Baraka: An Interpretation of Theme Tyler Boddy Film 104 December 6th, 2006 The theme of Baraka, a film created by Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson, is life on earth. This film portrays the human understanding of the existence of life within the world in which we live. The theme of the film is portrayed without dialogue in a poetic mesh of beautiful cinematography and a magnificent soundtrack. The only written or spoken clue to what the film’s theme is, lies within the title. Because “baraka” is not an English word, the English speaking viewers are still left clueless when attempting to decipher the theme.
The Patriot Fact or Fiction? The movie The Patriot is a critically acclaimed historical fiction movie. This movie is believed by many to be accurate, while others feel that this movie tends to be altered for more drama. Well, after I viewed this movie for the past two class periods. I have to say this movie was historically inaccurate in a number of ways.
[41] Richard Reynolds states that without any supervillains in the story, the superheroes of Watchmen are forced to confront "more intangible social and moral concerns", adding that this removes the superhero concept from the normal narrative expectations of the genre. [42] Reynolds concludes that the series' ironic self awareness of the genre "all mark out Watchmen either as the last key superhero text, or the first in a new maturity of the
Nothing silly, nothing about love that will last forever. In my list of great movies are: Shindler's list, Green Mile, Seven pounds, Pursuit of happiness. These are the only ones that I can watch over and over and all the time I am finding something new in them. The movie Smoke signal is totally something new for me, because I never watch movies like this one before. Without any strong feelings ,without some thought that usually good movies leave in your mind after you watch them.
Supplied with statistical evidence from meta-analysis’s, the authors take a very factual standpoint on the argument, never stating any harsh or stubborn opinions, while poking holes in many arguments for why violence doesn’t effect behavior in viewers. For example the argument that some of us watch violent films and are not affected therefore violence in the media doesn’t affect anyone in the worlds behavior. This argument was combated by the relation of argument to the following flawed reasoning: “I’ve smoked cigarettes for long time, and I don’t have lung cancer. Therefore there’s no link between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer.” Also touched on by the authors was the issue of freedom of speech and public safety, in that by taking away violent media it becomes what some consider to be a violation of the peoples rights. Although it is our right to regulate violent content, case studies show that violence in the media does have some effect on the increase of
Riefenstahl’s production of the feature films Triumph of the Will and Olympia have left a lasting imprint on history; these films established Riefenstahl’s influential career as a film director under the years of the Nazi regime. Although these films are attributed by scholars and critics to be Riefenstahl’s greatest achievements they are also considered to be her greatest fault, for the political denotation attached to their purpose. Before World War II, Riefenstahl was praised for her artistic achievements of these films, however the post war years present a hostile reception to her work, as they have since been decontextualized and criticized for their questionable propagandist content. Riefenstahl’s impact on history has changed greatly overtime, as she is remembered for both her artistic contribution to the social and cultural life of Germany and pioneering of revolutionary cinematography and in contrast her association with the Nazi party and her apparent glorification of the ‘Fascist aesthetic’. The artistic flair behind Riefenstahl’s production of Triumph of the Will lays testimony to her revolutionary filming technique that assiduously cultivated her image as the one of the greatest female artists of her era.
Contrary to his unwavering independence in technique and style Spike Lee has taken on the challenge of film remake. Remaking a movie is always tricky, particularly when the original has an already strong following. The 2013 remake of the Past Chan-wook’s classic, Old Boy had Lee’s critics wondering why he engaged in such a dark film. When Chan-wook’s Old Boy hit theatres in 2003, it was praised for its unique structure, it’s magnificent and action packed fight scenes, and it’s visual flair, making Spike Lee a very bold choice to adapt the film for an American audience. It’s not a shot for shot remake of the original or the 2003 version, but like Chan-wook’s version, it’s graphic so don’t watch this on a fall stomach.
True Tales from the Battlefield I’ve found the story How to Tell a True War Story to be a tremendous story with moments of gore, but nonetheless an attractive piece of work. I believe that this story is a representation of his entire story. It’s almost as though O’Brien is being completely honest in this story, and he’s divulging all of the lies and secrets that we will soon read, or have already read. One main idea that I believe O’Brien is trying to get across, throughout the entire story, is the fact that “of course, a true war story is never about war” (296). One line that continues to resonate in my mind is when O’Brien is telling the story of Rat shooting the buffalo, and the letter he writes to Curt’s sister.
On the one hand, what we are seeing, especially in a documentary like this which utilizes primary source material (home movies compete with interviews for screen time, and there are no re-enactments – thankfully) is an undeniably direct representation of external, physical reality. On the other hand, what lies behind that exterior – what is the shell of the image concealing? And more importantly, why this particular footage, and why shown in this particular way? If the truth is in what we see on screen, then the lies – or at least the mysteries – are what we don’t see, what’s hidden behind and littered around the frame. Those, then, are the metaphysics of Capturing the Friedmans.
What makes someone a hero? In my opinion, just doing the right thing is enough. The theme of the movie The Freedom Writers is exactly that, “I’m not a hero, I just did what was right.” This reminds me of the book, The Wave. In The Freedom Writers none of the characters ever did what was right, all they cared about was their own kind. In the book The Wave Laurie started to figure out what this whole movement was Turing into, so she made the right decision to go against this “cult” by taking the correct actions.