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Scientific American Frontiers
The other review posted here, which flames this episode, is based on a version of this episode posted on YouTube that, for some reason, lost all of its voiceovers. The original version of this episode featured extensive details and is absolutely fascinating.
Alan Alda leads us through different parts of Italy and different areas of then-cutting edge scientific endeavors underway. We begin in Pisa, with the story of the Leaning Tower and the efforts being done (at that time) to prevent it from falling over. We then go to Abruzzo to learn about conservation efforts for the native brown bear of that region. From there we move to Rome and watch what was then the early days of remote robotic surgery, as a surgeon in Rome performs a procedure on a mannequin in Milan. My personal favorite segment looks at Pompeii, and the contemporary efforts to protect the population around the Bay of Naples from the threat of a future eruption of Vesuvius, drawing on experiences in dealing with the eruption of Mt. Etna in Sicily in the early 1990s. The final segment includes some great history for anyone who's ever visited Florence, looking at the story of the machines that Filippo Brunelleschi developed to help him build the famous dome of the Florence Cathedral.
Alan Alda leads us through different parts of Italy and different areas of then-cutting edge scientific endeavors underway. We begin in Pisa, with the story of the Leaning Tower and the efforts being done (at that time) to prevent it from falling over. We then go to Abruzzo to learn about conservation efforts for the native brown bear of that region. From there we move to Rome and watch what was then the early days of remote robotic surgery, as a surgeon in Rome performs a procedure on a mannequin in Milan. My personal favorite segment looks at Pompeii, and the contemporary efforts to protect the population around the Bay of Naples from the threat of a future eruption of Vesuvius, drawing on experiences in dealing with the eruption of Mt. Etna in Sicily in the early 1990s. The final segment includes some great history for anyone who's ever visited Florence, looking at the story of the machines that Filippo Brunelleschi developed to help him build the famous dome of the Florence Cathedral.
Samuel Shem's novel "The House of God" is a classic in the world of medicine, a must-read for all new doctors, a biting satire that is hilarious and horrifying, highlighting in very stark terms how dehumanizing medical training can be, both for the patients and the doctors themselves. It is a work of sheer brilliance.
The movie version is none of those things.
It is never easy to adapt a novel into a movie, especially when the novel itself is a classic. However, the filmmakers here did not even try. Instead of a story, what we have here is a disjointed series of events with no connecting threads. This movie doesn't tell a story at all. It references a few key scenes from the novel to show that it was really based on it, but then throws in many, many new scenes that do nothing to contribute to the story or the richness of the film's message.
The message of the novel is entirely lost in this film, there is not even a single moment worth laughing with or laughing at, and there isn't even a story here worth following.
There could not possibly be a starker contrast between the ingenuity of the original novel and the sheer banality of this film. It is truly awful.
The movie version is none of those things.
It is never easy to adapt a novel into a movie, especially when the novel itself is a classic. However, the filmmakers here did not even try. Instead of a story, what we have here is a disjointed series of events with no connecting threads. This movie doesn't tell a story at all. It references a few key scenes from the novel to show that it was really based on it, but then throws in many, many new scenes that do nothing to contribute to the story or the richness of the film's message.
The message of the novel is entirely lost in this film, there is not even a single moment worth laughing with or laughing at, and there isn't even a story here worth following.
There could not possibly be a starker contrast between the ingenuity of the original novel and the sheer banality of this film. It is truly awful.
Every now and then, a movie comes along that manages to epitomize every single stereotype about its genre. For instance, "Commando" managed to epitomize a typical Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie. "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" epitomizes modern Bollywood.
The story, the characters, the choreography, the music, even the fight scenes are all very stereotypically Bollywood. The story is long, predictable, and melodramatic. Most of the characters are one-dimensional. Those that aren't are given "depth" in typical Bollywood fashion, i.e., by having them behave completely opposite in the last act of the film than they did in the first act. The scenes in India, London, and Switzerland are all beautifully filmed -- so beautifully, in fact, that they live up to the Bollywood stereotype of having bright, colorful, over-the-top locations for each of the song-and-dance numbers, and continue to reinforce Bollywood's love affair with Europe and European culture. The music is constant, pleasant, quite melodic, quite thematic, and always somehow upbeat, with heavy use of strings, the sitar, and the piano. The fight scenes are incredibly bad, again in true Bollywood fashion. The only thing missing is the requisite courtroom scene.
And yet, in spite of all of this -- or, perhaps, because of it -- there is no doubt that "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" is an incredibly charming film. It makes for good escapist fun with incredible camp value, while also having enough genuinely good material (i.e., its songs) to make the movie into a bona fide classic instead of just a camp classic. There is a reason why this film persistently makes it onto critics' "must-see" lists of Bollywood movies. It is not because this film represents the finest of Indian art cinema. This is no "Mother India" by any means. Rather, this film represents Bollywood (i.e., Hindi-language commercial cinema) in top form. For those who were uninitiated with Bollywood films, this makes an excellent initiation film.
You will not walk away from "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" feeling inspired or moved. You will, however, walk away from it with a smile on your face. As silly as what you just saw was, there was something enjoyable about it.
The story, the characters, the choreography, the music, even the fight scenes are all very stereotypically Bollywood. The story is long, predictable, and melodramatic. Most of the characters are one-dimensional. Those that aren't are given "depth" in typical Bollywood fashion, i.e., by having them behave completely opposite in the last act of the film than they did in the first act. The scenes in India, London, and Switzerland are all beautifully filmed -- so beautifully, in fact, that they live up to the Bollywood stereotype of having bright, colorful, over-the-top locations for each of the song-and-dance numbers, and continue to reinforce Bollywood's love affair with Europe and European culture. The music is constant, pleasant, quite melodic, quite thematic, and always somehow upbeat, with heavy use of strings, the sitar, and the piano. The fight scenes are incredibly bad, again in true Bollywood fashion. The only thing missing is the requisite courtroom scene.
And yet, in spite of all of this -- or, perhaps, because of it -- there is no doubt that "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" is an incredibly charming film. It makes for good escapist fun with incredible camp value, while also having enough genuinely good material (i.e., its songs) to make the movie into a bona fide classic instead of just a camp classic. There is a reason why this film persistently makes it onto critics' "must-see" lists of Bollywood movies. It is not because this film represents the finest of Indian art cinema. This is no "Mother India" by any means. Rather, this film represents Bollywood (i.e., Hindi-language commercial cinema) in top form. For those who were uninitiated with Bollywood films, this makes an excellent initiation film.
You will not walk away from "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" feeling inspired or moved. You will, however, walk away from it with a smile on your face. As silly as what you just saw was, there was something enjoyable about it.