CHARIOTS OF FIRE

Chariots of Fire is an Academy Awards winner for Best Picture and a historical drama movie about the events that lead two athletes to compete in the 1974 Olympics. These movie starts off with introduction of the two main characters of these movie : Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams. Both of them came from a different backgrounds and the movie showed what started their interests in running and how two of them met each other. This movie also showcased how these two characters view the goals of winning the goal medal and what it meant to them. Thus it involved their different sets of motivation and drive towards winning the medal. I'm going to separate these two characters and analysed them on different sections.

Harold Abrahams

Harold Abrahams is a student in University of Cambridge who has to struggle his way to fit in the British class society because of what he is, a Jewish. Due to his experiences of facing prejudice and discrimination because of what his religion is, Harold seem to have the need to prove to everyone that he is worth it and can be respected if he works hard on the things he want to achieve. He wants people to believe that he is able to be a self-made man. And this had become his main motivation on running on the tracks and win them.

But winning might not be enough for Harold because he still have a sense of meaningless after winning the gold medal. We can see it in the scene where he celebrates his winning by drinking with his coach. He strive for perfection and he needs that recognition from people to approve that what he did was flawless. But as human we never going to be perfect. This may be connected to Alfred Adler's criticism on achieving perfection and self-actualization in life. Alfred Adler came up with the idea of inferiority complex, where human feels the need to be perfect but ended up not being happy with the results. Human strives to overcome the inferiority and in Abraham's case, he has the need to be recognized as one of the Englishman which denies the fact that he was born Jewish.

Harold also fails to see the bigger picture of winning the medal. For him winning it is everything and is almost going to magically solves all of his issues in  life. He even hurt his lover's feeling by being too obsessed with winning that he would do anything to win it. I have a feeling things might turn way worse if Harold actually did not win the gold medal. He fails to see that life goes on after the competition and the strive for self-actualization is a never ending process. He also fails to see that in life, nothing is perfect.

Eric Liddell

Eric Liddell is  Scottish and a son of missionaries in China. Eric sees the opportunity to run on the track as a way to show people the existence of God. Eric is aspire to spread his belief by winning the medal. His main goal to win the medal in Olympic is to show how his religious belief can be the reason for him to strive harder and he also believes that running is a talent given by God. By running so fast on the tract means that he glorify God's given ability to him. Eric said this to his sister who is mad that he missed the prayer because of running: "I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure."

When his belief is tested, which is the schedule of the competition that has to make Eric run on Sabbath day, which is Sunday, he stands strong to his belief and refuse to obey. Even when being persuade by Prince of Wales, he remains strong with his belief that God is more powerful than man. He beliefs that he shouldn't be afraid of anything at all if he is on the God's side. Eric manages to get the approval to run on different day and this is already a winning moment for him. He proves his devotion to God, and there is nothing more sweet than the grace from God. This balanced of winning the race for the title and winning it for a good cause have made Eric Liddell achieved the self-actualization.

After winning the gold medal, Eric kept his promise to his sister and continues to serve as missionary in China. For Eric winning the gold medal already proved the power of God, and his main goal of winning it is achieved, mainly because it is achievable unlike the strive of perfection by Harold. Eric understands the meaning of living the life meaningfully, and he understands that winning the Olympic shouldn't be the only main achievement to be proud of in life. Once its done, he moves on to another cause, keep on striving to be happy and keep on gaining the self-actualization.

All in all this movie is not great only because of the story of the competition itself, but it covers many aspects that are relatable to many people.  From the silent and stressful scene before the competition starts to the backgrounds o these two great runners. Other than that, the soundtrack and the music used in this film are major parts of why this movie is nostalgic and great.

SCHINDLER'S LIST

Schindler's List is an historical drama film about Holocaust and the stories of the encounter from the Holocaust's survivor who named themselves as Schindler's Jews. This movie centers the life of a charming, wealthy German businessman named Oskar Schindler. Schindler was a member of Nazi Member and at the introduction of the movie, we learnt that Schindler was a man with a game on his mind; money. Schindler was using his charm, wealth and finest bottles of wine to work his way up among the SS Officers by bribing them in order to make his business work at the time of the war. At this point I wasnt so sure what kind of man Schindler was, due to his questionable and shady persona. Schindler managed to employ many Jews to work at his factory making pots and plates. His intention was clear, it was all business and money was his first priority. Schindler planned and played his game carefully, seemingly taking advantage from the people who suffered under the oppression of the Nazis. In order to get what he wants, we watched how Schindler make connections with people, from the high ranking Nazi officers, to the Jewish black market sellers.

This whole movie is made black and white, maybe to symbolized how the issues of Holocaust might not all black and white, but the world needs to know what really happened and the cruelty and the murder by the people in power were in fact should be view as black and white. Other that that, I personally think the black and white moving pictures are timeless, thus making this movie one of the timeless movies of all time. The violence portrayed in this film is interesting to watch, how a war and people in power can be so merciless and ruthless. A person with the marked of the star was not other human being in the Nazi's eyes, something about the marking separate Jewish with the non-Jewish, giving the Nazi's power to treat them inhumanely. Interesting enough, the famous experiment done by Philip Zimbardo has proven that human can behave violently when given title and authority. His Stanford prison experiment had shocked people about the findings, but the history of world especially during the war has repeatedly telling us the same. Yes, human are violent. As how Schindler told Itzhak Stern about Amon Goeth, "He's got a war which brings out the worst in people; never the good, always the bad." But sadly until today, we never learnt to be better as the world is never entirely peaceful.

Other than that, I was fascinated by character development of Oskar Schindler. From a man with money on his mind, he slowly affected by the mistreatment gained by the Jewish people. After employing them just for money, Schindler felt a great responsibility to his employer. The turning point for him is when he sees the girl in the red coat on the street of the Ghetto, running aimlessly for safety. The colour red is prominent and cant be easily ignored. A lot of people ignored the little girl, but Schindler noticed her, and felt great sadness that he ignored all these Jewish people before this. Even the goal of his game was changed, which to safe as much Jews as he can, Schindler stays in the game and he played it right, he knows what are the weaknesses of the SS Officers; money and alcohol. Before this, it never occurred to him to safe the lives of the innocents, but at the end he knew what he did was the right thing to do. I viewed Schindler as a hero without a cape, but he wears a mask, which is his charm. He was not entirely an innocent man either, but he has a good heart. He also did not conform to the people around him. The SS Officers act violently and using their power to humiliate and dehumanized the Jews but not Schindler. He refused to be the man he does not want himself to be, he holds on to his principle and keep his good intention clear.

Only by having this good heart and high morality, Schindler managed to safe more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust. He wished he could safe more, but his good intention had saved many generations to come and he was right, people do mentioned his name to this day, not because of how wealthy and successful he was, but how he was a hero saving many lives of the innocents.

GRACE IS GONE

Grace Is Gone is a drama film shot in a low budget independent movie style, its a story about loss and what it meant to accept the loss of someone we love. Centers around the life of Stanley Philips (Stan) played by the talented actor John Cusack, living a dull life with a normal job in furniture store.  At the beginning of the movie, his daily life along with his two young daughters. We could see how he struggling becoming both father and mother to them as his wife is serving in Iraq for the army. The kids know their father is lonely especially the older daughter Heidi. Stan seems cold around the kids but it might be because of the roles he needs to play around the kids, which are the strong, firm, authoritative father and at the same time the loving and caring motherly role. It shows when he puts the kids to bed and how he prepares dinner for them.

The news of Stan's wife death is the major turning point in this movie. The unexpected news came to him when he was just getting ready to work, starts his normal daily life. But the news stops everything. Stan discovers himself in the position where he cannot accept the fact of the death, he tried to reasons himself over and over again that this news might not be true. We saw Stan sitting in the living room for hours, up until the kids got home from school. This is the first stage of loss and grief, which is denial and isolation (Santrock, 2009). Stan decided not to tell the kids about the news, instead he wanted to bring them to Enchanted Garden, a theme park in Florida. For Stan at this point, telling the kids the news right there and then might make him feel more guilty. He has been harsh on the kids and maybe in the deeper level he also wants to make sure he is a good father for them, good enough to take care of them alone forever after Grace is gone. During this trip Stan slowly showing his real self, not only the father the kids know, but the person their mother used to fall in love with, the funny and adventurous side of him.

Before they continue their journey to Enchanted Garden, they stopped by at the Stan's mother's house and to discover his younger brother was there but not Stan's mother. Stan's young brother, John received a phone call about Grace's death and confronted Stan on why he do not tell the kids about it. Stan tried to tell John about the reason he needs to bring the kids to Enchanted Garden first but failed, he got angry and pushed John against the wall. This shows the second stage of grief, which is Anger (Santrock, 2009). The intense emotions built up inside Stan that he could not control it any longer, but Stan quickly calm himself and hugged John. At this stage he understood that his brother is his family after all and he will support him even after the absence of Grace. Stan continued the journey with the kids to Enchanted Graden.

While they made a stop at a gas station, Stan went to the public telephone and called home. He listen to their house's answering machine which is Grace voice. Then he talks to Grace, asking her how he should do this, the life without her. Stan mentioned he should be the one who got killed not Grace. At this point, Stan is at the third stage of grief, which is Bargaining. Stan tried to have control on the situation with the "What If" questions. And through this conversation we also found out that the reason Stand wanted to bring the kids to Enchanted Garden is because it was their last holiday spot together before Grace leave the country. Apparently that day Stan was angry at Grace because she was leaving and this trip with the kids might be his form of apology to her, other than wanted to reassure himself that he is capable to make the kids happy even without Grace around.

Stan finally tells the kids about the death of their mother on the way back home from Enchanted Garden, he sat down with the kids at the beach and tell them the news. The ending was done quickly, showing him embracing the kids and telling them they will be fine. I am not sure if Stan is ever accepted Grace's death, but one thing he was sure about is he is capable to take care of the kids, and the journey to Enchanted Garden had taught him ways to love the kids even more, which is by being there for them.

I love how simple this movie was shot and by centering the idea of loss, makes this movie stand out and made the audience watch it until the end. Personally I have experience loss of a family member and loss of a good friend of mine. Both of them are different, the feeling was different. Both of them passed away in such a shock to me. What makes me felt sad the most about the losses are the fact that I did not have the chance to say goodbye to both of them, no final words, no final hugs. Yes, loss of people we love is painful but its part of life, the loss of another reminds us more to live fully. The title of Grace is Gone not only imply to Grace the wife, but also imply to the feeling of how vulnerable we are us human and the fact we have no control on someone's death. For a moment after hearing the news of the loss of someone we love, we questioned God, we questioned universe, or to whoever holds the power and the grace.

reference

Santrock, J. W. (2009). Life-span development. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

THE SIXTH SENSE

The Sixth Sense is a ghost story and a psychological thriller by M. Night Shyamalan who wrote and direct the movie. The story is about a boy named Cole Sear who appeared to have a big secret that he kept by himself leaving his mother confused by her son's behavior. Then Cole became close with Bruce Willis' character Dr Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist who tries to help Cole with his issues while dealing with his own personal issues. The movie brought us into the journey of discovering Cole's big secret and how fear arise when we face the unknown.

For me the big theme for this movie is the power of secrets. From the beginning of the movie, we were introduced to Cole and immediately we knew something is not right with him. The 'something' is what makes us focus on the story. We focus on the characters such as Cole's mother when she is frustrated by her own kids and she too tries to figure out what is going on with her child. And an addition to that, Dr. Malcolm also trying to put all the pieces of puzzle given by talking to Cole, trying to find out what is the secret he hides from everyone because it may make things easier for Dr Malcolm to help him because to Dr Malcolm, the secret Cole kept is the source of his strange behavior. As an audience I was drawn by figuring out this secret too. M. Night Shyamalan cleverly put little bit clue here and there throughout the movie until the famous scene where Cole finally tells Dr Malcolm and the audience his big secret, "I can see dead people." For example, throughout the movie Cole mostly alone when he counters with the ghosts and Dr Malcolm actually wears the same outfit he wore the evening he was shot, and also some of outfits he touched before the incident happens. Dr Malcolm also do not speak directly to any other characters except to Cole and his wife. Dr Malcolm also never drive cars in the movie instead he walks or ride buses with Cole. These clues made me not only think and guess what is really going on with Cole because at some point I was clueless just as much as the other characters too, but it also relates back the the big and final revelation where Dr Malcolm learns that he is in fact a ghost too.

The secrets Cole's keeping effect his relationship with his mom and his relationships with Dr Malcolm. This shows the power of secrets. It can divide or bring people people (Imber-Black, 1998). For example, Cole's mother repeatedly asking him what is going on with him and tries to make him talk, at some point she was mad at him for not talking to her. This secret causes a lot of stress for his mother who do not understand why things happening to her son. This makes her feel like a bad parent and parents supposed to know every little detail about their young children. This secret separate Cole and his mother apart. But at the same time, this secret also bring him close to Dr Malcolm. He feels more comfortable talking to Dr. Malcolm after confided him about his secret. He tells him the secret after he fully trusts him, and revealing of the secret breaks the wall that separated both of them. Secrets also could bring people together when it is told on the right place and the right time. In Cole's case, he genuinely sees Dr Malcolm tries to help and he understand there is nothing he could do about it, but Dr Malcolm keeps him company and might be the first "ghost" he met that is actually nice to him. Dr. Malcolm's presence changes his perspective of the ghosts that taunt him and he also discovers his gift might not be a curse after all. By finding the true purpose of seeing ghosts, Cole slowly accepted his fate and that is when he tells his mother the truth, because that is the right time and the right place for him to tell her the secret which brings him closer to his mother.

I can relate with Cole because throughout my life I carry a lot of secrets and when I finally found people that I can trust, I will tell them more about myself and my secret. By this way, I feel more closer to them as they also disclose many secrets about themselves too. But at some point of my life, I realised all of us actually carry the one or two big secret(s) we not willing to give away to anyone. It is like a part of us, and by giving them away might be felt like giving other people the freedom to break you at your most vulnerable place. I think that is why maybe being a little mysterious with people you close with wont hurt anybody because then again, there is always a right moment to tell them.

M. Night Shyamalan managed to trigger the fear in us which is the fear of the unknown. As human, we are more comfortable living our lives knowing what going to happen that day and have certain predictions about how the days should go. Throughout the movie we did not know when is the ghost going to pop up on the screen and the background music adds to the suspense. But above all, what makes this movie is brilliant is the big reveal at the end, without the story, The Sixth Sense probably will be just another forgettable horror movie.

Reference

Imber-Black, Evan (1998, July 1). The Power of Secrets. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com

WHALE RIDER

Whale Rider is a New Zealand-German movie directed by Niki Caro about a girl names Paikea Apirana a.k.a Pai. Pai is a very unique girl who is very mature for her own age. Being blame to bring bad luck to the tribe by his grandfather, Pai never gave up her true intuitive feeling about how she is born a leader and she feels it deep under her skin that she is going to lead the tribe even traditionally it is men who should have been the leader for the line of the tribe. This movie emphasis on the importance of story telling of olden days, about the world where magic and the impossible might exist and most importantly, the idea of where we all came from. Whether it is true or just another mythical legend is not the important part of the story, but how this story brings up spirit of togetherness and being proud of who we are. Pai's grandfather Koro kept on emphasizing the importance of continuing the tradition as he is too connects deeply with it.

What I like about the movie is how the story intertwined logic and myth. Pai understands the reason of his grandfather's resentment towards her and she understands clearly why a female should not be consider as a leader for the tribe. It is only logical to continue what that has been practiced for so many years. But, she knows she is the leader from the beginning, it is not only just an obsession she has about the mythical story of legendary Paikea, but she know she is better than the other boys on the tribe. She understand at the beginning she might not have the physical strength, but what she needs is opportunity to prove herself. When given the chance to learn how to fight with Taiaha, she managed to prove herself and others that she is capable, especially when she knocked off Hemi's taiaha. She speaks better in Maori than the other, love the culture and devote most of her time joining cultural activities like dancing, and on top of that she found the whale tooth necklace. All of this should have been the prove that she is the true leader. But to his grandfather, this is not a solid prove, just because she is a girl. Pai hears the whispers from the ancestors, deep from the sea and at the end of the movie she managed to bring back the whale to the sea saving them from dying on the shore. By witnessing that, finally the grandfather admitted she is the true leader. It is ironic that the myth and the unthinkable overpower the logic that Pai already proved earlier to win the acceptance of her grandfather. Especially all these requirements of being the leader is set by the tribe themselves.

I understand Pai's pain just to even have the need to struggle in order to prove a point to somebody who refuse to listen and understand her. It made more complicated that the person who disbelief her is her own grandfather who she loves dearly. The scene where Pai crying on stage saying, "My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider. I'm not a prophet, but I know that our people will keep going forward, all together, with all of our strength." caught my attention and managed to stroke me emotionally. It is true the person you love the most have the ability to hurt you more easily than other people. When someone in my family question my ability or does not believe in me, the words cut deep in my heart. The burning sensation at the bottom of my heart can only be felt when someone I love hurt me. Pai must have felt the same when her grandfather was not there watching her performance.

In conclusion, I like this movie because it managed to bring together the element of myth and relatable issues in one story. The magic is not too much to put this movie into fantasy genre, it is just enough and managed to pull off the drama and the rawness of emotions thank to Keisha Castle-Hughes performance as Paikea Apirana.

FORGET PARIS

Forget Paris is the nontraditional modern romantic comedy released in 1995. Packed with one liner jokes and full with comical characters, this movie servers as typical Hollywood comedy film cliche but in terms of plot wise, it is an anti-fairy tale about love, which is sort of non-cliche. The movie focuses on the relationship between Mickey and Ellen, started on how they met until to how the struggle to keep the marriage alive. This movie gives modern portrayal of characters in the sense that the female lead, Ellen was a successful Airline Assistant ans so does Mickey. Both of them have clear visions on their careers and both of them love the career their into. But this movie explores more into the finding happiness in marriage when it goes beyond having a stable career and just being in love with each other. It takes more than that to make the relationships work.

The story of Ellen and Mickey starts in Paris, famously coined as the city of love and romance. At the start of their meeting, both of them are in the place where they find each other as great convenience, mainly because both of them needed company. Mickey just lost his father and travelling alone in Paris only to find the airline misplaced the coffin. This crisis put him in a very stressful situation, in addition of being alone in a strange city. While Ellen who did not disclosed about her dying marriage at the beginning, she provides Mickey comfort by accompany him to his father's funeral. Later we found out both of them are in the situation where meeting someone new and falling in love with that person seems like the only logical thing to do, in order to fix their loneliness. They are filling the void by seeing each other as compatible, the missing puzzle piece that fits in just right. This raises the question on whether to commit into the relationships is a good idea or the worst idea ever. One of the conflicts appeared in their marriage is when both of them feel like they are married to stranger. In the middle of the marriage, they both have the "Who are you?" moment which indicates they do not fully know each other on every layers and folds. Not only that, they seem to forget the values they both put in each other careers because both of them are happiest when they do what they love, which is their jobs.

As the relationship as husband and wife progressing, Ellen and Mickey find it hard to find the place where both of them feel happy and content with their life. As this movie used the context of career, we see its hard for them to find the balance between living a perfect married life and having to do their job without effecting their relationships. But we need to give them credit for trying, as both of them made sacrifices in order to safe their marriage. It shows that it takes a lot of work to compromise in marriage and the work is an on going process. Even at the end of the movie, there is no typical happily ever after ending, as both of them agree to continue working on their marriage. That's the reality. As the title says, "Forget Paris" which means forget about the time in Paris, where everything seems simpler, but the harsh reality in California is what both of them needs to face and keep on surviving. When I look at my parents, after more than 30 years of marriage, they both still working on compromising each other. The work on happy marriage is an never ended process so this movie shows us that, the realistic idea of creating a perfect marriage is the work by both parties. This related to triangular theory of love which are intimacy, passion and commitment. I want to emphasis again on commitment. Based on this theory, commitment in long term relationships needed planning made for each other (Sternberg, 2004), which Ellen and Mickey lacked at at the beginning of their relationships as both of them decided to jump the gun without planning carefully how to reach the equality in their happiness especially in their careers.

All in all, Forget Paris is a simple, typical Hollywood charisma but with an interesting nontraditional plots on love. I enjoy the movie because this movie gives me lessons in love with many generic punch lines.

Reference

Sternberg, Robert J. (2004). "A Triangular Theory of Love". In Reis, H. T.; Rusbult, C. E. Close Relationships. New York: Psychology Press. p. 258

STRICTLY BALLROOM

Strictly Ballroom is the first of Baz Luhrmann's the red curtain trilogy, where the movies open and close with a red curtain, and each movies involves theatrical elements on the ways the story being told and how the characters being portrayed. In this movie, Baz Luhrmann took dance as a center idea on how the stories developed and how these characters use dancing as a form of communications and also rebellion towards what is a norm in the community. Baz Luhrmann managed to get our attention by using many colourful scenes, making them embedded in our minds. In the opening scene, Baz Luhrmann cleverly put the dancers on one dance floor and make all of them twirling, the glamour and the glitter of the dancers' dress caught my attention. They way he shot it, making the camera going in the circle with the dancers, as an audience, I felt the chaos, I understand the pressure the dancers must have felt on wanting to win the title. They forced themselves to smile in this great pressure and I felt what Scott feel when he decided to dance a little different than usual, dance to what he feels right to do. This movie also shows the irony of the dance world where we should feel happy and free while dancing, instead of being deadly serious about winning and following orders which creates the dissonance and the sense of irony in the movie.

Dance is one form of language in this movie. Scott Hasting is one of the characters that use dancing as a form of expression. Early on the movie we see how he use dance movement to convince Liz not to leave him, and also how he use dancing to convince Fran to dance with him again right before the competition. This shows Scott is more comfortable using body language and dance steps to persuade people, to show them his true feelings on things. Maybe because people around him tend not to listen to him when he speaks up, or maybe growing up as dancer, this is the only way he could express whatever is buried deep inside of his chest. At the beginning we could see he is unhappy with the dance that everyone expect him to do. He is searching for the true meaning of satisfaction of self expression through dancing different steps than usual. He is truly happy when he is dancing with Fran, with the steps he wants to dance not anyone else. He struggles to choose between winning the title or being free with his self-expression by dancing "Pasodoble" with Fran. In the end he choose to break through the fear and go against the system set by the corrupted dance Federation. While dancing, both he and Fran feel the sense of belonging (Fiske, 2004), when the crowd starts to show their approval to them by clapping their hands.

I can relate to them, having the need to belong. When I looked back to my old self, I used to struggle on getting people's approval in everything I do. I felt the need to make others happy with my decisions instead of checking with my own self, "Am I happy with this option?". For years I felt constricted, suffocated without being able to really express my own creativity on the things I wanted. It was varies from the way I presenting myself, my hair, my clothes even my walk. People always have opinion. I can understand why Scott is unhappy to dance the way other people want him to dance, its restricting his own freedom. One day I just realised I do not need other people constant approval on the things I do in life, so I go with whatever option I feel happy to do and yes, it works. I feel so much better, living a better, positive life. Maybe going against the tide will make us feel rebellious, but doing something you truly love and having other people to appreciate them makes it ten times better. For that, I'm happy to see Scott and Fran dance freely at the end, while the whole audience clapping showing they also think the dance is beautiful.


Reference

Fiske, S.T. (2004). Social beings: A core motives approach to social psychology. United States of America: Wiley.