Battle of Algiers - Movie review

Pros:

Brilliant moviemaking for a 1966 movie with some intelligent writing and poignant scenes, like the one where a gang of 8-10 year olds attack a tall, old junkie/alcoholic.

The series of scenes where Ali le pointe is inducted into FLN. Interesting rationale.

The conversation between Matthieu and press on revolutionary warfare and its different stages and a more similar exchange between Ali le pointe and Ben M'Hidi

Storytelling, for instance the scene where it starts from a woman staring at mirror to her

ending up planting a bomb!

Contrasting among revolutionaries - people who follow an ideology and have a plan of action

and those who are just hooligans acting on baser instincts and dying to bear arms, but faithful.

Cons:

Actually I'm being picky here when I say the acting in certain scenes were a little outdated,

like this one where an innocent Arab is chased on the streets of Kasbah and arrested.

It is hard to not notice, when the whole movie was around terrorism - its rise and fall, why

the makers scurried through the insurrection, the next phase in a revolutionary warfare in the last 2 or so minutes like a footnote. For some reason, it didn't create any impact on me.

Couldn't stop reminding myself that its a 1966 movie - I don't know if thats really a con.

Quotes:

"Acts of violence don't win wars. Neither wars nor revolutions. Terrorism is useful as

a start. But then, the people themselves must act. That's the rationale behind this

strike: to mobilize all Algerians, to assess our strength."

Juxtapose

1) Cashback vs A Serious man

Movie: Cashback

Ben to Suzy "You can't rely on other people to make you happy"

Movie: A Serious man

In the Yiddish Prologue "I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man: which of us is possessed?"

2) Crazy Heart vs Mudhal Mariyathai

Movie: Crazy Heart

One liner: "Harder the life, Sweeter the song"

Movie: Mudhal Mariyathai

Lyrics: "Suga raagam sogam thaane"

3) Alaigal oyvathillai Vs E E Cummings

Movie: Alaigal oyvathillai

Lyrics: "unaku mattum ketkum enathu uyir urugum satham"

Poet: E E Cummings

"only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses.."

Graphs

Lyrics

"uzhutha pulithiyilum

un mugame theriyuthamma..."

Not sure when I really started noticing the lyrics in a song. Must have been in the past 5 or 6 years I guess. Only music mattered until then. Actually I was very much in that category of Indian moviegoers who try to compare Indian movies with those of the West and found it abrupt and quirky - although West has a 'musical' genre to cover this - when a perfectly normal couple jump into fashionable costumes and start to do lip sync for a song. But, I guess I am going to move on assuming one can argue that heightened feelings call for a different form of expression.

"antha saalaiyil nee vandhu seramal

aaru degree yil en paarvai saayamal

vilagi poirunthaal thollai illai

ithu vendatha velai"

This article will talk about Indian movie songs, actually tamil in particular. Before that let me start with a few pointers from history.

"setha kilavan

eluthi vacha

othai sothu veeramada.."

During the pre-independence era, when the transition from theatre to movies began with the first generation of technicians trying to understand this new powerful medium that demanded a whole new way of storytelling, songs were in fact able to find an easy way in.

"puratchigal ethum seiyamal

pennuku nanmai vilaiyathu..

kannagi silai thaan ingundu..

seethaiku kallaal silayethu.."

Before that, entertainment was limited to theatre and street show, which required expressions in a dramatic musical/lyrical form in order to hold the audience engaged.

"kalaiyil nee illai..

manamum thedavum varavillai..

pirinthathum purinthathu

naan enna ilanthenendru.."

Later they were the same theatre artists who ventured into movies and when they started making non-silent pictures mostly out of theatre plays based off of epics and mythologies, the the concept of songs and lip syncing for songs too migrated along.

"Mounam onrum oonam alla

Vaarthaiyellam mulumai alla"

Afterwards even though social dramas were being made into movies, songs were still an inherent part of it and were then used to preach morality, culture and tradition.

"vellathaane veeram..

kolvatharku illai.."

Although songs and music have been adored and embraced worldwide, when we talk about tamil songs, in this article it particularly refers to tamil ‘movie’ songs since independently made non-cinematic songs were not able to find much success commercially except for a handful of carnatic, religious and folk songs.

"boomi thiranthu kidakku

manusha paya manasu pooti kidakku"

Since movies were the primary form of entertainment and song video has always proven essential to promote a song, songs in movies were in fact helping out each other.

"sari endru theriyamal

thavarendu puriyamal

ethil vandhu sernthen naan

ethir paarka villai naan.."

It is interesting to observe the path lyrical content has taken in the past few decades from raw emotions to sophisticated ideas, from rantings to inner reflection, from bird-eye view to sharp details.

"kadaisiyile azhutha kanneer..

kaiyil innum ottuthadee.."

                                                                                                                 (to be continued..)

Novelty

I must have been 12 or 13. Used to travel by bus for school. This one morning, there was heavy traffic near a certain railway bridge. When our bus was slowly crossing the bridge, everyone rushed to the windows on the right side to look at the railway tracks. About fifty feet away, there was a human body chopped in pieces and thrown aside. People who were sitting by the right side window seats obviously saw it first and began making faces and noises. People who were standing and sitting on the other side now wanted to see it. We all wanted to. Every one of us. Deep down, we all had an inkling of what is waiting there for us. But, still we all wanted to watch and register that disturbing image in our mind. This system has a strange way to engage itself. It wants to take a second look at the cute girl who just passed by. It also wants to watch a horror scene willingly. We actually started to make sense out of these images few years after birth. But then a child responds to a new toy differently than an old one. It appears ‘new’ matters. New idea. New scene. New design. New thought. New movie. New game. Live match. New relationship. New expression. New place. New restaurant. New dish. New music. New work. New project. New and New!

System must find novelty in its input grid more fascinating. Content selection and rationalization begin after novelty high is over.