Chariots of Fire

The film focuses on two Olympic runners. Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell. They had won the Olympics 100 meters sprint and 400 meters sprint respectively. It’s easy to dismiss this film as another Christian film but rather, this film portrays both Harold’s and Eris’s motivation to win rather fairly.

Harold, a Cambridge student of Jewish decent struggles to affirm himself as a British. As he faces prejudice throughout his life, he is eager to prove himself. To serve that purpose he uses running as a way to bring himself up beyond prejudice and discrimination. It is interesting to note that, in his pursuit to excellence; Harold had requested the assistance of a coach to help improve himself. The Cambridge Masters had accused Harold of being unsportsmanlike by employing the services of a coach.

Eric on the other hand faces a different kind of challenge. As a son of a missionary he is expected to follow his father’s footsteps into going in missions in China. His sister’s biggest worry is for him to lose his faith when he runs. Prior to the Olympics, he faces his biggest dilemma. On whether to participate in the 100 meter sprint or to skip it all together as the race falls on a Sunday. According to his faith, the day is a sacred day and therefore he should not run on such a day.

Needless to say, both Harold and Eric held on to their beliefs. Harold in continuing the use of a coach and Eric to pursue running and to not run on a Sunday. It is safe to say that they both did win because of their training but to say that it is the only reason they won, would be an insult to their motivations. Their motivations to run and win goes beyond themselves. For Harold, it was to lift himself beyond his heritage and prejudice. For Eric, it was to fulfill a calling that he himself believe in. It was their belief that spur them to devote themselves to be the very best that they can be and beyond. 

Schindler's List

           Made by Steven Spielberg, a film based on the Holocaust in Poland. Oskar Schindler, a recently arrive German decides to make use of the Jews in order to start a factory but eventually saving the Jews instead towards the end of the film.

            The film explores the idea of humanity. Especially the humanities of Germans and Jews. Why Jews? Mainly because the Germans never saw the Jews as human to begin with. We need to remember that it was through propaganda that the Jews were made as the scapegoat. Were the Germans innately cruel and evil? Perhaps we’ll never know but also, we’ll need to remember that the Germans are also humans. Hitler may have genuinely consider that Jews were generally evil as well. Hence the persecution. It is easy to put one party into different camps. Especially if you do not know the person. Had Schindler not interacted closely with the Jews, he might not have chosen to save the Jews while losing his entire wealth in the process. The catalyst may have been when he save his Jew factory supervisor from the train that was going to ship them away.

            It’s interesting to see that the Jews portrayed in the film, despite all forms of persecution and injustice; they still tried their best to reason and talk to the Germans. We may reason it as fear mongering by the Germans but we can also see it as a form of the Jews trying to humanize the Germans. If the Jews had rebelled, it is quite probable that they could have overpowered the Germans stationed Poland. The war was still ongoing. The Germans could not have afford to spare a large amount of soldiers to keep them in check. Hence the fear mongering and swift execution of the Jews. Perhaps the one German that they manage to reach out to was Schindler.

            A recently film that addresses persecution and discrimination was Zootopia. Which featured animals of two camps. Predator and prey. Once it was establish that predators could possible revert to their predatorial primitive forms, discrimination of the predators was swift. They were just short of putting the predators into concentration camps and culling them until the situation was resolved.

              

            Despite all this, the ravages and horrors of war and the effects on people. Best lesson is that we’re all still human. 

Grace is Gone

It's never easy,

Even if they say that it'll pass in time,

Who are they to say that it'll pass when it's not them who's suffering,

Stop pretending as if that you can feel the pain,

Perhaps that's anger speaking,

Perhaps that it's not your fault,

Loss can be at times irrational,

Can someone who's experience loss be rational?

How can someone else feel what you feel?

This pain of a part of your soul that's being ripped out viciously,

Unwilling, Unexpectedly,

This sense of unfairness of why should this person go,

Crippled, it's a wonder how we can ever move on,

But time goes on,

We weep and we grieve,

The living must keep on living,

Because by living we honor the past,

By living, we keep the memories close,

We are limited in what we can do,

But we alive by staying strong,

We may choose to say that the end has come,

Or that it's called a passing because they're in a better place,

In the end, their memories is eternal should we choose to let them continue living in our memories.

A part of them continues as a part of us,

Growing into who we are today.

~Dedicated to those who had passed and those still living~

            Death is never easily accepted. Above all, death is irrational. Different people may deal with death differently but death is rarely painless. As was illustrated by Stanley Phillips (John Cussack) whose wife had recently passed away in combat while serving the military in Iraq. Stanley is left with the fact that he have to break the news to his two daughters. Finding difficulty with dealing with his wife’s death and telling his daughters, he did the next thing that he only knew how; bringing what is left of his family to the last place that they had their happiest memories. Enchanted Garden.

Grief

            Throughout the film, we are shown the transition of how Stanley cope with the loss of his wife. Starting from the state of disbelief or denial, he withdrew into himself. Facing with the reality of his wife’s passing, he tried to face his empty home that his wife will no longer return to.This is consistent with Kübler-Ross’s model on the Five stages of grief. Stanley started with denial when he first heard of his wife’s passing. Even to the point of not even able or wanting to tell his daughters that their mother has passed. Choosing instead to take them to Enchanted Garden. On a whim. In the beginning stage of his grief, all Stanley wanted to do was to just get away from where he is with his daughters. Even the diner that the family usually goes to holds too much painful memories for him. He desperately needs to get away from everything. His job, his house, his town, his friends, in other words; he needs to leave his current life at the moment.

             Throughout the journey to Enchanted Garden, we see Stanley moving from Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and eventually Acceptance. Not necessarily in that order. However, it is quite evident that after they left the town that they were in; Stanley was moving between anger, bargaining and depression. It started with a phone call to their house phone. As the phone message recorder is of his late wife, Grace. He spoke as if he’s literally talking to her on the phone. This act can be seen as a form of bargaining. Stanley succumb to his depression early on when he finally has time to be by himself and in private. Crying and curling up in bed at his mother’s house. His anger comes during the interaction with his brother, John. It is easily misinterpreted that Stanley is generally hostile towards his brother who have differing political views. As was seen when they (including the daughters) were sitting down at dining table. When John found out about and confronted Stanley about Grace’s(wife) passing, Stanley lashes out aggressively and pins John to the door but eventually breaking down and asking John to keep it a secret from his daughters. In a way, this can be seen as the first clues or steps to Stanley moving towards accepting the death of his wife.

            As they move along their journey to Enchanted Garden, Stanley moves from being somewhat detached from his daughters to eventually reconnecting with them again. Which was probably brought on by the fact that he found Heidi missing from the motel room one night and caught her trying out smoking. Discovering that Heidi has not been able to sleep much ever since Grace was dispatched to Iraq. He asked her to wake him up and talk to him every time she was not able to sleep by trying to break the ice by smoking with her. This is interesting in a sense that the first step in moving toward his acceptance of his wife’s passing was to reconnect with Heidi. Who as shown at the beginning, seemed to be at odds with her father. Even Dawn was no exception, as he connected with her after he relented to them getting their ears pierced. Eventually, after a day’s worth of fun at Enchanted Garden; he finally broke the news of Grace’s passing to his daughters. The final stage of acceptance.

            

The Whale Rider - A story of change and of pain

A New Zealand and Germany co-production, the film tells the story of a young girl, Paikea Apirana(Paikea Apirana) whose tribe is “dying”. Not so much of a physical one but rather a cultural one. Directed by Niki Caro based on the book of the same name, written by Witi Ihimaera.

Pai born into a Maori tribe that is the direct descendent of Paikea, the Whale Rider. Whom is said to ride on top of a whale from Hawaiki to where they are now. She wasn’t really accepted by the her grandfather, Koro when she was born. Her father was the first born of the family and her grandfather is the tribe chief. When she was born, both her mother and her twin brother died. What makes this important, is that the leadership of tribe can only be pass down to first born males. Pai was neither. If there’s anything, Pai is what most superstitious folk consider as a curse or bad luck.

 From a very young age, Pai showed an affinity towards the tribe’s cultures and rituals. If anything, Pai holds a strong love for her tribe. This is evident from how she tells the females from her tribe to stop smoking and how she recites all the tribe’s chants flawlessly.  

Despite how it may look like, the film’s theme isn’t so much about sexism but rather of a dying way of life due to modernization and a refusal to adapt. Pai despite her being the one that is the most qualified to take up role of leadership in the village, she is not allowed to due to the fact that she is female. Her uncle, Rawiri despite being a male, he is unable to take up leadership because he was the second born.

The film explores if culture and traditions should be preserve at the cost of possibly dying out.  It brings into conflict on the idea of preserving traditions and adapting change to survive. Despite this, the film isn’t about one idea against the other. It is about understanding the necessary change in order to preserve the culture. Sometimes even possibly bringing a new positive change. This can be seen evidently from Pai dedication to learning her tribe’s rites and chants. Even going against her grandfather’s wishes to keep her from learning about the tribe chief’s lesson.

All in all, “The Whale Rider” is about preserving culture but also about the necessary sacrifices needed in order to preserving it. In this case, it’s about sacrificing the tradition of a male only chief. When it did finally come for Pai as the new chief, we can see in the film, that there seems to be more people in the tribe now. This is assuming that the people that had left the tribe had come back. Most notably is Pai father who had already build a life for himself in Germany. He even finished building tribal boat (waka), a project that was left stagnant after the death of his first wife. Also interesting to note is that when the waka had set sail for the first time, the women are seen peddling alongside the men. Possibly signifying that change is not just limited to just Pai but also the entire tribe. The tribe had gone through a transformation. 

Forget Paris - There ain't nothing there no more

            Forget Paris exemplifies the typical workings of relationships. One of very few films that actually shows what happens after the “happily ever after” stage of a relationship. Which isn’t unsurprisingly, not necessarily happy. We have Mickey, the most wanted NBA referee and Ellen an independent woman with career. Despite their odd chance encounter, romantic courting, and against all odd to get together; they have their failings as a couple. Such as miscommunications and selfishness.

            This film challenges the ideas of a happily-ever-afters. Bringing to fore, there is none. It does just highlight the challenger in a marriage but also the efforts to work on it. A rarity among popular Hollywood films.

            One of the main elements in a relationship is communication. What can be seen from both Mickey and Ellen, they often give in to their desires first then talk later. More often than not, always too late. They never seemed to express what is important to them or their own struggles. Preferred to keep it in and then making their own decisions. They tended to end up arguing rather than actually communicating.

            Dr John Gottman stipulates that he can predict the success of a marriage with 94% accuracy via brief interview sessions with the couple. Couple who argue constructively tend to have happier marriages. On the other hand, couples who employ these styles criticism, defensiveness, contempt and stonewalling will soon find themselves on a downward spiral of a dysfunctional relationship. A brief description of these styles can be related to every time Mickey and Ellen argued. The first, criticism is where one party tends to blame the other for anything that has occurred. We can see in the film that both Ellen and Mickey tried to blame each other for their unhappiness. Eventually coming to their own conclusions and making their own decisions whereas it should be a mutual one. Defensiveness is a natural reaction when being confronted with their own weaknesses being brought to light. A common response often being found when faced with criticisms. Which we can see when Mickey and Ellen throwing back each other’s criticisms. Contempt which probably the worst of the 4 styles. Often comes in the form of sarcasm, cynicism, eye-rolling, sneering, mockery and so on. (Gottman,1994) We see this as the relationship between Mickey and Ellen deteriorates. Stonewalling may not be explicitly shown in the film between Mickey and Ellen. There is rarely an instance when they stop being responsive to one another. Perhaps the best example is when both decided to take a hiatus from each other.

            While communication as partners is important. Having friends in the marriage is just as important. As we can see from Mickey’s three to four best friends. Which interestingly depicts as couple with just as much oddities or flaws. Some with multiple failed marriages, odd habits, and even anti-marriage. This provides an interesting contrast from Mickey and Ellen’s own marriage. Despite all this, these very couples and friends had help support their marriage and dispense advice. Although sometimes they can be the wrongs kind of advice. More importantly however, a good marriage can encompass good friends who are willing to listen to and support your marriage.

References

Gottman, J.(1994) Why marriages fail. Psyuchoteraphy Neworker, 18(3), 40-40, Retrieved from www.search.proquest.com/docview/233304799?accountid=14649

            

Eat Drink Man Woman - It's more than just food

“The things which men greatly desire are comprehended in meat and drink and sexual pleasure; …”

「飲食男女，人之大欲存焉」- Book of Rites by Confucious

            The title “Eat Drink Man Woman” come from the “Book of Rites” by Confucious. It refers the men’s three most basic instincts. Which are food, drinks and sex. This perfectly sums up the idea of the entire film. The film follows the lives of Mr Chu and his three daughters. While the film focuses mostly on the Chu family, it is the people that they meet that drives the story. While the film seemingly is about a typical Chinese family with all of its practices and cultures, the Chu family is anything but typical.

Themes

            Throughout the film, food is a common theme throughout. Evident from the Chu family’s Sunday night dinners, it is the only time when the family comes together to have meal. Prepared by Mr Chu with a great deal of intricateness and effort. This is how Mr Chu chooses to show his love to his daughters. This is also an avenue for the family to share their updates and announcements. Some of the biggest event happenings are being announced and discussed at the dinner table. The Sunday dinner shares some insights into a typical Chinese family. Where food or dinners is then the family comes together. More than just for a meal but also in a more literal sense. It is what it means to be a family. No matter where you go and what you do, it is the family that you go home to in the end.

            The second most apparent theme is the idea of traditional Chinese culture versus westernization. This is shown via the Chu daughters and as well as various cues throughout the film. Firstly and foremost, Jia-Jen is shown be a Christian. A typically western religion. Jia-Ning is shown working at Wendy’s a western fast food chain. Jia-Chien is shown to be in a friends-with-benefits relationship with Raymond. Also a typical western practice. It is also important to note that Mr Chu towards the end is shown to be in a relationship with Jin-Rong who is much younger than he is. Also not a common practice in a typical Chinese culture.

             The third theme is most likely the hidden desires shown in the Chu family. Sex from the title can also mean a person’s desires. Throughout the film, the family kind of struggles to either express or to strive for their desires. Jia-Jen’s desire to have a boyfriend or husband or sex. It is also possible that Jia-Jen struggles with the fact that she is envious of Jia-Chien throughout her entire life. As was hinted in the middle of the film that Jia-Jen was envious of Jia-Chien being allowed in the kitchen. Jia-Jen was probably envious of Jia-Chien’s success with men and her career. Which most likely the reason why that she even cook up a story of her being dumped by an ex-boyfriend and swearing off relationships ever since. Jia-Ning’s desire can be considered the most simplistic. As was shown with how she continues to interact with her apparently best friend’s then boyfriend. Jia-Chien desire is quite interesting and multi-layered. She enjoys cooking and was resents being exiled from the kitchen. She may also have desired to be with Raymond as a partner. As she shown to be visibly upset upon finding out that he is getting married with another woman. Interestingly, of the sisters; she is the one that gets her desires last. Even her father gets to fulfill his desires of having to marry Jin-Rong and his daughters leaving his care. Jia-Chien finally gets her desire to cook in the kitchen that she so long desires.

            The last theme, is of moving on. The topic of the past is a regular mainstay throughout the film to the point it seems that characters seemed to be suspended in time. Jia-Jen in her apparent asshole boyfriend. Jia-Chien of not being allowed in the kitchen. Mr Chu of being in the house with his three daughters. The Sunday dinners becoming a routine for all of them. It was shown that the daughters began to move out one by one as a sign of them moving on. For Mr Chu, moving wasn’t about his daughter moving out of the house or getting married with Jin-Rong. It was more on about him no longer living in the house and reconciling with his daughter. In the final last scene, Mr Chu is shown to be alone with his Jia-Chien. Jia-Chien is shown to be cooking in the kitchen. Only the dining hall and the kitchen is lighted up. It’s definitely wasn’t a coincidence that Jia-Chien is the splitting image of her mother. It is a scene of Mr Chu reconciling with his past. It is as if his late wife is cooking for him. Not to mention that the soup that Jia-Chien cooks for him is her mother’s recipe. To the extent that Mr Chu is able to taste again. Only then, Mr Chu is finally moving on.

            

Awakenings - To Be Still Living

  Before I begin, I have to say that it's been a journey full of nostalgia with Robin Williams in the film. The world lost a great man when he had finally succumb to his depression and took his own life. Through his life stories and the movies that he portray, it has always been funny but mostly hopeful. This post is dedicated to Robin Williams, who showed that he's not just an amazing actor but also a man full of generosity and a love for those living.

Introduction
"In the winter of 1916-1917, an epidemic of a rare disease occurred, springing up, as virus diseases sometimes do, seemingly out of nowhere. It spread over Europe and then to other parts of the world and affected some five million people. The onset of the disease was sudden and took different forms. Some people developed acute restlessness or insomnia or dementia. Others fell into a trance-like sleep or coma. These different forms were recognised and identified by the physician Constantin von Economo as one disease, which he called encephalitis lethargica, or sleepy sickness. Many people died of the disease. Of those who survived, some recovered completely. The majority remained partly disabled, prone to symptoms reminiscent of Parkinson’s disease. The worst affected sank into a kind of ‘sleep’, unable to move or speak, without any will of their own, or hope, but conscious and with their memories intact. They were placed in hospitals or asylums. Ten years after the epidemic had begun, it just as remarkably disappeared. Fifty years later, the epidemic had been forgotten. In 1966, when Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist trained in London, took up his post at Mount Carmel, a hospital in New York, he found there a group of eighty people who were the forgotten survivors of the forgotten epidemic. It was clear that hundreds of thousands had died in institutions. Dr. Sacks called them ‘the lepers of the present century’. In his book, ‘Awakenings’, he tells of his attempts to understand the nature of their affliction, but also of his growing appreciation of them as individuals, with their own unique histories and experience. In 1969, Dr. Sacks tried out a remarkable new drug, L-DOPA. For some of his patients, there then followed a rapid and brief return to something like normality. They were suddenly restored to the world of the late nineteen sixties. His book documents this remarkable awakening, as experienced by twenty of his patients. L-DOPA was not, however, the magic cure that it first seemed. The normality that it promoted soon broke down, with patients subject to all kinds of bizarre behaviours" - taken from http://www.filmeducation.org/

Characters
Dr. Malcolm Sayer - A doctor who was recently hired into a local hospital in the New York City borough of The Bronx. Shown earlier on, he is portrayed as a timid  and  an awkward man who prefers to keep to himself. He sees very little interest in the world outside of his work and research. It's ironic that despite being in a profession of helping people, he prefers to be by himself outside of work. If there's any consolation, he is extremely passionate in his work and looks beyond the issues and limitations that others tend to accept. Eventually, he did break out of his shyness and takes the first step towards living outside of his work.

Leonard Lowe - A patient of Dr Sayer and the first receiver of L-DOPA. He was first shown as a bright child who was doing extremely well for class until the onset of his symptoms which renders him slowing down and eventually catatonic. After he awakens, he showed a huge zeal for life (as with others after him) and a hunger to to experience the four walls that of the hospital. His anger in not being allowed to be free, eventually and possibly triggered his onset of tics that would become worse. Leonard, showed more than just the first patient that received L-DOPA. He was also the first to go through the challenges that would eventually overtake him and the other. He was also the first to show the ward, staff and patients that there's more than life than the four walls of the hospital.

Eleanor Costello - The nurse that assisted Dr Sayer throughout the film. She was also the first to believe in Dr Sayer and also to ask him if he would life to have coffee after work. Eleanor was integral to Dr Sayer, in the sense that she truly believe in him and helped him throughout the entire film. Even to the point getting other nurses together to help with Dr Sayer's quest to gather the post-encephalitis patients. In a sense, it could be said that she is the one that kept Dr Sayer rooted in his humanity.

Paula - She caught the eye of Leonard when she was reading to her comatose father due to stroke. An integral character to Leonard despite being minimally shown throughout the film, she was the cause that prompted Leonard to be interested in her or being interested to romantically explore.

Themes
The main themes that was discussed in the film, such as life, belief, and hope.

The idea of life is the most visible due to the fact of the patients coming to life after being given L-DOPA. Many of the patient whom being rendered catatonic, once woken begin to pursue life again in their passion and pursuits. After all, being trapped in their own body for 20 years, they have no time to waste in doing nothing.

Belief in a sense, that it's often that not everyone can ever believe in what we believe in. It is not always that people who don't believe are against us but simple that they do not necessary want to or to need to share our beliefs. After all, it is only up to us to fully work on what we believe in than to constantly fight to make people share in our beliefs.

Hope was ever present throughout the film. With Dr Sayer who sees a glimpse of what could be with the encephalitis  patients.It was hope that drove Dr Sayer to attend a drug conference and eventually try out on his patients. Even as his patients went back to their previous conditions, there was hope that they could possibly wake up again. Even then, perhaps there was even hope for those around them. Namely the nurses, the doctors, the sponsors and even those who briefly come into contact with them.

Thoughts
The main thing that stayed with me was this one line. "..only because the other possibility is unthinkable."

It is often that when you've been living the same secured life that you think that the other possibly is unthinkable. That you should be in a secured job that pursuing your passions  that does not guarantee an income is impossible.

Opportunities should never be wasted. It could be only once in your lifetime. You may never get it again. After all, you only live once. So go and live your life.