Green zone

Director:  Paul Greengrass
Writers: Brian Helgeland, Rajiv Chandrasekaran (book)

The diplomatic policies of the 21^th century’s super power – USA , are beyond the understanding of any common man and this common man can be a US citizen as well. Based on the novel written by Rajiv Chandrasekaran ‘Green zone’ gives an insight on the ‘WMD’ card on which the US played to destroy the regime of ‘Saddam Hussein’. There was no clear way to validate US claim of the possession of WMD by Iraq and so the basic rationale behind of the war was itself not clear. Even the US army in this case was misled and were given a task in which they just had to fool around.

When you can’t convince a person, confuse him. US, in the case of Iraq had no real reason behind the war but somehow had to misled the world by giving the excuse of ‘WMD’.Media played a crucial role in showcasing an information which in fact doesn’t exist. Dependence on the initial source of information led to a substantial minority of Americans exhibiting false memory that WMD were indeed discovered, while they were not. Fox - One of the prime media channels in USA was so much successful in this case that almost 1/3^rd of the Americans believed that WMD had been found in Iraq.

Media source	Respondents believing evidence of WMD had been found in Iraq
Fox	33%
CBS	23%
NBC	20%
CNN	20%
ABC	19%
Print media	17%
PBS–NPR	11%

Based on a series of polls taken from June–September 2003

By meeting a set of people who had the real clues and facts available with them ,The character in the movie – Miller, slowly gets to the root cause behind the whole drama. In the final scene, the camera pans out from Miller's convoy showing an oil facility to the right, suggesting the real reason of the war.

Unfortunately this movie was a flop at the box office but was successful in giving a gist of the whole ‘WMD’ debacle.

Into the Wild

Director:

Sean Penn

Writers:

 Sean Penn (screenplay), Jon Krakauer (book)

“‎There comes a time in your life when you have to let go of all the pointless drama and the people who create it and surround yourself with people who make you laugh so hard that you forget the bad and focus solely on the good. After all life is too short to be anything but happy.”

- Karl Marx 

In 1992 , Twenty four years Chritopher Mccandles (alias Alexander Supetramp) body was found in Alaska.He died of starvation and weighed only 30kg when dead.

How many times have you felt of running out of life ? hoping to live simply for a time in solitude. 

How many times have you felt of abandoning all your material belongings and just exploring a new world. 

How many times have you felt of not following the rules set by the society and doing something which your heart says ?

It's difficult to imagine a 22 year old guy's mind filled with such kind of thoughts. An age when every youngster dreams of having a kick-ass career,fast life,lots of money and n number of things which will keep him/her happy and comfortable.But Christopher preferred to abandon everything and explore Alaska , all on his own.He was done with the ways in which this 'Society'works.So he donates all his savings to charity,abandons his car midway , thinks of a pseudo name so that the FBI doesn't get hold of him and moves ahead towards his journey of 'Alaska' to acquire the state of 'Eternal Bliss'.Unfortunately his journey was shortlived as he by accident eats a poisonous plant. 

The movie got a brilliant support in the form of the soundtracks and songs composed by 'Eddie Vedder' . Emile Hirsch also justified the role of 'Christopher' and was fully immersed in it. 

Must watch ...

East West (1999)

Dir: Regis Wargnier
Writer: Rustam Ibragimbekov, Sergei Bodrov, Regis Wargnier
Language: French, Russian

After WWII Stalin invited Russians from all across the world to come back home to rebuild Russia. One such doctor Alexi Golovin with his French wife Marie and son Sergey comes back to Russia with a hope of bright future. But as soon as they arrive they are shocked to see many of their travelling companions executed or sent to Gulag. Alexei being a Doctor is sent to Keiv. To save wife and son Alexei agrees to be paraded as model returnee. They get one small room to live without basic facilities. Marie's frustration grows and she plans to escape but Alexei refuses to be part of it and discourages her. They start to grow apart. Marie then meets Sasha a 17 year old boy who is a swimmer. They build friendship. Sasha is suppose to take part in a competition in Vienna. Marie and Sasha plan that Sasha once in Vienna will defect to West. Their plan fails as he is dropped from the team and is sent to training camp to Black Sea. Sasha, however, refuses to give up and swims 19 km to Turkish freighter. Marie is accused as the mastermind behind the escape and is sent to Gulag. After few years Alexei manages to overturn Marie's conviction. Marie now has given up all hope of returning to France. After two years while visiting Bulgaria on official visit Alexei tells Marie that Gabrielle (French actress who earlier attempts to help Marie) is waiting for her at hotel lobby. She will take Marie and Sergey to French embassy. Marie pleads Alexei to join them but he refuses saying he is Soviet citizen and Embassy will not protect him. 

The film was nominated for Best Foreign language film at Academy and Golden Globes.

What is Dr.Schultz's story?

After watching Django Unchained the only thing I was wondering was, who is this Dr.Schultz ? What made him leave his medical profession to be a bounty hunter? Why he is so sympathatic towards slaves? Where is his family?

It is one of the most bizarre characters I have seen. Puzzling, enigmatic but likeable.
He is just in his behavior. He treats everyone as equal. He treats you the way you treat him. Bullet for a bullet, friend to a friend. He doesn't think much killing a man when he is with his kid. He justifies it saying, he killed many innocent people, robbed banks so why bother.

He is calculative, meticulous planner and a good strategist. He knows that he is smart and witty and it is difficult to beat him. So when Calvin Candy beats him in his game it hurts him. He not only loses 12000 dollars but also his life but not before shooting Calvin Candy.

Room 237

Director: Rodney Ascher

Did director wanted to suggest us something through shining ?

The documentary analyses the film and the possible hidden meanings that the director Stanley Kubrick might be trying to hint towards. The documentary consists of interviews of fans who associate the film with genocide of Red Indians, holocaust and US' claim of landing on the moon.

Genocide of Red Indians
When the hotel manager takes Jack and his family on tour of the hotel he tells them that hotel was built on the graveyard used by Red Indians. 
There are many such references in the film that can be associated to genocide.

Holocaust
Jack's German typewriter 'Adler Eagle' , a certain music piece which is said to be Anti-nazi and many other such references. And most important Kubrick was a Jew.

Apollo 11 moon landing
When Danny is playing with his toys in one of the room a ball comes rolling towards him, seeing the ball he is terrified and stands up. When he stands up we see him wearing a sweater with a rocket on it. Also, the carpet in the same scene has a design which is said to be resembling the layout of the site from where Apollo 11 was launched.
Believers in moon landing conspiracy believes that the shots of Armstrong walking on the moon was directed by Kubrick. 

I am not sure if Stanley Kubrick was really thinking of all these things while making a movie or it was just a coincidence. I don't see any reason why he should suggest anything on holocaust or genocide of Red Indians indirectly. Apollo 11, yes, if the theory is true than it is obvious he can't speak about it openly. So my take is if Kubrick indeed wanted to suggest us something it would have been Apollo 11.

Gael Garcia Bernal

Gael Garcia Barnel is a  Mexican actor / director whoat a very young age has feature in many prominent films as lead. He started his career at the age of 22 debuting with Amores Perros. He has started in films critical acclaimed films like

Y tu mama tambien

The Motorcycle Diaries

Fidel

Bad Education

Babel

Even the Rain

No 

El crimen del Padre Amaro

He also directed a film Deficit in 2007. He has played Che Guvera twice (Fidel, The Motorcycle Diaries).

To Live

Director – Zhang Yimou

Written by - Lu Wei

I had never heard of this film or of this director before. It is after watching Memoirs of Geisha I searched for Gong Li and her filmography, I came across this film. I read on Wikipedia that it was banned in Mainland China, and that increased my curiosity. I searched for it on youtube and luckily I got the film with English subtitles.

The story starts in 1940s just before the Chinese civil war. The story depicts the struggle of Fugui’s family after he loses his wealth in gambling. Fugui soon realizes losing wealth was blessing in disguise as after the war ‘People’s government ‘ takes away all the wealth from the rich and whoever refused is either imprisoned or shot. The film covers 3 decades and gives a glimpse of Chinese government policies and how it affects a family like Fugui’s. These historical references in the film must have angered the government eventually banning of the film in China.

The film won Grand Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 1994.