Monster-17

I saw this film last night and am finding it hard to shake off. It's truly a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, not to mention a riveting conspiracy tale that unfolds with stupendous pacing. The film shares strong allusions to Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ', not to mention the coincidental inclusion of Jim Caviezel very ably playing the role of journalist Freidoune Sahebjam. Yet, I hope I'm not doing it a disservice by making such a comparison. This is a very powerful film and a very important story about the position of women in Islamic society and the antiquated medieval punishments that still hold strong in Asian countries. There is palpable tension that grips and shakes the audience in a sublime manner.

The film's success in large part stems from a strong ensemble cast, most notably Mozhan Marnò. I had never heard of her before this film and greatly hope she goes on to more roles that do justice to her magnificent talents. Likewise, Shohreh Aghdashloo delivers another fine performance in a role that demands empathy, resilience and compassion. The two women are very much the beating heart of this grand story and the impending tragedy of what we know is to come, feels all the more powerful because we have such emotional investment in their plight. The eventual stoning is barbaric and difficult to watch, particularly because Mozhan Marnò's stoicism eventually crumbles into heartbreaking vulnerability before our very eyes. It's chilling to watch. I felt each and every one of the stones thrown at Soraya and was shaken by the malevolence of mob-mentality punishing her. The pretence of Islamic justice is questioned, but not without balance. The film is surprisingly spiritual in tone. Despite the men around them abusing religious judicial practices, neither Soraya nor her Aunt lose their faith in the goodness of God and metaphysical assurance in divine justice. Furthermore, the notion of God/ Allah intervening and showing signs of cautionary obstacles are smartly handled by the director.

The film is not without faults, most disappointingly the rushed and superficial coda. It's also a shame more wasn't made of experimenting with narrative structure and intensifying the complexity of the unravelling conspiracy; perhaps including more cut-aways to Freidoune Sahebjam hearing the story of Soraya and questioning the actuality of events. I also found the final scene improbable and hard to digest. Nevertheless, I suppose it's important to end on a note of optimism, hence why such a dénouement exists.

I'm sad to see the film didn't get the award's recognition it most certainly deserved. Films like this can only survive by being discussed in the press. This film most definitely sparks debate and I cannot understand why it hasn't. Mozhan Marnò deserved an Oscar nomination and I can only assume it's the racism of the Hollywood system that denied her such deserved recognition. Talent always wins out in the end and I'm sure her time will come. All in all, I hope this film eventually finds its audience. Most importantly, I hope Iran eventually lifts the ban in place and allows distribution.

America is a pretty good country. We are at once progressive and compassionate. We have an elected president who is not just a man of color, but also highly intelligent and supremely wise. Christ, not even the snooty British or other so-called inclusive European countries- who often rebuke our American character and psychology- can lay claim to such an awesome achievement.

While I am proud to be an American, I'm not too proud to have "The Blind Side" be our movie phenomena of the year. This is not cool. What has been created here is an insipid drama that insults audience intelligence. Not only that, it's ineffably racist and poorly dramatized.

Firstly, if I was a black guy I would seriously be insulted by this movie. The character of Michael Oher is little more than a modern reworking of Uncle Tom; while the nice white middle-class suburbanite characters pity his appalling ghetto poverty and nasty urban community whom peddle drugs, take drug or vilify nice white people who are trying to protect them from fooling with drugs and guns. There is not one character of color that can be regarded as three-dimensional. For that matter, there's not even one white character in this movie that's three-dimensional. Everything about this movie: from themes, characters and politics- is lowest-denominator.

The plot is totally by the numbers. I didn't know much about this film before watching it, but 5 minutes in I knew where it was going. I knew all the conflicts that were going to pop up and how effortlessly they'd be overcome. I knew there'd be no real character arc for Leigh Anne Tuohy, and the dramatic growth of Michael Oher's character was without any sort of surprise. It was simplistic in every way.

I read somewhere on in the comments pages that this was Sandra Bullock's 'masterpiece'. I beg to disagree. Ms. Bullock has yet to make a masterpiece, or deliver a performance that can be deemed masterful. (That's not saying she isn't a good actress or not pretty, because she is: very much so.) For that matter, hasn't Kathy Bates played the exact same role in her last 17 movies? Talk about type casting. Furthermore, the kid playing S.J. was the most annoying child depicted in film. He sucked. I wanted him to get written-off in the car crash scene.

This is a bad movie. One that doesn't deserve to be as huge as what it's become.

I remember my parents renting this from our local Hindi video library in the 1980s. I remember seeing the poster in the shop window and Saamri's grotesque face staring lustfully at Arti Gupta's body. We used to love this movie when we were kids because it was really scary. I hear it was a tremendous hit and people in Bombay were crazy for it. The Ramsay Bros. are fantastic filmmakers and know exactly which buttons to push in order to get the right response from the audience. More than this, they had really fantastic stories that were based on old Indian myths and superstitions and delivered them with plenty of style and energy. Much like the Hammer Horror films of Britain, the Ramsay Bros. had a visual aesthetic that was uniquely their own and has never been replicated. It's a shame that they no longer make movies and have chosen instead to concentrate on India's burgeoning television market. At a time when I really couldn't hack watching glossy Bollywood musicals or listening to soppy Hindi love songs, the Ramsay Bros. movies were about the only thing we could watch collectively and really enjoy. 'Purana Mandir' is a perfect example of good Hindi commercial movie-making and deserves to be hailed as a Horror classic.