City of God

The slum of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is given the name “city of god”. It is a place where even demon will turn around and sigh when seeing it. The narrator of the story is a boy called Rocket who witnesses the twenty years of chaotic gangster war which ends in a disaster.

The main focus is on Caleleia who formed a gang called the Tender Trio. With his best friend, Bené, they become the crime lords over a decade. Bené is considered the coolest gangster in the city, but he is accidentally killed before he can retire. Lil' Zé decides to take revenge and take out his enemy, Sandro Cenoura. However, Sandro forms alliance with a young gangster named Mane and starts a gang war with Lil' Zé. The amateur photographer Rocket records the brutal fight with his camera and makes the story famous.

Everything here lives under a different code. Life is a bet, and living is a coincidence. Guns become a daily necessity. In the first scene of the movie, there is a running chicken, and a crowd of gangsters chasing it with guns. In the city of god, you can choose to live ordinary like the chicken and wait to be chased after and get robbed. Otherwise, you can choose to be a robber and wait to be shot. It seems both paths are not leading you to a bright future. However, lots of people choose the latter, because being shot by a gun only pain once.

When Lil' Zé is still a child, he never hesitates to kill people and sometimes for no reason. Why is a naïve child turning into a blood thirst beast? Brutality can grow inside a child if he is always being bullied. In an environment filled with fear, children only have two choices. One is to hide somewhere, just like Rocket, and watch. One is to be the boss yourself and bully others. Violence is what Lil' Zé choose. Besides wild ambitions, there is also fear deep inside his heart. The best way to overcome that fear is to point the gun at others before they point it at him.

“City of God” is hopeless. There are shadows everywhere. The police is either powerless or corruptible. Those who dream to live on a farm will only die early. Even Bené have to accept his fatality. He may be cool. He may have a pretty girl friend and lots of friends, but he has no life to enjoy it. He is killed by a bullet which suppose to kill Lil' Zé.

The film is based on a real story. It reveals a country filled with contradictions. Passion and ruthlessness, belief and slaughter have learned to coexist in this place. In fact, contradictions exist in every society. If you want to live a more comfortable lfe, then better be cool and realistic. Like the narrator Rocket in the story, try to survive, take pictures of reality, and sell them to the newspaper office. Maybe you can’t change the environment, but you can change yourself and find the best way out.

the Band's Visit

In the opening scene, several mid-aged men in neat uniforms stand in a straight line at an Israeli airport. They are an orchestra coming from Egypt, the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra. They are asked to play at the opening of an Arab Cultural Center. The members of the orchestra are at a pivotal time in their careers. It’s not just the political nature of an Arab military police band playing traditional Arab music in Israel that makes this event so important; budget cuts and many reorganizations have threatened the continued existence of the Orchestra. Faced with the heavy burden of this assignment, the stoic conductor Tewfiq is determined not to foul their excursion.

Despite all Tewfiqs efforts, it’s not long before problems arise. The band arrives at the airport with no one there to greet them. Stranded and unable to contact their Israeli hosts or the Egyptian consulate for help, Tewfiq decides that the Orchestra will persevere with its assignment and orders, and designates Khaled to ask for directions. Khaled and the station agent struggle in English, Arabic and Hebrew to communicate, but despite their best efforts, the Orchestra is sent to the outskirts of a small forgotten Israeli town in the desert.

the Syrian Bride

Mona is a25-year old Syrian girl, but, strictly speaking, she doesn’t belong to any country, because she has no nationality on her passport. She lives in a village called Galon, which is a Druze community. The village used to be a part of Syria, but it was taken over by Israel since 1976. In consequence she is not a Syrian. At least, Israel doesn’t think she is. Mona’s fiancé is a Syrian actor and her family wants her to marry a Syrian, not an Israeli. However, the problem is if she marries to Syria she can never return to Golan Heights, because her nationality will then be changed to Syrian and will no longer be accepted by Israel again. Her wedding is a little sentimental and looks rather like a farewell party.

There are four other major characters in the film. Hammed is Mona’s father who openly supports the reunification with Syria and has just been released on bail from an Israeli prison. On the day of Mona’s wedding, he insists to march for Syrian newly elected president. Hattem is Mona’s eldest brother. He marries an Russian girl, which is strongly against the village’s custom, so he leaves his village and lives in Russia with his wife. He returns after 8 years for Mona’s wedding, but is not welcomed by his village. Marwen, Mona’s second brother, does business in Italy. He is obviously a womanizer, yet nobody seems to object to his slightly unsettled lifestyle, which is quite a contrast to his brother who is only greeted by his mother and siblings. Mona’s sister Amal has a unhappy marriage, but she has a strong character and never gives in to life.

The Middle of the World

The Middle of the World is an 85-minute Brazilian movie. Rose and Roao together with five children are traveling across the country. Road scene makes up most part of the movie. The vehicles they have are four bicycles, and they ride 3,200 kilometers from a poor region Paraiba to Riode Janeiro, a large city in southeast. Roao has some unrealistic high standards for himself. He is looking for a job that can pay him 1000 reais. Along the way, they face physical and emotional hardship and bear witness to the many ways in which the nation they knew is changing.

Changes do not only take place on the outside but inside the family as well. Rose and Roao’s oldest son, Antonio, is getting close to full adulthood. He has become openly defiant of his parents and tries to prove himself a man. He feels tired of traveling and tires to find his own place in the world. After several trials he finally leaves his parents and works as a builder.

It is fairly easy to notice that there are a large percentage of people under poverty in this country. There seems to be no middle class. The only two parties are the rich and the poor. The fat rich guy looking for things to enjoy himself and the poor family searching for food and shelter form a sharp contrast. This is not a particular case but a common phenomenon that exists in the Brazilian society.

The film shows the natural beauty of Brazil. Big blue sky, clean white clouds, vast green grassland, and a happy family soaring on their bicycles together makes up a beautiful and peaceful picture. The weather is quite warm as the equator goes across the country. There are some heavy rainfalls in the movie which is typical for a tropical climate. In one scene, the family takes shelter in a discarded bus. The next morning they wake up, they find the place totally flooded after a night of rain.

Life is definitely not easy for impoverished people. Besides adversity, the movie shows the happiness of the poor. The journey is filled with laughter and happy songs. It is hope that makes them strong. They believe better things lie around the corner and that gives them the determination to travel thousands of miles by bicycle. It is already a miracle when they reach their destination. Even though the movie doesn’t tell us if Roao finds a job at last, there is always hope.

Tsotsi

A young gangster named Tsotsi has grown up on the slum of Johannesburg, South Africa. He spends his time leading a small group of punks in various criminal activities around town. After a conflict with one of his subordinates, Tsotsi leaves his neighborhood in a fit of rage and ends up in a violent encounter with a suburban woman. The encounter ends with Tsotsi driving away in the woman's car, finding a secluded area of town, and rummaging through the vehicle for valuables. Tsotsi is presented with an unexpected surprise in the back seat — the woman's baby. Lacking the callousness to leave the baby behind, Tsotsi carries it home with him. Throughout the next six days of his life, the plot's duration, the young gangster is forced to face the consequences of his violent lifestyle and reevaluate his own moral code.

Boston emphasizes the word decency in the movie many times. But his argument is weak and he is not able to defend it himself. In fact, all the people under poverty are trying to find decency. Tsotsi and Boston are also looking for answers, but it seems poverty has driven decency far away from their lives, because their daily routine is to consider how to get themselves fed. The old beggar who Tsotsi follows helps him redefine decency. From their talk, Tsotsi comes to realize decency is not about getting rid of poverty but about the attitude of life. Tsotsi saw a dog whose legs were broken by his father when he was young. The old beggar reminds him of that poor dog, and that experience is a nightmare for Tsotsi. He doesn’t want to live like the dog that his father wounded, and that’s why he ran away from home and lives by himself.

The woman Miriam who is forced to feed the baby has changed Tsotsi. Miriam’s husband is gone by accident, but the woman still has the passion and hope for life. She raises the baby on her own and makes wind bells for a living. Life is hard but she refuses Tsotsi money. The people living in adversity in the movie all have a reason for life. Tsosti sees the hope of life in their eyes and learns what real decency is.

Tears are a good expression of one’s emotions. Years of life as cruel gangsters has turned Tsotsi into a beast without emotions. He can feel the pain that faith brings him, but he won’t cry. He learns to fight and revenge the world which is so unfair to him. After he saw the tears of the beggar, the crying baby, the tears in Miriam’s eyes, he finds the warmth in this world again. He begins to learn about love. When he says sorry to his brother Boston, his eyes begins to cloud with tears. When he returns the baby to his parents, tears are streaming down his face. At that moment, he is crying like a boy, and that’s when his emotional world revives.

Yesterday

The movie Yesterday tells us a simple story. Yesterday is the name of a woman who raises her daughter, Beauty, in a Zulu village. Their life is simple, and every day they wake up, clean the house, fetch water from the well, and enjoy the sun shine of South Africa. Her husband has gone to a big city. He sends back money from his labor in the mines, but he is away for months at a time.　

A blood test reveals that Yesterday is HIV-positive after a routine visit to the district doctor. She is told to contact her husband in Johannesburg as quickly as possible. Confused, helpless, and determined to fight for her life Yesterday and her husband will have to learn how to live with the biggest threat the African continent has ever faced- the AIDS pandemic.

The condition under which people are living in the village is shocking. There is only one well for the whole village. Electricity is scarce and people have to depend largely on candle light. It takes a two-hour walk to get to the nearest doctor. The only “doctor” in the village is an old lady whose treatment is based on superstition. The land is very wide, but most of it is impoverished. I didn’t even see any farmland or crops in the movie. Before watching the movie, Africa gives me the impression of high heat. The images linked to Africa are lions, giraffes, and vast grassland. On the contrary, this Zulu village is in a place where there are four seasons. When I see the strong wind blowing though the walls of the little house and Yesterday’s husband shivering with pain, I can feel the coldness as if I were in that that little room as well.

The main themes of the movie are about courage, compassion, and determination. It’s a story of humanity defined by mother’s love. Besides these, however, I think the director is giving us a message of segregation. The village itself is on some point segregated from the outside world. People inside the village don’t like outsiders. It takes half a year for the villagers to accept Yesterday when she was first married into the village. They strongly abhor people who get infected by HIV. Yesterday’s husband is driven out and ends up dead in a little house outside the village. It makes me think that sometimes it’s not the physical illness that really hurts but the distance between people’s hearts.

If we can live healthy, we should always face life with a smile. After watching the movie, what impresses me most is the smile on Yesterday’s face. No matter how tired or sad she is, she always has a kind, lovely smile on her face. It’s really touching me at the moment, and it’s probably because I was suffering from a cough for quite a while and was feeling really low. Her smile cheers me up and fills me with warmth. She makes me realize that we should have our body and soul shower in the sunlight every day.

Crying Ladies

Let’s meet the last professional mourners of Manila's Chinatown. Smart Stella dreams of a better job to be able to get back the custody of her beloved son from her ex-husband. Then there is Doray, a bit player of the '70's whose life revolves around the glory days of her B-movies career. Choleng is a religious and naive woman who simply cannot resist the sexual advances of her best friend's husband. They all accept a part-time job as the professional mourners for a traditional Chinese funeral and they have to cry for 5 days!

The story of these three women is given life in the context of a funeral wake. Against all odds in life, they survive and emerge victorious in the many little ways that make up real life. First-time director Mark Meily brings a heartwarming comedy that moves the audience to tears and laughter.

Traditional Chinese funeral has appeared in both Crying Ladies and Singapore Dreaming. The influence of Chinese culture is strong in both countries, so I think it’s necessary to shed some light on the traditional Chinese funeral.

First of all, Chinese understand death in a different way. It’s a traditional belief that soul exists inside the body, and when the body dies the soul will still be with the body for several days. After that, it will leave and go to the nether world. A funeral is a big event for the whole family, and during the funeral people actually think the dead is watching what they are doing. It’s not good to hold one’s feelings at a Chinese funeral. The right way is to cry them out, and it shows how you miss and care about the decedent. In order to show full respect, sometimes people will hire outside professional mourners for cry their loved ones. They cry for days, but, unlike in the movie, they also talk to the decedent when they are crying. The content is usually similar to some kind of confession which involves feeling sorry for not treating the decedent well enough when he is alive and asking for forgiveness. The tradition may be a little different from place to place, because mourners in other places may sing songs when they are crying.

In some scenes, things made of paper are burnt during the funeral. This is considered as an essential part, and the items that are burnt is believed to be transformed into things that can be used by the decedent in the nether world. A lot of things are burnt in the film including houses, vehicles, TVs, etc. The most common thing Chinese burn at a funeral, however, is a kind of false paper money specially “used” for the dead. People will burn them at a certain time every year to the decedent they miss and love hoping that his or her life in the other world is happy.