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The Gospel of John (2014)
Pretty decent production, accurate representation of Jesus.
The Gospel of John is one of the first movies narrating the life of Jesus Christ from the biblical text. The movie was directed by David Batty in 2015. One of the fascinating features of the movie is that the script is made of the exact initial narration of Jesus Christ from the Bible. Hence, the film is considered to bring a fresh light on religious book, the Bible. Generally, the movie has a high rating (7.8/10 on IMDB) with some good reviews of the viewers saying they have watched the movie for several times and and praising the choice of actors.
Basically, the production standards are pretty decent, the costumes and sets look realistic, and Palestine stands in the Moroccan countryside. John's script is read as the other characters play out the plot speaking Aramaic. With actor Selva Rasalingam's depiction of Christ, the crew seems to appear much more indigenous than other actors who previously were shot in movies about Jesus. It is said that he is of largely Tamil origin. Even if he is light-skinned, the protagonist has a more Mediterranean appearance. This aspect is important to note since Jesus and all his early disciples were of Jewish origin, hence choosing the right actor who will play Jesus Christ also affects the way the audience perceives and understands the story.
«The gospel of John» firstly makes few clarifications. According to the film, «it is set on a time when the Roman empire controlled Jerusalem». However, it is also said that «The gospel of John was written two generations after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ». So, the Gospel may not contain all of the toils of Jesus or may be somehow altered through time. The plot of the movie starts with Jesus exposing himself to the society through signs and his discourse about the God, eventually coming to a much more credulous and aggressive universe. As he speaks to the crowd of people and reveals them the truth about himself and the God, there is a lot of debate going on among the crowd. People often divided into groups of those who believed Jesus' words and those who thought he was some kind of a liar or charlatan. After that he draws his attention on the small group of those who have truly trusted in God and Jesus himself to encourage them to continue on his work. There were many disputes and miscommunication between the church established by the Roman Empire, the Jewish citizens and Jesus Christ. The church, thus, made up a motive for the King to crucify Jesus. The film ends with the scenes of death and burial of Jesus, followed by some of his appearances in his state of resurrection to his disciples.
The principle of «living Word», that Jesus represents as the creative source of life and light are clearly depicted in the film. These principles are shown in Jesus' ability to enliven and enlighten individuals who trust him, for instance when Jesus created wine out of water, cured royal representative's son from a serious disease, walked on the sea, made the blind man see again and some other supernatural abilities of Jesus. All these miracles have a meaning and a motive for people to show Jesus' power. To be precise, converting water into wine symbolizes the difference between being born in human form and being born from heaven. Jesus reveals that by giving the blind man eyes he is the light of the world and that by giving life to Lazarus and waking him up from dead, he is the resurrection. Thus, the movie clearly shows how interesting and important were these miracles performed by Jesus Christ not only to prove people that he was, indeed, the son of God, but also to make the audience elaborate on the concepts of belief and religion.
Another important issue depicted in the movie is the conflict between Jesus and religious leaders. "The gospel reflects the period of unprecedented polemic and antagonism between the emerging church and the religious establishment of the Jewish people". One of the reason for such a conflict may the the clash of views. Jesus criticized religious leaders for their wrong beliefs about God, exposed their hypocrisy and recommended people to not believe the religious representatives. Religious leaders, in contrast, criticized Jesus for performing miracles and curing people on the Jewish Sabbath Day, criticized for treason and generally were jealous since more and more people trusted Jesus Christ each day despite the ongoing debates.
Despite many advantages of the film, it is also vital to mention that The Gospel of John is fairly long (2.5 hours), which is why it is difficult sometimes to follow the plot. In addition, the film includes a number of violent scenes such as the crucifixion of Jesus and two other thieves with blood clearly depicted on the bodies. These kind of brutal and bloody scenes are definitely not recommended for children and teenagers, or at least it should be warned to watch at the presence of parents. Nevertheless, I would recommend the movie for the common audience to get general information about the life of Jesus Christ.
Biruma no tategoto (1956)
Emotional and thought-provoking drama
Burmese Harp (1956) directed by Kon Ichikawa is an emotional and thought-provoking drama that basically reveals the difficulties Japanese soldiers had to cope with as the consequence of surrendering to British army at the end of World War II. Although one group of soldiers agrees to surrender to the British, there is another group that would rather give their lives for Japan than to give up. Hence, the protagonist of the movie Mizushima, is sent to convince the other troop to surrender and «rebuild» the country again. However, Mizushima fails to accomplish his goal and persuade the soldiers of second group, which is why British army bombarded this group and killed everyone except for Mizushima himself. Although Mizushima's troop gets informed that their fellow soldier died, they still attempt to find him and look for any information about him. Meanwhile, Mizushima becomes a monk who decides to return to this motherland, Japan, only after burying the bodies of his countrymen.
The movie seems to be very different from other US or European movies about the World War II. The main peculiarity of this movie is that it shows strong spirit and patriotism of Japanese soldiers almost in every scene. Their patriotism can be discussed from two different perspectives. The first example of loyalty to motherland is shown in second groups' decision to die rather than to capitulate. It depicts that their love for the country is much higher and more important than fear of death. Moreover, the first troop's decision to surrender to the British army for the sake of their own country is also a sign of patriotism. Even though it may seem quite paradoxical at first glance, this decision, very painful and at the same time deliberate, is the only source of considerable hope for the future which gives them an opportunity to start everything from the scratch. Hence, these two scenes illustrate deep sense of patriotism of Japanese people to their motherland.
The movie's another peculiarity is the way it demonstrates the role of Buddhism during the time of war both for Japanese and Burmese society. There are some particular details in the film that give characteristics of Buddhism such as temples and statues of Buddha. It is shown in the movie explicitly that people had much respect for the Buddhist monks, for instance it is an honor for the citizens to provide monks food. Nevertheless, there might be one significant concern regarding the case of Mizushima. It is clearly seen that Mizushima did not have deep understanding about Buddhism as a religion, since he probably became a monk not due to pure faith, but due to an occasion. It is likely that he was influenced by a monk who took care of him after the attack of British army. Also as an experienced soldier hitherto, he was mostly driven by a tribute to the memory of the dead soldiers. Still throughout the film it can be noticed that his thoughts and perspectives seem to coincide with basic Buddhist concepts such as Four Noble Truths. In particular, the last scene is important in this context for it emphasizes the First Noble Truth stating that «Life is suffering».
Taking into account the fact that the movie was shot in the second half of 20th century, I was delighted with the director's work and montage. The quality and content of the movie are quite impressive; they show that Japanese cinematography was developed pretty well even at that time and made its own contribution in a worldwide scale. Every scene is used properly to deliver main point. Also, emphasis put on separate details, such as harp played, a symbolic role in conveying collective spirit of the soldiers and their attempts to get more or less positive approach during such a hard time. The mere name of the movie, Burmese Harp, serves as a depiction of main topics illustrated in the film: patriotism, teamwork, respect, hardships of that time and more importantly hope. In general, Burmese harp (1956) not only managed to fully convey the feelings of Japanese soldiers at the time of surrender, but also to inspire people to stay strong and maintain hope for a better future.
Act Normal (2006)
Ignore the quality and enjoy every part of the film
Act Normal (2006) is a move directed by Olaf de Fleur showcasing the story of life of Robert T. Edison who at his age of 18 decided to become a monk. Robert was born in Leeds in Yorkshire, north of England, and grew up in a family of middle-class English parents. Having gathered small amount of money for the flight tickets, he moved from Britain to Thailand in the search of Buddhist teachings. However, after approximately a 10-year period he decides to disrobe and get married to a Russian girl from Kazakhstan. This is the time when he completely alters his lifestyle and priorities in life.
It can be immediately noticed from the opening scene that the producer will touch upon various topics concerning Buddhism as a whole. One of the most significant topics discussed in the movie is the monkshood and sangha. The producer tries to convey the actual lifestyle of the Buddhist monks in modern life through the collection of interviews taken from Robert who talks about the everyday obligations and routine in the sangha. In addition, the producer depicts the role of Buddhist sangha in the society especially thought showcasing food donation process and its significance both for the population and the monks. Other direct Buddhist contexts shown in the movie are core Buddhist concepts such as suffering, the Noble Truths, Dharma, Buddha, anatman (no sole) and topics of attachment and love. The protagonist shows a deep understanding of all these concepts and hence is able to share his knowledge and experience. Hence, it can be claimed that the documentary movie would be most impressive and beneficial for the individuals about to become the Buddhist monks.
The main advantage of the documentary film is that it contains and demonstrates almost complete picture of the protagonist, monk Robert. The film is focused only on one topic: the life of an English monk. It gives a chance for the watching people to feel the main hero's feelings and may make them as much sympathetic as possible (probably there are still exceptional cases). The second side of the coin is redundancy of flashbacks throughout the whole movie. Return-Backs were not a successful idea for it is highly uncomfortable for the audience to construct right order of chronology and ultimately the complete plot of the movie. Although the interviews are accompanied with the information on the year they were taken, it would be better to keep everything in order or to reduce the number of flashbacks. Despite this disadvantage, the main idea still remains clear and the audience may easily make conclusions for themselves.
Even though documentary films are not supposed to be criticized according to quality criterion, it is worth to mention that, in this particular movie, low quality played a significant role in understanding the movie as a whole. To be precise, the quality of montage and the shooting process itself makes it quite uncomfortable for the audience to focus only on the protagonist. Moreover, in some parts of the movie it seems that both interviewee and interviewer are not well-prepared, which may show a quite unprofessional approach to the movie. Nevertheless, low quality of the film may still be justifiable taking into account small experience and probably restricted financial opportunities of Icelandic Film Centre, established only 3 years before shooting the documentary film.
To conclude, Act Normal (2006) by Olaf de Fleur depicts both privileges and hardships of Buddhist monk life in the modern society. Not only it lets audience to get acquainted with Robert T. Edison, his life and his feelings, it also provides thought-provoking information about main Buddhist concerns and concepts. The movie would especially be recommended to watch for those who want to get involved in monkhood community.