City of God

“City of God” takes us to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Based on a true story, the film shows us a dark side of the city Rio de Janeiro. Most of the film takes place in western Rio de Janeiro in Cidade de Deus, which means City of God in Portuguese. This area would be considered the slums. The film is takes us on a journey through the point of view of an actor named Rocket. We watch as Rocket is subjected to crime and poverty as he grows up. Rocket makes friends along the way while trying not to get on the bad side of the crime bosses. Rockets childhood acquaintances Lil Ze and Benny become two of the biggest crime bosses by killing off all the bosses except one. Rocket watches as the one gang left, which is ran by Carrot finds itself at an all out turf war with Lil Ze. Rocket chooses to stay out of gang activity and tries to rise out of the slums by getting a job at the newspaper. This is Rockets big break which takes him farther than he could have imagined.

Violence and Drug use are a huge problem in Rio. Mostly these problems are located in the favelas, which refers to shanty slum areas. As we see in the film there is great majority of youths from these areas that partake in the drugs and the crime. These youth would be considered foot soldiers. Leaders of the gangs have much of their dirty work done by these youths because of lesser penalties. According to the film’s special edition cut, one person dies in Rio de Janeiro every half hour. 90% are shot by large caliber bullets.

A prevalent theme in the movie is the drug use. The gangs in the film see this as their great opportunity to make big money. Drug trafficking employs 100,000 people in Rio de Janeiro, which is also mentioned in the special edition of the DVD. This actually the same number of people that the city has on its payroll. The first Tuesday of every month, the Rio police force brings all there confiscated drugs for the month to a certain junkyard. The drugs are incinerated in a high temperature oven. This takes about two hours to burn them all. The police confiscate on an average between 200 kilos and up to 3 or 4 tons a month in drugs.

I thought the “City of God” was a great movie. Though, I would not recommend to people with weak stomachs. It was a very violent film and had some disturbing scenes. I thought the directors did a great job at capturing the realness of this true story. Though, it is not really a happy story but a story that needed to be told. “City of God” educates the viewer on the ongoing problems that are happening in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. The picture that is above this paragraph is a favela neighborhood. I would recommend this film to others in the future.

The Syrian Bride

“The Syrian Bride” takes us to the Golan Heights, which is located in the middle of Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. In the film we learn of the struggles of a family faced with political borders that are tearing them apart. The story centers on a girl named Mona, who is getting ready to marry a man from Syria. Mona is from Golan Heights and will not be able to return home to ever see her family again after she gets married. This is due to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The film shows us the difficulties faced by Mona and her family to get her across the border to get married. Finally after six months she gets approved to cross the border. Though when she finally get to cross she is upheld by political red tape.


Mona has a religious family that is Druze, which is a traditional religion of an offshoot of Islam. Mona is to be married to a fellow Druze across the border. This is family tradition and is not always followed as we see her brother in the movie is married to a Russian doctor. He is seen shunned by his father in the film. Even though Mona gets her request granted she is still held up at the border stuck in political tape.

Since the Six-day war in 1967, Israel has occupied the area of Golan Heights. This left many citizens in this area who were Syrian. In the film the town of Majdal Shams is Mona’s hometown. Majdal Shams is the largest of the four Druze villages in Golan Heights. In the film we see that there are divided loyalties in the community. Many of the citizens are pro Israeli and the others are pro Syrian. This creates a rift within the community.

"The Syrian Bride" gives us a chance to look into the struggles that face the citizens of Golan Heights. Educationaly it enable us to understand how things got to be the way they are and the sturggles that it creates. This film does a great job at bringing these issues to the forefront. Before viewing this view I had little knowledge on this difficult to understand topic.

The Band's Visit

We head to the Israel in the movie “The Bands Visit”. This movie follows an Egyptian Police band as it tries to find its way to an initiation ceremony, in which they were invited to play at. Coming from Egypt the band finds itself in trouble as it is abandon at the airport. This is the begging of their troubles. The band finally gets a bus, but mispronounces the town and heads in the wrong direction and they find themselves in a tiny Israeli community in the middle of the desert. Friction between locals and the band seem likely because of different cultures present but is not the case. The town takes them in and embraces them. This is a story of encounters between people, encounters between cultures and coming together of different people.

“The Band’s Visit” is a movie that the plot really plays second fiddle to the characters. In this movie you really focus on what the characters are about and what their story is. The bands struggle to get the initiation ceremony is really secondary. We focus on mostly three characters. The head chief conductor of the band is Tawfig. Tawfig is a very meticulous and has a restrained personality. He is very professional and we later find out he has a painful personal story. Our second character is Dina. Dina is the owner of a small restaurant who takes the band in and encourages other citizens they should do the same. Dina has lightness to her personality and a positive joy. She also seems vulnerable at times with certain loneliness. She is attracted to Tawfig and what underlies beneath his closed shelled personality. Our third character is Haled. Haled is the youngest member of the band. He seems to not be enjoying himself as part of the band. He seems to want to do other things and be free from the band. Haled seems out of place with the band and wants to venture out and meet girls and have fun.

The movie gets through to its viewers a bigger idea than the plot offers through its revealing of its characters. The movie shows that no matter what cultural back ground, people share many similarities. Hopes, dreams, and personal struggles are really universal. “The Bands Visit” shows people that its possible for certain cultures to get along regardless of historical past.

The movie’s underlying factor is the Arab- Israeli conflict. These people have been in conflict for many years. In the 20th century the Arabs have initiated four wars with Israel. So you can understand that in the movie the citizens of the tiny Israeli town were not ready to accept their new visitors at first.

I believe the movie “The Band’s Visit” is not only an entertaining movie but also educational. Many different educational aspects are shown in the film. Landscapes are show which give the viewer mental image of the area. Pop cultures such as music and night life are shown, which lets us know of similarities we might have with the area. Also we get to see the “big picture”, which is ability of peoples of different cultures of war torn countries to actually find peace and commonality with one another.

The Middle of the World

The Middle of the World takes us on a journey through the eastern side of Brazil. This film is a true story about a rural poor family who treks 3000 km across Brazil on bicycle to find opportunity. The father of the family, Romao, is trying to find a job where he can make 1,000 reals a month. He believes this to be enough to support his five children and wife. Throughout their journey the family desperately tries to find ways to get by. They beg and even sing for money and they also stop in a town where the mother of the family, Rose, makes a few hammocks for some money. Romao is a religious man and believes he will find direction when he visits his patron saint Father Cicero. During his visit to Father Cicero, Romao determines that the family needs to go to Rio de Janeiro to find work. The family then embarks on a long stretch of road which will test the family and it’s relationships with each other.

The major theme in The Middle of the World is rural poverty in Brazil. In the film we are shown that it is extremely hard for Romao to find work. He aspires to be a truck driver but most positions where he lives are already filled. In the film the family starts their trek out in the Northeastern part of Brazil. According to a rural poverty.org, (http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/) the poorest and least developed part of Brazil is the northeast. The areas lack of opportunities force urban migration away from these areas. In Brazil 30% of the population lives on less than $2 a day. We see as the family moves toward Rio de Janeiro their job opportunities slightly increase. Though we never see Romao find a job, we do see his son, Antonio, get a job as a brick layers assistant and the family does a quick job as Indian imposters at a tourist resort.

Throughout this film we get a sense that religion is a big part of Brazilians lives. Early on in the film Romao expresses his need to visit the statue of his Patron Saint Father Cicero. We see in the scene where Romao and family visit the pilgrimage of Father Cicero that crowds of people flock to the statue to be blessed. Father Cicero had great influence on this area as a Roman Catholic priest in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The majority of Brazil belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. Also we notice another example of Catholicism in the final scene where Romao and family arrive at Rio de Janeiro and their first visit is to Corcovado Hill to visit the Cristo Redentor statue. This is a statue of Jesus that sits high hill top that overlooks Rio. Romao is a man who is not a sinner and encourages his family not to sin. We get a good idea in the movie of what the values of a religious family in Brazil might be like.

I was intrigued by this family’s long journey across Brazil. Curiosity sent me to plot the route they took. I wasn’t sure exactly where there starting point was in the movie. You can assume they started near the equator in northeastern Brazil. On my map I have their starting point as the first truck stop they stopped at in the beginning. In the map that is attached to the left you can see that I have listed the cities or towns that are mentioned in the film or noticeable on street signs. Click on map to enlarge.

Middle of the World did a great job at educating the viewer on this region. When the movie covers a large geographic area it helps give the viewer a good perspective of the region as a whole. I also thought it did a great job at portraying the problem with rural poverty in the region. My only downfall with the movie was the lack of substance with the plot. We see the family go through the movie with no extreme ups or downs. This is most likely because they told the story realistically to what really happened. I was really hoping they would show a more of a concluded ending. We really never see if Romao gets his job or not. I wanted them to find success.

Yesterday

Yesterday takes us to a remote village in South Africa’s Zululand. This film tackles one of the biggest epidemics in the region. South Africa has world’s worst AIDS epidemic. The story centers on a mother named Yesterday who lives with her daughter Beauty in a remote village called Rooihoek. Yesterday is hit with the news that she has the HIV virus. We watch as Yesterday’s village turns its back on Yesterday and her also infected husband. This is a story of a woman’s courage, strength and determination to not let the disease get the best of her.

As we examine the AIDS epidemic in South Africa we see startling numbers. At the end of 2007 there were 5.7 million people in South Africa that had HIV. There are also 1,000 AIDS deaths that happen in one day. This film shows the fast need for education on the HIV virus. We see in the film that people are very uneducated when it comes to contracting the disease. Villagers think that just being in the same village they will get the disease too. Also they seemed uneducated on condom use in the film. South Africa’s population is actually on the decline because of the epidemic.

There was an area in the film that I thought had some irony in it. Yesterday had the HIV virus and yet she seemed to be hanging in there and battling the illness. She seemed to have a focused positive frame of mind. On the other hand, Yesterday’s husband seemed to fade quickly after becoming sick. I thought it was interesting how he was the bad guy and he got hit harder by the illness. He was the one that was sleeping around and he was very unwelcome to his wife’s news of the illness when he beat her. It was a sign of bad karma when he came crawling back to his wife in terrible shape.

Yesterday does a great job a raising attention to a very serious social issue. Possibly this film is just what this region needed, a main stream media learning tool to teach awareness on this devastating disease. I liked how they filmed the movie in the rural areas. This shows that even the people who live in the rural areas who are married can be still susceptible to the deadly disease.

Tsotsi

We head to Johannesburg, South Africa in our next film titled, Tsotsi. This film centers on a trouble youth, Tsotsi, who leads a small gang out of the township Soweto. The story shows us Tsotsi’s mentality transfer from being a ruthless criminal with no conscious to a person with a new outlook on life. Tsotsi begins his transformation when his friend Boston asks him if he ever had a dog. This somehow breaks the rough edge of him. He recalls when his father broke his dogs back. This was the last time he lived with his parents. With deep emotions leaked out he is even further weakened when he shoots a woman for her car and later finds the woman’s baby in the back seat. He keeps the baby and the presence of the baby brings back memories from his childhood. It all somehow changes his way of thinking. He wants to care for the baby and give it possibly the upbringing he never had. Tsotsi then fades away from his gang and even encourages Boston to go back to school. Eventually Tsotsi’s guilt gets the best of him and returns the baby to its father and paralyzed mother.

The setting of this film is largely set in the township of Soweto. Soweto is a former township from the Apartheid era. The depiction of this area in the film is very poor with some gang activity. According to Wikipedia, parts of Soweto rank among the poorest in Johannesburg. In the film we only really see the bad parts of Soweto, there are also more developed nicer areas. There are many areas which are reoffered to in the film as “the shacks”. These are the poverty stricken areas and crime and violence are its result. The picture attached to the left is “the shacks” in Soweto.

An issue that was prevalent in the film Yesterday was also slightly captured in Tsotsi. South Africa has the worst AIDS epidemic in the world. We see AIDS in Tsotsi as Tsotsi mother is dying of the disease. This could be one of the bigger issues into the breakup of his family. We see as Tsotsi’s father is not dealing well with her disease as he breaks the dogs back. There are a few other scenes where we can see the need for education for prevention of AIDS which was displayed on billboards in Johannesburg. We see two different billboards in the opening scenes of the movie. One billboard says “ We are all affected by HIV and AIDS”.

I found a few parts in the movie to have irony in them. There seemed to be an underlined theme of people or animals being paralyzed not being able to walk. Tsotsi was very heart broken as a child when his father broke his dogs back. This seems to play into the breaking of the soul in Tsotsi later in the movie. Tsotsi learns of the baby’s mother being paralyzed and it seems to hit him hard. This resurfaced feelings of see his dog struggling to get up. Also Tsotsi was intrigued with the homeless man who was in the wheelchair. It was almost like Tsotsi hoped he was just faking to get money.

Crying Ladies

The Philippines is the setting for our next movie Crying Ladies. Crying Ladies is about family, friends and new beginnings. The movie centers on the main character Stella, as she struggles with poverty and struggles to find happiness while living apart from her son, who lives with his father. Stella’s two friends are also stuck in ruts as one is dealing with martial affairs and the other deals with the fact that her movie career is probably over. One man brings the friends together when he needs funeral criers at his traditional funeral he is planning for his father. One thing is for certain these women had plenty to cry about from their personal lives. In being united, these friends find strength, hope and encouragement from one another and ultimately find happiness and success. In the end Stella finds success in the karaoke business and becomes an award winning actress in karaoke videos. While Stella’s friends find happiness with resurgence in their lives.

As we watch Crying Ladies we notice there is large Spanish and U.S. influence on the Philippines. This is because the Philippines were colonized by the Spanish in the 16th century and later became a United States territory in the early 20th century. The Philippines became independent in 1946 following World War II. One Spanish influence I saw was religion. Choleng’s church was Roman Catholic. According to Wikipedia about 90% of the Philippines are Christian. This film also shows us that the Philippines are very diverse. Looking at people in the film, there is not one distinct look of a Filipino. There are many different influences on the area.

We see quite a bit from Chinese culture when we get to see Wilson’s father’s funeral. This is a traditional look at a funeral. Funeral criers were hired in the past, but are a trend that has declined. Wanting to make it as traditional as possible Wilson hires Stella and here two friends to cry at the funeral. We notice a stark difference from American funerals. All of the mourners were dressed in white compared to black seen here in the U.S. We also see many similarities in this movie as we saw in Singapore Dreaming. Just like in Singapore Dreaming we see the traditional burning of the paper house. Although, I notice the funeral in Crying Ladies was taken more serious, which may have been due to the wealth of the family.

A small part I took from the film was the transportation. We see in the film many of these jeep looking cabs. These cabs are called jeepneys. According to Wikipedia, jeepneys are the most popular means of transportation in the Philippines. These are jeeps that were left over after World War II. The U.S. either gave or sold the surplus of them to Filipinos. With a little styling up these Army jeeps were turned into taxis. The picture on the left is an actual jeepney in the Philippines. Also in the film, cabs and public buses are present.

Crying Ladies was an excellent film that showed much of what the Philippines are like. You get a good idea of how diverse the country is and also you learn where they get a lot of their influences from. Many traditions are noticeable, which makes it easy to learn about their customs. I have gained a better understanding of this region by viewing this film.