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A movie and book review blog

  • Reading films, watching books,....
  • Mind candy in the dark
  • All the books left to read...

Oct 17, 2005

This Best Foreign Language Oscar Winner of 1976 tells the story of a small mismatched troupe of French expatriates in French Equitorial Africa during WW1 trying to stage a battle with Germans in the same place, to support the war efforts of their country in the real war raging somewhere far off.

In a way it is a sarcastic portrayal of the colonizers(French in this case), how primitive they are beneath the flaky superiority they tout based on their skin color. The film presents a universal manipulative play that has taken place in many battles and wars since time immemorial - the real war is fought by the people who are the least associated with the cause. Both the French and the Germans, the opposing sides in this movie has native Africans to fight for them, finally the British contingent which arrives bearing the news of the ending of the World War is led by an East Indian captain named Shashi Kapoor.

The film is a humorous take on what happens when a small group of expatriate Europeans overcome with national spirit tries to stage their own mini version of a World War in the heart of Africa. Their interactions with natives, the behavior of natives, the natives' interpretations about the white man and his culture are all subtly hilarious.

Oct 16, 2005

Melodrama and Shah Rukh Khan are twins separated at birth. A love story meant to bring together two divided peoples who are really one at heart - India and Pakistan, Veer Zara has some brilliant songs.

Oct 9, 2005

  • 10/09/2005 09:24:00 AM
I saw Frida, a couple of weeks back in a torrent of films and forgot to write about it. Its a must watch if you like Salma Hayek (that means more than 80% of the guys out there), she looks beautiful as Frida and she has shown the nerve in this movie to go beyond the conventional western notions of beauty, like having a monobrow, as the real Ms.Kahlo had. Apart from that, it is a good movie, worth your two hours, traces the story of the life of Mexican painter/cult figure Frida Kahlo.


A tram accident at 15 leaves Frida bed ridden and opt for a career in painting, which was her hobby till then, instead of pursuing medicine, which she had wanted to do. Frida was a wild and independent spirit, who later married one of the noted painters of the time, Diego Rivera.

Every scene of the movie is like a painting and true to the Mexican theme, very colorful, trying to match the color scheme of Frida Kahlo's paintings. Her paintings were as colorful as the cheerful and active person she was and were mostly women oriented. The famed Russian philosopher-politician Leon Trotsky is seen being hidden in Frida's house, when he flees Russia to Mexico. According to history, Frida Kahlo was confined to wheelchair most of the time after the accident in her teens. Although in the movie, we see a lot of Frida, running around and being the center of attraction of Mexico's bohemian leftist parties etc. An honest opinion can only be made after I read the biography of Frida, which after the movie, has become real popular. Written by Margaret A. Lindauer, Devouring Frida : The Art History and Popular Celebrity of Frida Kahlo should be a good Frieda primer for those of you who want more of her.
in the pic above(The real Frida Kahlo)

Oct 8, 2005

Oct 5, 2005

You think you discovered sex? Wrong, the real sexual revolution happened at the time of your grandmother, thanks to some ground breaking research by Alfred Kinsey. The movie is an account of his life, work and times, where the title character is played by Liam Neeson.
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