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.

Singapore Dreaming

The story of this Singapore family brings out a question on how to seek happiness in ordinary life. The Poh’s family in this movie well represents a typical Singapore family.

The host of the family named Poh Huat works as a lawyer’s clerk. His dream is to enter the upper social class and enjoy luxury life. Being disappointed by his current status, he forms the habit of buying lottery tickets in the hope of winning and making his dream come true. Poh’s wife is a typical Chinese housewife. Her daily routine is buying groceries, cooking, cleaning, and making herbal tea. She sacrifices her own life for the good of the whole family. Besides financial problems, small conflicts exist among the family members. The hope of family, their much loved son, lies and spends most of his parents’ money. He doesn’t even come close to success and have difficulty finding a job. The daughter is not satisfied with her family apparent favoritism for the son. When Poh strikes the lottery and wins two million dollars, it seems all the problems can be fixed. However, it is a test given by god to the family on how to seek true happiness in life.

The favoritism for a son is quite common in the older days, and it is still currently practiced by some conservative families. The reason for this phenomenon can be traced back to thousands of years ago when farming is the major production power of the society. A son can provide more labor to a family while a girl will increase a family’s burden. The idea has come into existence for so long and it has been deeply rooted in people’s minds. In modern days, a lot of Chinese families may still favor a son. It’s an old custom, and people do it without a rational reason. I think only the solution to this problem is to leave it to time. The Chinese society is changing fast and some of the people are probably not ready yet.

It is very interesting to hear a mixture of four different languages when the family is sitting around the dinner table. The family members mostly speak Fu Jian dialect and English. Sometimes they use Mandarin as well. Later I find out there is a forth language called Singlish. The pronunciation and grammar are different from standard English. It is based on English, but it is also influenced by Malaysian language, Fu Jian dialect, Cantonese, and Mandarin. The language is formed during the long years of many different ethic groups living together.

It surprises me that some Chinese customs can be better preserved in Singapore than in China mainland and Taiwan. Old and new both exist in this internationalized country. Different cultures keep influencing on each other and form the unique culture of Singapore.

Once Were Warriors

The movie we watched last Thursday was very unusual. By only looking at the tile “Once Were Warriors”, it’s hard to know what to expect from the movie, because it sounds like a war or science fiction film. Nevertheless, when you start the movie, better fasten a seat belt, and be ready for the shock wave.

At first, for a little while, I think it is peaceful. A man and a woman are in love. They have some kids. It looks like a seemingly happy family. There is no danger, but, the next moment, I become so upset that I can’t stop thinking HELP THAT POOR WOMAN!! Oh my goodness! The man is devil! He should not be categorized as human, and I spend the following hour worrying about whether the woman is going to get beaten again.

New Zealand is a beautiful country in my impression, but the movie reveals something not so beautiful. Domestic violence is not a new topic, but it is striking me so fierce when seeing it on the screen. The strength of men ought to be used to build and protect his family, but this, on the contrary, becomes the origin of destruction in this movie. Beth, who gets beaten by his husband Jake, wants to fight back, but, maybe terrified by his violence or in the hope to save love, she thinks things will better if she gives Jake another chance. Things do not turn out as she wishes, though. Jake let her down every time.

Violence is not the only theme of the movie. Moreover, there is love, the love of a mother, which is also a nature of human, or more expansively, the whole live species. Beth has a Maori heritage and the influence of her culture is strong. Her strengths lie in her devotion to her family and her heritage. Jake, sometimes, also shows his love to the family. He works to feed the family when he is not drunk; he brings back seafood for his children.

That is little comfort, though, as their daughter is struggling to accept adulthood, their youngest son is heading towards juvenile detention, and their oldest son is fast on his way to joining a brutal gang. Worst of all, Jake is a heavy drinker. Various problems arise and they are tearing the family apart. Beth does her best to hold the family together, but she can hardly make a change which is because of Jake's drinking and carelessness of his family's dissipation. Jake insists it's best to drink away the problems and quit being so "soft" on the kids. These finally lead to a terrible strategy.

The movie is bloody and gloomy as my professor warned us before class. I still think it’s worth watch. I’ve watched many movies, and a lot has already faded out of my memory, but this one is going to stay with me for long.

Rabbit-proof Fence

Rabbit-proof Fence, which is based on a true story, discovers the dark history of the aboriginal people in Australia from 1910 to 1970. What the government is trying to do at that time is to “save” the “half-caste” children from their aboriginal identity and help them fit in the white society. The government forcibly takes the “half-caste” children away from their parents, and put them in the special detention centers which are set up for training. There they are trained very strictly. They are forced not to speak their own language or perform their own custom. They are even told they have no parents, and any child who breaks the rules will receive punishment in a little wooden house.

Molly feels sick of the life in the Moore River Native Settlement. She manages to escape with her two sisters Daisy and Grace. Neville, head of the detention center, is very pissed off. He desperately sends out trackers and police to capture the three girls. The girls’ journey is tough, but fortunately they meet some kind hearted people who offer them food and even shelter some times. Due to Molly’s cleverness and determination, Neville’s “perfect” plans never work out. They successfully hide from the tracker every time. Almost near the end of the journey, however, Grace is cheated by a stranger and is caught by the trackers. There Molly and Daisy missed Grace forever. Following the rabbit-proof fence, the two girls travel 1500 miles and finally get home.

During their scene of escape, the director also gives us an overview of the Austrian vast landscape. The environmental change from coastal region to deeper inland is huge. At the beginning of their escape, there are forest and rivers. Gradually, the green color vanishes, and it is substituted by almost yellow. Where Molly and her sisters live is a semi desert. Not a lot of plants can be found except some dry trees. Water is quite scarce as well. From what I have seen, life of the aborigines is in great harmony with the nature. They hunt for animals that can be found around, like lizards. Sometimes, they also live on birds’ eggs. I think nature is sacred for them, since I see them admire eagles a lot.

What are you going to do when the government kidnapped your children? It’s truly a heart breaking time for thousands and thousands of aboriginal parents. Molly and her sisters are only the lucky ones, but tens of thousands of children remain separate from their mothers. During the long 60 years, they are educated by the white and even forget who they are and the origin of their culture. Body injuries can be cured by medicine. Broken hearts can be cured by time. Lost of self identity is the biggest harm, because it can never be found back again.