Kanchana Sita

 Kanchana Sita

1979, YouTube, Malayalam, 7.6/10 IMDB, Directed by G. Aravindan

A striking interpretation of Ramayana's Uthara Kandam- endorsing the humanness of the mythological characters and disintegrating our conditioned imaginations of the epic that disturbingly leaves us contemplating.

Director G. Aravindan's adaptation of C.N. Sreekanthan Nair' play, stands tall for its personification of 'Nature' as Sita, its lilting music, its conspicuous minimalism and its distinctive casting of tribesmen.

The patterned landscape and the uninhabited forests, the entire milieu that the duo, Rama and Lakshmana walks, speaks for the maker's intention to thread the path of realism in the characters. The simplicity of a twig crowned and white feathered Rama, the cave palaces, the deserted vastness of the country without fanfare, feeble sloganeering Vasista, tree hanging penance of Shambuka, a rare visualization of Ramayana that makes the audience grow fonder of the unique story telling technique.

The difference of opinion between Rama and Bharatha on performance of Ashwamedha yaga without Sita, the elaborate yaga procedure right from making of fire to placing of the golden statue of Sita, - every detail is captured with minimal dialogues or no dialogues at all. Sita portrayed without her physical representation and only through rustling trees and blowing winds, makes the audience feel the pain of Rama's loneliness as he is seen calling out Sita's name in grief. The interpretation dwells on making Rama more human and subject him to emotions, which brings him much closer to the audience.

The cinematography by Shaji N. Karun, etches you deeply in many instances, memorable one being, the recording of a 3 whole minute of undisturbed sun rise.

The music by Rajeev Taranath, proves to be in perfect harmony with the visuals, especially when 'Sita' is visualized as nature. The music in fact places the visuals on higher pedestals at some instances like the one where Lakshmana and Lava draw their arrows at each other and the sudden gushing of wind makes Lakshmana look up in to the sky literally searching for a heavenly force that's trying to stop them fighting.

Valmiki Ramayana does end with Rama walking in to the river Sarayu to end his Ram Avatar. But when Rama in Kanachana Sita is walking in to the river, the intentions seem to contradict that of valmiki's Ramayana, as here it translates through the grim face of Rama, a supposed guilt in him, as he walks in to the river, in reminisces of his wife Sita. The calm black screen with credits rolling, leaves you contemplating on the maker's choice and you are leaning towards the maker's interpretation as you feel the pain of Sita more than ever.

The Red Balloon

 The Red Balloon

1956, French Short Film, 8.2/10, YouTube, Directed by Albert Lamorisse

An endearing story of a little boy and a red balloon that leaves you in complete wonderment, of the technique and narrative in personifying the red balloon.

The film starting with the deep focus shot with sun shining through and a little boy (Pascal), it sets the mood for the viewer that it’s a film about a little boy and his red balloon.

On the way to his school, Pascal boy climes up to fetch the balloon, a strikingly bright red, and the vibrant color rings it’s a metaphor. As the rest of the film unveils, we are geared to decode the metaphor. When the boy realizes that the balloon obeys and takes orders from him, as viewers we are enchanted as a child ourselves.

For me it reminded the friendly ghost ‘casper’ from the animation world and I saw the balloon as his pal or his pet dog who would follow him everywhere. Many adult on the road are envious of the boy’s relationship with the bright red balloon.

As one is left to subconsciously decipher the metaphor for me it evoked a sense that the Balloon was a metaphor for 'Happiness'. Society is picking on a happy person to try and snatch the happiness from him., is what i thought.

Pascal is eventually chased by bullying boys who try to get hold of his balloon. In the chase sequence, the camera follows the kids and the lighting that's used to highlight the kids, keeps you totally engaged and you are rooting for the little boy to escape with his balloon(happiness).

The city and its devastation after the war is evident with broken walls and buildings, denoting its post-world war before the city hasn’t regained stability to rebuild itself.

When Pascal's red balloon tries to woo the blue balloon of a little girl's, it transpired to me as happy days of couple of fiends.

As I visualized the bright red balloon as ‘happiness’, the film translated to me as a tale of those dark people around us who sometimes try and steal happiness from us sadistically. The final shot of the movie when the red balloon is destroyed and all the balloons of the city lifts the boy to the sky, that fantasy, looked to be like even if people succeed in marring our happiness, ‘Karma’ will get us back all the lost happiness, in a larger magnitude, that it literally sweeps us off the floor and we end up flying colorfully in the vastness of the sky, all set to conquer the world.

These are my thoughts when I watched the film and I bet it would speak to you differently. Would be glad to read your theory.

Camera Buff

Camera Buff

1979 Polish, 7.5/10 IMDB, Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski

 A drama of an individual's new found passion of motion camera that slowly consumes him, until it costs him his dear family and overrides his meaning of happiness. The film in turn consumes the viewers with its illustrative making as the character unearths his passion that he never knew existed in him before.

Filip, buys a camera to film his to-be born child. It slowly turns to a hobby when he films his friend driving his van while his friend's mom is watching from her window upstaris. Finally it turns to Filip's passion, when his friend's mom passes away, and his friend says to him that, his mom lives in the film Filip shot. These words sound simple on the face of it, but as the film progresses, you are rooting for Filip to scale heights, even makes us turn a blind eye to the toll it has on his personal life.

The wife wants to stick to the peace and quiet life, while Filip’s hunger to embrace the new found love grows in magnitude, as he discovers he has a flair for it. That’s the life of an artist and you are made to realize, what’s inside of an artist would inevitably erupt.  

The scenarios on producer chucking away the director from the editing room, as his boss who funds the films enforces his rights to mutilate Filip's artwork. The interview with the film maker Krzysztof Zanussi, reveals true wisdom there- ‘We are not alchemist of the soul, capable of changing lives’.

Film making parts his way from his wife and child’s. As she moves out, he says, ‘finally something is working for me’, which implies he wasn’t content with the peace and quiet that he presumed he had before his motion camera could take over his life. May be its an inner quest, a calling, that an artist experiences. His passion turning in to an obsession is well defined when he fixes the frame even when his wife walks away leaving him.

The young man who assists Filip in making films says, Filip had nothing few months ago and now that his wife and child had left him he has so much going on his professional life. Filip is mad at him for saying that, but he isn’t any sad. The family's burden is off his shoulders may be, for the creator in him to evolve, you are let to think.

Is it that the passion of art would never die, no matter who is with you and who is not? The final shot when he takes his 16mm camera standing next to the window, one is left to think he is going to throw the camera outside, but then that’s the conditioning of Indian entertainment industry that’s playing on me I thought. Filip's obsession makes him turn the camera to himself and self-captures the narrative of the opening shot of the film, where his wife is in labor.

The metaphoric shot of an eagle preying a chicken, is it him feasting over his new found passion? And its placement in the wife’s dream, is that she has some premonitions, that she is going to fall prey to her husband’s obsession? One can keep contemplating, I guess.

Bicycle Thieves

 Bicycle Thieves

1948 Italian, 8.3 /10, YouTube, Directed by Vittorio De Sica

Italian Neo-realism of unemployment and the hardships of the working class people after the world wars, catches your attention and leaves a void in the viewer's mind, through realistic depictions of the mammoth ordeals of people after the man made wars.

The film opens to a group of men longing to hear from the employment office for a job offer. The backdrop of the film captures subtly the war-rummaged City of Rome, evidently throughout the movie as it is predominately shot outdoors.

The film focuses on a working-class family of Antonio, and the family's turmoil in surviving the post war crisis. Antonio is offered a job for which a cycle is mandatory and he pawns his household things to buy a bicycle. He joins with pride in his job of putting up posters on the city walls but to his dismay his cycle is stolen in front of his eyes and the rest of the story is how he tries to get back his bicycle.

Antonio says, he feels like 'a man in chains' and that’s the frustration the war has brought to him. The big line at the pawn shop and the barter system of used goods, is throwing light on the living conditions of the people. Children begging on street is against the law but they are left with no choice.

The shot when he chases the thief, the view from under the tunnel, where the city looks brighter compared to the darkness where they stand, it seems to symbolizes that their lives are in the dark. It does looks like the light at the end of the tunnel from where they are standing. The dialogues, 'the subsidy being no solution and welfare check humiliate the workers' -explicitly express the appalling condition of the people.

Poverty directly proportional to the increased crime rate is also visualized with the huge black market for stolen cycles. When the thief’s mom asks the police officer to get him a job instead of accusing him, it reflects that they are forced to switch to crime for livelihood.

‘There is a cure for everything except death’, indicates the tiny ray of hope that is deep down amidst all frustration that the war imposed. That’s the same hope that takes him to the fortune teller lady, the one that he mocked his god-fearing wife of doing earlier.

Antonio's son Bruno, helps his dad in following the leads to reach the thief, as he is fonder of his dad's new bicycle. The expedition of the duo is unbelievably touchy and you root them to get back the bicycle. But when they both fail, Antonio in desperation does things that he will be ashamed of later, but Bruno, scores with his mighty expressions in standing by his father. His tiny hand holding his dad's, in the closing frame, speaks for the relationship they share and the audience are left speechless.

The core plot might be lifted by Director Vetrimaran, for his outing with his 2007 Pollathavan, in Tamil, but both the films belong to different spheres of treatment and executions. Kudos to the Tamil director though for trying authentically to explore and recreate the core plot with due respect.

Close-Up

 Close-Up

1990 Persian, 8.3 /10 IMDB, YouTube, Directed by Abbas Kiarostami

‘Based on a true story or a true’- we are familiar with that title credit. Interestingly 'Close-up' features real people of a true story, playing their original parts and it stays close to your heart when Abbas Kiarostami distinctively captures the events in an investigative perspective and documents the original happenings of a trail with a 'close-up' camera fixed on the face of the accused.

The film opens with the news of a reporter going along with the cops to arrest the man who had impersonated the famous director of Iran, Mr. Mohsen Makhmalbaf. After the arrest, Director Abbas Kiarostami, visits the plaintiff and gathers their story and visits the accused in the prison. The crew gets permission to shoot inside the courtroom and the mystery unfolds as the plaintiff’s family explain the incidences. The maker gives us visuals of the narration where the accused plays himself. This hints you of a happy ending that the accused is pardoned eventually. But the director makes the narration ever so beautifully, that you are totally invested in the film.

The plaintiff Ahahkhah’ son talking about ‘unemployment’, surprisingly finds it way throughout the film, which gives us an insight into the economy. When the accused Mr. Sabzian, tells Kiarostami, that he is interested in cinema and requests to tell Director Makhmalbaf that his film ‘The cyclist’ is a depiction of his suffering, as a movie buff myself, I could relate to the thoughts on Kiarostami's on Sabzian.

To see a clap board in law court intrigues the viewers and when positioning of cameras are explained and the questions are asked by the director along with the Judge, it gives a whole new dimension to the court room scenario that we are used to. In the middle of the testimonies, Sabzian relates himself to the character of Kiarostami’s work explaining his obsession on films and the respect he has on art and directors. On the other hand, the plaintiff’s son whose passion for art and literature and his interest in acting, also shows the impact these 'New Wave' directors had on people of all classes of Iran.

The philosophies, the quotes on Tolstoy, the books that he had read, all this makes the suspicion on Sabzian grows many fold reminds the initial comment the plaintiff’s son, 'Sabzina was not credulous'. But somewhere the maker's belief transpires on the viewers and you start seeing through the eyes of Kiarostami.

The ‘close-up’ shot of Sabzian when the plaintiff son pronounces his forgiveness, quoting Sabzian's deed merely reflected the social malaise and unemployment, the emotions were meant to be dramatic, but it wasn’t. But during the secret filming from inside a van, of Director Makhmalbof 's meeting with Sabzian on a distant road, ironically, that long shot amongst busy traffic, where Sabzian hugs Makhmalbof and cries with his head down in shame- does the magic.

When the crew follows the two in a van, the vision is through a broken front glass. But after they buy flowers for the Ahankhah’s residence to apologize, the broken glass is blurred so you don’t see the cracks visibly, to represent, forgiveness, I believed. Makhmalbaf, introduces himself and asks Mr. Ahankhah to ‘see him in new light’ and that what we viewers do as well.