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Reviews
These Birds Walk (2012)
Emotional documentary
I too disagree that this film would need more context to deserve a higher rating. What was attempted there was to give an impression from the world of Karachi runaway boys. People who argue that more objective context information should have been put in, have totally missed the point in my opinion. This film does not regard the boys as part of a socio-scientific category and exploits there cases to come up with a policy claim. Even more importantly, it does not give us the comfort of giving us some numbers so that we can begin to understand and come up with solutions. The reason is that what we see there has much more to do with giving people whom we barely hear the chance to share just a tiny bit of their world and much less with the Western viewer who wants to understand whats going on so that he or she can start to come up with a solution. When we hear from an area like this it is usually through an NGO which uses such stories to advocate for a certain program. It is almost impossible to see or hear stories without a great moral at the end. The great achievement of this (often heartbreaking) film derives from the fact that it does not do that. Instead it documents a very short episode of a few people's lives. As such it is much truer to the essence of a documentary, I believe. Yet I would not dare to say that what we saw was an authentic documentation of life there. We barely saw any women but that is surely due to the cultural circumstances.
I like the fact that the camera does not intrude into people's houses. First, it is a matter of respect, no matter how valuable or interesting one considers what is inside. What we see there is not human data, waited to be evaluated by a Western viewer. We see human beings and even if we might not approve with many of them, it is their right not to let their world be intruded by a camera team which makes a film that will be seen by people miles away from them. Secondly, I would have severely doubted the sincerity of the material if I would have seen even more intimate scenes. I almost felt uncomfortable and like an intruder when I saw these reunions. I wonder how the cameraman felt. Sometimes when among the kids, it felt as if the camera was held by one of the kids. I liked that.
The kids in general gave me a very disturbing feeling though. I saw children who were robbed of their childhoods though this is only my impression. The things they talked about and the way they organized hierarchies seemed like they were much older. I don't know why but because of the things they said, I sometimes felt cheated, as if what they were saying was not coming from them. But that might just show how little I know about social reality under these circumstances.
Pakistan is said to be a "tough" country. I think as far as what we saw is concerned this statement seems very true. Life in the foundation seemed cruel for the kids. But we can only assume what living with their families must have been like.
I take my hat off to the people who made that film, the people working at the Ethi foundation, the boys who volunteered so bravely for this film and I am grateful to the producers for not ruining it either with a cheap moral at the end of it or by giving us the comfort of allegedly understanding what we see. If there was a lesson it might be that this film makes us realize that we probably understand a lot less than we think we do.
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Philosophical movie about love, moral and crime
As a big fan of Dostojewskij I found this movie very appealing. The stories main plot has many analogical elements to the novel "Crime and Punishment". Both deal with the topic of murder and the terror it inflicts on the mind. In both cases the murderer (direct/indirect, does not really matter)believe that they own the right to get rid of their victim. In the book the murderer kills twice the second woman only because she appeared at the scene of the first crime. That probably added to the amount of terror and might give an explanation why Allen's character who only killed once and through a killer might be able to live on without any punishment. In both cases the denial of god or any moral structure leads to their action. Both are haunted by terror afterwords and it seems their minds wont be able to rest unless they turn them in or inflict any other sort of punishment on themselves. As I already mentioned in the movies case time eventually releases some of the terror and the protagonist appears to be able to live on. But the end is left open, it is not unlikely to assume that Judas terror might return. Nevertheless the ending offered by Allen to me is even more negative than what is happening in the novel. Allen suggests that people can commit that sort of crime and at some stage go back to their old lives. Judas escape into the comforts of a god or heavenly system seem a rather pathetic move to me. To me there is no way that Juda believes in god. He idealizes the idea of forgiveness and is completely oblivious to the moral duty one carries at the same time. We recognize that he feels some sort of moral responsibility but it is weak enough for him to evade it. That such thing is possible and I don't doubt that it is possible is a truly depressing thought indeed. The other plot does not offer much consolation either. The plastic character of Laster "wins" in the end by getting Halley, instead of his "opponent" Cliff. That suggests that what really matters to become happy is not seeking for any kind of truth or a better understanding of the human condition but to leave all this as it is and make the best of it. Thus money, success, huge confidence, the ability to deny, greed, beauty on the surface and hedonism wins over respect for ones neighbor, deep love, recognizing predicaments, being aware of death, melancholy and many other things. These are only categories to illustrate I know there is many other things that conflict with one another. The story is a true tragedy but it was built in wonderful manner. To me it is Allen's second best movie, after "Annie Hall" which I prefer because it offers a more optimistic idea of life and love and because Diane Keaton is in it:) The humorist elements in the film made me laugh harder than in most of his other movies because they come up in a very problematic context. They sometimes open up the possibility that we are dealing with the comedy but to me it is clearly something like a tragedy. I am still undecided about the film's ending. My first reaction was a little disappointment because it appeared to be too corny. A movie that denies morals ends with a sort of moral statement? I reflected it and it gained more favor:) The voice over is basically just telling us whats going on in the reality suggested by the movie. Even though many people live without a judge and it is basically all a big contest most people seem to enjoy life in one form or the other. People achieve/find happiness and realize that is only momentarily but seek again and deliberately accept the depressing moments happiness is followed by. I don't really see why the voice over puts faith or hope in future generations. To me it is a rather cynical statement by the director
When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
Lighthearted story about the build up of love between two old acquaintances
I watched the film because someone suggested me that film as a primary example for a lighthearted love film. In that respect it worked quite well for me. It had plenty of light but sincere dialogs that people discredit way to often. The acting is pretty calm and emotions are shown in a controllable manner. But that is pretty much the bottom line of the movie. The film completely rejects the difficult aspects of love since none of the two is ever really isolated, lonely or desperate. They have either each other or friends who cheer them up with smooth remarks. My guess is that this film appears better to people who shy away from spending to much time alone. As for me it did not really work as I prefer a satirical or poetical treatment of the misery of love to not really mentioning it at all. Of course I also saw the scene when Harry meets his ex-wife or when Sally learned about Joe's marriage. But those moments were lived though in company and Sally's was answered with sex. In a way it paved the way for the happy end. Of course the film is a piece of fiction but to me that is too simple to offer any reason for joy in the end. The love they have in the end is as light as the whole film. As a result it seems to be something that feels nice but dispensable. I thought it was an OK ending since it left out too many fancy objects and focused on the lovers. I prefer more complex movies but acknowledge that movies like this are important to make people feel good once in a while.
Smultronstället (1957)
It's the story of a man's parallel journey to a tribute and his suppressed painful past.
Just saw my first Bergman picture and it was beautiful. Both acting and formal arrangement of the story are fantastic in my opinion. Opposed to the majority of films that I have seen that piece by Bergman really touched me even though I have not understood many of the underlying conflicts. In spite of the difficulty and seriousness of the topics dealt with in this film one does not feel depressed or empty towards the end of the film. I guess this is because of the artistic brilliance evoked by the actors and the camera. I am not familiar with film analysis and I won't go into formal details for that reason. I am grateful to Bergman for the film because it makes you realize that all the hardship and heaviness of love and facing oneself is in a way natural and a universal task that everyone seeking for these things has to accept. I am still quite young and naive but I believe that love in one form or the other might be that one idea that can sort of tame that inner longing or drive for other things or beings, which could not be stopped otherwise. Thanks to people like Bergman I realize that misery and all the other negative feelings one can think are more part of the process than something one has to avoid as good as possible. I enjoy beauty and that film was just that. My favorite shot was the close up of Isak's face staring at the moon after he saw Sara, the love of his life and his brother Sigfrid happily in their share living room. The shot made me feel so much compassion for that man...