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.

Mongolian Ping Pong Research

 

         Mongolian Ping Pong is a documentary style film that takes place in the grasslands of Mongolia. It is a story about a boy named Bilike and his friends who discover a ping pong ball in the creek near their home, and are curious what it is. They come to think that it's a lost "national ball" after viewing a ping pong game on television. They begin the quest for Beijing with the hopes of returning what they have found. The movie demonstrates cultural differences and the lack of modernization in the grasslands of Mongolia.

The Story Of The Weeping Camel Review

     

    After viewing The Story Of The Weeping Camel, i can conclude many things. The culture in Mongolia is extremely different compared to the life style here in America. The Geography was very unique, and it took place in the Gobi Desert. They would have to go through storms, which in our mind would thought to be as rain and thunder when they had sandstorms that blew dust everywhere. It looked hot, yet the people were covered at all times in colorful clothing suggesting a reference to their culture. 

   The camels seemed to be almost worshiped by the family, and they took extremely well care of them. They went to the point where they called the music man to come and try to bring the colt and other together, which ended up working sucsessfully! The parents had their children, Dude and Ugna travel by Camel to the nearest town, to get batteries and talk to the music man. Ugna, the youngest boy was fasinated by the televisions he saw in town, and that implicates how old fashioned and not modernized their culture really is. 

   The music that the man played for the camel and throughout the film was really different from the music we listen to here. The Mother would sing her child to sleep in Mongolian and also she sang to the Camel, in high pitch voices and sometimes chanting. I thought this movie was very interesting, although at some points had its slow parts. It was nice to learn a bit more about Mongolians and the way they live and their views of life.

The Story Of The Weeping Camel Research

      

     The story of The Weeping Camel takes place in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, where a family of nomadic shepards help with the birth of a Camel. Ths birth is unlike the others and with that, the story is dramatically changed as they try to make the mother Camel take care of her young, even though she rejects her colt. A musician is needed for rituals in making her accept her colt. This film educates people in the traditions of nomadic shepards in Mongolia. Traditions and customs that this family practices everyday reflect the overall culture of Mongolia. A musician is needed to help coax the mother camel to take care of her colt, and thats a display of Mongolian rituals.