A Country of Personal Milestones

There was a time during the first session of the second innings in the third Aus vs India Test match when India were 6 down and trailing by 50 runs that Ravi Shastri made this telling comment. He said that Virat Kohli should now focus on getting his century irrespective of the result of this match, in order to ensure his place in the side. I was shocked and appalled at this comment. It is not that the comment was something blasphemous but it's timing made me realize how horrible our mindset is with regards to cricket. We are a nation obsessed with personal milestones and don't give a damn about the overall outcome. Now that I think of it, this mindset is not just in cricket but in all spheres of life.

In a typical middle class family of India, a child grows up learning that he needs to get good marks to get respect in the society. He is in awe of his colleagues top scoring and making it into premier colleges. It does not matter how much he really learns in school as long as he has good marks to show on his report card. Recently I read this report in Times of India regarding some international exam that tested students skills in math, science and languages. Not surprisingly, our Indian students managed to outscore only Kyrgyztan in the overall tally.

Our country's education system obviously takes the primary blame but I think parents also take an equal amount of blame. They want their children to be engineers and doctors. There is absolutely no encouragement for developing the creativity of the child by introducing him to arts and sports. The arts and crafts that are taught in school are so lousy that they put off a student rather than fascinate the young mind. From my personal experience, I was really disappointed with the arts and music courses taught in my school. The teacher taught us songs and expected every student to sing beautifully. A bad singer was looked down upon. There was no effort to teach students music theory or musical instruments. There was no broadening of horizons of music for the child. All it did was that it ensured that students will not seriously consider music in their lives. Same was the problem with arts and crafts. There was no exposure to students to experience great works of art. Not surprisingly, Film studies were nowhere in picture. Today, film in India can be studied seriously only in FTII and NSD for which there is naturally, huge competition.

Every sphere of life in India is full of such competition. Life is a rat race. You often wonder why a person has to go through all this? Why an average student with genuine interest in some field cannot pursue it just because he doesn't make the cut off grades in some entrance exam? Many people don't have the courage to go against the convention and chart out a career in fields of their interest because they never got any formal education in it. As a result, they are full of self doubt and insecurity and can never find satisfaction in their careers. A lot of the blame goes to our culture which discourages an individual to live life on his on terms.

There is a way out of all this though, provided there is early intervention. Parent's in India have a huge influence on their child's life. Try not to force your child into anything. Expose him to the various pleasures of life. The pleasure of invention and discovery in science,the aesthetic appeal of arts as well as the sense of pride in sports. Recognize your child's strengths and encourage him to pursue it without worrying too much about his career. Do not let him get lost in this mindless rat race or make him develop an inferiority complex. You will be doing a huge favor on that young life.

Once Upon a Time there was a Singing Blackbird

Once Upon a Time There Was a Singing Blackbird
Iko shashvi mgalobeli
Soviet Union
1970
85 Min
Black and White
Georgian
DIR Otar Iosseliani
SCR Dimitri Eristavi, Otar Iosseliani, Sh. Kakichashvili, Semyon Lungin, Otar Mekhrishvili, Ilya Nusinov
DP Abessalom Maisuradze
CAST Gela Kandelaki, Gogi Chkheidze, Jansug Kakhidze, Irine Jandieri, Elene Landia
ED Julietta Bezuashvili
MUSIC Temur Bakuradze
My Rating: 5/5


Guia is a busy man. As he remarks to his mother, “He has so much to do!”, but what he does is arguably inconsequential. He is a very likeable lad and everyone seems to want a piece of him. He has very little attention span and hence keeps flitting around from one place to another but never fails to touch upon other people’s lives, even if its in a small way.

Guia is essentially a drummer in a conservatory, playing on an orchestra. He has a 90min break between his drumming task and he doesn’t waste that time. He ensures that he spends time with all his mates, girlfriends and family, even if its not to their complete satisfaction. The conductor of the orchestra is annoyed with the way Guia disappears in-between, raising everyone’s blood pressure until finally arriving at the nick of the time. He wants to get rid of him but cannot find a good reason for doing so, since Guia always manages to play at the right time.

Guia appears to be extremely accident prone. He is an inherently curious person and hence can rarely walk with his eyes on the road. There are so many interesting things happening around him, that he cannot help but try and absorb as much as he can, before it is too late.

One of Guia’s friend(a doctor) tells him that he isn’t doing what he is supposed to do. A rather profound statement if we think of it. Does any human being know what he is supposed to do in his life? Guia at least makes an attempt to do as much as he can.

Burden of Life

Burden of Life
Jinsei no onimotsu
Japan
1935
66 Min
Black and White
Japanese
DIR Heinosuke Gosho
SCR Akira Fushimi
DP Jôji Ohara
CAST Tatsuo Saitô, Mitsuko Yoshikawa, Masao Hayama, Yoshiko Tsubouchi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Kenji Oyama, Tokuji Kobayashi, Shin Saburi, Chôko Iida, Shozaburo Abe, Haruo Takeda, Tomio Aoki
ED Minoru Shibuya
MUSIC Keizo Horiuchi, Masae Shiba
SOUND Haruo Tsuchihashi
My Rating : 4/5




I have made yet another fascinating discovery in Japanese cinema with Gosho’s “Burden of Life”. Considering that Gosho has directed the first Japanese talkie ever, we can safely say that he was highly instrumental in developing it. Gosho has a very individual style in the shimon geki(home drama) format which has been highly exploited by various legendary Japanese directors.

“Burden of Life” is a relatively small film; just over an hour and at the end there is a feeling that probably the resolution is a bit abrupt. In fact, the audience would have probably loved a bit more of what Gosho was dishing out because it is so tasteful! Gosho favors close ups and multiple shots in his film, a style that I find very different from whatever Japanese cinema I have seen yet. He has a tremendous understanding of human nature, and he has a very matter of fact way of handling scenes. Characters speak to each other very rapidly and mostly the conversation is pretty inconsequential at the moment when it happens. The dialogues though seem to revisit us as an after-thought while a new set of dialogues/voice-overs are taking place. This is a fascinating observation and is subject for much humor and pathos that gets generated as a result. The characters are unimposing but endearing which makes you want to know more about them. There is a busy feel to the cinema and Gosho’s characters seem to be involved in some or the other activity all the time. This gives it a very natural feel and keeps the film moving at a brisk pace. I also found the subject of the film very bitter-sweet and a great insight into the bygone era when people had several children(usually with a huge age difference) and abortion wasn’t in-vogue.

In conclusion, I can remember Saito’s dialogue in the film where he jokingly responds to his young son saying that probably Saito is the person to be most pitied rather than him. I think as an audience and cinephile, I am the person to be most pitied because I can’t help wondering as to how much more treasure lies in the cinema of Japan that I am yet to discover!

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks - Part 1: Rust
Tiexi qu
China
2003
176 Min
Color
1.33:1
Mandarin
DIR Wang Bing
PROD Wang Bing, Zhu Zhu
DP Wang Bing
ED Adam Kerby, Wang Bing
SOUND Chen Chen, Bin Hang
My Rating: 5/5 (Great Movie)


I would hate to view this as a documentary. It would possibly shock the developed western world to see the hazardous conditions in which these workers work but the fact is that this is pretty much the reality in most developing countries. I have worked in a factory and I have a first hand experience of this although I could never get as intimate with the workers as the camera does in this film. Anyway, what really impresses me about this work is that the filmmaker had the gumption to tell a story about the ordinary worker who wants to make a living.

The worker regrets not having education and hopes his children don’t have to face hardships like him. He is fed up with his condition but knows that he is pretty much helpless. He hides his sorrow in jokes and laughter. He diverts his attention by playing games, watching porn or playing music. When he can’t do that, he goes ranting about his situation to some coworker or gets into a petty brawl or simply takes a bath. The camera remains a patient observer and listener while all this is happening. It is sympathetic to their concerns. It does not offer an opinion. It simply becomes a part of their lives, following them around like a faithful animal. There is a trust that the camera won’t betray them and it doesn’t. That is where the film maker truly succeeds and I respect him for that.

Although this is a review of Part 1: Rust, the reader is encouraged to watch the next two parts i.e Remnants and Rails. Both are a fascinating insight into the life of the people in the industrial district of Tie Xi Qu district. It's an experience that the enthusiastic cinephile will definitely savor.