Life is Beautiful ..

When I started blogging, I never thought I would write on a movie. But, the movie 'Life is Beautiful (Vita è bella, La)' impressed me so much that I started writing about it as soon as the movie ended. May be ... because, I did not want to loose the essence the movie.

I have been trying for many months to watch this movie. For some reason or the other, I could never watch it till this week. I had very high expectations of this movie as I had heard quite a lot about the movie. After the first half of the movie, I googled to see if this the movie I had heard of as an excellent story of a man who tries to save the life of his son in a Nazi concentration camp by comparing the day to day activities with an imaginary game. The first half of the movie looked like a romantic flick. Like any other love story, the first half has some standard scenes which viewers expect out of a romantic movie. Now that we are talking about romantic movies, I want to mention a movie (When Harry met Sally) I watched earlier this week. If you compare the first half of Life is Beautiful with 'When Harry met Sally', I think the latter scores just for a single dialogue in which Harry talks about male-female relationship. I cannot stop from referring to the dialogue and I am pretty sure many men would agree with the dialogue. Watch the video below atleast for Meg Ryan :), if not for the dialogue.





But boy, the second half of the movie (Life is Beautiful) is awesome. I have to look for adjectives to describe second half. The main character (Guido), a jewish italian is happily married to a non-jewish italian (Dora) with a kid (Joshua). A typical happily ever after family. But it does not remain so after the German invasion. The Jews are sent to Nazi concentration camps and the rest of the movie is just awesome. In order to refrain Joshua from getting negatively influenced in the Nazi concentration camp, Guido attempts to portray the life in the camp as a game. A game in which the first person who wins 1000 points wins a tank, a big tank. Guido cleverly discourages Joshua's attempts to return home by telling Joshua that they are leading the game. And the game continues till Guido sacrifices his life only to make Joshua victorious. The manner in which Guido mimics the walking style of Nazi soldiers even in the face of death is beautifully presented. The rest of the events unfold in a dramatic manner and you can feel the emotions going through Joshua when he notices a big tank approaching him.

If Guido can smile in the most challenging conditions and let Joshua spend the worst time in the history of mankind in a cheerful manner, I am sure everybody could take a leaf out of this movie.

Now lets play around with the story line a little bit. Imagine what would have happened if there had been another Guido following similar strategy. Lets call the two fathers Guido-1, Guido-2 and the two kids Joshua-1 and Joshua-2. The fact that the first person who wins 1000 points would win a tank could result in competition between the Joshuas. Now, there are two kids with the common goal of winning 1000 points first for the lucrative prize. Will this be a classic example of survival of the fittest? Will the Life be beautiful in this scenario? Will Darwin be proved wrong? Going by the general principle, it is unlikely.

Creativity apart, I consider this movie to be one among my all time favorites (Oops.. I have to update my orkut profile). And I suggest readers who have not yet watched this movie to seriously consider watching once. I bet, it is definitely worth every penny and every second you spend on it.


P.S: For those who got an impression that I became an avid blogger, please do not frame such wrong impressions :). The last post on 'intellectual orgasm' was started in the first week of February 08 and I could publish it only by 26 February 08. Blame my inertia or so called laziness for it.


DISCLAIMER: The contents of this blog are strictly my personal opinions and not those of any organization/institution I am a part of, nor made in any official capacity of such organization/institution unless expressly stated otherwise and where I am explicitly authorized to do so.

Intellectual Orgasm ..

Intellectual Orgasm --> to enjoy a high- level or intelligent conversation to the maximum

Eg:

A: "... and thats how the theory of evolution works."
B: "Oh my God, I think I just had an intellectual orgasm"

I came across this word when I was reading through a blog. Thanks to google and to Deepak (author of --> http://deepakch.blogspot.com/2007/09/intellectual-orgasm.html )

Well, the purpose of this (my) blog is by no means to guarantee an intellectual orgasm to readers. But, I would like to share one such incident which made me experience something close to intellectual orgasm.

To start with, let us talk about few things I have learned about politics in the American context. Honestly, I feel myself privileged to get an opportunity to closely follow one of the toughest Democratic races in the history of Democratic Party. I have been keenly following all the debates and the results of the primaries and caucuses in the last few months.

The truth is: Politics is the same anywhere in the world. The issues might be different, the tactics might be different, the stakes might be different... But, the central theme is same. The central theme is the desire to win; The desire to assume power; The desire to be the head of the state.

To reach this goal, politicians often make sweeping statements. When Barack Obama says "There is some thing happening in America". Yeah... There is something happening every where in the world Damn it. Even at 10,000 feet below in the Pacific, you will find something happening. Tell me WHAT is happening in America. When Hillary talks about universal health care making health care mandatory for all Americans, does she consider the homeless to be aliens? When John McCain addresses the gathering as my friends and compares lawyers to an aquatic species (fish), does he at least remember that there is a person called Abraham Lincoln who is considered as one of the most important persons in American and Republican history and who happened to be a lawyer.

One thing which surprises me very much is the way these politicians go on record talking about their relationship with their rivals. While the results for Super Duper Tuesday are being released, Barack Obama talks about his friendship with Hillary. Yeaaah.. rright. Anyone who followed democratic debate in South Carolina does not any further information/explanation to support the above.

For those who missed THE action -->

Agreed that they both share the same goal (presidential nomination from democratic party and president of USA down the line) and hence it is not difficult to understand the animosity between them. But, this mud slinging is sure to benefit the GOP.

One more thing that surprises me very much is group politics. i.e.. Politicians vying for a major share of votes of a community. Hillary, for example, is getting a major share of the Latino voters. Barack getting a major chunk of African American votes which is quite contradictory to his speech. Barack claims to represent a united America. But the numbers does not reflect that. Barack performs significantly well in African American and among well to do Americans (not to forget television show hosts). This 'group politics' is no different to the politics in India in which candidates attempt to get the lions share among particular caste and religion.

Now, lets talk about media. After all media is also a business and viewers are its clients. They (people in media) show what people want to see (like poor celebrities). They show what amazes people. In doing so, many a times, media becomes judgmental and tries to influence people. One classic example is MSNBC. I really hate to say that people like Chris Mathews and Keith Olbermann are so judgmental that one can easily get an impression that they hate Hillary by listening to them for five minutes. The disparity in the media attention shared by Hillary and Barrack and its effect on the results is a classic example of the clout media carries. What ever, America is a free nation and everybody has the right to speak even if they are very judgmental.

Raised in a developing and not yet completely literate country, I used to think that dirty politics are only game in developing and under-developed world. I am proved that I am wrong. Politics is the same everywhere. It is the sheer power and responsibility these politicians assume up on victory which makes the fight worth the effort. Now, if politicians are a dirty breed, why the hell do we place the responsibility of the complete country and its citizens in their hands? Is it because they are experts in blaming others and hence they would be able to blame others effectively when they screw up. The answer is NO. We place the responsibility of the country and its citizens in the hands of the politicians because they were tested in a rigorous election. They could influence the whole country and win the heart and soul of millions of its citizens. The process of selecting presidential nominee of each party further adds up to the challenges faced by these candidates. This is where, I think, American model scores well above the Indian model.

However, end of the day, the word "fair" has no place in politics .. whether it is in India or in America (I do not have much knowledge about other countries. But I think I can safely assume that this statement holds good in all countries).

DISCLAIMER: The contents of this blog are strictly my personal opinions and not those of any organization/institution I am a part of, nor made in any official capacity of such organization/institution unless expressly stated otherwise and where I am explicitly authorized to do so.