Rowan Sullivan, Author at FilmRoot

316

Waar (Pakistan) – The Pakistani Answer to The Expendables

Waar Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you love melodramatic action movies with loads of clichéd characters, you’ve got to watch Waar. It’s the Pakistani answer to the narco-peliculas (genre drug war films) of Mexico. Instead of drug cartels and undercover cops trying to assassinate the head capos you’ll see special forces trying to stop terrorists. Check it out here on Netflix if cheesy one liners are your thing!

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Why Watch Waar?

You love cheesy action movies such as The Expendables or Rambo: First Blood Part 2 with loads of hilarious one-liners
It’s ready for you to watch on Netflix
If you want to see a Pakistani film
For the melodrama – it’s on a par with the home-made drug cartel film you’ll find all across Mexico

The Breakdown

The good thing about Waar is that you know exactly what kind of film it is going to be from the opening minutes.

The film starts in a dimly lit interrogation room. One man smoking a cigarette sits opposite two men handcuffed to their chairs – it’s obvious who’s interrogating who. Then one of the prisoners says “we are not afraid of dying”. The interrogator responds by grabbing the speakers hand and firing a bullet into the back of it.

The interrogator is not there to mess around, and with this opening Waar:

Grabs our attention
Sets the scene for an action driven genre film

What else makes this film cheesy? Other than the one-liners, one-dimensional antagonist, and clichéd characters? Answer: the music. You’ll notice it when we are introduced to this ex-special forces agent who is accompanied by wailing singing as he arrives at the graves of his dead wife and son. You’ll also notice it when heavy metal music starts playing in the action films. Is the music necessary? No. But it does add to it’s cheesy action film credentials, a lot like the narco corridos (drug songs) that randomly interrupt the Mexican drug-genre films.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

Unless you’re a big cult/genre action film fan or you love watching serious action movies for laughs, you might find Waar a bit too melodramatic.

If you’re looking for an action film with a better narrative and a bit less cheese I’d recommend checking out Drug War from China and Elite Squad from Brazil. Both are action films like Waar, but they both exclude the irrationally evil villain and melodrama.

Or if you love cheesy action films, go check out Rambo: First Blood, Predator, Die Hard, or most things with Sylvester Stallone, JCVD, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Jason Statham.

Please also send all you’re Pakistani film recommendations to rowan@filmroot.com

317

Play (Sweden) – Cowardice, Social Boundaries, and Controversy

Play Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

In the late 2000s a group of black boys aged 12-14 robbed other children’s phones on around 70 occasions in Gothenberg. This film tracks one of their robbery scams to see how they did it whilst cleverly making the victims (and the audience) look (and feel) helpless. Watch it here (Amazon).

Why Watch Play?

It’s controversial but clever
It will make you feel uneasy and helpless
If you’ve seen Force Majeure (Amazon) or Cannes winner The Square and want to see more from director Ruben Ostlund
To experience mall culture in Sweden

The Breakdown

Play starts with a still shot of the centre of a shopping mall. Two 10 year old white boys enter the middle of the frame talking about what they need to buy next. Then, the camera slowly pans to the left, settling on a group of 5 black kids. They’ve spotted the two white kids and play rock, paper, scissors to decide who is going to go rob them.

Turns out, their trick is a lot longer than you might expect. One of the black boys asks one of the white boys for the time. Then when the white kid pulls out his phone, the black kid tells him that his phone looks just like the one that was robbed from his little brother. Cue a tour around town to find his ‘little brother’ to verify if the phone is the one that was robbed from him.

The race and class separation between the two groups is obvious. One group, with two white kids and one Asian kid, is obviously more well off than the group of black kids that rob them. They are in the mall shopping for new clothes and video games. In contrast, the black kids are just messing around. They’re not there to spend money, they’re there because they have nothing else to do. Robbing the richer kids is their entertainment. It gives them something to do and gets them enough funds to afford dinner.

For more on the identity dynamics, I recommend reading IndieWire’s review of Play here.

How the Director uses static images to convey helplessness

First of all, the bystanders in this film are pretty useless. Every time they see the group of kids in trouble, they refuse to help and just carry on with their own lives instead. The static frames make the bystanders look even more useless. Instead of cutting between close-up shots of the victims and antagonists, the static frame shows us their surroundings. You can see bystanders sitting or standing at the edge of the screen, pretending to be oblivious to the action. Their cowardice makes us question ourselves: would we be like them and just ignore kids being bullied near us?

The static frames also convey the victims helplessness. Once the victims enter the frame they’re stuck. They can leave the screen, but they will always return to it. Similarly, the audience is forced to watch the victims being bullied and robbed. There are short breaks from the main narrative, such as a group of Native Americans singing in the street, but our focus will always be diverted back to the kids being bullied. It’s as if the director wants us to feel helpless whilst trying to show us enough bullying to encourage us to help the helpless.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

Play is brilliantly daring. It’s controversial and clever – it highlights cowardice and staunch social boundaries (class and race) and provokes debate. However, one word of advice, just like a lot of other controversial art (gangsta rap) you’ve got to look deeper than the surface.

For a funnier but even more awkward film from Ruben Ostlund, I strongly recommend Academy Award Nominee, Force Majeure (Amazon).

I’d also strongly recommend watching both Girlhood and La Haine. They’re two more films that focus on underprivileged kids looking for their way in life in societies where they’re marginalised.

Or, if you’re looking for more Swedish film, you must check out anything by Ingmar Bergman. Start with Wild Stawberries or The Seventh Seal (Amazon).

318

Atlantiques (Senegal) – Get to Grips with the Perils of Illegal Immigration

Atlantiques Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Have you ever met someone who has crossed an Ocean/Sea in a canoe to find work? Here’s your chance to find out more about why some choose to migrate illegally, and about the perilous journey’s they take to find work. Watch Atlantiques for free here (Amazon – link may expire by 22.04.18).

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Why Watch Atlantiques?

Learn why some people choose to illegally migrate to Europe
Hear about the perilous journeys some immigrants take
To put yourself in the shoes of an immigrant and question what you might do if you had nothing to eat
It’s a short film directed by a female director!

The Breakdown

One day, Serigne chose to board a pirogue (a big canoe, often with sails) to travel from Senegal to Europe. The journey almost killed him. Waves as high as multi-story buildings whipped the pirogue that he was on making him feel like he was in a building that was tumbling to the ground. Simply put, the journey illegal immigrants undertake is often not pleasant.

Plus, the journey isn’t always the worst part…

You could reach your destination after a perilous and often expensive journey and immediately getting deported.
You have to say goodbye to your family, not knowing if you’ll ever come back home and see them again.

So why do so many people try and migrate every year? Serigne migrated because he had nothing but dust in his pockets and his family didn’t have anything to eat. Migrating was his attempt to put himself in a position to be able to feed his starving family.

How Mati Diop uses setting to bring the character’s and audience closer together

Most of the film is shot around a camp fire where Serigne and his friends debate migration and tell each other their experiences. It’s an intimate setting which draws us closer into their conversation and closer to their thoughts and experiences. Mati Diop deliberately chooses this setting because it brings the audience closer to the characters and to illegal immigration. By introducing us to Serigne (an illegal immigrant) in an intimate setting, we are more likely to sympathise with him and his experience, rather than judge him and illegal immigration without trying to understand it.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

For more Senegalese film, check out the brilliant Black Girl , the story of one Senegalese girl brought to France to work for a French family. It’s full of injustice and currently available to watch here on YouTube.

If you’re interested in seeing more films about illegal immigration, check out the Central American thriller Sin Nombre. Also check out the brilliant Ali: Fear Eats the Soul and the family friendly Paddington (Amazon) for films about the migrant experience.

319

Illumination (Poland) – Search for Life’s Meaning in this Experimental Film

Illumination Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

If you love film and philosophy, Illumination might be the film for you. It’s like watching an existential essay: you’ll follow the main character as he stumbles through life trying to find meaning. It’s experimental and brilliant. Watch the film here (Buy on Amazon).

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Why Watch Illumination?

You love philosophy (bonus points if you love existential philosophy)
Or if you love science (some parts are not for the squeamish)
Or if you don’t know what to do with your life and want to watch someone else who struggles to find meaning in theirs
It’s experimental – the editing will remind you of Bergman’s Persona (if you haven’t seen Persona watch it now)

The Breakdown

“What is illumination? Illumination is a term and concept of Augustine. We obtain knowledge by an enlightenment of the mind.”

The film starts by musing what the meaning of illumination is. Then it cuts to a half naked man taking a medical check. The camera cuts from a close up of his hand to a close up of his foot. Then someone asks the male subject for his name, his surname, his place of birth, height, and weight. In this opening, Zanussi (the director) reduces Franciszek to his physical being before we’ve had a chance to get to know him. This raw physical being is the starting point of this philosophical film essay.

After we meet Franciszek the film flashes to ‘reality’. You’ll see footage of the moon landing, and troops marching ready for war. These images quickly provide us with context. From them we can assume that the film is set in the late 1960s/early 1970s during the Cold War between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. These cuts of footage are also included to disrupt the rhythm of the film. Zanussi includes a lot of interjections like this in his film to intentionally jumble up the story. His intention is to show us the mess of images we see during our lifetimes and to make it difficult to follow the film, to reflect the struggle to find meaning in life.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

There is a story-line in Illumination (the story of Franciszek) but it is hard to follow. Zanussi only uses Franciszek’s life as a framework for the film’s progression. Franciszek’s struggle to find enlightenment is the framework for the film’s commentary on the world’s struggle to find meaning in life. (Warning: you may be filled with existential angst/dread when watching this film).

First up, you need to watch Ingmar Bergman’s Persona if you haven’t already. It’s one of the best explorations of the human psyche (and at a level above David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive).

For more from Zanussi, I strongly recommend watching The Structure of Crystal before this one. It’s easier to watch and is one of those films that makes you feel at peace with life and death (a bit like Wild Strawberries).

Or for more straight up philosophy check out the stream of conscious genius of My Dinner With Andre.

320

Not One Less (China) – 13 Year Old Teacher, What Could Go Wrong?

Not One Less Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

What do you do when you mother is dying and you need to find a replacement teacher to do your job whilst you go visit her? You find a 13 year old girl from a neighboring town that hasn’t been to high school to take over from you for a month. What could go wrong? Find out here (buy to watch on Amazon).

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Why Watch Not One Less?

Learn from the world’s youngest substitute teacher – a 13 year old girl from rural China
For a 5 minute teaching masterclass – who needs qualifications?
Experience life as a kid in rural China and see how it contrasts with life as a kid in the city
If you like Italian neo-realism and/or coming of age films

The Breakdown

Not One Less starts with the arrival of the substitute teacher named Wei. She’s only 13 and hasn’t completed high school yet. But as it’s just a month and this rural town has no one else remotely qualified to teach their kids, she seems like a great option.

Before the actual teacher goes, he gives her a 5 minute 101 in teaching. Here are the golden rules:

Let the students go home, when the sunlight reaches this stick
Copy these lessons for the students to write – one a day
Don’t use too much chalk (it’s expensive)
Sing one song a day

It doesn’t sound too hard. As he leaves, he promises to give her 50 Yuan for her month’s work, and an extra 10 if she keeps all the students until he gets back. Just for perspective, a ticket to town on the bus costs around 20 Yuan. The pay is poor, but it’s what drives this 13 year old substitute teacher – she does whatever she can to keep these kids until the teacher returns for that extra 10 Yuan.

However, as you’ll see, this extra clause is a harder than it might seem. Firstly, as expected, she’s not a great teacher. She doesn’t ‘teach’ the kids, as she just writes on the board, tells the kids to copy it down, and sits outside the exit to block anyone from escaping early. Secondly, her students are poor. One is moved to an athletic school under the promise that her life might be better elsewhere, and another is taken out of school to go work in the city. So what does she do? She turns her lessons into a mission to get them back to school encouraging the students to help her in her quest. If it weren’t for the promise of money, she would be the most caring teacher in the world.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

Wei learns a lot in this film, and so do we. We learn about the Chinese education system, poverty, work, local politics, salesmanship, marketing, the consequences of cheating, and more. Even though this film is about teaching, it shows us that the most valuable lessons are learned outside the classroom in life itself. To learn about China and life in general, go watch this film!

For more great Chinese film, check out the following:

The Road Home: for another film from Zhang Yimou – this one’s an emotional romance
A Touch of Sin: a bleak, politically charged portrayal of contemporary Chinese society
The Assassin: An art-house Martial Arts film with beautiful cinematography and choregraphy

Or, if you’re looking for more coming-of-age films in which kids are forced to grow up quickly, check out Mustang from Turkey and Abouna from Chad. I’d even recommend watching the heartwarming Kikujiro from Takeshi Kitano as well!