I just chanced upon this title in my elevator while coming back to work. They were showing it at my building for Tuesday Movie Nights. Having been to Ladakh and the adjoining regions I felt eager to watch this. I grew up in North India, in a valley in the Himalayas. Though quite far from the region depicted, I can feel for the people in the film. I must say that the director and his team have done more than justice. In a country hard on resources per person, and with an innate respect for education, I can totally relate to the plight and trials of the actors in the film. The director has brought out the conflicts of family values and togetherness, with the desire to achieve and learn for the betterment of individual, the culture and the society, excellently. The movie oscillates between hope, the sense of community, the sense of uplifting your loved ones, the joy of life, ambition and emotions that go with it all, in a manner that few can achieve. All this is supplemented beautifully with the amazing background of Zanskar and Ladakh; one of the highest plateaus of the world, and a desert to boot. It is also one of the remotest and most difficult to access areas to be found. The stark barren haunting landscape juxtaposes seamlessly with the simplicity and honour of the main protagonists, who's only aim is to provide the younger of their people a better life. I've been from Manali to Leh by road, and its truly an amazing journey. I flew back from Leh to Delhi, and looking down all that is visible are vast and lonely colourful undulating mountains with snow covered peaks. Colourful because the lack of vegetation and the ensuing erosion have stripped the mountains to their underlying mineral ores. Its hard to believe that human settlements actually live in these areas. But when people from the same communities rise above their duty to risk life and limb for purposes so close to the heart, what we get is the Journey from Zanskar.
Reviews
5 Reviews
13 Assassins
(2010)
So close and yet so far......
14 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this at the Toronto Film Festival. This movie was so close to being a perfect 10 if it wasn't for the extended gut spilling slasher in the end. The key word here being extended, because it went to the extent of being brought down to the level of commercialism to appease the masses, very much like at the Colliseum. The first half however is RIVETING. The acting superb, the production values impeccable, and the script very very taut (even though I saw it with subtitles). The movie brings out the best of a dying samurai era, with the key conflict for some to decide between duty and right. The beauty of that is intensified with the more macro conflict of the relevance of the samurai altogether, in a Japan on the brink of the Meiji era (modernization). Beautiful cinematography captures the essence of mid 19th century Japanese society, most remarkable for the large number of Ronins (masterless samurai) roaming around, which was an issue at the time. The latter part of the movie, unfortunately leads off tangentially, almost as if directed by somebody else. Nevertheless, it could be watched for the first part alone, at least once.
The Roving Eye
The Roving Eye
The Legend of Zorro
(2005)
horrible to say the least
20 March 2006
I cannot believe how there are so many decent reviews given to this movie on IMDb. This movie is banal. Every scene is so clichéd that it took me 4 nights to finish this movie, I watched in parts of 20-30 minutes... I couldn't take it longer than that. Highly predictable, uninspiring storyline, lock stock and barrel stereotype characters, poor dialog, over the top laughable stunt scenes...I could go on forever, but I can't waste more time with this movie. A total back flip from the first part. The one thing this movie gets a thumbs up in is putting you to sleep if you have a case of insomnia (it helped me 3 times).
Meet the Fockers
(2004)
Simply can't carry the weight of a sequel to Meet the Parents
1 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
The problem with sequels is that the audience already know a lot. To keep them happy you have to come up with something more than the norm, more than just a continuation. The elements of surprise, the twists have to be inculcated to keep the viewer from boredom. And this film fails miserably on all accounts of that. To make things worse the entire movie is so obvious from the trailer that it makes one wonder why nothing was left to the imagination. Definitely the WORST trailer ever. If you've seen the trailer or even if you haven't, you will now before seeing the movie that its about the Byrnes meeting the Fockers(OK if you haven't seen Meet the Parents, you're not really going to get most of the characterizations). Well anyways, what you're going to be expecting is the strict methodical Mr. Focker will meet the laid back hippie parents of Ben Stiller. You're going to expect most of the humor being derived from this mismatch, and you're going to expect everything ends OK. That's exactly what happens. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzz. Its almost as if you can predict everything. This has got to be the most unimaginative pathetic sequel ever made, and should be taught in film schools how not to make a sequel. Even the 'humor' is so predictable. Still the same nurse, name jokes and the obvious embarrassment Ben Stiller is going to face from his parents care-free style while trying to keep it under covers throughout. The only extra character they introduce is a baby who does sign language, and has no relevance to the plot. For example what they could have done is possibly beating Mr. Byrne in his own game by making Dustin Hoffman to be a sophisticated martinet himself something which Robert De Niro couldn't handle. Or the Fockers could have been this super successful couple that would feel Pam isn't good enough for their son, and turn the tables on De Niro reminding him of his poor parenting... or something which would have had punch. This movie is just lame, and its as if they're trying to get you to laugh by laughing themselves instead of being funny.
Alexander
(2004)
Played too safe
22 May 2005
Warning: Spoilers
OK, first things first. You're making a movie on Alexander with modern Hollywood technologies, and lots of dough, sponsors, consultants, the works... it is hard to make it unwatchable. But where I believe this fails to make even the annals of greatness is its pusillanimous approach to taking a stance on any issue of conflict. As a result the characters fail to form properly, and lack conviction. The movie proceeds as a dazzling display of the times. Alexander's character is way too safe. In reality he was far more ruthless, merciless and sadistic. Nowadays its kind of fashionable to show heroes as weak and emotional, and that makes this appalling. His marriage, his invasion of India and his war with Porus, his decision to choose the desert route back and his death are all unexplained. If you're simply going to narrate history with all its uncertainties and probabilities then make a freaking' documentary dude. If you make a movie have your own interpretation and get on with it. Playing Anthony Hopkins as Ptolemy giving an account of the affairs was a pathetically defensive move, so the director could always get away wherever he wanted. The movie should have been first hand flowing along with Alexander and his mind. So what happens is that you always feel you are observing Alexander from the outside, but not observing and sensing and feeling 'with' him.
The thing I'd say is pretty honest, is that they didn't show Alexander making major victories or inroads in India. They showed it as it was, his army getting flogged at the hands of Porus. In reality Porus won that war, annexed some of Alexander's territories and sounded the retreat for the Macedons back home, their party was over. Of course again dilly dallying, the director does show the Indian army retreat in the end, again playing to the whims of historians as the way history should be. I saw a clip of Oliver Stone's interview about this film, and he says he always wanted to do it as a child and read loads about Alexander since God knows when. After all that their is a complete lack of any form of Judgement, originality and conviction. I am particularly peeved about his invasion in India and his death. Scenes just come and go without anybody knowing what is actually happening, nothing follows logically from the other. What actually happens after the war? Come to think of it at the end of it this movie leaves you with NOTHING! Just a dazzle of great shots and cinematography and a historic nostalgia of the times, which you get seeing any historic movie no matter which. It is for that reason I couldn't give this movie more than 5. Should you watch it? Yes, for all the money they spent on it. Apparently each and every prop was manufactured specially.
The thing I'd say is pretty honest, is that they didn't show Alexander making major victories or inroads in India. They showed it as it was, his army getting flogged at the hands of Porus. In reality Porus won that war, annexed some of Alexander's territories and sounded the retreat for the Macedons back home, their party was over. Of course again dilly dallying, the director does show the Indian army retreat in the end, again playing to the whims of historians as the way history should be. I saw a clip of Oliver Stone's interview about this film, and he says he always wanted to do it as a child and read loads about Alexander since God knows when. After all that their is a complete lack of any form of Judgement, originality and conviction. I am particularly peeved about his invasion in India and his death. Scenes just come and go without anybody knowing what is actually happening, nothing follows logically from the other. What actually happens after the war? Come to think of it at the end of it this movie leaves you with NOTHING! Just a dazzle of great shots and cinematography and a historic nostalgia of the times, which you get seeing any historic movie no matter which. It is for that reason I couldn't give this movie more than 5. Should you watch it? Yes, for all the money they spent on it. Apparently each and every prop was manufactured specially.
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