The Orator ( Samoan, 2011)

Language: Samoan
Year: 2011
Director: Tusi Tamasese
Starring: Fa'afiaula Sagote, Tausili Pushparaj
Genre: Drama

This is a region which I haven’t seen yet in the movies and this is the first time FilmBulb is visiting a Samaon Film. Before going into the movie here is a small detail about the country Samao. The country is in the Samoan Islands, which is in the South Pacific Ocean, some 3000 Kms from New Zealand. Help yourselves with the map.

The film is the first of its kind from the country. The main character Saili is a dwarf. He is ridiculed by the village people, who grabbed his land. He can’t fit into his father position as a village chief, just because his physical stature doesn't give him the courage. Vaaiga, his wife is retreated out of her village earlier is living with Saili with her daughter.

Saili on way to get the body

Saili is struggling to get hold of his land and he also wishes to take as a village chief, but never fit for it, down without confidence and courage is encouraged by Vaaiga. Things turn bad when her brother wants her to come back to their village as there is some curse on him and so he is falling ill. She returning to them will cure him, but she refuses to leave Saili. Owing to her illness, Vaaiga dies; her brother takes her body forcefully. Saili seeks the help of his village chief; the process is to negotiate with her brother to get back the dead Vaaiga' body. The village chief denies to go and asks Saili to go by himself, as a negotiator (as an orator as they call). Did Saili get the Vaaiga' dead body? 

Cinematography is the first thing one will notice in this film with clean and crisp shots. There are few sub-plots of lighter moments which keep the film moving; otherwise the film would have been slow. I think it will take some effort to understand the culture and custom if someone is not from Samoa or New Zealand.

Cultural References

The maker called the film accurately depicts the culture of Samoa. I can see a lot of similarities in Tamil (Indian) culture and Samoan.

• Traditionally the chief of the village position is given to the son (First born).
• The burial of the dead in the backyard of home. This was prevalent earlier but not now, but still burial is done on their owned land sometimes.
• The process of negotiation is done still, as they call in Tamil, Panchayattu. Any kind of issue can be sorted out before going to the courts.

If you look for fast-cuts this is not for you. For me I can see it for another time.

Quotes - 1

Find more quotes from Ashleign Brilliant on www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/15038.Ashleigh_Brilliant

Starting from today you will get more quotes as in when I like ( cause its my blog ).

We Have a Pope

Language: Italian
Year: 2011
Director: Nanni Moretti
Starring: Michel Piccoli, Nani Moretti
Genre: Comedy

This is a subject not taken by many mainstream film makers, in spite of the strangeness in the theme of the movie; this film maker (Nanni Moretti) has done a good work to show. As a kind of drama the film is good, but not rib-tickling as the movie poster suggested.

The cardinals of the world are in Vatican City to elect a new pope, as the pope is deceased. After few rounds of voting they select Cardinal Melville as the new pope. But when Melville is about to complete the ceremony by announcing himself from the grand balcony, he breaks down and runs as a panic stricken child. According to the law, the cardinals are not supposed to communicate with the outside world and the vice versa. So until the elect-Pope Melville is good to gain the strength to face the crowd they all have to be inside the palace. They get the help of a psychoanalyst, who finds a cause, but he cannot cure as he is not specialized in the subject and suggests that his wife can help the Pope, who is also a psychoanalyst. Secretly the Vatican spokesman takes the elect-pope out to meet the psychoanalyst. On the way Melville escapes and the authorities could not find him.

 What happens then, how does the cardinals stay in the palace for few days, how the elect-pope is convinced and did Melville takes the Pope position is the rest of the story.

It’s a story of an individual not about religion or god. Every man has a desire, which is buried deep in the heart and mind, and it comes up when it is a right time. Pope or a common man the feelings are same. The story can be intercepted satirically, is the film maker questioning the appointment of the Pope, may be, is he asking that Pope’s are appointed against their wishes? See it for yourself and enjoy.

Dreams

Dreams always fascinate us. Most of the dreams are weird and strange. We see the happenings in the dream are unusual. This is one such dream which I got few months before.  Very bad, very bad, but it’s interesting.

Dream Starts:

I got down the bus, with few luggages, a big sports bag kind of thing. Start to walk towards a compound wall in the side of the road, beyond the wall there is a narrow lane, very short. Both sides of the lane is full of rubbish garbage, this like the dump yard that you see in the sub-urb of Chennai, like Perungudi and Pallikaranai. I see a big building in the middle of the garbage dump yard, I walk towards the building, it’s a cool five star hotel !!. ( இந்த ரணகளைத்துளையும் ஒரு கிளுகிளுக்லுப்பு ) 

In the entrance there is a welcome sign, looks like I am participating in a sport and the hotel is the place to stay. The welcome board reads,

"Welcome to the saliva-spitting competition. ( சீ எச்சா )"

I go inside and marvel the beauty of the hotel. ( திரும்பவும் கிளுகிளுக்லுப்பு )  I am joined with other participants ( துப்புகெட்ட பயலுங்க ). The day we arrived is Sunday, the competition is on Monday, and the final is on the same Monday evening.

Monday Morning- We all seeing the grander of the hotel are eager to stay there for another day, but there is no option to stay there, since the competition ends in the evening and we ought to vacate. Preliminaries of saliva-spitting take long time. Its late afternoon to finish it, so there is no other way for the organizers they have to postpone the finals on Tuesday. We are happy to hear the news, as we got an extra day to stay there. ( ஹோட்டல் பேரு என்ன,  Le குப்பை Meridien )

Flash News- In the evening while we are roaming and enjoying in the hotel, here comes flash news and the news is a double-decker delight for all of us, the news is as follows,

"The finals is postponed to Wednesday, reason due to inclement weather condition on Tuesday, what happens on Tuesday is “whichever direction you spit the saliva will fall on face of the person who is spitting it”. "

It was better that the dream ended here.

Writing in Tamil

வணக்கம். இது ஏனோட முதல் தமிழ் வலைபூ.

ரொம்பா நாளா இண்டர்நெட்ல தமிழ்ல  எழுதணும்ன்னு ஆசை, அது இப்போதான் நெறைவேரிசி. என்ன எழுதணும்ன்னு தெரில ஆன்ன எதவடு எழுதணும்.

சரஸ்வதி சபதம் படத்துல சிவாஜிக்கு பேச்சு வரபோ அவரு கத்தி கத்தி பேசுவரே அப்படி எழுதணும். ** அம்மா ** அப்பா ** தாய் ** தந்தை ** தண்டசோறு  ** தயிர்வடை **  . அப்பப்ப என்ன ருசி. இந்த முணு வரி எழுதா இருபது நிமிஷம்மாச்சி.

Please correct the mistakes. Good start. Will try to write more. ( This I wrote in 2 secs ).

The Immortals Of Meluha - Amish

There are references and portrayal of manu dharma – class based system and untouchability, but it’s good to see that the protagonist Shiva is a rationalist. 

This will be my first review of a book, or it could be like sharing my reading experience of this book. The Immortals of Meluha by Amish, mixed with mythology and fiction, it’s a nice blend of work by the author. This book is a definite page turner.

It’s a story of Shiva (OK Lord Shiva), the author portrays him as a human being, wandering in the slopes of the Himalayas, and then moving in to now Indo-Pak border of Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, where he finds Sati (Parvathi). The story is set-up after Ramayana, so Rama is the lord of the land. The journey of Shiva continues him to align with Suryavanshis against Chandravanshis, the climax is a war and the story continues with the second part of the book about Nagas. ( Which I haven't read yet ).

I can’t weigh the writing, since I haven’t read much of new Indian English writers, especially in fiction. But the author is successful in keeping the reader intact with the subject and the “what next” kind of eagerness runs through the pages. Some war and confrontation sequences reminds of a Hollywood-epic scripts. There are references and portrayal of manu dharma – class based system and untouchability, but it’s good to see that the protagonist Shiva is a rationalist. He criticises and abolishes unwanted rituals. Not often you see or read a marijuana dragging Shiva.