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Reviews
Train to Pakistan (1998)
Poorly directed and a poor script
The script is full of foul language, even if it is Punjabi (which is to indicate that the village is in Punjab). It feels as if the director is patronising you, and that the viewer has to be reminded again and again that the villagers were uneducated. The acting, especially that of Nirmal Panday, is simply awful; which is confusing as the actors are very capable and some even distinguished. They are directed to soap opera standards. Nirmal Panday leaves a lot to be desired; it feels as if he has just walked his character off of the sets of Bandit Queen and into Train To Pakistan. The crudeness and cackling is still all there! Since 1946, Punjab was suffering from communal violence all over as individual sides were carrying out 'eye for an eye' killings and looting by mostly gangsters. They looted villages and carried onto the next; Punjab was a bloodbath and vultures circulated the area for years (the North Western Frontier violence was ongoing since 1946, just as in Calcutta, Bihar, Bengal and Bombay). So it is confusing at how relaxed the villagers are before the trains come in! The film fails to capture Kushwant Singh's emotions and human tragedies. To pitch this film against Deepa Mehta's 1947 Earth, there is no comparison. Deepa Mehta probably unintentionally paid more homage to Kushwant Singh than Pamela Rooks has, and it's a shame, as the novel readers probably already know.
Des Hoyaa Pardes (2004)
Harsh and realistic
A change from the Harbhajan Mann foreigners are bad type niche films, Gurdas Mann outdoes him in singing and acting, and to see Juhi Chawla in this film is a fantastic surprise. This film is not a feel good film but a film of true events that would have happened in those bleak years - I'm glad to see Punjab has progressed so much since those years and that finally they have a government with a good mind and strong head. The scary policeman is so realistic and I didn't question once whether he was a harsh stereotypical portrayal, because I knew that this was the police force - and still is in most cases - existing today. The moral of the film is to learn from past events that shouldn't have taken place and not to repeat them. Also that the Punjab Police should all be re-educated and bad apples thrown out! I have faith in Manmohan Singh!
Purana Mandir (1984)
Classics although not classy
I had the misfortune to watch this film as a kid but saw it again only last year and it still scared the hell out of me. The whole atmosphere of the film is creepy - the gate to the house, the eyes in the paintings, the staff at the house, the windy weather. Also the little shocks that come up unexpectedly throughout the film! The blood shower, the possession of the caretaker, the child-birth possession at the beginning of the film! This film gave me sleepless nights for a few weeks and its absolutely great to watch if you're visiting your farmhouse or are going to a remote country trip where everything squeaks, and where there is limited electricity.
Wolf Creek (2005)
Wolf Creek = Bad AfterTaste
Very clever - just as you think the poor victims are making progress he gets them - and boy does he get them! I can't believe the things the killer does - its too too too mortifying but the filmmakers show all which gives you such a bad after taste. I feel so sorry for the girls - especially Liz (poor Liz!) and it makes you think that it could really really happen and if only she hadn't missed and shot him in the head! They could've survived. Poor Liz.
The film actually shows at the end details of the case filed against the only survivor and details of a search carried out for the killer. Does this mean it was based on a true event as I was under the impression it was based on a series of possible events and an actual serial killer (name escapes me) who was caught?