Change Your Image
sadya77
Reviews
Berusaiyu no bara (1979)
Fictional character in the midst of true historic events
I first discovered this animation when I was 21 years old and even though I was an adult, I became hooked.
I was living in France at the time and I couldn't speak the language. When I watched television it was hard too, everything in French, even the English speaking movies would be dubbed French... So when we got a disk, I started to look for foreign channels, there were many German Channels and BBC World. Thank God I could understand some German, so when I wanted to watch a film or a series, at least I could understand something. Since there wasn't much else to watch, I tuned in to RTL and watched whatever they aired. Lady Oscar series was somewhere in it's first episodes. I missed the first ones, but I slowly understood the story line anyway. This animation brings up pleasant memories, I used to watch it with my firstborn playing in my lap, happy to finally hear a different language on TV than just French and actually understanding what they were saying! What struck me was, that the way this animation had been made, the way they told the story, you almost forgot after a few minutes that it was an animation! The script, the scenes are often almost like in real series. I think this is perhaps also one of the reasons I got hooked on it. Plus I love history.
Most of the historical events are true as seen in Lady Oscar. Even her family excisted. We see real historical events take place through the eyes of Lady Oscar and her other fictional friends (André, Rosalie).
It's about the last King and Queen of France. We don't just follow the life of Lady Oscar, but we watch Maria Antonia of Austria become Marie Antoinette of France. I've always had a special interest in the French, Russian and British history, (rumor has it that the other tragic queen, tsarina Alexandra had a portrait of Marie Antoinette hanging in one of her rooms, eerie when you think about both their endings!) so it was nice to watch it.
The animation is a must see for children, because it wakens the interest of children for history. In this animation they tell in short why Marie Antoinette made her mistakes, why the people of France did what they did, how the situation slowly escalated and it gives an idea of life just before and after the Revolution.
There is one thing though that bothers me a little bit. The main character is brought up as a boy by her father, because he was disappointed never to have a son. In the first episode you see her sisters, but later they are never mentioned again. Also, you meet her mother in a few episodes, but in later episodes, she isn't mentioned either.
Also, in real life in those days, nobody would have accepted this kind of behavior of a female, while a father might have raised a daughter as a son in his craziness, other people would never have accepted that female to fill the roles of males, while in the animation, she leads troops of men who actually follow her for example. Women had to fight for a right to even vote for themselves, let alone to do what Lady Oscar did! So, in that sense, of course, it's not correct. But then again, it's an animation and around half of it is supposed to be fictional, besides, it's good to see a female character this strong, even in an animation.
Of course it doesn't cover everything, but it's still very good and enough for young children. My children are 9 and 7 and at their ages, they still enjoyed this animation and understood a lot, though I had to explain them a lot of the background and the motivations of the characters involved.
It's not just an animation for enjoyment of children, but they actually learn something. From what I understand it has been made in the 70's. But still it's very watchable and I was actually quite surprised it was that old! I think it's superb and even as an adult I enjoyed it and now, many years later, I've bought all the episodes on DVD and loved watching it with my children, translating and telling them a bit about the history.
Perhaps some people will laugh at me, but I feel this animation is as suitable for an adult as it is for children.
Yasmin (2004)
Yasmeen manages to juggle living in two cultures until she's forced to make a choice between them
Finally a movie about a strong Muslim female. Although Yasmin is NOT a Muslima in the beginning of the movie. She is only a Muslima by name, by birth in a Muslim family. Only after facing hardships she becomes more interested in her religion.
She reminded me a bit of myself, I'm also a Foreigner born in a Western country, having issues with the Westerners as well as with my own people. But on the other hand, she is very different from me. She is so strong, while it took me years to become strong and dare to do what I wanted to do.
Apart from that, I can easily identify with her balancing more to the westerners in the beginning, she tries to fit in at work for example, with her British colleagues, but isn't really accepted. She is always the Foreigner in their eyes, no matter what.
Then she comes home and enters a very different world. At home her family culture is dominant. Different believes, different values. She isn't too pleased with them. She doesn't see the beauty of her parents culture, of their heritage, because she didn't really get a chance to experience it's beauty, she has mostly experienced the negative sides of her culture so she isn't very happy at home.
She really wants to embrace the western life style, but then something horrible happens, the attack on September 11th of the Twin Towers. Suddenly, the innocent teasing colleagues, drastically change their behavior towards her, now they are truly nasty. This really hurts her. What is even more ridiculous is, that Yasmins boss does nothing about it and instead wants Yasmin to take some time off work until those emotions die down and also claims that Yasmin is making to big a deal out of this! And that part is a very important aspect of this movie. It shows how wrong many non-Muslims were in their accusations towards ALL the Muslims while the attack was the action of a small group of mislead "Muslims". (Islam doesn't allow to kill women and children, elder people, destroy houses and buildings, crop, etc. etc. even in war time) When, for example, a Christian or just a white person blows up something or does some other horrible deed, we don't expect ALL the white people or all the Christians to apologize for that, do we?! This movie shows that treatment, those underlying cooking emotions of the western people against Muslims which suddenly reached the boiling point and overcooked after September 11th. That attack on the Twin Towers was an excuse for many people to openly mistreat, attack, say nasty things about and to Muslims all over the world.
Yes, that attack was a horrible deed, many innocent people died, both in the planes and the Twin Towers plus surrounding area, but what is just as horrible is the reaction that followed it towards ALL the Muslims. Most Muslims were horrified, shocked by that vicious attack, yet they became the targets of different kinds of attacks themselves.
They did a great job in showing all that with this movie, the inner struggles of a person between two cultures and how people change, how hatred creates more hatred. Dialogue between different groups, races, cultures is very important so people can understand each other instead.
Yasmin has a kid brother, he is a very western boy, completely non-Muslim, worse than his sister in that aspect, to the point he actually sins with girls and smokes and deals drugs. Then, hypocrite as he is, he goes to the mosque with his father to call the Azaan and pray...
Also there is a story line between a love which never really happens between Yasmin and her British colleague. He likes her, but she keeps her distance, waiting for her divorce, she is married to her cousin from Pakistan and waits for the moment he will have papers which will allow him to stay in England, then she will be free from him. Her colleague doesn't know about that, she just tells him she has some family business to take care off and he has to wait.
The experiences with the British authorities however change Yasmin as well as her kid brother who becomes very religious and decides to go to a training camp in Pakistan to become a fighter (Yasmin, her kid brother, her father, her husband along with her colleague who was in her home by coincidence, are all arrested and accused of being links to terrorist groups...), in the end Yasmin starts to lean more towards her own culture and becomes interested once again in her own religion. When she runs into her colleague in a shopping mall, he first doesn't recognize her because she is wearing shalwar kameez, then he asks her to join him in the pub, she refuses because she is thinking of going to the mosque and asks him to join her instead. He refuses and their ways are separated.
So, there are many interesting story lines in this movie.
It shows the struggles and strength of females, the struggles of Muslims in the west, the struggle of children being torn between two different worlds they both belong to, it shows discrimination of Foreigners and particularly Muslims, it shows how that discrimination and racism worsened after the September 11th attacks, it shows the clash between the older and the younger generation, both their power struggles, it shows how normal and even very free people can turn into possible fanatics.
It's a great movie which, with all these different aspects, never becomes cliché or lecturing. One would think, with so many things going on, it would become messy, but it isn't. It's very well done and I recommend it to anyone from any culture.
Labyrinth (1986)
Fairy tale type movie about a girl who learns many life lessons while on her way to get her baby brother back
I still remember when I first saw this movie. I was around 10 years old and it never tired me to watch it over and over and over.
At the time I didn't understand many things in the movie, the lessons of life. It were the characters, played by real people and by puppets alike, which won my heart and made me want to return to that world time and again.
I was so sad when my brother accidentally recorded something else over my Labyrint video. It never aired again and I slowly forgot about it only to remember it every now and again when seeing or hearing the names of David Bowie or Jennifer Connely, or the word labyrinth.
And now, almost two decades later, I found it again! This time, when watching it with adult eyes, I judged the movie differently. I saw details, little touches which I hadn't notice before as a child. Also, I noticed the life lessons (don't take everything for granted, don't say things in anger for example) and guess what, even though the movie has been made in a time when technology wasn't as advanced as what we have today, it was still very good! It's the story itself, the acting of the characters, the dialogues which make this movie so special. I've seen many movies made with super modern technology, yet they didn't impress me as much as Labyrint still does, because they have no real story. It's the special effects that carry those movies, you take their special effects away, there is nothing left. A real good movie, to me, is carried by the excellent dialogues, acting, good story lines.
Labyrint is still a great movie. I've shown it to my children and they loved it. It was great to share something that is special to me with my children and watch them enjoy it as much as I did as a kid.
Even watching it as an adult is a pleasure. I was first afraid, that perhaps in my memory I might have lifted this movie up too high, after all, as a child you value different things than as an adult and your memory often makes you remember what you want to remember and how you want to remember something. So I was prepared for a disappointment. It wasn't even necessary.
This movie is as good today, in 2006, as it was back in the 80's. I highly recommend it.
Paradise Now (2005)
What does a suicide bomber go through before making the decision to participate in it and actually do it?
A very touching movie, I didn't expect it to be this interesting though. I thought there would be too much action perhaps and too less story in it.
But I was wrong, luckily there was a lot of action psychologically and less physically. The movie shows you what a suicide bomber goes through before committing the act.
Why do people choose to kill themselves and at the same time kill other people with them? What kind of lifes did they have?What goes through their mind during their last minutes?
From the beginning to the ending, the movie had me hooked to my computer screen. It's about two Palestinian best friends, who care about each otehr as if they would be real brothers. The father of one them was liquidated when he was only ten, because his father collaborated with the Israelis.
In the movie, near the ending, after a lot goes wrong with their mission and it is postponed, he still wants to go on and talks about his childhood, one of the things he says about his father is that he was weak and the enemy used that weakness and turned his father into a collaborator. But I think that's not the only motivation, I think he wanted to mend his fathers mistakes with his own action.
The ending is sad, as was expected. But surprising as well. You don't expect to see what happens near the end! Many good movies are ruined by their ending. Not Paradise Now. It's perfect from the beginning to the ending.
There is humor in it too, despite the dark topic. Even though it was dramatic, I had to laugh during the scene when they are filming one of the main characters when he is saying goodbye to his family and reads lines from a sheet of paper, and then the camera doesn't work! And he gets feds up, he eventually gives his Mom a message about where to buy better filters because he forgot to tell her! There were many such little things which made me smile and balanced the dark topic a bit.
Also, the suicide bombers aren't portrayed as evil or as holy, they are simply portrayed as people. You yourself can judge, if that is possible, how you feel about them and their actions.
This is a difficult topic to film and I feel the director did an outstanding job!
Munich (2005)
A look at the aftermath of the tragedy of Munich '76, as objective as humanly possible
This movie isn't about who is right or who is wrong. It doesn't condemn any side, it doesn't offer any particular solutions, it forces you to think about the horrible conflict between Palestinians and Israelis from both their points of views.
In fact, the dilemma's as shown in Munich, can also be translated to other tragic situations in the world, such as Azaad-Kashmir and Jammu and Kashmir for example.
There are no real good guys and bad guys. You try to understand why these people do the horrible things they do. What motivation(s)do they have? I was interested in watching this movie from the moment I heard it was being made and Spielberg said in interviews he wouldn't be taking any sides, but try to show the human side, the tragedy of the killings on boths sides. He did an excellent job there.
The actors were also well chosen, they all played their parts very well and the dialogues were perfect. After the ending, you do wonder what further happened to Avner and his family, did they live on in the US, did they return to Isreal, did Avner still get killed? But then again, the movie isn't to tell us about their live, it's about hte aftermath of Munich '76 and the hearts of all the people involved.
I was very disturbed though by a scene near the ending. I thought the sex scene mixed with the tragic massacre in Munich '76 was inappropriate. I don't understand why ti was necesary to mix those two scenes! Tasteless.
Other than from that, a great movie and definitely worth watching.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Great children's movie, also appealing to adults!
Some months ago, there were Narnia commercials everywhere, I remember taking my kids to McDonalds, they went crazy because McDonalds was selling Narnia toys.
Every time the name Narnia was mentioned on TV or we passed another poster of it, they both begged me to let them see it. I got tired of it and eventually let them see the movie.
It was surprisingly well done and the story was well adapted to the screen. It wasn't just a great movie for children, but for adults as well.
The actors were good. The casting was great. The sets were wonderful. It was a great adventure on screen.
It's worth spending your time and money on.
Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage (2005)
A touching and very human document of a time people should never forget
After seeing parts of the movie in the commercials, I knew I had to watch it. And I wasn't disappointed at all.
Very well acted and without any fuss. It was a simple movie for our time, no special effects, etc The power of this movie, is the story itself and especially the performances of the actors.
I was very surprised to hear about the White Rose and it's members. I never knew there was such a resistance in Germany itself. I never heard the name Sophie Scholl before, but now that historical figure, along with the other names, have my respect for ever.
What I liked about this movie wasn't just the wonderful acting, but also the heroes of the story remained 'normal' so to speak, they weren't pictured as some sort of super hero type people, they were humans with real human emotions and that's what the movie showed.
After I finished watching the DVD, I realised that most of the movie was centered around the conversation between two people, Sophie Scholl and Mohr. But yet, it wasn't boring at all. Not one single moment. I was clutched to the screen from the beginning to the ending. It had me in tears. I cried during the last 20 minutes or so.
It's worth spending your time and money on. And another one of those reminders of how lucky we are to live the way we do, and it's thanks to all the brave people from around the world who fought for the freedom of mankind in different ways.
Each one of these people was a hero. Today I discovered new heroes in Germany itself.
The Legend of Zorro (2005)
very funny and fast dialogues, great action and a smart horse
This movie is not as bad as it has been received. In fact, none of the negative critics are right.
Zorro is not supposed to be a Forrest Gump type movie or a Finding Neverland type movie. It's an action movie with a cool super hero and they did a great job.
It had a different take here, because the wife and child of the super hero participate in the fight against the enemy. It made it even more interesting.
And the script was very funny, made me laugh throughout the movie. After the movie was finished, I felt like I was very well entertained and I really saw a good movie.
Oh, and love that horse. ;-D
Bruce Almighty (2003)
Carrey complains how God doesn't help him at all so he gets His powers for some days to see if he can do better....
What I like about this movie is, that it doesn't just provide jokes and a good time, but there are several lessons to be learnt.
The main character changes and grows throughout the movie and the audience learns important lessons of life through him. I guess these lessons of life can be applied to any religion in the world. But a few times I was afraid that what they did in the movie would become blasphemy.
Anyway, Jim Carrey was amazing as Bruce Nolan and really carried the movie well, although a few times I felt he was a little bit too much Jim Carrey.
Nevertheless an excellent movie and when it's done, you are happy and really have a feeling you've actually seen a good movie that was worth your time.
Old School (2003)
Could have been better without the lavish use of nudity and dirty jokes...
The humor was wonderful and I had many great laughs watching this. It's a fun movie, but there are too many dirty jokes in it, too much nudity to my taste! Why is it that nowadays good humor movies are ruined by filling half the movie with nude people and dirty jokes? It's not necessary to do that in order to make a successful funny movie.
If all that stuff is cut out, you only have half the movie left. Really it's bad taste. The idea was good, and the dialog was good enough without all that bad taste being added to it.
Apart from that, the lead actors are natural comedy talents. They did very well.
People, you don't need to exploit sex to be funny...
National Treasure (2004)
Not one dull moment, great suspense from beginning to end
The movie begins with a young boy, looking for something in the house at night, something the grown ups don't want him to know about (yet), his grandfather catches him and then decides to tell him the secret of the family, a treasure which their forefathers had been searching too, in vain...
The boy (Cage) grows up and hunts that treasure too, even though his father doesn't like it, he wants his son to forget about the treasure and lead a normal life. Eventually the father becomes involved too, initially not by his own will, but in the end he is very proud of his son, even though they enter an empty space instead of finding the treasure there. For a moment you are left thinking that's it. I really liked the surprise when they find another exit to the real treasure room. What was more exciting than the actual treasure, was the special way the space was lit up.
The movie reminded me a little of DaVinci Code, even though that is something different of course.
Anyway, a great watch. And some good humor too, especially the interactions between the friends of Cage.
This movie is definitely worth paying for and in the end you are left with a good feeling.
The Polar Express (2004)
This movie is a great watch, even if you don't celebrate Christmas at all!
When we watched this wonderful movie, we absolutely forgot where we were. The minute it starts, it gets your attention and keeps it until the very end. You enter a truly magical world.
We don't celebrate Christmas, but after seeing some trailers with the chocolate being served on the train (very funny and cleverly done!) I became so curious about this movie, and even more so because I am a huge Tom Hanks fan. I just had to see it. Any film Tom Hanks is in, is great and this one is no exception.
So when we sat down, I already expected this to be good, but I could never have imagined how wonderful this one and half hour journey would be! From the start to finish, everything is perfect. I didn't mind the facial expressions at all, or lack of them. The rest of the movie makes up for that minor glitch.
I must say, the part in the end where Santa uses his whip to take off, well that whip reminded me of the one the Balrog had in the Fellowship of the Ring, lol! And the engineer was very funny, the children just laughed so hard when the beard was pulled of the assistant of the engineer and his scream actually became a communication with the deers blocking the railway! There is so much in this movie, comedy, sorrow, disappointment, happiness, relieve, suspense. In the end, you are left with a warm and satisfied feeling. And that's what a family movie should provide.