. Goodbye Lenin and Sonnenallee (Sun Alley) are two German films about the fall of the Berlin wall and how it influenced the German people and their national cinema. In this piece I argue that these two films show a unique view of the fall of the German wall and how it affected the people around it while also maintaining global themes to appeal to a wider audience.
Goodbye Lenin is a film concerning an East German family and how they handle the fall of the Berlin wall, but with a twist. The mother, a socialist idealist, falls into a coma after a she witnesses her son in a protest march. When she awakens nine months later in a frail state the GDR has fallen and to protect her, Alex, her son, goes to extreme lengths to recreate the GDR in their little apartment.
Sun Alley takes place in the 70’s in the middle of the GDR’s forty year span. The film tells a story about the neighborhood at the end a road named sun alley that for most of its length runs through West Germany, but ends across the wall in East Germany. Centering on Micha and his group of friends, the film follows as they live their lives in the GDR. How they buy forbidden western goods on the black market and pursue the East German girls. It’s a heartwarming story of growing up in East Germany despite the restrictions put in effect by the government.
Coming of age is a common global theme these two movies share. In the movie Goodbye Lenin Alex finds himself thrust into adult by his mother’s heart attack because now he must head the family and take care of her. Also Alex finds himself discovering love in the form of Nurse Lara. Similarly, in the film Sun Alley Micha takes charge by deciding to commit to the military so he can go on to post secondary education in Moscow. He also finds a love of his own named Miriam and he proceeds to woo her. This global theme of coming of age helps these two movies appeal to a wider, global audience. While these movies do contain several global themes they also contain some that are wholly German.
A distinctly German theme in these two films is the effect the Berlin wall had on the people living around it. One effect was it caused some to want to flee to the other side. In Goodbye Lenin the father escaped to West Germany to find a better life, but at the cost of leaving his family behind. Similarly in Sun Alley the mother stole a passport in order sneak across the border into West Germany. Even though she had the passport and the costume, she still did not leave, but instead she stayed with her family and made do with what she had in East Germany. Another effect the wall had was limiting the outside influence of other cultures. This can be seen in the clothes that the director selected to use in Goodbye Lenin the East German clothes were all bland and shapeless representing the isolation of East German style from the rest of the world. Likewise the dress of the characters in Sun Alley is very ordinary compared to that of the Western Germans that appear in the film. Another powerful way that the directors contrast the west and the east are the cinematographic techniques they employ.
The directors chose to show the growing differences between the two cultures by their cinematography. Leander Haußmann includes a scene that pans across the East/West German border showing an East German guard tower in the middle ground in stark contrast to a bright red glowing Lego sign in the background that appears just as large as the guard tower. A guard tower typically is a foreboding image that represents control and authority but, when it is juxtaposed with such a blatant sigh of commercialism mockingly it just creates a ridiculous situation and a message to the audience.
The message is that the west is just as big as an influence as the authoritative power of the state. A similar shot appears in Goodbye Lenin when a Coca-Cola banner unfurls in full view of Alex’s mother despite his best efforts to shelter her from the ubiquitous influence of West Germany.
Another way cinematography is used by Haußmann in the Sun Alley is the use of a low angle shot to show an observation tower built by the West German’s to view the East Germans as if they were an exhibit in a zoo. This shot is used more than once and is employed to show how the “Wessi’s” perceive themselves as better than the “Ossi’s” (Cooke 161). Sun Alley comments on this type of rift that was formed between the two sides of the wall, and that was ever present when the wall stood.

Both of these films make a comment on the nostalgia of the former GDR. Something that has become referred to as “Ostalgie” (Dale 167). This glorification of life in the GDR has become a sort of a German theme and a genre of movies in itself in Germany. Both of these films have Ostalgie qualities, but neither could be defined avoid some of the common characteristics of an Ostalgie film by focusing more on global themes like growing up as a teenager, and a story of a broken family. The movies also focus on the good and the bad aspects of the former GDR instead of just skimming over the less glamorous parts of life in the GDR. Goodbye Lenin accomplishes this with the scene were the peaceful protestors are beaten arrested Alex included, but it also comments on Ostalgie and its obsession with viewing the GDR through rose tinted glasses. The world that he creates in the apartment for his mother is a perfect example of Ostalgie, but because it is made up and a lie it shows the audience that the true face of Ostalgie is a lie. “ Albeit in lighthearted vein, it continues that rich tradition of German literature and cinema of designing an imaginary, idealised Germany in order to contrast it with the shortcomings of the real thing” (Dale 167). This comment on Ostalgie is supported by the fact that Richard Alleva points out in his article “East Meets West”, “Alex completes his latest homemade video for his mother’s viewing and, as it shows thousands of West Berliners fleeing Moloch and running into the welcoming arms of newly reformed East German communism-with-a-human-face, Alex murmurs on the sound track, ‘The GDR I created for her became the one I had always wanted for myself’” (24). Sun Alley also reminds us of the strictness of life in the GDR by the ever-present border guards with machine guns in hand.
These two films Sun Alley and Goodbye Lenin both take place in different places in Germany’s history, but they share many common universal and uniquely German themes that give the audience a better understanding of a German’s view of the Berlin Wall.


Works Cited
Alleva, Richard. “East Meets West: ‘Goodbye, Lenin!’ & ‘Kill Bill---Volume 2’.” Commonweal (2004):23-4. Galileo Georgia Tech Lib., Atlanta, GA. 3 March 2009 .
Cooke, Paul. “Performing ‘Ostalgie’: Leander Haussmann’s Sonnenallee.” German Life and Letters 56 (2003): 156-67. Galileo . Georgia Tech Lib., Atlanta, GA. 3 March 2009 .
Dale, Gareth. “Heimat, “Ostalgie” and the Stasi: The GDR in German Cinema, 1999–2006.” Debatte, vol. 15 (August 2007): 23-4. Galileo . Georgia Tech Lib., Atlanta, GA. 3 March 2009 .

Arun Duraiswamy
Professor Perez Tejada
English 1102 – D2
12 March 2009

The Hollywood Bollywood Concoction

“I can’t make new memories.” (Memento) says Leonard Shelby, the ex-insurance investigator seeking revenge for his wife’s murder, who plays the protagonist in the Christopher Nolan hit Memento. Memento is a psychological thriller written and directed by Christopher Nolan, adapted from Jonathan Nolan’s short story "Memento Mori." It stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance fraud investigator searching for the man he believes raped and killed his wife during a burglary. Leonard suffers from a brain condition called anterograde amnesia. He contracted this injury from a head injury during the attack on his wife. Due to his condition Leonard is unable to store new memories after his injury. In order to cope with his memory problem Leonard maintains a system of notes, Polaroid photographs and tattoos on his body to gather and record information about himself, his know associates and his wife’s murderer (Scott 1). Through the course of the movie it is revealed that he is aided in his investigation by a man named Teddy and a women named Natalie; neither of whom he can trust.

Ghajini is a remake of the Hollywood hit Memento. The movie is an action-thriller, with strong romantic elements, that explores the life of Sanjay Singhania played by Aamir Khan, a former successful businessman who suffers from anterograde amnesia following a violent encounter in which his fiancé, Kalpana was killed. Sanjay copes with his condition in a very similar fashion as Leonard does. He writes notes, takes pictures with his Polaroid camera and has tattoos on his body (Leydon 1). Unlike Leonard, Sanjay is portrayed as a very distinct personality in the city of Mumbai. After his injury and the loss of his fiancé, Sanjay adapts a very brutal personality. He wakes up every morning only to the see the tattoo on his chest that says, “Kalpana Was Killed”. Driven by his vengeance he spends most of his time by himself trying to identify Kalpana’s murderer and does not interact with people in an amiable manner (Leydon 1). Leonard Shelby possesses a rather different personality from Sanjay Singhania. New York Times critic A.O. Scott says, “Though Leonard has bouts of melancholy and episodes of panic, he seems almost blithe in his interactions with Natalie and Teddy. His nervous, ingratiating manner is that of someone feeling out a new situation” (Scott 1). Leonard’s tactful approach with people he meets is rather different from Sanjays’ aggressive and tempered personality.



Sanjay Singhania after his injury

Ghajini and Memento both possesses several national and global elements in relation to cinema, which are revealed throughout the movie. Ghajini differs from its Hollywood counterpart in that it is catered towards a Bollywood audience. Variety magazine critic Joe Leydon says, “For those who thought "Memento" would have been a better movie with a few more songs and a lot more ass-kicking, writer-director A.R. Murugadoss offers "Ghajini," an exuberantly excessive and unreasonably entertaining mash-up of musical-comedy romance, action-movie mayhem and psycho-thriller suspense” (Leydon). Ghajini incorporates numerous elements typical to a Bollywood cinema merged with a reoccurring theme from a Hollywood movie. Ghajini has Indian culture painted all over it. Firstly, the movie has numerous songs, which include the actor and actress engaging in a dance while singing. This is a recurring aspect of almost every Indian film. Secondly, the film possesses a romantic element which is portrayed through Sanjay and Kalpana engaging in a romantic relationship. This is emblematic of majority of the films produced in India except for a few. Lastly, the main character, Sanjay Singhania is given a herculean element to some extent compared to the very human Leonard Shelby. During Sanjay’s encounters with various villains throughout the movie he manages to overpower them with ease – even when outnumbered. In majority of the films produced in India there is an element of action added to it in which, the protagonist is given a superhuman factor and manages to overpower his opposition. It is important that Murugadoss included characteristics of a typical Bollywood national cinema since his primary audience was India.

In today’s Bollywood cinema industry a significant number of films adapt elements, settings, camera effects etc. from Hollywood, which gives these films a global facet to it. In my opinion, Bollywood directors add this global element for several reasons. Firstly, directors want to appeal to a significantly large number of Indians that have settled across the globe since this increases revenues. Secondly, being Hollywood’s principal competition, Bollywood directors are attempting to show the world that India is rather modernized, economically competitive and a significant world power. In Ghajini director A.R. Murugadoss incorporates this scheme and includes these aspects to give the film a global characteristic. Murugadoss accommodates Indian audiences throughout the world and also shows modern, economically advanced India to audiences worldwide by adding a myriad of global traits to the film. A few of these characteristics are noteworthy since they are very representative of Ghajini as a global cinema. Firstly, Sanjay Singhania is the CEO of Air Voice which is a thriving mobile network company. His company’s headquarters and personal office, which are seen in the movie, closely resemble office building of large global corporations. Secondly, Sanjay is depicted as a westernized executive, very similar to his American counterparts. He wears designer suits, drives European cars and has foreign personal assistants. He also received his MBA degree from Harvard Business School. Thirdly, Sanjay is shown flying to England to negotiate a business deal which will allow Air Voice to expand their business into neighboring countries, making it one of the largest mobile network providers in Asia. Lastly, the locations that the songs in the movie are shot are all across the world. Audiences across the world, specifically Indians can relate to the character of Sanjay Singhania since he possesses characteristics of a global executive. In addition, Air Voice’s success is indicative of India’s global economic prominence. In addition, the international settings for the songs add to the film’s quest for international recognition. The global aspects of Ghajini are significant because it caters to a broader audience and gains respect from critics worldwide.



Sanjay Singhania in an interview with CNN

Christopher Nolan’s Memento falls into the national cinema category more so than that of a global cinema. Leonard Shelby was a typical working American man until his traumatic injury. Even after the injury he has traits of a middle aged American man. He wears a designer suit, drives a Jaguar and lives out of a cheap motel room. In my opinion adding a global aspect to the movie was not Nolan’s priority. Even though Memento was not a global cinema it still received international acclaim and entertained audiences worldwide. The main reason behind this is that Memento is a product of Hollywood. Hollywood, being the world’s most prominent film industry is well respected in the world’s eyes. Also, since the United States has been a significant world power throughout the years people throughout the world have the notion that produces of America are quality. This includes, cars, technology, education and in this case movies.

Another contrast between Memento and Ghajini is the plot, specifically how the sequence of events unfold. Nolan uses two separate narratives that alternate in order to distinguish Leonard’s present and his memories. Events occurring in the present are shown in black and white sections, which are in chronological order. Every present scene shows Leonard conversing over the phone in his motel with an unidentified caller. Leonard’s memories, which are illustrated in color, are in reverse sequential order (Scott). His memories narrate his on going investigation for his wife’s murderer. Nolan uses this style in order to engage viewers and also more importantly blind the audience from previous events making them unaware just like the protagonist Leonard. The film ends with Leonard’s present and his memories congregating. The audience is unaware as to where the climax occurred and the sequence of events leading to the conclusion until the past and present merge.





Two scences from Memento. (1st Present, 2nd Leonard's memory)

On the other hand, Ghajini’s plot unfolds like a typical Bollywood movie. The film opens with Sanjay’s present and then the audience is taken into his past by means of his diary entries. Once the flashback ended, the scene returns to the present. In Ghajini, the climax occurs towards the middle, when Sanjay indentifies Ghajini, his wife’s killer and pursues his quest for vengeance. The sequence of events leading to the conclusion is obvious to the audience and the end result is predictable. In my opinion, this is where Murugadoss falls short of directing as powerful a movie as Nolan. Nolan’s creativity in the way the events were sequenced outshines Murugadoss’s idea to merge a Hollywood story into a Bollywood movie.

Both Ghajini and Memento are entertaining in their own aspects from beginning to end. Memento captures its viewers with its novel plot sequence and alternating time frames. Ghajini entertained its viewers by attempting to incorporate a novel Hollywood story into successful Bollywood movie. Not only does this illustrate Hollywood’s prominence in the global film industry, but also India’s premier film industry’s quest to reach worldwide prominence. Will Hollywood adapt a Bollywood story and produce a box office hit? Leydon from Variety magazine in his review of Ghajini states, “Pic has opened to boffo biz in India and likely will help expand the North American crossover market for similarly idiosyncratic imports” (Leydon). If a two way cross adaptation does occur, it will foster further collaboration between various national film industries and may produce a true global movie.



References:

Nolan, Christopher. “Memento”. Guy Pearce. Newmarket Capital Group, 2000.

Murugadoss, A.R. “Ghajini”. Aamir Khan. Geetha Arts, 2008.

Leydon, Joe. “Ghajini.” Review. Variety Magazine. 07 January 2009. 9 March 2009.
< http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939297.html?categoryid=31&cs=1>

Scott, A.O. “Backward Reel the Grisly Memories.” Rev. of Memento. The New York
Times. 16 March 2001. 11 March 2009.
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