Pursuing Adventures

Sleep escapes me

It's been ages since I have actually slept through the entire night.   This summer there have not been a lot of great movies to see.  I think I saw four really bad ones in a row.  That's why seeing Farewell was such a treat.  And not surprisingly, it is a foreign film.  

And here is a thought for this week.  It is time to simply move on, focus on my gains and not my losses.  Focus on what's possible, not impossible.  The bottom line is getting rid of certain memories means making room for new experiences and adventures.  Life is here to be lived; not pondered.

Live and Become (Va, vis et deviens)

I flew home from Israel to visit my family in Toronto in 1985.  When I flew back, I remember landing at Ben Gurion Airport very early in the morning and at the same time, a plane landed from Ethiopia.   I saw them at immigration; they looked tired, scared and a bit hopeful.  I had read about Operation Moses but here it was in front of me. 

With Israeli and U.S. Aid, a vast program was undertaken from November to January 1985 to transport the Ethiopian Jews to Israel. The Falashas were returned and finally recognized as descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The Israeli secret service carried out the operation on the sly, keeping it from the Mengitsu pro-Soviet regime who had prohibited their emigration. The Falashas walked from Ethiopia to Sudan, a Muslim country under Charia law. There, they had to hide their Jewish identity under pain of death In Sudan, planes awaited to take them to Israel. On the road, hundreds died of sickness, famine, exhaustion. Others were killed by bandits. In the 1980s, the Sudanese camps welcomed thousands of Africans from 26 countries who were prey to famine: Christians, Muslims, and clandestine Jews. The first secret airlift operation, known as "Operation Moses", saved 8,000 Ethiopian Jews. 4,000 died on the road between Ethiopia and Sudan, murdered, tortured or suffering from famine, thirst and exhaustion. Many children reached the Holy Land alone or as orphans.

So I ordered Live and Become from Netflix and have to say it did a great job of bringing the complexity of this history to life.  Here is a brief summary:

Radu Mihaileanu's outstanding new film is perhaps one of the best movies ever made about the complex business of families and being human ever made. Taking as its theme the great migration of thousands of Ethiopian Jews (with Mossad assistance) from Sudan to Israel in the mid 1980s, Mihaileanu humanises this vast subject by focussing on one Ethiopian boy. As rescue planes fly in from Tel Aviv, his mother sends him on that pilgrimage of escape masquerading as a Jewish Ethiopian (Falasha). He takes the place of a child who has just died in the desert camp with the help of the dead child’s mother and a French-Jewish Médecins Sans Frontières doctor.

And I totally agree: "this vast sprawling mud map of a movie is a wonder and the canvas it paints is one that has lacked a painter for far too long."  Rent it if you want to be moved and think about what it means to belong.   The prejudice displayed in this film is haunting and the scene on what color Adam was is mind blowing.  There are points in the film that linger but they can be overlooked for the fantastic performances and an ability to deal with such an important topic.

A great quote from the film:

Shlomo: "Should we give back land we consider our own?"

Papa: "This tree provides shade: we planted it 50 years ago. But the tree over there, it was there before we got here. I think we should share the land, like the sun and the shade, so others can know love also."
Shlomo: "Even if we risk being pushed to the sea and dying?"
Papa: "Love doesn't come without risks. And it's difficult to decide how others should love."

Prince of Tears

I watched so many bad movies on my flights to NYC --> Paris--> Amsterdam --> San Francisco.  And then, KLM offered on its video on demand the option to watch "World Movies."   And, I did and once again, recognized the quality of foreign films.

Prince Of Tears is a historical drama and a glimpse into 1950s Taiwan. During the White Terror, an anticommunist campaign in 1950s Taiwan, sisters Li and Zhou find their lives turned upside down when their dashing war pilot father (Joseph Chang) and beautiful mother (Zhu Xuan) are arrested on unfounded charges of espionage.   The film documents a young family during an era when Communists (and suspected Communists) were questioned and detained by the Taiwanese government. It is a tale of simultaneous betrayal and loyalty, where best friends turn into enemies and women take on lovers to secure social status.

Power Corrupts

I am watching The Insider again.  It is such a great movie because it is so raw and real.   The corruption of big tobacco and how it silences the truth.  And what is the truth?  This movie is actually all about the truth.  In some ways, it is also about how the media was silenced.  

Mike Wallace: And do you wish you hadn't come forward? Do you wish you hadn't blown the whistle?
Jeffrey Wigand: There are times when I wish I hadn't done it. There are times when I feel com... compelled to do it. If you asked me, would I do it again, do I think it's worth it? Yeah I think its worth it.

And who wins and who loses?   The news becomes first to market now; who can get the "story," the fastest?  There is a chance of getting the news when no one is pulling the strings in the background with their money to only give people the information that is suitable.

Great movie.  Reminds me of my dad and his constant pursuit of truth and justice.

No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009) and They Should!

   

After a great walk at the Reservoir yesterday and a nice glass of cava, we came back home and decided to watch a movie before heading to dinner.  I had heard of Persian Cats and we decided to try it out and I am so glad we did.  It made me realize, once again, how lucky we are to have our freedom.

This film was completed in 17 days and shows the underground of musicians in Iran following two musicians who were released from prison.  Their crime?  Loving and trying to spread their love of Indie Rock with a string desire to go to Europe to play music.  All Negar wants is to play her music and sing without fear.  Something we all tend to take for granted.

Today, it's estimated that as much as two thirds of Iran's population is under 25 and that there are over 2,000 underground bands.  They need to find "safe" places to practice and play their music to make sure a neighbour sells them out to the police.  The film took us from rooftops to basements.  It shows how these artists are trying to pursue their passions.

When I googled, the film this piece from the Washington Post hit home about the director, Bahman Ghobadi, in his own words:

The film, he hopes, will show another side to a country so often portrayed only as a nuclear threat or a geopolitical chess piece. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has successfully manufactured news" to distract Western media, he says. "The issue of human rights violations just doesn't come to the fore."

According to the review in SF Gate:

The title "No One Knows About Persian Cats" refers to an Iranian law that requires dogs and cats to remain indoors. Similar constraints drive the country's indie-rock scene far underground, into barns and basements and rooms soundproofed with blankets, where hip young musicians ply their trade despite the ever-looming threat of arrest. Some have permits. Many don't. But the talented, intrepid rockers inhabiting this film about Tehran's furtive indie scene have the same dreams that drive performers everywhere. What distinguishes this group is their indefatigable gutsiness as they push to be heard.

And today, I wake up knowing in my heart how truly lucky I am to have my freedom.

Laughing with City Island

Saw this charming, laugh out loud movie on Friday and it felt so great to laugh.  City Island is about a dysfunctional family living on City Island, the little-known fishing village located in the Bronx.

I had no expectations so I found it charming and loved the characters.  And it was so good to just laugh and laugh.

Essential viewing for anyone engaged in the ongoing drama of the Middle East, Ajami is a brave, apolitical look at Jews and Arabs in Jaffa’s multi—ethnic Ajami neighborhood — a searing debut by Israeli and Palestinian co—directors, whose balanced perspective and use of non—professional local actors lend a palpable authenticity to a complex, cross—cultural drama. Shakespearian in its scope and themes — revenge, loyalty, hope and despair — the film draws us into the lives of two brothers fearing assassination; a young Palestinian refugee working illegally to cover his mother’s medical expenses; an Israeli woman and her affluent Palestinian boyfriend dreaming of building a life together; and a Jewish cop obsessed with finding his missing brother. Through this dramatic collision of different worlds, we witness the cultural and religious tensions simmering beneath the surface and the tragic consequences of enemies living as neighbors.

What is fascinating is that most of those in the film had day jobs and never appeared in a movie before. None knew how the low-budget drama would end. And no one imagined it would earn a nomination for best foreign language film at the Academy Awards on March 7.

Being stuck on a Sunday - where does the time go?

I was planning to get a lot of work done today and so far, nothing.  I do know it's the weekend and a holiday but I was hoping to get motivated.  But I haven't been at all.

I feel stuck.  I am watching CNN Heroes and I know it's sappy but the tears are flowing.  All these people taking initiative and doing something.  I wish I did more.  I want to be able to impact other people's lives.  There are so many people out there really struggling and need help.

I watched a really bad movie on a very important topic.  Unfortunately, it totally lost the plot and over dramatized poverty. I chose to watch Mamooth because I love Gael García Bernal and the topic sounded interesting.  It's about a business man who made his fame by launching an Internet gaming site, which is compared to the My Space of gaming, and his wife who is an emergency room surgeon.  Their 8 year old spends most of her free time with her nanny, who came to America so she can send money back to her kids in the Phillipines—to better their lives.

This is yet another movie that takes place in three different parts of the world: New York, Thailand and the Philippines.  In New York, the dedicated emergency surgeon is passionate about her work.  She works crazy shifts and witnesses a boy who is brought in after being stabbed by his mother.  While she worries about this dying boy, her daughter is being raised by her Filipino nanny who is teaching her about the Filipino culture.  While trying to save the wounded, the mother distances herself from her own daughter.

Meanwhile, the Filipino nanny is questioning her decision to be in America as her eldest boy calls to tell her they want her back at home.  She tells him to take his younger brother to see the house that is being built for them with the money she is sending back home to understand why they are apart.   The eldest son tries to find a way to make money so his mother can come home faster; he is told he is too young. 

When his grandmother finds out that he was looking for work, she takes him for an education.  They go to the garbage dump where kids his age and younger are scrounging amidst the heaps of rubbish.  She picks up a piece of moldy bread and tells him to eat it since he must be hungry.  She didn’t feed him breakfast that morning.  You think he understands.  In the next scene, he is licking a big ice cream cone while they sit on a bench.  The grandmother tells him that the kids he sees around him live on the street.  Foreigners pick them up at night and give them money to go to their hotels.  When he asks questions about what they do for the money, she doesn’t want to tell the 10 year old the truth.   She tells him that the foreigners don’t want to sleep alone.

Later, he sneaks out of his grandmother’s house and rides his bike to that street.  A bunch of boys his age steal his bike and beat him up.  A foreigner comes by and appears to be a hero.  Salvador is lured and molested by a pedophile. Next morning he is found unconscious under a bridge, and is rushed to the hospital. His mother is called and quits her job right away to return to her sons.

And then in Thailand, our Internet guru has a lot of time on his hands.  He turns down a prostitute that is sent to his room by his clients.   And gets bored.  He decides to explore Thailand and ends up at a beach.   At a club, pretending to be a fireman he meets a prostitute and gives her money to go home and not to have sex with anyone.  She later shows up at his beach hut and they end up in bed.  He decides to head back home and leaves without saying goodbye.  He leaves her a $3,000 pen in the hope that she can end her cycle of poverty.  But she has no clue and cashes it for $30.  We then find out that she is supporting her baby daughter by selling her body.

So, that is the movie.  Important topic.  But poorly executed.  Way too melodramatic and with no real purpose.  A missed opportunity to say the least.

Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning

After watching Defiance a few weeks ago, I promised myself I would not watch Holocaust related movies for a while.  But alas, I was feeling sorry for myself today because I was feeling the effects of my fall and I found Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning.  The cast looked incredible: Susan Sarandon, Gabriel Byrne, Christopher Plummer and Max von Sydow.  So I made myself some dinner and watched.

It was not a graphic film.  There was a great deal that was unsaid.  If you are not close to this terrible time in history, you may even find it "slow."  But I found it melancholy and beautiful.  The story of three survivors and the man who saved the lives of two children who are now adults.  There is also the son who never knew what his mother went through and a very angry husband.   It is a heartbreaking movie of what really happened at the Drancy deportation camp in Paris.

To be honest, this is not a great film.   But it was the story that spoke to me.  So much in our lives stays unspoken.  There is so much hurt and despair.  Some people have their lives in the hands of others, while others have the freedom of choice and do not know what to do with that luxury.

I realized recently that my history,as well as my family's history, defines me.  My first memory in life is war.  It is the reality I was born into.  It's hard to explain to the people around me.  And I don't have many around me right now with a similar history. Living in Jerusalem for five years in my 20s also shaped me.

Any film that delves into human survival often touches me.  I had nightmares after watching Defiance.   It was a tale of struggle and survival.  I cannot count the number of books and films I've had enter my life on this topic.  Also, spending part of my teenage life involved with a play on the trials after the Majdanek concentration camps had a strong influence on me.  Majdanek was unusual in that it was located near a major city, not hidden away at a remote rural location and people had to know what was happening.  The trials were heartbreaking to as the survivors were asked ridiculous questions as a way to test their "memory" of the horrors they endured.  

In my Netflix queue, I have a movie called Holocaust: The Liberation of Majdanek.  But I keep moving it to the bottom of my rental list.  I think I know the story oh so well.

And, I did promise myself to watch more comedies so I can have a lighter spirit and laugh more.

Innocent Lives

I've been watching more movies at home lately and I can't get Innocent Voices out of my head as it is a true story that is so sad.   There are so many scenes that are replaying in my mind but one that resonates is the fear of the children when the soldiers' trucks arrive to take all 12 year boys at their school. 

They move from being innocent school children to being deemed old enough to become soldiers to fight the guerrillas; many of which are their family.  One such boy's name is called and pees in his pants as he is waiting in line and only months later, as a soldier is killing people.  How awful is this that this film is based on a true story?  Life in El Salvador during civil war.

After the civil war broke out in El Salvador in the early 1980s, Oscar Torres had to lie on his stomach to do his homework to avoid getting struck by stray bullets.

According to a report by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers—which includes several leading non-governmental organizations—children (under 18 years) are currently participating as soldiers in nearly every major armed conflict. Dozens of nonstate armies and about ten governments are using child soldiers in more than 20 conflicts around the globe.

I need to rent a comedy!

 

Quiet Day

I really needed a quiet day.  I was dog sitting this week and it was an adventure.  Quite different to my last one, which is why it took me by surprise.  It was a rough experience on me and the dog!   I brought her back home this morning and she was so happy to be home.  And I went to the Farmer's Market, which was great.  It was such a fantastic day and I got all this healthy food.  I just had some cucumbers with yogurt.   

And then I came home and opened all the doors I had to close because I didn't want to have poop and pee in the rooms with carpets.   It was so liberating to have that energy back in the house.   So I guess we both were happy!

I learned a lot about myself.   When I can have a dog, I want a medium size dog that has discipline and is independent.   And I want to call the shots.  I didn't realize how tired I was.  It was a combination of being woken up by barking and just having a very busy week.

I managed to clean up a bit today.  Jackie sent me a link to a film that looked interesting.  I didn't mean to see it today but I did and it was so thought provoking.  From the NYT:

“We rub our ears after the fact,” Nietzsche wrote, “and ask in complete surprise and embarrassment, ‘What just happened?,’ or even, ‘Who are we really?’  “A Christmas Tale, which follows the extended Vuillard family through a few days and several lifetimes’ worth of hectic emotional confusion, induces a similar state of astonishment.

The Rolling Stones also had a great review

The cast is heaven, starting with Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon as her much older husband, Mathieu Amalric as their prodigal son and Emmanuelle Devos as the Jewish fiancee the son brings home for Christmas. Dark secrets are unlocked, words draw more blood than punches, and Desplechin turns one family into a universe that resembles life as a startling work of art.

The writing was so smart.  I think I need to see it again, apart from the needles and surgery scene.  I am just way too squeamish for those.  It also had some of my favorite French actors.  I am going to leave it here as if I write about it, I may ruin it for you.

Personal Velocity

All of a sudden a terrible thought came to Greta: She was going to dump her beautiful husband like a redundant paragraph.

I have over 100 movies in my Netflix queue and sometimes when they arrive in the mail I wonder why I chose them.  I'd have to say that a huge percentage is foreign films.  The latest one I watched is Personal Velocity and I think I chose it because of the writer-director (Rebecca Miller, daughter of playwright Arthur Miller) and the fact that I am a big fan of Parket Posey and Kyra Sedwick. 

This is a sad film about the lives of three women trying to free themselves from "the stifling constraint of the men in their lives." 

1. Delia (Kyra Sedgwick) is a former bad girl who finally has the guts to leave her abusive husband with her three kids.  She has learned how to use sex as a weapon but it doesn't help her as she is now a mother who must take care of her own children.  Her journey is hard but encouraging.
2. Greta (Parket Posey) has a father who only shows his emotions when she achieves societal success.  She is a rising star in the editorial world and as Greta achieves success in her career, she gets "closer" to her father and decides to leave her unambitious husband.   After all, now she doesn't have to settle for an average life.
3. Paula (Fairuza Balk) narrowly escapes a car accident.  The man she switched sides with on the sidewalk gets killed.   It makes her question her life now that she has discovered that she is pregnant.  She stops to pick up a hitchiker who has been physically absued and it is a sign for her that her life is on the right track.  That she managed to leave years of abuse behind and create a healthy life for herself and a future for her baby

Living outside the box

What a gorgeous Sunday.  I need to do so much cause I am flying out at the crack of dawn in the morning in my first domestic flight to the East coast in 2 years!  I won't need to take my passport and foreign currency.  How very cool!!  I am trying to breath since I still have a ton of work to do, as well as laundry and packing.  It will all get done and be ok.  I am planning to do some work on the plane as well.

I went to see Vicky Christina Barcelona yesterday and absolutely loved it.  I was laughing so hard as I could hear Woody Allen speaking through his main characters.   What I loved most is the questioning of the world we live in.   I didn't feel I was one of the characters.  But felt that the issues of self discovery are very similar to my journey.  One of the funniest scenes is when the crazy ex-wife (is she really crazy?) accuses her ex's lover of never being happy and spending her life always trying to find what she is looking for - whatever that would be.  How much of our life do we really spend unlearning all the bullshit that is put into our head?

I had a crazy idea of traveling and writing but who knows?   I better get back to living inside my box with my obligations for paying for this amazing house.  Going to take the afternoon off to hang by the pool with some amigas.

A Film on War and Brothers

I have come to realize that I have many passions in life; some old and true and some new and being trialled.  One of those is my love of film.   I know some people who may say on a beautiful, sunny day: "I can't sit inside in the dark on such a day."  And while one of my passions is a beautiful day, I can watch a good movie any where, any time.  It's mostly the story telling and the ability to capture an event from life that involves really interesting people and situations.   I love it when I am able to just be part of the experience and taken away from the dark movie theatre.

Yesterday I watched Brothers, a Dutch movie by Susanne Bier that chilled me to my bones. The movie is about two brothers; one portrayed as good and the other, bad.  Michael is a family man with 2 beautiful daughters and wife who has a happy relationships with his parents.   Jannick is the drifter brother who gets drunk often and has a terrible relationship with his father who is disappointed in him.  Michael is a major in the army and there is a family dinner before he leaves for Afghanistan. 

The family man leaves and ends up crashing in a helicopter.  The military informs his family that he is dead and sadness ensues.  Jannick steps up and starts filling the void his brother had left.  But what the family did not know was that Michael survived the crash and was taken captive by Afghani rebel fighters.  Michael is a hostage with another missing Dutch soldier who is so frightened and falling apart.  I won't spoil it if you want to see this movie but what I can share is that the time in the camp and what happens is horrifying.  Something Michael keeps to himself and eats him to the core until he is rescued.   He does not integrate back with his family, upon his return, and turns more into a monster.   Good and bad brothers blend and a family must recover from the collateral damage of war.

Reading Infidel makes me realize that hopes of peace lie in our heart but there is too much fanaticism out there to make it a reality.  Too much distinction between people who are good and bad.  And ironically, some times, those who we think are bad believe they are good and vice versa.

Mamma Mia with no sound

I went to the city to see Mamma Mia last night, which was really fun.   We had a quick bite and caught up first.  The theatre was fairly empty and as the previews are running, this group comes in talking at the top of their lungs as though they are the only ones in the theatre. I absolutely HATE it when people pretend the movie theatre is their living room.  They finally sit down and shut up.  A small victory.

So the movie starts and there is absolutely no sound.  All of us are a bit perplexed but it's so quiet in the theatre you could hear a pin drop.  And after 90 seconds, it hits us.  The sound was not working.  We were watching a silent musical.  It then turned into a classic observation of human behavior.  People started yelling at the screening room.  Still no sound.  Two people got up and left.  One guy walked over to the sound booth and started hitting the wall and the glass.  It turned out to be quite amusing especially since this was not a deep film. 

The sound finally came on and the screen burst out in song.  But they didn't rewind and then the same people did the same exact thing.  J, Kathy and I were just sitting there laughing and getting into the movie.  It looked like they had so much fun making it and the choreography was amazing.

When we were leaving the theatre, they gave us a free ticket.  I think I got the opening!

On the drive home, I started having a sharp pain in the back of my head, which really scared me.  I am going to take it easy today and reduce all stress.   I wish I wasn't so incredibly terrified of needles as I would try acupuncture since I think it would help.  But fear is strong.  Ok, off to get my hair cut and a fun day.

Have I mentioned how fucking freezing it was in San Francisco?