Hi there! :D
Ok, I know almost no one actually reads this blog, however it's always a good idea to keep posts coming, just in case someone stumbles upon it ^^
Today I'm going to recommend three movies I've seen recently that I just can't get out of my head:
* "Crash"
* "The Shawshank Redemption"
* "Torremolinos 73"
- Crash was released in 2005, and I believe won numerous awards. It is a very powerful movie about how people relate to each other. The focus is on the people of L.A. but most of the message is universal. Touching mostly on the issue of racism, the film also includes a spectacular view of the holistic explanation of fear between people of different social levels. "Blacks, Whites, Spanish and Middle-Easterns, Riches and Poors, or the difficulty of interaction in a world of misunderstanding". That could fit as a suitable alternative title.
The movie dives deep into the psyches of its main characters, so as to allow the viewer to understand just how little control over themselves people have in an environment where stereotypes have power over individuals. Not only do these preconceived ideas about people keep others from seeing who they really are, but the movie also goes to show just how everyone unconsciously starts to fit these stereotypes. And thats the most tragic part of it all. Everyone feels trapped, because everyone actually is. And the only "easy" way out becomes violence.
- The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 movie that I unfortunately only got to see this year for the first time. It's about an innocent man, accused of having murdered his wife, who is sent to prison for life. The plot is quite "basic", because it just seems like one of these movies that focus on stuff you could just as well read about in your daily newspaper. But the story line goes much deeper than originally expected.
The movie becomes a tribute to willpower, patience, and the accomplishment of dreams, self-empowerment. As you see how this man leads his life in prison, intelligently laying low, yet gradually becoming a key individual for the prison's administrators, you learn more about prison itself. Of course it's a place of violence, of conflict, of loneliness and despair, but nothing is comparable to the destructive power it has on people. When you spend 20 years between 4 walls, you just don't feel the urge to get out anymore, because you start believing you could never get back to a normal life. Prison destroys dreams as it slowly becomes home. But not our man's. A very involving movie, with the touch of magic Frank Darabont always includes in his films.
- Torremolinos 73 is perhaps the lighter movie of the three. A Spanish-Danish production, it has that typical feel of Spanish films. The theme is love, undoubtedly, and how couples try to have their professional lives and love lives to go the best possible. The main character is a man, a movie director, who lives with an unhappy wife. His job keeps him from understanding that his wife needs more attention and love. Eventually, he starts making pornographic movies to make more money, and his movies feature him and his wife. The good part is that he spends more time with her, the bad part is that the wife starts to feel as though their renewed relationship is more of professional than romantic nature. And the husband is still completely blind.
One day he decides to write a more conventional movie: "Torremolinos 73". The movie as always, features his wife. (who by then has become an international porn star without the couple even noticing.) They go to Torremolinos (a city in Spain) and direct the movie with foreign actors. But towards the end the producer decides that the movie needs sex to attract people. The problem is that the wife now has to have intercourse with a complete stranger, while her husband (!) directs the scene. The man refuses but his wife readily accepts. "Why???", one may wonder. Well, it turns out the experience is so painful the husband realizes how much his wife matters to him. The movie is a success, the couple adopts the child conceived during the scene with the stranger (the main character is infertile) and everything ends for the best! And that's partly why that movie is lighter than the others! :) EVERYTHING is fixed.
I hope you'll go check these movies out at your local DVD rental shop because they are reeaaally worth it, you can take my word for it (although I don't do refunds if it turns out you don't like them lol)
See you later!!!
