FILM REVIEWS

Some films grow up with us. They mature along with our understandings. This week I recommends three films, three great pieces of art, which will forever grow old with their viewers…


MAQBOOL
Vishal Bharadhwaj’s version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth; this film won a lot of critic appreciation. Macbeth meets Godfather in present-day Bombay. The Scottish tragedy is set in the contemporary underworld of India’s commercial capital. Two fortune telling policemen (Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah) take the role of the weird sisters and ‘Duncan’ is played by Pankaj Kapoor. There are a number of sequences that are well executed to such an ‘action’ effect. The contemplation of the protagonist after killing Abbaji & the anguish of the guilt ridden woman (Tabu) who begins to see blood stains on the wall are some of the most intriguing scenes. Though the film failed to entice much of the Indian audience, it has undoubtedly won 5 prestigious awards. I recommend it as a MUST WATCH.


THE THIN BLUE LINE
Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas. Murdering Robert W. Wood during a traffic stop; a 16 year old, David Ray Harris proves his innocence by leading the police to the car driven from the scene of the crime, in order to recover a revolver he identified as the murder weapon and subsequently identified a 28-year-old Ohio resident, Randall Dale Adams as the murderer. However, Adams was charged with the crime despite the better evidence against Harris as only Adams could be sentenced to death under Texas law. The film was marketed as "nonfiction" rather than as a documentary. It has won 7 awards & 4 nominations. I recommend this documentary to any individual ready to make some changes.


THE FILM CLASS
Uri Rosenwaks came to Rahat, ( Israel’s Negev Dessert ) to teach film making to a group of Bedouin women. When the Director first started working with the group, he had no knowledge of the Bedouin kidnappings in Africa by Arab slave traders, and how they were auctioned-off in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Zanzibar & thats how, 50 years ago, the Black Bedouins were enslaved by the White ones. But when he did, he along with his newly trained group worked up their nerves to make a film telling the history of Black Bedouins. In the course of making this film, a great taboo came into the open. The women still suffering discrimination to this day unveil a story in which only few, who dared, have spoken. I recommend this documentary to all who are proud of being born in the world of ‘equality’ yet are being ‘measured’ daily.


(The same article was written for DU beat, for the 19th February issue)