Archive for the 'Movies' Category

Movies are a powerful medium and I think they do have the potential to change people. In fact one movie which made me choose my career path is Terminator 2. It may sound silly, but after watching terminator 2, I decided to learn computer programming and years later I find myself to be a programmer!

In this post, I will look at 3 powerful movies which probably would have affected/changed a lot of people.

1. Forrest Gump - If you haven’t seen this movie, I suggest you rent a DVD and watch it today. It is one of the powerful movies I have seen and I think would have influenced a lot of people.

Forrest Gump (starring toms hank) is mentally challenged. He is also a simple, honest and innocent man. Surprisingly his honesty and innocence alone takes him through life and he accomplishes great things in life. The film superimposes important american events from 1950s with his life.

Some may say that it is unrealistic, but the movie is highly inspiring.

2. American Beauty - American beauty shows what is meant by “modern dysfunctional family”. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a middle aged man living a rather boring life in the suburbs. His personal/professional life is in ruins and one day he realizes it and decides to do something about it. The only problem is that he ends up dead.

One character which I found very interesting is Ricky Fitts. Here are some quotes from the movie which I found very interesting,

Lester Burnham: Remember those posters that said, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life?” Well, that’s true with every day except one: the day that you die.

Lester Burnham: I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn’t a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time… For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars… And yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined my street… Or my grandmother’s hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper… And the first time I saw my cousin Tony’s brand new Firebird… And Janie… And Janie… And… Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me… but it’s hard to stay mad, when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst… And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life… You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry… you will someday.

3. SiCKO - This is technically not a movie. It is a documentary by Michael Moore which looks at the bad side of american healthcare. It is shocking and at the same time shows that there are a lot people who require help from society - even in america!

Tony Benn: If you can find money to kill people, you can find money to help people.

SiCKO is released last week and it is yet to see what sort of impact it will have on people. But one thing is sure, even hardcore moore haters may applaud after the movie.

Trailers
Forrest Gump Trailer

American Beauty Trailer

Sicko Trailer

I happened to watch the Michael moore video “Sicko” which somebody had put up on Google Videos(It is now deleted). “Sicko” is Michael Moore at his best and you should never miss it (especially if you are an american).

Sicko is a documentary by Michael moore, which looks at american healthcare system. It is an open secret that american healthcare system is very expensive. So if you don’t have health insurance you are screwed. Moore uses the documentary medium to forcefully expose this fact and he has done an excellent job!

I am in India and I do have some experience of british healthcare system (NHS). Both are free and there are lot negative points about these systems. But when you compare them with the american system, they look very good! In India, you have a choice between government/private and charity hospitals and to me that is very important.

So why is this interesting to me if I am in India? Well, the problem is that we tend to copy many things from America. Also healthcare companies are getting powerful by day in India. Coupled with corruption, this may lead to a healthcare mafia worse than the american one.

Healthcare is fundamentally something which belongs to the government similar to police and fire department. Privatising it partially is ok, but full privatisation is a sure recipe for disaster.

Check out the following trailer of Sicko. Sicko is slated for release on 29th June 2007.

SiCKO is a comedy about 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on Earth.

Grind House is a movie slated for 2007 which consists of two films! First one, Planet Terror, will be a zombie film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The other one, Death Proof, will be a film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Grind House is expected to be released on April 6, 2007.

Check out this rather funny trailer (machine gun leg? bruce willis?),