American History X (1998)

This film was recently voted as one of the most violent films of all time by a survey sponsored by Entertainment Weekly. After seeing the film in class I am sure that everyone now understands why it was regarded as such a violent movie. The movie follows white suburban family living in California during the 80’s and 90’s. Derek played by Edward Norton gets mixed up with the wrong idea of how society should treat minorities because his father was killed by one while trying to save him. This film is not only violent, but also ground breaking in its depiction of extremist racism. Its un-politically correct story displays the utter social ignorance that infests the uneducated youth of America.

There were a lot of things going on in the world during the making of this movie which inspired its racial storyline. The Rodney King beating that was a huge debate in the late 90’s was at its peak interest. When Derek sticks up for the police officers who violently beat Mr. King, it went against the cultural norm, but it did express some issues that maybe some of the people were thinking. This was a highly publicized trial that was in the news all across our country. It shows how powerful the media can be in American culture.

Another issue shown in the film was equal opportunity employment, which gives racial minorities jobs over more qualified individuals in order to decreases the gap between whites and other races. They attacked how less qualified individuals were given the jobs based on there ethnicity. This is a very interesting debate, because the rule is biased against whites. We still see this in much of out jobs today. One of my friends was a teacher for the Omaha public school system and he could not get a promotion unless he was a minority, a woman, or a disabled person. The government gives these jobs to less qualified people to uphold a standard of mixed race in public environments.

America is also being over run by illegal aliens, which the movie touched on. Derek attacks a store with his gang just because they employed Mexicans who were here illegally. This type of violence is not the way to solve the problem. The issue still affects the way of American life. The next president of our country may be chosen because of his stance on this very subject. The state in which this movie took place, California, has the highest rate of illegal immigrants in the workforce, than anywhere else.

This movie does show different aspects of racism, violent crimes, and social ignorance that people in general try to avoid in conversation. The part where they are eating dinner and break out into an argument over these issues is something that I don’t see happening in this part of the country. These are issues that are on everyone’s minds, but most people do not take up the extremist position like the white supremacist gang in the movie. I believe those people are considered social outcasts in this country just like the rest of the racial gangs in the US.

The movie does show how tragic it is to be hateful all the time. We see that in the end of the movie, hate does not pay off. There must be a way for the American people to come to a resolution without violence, because violence breeds ignorance.

Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

The Motorcycle Diaries is a biographical film about Marxist Che Guevara. When I first saw this film a little over a year ago, I did not know this was based on a man's life journey across South America. This film tells the story of his experience from traveling across the country as a young man. We begin to see the encounters that shaped him into a revolutionary. He grows into a more mature man during the film, and he is changed by the end of the film. In the beginning he wants to meet women and be a famous traveler, but near the end he is fighting for the rights of the less fortunate. For whom this film is about, it is very interesting at how non-political the story is.

It is hard to believe that someone would embark on this journey on a rickety old motorcycle. Even when the events took place the bike was in horrible condition. This shows us the rebellious nature of Che and his friend Alberto. They were very much unprepared for the harsh road ahead, as well as the trouble and hard ach they would get into along the way. They are always running out of money and somehow still surviving. This is a movie that inspires people to be true to themselves in life and never stop fighting for what you believe in. They never gave up and finally reached their destination in the end.

The geography we see in the film is very true to the country during those times. Some of the most amazing film shots of parts of South America were shown in this film. We saw the Andes Mountains as they took a boat down the river. We also got to see Machu Picchu, the “Lost City of the Incas”, which was visually breathtaking. The film also showed the Amazon River near the leper colony. I realized that much of the South American landscape is unlike anywhere else in the world.

Most of South America was in poverty around these times, except for the rich plantation owners. We see a lot of poor immigrants in the film, as well as some racism toward other South American cultures. I found that in the 1960’s and 70’s the U.S. aligned military dictatorships in displaced or overthrown governments in many South American countries. Also around this time Che became more of a Marxist leader and lead some Cuban and internationalist guerrillas. It’s interesting that this young man is portrayed as such innocent person in this film, which means that it may be supporting Marxist beliefs.

Beat the Drum (2003)

This film follows a young orphan boy, Musa, and his pursuit of happiness in modern day South Africa. The gripping reality is that he is growing up in one of the worst aids epidemics in the history of the world. His moral upbringing and desire for a good life for his family take him to Johannesburg, were it only seems to look darker for the young hero. Musa overcomes what seem like impossible odds to find a better life for himself. This is really an uplifting story for South Africans, in a time that is historically one of the worst for the young people of this country.

The most important issue in this movie is how HIV/aids are affecting their society. According to the South African National HIV Survey, it is estimated that over 340,000 people died of aids in 2006. This country has more people infected with the HIV virus than anywhere else in the world. This is depicted in the film with the sickness and deaths of many young people in the movie. The main problem that I saw in the movie with the epidemic is that most people infected with the disease are sexually active members of society. This means they are the main wage earners for their family in most cases. When they die, it leaves many children orphaned and lost in the poverty stricken country. Many of these children run the risk of having the HIV virus from their parents or contracting it on the streets of the city. This disease has really devastated this country. That is shown in the film by the death of people all the way out in the tribal areas of South Africa.

Another thing that is evident in the film is that the people did not want to accept this disease as the likely killer of so many. The healers and tribal leaders in the movie believe in different types of healing than that of modern medicine. Their society is living in belief of many farces about the disease and how it is treated. The fact that the movie says some people believe they can cure the disease by sleeping with a virgin is shocking. That would defiantly cause an even worse out come for the young women of the country. It also seems that in the poverty stricken areas rape, and crime is more prevalent. An interesting fact I found while researching this film is that many of the infected people of South Africa are treated at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospitol, which is the largest hospital in the world.

There is so much tragedy in this film that it is hard to get away from, but I would like to talk about the landscape of the region. Much of the areas where Musa came from are shown as golden grassy areas where many of the people live of the land. We did not see much of this part of South Africa in the film Tsotsi. The city of Johannesburg looks like a more typical city in this film, where as in the other South African movie Tsotsi, it was shown as a darker place. We do see much of the same type of poverty stricken young gangs in the city areas though. There are so many poor and orphaned people that the government can not provide enough money to house or feed them all. We do see a much more prevalent role of the white man in this film, as the father of the young white lawyer deals with his own son’s death from aids. It still appears that they are a more honored person in the area, and own businesses or hold important roles in the city.

This is a very uplifting movie towords the end as we see a society come to grips with a disease that is taking over their country. They have finally come to accept that if nothing changes, they may all die from HIV/AIDS. We also see Musa find a home of his own, which shows the resilience of the South African society, and that if they find the honorable path, they shall be rewarded.

Singapore Dreaming (2006)

“Singapore Dreaming” is dark comedy about a typical low class Singaporean family coming to grip with reality. It deals with many life lessons about loss, ambition, and what really matters in a family.

There are many different societal norms in Singapore that are shown in this film. Some are very different then what we typically see in the U.S., and sometimes take for granted. Although some of these things do happen in other Asian societies. The first and most obvious shown in the movie is the sexist idea that men are more important than the women in the family. This is shown by the way the son in the family is treated over the daughter. He is given everything even after countless screw-ups on his part, to proceed in life. Yet the daughter who is smart and hard working does not get a thing from the family. Her boss even treats her with little or no respect. There is one point in the movie after the father wins the lottery and offers to give his son a large portion of it to start his own business; this is when I felt the differences in our society with theirs. I wanted to yell out to the father, “What are you doing? He is just going to throw that money down the drain!” I also felt sorry for the daughter, because she was almost ignored by her own family until the very end of the movie. When she got her money from the lawyer and the son was left with almost nothing, I felt like justice was served.

Some other Asian societies value the wealth of a son more than a daughter. They view them as someone who can carry on the family name and honor, where as the girl will not accomplish much in life, but to raise a family. This is shown in the movie when the father of the family is asking his son to bare him a grandson to carry on his name.

A funny part in the movie is the part about peeing in the elevators. Something about this just seems comical to me, but I am sure that this common nuisance is not funny to the people of Singapore. I have read that this is something the less fortunate do to rebel to the well off people of the city. This seems very childish and crude to someone like me, but it is a part of their society. In America I could only see bums in large cities doing something like this.

The family in the movie places a lot of emphasis on money as being the key to being happy. The father has a ritual of cutting out pictures of things he wants to buy, like cars. He also wants to join a country club that he is not familiar with in any way. The son buys a car and tries to look success full and to try to fit into the wealthier realm of society in this highly metropolitan city. The daughter curses her husband for not making enough money for their family to live properly, and makes him feel ashamed about it. I believe this movie shows us all those things to make us realize how we all covet these materialistic things. Even in death the son asks for a toy pool to burn at his father’s funeral. His death is shown as a very ritualistic performance, and is the point of the movie that the mother finally realized what she values most in life. This is a type of cleansing of the soul, where the materialistic things are burned and all that is left is the family. This makes the viewer see the truth behind the greedy son who deserves nothing and the hard working daughter who never stops giving. This breaks the societal norm of Singaporean families and shows that those who deserve kindness are based off merit and not sex.

The landscape of this movie is very urban as the city has almost no empty land to speak of. Condos line the coasts and smaller little apartments house the less fortunate. I did not see any typical homes in this city, but mainly these large housing structures. It reminds me of Manhattan in a way, but even they have brown stones, and central park. The other part of the landscape was the whole funeral parlor and parade at the end of the movie. This shows the tradition of how they morn the dead in Singapore.

Tsotsi - South Africa (2005)

This film depicts a modern day South Africa in the city of Johannesburg. Tsotsi, which means thug in South African language, is an urban gang leader must fight for his survival in the tough city. The contrast between urban and rural landscapes is very dramatic. In the city we see large subways packed with workers traveling through the crowded streets. The city is full of life and business, but also those who like to pray on the week, like Tsotsi. The out skirts of the city become dirty and vagrant, as we see in the part with the man in the wheel chair. This is a buffer zone between the city and the rural outskirts. You can tell that this area becomes scarier and is almost a sign for those not to venture any further into the unregulated areas. The rural landscape is full of small shakes that look home made with what ever type of building materials they could find. There is no running water going to the homes, and Tsotsi has to lock his own door with a chain and pad lock. You can tell this is where the poor and unwanted members of society go to live, as there is little or no police in the area.

Black people in the movie are shown in a few different ways. We see them as gang members, police, and suburban families. There are not many white people in the movie, but those that are seem to play authoritative roles. The white police man seems to tell the black policeman to refrain himself from being uncivil in his police duties. This shows that whites are still controlling figures in South Africa.

Apartheid is not that prevalent in the movie. This type of segregation was abolished in 1994. You do see the blacks all living together in the same areas, but you do not see the white areas of South Africa in this movie at all. That is why it is hard to tell what left over issues from segregation still remaining. The only thing that is certain is that South Africa has failed to offer civil living conditions for its poor majority in this post-apartheid city. You can easily see the expanse of the township that Tsotsi lives, when the police find the stolen vehicle over looking the shantytown in the background and wonder how they might ever capture the thief in a place like this.

The baby may symbolize the youth of Africa and its innocent poor. A baby in its simplest form must get food, shelter, and be cleaned. This is much like the poor outcasts of South African society that just want the simplest things in life to survive. Tsotsi becomes obsessed with caring for the baby, and even the single mother who is forced to feed it shows affection towards the helpless baby. The country may be affectionate to those without help.

The future of South Africa may change for the better. This movie is not a gangster tale, or a tragic tale of the loss of a baby. Instead it is a realization or awakening of Tsotsi when he sees the baby. He changes his outlook on life and begins to do the right thing, by caring for his beaten friend and stopping his other murderous friend. In the end he gives himself up for the sake of the baby. This shows that South Africa may find a way to act more caringly for their fellow country men and take pride in the fact that their people are safe.

City of God

This movie took place in ‘Cidade de Deus’ which is Portuguese for City of God. City of God is a term that refers to the lower class area of Rio de Janeiro in South America. This is a part of the city that is not shown to the public when looking at the major metropolis that is the largest city in Brazil. This is where the poorest people of the city live in slums that were created by poverty amoung the cities people. The story takes place over a decade starting in the 1960’s and up to the major era of drug use in the 70’s. Much of the area changes in quality over the duration of the story, which I will describe later.

The movie was based on a novel named City of God, which is based on a true story of a young mans life in this city. It was filmed in some in Brazil and uses some of the actual maps of the real City in the movie. One interesting thing I found while reading about this movie, is that many of the actors used in the film are from favelas in Rio de Janeiro, and in some cases, the actual City of God. It was filmed around the year 2000 and many of these actors were taken from the favelas and placed into an acting camp.

Initially the main character is living in a small community of modular homes that look to be recently built. This looks like government houseing used to place the poor people of the city far away from the nicer areas. Over the duration of the story the homes are run down with poverty and crime. Then we start to see the favelas, which are slums that are built into the hillside of the city. Some of them offer amazing views, but are constructed of poorly made concrete and brick structures. From what I have read, they can be very dangerous, yet some almost 3 million people in the city live there. These “shanty towns” get there electricity and other construction for free. This is a part of the way of life in Brazilian cities, because these favelas house displaced immigrants and former slaves. The movie did depict the favelas accurately based on what I have read about them.

Filming of the movie shows the city as a third world country where drugs and violence are every where. The police are corrupt and can sometimes cause more death than the gangs. Guns are the main source of power for the gang violence. They must rob to get money for the firearms so that they may take down their enemies and control more turf. This reminded me of some of the stories I have read about Mexican drug dealer wars.

The landscape outside the favela looks like a paradise on the beach. The coast line is full of white sand beaches and lush green hillsides. This looks more like the Rio de Janeiro that is shown in the pictures of Carnival, and other national media from the area. This would be a beautiful city without all the crime and poverty in the favelas.

Class structure is very evident in the movie, as it is in real life Rio de Janeiro. There are enormous differences between rich and poor. Although this is one of the world’s largest cities many of its inhabitants are living in poverty. The favelas show the poor side of the city, which run rampant with crime and drugs. Much of the control and wealth is held by gangs, while some of the power is with corrupt police. Outside the favelas wealthy people have control of the major businesses in the city near the ocean, and can bribe police if they need any favors. While favelas are built on hillside land that is unsafe and can cause major accidents if built improperly.

Bollywood: Veer-Zaara

This movie addressed some very heated political issues between Pakistan and India in a theatrical way. India and Pakistan have been involved in several wars, and skirmishes over the years. They mainly stem from dispute over the mountainous region of Kashmir and in the manner in which its political alignment was decided by the two countries following partition in 1947. There is still much bad blood between the two nations. Pakistan has a ban on Bollywood movies, but some have recently been made exceptions and shown in theatres, while others appear on Pakistani cable television. India and Pakistan now have nuclear weapons, which concerns many countries around the world, but recently, both have remained cautious with there nuclear power. This made the movie interesting as an Indian and Pakistani fall in love, which is very taboo.

Much of the movie was in Hindi, but the parts that contained English seemed to be parts of the dialogue that were very important to the storyline. This shows the role of the British and how the English language was used to be understood in times of importance. Most of the movies from Bollywood today contain some English words or sentences in them.

The film depicts the parts of India and Pakistan around the boarders that are less populated areas. It showed the lush country side and small towns which contain fields and small homes. In a few scenes they ride on tractors through these fields from one place to another. In India the homes are much larger and remind me of the Taj Mahal. The only parts of the film with mountains during the time on the Indian side of the border. You could get a sense of the area when they were traveling on buses or trains that were over crowded with people, who were then forced to ride on the roof tops.

The movie was filmed in a very dramatic style. The intimate scenes were similar to a soup opera, but without much physical interaction, just looking deep into the eyes of the other. The dance scenes were wild, and you could tell that much of this movies production would have been taken up by the choreography of the dance sequences. The voices of the singers were also dubbed over the shots of the movie. The Bollywood movies would be considered less graphic than a children’s movie in America.

Dancing is a very important part of Indian culture. Most older Bollywood movies contained some sort of classic northern Indian folk dances. More recent films have elements of modern, western style of dancing. The dancing and singing scenes in the movie showed to be the most important shots of the film. From what I found online, most of the Bollywood actors are good dancers, but they do not sing. The singing is done in a studio and the actors lip sync the words during the movie.

Bejing Bicycle

The class structure in the communist state of China is more evident in this movie than I could have imagined. In a government set on the ideals of communism, remaining classes, and common ownership; this country seems to have a wider separation gap then that of democratic countries. The wealthy in China are treated with almost celebrity status, while the poor are hardly acknowledged as citizens in this movie. It's shown in the film by how Guei is treated by the people he comes across on his delivery routes, because everyone he delivers to are in the higher class of society.

The differences shown in this movie between rural and urban people was striking. Guei was adamant about owning his bike and the urban secretary talked down to him and could not believe that he actually new the date that it would be his. Also the maid who dressed up in the woman's clothes and then got fired when she was caught, was trying to act like the urban people, but could never have been accepted by them. It's as if they could do nothing to be treated like everyone else in the city.

The movie shows how cities like Beijing rely on many different modes of transporting goods and services than other countries. The shot in the film that shows this idea best, is the one with the two gentlemen loading a refrigerator on the back of a bicycle, and it almost falls on them. Bicycles, scooters, and small cars are used more in China because they are more affordable than anything else. The government makes opportunities for jobs by using bike messengers to deliver goods, rather than one large delivery company.

The landscape shown of China in this film is something I haven't seen before. Most of the time when I think of China, I imagine rice patties and large cities crowded with people making textiles. This film shows the contemporary side of Beijing with its back allies, and close knit culture shocked neighborhoods. It is hard to think of living in a space occupied by so many people like the home of Jian and his family. They share facilities while the people living in the high rises are treated like kings with lavish apartments and expensive clubs.

Guei is the main character in this movie who shows the true meaning of determination. This is how he survives in an exhausting city while trying to etch out a living. Others like Jian are caught in a consumer society that must also deal with the perpetual cost of city life. This is where they are tied together with the use of the bicycle. Guei must have this bike to survive financially and Jian needs it to compete socially with girls and classmates. The beating of the two men sharing the bike and even the bike itself shows the tragedy that they suffer in the end of the movie. The movie follows this bicycle and how its relationship in Chinese society affects the characters way of life.

Once Were Warriors

This film depicts the Maori and Pakeha cultures in modern day New Zealand. It shows how the values have changed or adapted to the current society in which they are living. Maori are known as the early eastern Polynesian settlers who were the first to inhabit the islands of New Zealand. Pakeha are European settlers living among the Maori and adapting to their ways. Jake Heke, the father of the Heke family in the film, represents the Pakeha as crude, cultureless, and violent people who have little family values. He feels that he was never good enough for his wife’s Maori family and would never be accepted. This drives him to alcoholism and physical abuse of his family and others. Maori did oppress the Pakeha’s living within their culture as a social group. This is based off their strong sense of nationalism for Maori history and is built by antagonism toward the Pakehas.

There is also a very strong representation of domestic violence in this film. This is based on physical, verbal, and sexual abuse that is shown in the Heke family. Due to Jakes insecurities he attempts to physically and psychologically dominate the other family members. You can see the anger and craze in Jakes eyes when he wildly attacks his own wife after she talks back to him during a late night party. His use of alcohol plays a key role in his mood and judgment in the dominant role of his family. He disregards his families well being when he brings home the party from his local bar. This is a very unsafe environment for children to be brought up in.

The Maori culture shown in the movie to gives the male a more authoritative position where as the women appear to be more care givers and handle issues at home. This is represented in the movie by Beth Heke, who doesn’t have a job, but rather takes care of the children and does the cooking and chores around the house. The Maori men are shown as respected and important figures that can be very dominant. This is displayed when their son Boogie is taken away to a boys home after getting in trouble and the leader of the home is a Maori man who teaches him the old ways of their culture. Beth also shows that her culture can give her the strength to resist Jake and leave him at the end of the movie.

The Maori culture is depicted as the salvation of the family in this movie. The Heke’s sons Boogie and Nig learn the ways of Maori and grow into men of their own. The culture takes them from the path of criminal behavior and teaches them how to get respect and deal with the death of their sister.

The contrast between the urban landscapes and the beautiful country side of New Zealand also represent the difference between Maori and Pakeha cultures. The city in which the Heke family lives is very poor looking. The children seem to have no education or interest in going to school. They also run into trouble with the law and are witness to the use of alcohol on a daily bases. Some of their friends are homeless and living in cars under bridges. This shows the gritty reality of Pakeha and what they represent. The countryside shows the Maori way of life. It has lush green hillsides, blue skies, and clear water. This is the natural beauty of New Zealand and where Maori people come from. They still have old buildings in the country, where Grace is taken when she dies, to hold ceremonies for her funeral and lay her to rest. This is where she felt most at home before and where she belongs, because she represnts the modern day Maori who see beauty in the world and good in people.

Rabbit Proof Fence

This is a journey of young girls through the outback of Australia on a mission to reach their mother, who they were savagely taken from by the English appointed ruler of the Aborigine people. This film was based on a book that was adapted from real events of three girls who escaped the Moore River Native Settlement, just north of Perth, and traveled nine weeks to reach their Aboriginal families. Molly, Daisy, and Gracie traveled over 1500miles along the Australian rabbit proof fence while being tracked by a white lawman and a black tracker. They escaped and returned to Jigalong while traveling through some harsh environments with nothing but the clothes on their backs. This is truly a tale of the innocent overcoming the state who were separating aboriginal children from their families.


The Rabbit Proof Fence is actually a real fence built by the Australian government from 1901 to 1907 as a pest exclusion fence. there are three fences, the no.1 which crosses the state from north to south, the no.2 which is west of the first fence and runs parallel, and no.3 which runs east to west and is the smallest of the three. Australia also has a Dingo fence, or dog fence, running east to west in the southeastern part of the country. These fences were built to keep pests out of the western Australia pastoral areas. The country had become over run with rabbits that were originally introduced by a Victorian grazer Thomas Austin in 1859. There were no animals that could eat rabbits, so they flourished and overpopulated the outback. The fence did not stop the rabbits from moving west word and the plaque of rabbits had to be dealt with in other ways. However, this was a major attempt of man trying to control nature.

The effect of the rabbits on the ecology of Australia was devastating. 1/8Th of all mammalian species in the country are now extinct, and the largest contributor has been the rabbits. They are also responsible for the land eroding. They eat the plants which leaves topsoil exposed to sheet, gully, and wind erosion. It takes hundreds of years to regenerate this topsoil.



Well, the fence plays a big part in the movie, and without it the girls would not be able to find their way home through the ruff terrain. Western Australia is Australia's largest state in area, covering almost one third of the mainland. The capitol city is Perth, and it is very isolated from the rest of the large cities in Australia, as it is over 1300miles away from Adelaide. It is the second largest administrative territory in the world. Western Australia contains some of the oldest minerals in the world and are found in the Yilgarn Craton and the Great Western Plateau. The Great Western Plateau occupies most of the state, and the Continent, at roughly four times the size of Texas. Rain rarely falls in this region at about 4-14inches annually. surface water is pretty much non existent aside from a few permanent waterholes. Most of the territory is flat sandy or stony desert with little scrub or tussock grasses. This would be very difficult to live on and most inhabitants need to introduce strong fertilizers for anything to grow in the state.

The main issue depicted in this movie was what is now called the Stolen Generation. The Moore River Native Settlement was a place where Aboriginal orphans who were taken, mostly against their will, to live, go to school, and learn the ways of the English. There is a controversy of this Stolen Generation in Australia still today, as to what degree this really happened, and how many children were taken. The government claimed that it removed these children from their families to protect their interests and provide a better way of life for them. The Aborigines claim that they were taken from happy homes and from all over the country to live in these camps. The movie depicts them as inferior to the white English, and they are being held against their will.

Train Man: Densha Otoko

In one of the most crowded, overpopulated, and largest cities in the world, Tokyo Japan, a lonely computer nerd is set on finding true love. this film was based on a bestseller by Hitori Nakano, and was realised in Japan in 2005 to rave revues. Surprisingly this story was based on the true events of a 23 year old computer geek who came to the rescue of some women on a train who were being harassed by a drunk businessman. The main character known as Train Man is a computer engineer who is into Manga, a form of Japanese anime. He goes unnoticed throughout his daily life in the crowded city of Tokyo. This city is overflowing with people and trains are one of the easiest and most efficient was to get around the busy areas. The streets are lit up with billboards at night and people walking form a blockade for autos. The only form of contact with the outside world that Train Man has is through an Internet chat room with other random lost souls who spend their time a lot of time on the computer. After saving the women on the train this otaku posts his story on bulletin board in a chat room. He begins getting all kinds of advice on how to approach his love interest by random chat room people. The love interest in the film is one of the women he saved on the train who got his address and sent him a thank you gift in the form of Hermes tea cups, therefore the people on the chat board refer to her as Hermes. Train Man uses all sorts of cell phones, text messages, pda's and other forms of technology to his advantage in the movie.

Otaku is a Japanese word to describe an obsessed fan of any certain topic or hobby. The word by itself means a fanatic, but it is commonly used with anime or manga to describe a specific kind of fanatic. People in Japan look down on these manga otaku, but according to http://www.trainman-movie.com/otaku.htm proud fanatics around the world claim to be otaku because it is more accepted outside Japan. The main character in the movie is a nerd, and his depiction is very similar to what a nerd would be in this country. they normally dress poorly and are into things like computers, anime, and video games. they are usually pretty smart, but lack social skills needed to get a girlfriend. The instant message support group in the movie helps train man by responding to his questions on bulletin board that acts as an open forum for discussion. The Internet forum supposedly used in the true story is 2ch, and is the largest forum in the world. It is said now to have as much influence as other types of mass media like television or radio.

Well, Train Man uses his Internet friends to woo the girl and they end up falling in love with each other. the story has a very happy ending, but in the last scene it shows an earlier part of the movie where Hermes noticed Train Man before he saved her. This shows some kind of idea that she may have been pursuing him throughout this whole movie rather than the other way around.

Good Bye Lenin

This film takes place in the city of Berlin, Germany, during the fall of the Berlin Wall. The family that it follows lives on the eastern side of Berlin which is controlled by communist Russia. The story follows a small family who are trying to keep their bed ridden mother from getting anymore shocking news because it might cause her some serious heart problems. They do everything in their power to hide the fall of the Berlin wall and the communist control of their city.

The movie was shot in parts of Berlin which show a great deal of box like cheaply built housing. All of the clothes and furniture and cars look as though they came from the 1960’s yet it was in fact 1989. The city looked gloomy and forbidding, like you didn’t want to go outside and no one was having fun anywhere. They also showed how the people were caged in the city and not allowed to leave for fear of defection. The Russians controlled everything that the people in their hostage city could do. They could not even go on walks after dark and had to wait as much as 7 years to buy a car.

Capitalist countries invite free trade and free enterprise where as the communist control of Berlin fought for equality through everyone getting the same amount. There was a dramatic change when capitalism was introduced into Berlin. Everyone rid themselves of old crappy furniture and clothes and got stuff more up to date. People began watching TV from all over the world and corporations like McDonalds and Coca-Cola moved in. Totalitarianism in the movie was show by the complete and unforgiving control of the people of Berlin, by the Russians. The Berlin wall was the key to this control and imprisonment of the citizens of the city. Ostalgia refers to the nostalgia for aspects of regular daily life and culture in the former GDR, which disappeared after the reunification of Berlin. Many of the people that conformed to the socialist way of life for so long in East Berlin felt this nostalgia after the capitalist society quickly erased all of the GDR brands when the wall came down.

Seducing Dr. Lewis

This film takes place on the coast of northern Canada. The area is cold and isolated. The inhabitants of this dried up fishing town may only reach the city by boat, as there are no roads, tracks, or airfields around. The landscape is coastal with rocky cliffs and grassy hills. The town has a walkway system built out of wooden boardwalks going from house to house, in order to smooth out the hills. They are in a very rural area as compared to city life. I did not see any vehicles other than boats in their area. Some residents had TVs and radios, but getting the mail seemed to be one of their most important chores for the day. They were in much need of a doctor as no one new how to treat sickness in the area. They all spoke french in this town and seemed to drink a lot. The film reminded me of a comedy style much like ones popular in France. They had a lot of french anecdotes that show a relationship to more European areas unlike southern Canada, which is more Americanized. The role of the government was to keep the people on well fare and not much else. There was no sheriff or any type of control in the city. When the mayor left to go find work in the city, the next most interested man just took over for his town. The people in this movie had a long tradition of working hard and raising a family in their community. They enjoyed the simple life and wanted to stay in their isolated area away from the troubles of the big city. After the fishing dried up they did nothing for many years, until the shame of not working got the best of them. After a number of wild events they got a factory and saved the town from going extinct.

The Little Girl Who Sold The Sun

This film was directed by Djibril Diop Mambety in the city of Dakar, which is the largest city in Senegal on the west coast of northern Africa. This film depicts a poor crippled girl who begs for money to feed her family including here blind mother. After seeing some other boys selling the newspaper called the sun, she decides that they are harsh and that she can do their job better. She over comes many adversities in order to sell the paper. They do not want to let her do it and many of the boys torment, and attack her for taking their jobs. The girl becomes lucky and a well off man gives her a small fortune for her papers. She distributes the money with kindness to beggars, and her family.

There are some great shots of the city of Dakar that depict this area very well. This is a city with a wide range of lifestyles, from the man breaking rocks, to the people flying in and speaking french. The city lies on the coast overlooking the pacific ocean, while also close to the dry areas of the Sahara Desert. The director displays the setbacks that have griped the people of Dakar in this movie. The French currency out weighs their home currency drastically and many of the population are out of work. This was a well thought out film with overtones of fairy tales, like the girl rising up against the evil boys and giving to the poor. He wanted to show triumph over adversity and the resiliency of the African people.