A New Day

I haven't posted anything since my time in India because I feel like anything I could write now would pale in comparison. After I'll, I'm a currently unemployed, non-student living back at home in Vegas. But my mind is always circling in thoughts so I thought for now I could at least post some of my swirling thoughts.

As always, movies are one of the most thought provoking experiences to me. I'll share movie thoughts from two movies I saw a couple weeks ago.

Doubt Feb. 14th, 2009

Doubt: the enemy of all religions; the enemy of faith, hope, human relationships. The beginning sermon that the Father in this movie gives opens the world of doubt and allows the audience to begin on the quest of considering doubt’s place in both religion and life.

I really enjoyed the film, and I’ll tell you why. The entire movie is embedded with symbolism. From the red meat the father eats, to the picture of the pope Sister Aloysius hangs up, to the timing of wind and the sound of thunder each and every time it appears, to the light in the office that goes out, to all the little habits of the father to the red door… It seems as though nothing in the movie is there merely for the sake of being there. Everything can be used as a source of doubt to the audience, everything can be used as a source in deciding which side you will be put on, to point to one direction of doubt or the other.

Although the main line of the story follows Sister Aloysius as she tries to prove her suspicions of the father, there is clearly a much deeper question of doubt to the movie, as both the opening and closing scenes make the reader realize the story is about so much more than doubt in this single priest. It brings up a doubt in a man, a doubt in a religion, a doubt in one’s instincts.

The movie does a beautiful job of bringing to life the issues of the day. You see the presence of the 1960s views on women, race, modernity, and religion. Any movie that can successful attempt to incorporate such heavy themes in any amount of accuracy deserves some amount of praise.

It is always interesting when a title consists of a sole word. The good ones, the good titles and movies, clearly have a much deeper meaning than just the one word alone. The title is a place to attract the reader’s attention to finding out what a film is about. If an author chooses to use one word, you can imagine there must be a deeper meaning if only one word can do justice.

SPOILER: If you had any doubts yourself about the layers of the film, about what the real story line is really about, the last scene between Sister Aloysius and Sister James steadies your doubts. If any one saw it, PLEASE tell me what your thoughts on the last scene were!
While the script dragged at parts, the acting was stunning. I did not see Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Viola Davis on the screen; but merely Sister Aloysius, Sister James, Father ____ and a mother.



Slumdog Millionaire Feb. 14th, 2009

A story of life in the slums of Mumbai, but of more than that the story of the lessons life can teach, even in the slums (or maybe especially in the slums). I personally enjoyed the movie as a movie a lot and would recommend it most. But I’m writing this not as a review, but more because I feel like a few things need to be clarified about India. A few comments I’ve heard from people who have seem the movie have me worried that they are getting the wrong impression of India through the movie.

This movie is about the slums in Mumbai. It probably is typical of the slums of Mumbai, just as certain American films are typical representations of the ghettos of NY. But would you want the rest of the world to think that America is like the ghettos of NY, as depicted in some film? I would hope not. So don’t judge all of India based on the depiction of the slums of Mumbai.

What you should get from the film is the idea that India is changing. The host of the show said that he grew up in the slums and was able to rise to be rich. The boy himself wins the money and changes his life, both financially and romantically. India’s new emerging middle class is growing and is depicted in the film. While approximately a third of the country still lies below the poverty line (dollar a day) according to the World Bank, that number is going down each year. Many are predicting the growth of India will only continue to get better. The middle class is growing and that middle class lives like many of us.

The film also briefly shows the violence between Hindus and Muslims, as the riots depicted. According to the World Book (on the CIA website) about 80% of the country is Hindu, 13% Muslim. Although Britain tried to separate the secular and Muslim governments (by creating the two separate nations of Pakistan and India), it has by no means dispelled the violence. During the partition, hundreds of thousands of Hindus and Muslims were killed in the transitioning/moving between India and Pakistan, not to mention leaving millions homeless. There have been three wars between Pakistan and India since. But the tension between Muslims and Hindus within India alone is huge. I heard several people in India mention that the tension between the major Muslim party and Hindu party keeps a lot of political progress from taking place, and also frequently leads to violence. The recent Mumbai attacks in November 2008 were just another example of the already high tension between the two religions and between the two countries. As I watched the news reports as the events of the attacks unfolded, many of the comments Indians were making sounded quite similar to the comments Americans were making after 9/11. If nothing else, imagine the tension we had after 9/11 and multiply that by a much longer history of tension, and you may slightly begin to understand the tension there.

Beyond the main character, many of the Indians in the film (his brother, the gangsters, etc) are depicted as sneaky, conniving and only looking out for number one. There are two points I wish to address here. First, we need to remember that they are a new democracy, with a new open market system. It takes a while for a strong middle class to arise, and while it’s arising the system can seem quite greedy and oftentimes cruel. If you look to our beginnings though, you will see many, many similar things. Many of the same behaviors and accusations were made about Americans in the beginning. The lesson should not be that most Indians are corrupt, but that it takes time for democracy and an open market system to work and spread through the population. They are adjusting to a system where they can finally move within the class structure. Second, while in India there were times were I would feel like the system is so corrupt and people were always looking for a way to take advantage. It would get really, really frustrating some times. But I also meet many, many Indians who were so helpful, and helped just to help. They gained nothing from it. From helping us learn how to use the money, to giving us directions, to translating for us when we couldn’t read things in Hindi, to simply just being friendly to some foreigners. Some of them were the friendliest people I’ve ever met. After a simple conversation they would consider you a friend and invite you to their home. I came across many wonderful and pleasant Indians. Do not think that all Indians are the way many are depicted in the film.

I think I’ve said enough here. But just remember that a movie is still just a movie. It may be the only impression or glimpse of Indian (or any place, topic for that matter) you have so far, but realize that’s all it is, is just an impression or glimpse.