International Cinema is an area I'd love to have a closer eye on. Too often it's easy to be blinded by Hollywood, and leave out some great cinema. The cinema of INDIA is really quite brilliant. Last year the Austin Film Society did a series of films from India... and they were quite eye-opening. At CINEMATEXAS last year, my favorite short was from India. Some wonderful work has been done by Mani Rathnam, Rajan Khosa, Yash Chopra, Sooraj R. Barjatya and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, but most film goers see their names as merely text with no meaning. Their work is powerful and not to be overlooked. And the work of Deepa Mehta is not to be missed. Let's hope more people report on the goings ons of foriegn film, an area far too often ignored by those in the Entertainment fields...
You probably don't know me. The name's Darius25. Here's a review for your Indian audience (believe me, you have a HUGE Indian audience). I just saw Earth in 1998 TIFF, which is directed by Deepa Mehta. You may know her from films such as Sam and Me, or Camilla. Anyway, Earth is the second part of her element trilogy, following 1996's Fire. She has already written the third movie, Water, which she will make next. In a special note, while I was waiting in the rush line for this movie, I met Aamir Khan. He is one of the stars of the movie and he is a really BIG superstar in the Indian Film Industry. He just walked past the crowd in front of the Uptown Theatre, unnoticed. That was a sort of a surprise for me because usually they're surrounded by bodyguards. Also, when I was inside the theatre, heading into the cinema hall, I saw him standing by the door with the rest of the cast and Deepa Mehta. I got his autograph. Yay :)
Anyway, I found the movie Earth to be just what I expected. There was alot of hype before it was released, and sure enough, it lives up to everybody's expections. The movie is set in the year 1947, dealing with the events leading to India's indepedence and the bloody partition of Pakistan and India. It has a lot of themes which we see in the normal Hollywood movies such as the concepts of friends turning against one another, and the romeo and juliet love story. While the movie does contain these familiar elements, it presents them in a way which is different from the usual Hollywood movie.
The movie is from the point of view of an 11 year old girl from a Parsi family living in Lahore before the partition. But it is really the story of her Hindu nanny. The nanny (fabulously played by Nandita Das) has a group of friends, of which 3 are Muslim (including Aamir Khan), 1 is Sikh, and 1 is Hindu. Two of her Muslim friends (Aamir and Rahul Khanna) fall in love with the nanny. The nanny loves Rahul. Jealousy comes into the story. Then the partition comes. A bunch of Hindus kill Muslims. Aamir's sisters get killed. The Muslims start killing the Hindus. Sikhs help the Hindus, but get slaughtered by the Muslims. Each friend gets torn apart from one another. Lahore gets handed over to the Muslims. The Hindus and Sikhs eather try to escape or try to convert. The Parsis try to remain neutral. I won't tell you the conclusion of the film.
Surprising, aside from one or two scenes, this film is not that violent. There is alot of violence hinted at the screenplay, but you don't actually see it in the film. One scene is where a train, full of Muslims coming from India, is raided and each Muslim person is slaughtered. You don't get to see this. All you see is Aamir Khan entering the train compartment and you see drops of blood falling from the ceiling.
The acting and the direction is superb. There are alot of epic shots in this film. Especially during the riot scenes. Aamir Khan is brilliant in his role. The transformation of his role from a comedian to a hurt rebel is strongly justified. Not to give the plot away, but he is not the "good" hero. The actual "good" hero of the film, Rahul Khanna, makes an impressive debut in the Indian and the International film industry. Nandita Das has also done a really good job in the now standard "juliet / Kate Winslet" role. The actor who really shines in this film is the child who is the narrator. It's really bad that I don't know her name, I think she too is a newcomer. The way she acts with her eyes and her innocent questions about the partition even outdoes the performance of that girl from The Piano. I think we already know who the 1998 Best Supporting Actress is (if this film gets distributed in time).
In my opinion, this film is great. The whole croud applauded when the final credits rolled down. Fire was a huge hit down here in Toronto, and I think this film will be a bigger hit. I don't know when this film will come to theatres. It took Fire one year after its premiere to come to theatres. Let me get one thing straight though, this film is not as good as Schindler's List. I thought that the length of Schindler's List was perfect. This film, at 110 mins, is really, really short. I felt somewhat unsatisfied by this film because it doesn't tie up its loose ends. I will not tell you how, but you'll know when you see it. Trust me Harry, you'll really, really like it. I think everybody should see this film, because it is actually a true story and the events portrayed in this film did really occur. I mean, you loved Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, right ? You'll like this film aswell. It is a brilliant piece of filmmaking. That's it for now Harry, later.
