Slumdog Millionaire

We watched this movie last week, I had no idea what to expect but I remember this one question a girl was asking: Is this Bollywood? The answer of somebody: Not quite. And it´s true, not quiet. It got eight Academy awards as far as I know and got one commendation after another. A friend of mine (yes you dear Lucian) asked me afterwards if I think this movie earns all the Academy Awards it was then nominated for, and I have to say I was a bit surprised. Not because I didn´t like the movie, but somehow this film seemed very simple in it´s story but at the same time combines a beautiful love story with the unadorned childhood and life from the slums to something bigger.  I liked it very much and there´s a lot to discover and I am sure it´s worth watching it a few more times to catch all the details. The story: Jamal just has to answer one more question and he wins the 20 Million Rupees. But how was it possible for a "slumdog" to come this far? As we learn every question is connected to his life. Jamal and his older brother Salim grow up in the Slums of Mumbai. Their mother gets killed when some violent people come to their place to bring fear and death to the Muslims. The two brothers manage to survive and meet Latika. Maman, a man who deals with children to earn money finds them and takes them with him. When Salim has to decide weather to betray Jamal ot to flee they flee but have to leave Latika behind. She is the love of Jamals life. He can´t forget her and does not give up searching for her. Jamal finds a job in a call-center where he is serving tea. More or less by accident he finds himself in the Indian version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" And he simply goes there because Latika might be watching.

 

The International

The IBBC, the International Bank of Buisness and Credit is one of the most powerful banks worldwide. And even though the buildings that are built of glass seem transparent, behind the glasses the very secret and illegal money buisnesses are taking place. Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) who works for Interpol is this close to uncover the trade with arms and the intervention into govermental activities but his college gets murdered what he can not prove and their informant, with whose help they´d have evidence for the illegal deals of the bank gets killed, too. Together with Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) a Manhattan assistant district attorney he keeps on trying to reveal the criminal activities. The further they go, the closer they come to the truth, the more people get killed, never to prove the connection between the murderes and the bank. At one point Salinger has to decide wether to give up or to leave the way within the constitutional state, because the law would never let him do what is necessary, and every government, every one who has a hight position anywhere is corrupt or gets blackmailed. So "the system" would always protect the bank.

I can warmly recommend this one to you, it´s about an idealistic man who won´t give up, gets satisfaction in the end but nothing changes. Very realistic and disillusional, thrilling and close to the characters, you can feel the tension the whole time through.

  

Chocolat

This movie is as sweet as it sounds. I watched it about six times, still it´s great, every single time. Johnny Depp (alias Roux) looks as good as he always does, a bit rugh and independent for he is a "pirate" (a gipsy on a boat) with long hair and some teint. And we have beautiful, witty and impulsive Juliette Binoche (alias Vianne) whome I love here.

Vianne and her daughter Anouk (who owns an inivisible kangaroo with a broken leg) travel from place to place, with the northern wind, because Vianne has this restlessness in her blood for her mother was a nomad in south africa. They arrive at this small village somewhere in Frace, where everything is as it always has been, where everybody knows where his/her place is and what rule is expected, what is allowed and what not. Vianne opens  a chocolaterie next to the church right during the forty days of Lent. Nevertheless it happens that the habitants go there from time to time, and then more often. They talk, get help, enjoy the taste. The Compte de Reynaud is quite displeased by this distrubance of the routine and the decay of manners. And the straw that brakes the camle´s back is when Vianne sympathises with the "pirates" that arrive one day, especially with Roux whome she even invites into her Chocolaterie, even though the whole village agrees about the "boycott of immorality", what means not to sell anything to the "rats of the river". I can only warmly recommend this film to you, you will feel light and comfortable afterwards, with the huge appetite for chocolate.