Lots of movies

Three movies.. so different…so lovely

Changeling. You forget its Angeline Jolie. Her pain at the loss of her son is so palpable. And I do have a weakness for movies with historical relevance.

Kikujiro. I was just surfing through and hit on this. Funnier than Hangover you know. I was in splits throughout. So comical, so touching. The little sad boy, the stupid bikers, the frivolous games, mad man Kikujiro.

The Name of Rose. Dark. Mysterious. Again, a historical thriller. And of course, a murder mystery set in a secluded Italian monastery.. .could it fail to captivate? And Sean Connery too.

The Japanese have mastered the scary movie genre. Now, I have seen The Ring, Grudge 1 and 2, the newest addition being One missed call. The dead girl grabbing the legs or reaching out from the floor must be common scary element. You don’t scare me anymore.

Now watching Secretary. Thank God for World Movies.

The world was silent when we died

The saddest part is - I hadn't even heard of Biafra before I read the book.

But the images of the fruitless civil war, the hopelessness, the millions dead, children suffering from Kwashiorkor (a disease I remember vaguely reading about in school), starvation - a war thrust on people out of nowhere. Good, able people like us, leading their everyday lives peacefully...

'He writes about starvation. Starvation was a Nigerian weapon of war. Starvation broke Biafra and brought Biafra fame and made Biafra last as long as it did. Starvation made the people of the world take notice and sparked protests and demonstrations in London and Moscow and Czechoslovakia. Starvation made Zambia and Tanzania and Ivory Coast and Gabon recognize Biafra. Starvation brought Africa into Nixon's campaign and made parents all over the world tell their children to eat up. Starvation propelled aid organizations to sneak fly food into Biafra at night since both sides could not agree on routes. Starvation aided the careers of photographers. And starvation made the International Red cross call Biafra its gravest emergency since the Second Wold War.'

An Igbo genocide. The pity.

To imagine, 'Half of a Yellow Sun' was written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie when she was about 30. Such a beautiful, provocative book. And such a beautiful woman too.

Its begun

Happy Diwali!

Two books and more

'Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a manchild was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte' - Alex Haley

I just finished his Roots.

At first, it seems inconceivable that a whole section of people treated another so shabbily and never realized it was wrong. But then I look within and find similar such conditioning. Aren't we almost slaves to our employers? Some diginties are restored, but again new ones take away.

'Racism is taught in our society, it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics' - Alex Haley

I did think, though that the first half of the book was without parallel, such detailed descritption of Kunta Kinte, his African lineage, his relocation to US, subsequent hardships. But the second half seems like a rush to finish an epic and complete the seven generations.

It does give you goose pimples though, to know how he traces his roots. I wish I could do the same.

Also finally half finished 1984 and don't find it in me to go much ahead. Brilliant concept but I get it, I get it you know. A whole book of it? I prefer to move on.

Off note: Do I learn to love the company, or do I love the company and learn to love, or learn to love and then love the company? Life aint easy.