Reel Rewind: “Pink Saris”

English title – “Pink Saris” / Hindi language title – “Gulābī Sāṛī” (“गुलाबी साड़ी”)

The setting of this documentary, “Pink Saris”, is a rural area of Uttar Pradesh, North India where one woman, Sampat Pal Devi, leads a group of women, known as the Gulābī Gang (Pink Gang) in creating change in the lives of India’s lower caste women. In this place females are forced into marriages when they are still children, suffer physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their husbands and in-laws, and have few recourses for justice. Enter Sampat and the women in pink.

Even if it is just one woman at a time, Sampat works to change their plight in life. For example, marriage for a pregnant untouchable woman (who would have been put to death) to her higher caste lover; justice for a woman raped by her father-in-law; and protection for a runaway wife beaten by her husband. These and several other women’s stories are put forth in the film. Direct confrontation with the offender and the legal system (i.e. police) is the style of this group of courageous women who fight (sometimes with the lathi) for the improvement of women in India.

We learn that Sampat was a child wife, who eventually left her husband and who now lives with a man from the highest caste. In addition to her social movement environment, we see Sampat in her domestic environment - sweeping the floor and comforting a violence refugee in her home. As part of her quest, Sampat does try to negotiate better conditions for the women who return to their husbands’ family. Success on this front is limited. But Sampat and the gang keep trying to bring a new way of being for women throughout India. Sampat may not be perfect (she returns the runaway the wife of one of her husband’s relatives in order to keep peace with her husband’s family), she is a strong voice for change in India and, with many others in pink, will have a definite impact as time progresses.

Film Facts: Director/Cinematogrpher: Kim Longinotto, Editor: Ollie Huddleston, Musician: Midival Punditz, Producers: Amber Latiff, Girjashanker Vohra, Production Company: Women Make Movies

Film Type: Documentary, Drama, Cast: Renu Devi, Sampat Pal Devi, Niranjan Pal, Rekha Paswan, Shiv Devi Patel, Rampataree Yadav, Length: 96’, Language: Hindi, Country: United Kingdom, Year: 2010
Film Trailer
No United States release date set as of this post.


Images:
Left: Sampat Pal Devi and members of the Gulābī Gang from the website blog.afi.com
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Pink Saris” created by Adrean Darce Brent
Right: Sampat Pal Devi from the website viceland.com

Reel Rewind: “Millennium: The Story”

English title – “Millennium: The Story” / Swedish language title – “Årtusende: Den Berättelsen”
As I do not speak, read, or write Swedish, the Swedish language title was obtained through an online translation site. Thought it would be interesting to see the film title in the subject’s language.

I suppose it is somewhat incongruous to watch a documentary about a man of whom I haven’t heard, who wrote books I haven’t read, and which were made into films I haven’t viewed. However, that lack of knowledge makes me an objective person to watch Stieg Larsson’s life unfold on the screen - no perceived ideas or opinions of the man or his work to influence my reactions. In all fairness, I must admit that I have visited Sweden and found that I liked what I saw of the country.

The core of “Millennium: The Story” surrounds the trilogy of crime novels written by Stieg Larsson which have become a literary phenomenon never before seen in Sweden. The books have been translated into twenty-five languages and are available in forty countries. Probably should pay more attention to contemporary literature, as somehow I missed the whole super hype of Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (Men Who Hate Women), Flickan Som Lekte Med Elden (The Girl Who Played With Fire), and Luftslottet Som Sprängdes (The Air Castle That Blew Up). Larsson’s books were subsequently made into films – “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl Who Played With Fire”, and “The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest”.

From the documentary, a picture arises of a man whose life’s passion was the fight against the extreme right and neo-nazism in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe. He conducted this fight through the pages of the quarterly magazine, Expo, of which he was the editor. Larsson’s stand against the neo-nazis made him a target of attack and he was so protective of his long-time girlfriend, Eva Gabrielsson, that he didn’t marry her in order to keep her from being directly connected with him. However noble that decision was, it has caused inheritance controversy in Sweden. Because they weren’t marry and Larsson didn’t name her in a will, Eva does not receive any money from the books or films – it all goes to Larsson’s father, Erland and his brother Joakim. Eva has a project with a Danish film director to do the story of Stieg Larsson’s life.

Erland and Joakim recount Stieg’s childhood in northern Sweden from living with his grandparents until age nine, to getting a typewriter for his twelfth birthday (sharing the noise of it with Joakim in their bedroom!), to winning an argument with Erland at age fourteen, and to trying to choose between being a journalist or a writer – Stieg ended up being both. Despite the unexpected inheritance, both Erland and Joakim are still living simply and the money stays in a bank. They may give some of the money to Expo and are considering projects that have been proposed to them. There is no mention of Eva in terms of any money for her. I wonder what Stieg would say.

In his novels, Larsson uses Stockholm as the setting for the story. The documentary shows a tour group who are visiting the actual places mentioned in the books and which had meaning in Larsson’s own life. It was good to see familiar landmarks that I remember from my trip to Stockholm much too long ago. Larsson has all “the good guys” live in one part of Stockholm and “the bad guys” live in another – an actual dividing line between good and evil which is not found in the real world. Larsson’s world consisted of exposing the extreme right, writing fiction and non-fiction books, loving and protecting Eva, sleeping little, eating poorly, and smoking between sixty and eighty cigarettes a day. If Larsson actually smoked eighty cigarettes for twenty-four hours straight, that would be a little more than one cigarette every twenty minutes. No doubt that level of smoking contributed to his untimely heart attack and death.

“Millennium: The Story” cycles between the tour group, Larsson’s family, his international rights agent, his publisher, the writers at Expo, a financial backer, and film goers throughout the documentary. Although there are some subtitles, much of the film is dubbed in English and at times the actual footage is not as sharp as usually seen on the screen. But I did like what I learned about Stieg Larsson and it is truly unfortunate that he did not live to see the world wide impact of his novels, though I suspect Larsson would prefer a world wide impact on ending the extreme right.

This free screening of “Millennium: The Story” was a Laemmle theatre promotion for the opening of the second film in the trilogy – “The Girl Who Played With Fire”. Following the documentary, the first film – “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” – was shown, but I did not stay to watch it. Glad I saw the documentary and happy to know something about the man behind the three novels.


Film Facts: Director: Laurence Lowenthal, Production Companies: Impact Presse, Canal+, Centre National de la Cinématographie

Film Type: Documentary, Length: 53’, Languages: Swedish, English, French, Country: Sweden, Year: 2009


Images:
Left: Photo of Stieg Larsson from the website travelbetweenthepages.files.wordpress.com
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Millennium: The Story” created by Adrean Darce Brent

Right: Poster of “Millennium: The Story” from the website dragontattoofilm.com

Reel Rewind: "Freakonomics"

English title - "Freakonomics"

Title is taken from the book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores The Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

From the book of the same title, “Freakonomics” presents a number of the ideas and findings from the book in four major segments and in several, short, segment transitional conversations with Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Having read the book a couple of years ago, I was looking forward to the film. The four film segments are: “A Roshanda By Any Other Name”, “Pure Corruption”, “It’s Not Always A Wonderful Life”, and “Can A Ninth Grader Be Bribed To Succeed?”

In “A Roshanda By Any Other Name” the discussion centers around the baby naming patterns of American parents. The specific focus is on black parents and white parents. Up until the 1960s, the naming of children by black parents and white parents was similar. At the time of the Civil Rights movement the naming pattern began to diverge. Black parents sought to differentiate themselves from white parents and began giving their children names that reflected a cultural connection to Africa, the Muslim religion, or a desire for uniqueness (watch for the “Unique” spelling bit – amusing!). Also bound up in this naming discussion is giving a child a name that would help in making him/her a success in life and not one that would contribute to a lackluster life. Unfortunately there is no “magic” name. For further investigation of this naming topic, I would suggest looking at the child names of couples in which one parent is black and the other is white, as well as other heteroracial couples and single racial couples; and studying the naming patterns in other countries.

The next segment in “Freakonomics” is “Pure Corruption”. Mix one part Shinto, one part Sumo, one part Stable, add a little Hierarchy and you have the makings of sport fixing Japanese style. As in all sports, competition is the name of the game and moving up in the rankings is always desired. But because Sumo wrestlers in Japan, from a very early age, live and train together in stables, there is a cooperative incentive to fix matches late in a tournament. Sumo wrestlers move up in rank by winning at least eight matches in a fifteen match tournament; so if in a fifteenth match of a tournament, Opponent A has eight wins and six losses and Opponent B has seven wins and seven losses, Opponent A can afford to let Opponent B win, who then also gains in ranking. Of course Opponent A would expect the same treatment, if necessary, from Opponent B in a future tournament. Perhaps I’m jaded by the workings of professional wrestling in the US, but I guess the findings don’t surprise me. Even a sport tied up with the Shinto religion is subject to secular sins.

“It’s Not Always A Wonderful Life” examines the connection between the legalization of abortion in the United States and the drop in crime rate. Though people may wonder what the world would be like if they were never born, this segment of “Freakonomics” postulates that the non-existence of children from lower socioeconomic women decreased the crime rate by not having potential criminals born. I have mixed feelings about this segment. I can understand that the reduction of some population groups can have an impact on criminal activity, but I think there have to be other contributing factors, not just one – state of the economy, level of education, increase in technology. In any case, if the crime rate has gone down, then that improves life for everyone and perhaps some version of “It’s A Wonderful Life” is possible for most.

The final segment in “Freakonomics” is “Can A Ninth Grader Be Bribed To Succeed?”. Focusing on two underachieving ninth grade boys, the experiment takes place in a Chicago-area school over one semester. Students who achieve Cs or above in their classes receive fifty dollars and are eligible for a drawing for five hundred dollars and a limousine ride. The payouts and drawings happen three times over the course of the semester. The two boys are followed during the experiment to see if they can bring up their grades to meet the fifty dollars criteria. One of the boys is a D/E student and the other one is a C/D one. There are ups and downs in the grades for both boys, but in the third and last time of checking grades, one of the boys (C/D) finally meets the criteria and gets fifty dollars. The fifty dollars (along with his mother’s offer to match it) was not enough of a motivation for the D/E student to meet the criteria; in fact he didn’t even improve to be a C/D student. On the other hand, the boy who eventually got the fifty dollars had shown a lot of self-motivation during the semester, in addition to his wanting to win the fifty dollars. If this experiment is done again, perhaps monetary tiers could be used – fifty for Cs, one hundred for Bs, one hundred fifty for As, and something for students below the criteria who show and sustain improvement over the time frame.

“Freakonomics” is a quick-paced documentary with lots of information and graphics thrown at the viewer throughout the film. Because of this, more than one viewing might be necessary to take in all the ideas and visuals presented. I know that there are things that, upon reflection, I don’t quite remember. For example, the transitional segment to “It’s Not Always A Wonderful Life” concerned Romania, but I’ve forgotten the point that was being made. Reading the book, whether before or after seeing the film can only help. The transitional segments are good and usually relate to the upcoming major segment. So if you like coming at things from a different perspective, then see “Freakononomics”; it will engage your mind.


Film Facts: Directors/Writers/Producers: Alex Gibney, Seth Gordon, Directors/Writers: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, Eugene Jarecki, Morgan Spurlock, Writers/Producers: Peter Bull, Jeremy Chilnick, Writers: Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner, Cinematographers: Junji Aoki, Tony Hardmon, Darren Lew, Daniel Marracino, Rob VanAlkemade, Editor/Producer: Sloane Klevin, Editors: Douglas Blush, Tova Goodman, Nelson Ryland, Michael Taylor, Musicians: Paul Brill, Michael Furjanic, Human, Peter Nashel, Michael Wandmacher, Producers: Peter Cerbin, Rafi Chaudry, Joanna Chejade-Bloom, Christina Gonzalez, Alexander Johnes, Damon Martin, Dan O’Meara, Michael Rohan, Mary Rolich, Chris Romano, Michiko Toyoma, Chad Troutwine Production Company: Chad Troutwine Films

Film Type: Documentary, Cast: Zoe Sloane (Blake), Jade Viggiano (High School Girl), Adesuwa Addy Iyare (Temptress Mother), Greg Crowe (Jonny the Mechanic), Jalani McNair (Loser), Carl Alleyne (Boyfriend), Samuel Soifer (Jake), Andrew Greiche (Jake), Amancaya Aguilar (Mercedes), Hassan Brown (Father), Kelli Chaves (High School Girl), Alyssa Wheeldon (High School Girl), Kellli Gerardi (Lexus), James Leibow (Himself), Michael MacAllister (Himself), Length: 86’, Language: English, Country: United States of America, Year: 2010
Film trailer
United States release date November 2010


Images:
Left: Front side of ticket for “Freakonomics”
Center: Graphic interpretation of the “Freakonomics” segment “Pure Corruption” created by Adrean Darce Brent

Right: Poster of “Freakonomics” from the website imdb.com

Reel Rewind: “Deux De La Vague”

French title – “Deux De La Vague” / English title – “Two In The Wave”
This is an almost perfect direct translation of the French title into English, which would be “Two Of The Wave”. I give the actual English title used a rating of Excellent.

Of the two filmmakers, I am more familiar with the works of François Truffaut than of Jean-Luc Godard. The first Truffaut film I saw was “Tirez Sur Le Pianiste” one Sunday night at college in a roomful of other foreign film loving students. The film is an early example of La Nouvelle Vague as put forth by him and Jean-Luc Godard. As I have never really known the background of the New Wave film era in France, I was happy to see the documentary “Deux De La Vague”. Over the course of the film you learn how Truffaut and Godard worked together on each other’s films and promoted their new way of filmmaking. Other contributors to the New Wave movement are mentioned including André Bazin, Claude Charbol, Éric Rohmer. Eventually Truffaut and Godard had a falling out and the French New Wave does a slow fade.



Film Facts: Director/Producer: Emmanuel Laurent, Writer: Antoine de Baecque, Cinematographers: Etienne de Grammont, Nick de Pencier, Editor: Marie-France Cuénot, Production Company: Films à Trois
Film Type: Documentary, Subject: French New Wave, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Length: 91’, Language: French, Country: France, Year: 2010
United States release date Wednesday 19 May 2010


Images:
Left: Front side of the ticket for “Deux De La Vague” (“Two In The Wave”)
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Deux De La Vague” created by Adrean Darce Brent

Right: Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut from the website colcoa.org