From 20, 000 thousand feet high

This though seems the most (ab)used term these days; I never it gave too much thought to it so much as I did recently. After negotiating multiple hair pin bends, I reached a popular hill top on the outskirts of the city. There was a particular spot from where you could get a birds eye view of the vast plains, the hamlets, the winding roads, the green fields, the buses and vehicles on the road….

Sitting there I realized, what looks like vast green fields when you cross them on the road, are just some green patches from above. The towns and hamlets are just settlements which in an organized fashion. The huge buses which can knock down people are actually very small mobbing toys from the top.

Well that’s not what hit me, I mean, I have seen such views before too…What I felt was, what we are obsessed with so much, boundaries, encroachments, land disputes, settlement issues, personal issues, racism, riots…and so on…When you reach a certain altitude it becomes so trivial or insignificant. It appears to be worthless to loose your sleep over. Now imagine, if this the view from a high altitude on Earth, how would it be from the universe. I mean our whole planet Earth itself is a miniscule in the infinite space outside…Imagine then, what are we loosing sleep over…How we are obsessed with so many unwanted trivial issues, we rarely see the beauty around us.

Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

Director: Ken Loach
Cast – Cillian Murphy
Wins – Golden Palm, Cannes, 2006

Wind that Shakes the Barley, is a title derived from an popular Irish song. The backdrop of the film is the Irish War of Independence and Civil War in Ireland during 1919-1921. It was an insight for me into the Irish War of Independence and struggle for freedom from the British Empire. Its so remarkable to see that freedom, which now a lot of us take for granted, was something lots of men and women were deprived of. And that they had to fight struggle and lay down their lives, so that their children would live in a free world.

He film follows a near historical/political account of the series of events that happens in Ireland laced with a subtle plot development. I quite liked the discussions and the conflicts which happen between the Irish themselves. There is an instance where is an ideology clash between them, even though both them want the same thing. Its interesting to note how difficult it is sometimes to decide what is right and what is wrong. I usually felt ‘wrong’ would appear as tempting, luring and with a red alert in contrast to the ‘good’ would be tough to choose but obvious that it would be the right . However, this decision can be really difficult, because the circumstances and events would make either of them equally right. The definition and classification then becomes very very individual and relative.

The other episode was whether the treaty was what they fought for or was it a short of it. The discussion, the arguments and the games played, really provide an insight what was going on in the minds of the people then.

“I decided not to enter war, but I did. Now I want to get out of it, I can’t.”

“It is sometimes easy to decide what you are against, but completely different to find what you are for.”

Agora

Directed by – Alejandro Amenabar
Cast – Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella

I have seen ‘The Others’ and ‘The Sea Inside’ which are also works done by Alejandro.

Hypatia (Rachel) : philosopher- astronomer-teacher-lover-daughter-thinker
Where: Alexandria
Who else (Max) – Slave-thinker-in love-betrays

I liked the beautiful relationship between the Hypatia and her father…Both of them understand each other so well.

On Vacation

I went to see this award wining play, originally written in Marathi (a language spoken in West India) then later translated to English. On Vacation. That was the name of the play.

Directed by Vinay Verma, a renowned TV artist and popular on the theater circuit. The play has a lot to tell, it has enough Masala to keep you go on. But.

The female protagonist, played by Shunila Kapoor, was more obsessed with her costume and diction and how she looked on stage more than getting into the skin of the character. Well that upsets me to see how, artists feel, that by just costume alone, the characters would just emerge. Characters are beyond costumes, they are people.

The gay couple more than anything else, make sure that all the cliché’s whatsoever the society has about the gays are re-enforced. Can someone break the stereotype and show them as real people. Also, all their expression of love for each other was matter of laughter and fun for a lots of members in the audience. That somewhere reflects the sensitivity and maturity of the audience too…

There was this artist who plays the role of a journalist, one as a typical local, w/o any polished skills and completely rustic, and later as the refined person with impeccable taste. These were moments of comic of relief, had the audience in splits and was received with huge rounds of applause. Well, what do these theater groups feel is the level of maturity and taste of the audience? I mean they treat us like cattle. And people who are new to theater lap up such performances. I mean is there someone who understands the real psyche of the audience? Are all at a level where they cannot see a good performance beyond explicit humor? Can there be theater beyond just pure entertainment?

I feel the attempts to appeal to masses for commercial needs can hamper real expression and when combined pseudo artists, theater can loose its sting.