Quarter 4 Final

Billy Elliot   
Essay #1

    The film Billy Elliot takes place in England and is a charming story about a young boy who dreams of becoming a great dancer. We watch Billy take criticism for being a bout and wanting to dance, and from his father who is less than supportive. Billy tries and tries to become proficient and he does so, then getting an audition to a special ballet school. He ends up making it in, and fixing things with his family. The story wraps up nicely with an emotional ending that leaves the viewer pleased.
    As far as culture in this film goes, there is plenty of it. The English have more then an accent, they have a strong vocabulary that may not be accepted in America. The young boy swears and drinks a little too, which adds to the relaxed European vibe. Also, there is a scene where his father gets extremely angry and slaps him. This just represents the dysfunction of the family and that could happen in any county.
    Many kids today have trouble achieving what they need and have a passion for, due to parent disapproval. Billy proved everybody wrong and showed that even though he is a boy; he has every right to dance. Dancing in America is for men and women,  maybe unlike England. Billy learns he can achieve anything he wants if he works hard enough and that is a lesson we all can take.

The Kings Speech
Essay #2
   
    The Kings Speech is a film about King George VI of Britain. King George has a very unfortunate stutter and therefore cannot deliver speeches to his country. He knows it’s his responsibility to give speeches and talk in front of his people so he works to cure himself from the speech impediment. The support he gets from his wife is immense and he is able to become a great speaker by the end of the film.
    King George is true to himself and true to his culture by connecting back to himself and discovering why he had that problem. As for culture, he knows as a King it’s his duty to stand strong in front of his people. He lacks confidence in the beginning of the film and by the end he has found himself and I true to himself. The people trust his word and stand by him when he isn’t able to deliver speeches because they know he is a King and respect him.
    Same with Billy Elliot, King George worked hard enough and got what he wanted. He found himself on the way and his true personality came through and he was able to speak in front of his people. America doesn’t have royals but we have presidents and we want them to be able to deliver speeches so we can relate to the people in Britain.

Triplets Of Belleville

The triplets of belleville took place in france and was a story that was a little strange. These bikers were captured and forced to bike on a machine while people could et who was going to win. It was a cartoon but  the characters were made to look really weird. It was creepy and the bone structure in everyones faces and bodies looked scary. It was interesting to see these characters move but i thought overall it was a strange movie.

My Life In Pink Review

The movie we just watched was a french speaking film called my life in pink. The story took place in Belgium and was about a young boy who thinks he is a girl. His family at first is sort of accepting to this fact but as the movie continues and the family is discriminated against, they become less accepting and try to change his mind. The boy goes through a lot and at one point moves in with the grand mother. The ending of the film is sweet, and the parents conclude that he is their son and they should love him for who he is. In belgium, i think that it is more common for transgenders to be discriminated against. The families themselves behave in a way most americans do, with fighting and yelling. I think that the upper class families are more strict with who they accept. i liked this movie, i thought it was very clever and a good story.

The Fish Fall In Love Review

   


    The movie we just watched took place in Iran on the caspian coast. The story is about a young girl who uses their home to start a resturant. When Aziz returns home, he is convinced to close the resturant. The main character, Atieh, is determined to impress him by cooking him a new dish each day in hopes of preventing the close of the resturant. I found this film  to have an interesting story and it was cool to see the ladscape of Iran. It was confusing at times as to what is going on. The way people communicaed was also very unique and different from America. This movie i found to be a little boring, and slow moving but overall it was interesting. The main theme of the film is love and passion for food, with fish being mentioned quite often.

Billy Elliot Review

   


    We recently watched the film billy elliot, taking place in England. The film was adapted from a broadway musical into a feature film. The movie is about a young boy with a passion for ballet and no family support. His main mentor is the dance coach at the gym where they offer boxing and ballet. She trains him in secret along with th girls, in hope of helping him live his dream.
   His father is a very angry person and when he found out about billy's love for dancing he was outraged and thought no boy should be dancing. Determination and hard work paid off. As the film progresses, billy's dance teacher finds him an auditon for a very good dance academy in london. The father sees Billy dance and had a realization that he needs to support his son wit his goal. He agrees and goes to te audition, which he makes. He becomes closer to his dad and brother by the end of the film which he never was before.
   I think this film was a charming yet deep story that some people can connect to. Family is the main theme of the story and the message at the end is well put. The difference in cultures is present in the fact that for an example, the young boys of about 11 drink beer, and swear and do things that in america might not be as exceptable. Overall, good movie!

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

   

    The last film we watched was Crouching Tiger, Sleeping Tiger which tok place in China. The movie mainly consists of people fighting with swords to gain control over the Green Destiny. I found this movie to be quite pointless personally. The characters would walk on water and jump on trees and fly which did not look real and is ot possible.
   The movie does show china and it's martial arts which was sort of interesting to see. Also, just the overall way that the chinese communicated in the film and the way that they would refer to eachother as "masters". In America, that does not happen nor is martial arts so big.
   Overall, this movie was not my favorite. I thought it was okay for a fictional movie, but i found it to be more then rediculous. The actors and actresses did a nice job none the less.

Little Miss Sunsine Review

    


    Little Miss Sunshine is a film about a disfunctional family and their trip to california to fufill the youngest girl, Olive, dreams of becoming Little Miss Sunshine. This film takes place in New Mexico, America and shows a typical troubled family. The son has vowed a year of silence, grandpa is a drug addict, and uncle is suicidal. All of them come together on a road trip to California for Olive's beauty pagent. 
   The film is very funny and sweet. The family learns to deal with eachother and love eachother. When grandpa dies in the middle of their road trip, they are in a hurry and steal his body and put it in the trunk of the car. These comical events help support the story and it's serious theme. Each character has their own story that we learn about through out the movie and everyone has their own feelings and problems. 
   The family demonstrates an almost regular American family, and the common problems families have. The moral of the film is to love eachother regardless of the situations. I enjoyed this movie, i thought it was hilarious and very interesting!

 

The Kings Speech

   


    The Kings Speech is a fitional movie based on a historical event. It follows King George VI and his speech inpediment. Being the king, he must be able to give speechs well, and represent his land. His stutter in his voice prevents him from doing that and therfore his confidence is lacking. The royal family has tried many different doctors but none have worked to fix his speech.
      They then meet a speech therapist named Lionel Logue, and at first they don't get along because they are subborn people. Then a friendship begins and the king realizes how much he can benifit from his help. By the end of the film King George manages to have a good speech about the dark war ahead and he is cured. The early 20th century Great Britan is different then America. 
   One reason being that they have a lot of royalty there and therfore everyone is a bit more proper and well mannered. Everyone looks up to the king and he has a responsibiity to lead the country with great integrity and pride. I thought the king george managed to do that by the end of the film and lived up to the high expectations that Great Britan has put for him. I lked this movie, i thought it was a good story and educational on the lives of royalty. 

 

Last Train Home Review

   



    The film Last Train Home is documentary style film that deals with the topic of chinease working class trying to find a way home before the new years. We follow a family that has a lot of problems. Both parents left their children with their grandma at a very young age to go to the city and work in factories to make ends means. This tore the family apart and now the two children hold it against their parents. In Cina this is very common for the adults to leave to find work.
   From urban to rural, thousands try to find tickets home to their farms and houses in the countryside. Most tickts sell out fast and it is a riot to get one. China has so many people that transportation is a huge issue. The relations between china and america are different being that most americans would be able to drive home while chinease not all have cars to do so.
   I thoght this movie was interesting and a good story to follow. I thought that the family had a lot of problems relating back to the fact that the parents left early to work. In america its not common for people to do that. Good movie!

The Bet Collector

    

    The movie we just watched was called The Bet Collector and it was from the philippines.  The story was of a woman who went around the town collecting bets. There was no real background on the lady besides the fact her son is dead. We know this because he tends to follow her around as a shadow. I found this movie a little weird and un original. I wish that there was more of a story with the woman. Towards the end she gets accidently shot in a riot in the streets, but the bullot ended up killing the young man behind her. I felt that this event was too random and out of place. It was a little interesting to see the philippines up close but other then that i do not recomend this video. 

 

Kitchen Stories Review

    

    Kitchen Stories is a film that takes place in Norway and follows a story of an observer and a stubborn, old man. The observer is required to take notes on the kitchen habits of a single man. At first the two get annoyed with eachother, one from Norway and the other from Sweden. Then by the end of the film the two become good friends, which is against the observers policies. The attachment between the two characters is un heard of frm and oter observers and host and they were not supposed to talk to eachother.

   The film displays many cultural bridges between the US, Norway, and Sweden. The two characters come from different backgrounds and lifestyles which cause the two to clash at first. The climate of Norway is snowy and cold which is similar to some states in the US. The conversation between the two is very minimal and not as much as people in the US would talk. 

   I thought this film had a few interesting components. The story was sweet, but at times a little boring. Some parts were funny like when the old man decided he wouldnt cook in his kitchen just to throw the observer off. Animals, mainy horses were very important to the characters displaying a cultural reference.

Little Otik Review

    

    The movie that we just watched was Little Otik. The movie takes place in the Czech Repulbic and is a story based off of a fairy tale. The story is very creepy and i would almost classify the movie as a horror film. The plot of the story is a couple is un able to conceive a child so the mother nurtures a baby carved out of wood. The wood baby comes alive and turns into a monster, but the mther who is very attached won't let him get killed.

      As the monster grows, his appetite does too. He starts killing and eating people and the couple is forced to lock him away in the basement where he is discovered by the neighbor girl. She feeds and cares for him but soon she isn't under much control. The movie ends with the neighbor coming downstairs to kill him, and we don't see how it ends.

   Overall, i found this movie very weird. The way the movie is filmed with the different angles creates a creepy vibe. The food in the film i looked at in detail which makes it look not appealing. This is a very european film and really nteresting.

Of Love And Eggs Review

    

    Of Love And Eggs is a film that was very different that the rest i've seen. Indonesia is a country different then ours in many ways. We do not have markets that people live in and base their life off of like the film. Everyone worked in the day and everyone would pray. These were the basis of the families living in Jakarta.

   The story follows a family as they are making a living in the market. Family problems continue to occur, but through out the film, the message of love is always there. A symbol in the movie i found interesting was the hearts that they would print on to the eggs that they sold. Many stories are put together including a deaf girl who wnats to see her brother. 

   I thought this film was alright, and kin of interesting. I found some parts dull and not very amusing, but the overall message was sweet. Indonesia is an interesting country!

Of Love And Eggs Research

    

    The film Of Love And Eggs takes place in a market in Jakarta, Indonesia. They follow people who live and work in the markets and their lifestyle. Romance, family issues, and religion all come together in this documentary style film. The story takes place during the Lebaran holiday, and shows comedy in the coming together of this holiday. 

Hoop Dreams Review Essay

   

Hoop Dreams Research

    

    Hoop Dreams is a documentary style film that follows two youth boys from their freshman year in highschool to the freshman year in college. This movie is filmed in America ad takes place here. These two kids must struggle with basketball, and school and the everyday stresses of highschool. Each boy is unique but they both have the hopes of becoming basketball players.

Persopolis Review

    Persopolis is a film set in Iran and deals with the struggles of war and discomfort in Iran. The main character, Marjane, who set off to France due to the war and hard times back in her home country of Iran. In France, she lives with many different people and is orced out of their home because of arguements. With all the moving around, Marjane slowly begins to dislike France.

   The country of France is very different then her home country of Iran. She doesn't adjust well and is very poor. Toward the end she learns that Iran is probably a lot better then France, and she misses her family and friends.

   This movie is a good story, and very educational. I thought it demonstrated good culture bridges, and it really showed the different types of people in different countries. In countries ike Iran, war is almost always present and therefor many people try to leave the country. Leaving a country like this movie demonstrated isn't easy.

Persepolis Research

  

   Persepolis is a cartoon film that takes place in Iran and France and tells the story of a girls named Marji and life in the Islamic revolution. It's a fresh take on a girls life and the everyday struggles. She is sent off to suy in Vienna and must adjust to a new culture and a new life.

Run Lola Run Review/Research

  

     Run Lola Run is a German film that takes place in the city. Lola and her boyfriend Manni owe a man 100,000 dollars and if it's not given to him by 12pm, Manni dies. The movie follows that one stoy but has three endings. The first ending is when Lola dies, second is when Manni dies and the final one is when they both live and get the money to the man and have an extra 100,000. 

   The main points in the film is time and fate. Time is a very important thing in Germany and it's frowned upon to be late. Lola spends pretty much the entire film running to get places. Fate is portrayed in the three different endings, showing how everything is effected by everything and one small change will cause a whole another event. 

    The film has a soundtrack of a thumping beats, relating to either a heartbeat, or the clock ticking. This fast paced film is non stop action, making the events more interesting. In some scenes you are able to see the future of what happens to the characters after Lola rus into them which i thought provided to be interesting.  

Tsotsi Review

  

      Tsotsi is a movie about a young man who is a typical thug ganster living in South Africa. He beats people up, robs them and even kills some. His life is a fast track to disaster when one day he steals a car and soon discovers a baby is left inside. That begins his struggle to decide to keep th baby or let it die on the road side. He tries to take care of the baby but being the only thing in his life that he cares for, proves to be a struggle.

     He gets a single mother near by to take care of the child as he realizes that the child needs milk and food. While learning to care for the child he realizes the importance of life and the basis of humanity. With these lessons learned he is on the way to start over his life. The newspaper prints an article about the missing child and he is feeling the guilt.

     The movie ends with Tsotsi returning the child to the frantic parents. That was probably the hardest thing for Tsotsi to do because he had to surrender his reputation and do the right thing. It was a very emotional ending and every character was crying and upset. I thought this movie was very touching and well made. It really showed the difference in America to the poverty in south africa.

Chak De Review

  

    The film Chak De takes place in India and is a fictional movie about the womens national field hockey team. The caracters are the girls on the teas and then their new coach Kabir who has a reputation of betraying his team in his playing days. The team and coach don't get along at first but soon grow to be strong together after they realize that it didn't matter where they all came from because now they represent all of India.

   Kabir, now the coach of the womens team tries his best to teach the girls to play for India, then the team, and if anything is left then they can play for themselves. He uses the team to in a way get rid of his reputation by training them for the championships. When the head trustee doesn't beleive in the womens team and takes them as a joke, they are more determined then ever and they end up winning the championship and gaining their respect back.

   India is different in many ways to America, in that they take womens sports in a non serious manner while America is more equal with the support. Also, each girl who came to the team from their own state had pride in their place and felt superior. I enjoyed this movie, i thought it was very entertaining. 

The Host Review

     The host is a horror movie about a monster coming up and out of the water and running around eating poeple. It takes place in South Korea along the Han River. The story focus's on one family who looses a member to the monster. This girl is named Hyun-seo, a thirteen year old. The general plot is that her family including aunt, uncle, grandfather, and father missions to find her after getting a call from her that she is sill alive. The monster itself is a mutation from chemicals that were spilled on purpose from a scientist into the river.

   Seo-ri is a south korean term that was used in this fild that demonstrates a cultural bridge. The term means that it is acceptable to take food from anywhere if it is a case of survival. One cannot take money though, that is considered stealing. In America, taking ood or anything is still considered stealing. 

   I thought overall that this film was interesting and slightly gross. The small comedy in it adds some positive features and i appriciated that. The monster was very well animated i thought and looked fairly real. Good movie!

  

The Kite Runner Review

    The Kite Runner is a magnificent film and i was very surprised to like it as much as i did. I found it to be very sad at times, but the ending was bittersweet. There are many many differences between America and Afghanistan, probably the most out of all the countries we have viewed. Politically, Afghanistan is super dangerous in the film. Men are required to wear beards and women must be covered head to tow which in America we do not. 

    The plot begins in present day and we see Amir as a grown man and he is reliving his memory as a child. Then the story of when he was younger starts and we watch as Amir and Hassen become good friends until one day Hassen isn't able to defend Amir causing Amir to hate him and neglect him as a person. Not long after that, Amir and his family are forced to flee the country because of political turmoil. 

    He looses contact with Hassen and eventually moves to America. He find out shocking news that Hassen was his brother and he goes back to retrieve his nephew and son of Hassen who is now killed. All ends well with Amir and his wife accepting Hassen's child and they start a family together. Overall this movie was very touching and it was my favorite of the ones we have watched.

The Kite Runner Research

The Kite Runner is a feature film that takes place in politically tense Afghanistan. It's about a boy who is best friends with his fathers servants boy and they grow up together. Eventually the boy Amir moves to the united states. With his friendship broken with Hassen, he moves on with his life and gets married. He receives a call from his old friend telling him he needs to come back and he soon realizes that Hassen was killed and he had a son, which is also his nephew. Amir begins his mission to save the boy and bring him back to America. 

Maria Full Of Grace Review

    After viewing the film Maria Full Of Grace, i was very touched. This is a fantastic film and yet a little disturbing. The job of a drug muler looks down right awful and very dangerous. When showing her swallowing the huge pellots of drugs, it made me a little un easy. Besides the uncomfortableness in that scene i found it to be a great film.

   I enjoyed that it was't a documentary, andwith it not being one it made the story seem very real and intense. The stye that the director used made you sit on edge. When Maria makes it to America finally, her friend Lucy had one of the pellots break in her stomach causing her to become ill. Maria sees her dead in the bathtub and realizes she needs to leave the house they were in immediatly. 

   In the end, she chooses to stay in America and start her life over brand new. I think this was a good decision for her because her life wasn't great back home and she has more oppertunities here in America. I really enjoyed this movie!!

Maria Full Of Grace Research

    

     Maria Full Of Grace is a film about a 17 year old Columbian girl named Maria working in a low wage job and barely making her way. After finding out she is pregnant, she gets offered to become a drug mule, and accepts the offer knowing how muc she is in needd of the money. She swallows lot of packaged pills, and goes to the airport where her and her friend get caught and their stuggles begin. She learns the ins and outs of drug muling as her life is put in danger.

 

Afghan Star Review

    

     Afghan Star is a documentary style film that follows the contestants of Afghanistans singing contest show. The contestants are risking their lives by competing on Tv in Afghanistans rocky goverment. The singing show becomes wildly popular as it progresses. We watch them pass each round until there is four left. A woman named Setara chose to take off her veil and dance when she sang which created much uproar from the Afghan people.

   She recieved threats and discrimination and had to hide from the people. In Afghanistan, dancing is not something that is common and it's looked down upon. People considered her a "loose" woman and threatened to kill her. While not everyone was against her, there was still many contributing factors to lead to her unsaftey. 

   We watched the competition finish with Rafi winning, and becoming the Afghan Star. The show helped many people in Afghanistan who worked at Tv stores or repair places because they got more and more costumers as the show was becoming popular and a Tv was needed. The culture of Afghanistan is extremely different then America in ther goverment and how they view pop culture. I liked this movie and found it interesting to see how people react to what we consider normal.

 

Please Vote For Me Review

     After watching the film Please Vote For Me, I'm both surprised and pleased with what i learned. The extremness of the childrens parents to me was very shocking. The support they provided wasn't always fair to the other students running, for example, one parent told his son to give gifts to people to get their vote, and here in America doing that isn't looked high upon. The way that the children yell at eachother hurtful names before beginning and the teacher not stopping them i also was surprised about. Thats just another example of  cultural difference between a communist country and a democratic one. 

   The basic story line is three kids named Luo Lei, Xu Xiaofei, and Cheng Cheng, all are running for the position of class moniter. The class moniter is is responsible for controlling the class and helping the teacher with things. The past two years it has been Luo Lei and many have complained about him mistreating them. During the debates between the students, they rely on attacking eachother and stating the opponents faults.

   Surprisingly, Luo Lei won again after he gave out gifts to the class. Te other two children start crying and some of the other classmates do too. I felt like the class cried a lot in this film and really took the competition to heart. Overall,  i enjoyed this movie, it was something that you don't see everyday.

Please Vote For Me Research

    

     Please Vote For Me is a documentary style film that takes place in China, in a small primary school. An experiment is taking place as the teachers decide to run a democratic campain to elect the student leader. China is a strict communist country so this was a rare event to take place. The competition between the three students is steadily increasing, as parents get involved. Shocking realities of campaining are hown as the tension pushes third graders to the breaking point. 

Mongolian Ping Pong Review

    After viewing Mongolian Ping Pong, i can conclude some cultural differences. The story is about three kids who discover a ping pong ball in the river and try to think aout what it is. They don't realize it's a ping pong ball, proving that they aren't very educated about the life outside of their area. They purchase a Tv and hear someone talking about China's ping pong ball and how it's their national ball. Their journey begins as they try to travel to China to return the ball.

   They didn't get far, and soon got lost in the desert. After being found, they learn that they were going the wrong way to begin with. Defeated, and in a lot of trouble with their parents, Bilike's mother stomps on the ball, denting it. The boys are dissapointed and feel awful about ruining this very important ball. They give up on tat mission, and move on with their life as normal once again.

  

    At the end, Bilike goes to a school in China that is full of art, music and sports. He wanders off during a session and looks in a room and sees people playing ping pong. This is the first time he throughly understands the origin of this ball and how he didn't have "the only one" in China. Mongolian Ping Pong is set in the grasslands of Mongolia, and had a little different setting then The Story Of The Weeping Camel. That sets a differnt tone, and i found the movie very culturally interesting.