Children of Heaven

Children of Heaven is an Iranian film directed by Majid Majidi. This film follows a young boy and his little sister. The young boy is sent by is mother to go get his sisters shoes from the shoe repairer in this town. On his way back he misplaces the shoes and they were taken by accident by a trash collector. When the boy gets home he doesn't want to tell his parents he lost the shoes because they are too poor to get another pair for any of them. He tells is sister that he will find the shoes but in the mean time they switch shoes throughout the day so she can still go to school. The boy ends up being late to school and getting in trouble because they are switching shoes. While the little girl is at school she sees another little girl wearing her shoes and follows her home. They go to get the shoes back but decide to leave. the boy and his father go to find work in the suburbs gardening and they make some money but get into a bicycle accident on the way home. The boy tells his father that he should use the money to buy his sister some new shoes. Not thinking is father has enough money to get the shoes, he enters a running competition where if he gets third place he will get a new pair of shoes and give them to his sister. He tries so hard to get third place but gets up winning the whole marathon, by that is not what he wanted. The audience gets to see two new pairs of shoes on his fathers bicycle but the boy has no idea he got them new shoes. The film ends with the boy cleaning off his blistered feet in the water feeling defeated because he couldn't get his sister shoes.

The theme of this film is friendship. the bond that the boy and his sister have is a strong one. Even though he lost her shoes, she never told on him even when she had no shoes to go to school with because she didn't want him to get beaten by their father. Throughout the film they all are going through hard time and they live in a poor area but they are still there for each other though the entire film.

I really enjoyed this film because it showed the wonderful relationship they had for each other. There want much going on in the film but you got a real sense of how these people live and  the struggles they go through everyday just to survive. The relationships throughout the film really make you feel for the characters and want them to overcome all of their struggles.

Moolaade

Moolaade is a film from Sengal directed by Ousmane Sembene. This film is centered around the practice of female genital mutilation. A local woman in the village is known for protecting girls from having to go through this practice. When girls are about nine, their mothers send them off with a particular group of older woman who prepare them for the cutting. Most girls in the village who go through this die because of an excess amount of blood or infection. A group of girls run away from their mothers to Colle for protection. Colle keeps them safe in her home but she is up against everyone else in the village who believes the girls need to go with the elders. As the film goes on, Colle is shown protecting these girls in any way that she can against the elders because she believes that it is not right to put them through this horrible, unnecessary act when most girls die because of it. One of the girls are taken away from Colle by her mother and taken to the elder woman, she ends up dying because of the cutting. Colle is taken to the elders to defend herself and she is beaten in the middle of the village by her husband in front of everyone. All the woman who are on her side are telling her to stay strong and the elders are waiting for her to break down. Colle survives the beating and saves the girls from going through this horrible act. This film shows the reality of what goes on in the world to these innocent girl everyday, dying for no reason.

There are feminist themes throughout this whole film. These girls are being tortured for no reason other than the men want them to be pure. These girls are dying everyday by the horrible ritual that has been going on for way to long. Half of the woman in the village believe that these girls need to have this done and the other half don't. Colle stands up for all the girls in the village who can't protect themselves.

Even though the content of this film is very deep, the film is directed beautifully. It really makes you feel like you are living there life with them and going through this with all the woman in the village. As the audience, you want to protect these girls just as much as Colle does. This film opened my eyes to what these girls really are going through and how dangerous it really is for them.

Tsotsi

Tsotsi (2005) is a South African film directed by Gavin Hood. This film follows the life a Tsotsi who lives in the slums of South Africa and has to find any way possible to survive. He is a young man who has made a name for himself as someone not to mess with. His friends follow in and do anything that he says, even if they means killing an innocent man on the subway. Tsotsi goes into the rich neighborhood to steal a car but ends up shooting a woman and taking her car which ends up having a baby in the backseat. Instead of leaving the baby to die, Tsotsi takes him back to his hut and tries to take care of him. Knowing that the baby needs to eat, he takes to baby to a womans house in the slums and makes her feed him at gun point. Tsotsi keeps going back to the woman and begins to have feelings for her. The baby changes Tsotsi and makes him realize that there is more to life than just a life of crime. Feeling bad he takes the baby back to the parents house and doesn't argue when he is being arrested. He made a complete turn around in his life because of this baby.

The theme throughout the film is redemption, Tsotsi learns throughout the film that he doesn't need to use force to get what he wants and that there is more to life than what he has know for so long. He learns so much about what its like to take care of someone else and see how much the real mother and father of the baby love it so much they would do anything to get their baby back.

I really enjoyed this film. I loved seeing the change in Tsotsi and how the audience was not sure if he was going to give back the baby but when he does you really feel for Tsotsi and realize how hard his life really is. Even though he seemed like a bad guy to everyone else around him, you realize that he had to be that person to survive the life around him.

Central Station

Central Station (1998) is a Brazilian film directed by Walter Salles. Dora is a retired teacher who now writes letters for the people coming in and out of the station because they are not able to write letters to their families and loved ones themselves. Dora comes across Josue and his mother who are writing a letter to his father whom they haven't talked to in a long time. After coming back twice to write a letter, Josue's mother is hit by a bus outside of the station leaving Josue alone in the world. Dora, who only is concerned about herself at the time, takes in Josue but the next day sells him to a foster home. Feeling horrible about selling him she goes back to get him. They both run away in fear of Josue getting taken away again. Dora and Josue go to try to find his father and along there journey they come across many obstacles  By the time they find Josue's older brothers, Dora and Josue are extremely close and realize that they both need each other in a way they did not expect.

The themes in this film are friendship and trust. Dora begins this film only being concerned with herself and her regular life. When coming across Josue, she realizes that she needs to help this little boy find is father and not just leave him on the side of the road. Josue wants nothing to do with Dora either, he fights her every chance he gets to get away from her and find his father alone. As they spend more and more time together they realize that they need each other and are better off having met each other.

This film takes you through the relationship they have with each other, through the ups and the down. We get to see how they go from wanting nothing to do with each other to not wanting to leave each other's side. Both of the characters change dramatically throughout the film and it is nice to watch that transformation in this film.

Strawberry and Chocolate

Strawberry and Chocolate (1993) was directed by Tomas Gutierrez and Juan Carlos Tabio. This film is about a young student in Cuba named Diego who is a communist and very involved in the politics in Cuba. He meets a man named David, who is against everything Diego stands for but befriends Diego. they hang out all the time and David gives Diego books to read and alcohol that cannot be found in Cuba. The film follows their relationship together, they argue all the time about politics and David wants Diego to be his lover not just his friend. We see them go up and down in their relationship throughout the film. Davids best friend convinces him to spy on Diego about what he thinks about the government, as time goes on he really feels for Diego and hangs out with him everyday. David gets involved with Diego's neighbor and even through all the drama they become great friends in the end.

The theme in this film is how unpredictable a friendship can turn out to be. David did not expect to learn so much from Diego and become such good friends. They both learned so much from each other, David learned to be creative and think out of the box. Diego learned to be a little more cautious but still live life to the fullest.

I thought this film was very heart warming. The relationship between David and Diego was a touch one but in the end they became life long friends. The best scene in my opinion was the last scene because it mimics the scene when Diego came up to David on the park and it shows how far they have come and how strong their relationship really is.

The Wedding Banquet

The Wedding Banquet (1993) was directed by Ang Lee. This film is about a Taiwanese man and his lover who live in New York city. They have to hid their love from his parents because in their culture being gay is  a sin. His mother has been on his back for years trying to get him married and have children. When he finds out that they are coming to America for a visit, he decides to marry one of his tenets in his building to get his parents off of his back. when his parents get to the city, they are co excited about the engagement  they throw a huge Taiwanese wedding. The lie becomes to huge problem for them who his father ends up in the hospital, his mother finds out that the marriage is a lie and the woman becomes pregnant with his child. It seems like everything has gone wrong but in the end of the film, the three of them decide to have to baby and all raise it together.

The theme of this film is family. Throughout the film the main character has to please his family by telling them his huge lie that becomes more than they can handle. By the end of the film, his mother and father who were so apposed to him being gay, realize that their son is still exactly who they thought he was. The whole family comes together during the hard times but still make it through everything together in the end.

I really enjoyed this film because it had both emotional moments and funny moments. It was interesting to see how a Taiwanese wedding goes down, it was a very elaborate event for every member of the family. It was nice to have the New York City background and also have the Taiwanese culture in one film.

Shanghai Triad

Shanghai Triad (1994) is a film from china directed by Zhang Yimou. This film is based off of 1930's Chinese mafia. The Shanghai crime family brings in new people to become part of the family. A young boy is brought in by his uncle who is killed by the mafia in a horrible killing in front of him. The boy decides to get revenge for his uncles death and becomes a part of the mafia for revenge. The boss had to keep a low profile so he is not killed. He brings the young buy and his mistress to an island to hid out. The mafia eventually finds them and the boss and mistress are killed, the boy and the young her on the island are captured by the mafia as servants.  We never get to see what happens to the boy and little girl but from what we saw happen to the mistress throughout the film it can't be good. The mistress had no life of her own and had to do everything she was told. Even though she had a glamours life, she was actually miserable. In the end of the film, we can only image what will happen to this little girl and the young boy.

The theme of the film is loyalty. All the character in the film must be loyal to the boss of the mafia. If they go against the boss or any of the higher ranked officers, they will be killed. The mafia is all about loyalty and if anyone goes against that there will be problems. The mistress has to abide by this because she was brought up in this life style and cannot leave, she has no other choice but to be loyal to the boss.

I am not a huge fan of Chinese films in general but having the mafia aspect to this film made it much more interesting. There was a good twist at the end of the film, not allowing the audience to know what happens to the remaining character leaves more to the imagination. The costumes and sets were beautiful which really made the film.

Trois Couleurs: Bleu

Bleu (1993) is a french film directed by Krazysztof Kieslowski. The films main character Julie, played by Juliette Binoche, centers around how her life has changed after the tragic car accident that killed her husband and daughter. Her husband was a major music composer and had a work that he was about to be finished before his death. Her husbands friends and colleges are trying to get her to finish the piece that he left behind. Because of this tragedy, Julie decides to change her whole life and get rid of anything that reminds her of her late family. We find out that she was having an affair with a college of her late husband, whom she also decides to cut out of her life. Throughout the film, Julie is struggling to let everything go from her life before her family died. By the end of the film, the man who Julie was having an affair with gets her to help him finish her late husbands piece and they compose it together.

The way the film was edited, the lighting and the music are what make this film as great as it is. As Julie is trying to figure out how to cope with life without her family, the music playing in the background is dramatic and mimics the piece that her husband was writing before he died. The lighting throughout the film has a bluish tint, hinting to the fact that she is struggling with the death of her family.

The director wrote two other films after this one, White and Red. This film is based on the theme of liberty, while the other others are based on equality and fraternity. The emotional liberty throughout this film are based on the struggle to survive after you lose everything. Julie needs to learn how to live life without her family, without everything she thought her life would be.

Bleu is a moving film that makes you really feel for the main character. Watching this film, you get to see her struggle first hand and feel how she felt when she lost everything and wanted to cut herself off from the world. the way the film was shot is my favorite part, the lighting and the music are beautiful and without that the film would not be the same. It gives it so much more emotion and depth.

Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso is an Italian movie by Giuseppe Tornatore. The film is set in a small town in Italy and shows the life of a young boy growing up in this small town. When the film begins we see a grown man who gets the news that someone from his past has passed away. By the way the man reacts to the news; the audience can tell that he hasn’t seen this person in many years. We see the man’s mother trying to get in contact with him which is clearly not working. The film flashes back to the young boy’s life in this small Italian town. The boy is rambunctious and always getting into trouble. The boy falls in love with watching movies in the local town theater but is mother thinks it is just a waste of money, which they don’t have. The boy’s father went off to war but his mother is convinced that he will be coming home soon. The boy makes his way into the projection room where he meets Alfredo, the projection guy. Alfredo becomes a father figure to the boy and with much convincing, shows the boy everything he needs to know to work in the projection room. Years later after a horrible fire that blinds Alfredo and burns down the theater, the town rebuilds a better theater and Alfredo come back into his life. The boy, who is all grown up now, is told by Alfredo that he needs to get out of this town and make something of his life and never look back. He ends up doing just that, he leaves his small home town and becomes a huge success.

           

The film goes back to the man from the beginning of the film coming back to his home town to pay his respects to the man who had such an influence on his, Alfredo. He sees all the people who were in his life while he was at the theater and he finally sees his mother and sister. Alfredo had such a huge impact on his life and he respected him when he said to never come back and make something of himself. The town is completely different and run down. The old theater was being knocked down and everything Alfredo said to him was right. He would have never had a life there. The only time he ever came back to the town was when he found out Alfredo passed away and everyone was so pleased to see him after all these years.

           

The major theme of this film would have to be love. The love that Alfredo had for Salvatore, he loved him so much that he made him leave and never come back in order to have a life. The love that his mother had from him that even after so many years of not talking to him she still tried to get in contact with him. When Salvatore was working in the theater he met a young woman who he fell in love with. She ended up leaving and going to college and once she left for the second time he never heard from her again. But while they were together they were inseparable, they were in love. The love that everyone had for the theater and each other in the town, the theme of love is woven throughout this entire film.

Personally I loved this film. I loved the way it was shot and being able to see the relationship between Alfredo and Salvatore was so beautiful. They would do anything for each other and they never forgot about each other. They way the town was so in love with the films at the theater were both comical and heartfelt. The town was able to forget about everything else and just have fun for a few hours a week. The love everyone had for one another was the best part of the film. I was definitely recommended this film to anyone who loves a great love story.