Full Metal Jacker

Year: 1987

Language: English

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Kubrick speaks in his usual polite confessing manner to give war movies a new definition. The yin-yang as he mentions talking about the duality of the human self portrayed almost al throughout the movie. The initial half stand separated from the rest, but lays a strong foundation to the character building aspect of the movie. The process of making killers out of fine young men gruelling those against nature captured in the very elements of Kubrick’s classicism.

Mostly consisting of monologues and marine code commanding conversations put the viewer through the very same perils and palpation as the subjects in the movie, an art Kubrick has perfected (evident from his works like The Shining and A Clockwork Orange). The training episode sets the foundation on the “Joker” character. The city of Hue initially shown in its far eastern façade then takes us into the completely demolished Hue, as “Born to Kill” confronts with his peace symbol and so do others wonder and ponder over the very necessity of their presence in the war.

The director writes poem through Joker as he drifts into the land filled with confusion and quizzes. The first action on shit for joker, the mad shooter on the helicopter shooting at civilians, the war propaganda of the Stars and Stripes provide enough grounding to make a masterpiece. The camera work adding to the splendidness adding more surrealism into the film. Another unique aspect of this Kubrick movie is the elaborate use of Music in the second half while the first half haunts the psychic silence.

There are hardly any women in the movie but those who come convey something heavy. The contrast of scantily clad prostitutes and the resolve of the female sniper throws a contradicting view on how war changes the lives of people. The movie ends in a perfectionist precision.

Life is Beautiful (La Vita E Bella)

Year: 1997

Language: Italian, German, English

Director: Roberto Benigni (also the protagonist)

“Bon journo Pricipessa…!” – The smiling and vibrantly energetic Benigni fills the heart and makes it heavy. Life is Beautiful – is beautiful in all aspects.

The splendidly fabled courtship is both slapstick and fairy tale like. Benigni has made sure that he has the fairy tale depiction throughout the film which adds contrast to the sharp reality.

Classic scene is the mockery of the Aryan supremacy at the school. The Aryan Belly Button – hats off to Benigni. The courtship – eventually stretching for about one third of the film is a well choreographed ballad. The chemistry between the couple – who are real life couple too castes a spell on the screen – the romanticism adding to the picture perfect Italian streets. The glow in the face of Nicoletta (Guido’s wife) every time Benigni magically appears in front of her is a piece of art.

Another satire and ode is the point when Guido answers the question of “Where are we going?” – The confusion and yet the desperation is brought on to the scene in every essence of it.

The kid is used to personify the childishness of the actions against the Jews, a mockery of how foolish their actions were, but yet heart sinking.

The sequence when Nocoletta stops the train and makes way into the train is a heart sinking beauty. The creative characterisation of Guido sells the bitterness with a baby’s smile. The first half sets the character building in place to make the second half as a gripping panache.

The interlude involving the riddles of the Doctor adds another flower to the bouquet. Doctor brings in the confusion and paradoxical interpretation of the German actions. The final riddle goes unanswered and portrays the huge question mark lying in front of life of all the people in the camp. The face of Benigni brings out convincingly the dawn that’s dawns in front of him.

The film throughout has scattered glitters, studded with suspense as well as satire. Benigni has deliberately kept far reaching emotions from spoiling the fairy tale, making the end a volcanic burst of emotional paranoia.

The Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai)

Year: 1954

Language: Japanese

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Apart from being the mother of all recruit to kill and satirical movies on culling through unity, the movie has a lot of artistic and romantic references which make you admire the movie even without subtitles.

The first scene that stands as a portrait in my mind is the old lady’s revenge to her son’s death. Though the scene might be melodramatic, the way it is made sinks you in emotion and embraces you with a chill. The sudden silence and the wind that blows setting the perfect stage as the old lady walks through the crowd to have all her anger vented out. One of the best ever scenes made.

The tussle between new and revolutionary thoughts of Rikichi, the hot headed youngster and the wise evaluations of the village patriarch are the level of characterizations which commend admiration and salute. The search for hungry samurai in the city – the shades of personae depicted goes a step further. A ballad to attitudinal variety, from a proud and respect less to the humble and jovial, the articulate to drunkard all are philosophies in themselves. All the variety comes together for a cause which goes beyond their lives, the spirit of samurai binding them together.

The way Kurosawa uses Takashi Shimura is a wonder. He uses him to wit out and self criticize his own depictions. As the mouthpiece of Kurosawa, his quick emotional variations show the interpretations of the maker about the different circumstances. A mad man as the choice of his mouthpiece sets his standards.

The naive young samurai (or samurai to be) evolves with every sequence and grows to become a fully molded samurai. None of the characters show wildness, a different depiction of samurai from just mean fighting machines.

The love amidst atrocity and animosity is poetic depiction of innocence and immature attraction. A thought telling love cuts through chaos and involves hormonal hegemony.

The utilization of resources is something which arouse from this movie and has become a legacy in many bandit and team themed movies. The moral of everything would be useful for something underlies in the tale.

The end is a classic. No one wins a war.

What is this about ?

Before getting on to some good movie buffing and baffing, my intro to the new venture of venting out my love for movie –

Claimer:

I believe movies and books are the best inventions of all times and would like to express my insights about them. All I am trying to get out here is to pull out some more drops out if the oceanic thoughts of the creator. To drench myself and the readers into the finer nuances of the art that moves on canvas.

To me, movies are thoughts, philosophies and expression of complexity with simplicity. The movies which are able to depict the complexity with adept simplicity and the simplicity with concrete complexity are to be worshiped. Every action shown on screen should convey far more that what a naïve mind can think of. I would consider myself worthy of the movie if I could read the thoughts between the frames and vice-versa.

Enough of my pointless blah blah… down to business…