Oldboy

Tanisha Wilson

Michael Benton

Oldboy

One word for this movie, “WHACKO”!  Oldboy was directed by Park Chan Wook. I would love to meet this director one day, this man has a twisted way of thinking and his vision of art is totally out of the norm. In a real awkward way of looking at the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. This put a whole new spin on family. This movie had my head going a thousand and one ways the entire movie. You begin to ask you self what would you of done, and how would it of felt to of been locked up somewhere for 15 years and then released into the world again.

This movie was about man that gets kidnapped on the night of his daughter’s birthday, and is imprisoned in an unknown building. The building is filled with rooms with other people that have been captured as well. They are all held against their will, and with no clue as to where they are, how long they are going to stay, and what their there for. This was not the first time for Oh Dae-su played by Choi Min-sik. This was actually the second time he had been imprisoned in this building in the same looking room.  Come to find out in the end, that the person that is running the building and kidnapping people was an old school friend of Oh Dae-du. Back in the day during their school years as young boys Oh Dae-su discovered that Lee Woo-jin (The guy behind the building) played by   Yu Ji-tae, had sex with his sister. Lee Woo-jin found out that Dae-su watched him have sex with his sister, and then Lee later killed his sister because of the guilt and shame. This is what triggered his crazy spell of capturing people. Dae-su was his best catch. Once out of his imprisonment after 15 years, He fell in love with a waitress at this restarunt he went to. The restaurant was the first time he had been anywhere else and was also the first time he had eaten anything else besides egg rolls. The waitresses name was Kang Hye-jeong, and she was a major part of his life to him. She was the one that got him back on his feet; they both had an amazing love affair, and brought him back to life. In the beginning of the movie, Dae-su was kidnapped after being released from jail, for drunken exposure. As he is making the call to his wife to promise his 2 year old daughter that he would be home soon for her birthday, he was abducted in the process. He later finds out that his love of his life is his own daughter. In the end he finds out that the girl that he fell in love with was his own daughter he hadn’t seen in 15 years. Finding this out crushed his heart once again. By the end of the movie Dae-su finds a way to coop with the fact that he know is in love with the daughter he never got to see growing up. In the end the daughter never finds out, and Dae-su ends up not telling her and continues to have a love affair with his daughter forever.

Asian culture is very foreign to many people, but, after watching this movie it has opened my up to learning more about Asian cultures and ways. The colors in this movie were crazy. In Asian culture there are a lot of expressive colors that play around with tradition and life’s colors. For example the Koi fish is very colorful and represents all aspects of life.

The plot in this move was kind of sick, but was awesome to watch. They did everything in his movie with actions; there was not a lot of talking or dialect. The producer did a good job of showing actions to speak the story.

Moolaade

This is probably one of the best female empowering movies I have ever seen. Besides the Paramount Movie Blood Diamond, and a few African humanities class tapes, this is one of the first African films I have watched that wasn’t a documentary. Moolaade is written and Directed by Ousmane Sembene. This movie is about a group of kids that are being forced to go under female circumcision. Colle one of the wives’s in the tribe. She refused to have her daughter circumcised seven years ago, and for good reason. All little girls know how painful and tortures this operation can be; it can also be deadly. In the movie two girls drowned themselves in the well, three escaped and one died. The three that escape return back to their home village to seek protection behind Colle, and the Moolaade. The Moolaade is a sacred curse that can never be broken and never taken away unless the person that summoned the Moolaade commands it away. It was amazing witnessing and experiencing African life. It was so real to me; it put a lot of things in perspective for me.

Go Colle, Go Colle.  The main character to me was Colle. She was so strong, and powerful. She held her ground and stood for what she felt and knew was right. Even though female circumcision is a tradition and has been around for hundreds of years, it was something she didn't not want her children to go through. Lots of kids have died from this tradition; I don't think I would have risked my daughter’s life either, so I don't blame her.

The life they live was actually like everyone else’s, they raised their kids, make dinner, clean their houses, punish their kids, and have families disagreements like every family I know. With Africa being one of the poorest countries in the world there is a lot of stereotypes that come along with Africa. Despite how poor the country really is, these people made everything thing work. They might not have stoves, knives, but there were still able to have a wonderful nutritious meal. Also, they might not have buildings or actually homes with roofs on them to sleep in, but the tents and cloth that they used to make their homes was all they needed. Everyone in the Village works as a team, and all the wives help each other as much as they can. Family and the people that are in their village are all they have. So, everyone works as a team, so everyone can eat, and enjoy life as it is in Africa.

Another aspect of this movie that was very moving was the men in African society. Men in African society have way too much power and say so with what goes on in the village and with the women.  Women in Africa can’t poop without their husbands giving them the right to do it. This to me is way wrong. Men in that African society doesn’t let their wives do anything but raise their kids which I feel is so sexes to me. Women only had a small say so in that community. There reason why this movie moved me like it did was because at the end of the movie you say how the women of this tribe began to stand up for themselves and do what they wanted to do, instead of being ordered to do something.

Moonsoon Wedding

Tanisha Wilson

Michael Benton

Monsoon Wedding

Monsoon Wedding was such a delightful movie. Moonsoon Wedding was directed by Mira Nair.  This movie was the best Indian movie I've ever seen. It had heart ache, lies, sex, mystery, fights, the whole nine. It was such a good story of an Indian family planning a wedding that they arranged for their daughter. But during the planning, there are many trials and tribulations that go on during that time. Aditi is the daughter that is scheduled to be married. Aditi doesn’t really believe in the her parents arranging the marriage. She feels as if she  doesn’t really know the guy they have arranged to marry and the worst part of it is, Aditi wants to marry for love not tradition. These two they are forced to marry and live together forever. She eventually comes to love her arranged husband,(which can I say is a gentlemen, and is so much more a better fit then her ex that was married, that she was sneaking around with), and I think that’s what she figures out in the end. Her arranged husband is much more the perfect fit for her than her Ex. Throughout the movie there are so many different themes of love that play during this movie with different characters. This is what steals your heart, and you begin to love these characters. Also, during the movie you put yourself in the characters shoes that fit you and your personality the best.

       This movie opened my eyes to Indian culture. I have never been interested into knowing a whole lot about Indian culture. It just didn't seem like something I would like since it was so out of my norm. But, after watching this movie, it has motivated me to learning a little more information about India and Indian culture.

I love the colors in this movie. There are usually a lot of colors associated with Indian Culture. You can see these beautiful colors in  the food, clothing, religion, and traditions. This movie showed a much upscale part of India which was beautiful. It did also show the more urban parts of India as well, which gave it that real feel of the busy streets and food stands downtown that smell of fresh Tikka Chicken Marsala and Naan bread.

This movie is a great example of family issues.  No matter what type of race or religion, there is always events that pull family together and apart. It’s impossible that you can see into every families life, but, everybody or every family is struggling with the similar issue that we all are dealing with, all over the world. As a family or relatives, your going to have lots of disagreements and arguments, as every family does. But, in the end, family is what is always going to be there for you in the end. In the movie they did an amazing job of pulling together as a family in the end and understanding what’s right.