Up: Expressionistic cinema at its very best

Expressionistic cinema is always interesting since it manages to extend the boundaries of human imagination. Not only does it allow us to imagine our deepest wishes but also watch them as they are portrayed on the big screen. It also provides a simple breakaway from the monotonies of day-to-day life. Up is a film which joins the league of excellent expressionistic films. Being an animated film with an exception it manages to form a class of its own.

When an old man becomes a widower with the recent demise of his wife, he stumbles upon some of her photographs and is reminded of a promise he made to her in their youth. Acknowledging that he wasn’t able to fulfil her only wish during her life, he immediately takes it upon himself to fulfil his promise to her. Just as a demolition team arrives to take down his house he successfully gets the house airborne by tying it with innumerable balloons. His plan is to land the house upon a waterfall where his wife’s idol had once landed a hot air balloon. But the old man is unaware that there is a boy scout on board as the house takes off. Realising that the old man and his house are journeying to South America, the boy voices his opinion of wishing to see a rare creature which lives in the jungles there. The tale ensues as the old man and the boy try to fulfil their wishes while stumbling across many hurdles, helping each other out and finally succeeding in their missions.

The film was directed by Pete Docter and released in the year 2009. It was a production under the Pixar banner and features the brilliant animation they are known to have. The personification of the animated characters comes through perfectly which is something that has come to be expected of Pixar.

The storyline of the film is extraordinary since the key points in the plot are interesting events that are unimaginable without the right context. It is impossible to understand how an old man would be able to carry a house on his back or how the entire house could be lifted off its foundations in the first place, the film has dealt with it superbly by keeping a light-hearted tone throughout. The imagination which has gone into the making of the film clearly shows since the film is bursting with creative ideas.

The use of vibrant colours and many shades was very visually appealing. The most appealing element of the film is the innocence with which the characters are portrayed. Since it is a drama-comedy film and most of the characters come across as being fairly honest and innocent, the humour comes forth in the form of simplicity of the characters mostly. Being a film for family audiences it has been executed simply with no major need for a complicated story or execution.

It is a splendid animated film which sets a landmark for other animations since it has a simple story with an excellent portrayal. On the whole, Up is a fascinating film which has made use of light-hearted humour to portray relationships and imagination. It set a standard for a new way of thinking.

Animal Farm: Not all animals are equal

There are few films which are made with a certain context in mind and don’t necessarily make sense when not viewed from that same perspective. Few films like Animal Farm are made as a reflection of a political scenario and while they have a storyline of their own, to understand the truth in them it is important to realise the context in which the film is made and how it is relative in real life.

When an aged hog named Major calls for a meeting with all the animals on Manor Farm, he reveals his vision for the animals to revolt against the owner Mr Jones for crimes committed against the animals. Major believes the dismal state of the animals should not be taken lightly and the only way to get what they truly deserve is if every animal unites to overthrow the oppressive humans. Major succumbs to his age the same night but the animals pay heed to his message and claim the farm for themselves the very next day by chasing Jones off the property and renaming the farm ‘Animal Farm’. Being the smartest of the lot, the pigs organise the codes to live by for all the animals on the farm and teach them the importance of education and hard work. The pig named Snowball takes it upon himself to make sure all the animals are taken care of but his efforts go in vain as another pig named Napoleon chooses to ignore the plights of his comrades and ultimately teaches the rest of the animals the bitter truth that all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

The film was directed by Joy Batchelor and John Halas and released in the year 1954. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name written by George Orwell. While most of the plot in the film is closely based on that of the novel, a few liberties have been taken with the screen version which differentiate from the original storyline. The story is an allegory of the political situation which existed in one particular nation in the 1940s and predicts what was likely to happen in the near future from the time of the novel being written.

The animation style is typical of that used in animated films in the 1950s. The major visible difference is in the colour tones which are used for the film. The colours are dull since it takes on a serious topic as opposed to other animated films which were light-hearted movies. This clearly demarcated that the film wasn’t naturally targeted towards children but was an animated film meant to be watched by adult audiences. The dull colour tones reflect the grave situation of the characters in the film since their lives are depressed and sombre at every turn.

The film takes a fair amount of time to establish the storyline but then tends to speed up towards the later stages of the plot. Unfortunately, not enough time is given to explain the plot in detail as the film progresses and the concluding stages are rushed into. The thoughts of the characters do not come across clearly because of lack of adequate dialogues or expressions. The narration does the job of explaining the internal monologues of the characters which is unfortunate since it is the easiest way to showcase a character’s emotions but not the best. The film clearly comes across as a propaganda film since the negative characters are painted in a bad light from the start without much explanation to their actions.

There is much to be desired with this film. While the storyline is adapted from a very good novel, the film does not manage to do it justice.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Including Life, the Universe and Everything

At some point in their life, every person has wondered what their purpose in life is. Questions involving why humans are on Earth, what they are supposed to do with their lives and whether there is more to life than what meets the eye have wandered through many minds without really producing a definitive answer. But it is likely that a definitive answer does not exist; or in fact, a definitive answer is not really needed to carry on with life. And that is the point made in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Arthur Dent rises one morning to a rude awakening that his house is to be demolished immediately to make way for a bypass. In denial but unable to do anything about the situation, Arthur is dragged off to a pub by his friend Ford Prefect under the pretext of having a pint of beer before the world comes to an end. Ford confesses to being an alien from a neighbouring planet and a journalist who is commissioned to complete writing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Reluctant to believe him, Arthur gets dragged along and finds himself on an alien ship with planet Earth reduced to dust. An altercation with their host results in them being evacuated and picked up by the Heart of Gold, a ship stolen by the President of the Universe and Ford’s semi half-brother, Zaphod Beeblebrox. Also on board are Marvin the Paranoid Android and Tricia McMillian aka Trillian, a human who Arthur knew from his days back on Earth and who becomes his love interest. Together the collective travel the galaxy in search of the true question to life, the universe and everything that will be a suitable match for the answer 42.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was directed by Garth Jennings and released in 2005. It is adapted from a novel of the same name which was written by Douglas Adams, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film. The franchise includes the original novel, the film and several other spinoffs that arose after the original book was published. The film can be easily identified as science fiction with elements of fantasy spun into it, but the comedy in the film is a standout which cannot be ignored.

The actors have been cast excellently considering they fit perfectly into the style of their respective characters. The biggest challenge for the actors and the director in the film would have been to convey the deadpan style of humour which is unique to this franchise and incredibly difficult to recreate. As such, the film is a credit to the franchise and has been done well. The film does not attempt to raise questions and then solve them, it pokes fun at the idea of having an answer to everything we do in life and the constant need to rectify thoughts and actions with an ultimate purpose to one’s existence.

The tongue-in-cheek jokes that come up every now and then can be hilarious once understood in context. A constantly depressed robot saves the lives of a group of people by depressing their attackers, a Vogon’s preferred form of torture is to read poetry and a whale has just come into existence in free-fall unaware of what he is supposed to feel; certain moments such as these are truly hilarious and well done in the film. The superimposing of Arthur’s house being destroyed to make way for a national bypass and then his entire planet being destroyed to make way for a galactic bypass blends both tragedy and comedy, a rare occurrence in any film. Even the misfortune involving the President of the Galaxy ordering a planet to be destroyed when he thinks he is signing an autograph is a ridiculous moment which is then exaggerated because the same planet happens to be the most important in the galaxy that was created with a purpose of solving the ultimate question.

The film is mostly comedy mixed with science fiction. Few elements of romance crop up during the course of the film but it is overall a very good deadpan humour-based comedy film.

Apocalypse Now: A crude wartime reality

War brings out the best and the worst in men. It is when they are put under high stress situations that arise due to war that men show their true nature in terms of courage, compassion and humanity. The stigma of war lies in the inevitability of death and destruction that comes along with it but few people believe there are positive takeaways in terms of loyalty and valour on the battlefield. Francis Ford Coppola has experimented with these ideologies in his epic war film titled Apocalypse Now.

Captain Willard is a veteran of a special operations division in the United States Army deployed during the height of the Vietnam War. He was discharged and returned to America but decided to join back in the war efforts after finding rudimentary life not attuned to his liking anymore. He is summoned by a General in the army and tasked with finding and assassinating a rogue Colonel of the Special Forces. He is informed that the man in question is Colonel Kurtz, a brilliant soldier who went astray and has started murdering without orders after having set himself up in a local tribe as a God. Willard is informed that the mission is top-secret and does not exist – nor will it ever exist. As he joins a small US Navy crew, he studies the dossier on Kurtz and starts to grow in awe of the rogue soldier who may just be the most decorated officer in the US Army. Along the way Willard is assisted by other army officers and fights enemy troops as he travels up the Nung River in his efforts to finally reach the liar of Colonel Kurtz.

The film was directed by legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and released in the year 1979. It is a period film set during the Vietnam War. The screenplay was written by Coppola, John Milius and Michael Herr and was roughly based on a novella titled Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad. The film stars Martin Sheen in the role of the protagonist and Marlon Brando as the antagonist. Other actors in the film include Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne and Dennis Hopper.

The film stars a morally ambiguous war veteran with symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder who has gotten addicted to war and returns to Vietnam after normal life gets too boring for him. The character shows glimpses of a dark side which has resulted due to his exposure to killing in the war as he himself confesses to having murdered many people, 6 of whom were close enough to breathe their last into his face. The character is a hardened war veteran who is called in to hunt down a compatriot and agrees on the pretext that the man has gone completely insane as reported to him by his superiors. He shows loyalty towards his country, his superiors and his mission by not asking too many questions and safeguarding the secrets which are entrusted to him under classified information. He is well aware of the crimes committed by the man he is sent out to kill but slowly learns more about him as he studies his career during his journey to find him. In the end, the protagonist is both at awe and repulsed by the antagonist before he has had the chance to face him.

The film is a direct reflection of the effects of war on men. Coppola was aiming to lay out the horrible truths of war in his film and has accomplished the feat he set out for. Through actions and dialogues from the characters, Coppola has shown just how brutal war can be and how terribly nerve-wracking the effects can be on a normal human being. One of the most shocking dialogues comes from Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore who says “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” as a village is air bombed in the background which clearly depicts the level of insensitivity during war. In the same battle, Kilgore orders his troops to play Ride of the Valkyries on the helicopter loudspeakers as they fly into battle and invade a village to instil fear into the hearts of their enemies and announce their arrival on the battlefield. Another instance shows a woman being brutally murdered when she runs to protect a puppy as a squadron opens fire on her. Although not as grave, there are few other shocking moments in the film as well, one of which has a Colonel ordering his men to surf or be shot by his hand as a battle ensues in the background and a second when a squadron of soldiers travelling on a river in the middle of a warzone decide to take time to surf while starving locals look on in amazement.

Brutality is one of the key components of the film. Being set in a warzone, it can be expected that multiple killings would take place. But the manner in which they are depicted show what director Coppola was aiming to convey to his audience in his criticism of war. One particular scene actually has a television crew recording on the shore of a beach as a battle takes place and telling soldiers to act naturally, not look at the camera and get on with the war. In another scene, a commanding officer demands that an injured prisoner of war be treated well and attempts to give him water from his own flask but loses focuses as soon as he is informed that a celebrity surfer has joined his platoon and drops the injured man from his arms to greet the celebrity. Some of the soldiers in the film take pleasure in being able to kill their enemies even if it is uncalled for. Although informed that a particular area is a hotspot for enemy troops and advised to divert paths, a platoon leader decides to take the route via the enemy hotspot just to be able to eliminate the enemy soldiers and claim the area for his own army.

The film shows a contrast in what is seen as being sane during war but would otherwise be considered insane in times of peace. The film uses the antagonist to depict this perfectly. The antagonist is shown to have gone mental and defected from his own army when in fact he has realised that the commands he previously received were to kill unnecessarily and he decides to conduct his own operations. In one scene, the antagonist reveals that the news broadcast about the war claims that it is under control with minimum deaths and that peace will be restored soon; however the truth is that soldiers are continuously ordered to carry out innumerable attacks which are unknown to the rest of the world. In the end, there is sympathy towards the antagonist because although partially insane, he still comes across as fairly rational.

The film has narration by the protagonist which comes through well in the raspy voice of Martin Sheen. It is a brilliant film which is aesthetically pleasing; one particular scene where Marlon Brando is first revealed as the antagonist as he speaks in a deep, commanding voice through the shadows but only the glint in his eyes is clearly visible. It is an excellent film which can be summed up in the last dialogue as Marlon Brando exclaims “The horror, the horror”.