The Battle of Algiers

The Battle of Algiers was a movie commissioned by the government of Algiers, four years after their independence from the French. The movie tells the tale of the organization of FLN which is fighting for FLN freedom.

The opening scene of the movie is of an old man, and the group of soldiers. The movie follows a flashback form of story.

The character of Ali is first introduced as the last member of FLN and as the flashback comes we see how from a hustler he becomes a freedom fighter. Jaffar, a leader in FLN is introduced as a cautious man.

Ali as a character in the movie is a very aggressive and ill-tempered man. This is balanced by the cautious Jaffar.

The discriminations against the Algerian’s are made throughout the movie, and their growing anger against the them.

The first bombings shown by FLN was shot very, where there were three bombs blown. What I really liked was the correlation of how the bombs were placed to the final explosions where three continuous bomb explosions are heard. Also just before the bombs were blown the short montage of the clock and the innocent bystanders.

The director has tried to keep a balanced perspective throughout the movie. While he has shown the problems of the Algerians, he has shown the inhuman affects of their terrorism by showing dramatic shots of when the bombs exploded.

The character of Colonel Mathieu is a man of strong character. I especially like his uses of the word integrations. On an intellectual capacity he must be compared to Ben M’Hidi. Both these two character have their favourite moments in the movie. Both these character’s raise very important questions. For Ben M’Hidi, it’s on the roof when he talks to Ali about the their work. For Colonel Mathieu it is when he is questioned on his integration methods and how he raises serious questions.

A motif throughout the movie is shots of the bird eye shots of the Muslim sections and the European sections.

This movie is a must watch on a long and forgotten terrorist organization and that would remind one that one’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist.

Marx For Beginners

SUMMARY

The book starts with the author using an advanced word to describe Marx as “Teutonic genius” which means German genius. He explained the problem of compressing Marx’s theories and philosophies into twenty or thirty words from a two hundred or three hundred words. The next page one would find a big, blurry, hairy and a fat face staring at the reader and then he or she knows it’s a picture of Marx. His long beard and hair curl around his face. The author talks on how Karl Marx is seen today: a Jewish- German who everyone blames for the creation of communism which now one-third of the world practice while two-thirds argue about it. At the side there is a comic of a priest who is dressed in a cassock with a hood who says, “Holy Jesus! The anti-Christ”. Words like Bolshevik, Marxist, Socialist, Leninism, Communist and many more are all influenced by Marx. These words owe some part of their origin to Marx. A comic is there below this a professor pronounces some of these terms and there is a student next to him who has a big question mark above his head. Marx talks about everything from economics, literature, human relations, social change, and education to journalism and many more things. The book makes funny of Marx’s face by saying that one will find his hair everywhere. The book mentions the knowledge and practice of his ideas: the impossible and the possible. It talks about freedom of exploitation of man from man. There is a comic of a well- dressed man who says “That’s not true! I owe my boss it (freedom) to my boss” and at the side his boos stood in shabby and beggarly clothes. The book explains that indirect victories of socialism like social security, pension, union, scholarships are all victories of Marx. This is the first part of the book which gives the contents of the book in a few words.

The book then moves on to what the life of Marx. The book talks about his father who is a lawyer, on Marx’s education. The book mention about his troubled time in the Berlin University where thinkers are asking questions on life. It goes on to point out Marx’s turn towards Hegel a philosopher who became one of the greatest influences in his life. The book then drags in a lot of philosopher, their philosophies and their explanations. He then become an editor starting from the Hegelian Magazine and the switching been other various ones. It was in the Rehnish Gazette that he started his political journalism. The book then brings in his childhood love Jenny Von Westphalen and how her father encouraged Marx to read Greek and renaissance work. The book then brings in Engels Marx’s good friend and one of the greatest persons influencing his life. The book talks a bit on Engels. Then we come to third part where the book actually explains the ideologies of Marx.

EVALUATION

The author has taken up a challenge by explaining one of the most sophisticated philosophers of human kind. He has explained Marx’s concepts life, his influences, his concepts and many other things very well. He has managed to simplify and uncomplicated Marx’s life and work. The author has made use of the caricatures well and this has helped in simplifying Marx. Through the cartoons one is able to get a visual of what the author means to point out. The book has humour and it is applied well. Through the humour one will be able to understand the complicated concepts of Marx. Another admirable author is how he has managed to smoothly switch and connected every concept of Marx.

The author though has managed to do this has made it a bit of confusing by brining so many philosophers, though one must agree all these have influenced Marx (as seen in his work) it confuses a simple minded person.

The best part of the book is the application of the cartoons which a reader knows will make everything simpler for him or her. The worst part of the book is how he brings in so many philosophers which is very confusing to a reader to come across so many more philosophers when he just want one.

CONCLUSION

This is a book is a must for any person who is a first to Karl Marx and his theories. It makes understanding like never before with new innovated methods of cartoons. It covers all grounds of Marx in sufficient detail, enough to grasp his concept.

GRAN TORINO

The establishing scene is in a Church and Walt’s wife is going on. I like the introduction of Walt’s family. While Al is giving is condolences, they appear from behind the frame entering the Church, they are a little blurred and it seems like a gang entering the Church and then there is the way they say the sign of the cross.

The whole movie revolves around the character of Walt and I have got to say that he is a very strong character. The first thing noticeable about him is his harden faced. Throughout the movie his face has portrayed very strong emotions, which is mostly of distaste or anger. His language is even stronger. Half the words that come out of his mouth are foul words and as he meets his Asians he starts using Asian abuses also. However these abusives give him the charm he needed as an old man. I also like when on his birthday when he was offered the home for the aged, how Clint refuse to show his reaction of Walt and only the results. I also like when Walt stares at his blood test result sheets, a point of perspective shot. Clint really teases the audience because though the camera passes over the papers, he does not allow anyone to know the results.

After the shoot out and the rape of the Tao’s sister, Clint starts playing heavily with the lighting. Twice Walt meets the Priest and it is in the shadows. Walt in the basement with Toa, there was a lot of times that the shadow fell on half face. When he makes the phone call to the sister to release Tao, he’s in the shadows.

The death of Walt is shot beautifully. The slow play and the tension created, until Walt swiftly pulls out his hand from the jacket and then again slow as various shots of the shooters and the bullets shredding Walt.

Another scene is the reading of the will, where there have been good use of lighting and position of characters. We have Walt granddaughter sitting in the middle of the room and the sunlight glare on her face. . It starts with a bird’s eye view of the room, giving a view of all the character, and Toa is placed insignificantly at the corner. However it was only when Toa’s name is motioned that the camera switches to him and there he is in the shadows.

The movie portrays the gangs on the streets, and how an old hardcore American has to deal with that, knowing that violence will beget violence.

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS

The establishing shot of the movie is a very strong shot: feet running, the face, a 360 degree camera shot of the battlefield around and through all this someone crying ‘corpsman’. It a very strong scene of war. He puts across the message that a war is going on the introduced character is a corpsman is desperately searching for the crying voice.

Clint has also played with colour. While in the scenes on Iwo Jima are very dull coloured, the scenes back in America are colourful.

The movie is very non-linear, following a variety of timelines. The transitions of from these timelines are very interesting. In the beginning we see a extreme close up of John Bradley as tears start rolling down his eyes that flashes into the present old John Bradley. Then there is another one where John Bradley is getting is climbing up a fake Iwo Jima for a fund raiser, and the camera begins to close up on his face, there are flashes streaking across his face and the flash he is back in Iwo Jima. In this particular scene it happens for Iggy and John quite often.

I like the use of handheld camera, which enables the viewers to join the intensity of the soldiers. There are some nice shot where the soldiers land on Iwo Jima and the water is splashing all over.

Another scene I like is when the soldiers arrive on Iwo Jima and then we have a variety of point of perspective shots of Japanese soldier as they are getting ready to attack. After this there is montage of all these guns going off and attacking. Clint has really put it well together.

The scene where Bradley finds Iggy is awesome and this is simply because of the lighting. Bradley enters a cave like room, the only source of light is the from the entrance. He enters it, it’s a medium shout. His face goes into the darkness. Then his face gets lit for a few for a few seconds. The pain his shown. The darkness reappears and he walks out. There is a low key lighting. Clint does not show Iggy’s corpse and leave that to the imagination of the audience.

The ending scene is very beautiful. With the narration going over the, it starts off with a medium angle shot, and we have the introduction of the soldiers. We have a variety of shots as they undress and jump into the water, angle shot, medium shot of the soldiers faces, point of perspective shot and the final shot when John Bradley jumps into the water, a birds eye view.

CHANGELING

Transitions, lighting, establishing and ending shot—the city.

The establishing shot of the movie is of the Los Angeles City. Eastwood makes use of colour adding a grey tinge. There is a quarter pan shot of the City and then the camera come down to a lane, and as it comes down, Clint again plays around with the colour since the approaching vehicle suddenly starts to coloured. As this vehicle passes the camera, there is a transition and everything else gains colour.

The City is just awoken and the scene switches to the protagonist, Mrs. Collins. I like the way he introduces her. It’s an angle and we see the reflection of the protagonist sleeping and the alarm starts ringing. The frame is of the reflection from the mirror of the dressing table and the protagonist is sleeping then camera pans as the alarm clock starts to ring and she gets up. In a way Clint was playing around with the camera because the shot almost looked like the editing used a sliding technique.

Another shot, which I like is the introduction to her job. The shot begins at feet wearing roller blades which is roller blading, the camera is in front of the feet and following, until it passes someone else feet roller blading, and then the camera begins to follow those feet, the shot zooms out to reveal Mrs. Collins. This sort of technique is used quite often, where the camera tails one thing and then switches on another as it passes by and this other thing is relevant to the movie. Another place that Clint uses this is when Mrs. Collins in bought in to the Police Station in the rain from the back. The camera, follows her as she sits down to wait for Jones and it travels to Mr. ……. and we get the first peak at good cop and then he leaves and the camera is caught again by as Jones enters walks towards Mrs. Collins.

The time transitions in the movie are very smooth. To keep track of the time, Clint continuously has titles to inform the audience of the time. Clint uses other methods also. For example, the scene where Mrs. Collins informs the Police of her missing son and then it switches to the church where Guston the Pastor his give his talk and we are informed that two weeks have passes since her son went missing.

I also like when Clint has this thing for a particular scene has transition from different characters. This was done at the introduction of Guston the Pastors speech at the Church, where we saw a switch between him and the Chief of Police.

The sound of the movie also plays a big role in giving emotion to the movie. We see the use of a subtle tone which can be easily related to the mother.

Also Clint has played around with the lighting. For example when Dective Ybarra and 15 year old Stanford Clarke confesses his crime, the interrogation room becomes a hole of darkness. While showing the flashback of the murders, the use of shadows prevents it from making it graphic. Another shot is just before Gordon is hanged, when he meets Mrs. Collins. In the meeting Mrs. Collins slams Gordon against the window. The intensity of the scene was added by the lighting coming from the window.

The movie is touching, telling a tale of city that is not known and the hopes of a mother.

IFTAR PARTY

Recently a Muslim friend of mine called me over for an Iftar Party. Iftar is understood as an event where a Muslim after a day of fasting, breaks their fast. This is a detail of my experience for I have never been to an Iftar Party.

I was called at 6:00pm and I arrived on time, with another friend of mine. My host was there, however to my surprise no one else had arrived. The hall had been cleared and carpets were spread out in the hall. While waiting I helped my host and his mother to set things up. Three ‘thals’ were set up on low stands. At first I thought that ‘thals’ were pronounced as ‘thala’, but I was corrected.

Further guest began to arrive at 7:00pm. The friends that arrived were mostly of the host’s brother. In fifteen minutes over ten more people arrived. By 7:15 over twenty people filled the room, some of the host’s brothers friends and some of his own friend. Before the food was bought the host’s father came in and formally shook everyone’s hand before leaving for an important meeting.

The first plate of the meal arrived and was placed on each thal. A few of the Muslims that were there went inside the house to pray, while a few others started to call the most reliable source of information, their mothers, regarding the time of breaking their fast.

The first dish consisted of fruits, mainly watermelon and dates.

The second dish consisted of chicken roll.

The third dish consisted of ragada patties.

The fourth dish arrived and actual ‘boos’ were heard going around, because vadas were served.

The fifth dish consisted of chicken patties.

The sixth dish consisted of a whole chicken dipped in a delicious curry sauce.

The seventh dish was the main course, that is ran biryanni. A full plate was served on the thal. Biryanni rice accompanied by a whole piece of roasted mutton leg.

And for desert ice-cream was served.

The whole meal started from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. And it was delicious and filling.

However for some it was so filling that they, (they claim) that the food was filled right up to their throats.

However more than the food, the experience was every bit of worth it. Meeting new people, experience a culture that I have not experienced before.

The Dark Fantasy

In 2005, Sunfeast launched their response to the high-end cream biscuit, Pure Magic. The biscuit is called Dark Fantasy and after a year, it can be said that Dark Fantasy is better marketed. There are a number of reasons for this, such as:

- Dark Fantasy distribution system is better. It delivers it product every week on Monday and its outreach is better that Pure Magic.

- Dark Fantasy’s packing is much more attractive that Pure Magic. While Pure Magic, only adorns a simple and colourful plastic packing, Dark Fantasy reveals a glossy packaging.

- Dark Fantasy also is relatively bigger that Pure Magic. The biscuit itself is bigger and the packet contains more biscuits that Pure Magic.

- The advertising of Dark Fantasy was based on the seven sins and the ad positioned Dark Fantasy as an indulgent biscuit. Compared to Dark Fantasy, Pure Magic has a very weak advertising base.

As far as can be seen, Pure Magic has failed to react to the challenge of Dark Fantasy and it will not be long before it is overtaken.