the boy in the striped pajamas

bruno is a small kid whose father is a nazi officer. when his father was promoted to manage a concentration camp in the country, they all had to move out of the city with him.

later, bruno finds his way to the camp and makes friends with shmuel, a jewish kid despite everyone warning him about jews (not actually everyone). children do not have the same prejudices that adults have. we all learn it later from our parents, from school, from people around us.

my favorite scene is when bruno was forced to betray his best friend out of fear and the need to conform in order to survive. it tells us that all capable of treachery even at an age where we are supposedly pure and good.

rating 3 out of 5 ***

two lovers

(photo is by john clifford)

this film portrays in contrast an insight on the type of romantic love that we used to talk about a lot back when we were younger. the question of who would you go for, given that you have the following choice. will you go for "the one" or "the only one".

"the one" is the person you love ultimately but he doesn't necessarily feel the same way or none at all. the kind of love that exists in literature. it is love where the stakes are high. even life itself.

"the only one (available)" is the person who loves you but you don't necessarily feel the same way or none at all. it's the one that you accept because either you are afraid to be alone, that you think there might be no one else, or you need the company. the kind of love that is mundane, tolerable, or that needs years to be nurtured.

leonard (played by joaquin phoenix) was setup by his parents to meet with sandra (played by vinessa ssaw). i am uncertain if this is a usual practice for american jews. it reminds me of how filipino chinese parents actively participate in arranging dates or introductions so to speak for their children. especially when it becomes although subtle as a sort of business merger of mutual benefit between families if it works out well. i can see why it persists. it is practical.

later leonards accidentally meets with michelle (played by gwyneth paltrow) whom he falls deeply in love for. is this not how love should be? is not love a complete accident, like magic, that consumes us.

naturally leonards explores both women. he dates sandra as a fallback, as a duty to his family. the safe route. where some might be quick to judge him. i do not. would you turn down love that is offered. he pursues michelle who considers him a close friend or worse like a brother among other setbacks.

in the story, i savored the honesty of how it ended as i suspect it to be so with many couples. many wouldn't admit it. of course. but i believe it to be the majority in this case. that people do not often end up with those they intended to be with. that couples born out of complacency, convenience, contentment with what is available, end up with "the only one" rather than "the one". though it does happen. not just often enough. or if it does happen. it does not linger long enough. passion dies.

rate 3 out of 5
***

The Bucket List

I accidentally ran into the film a couple of times while channel surfing. HBO had been playing "The Bucket List" on several occasions and I managed to complete the entire movie (like a jigsaw puzzle) after three days.

So what makes this movie interesting, aside from having Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? I guess the film talks about mortality and how people would react if they knew they only had a year to live. Some people might just live in fear, withdraw from the world, or even focus their last remaining days fixing their earthly business. Other people might choose a different path.

Both protagonists are cancer patients who learn that they only have a few months to live. So they made a list of things they want to do before they die and try to do them one by one. Enter the cliche Hollywood formula -- the two fight while doing their list, make up in the end, gain some epiphany about life, love and friendship, die, live life to the fullest and die again.

I think the film would have made a bigger impact to me if it didn't remind me of a Hollywood television series called "My Name is Earl".



Here are some similarities in "Bucket List" and "Earl":

• Both have a list of things that the protagonists are trying to cross out.
• They both have one asshole protagonist who, thanks to Karma or Cancer (take your pick), gets redeemed and becomes a better person in the end.
• Both have quirky supporting casts who help them cross out the things in their list.

I think the movie dwells too much on the positive, feel good aspect of life -- like friendship, love and family. It tends to downplay the actual reality of suffering and death. I doubt if all cancer patients view living and life with such gusto. I doubt if people can make instant life changing decisions just because they know the grim reaper is looking for them.

It all boils down to how a person accepts his death and how he chooses to live out the remaining days of his life.

Twilight the Movie

I just finished watching the movie over the weekend. All I can say is that the Twilight story reminds me of the Roswell TV series. Here is a list of common things I noticed between the two series:

1. Both female protagonists (Liz Parker and Bella Swan) are high school students who nearly lost their lives. They were in the wrong place and in the wrong time. Both girls who have died, except they were saved by their respective crush (Mr. Vampire and Mr. Alien).

2. Both female protagonist experience a strong attraction to their respective crush -- to the point of sacrificing everything they have just to be with their out-of-this-world boy friends. In the end, they became vampires/aliens themselves.

3. Both shows have sheriffs acting as distant father figures.

4. Both shows deal with a "family" or "group of related" aliens/vampires, who were forced to accept high school girl because of her strong/passionate connection with alien/vampire boy.

Watching Twilight made me think of Roswell and I couldn't help but feel that Stephenie Meyer borrowed/used some of Melinda Metz's ideas.

I would not suggest comparing the movie to other vampire flicks. Twilight was written to be a love story for young adult writers. It steers away from excess violence, bloody gore, and horror. The story focuses on Bella and Edward's relationship, mirroring your typical high school romance (mixing with some supernatural elements).

Overall, I had a good time watching the movie. The story was a bit predictable (even without reading the book) but the characters are interesting enough for you to want to watch the sequel.

(Review copied from My Seven Lives)

Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)

the german democractic republic (GDR) and the stasi (the secret police) reigned on east germany before the wall between east and west came down.

it was a drab, dreary, suppressive world were the state watches over its citizens in every aspect of their lives. you could easily observe this in the color tone used for the character's costumes and environment they moved around and lived in. it was kind of dead.

a stasi agent was tasked to hold a prominent playwright and effectively his wife who was also a prominent actress under tight surveillance because he became a suspect for being too clean.

the operation was to wait and listen, then record everything that transpires in the playwrite's house. any subversive word or action will be charged with treason or disloyalty to the state. imagine what kind of burden that is for merely saying things could potentially lead to imprisonment.

many artists like the playright before him were known subversives. some had escaped and embraced the west which stood for capitalism and freedom. for others who had been caught and blacklisted (though one of the heads of state in the film vehemently disputes it and that the state never blacklists) to perform their crafts had been silenced. and there were other artists who couldn't take it anymore, had taken their own lives which the state conveniently reclassifies as self murderers.

during the course of the surveillance, the stasi agent experiences a change introspective in him. from being ruled entirely by principle to beginning to feeling things. watch the elevator scene when the stasi agent rides it with a boy who rats on his father about saying anti-state things. normally the stasi agent would have the boy's dad arrested but maybe for this time, he let's it go.

the playwright had begun writing an article to be published in the west which exposes the social conditions and suicide rate specifically of artists in the GDR. this is obviously treason in principle but the stasi agent let's it go because he begins to appreciate the simple lives of his target.

i had always been a supporter of socialism but after watching what true socialism had been at least for east germany. i think that any extreme of the political spectrum could never be good and could only end up oppressing its citizens instead rather then uplift their lives.

maybe the central to the film was a message of striking a balance between the extremes living by principle vs feeling

Rate: 3 out of 5
No to extremes

shadow women

les femmes de l'ombre is a film dedicated to women who fought against nazi barbarity during world war 2. particularly this film is about 5 women who were hired by the french division of special operations created by winston churchill in britain a.k.a. the SOE.

it begins with the recruitement. a french sniper and her brother who were both formerly tortured in the camps, a prostitute convict who had no loyalty to britain nor france, an ex-wife of heindrich who is a nazi fficer hiding in britain in shame of her past connections, an explosives expert who was apparently catholic and very religious, and an italien/jew operative working as a secret agent disguised as a nurse in normandy. their mission was to deliver a geologist out of normandy france and back to england. unfortunately the sniper's brother was captured.

things get a lot more interesting after they were forced to make a side trip to occupied paris for what turns out to be the real mission - to assasinate heindrich who had knowledge of a big plan by the allies and he was trying to convince the third reich of the threat.

i was perhaps quick to judge the ladies as they each were compelled to display rather some unadmirable qualities during the mission as each take turns at valor and cowardice. in the end they were all just being human. when one is faced with the same predicament (torture), i wonder too, what would i do.

one by one each of the ladies played their roles valiantly having to give up their very lives for the mission.

rating 4 out of 5
i love films which depict women of strength, intelligence, skill and guile.

religulous

the word religulous is a play on the words religious and ridiculous. a satire comedy by bill maher. agnosticism for the common man. spoken in common words that can be understood and appreciated by everyone esp christian america as compared to but not much unlike the works of richard dawkins, hitchens, and others which are a bit more eloquent.

i managed to get a copy of the film here (RELIGULOUS). you have to download it asap for it might be asked to be removed. copyright issues tu sais. ^_^

the film talks of religion more than the existence of gods/dessess namely yahweh since bill was half catholic and half jewish. nevetheless, i enjoyed it thoroughly.

even though bill was posting the questions and i think the movie does not fall short of giving out the answers. at least to the thinking audience anyway (the questions are leading) and it almost always puts the theist to a defensive. it's what i believe in - end of discussion!

bill asks valid questions - on the subject of the virgin birth, is the earth 5000 years old, is islam a religion of peace, revelation and the self fulfilling prophecies, odd things but all makes sense from the average theist mind. other questions of interest. why politicians today (unlike the american forefathers who were secularists) pandering to churches. how some? church leaders profit from church coffers. homosexuality. the status of women in moslem society. how moslems think islamist terrorism has nothing to do with religion but everything to do with politics. hmm .. actually this maybe true to a degree ..

the funniest bit was when he played a joke on the guy who was clearly high on something and who believes in a religion that includes the use of hallucegenics. héhéhé.

Rate 4 out of 5 ****
bill. you are the man!