Reviews

Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" is a film all about the "illnesses" of modern society. A young girl, Chihiro, and her family are moving from the city into the country. They stop at a strange tunnel which leads to, what appears to be, an abandoned amusement park. However, they soon find out that it is not abandoned at all. Chihiro's parents stop a restaurant and eat everything in sight without even waiting to ask permission. Because of this they are transformed into pigs, and this starts Chihiro's journey to save her parents in the spirit world.

The most interesting thing about the movie is the way that Miyazaki portrays what he believes are the evils of modern society. At the bath house, Chihiro is confronted with a stink spirit. Because she is new, she is given the nasty job of preparing a bath for this creature. He is so sludgy and smelly that even a bowl of rice sitting next to him instantly rots. This spirit is the epitome of disgust. While Chihiro is preparing his bath, she notices something sticking out of the spirit's side. She alerts the other workers at the bath house and they help her pull it out. What Chihiro thought was a thorn turns out to be a bicycle and all other kinds of modern, industrial garbage. Once this litter is removed, it becomes obvious that this spirit was actually a polluted river god. The workers at the traditional Japanese bath house cleansed this god of all the pollution he received from the modern world. Miyazaki uses this to show how disgusting he thinks modern society is, and how he believes that a return to more traditional beliefs and values can cleanse society.

The second spirit Chihiro must deal with is a No Face. This spirit is mute and uses greed to get people's attention. When Chihiro first encounters him, he offers her more bath tokens than she needs. He believes that he will gain her friendship by giving her material things. She declines and takes only as many tokens as she needs. The No Face then lures a frog close to him by dropping gold on the floor, and then swallows the frog and steals his voice. The No Face makes everyone in the bath house go crazy with greed when he starts throwing gold all over the floor. But Chihiro is not influenced by this. She has begun to learn the traditional values and she can resist the temptation of wealth. She leads the No Face away from bath house and heals him. The No Face follows Chihiro to Zeniba's house out in the country. Zeniba lives a modest, traditional life. The No Face decides to stay with her and learns to knit and make things for others. Learning traditional values healed the No Face and transformed him into a spirit of giving rather than a spirit of greed.

This movie functions on two levels. It is an animated movie that one can sit down and watch just for the fun of it. For this reason I would recommend it for children. The animation is beautiful and you get attached to the characters easily. However, due to the serious, tradition versus modernity theme of the movie, it is also enjoyable for adults. This film works as a fun, children's movie and also a warning and lesson for the adults who watch it.

Rashomon is a movie based off of the short stories "Rashomon" and "In a Grove." It is the story of a bandit who leads a couple into the woods, ties the man up, and rapes the woman. Somehow the man ends up dead, but there are differing theories as to how this happened. The movie takes place on a rainy day when two men are discussing how much this story confuses them. A third man shows up and asks what they are talking about. The story is told from the perspectives of the bandit, the wife, the husband, and a woodcutter who saw the whole thing. It is then up to the men to decide whether or not humanity is inherently evil, or if there is a glimmer of kindness in men.

This movie is all about how humans lie, cheat, and steal to impress others or to make themselves feel better, and to gain an advantage over others. Since there are four differing accounts, at least three, and maybe all four, of the storytellers are lying. Each character gains something by lying. The bandit portrays himself as an honorable man who challenges the husband to a sword fight instead of killing him in a deceptive way. The wife says she does not remember murdering her husband, thus distancing herself from some of the blame, and then proceeds to say that she was so struck with guilt that she tried to commit suicide. The husband says that his wife only betrayed him because she was brainwashed by the bandit, and that he was so grief-stricken that he killed himself. And finally, the woodcutter lied to the police so he would not have to get involved, and lied to the two men to cover up the fact that he stole the woman's expensive dagger. All four of these characters are selfish; Tajomaru is a rapist, the woodcutter is a thief, and any of the four could be the killer, including the husband himself. The movie portrays humans as horrible, self-centered creatures, and the story even causes a priest to lose his faith in humanity for a while.

However, the movie also shows hope for the plight of men. At the end of the movie, a baby is abandoned. It is left all alone on that rainy day, unable to take care of itself. But the woodcutter, who already has six children, agrees to take the baby home and raise it as his own. He has given this child a second chance at life, and has restored the priest's faith in the kindness of humanity.

The movie was black and white, somewhat repetitive, and slow-moving. I do not recommend it to anyone who has a problem with those things. Because of the rape, it is a mature film and not for children. It is also pretty depressing and up until the very end, shows only the negative aspects of people. But overall, I thought it was a pretty good movie about human nature, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the darker side of people.

"Children of Heaven" is a very heartwarming movie. It is a Middle Eastern film from Iran and therefore is subtitled and very different from American movies. It does move rather slow and has many scenes with little or no talking. I believe this is good because it gives you time to think about and recognize what is going on in the movie without relying on the characters to tell you. Many things in the movie are implied rather than stated outright. Very few, if any, of the actors were professionals, however the cast is brilliant. The main character, the young boy Ali, is especially convincing. The movie has heavy Islamic themes which you should be able to easily pick out if you have knowledge of the religion. I believe the overall theme of the movie would be that God will always take care of you, even if he does it in a way you did not expect.

Ali is a young boy who accidentally lost his younger sister, Zahra's, shoes. Their family cannot afford to buy a new pair, so Ali and Zahra race back and forth from school to share one pair of sneakers. At the end of the movie, Ali participates in a race to win a pair of sneakers for his sister. He must come in third place to win the shoes, but through his determination he accidentally comes in first. He is very disappointed and extremely exhausted after the race. He goes home to Zahra knowing he has let her down. The movie then cuts to a scene of his father at the market and shows new shoes for Ali and Zahra on the back of his bike. Then it comes back to Ali and we watch as he soothes his tired, blistered feet in a pool of water.

Ali and Zahra worked very hard to share one pair of sneakers and to keep their parents from worrying about Zahra's lost shoes. Although it was hard, they worked together every day. Ali was very excited when the prospect of new sneakers came up. He knew he could win them and tried his hardest. But in the end, he did not get what he wanted. He felt like a failure and knew his sister was disappointed. However, the viewers see that everything is taken care of; both children will get new shoes. This clearly shows the author's belief that God will give his people what they need. He gives Ali a cool, refreshing pool to soak and cleanse his aching feet in. And even though He did not give Ali the shoes from the race, He still provided shoes; a pair for each child. So God provided even more than what was needed. So in the end, God will take care of you so long as you work hard and care about others.

"The Gods Must be Crazy" is a film about a member of the !Kung, Xi, and his experiences with technology. The movie is not very factual and would not be good for someone looking to get an accurate interpretation of !Kung life. Xi's life is portrayed as easy and carefree, when in reality the !Kung have to struggle everyday just to keep from starving. The !Kung are also seen as reluctant to accept new technology and the movie shows how even the slightest technological advance, like a coke bottle, corrupts and ruins !Kung life. This could not be further from the truth. At the end of the film there is a special feature called "Journey to Nyae Nyae" that shows how eager the !Kung are to experience and play with this new technology.

The movie is not meant to be a documentary, only a simple comedy. The actors were chosen very well for their parts. It is a very charming movie and you fall in love with some of the characters easily. There are the traditional dim-witted man, the damsel in distress, the strong, handsome man, the "magical" natives, and the Russian terrorist. These are not meant to be offensive stereotypes, only humorous ones. So if you like slapstick comedy and can sit down and watch a movie without thinking about how accurately it portrays everything, I definitely recommend this movie.

Ca Twiste a Popenguine is movie that focuses on the effects of colonization in Senegal. This is a very important subject. Moussa Sene Absa shows the influences of the French and American cultures on the traditional Wolof culture of Popenguine. Absa does a great job of showing the difference in the older and younger generations and how they deal with the new cultures. The older people in the village wear traditional clothing and get frustrated with the youth for "wanting to be white." While the teenagers and kids in the village wear modern clothes, listen to French and American pop music, and even choose French and American nicknames. He also does a nice job of showing how Benoit feels, being a Frenchman in a Wolof city. He knows Popenguine is not his home, but he feels he has been there too long to be accepted by France anymore.

For a western viewer, the story is somewhat hard to follow. I had a bit of trouble understanding the interactions between the characters, especially the narrator's deal with The Kings, and the conversations between the members of The In's. I also wish that the Wolof spoken would have been translated. I wanted to know everything that was being said, not just what was said in French. I recommend this movie for anyone interested in Senegal or colonization. It does a very nice job of showing how the different cultures mesh. However, those that oppose colonization or those with an overwhelming sense of patriotism and would like to see total colonization of a culture may not enjoy this movie. This movie was filmed in African, with African actors, and directed by an African. So if foreign films or movies portraying very different cultures are not your thing, I would recommend staying away from this one.

Overall, I think this was a great movie. It does wonders in showing the effects of colonization and how different cultures can come together and accept each other. Although it was hard to follow at some points, it has a good message and was definitely worth watching.