Inglorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds is a 2009 war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and released in August 2009 by The Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures. It was filmed in several locations, among them Germany and France,[3] beginning in October 2008.[4] The film, set in German-occupied France, tells the story of two plots to assassinate the Nazi political leadership, one planned by a young French Jewish cinema proprietress, the other by a team of American soldiers called the "Basterds".





Tarantino has said that despite it being a war film, Inglourious Basterds is a "spaghetti western but with World War II iconography".[5] In addition to spaghetti westerns, the film also pays homage to the World War II "macaroni combat" sub-genre (itself heavily influenced by spaghetti-westerns).
Inglourious Basterds was accepted into the main selection at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in competition for the prestigious Palme d'Or and had its world premiere there in May.[6] It was the only U.S. film to win an award at Cannes that year, earning a Best Actor award for Christoph Waltz.

Funny??
Well, I was invited to watch this movie in a night where I used to be so occupied. They said this was a good movie and 'funny' too. Thinking that I might use a good laugh after a whole series of meetings, so I decided to go... with the caramel popcorn in my hand. My hopes were high for a fun, relaxing time...

I watched through and even fell asleep in some parts because the movie is partly in French and German - so may be because I had to constantly look at the screen for subtitling, my eyelids couldn't cope with the strain.



The movie started with a polite and sleek German "Jews hunter" that had his troop shooting the basement where a French farmer hide a Jewish family. That set the horror already for what was to come...(well, if you decide to watch it after reading this, it's up to you. But you could also check out the story line which is available on the net.)

Anyways, the climax of the movie is when the movie theater where all the Germans gathered was in fire, and they were all trapped inside. Then the 2 Americans (the Basterds) who had sneak in there started shooting all the Germans vigorously - like they were having fun doing it.

My heart was restless when the movie ended. I could not shake those scenes I just saw. I couldn't explain why I felt that way, I could not put it into words. But after a couple of days, my thoughts began to settle down and I was able to search my heart as to what had made me so restless.


Firstly, I believe World War 2 was no joke - whoever parties involved at that time. Countless lives died during that war. Thousands of families experience loss of their loved ones. These are moments of despair and sadness. So, to turn the whole thing into a joke won't be 'right'. It's too much!!



Secondly, I wonder how would the young German generation think when they watch that movie? What kind of feeling erupted in their hearts after they watch the scene where the Americans slandered and shoot all the German soldiers - taking their scalps alive, even??

Are we creating and igniting a new war? Hasn't we seen enough already???

Other Movies
As for movies, my liking is for true story and children animated ones. I also collect lots of war movies - basically because I study the history and the strategy of wars. You can name all the movies of World War 1, World War 2, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, even the recent ambush to Afganistan - are in my library.

Some of the great true stories during the Holocaust :

The Soloist

The Soloist is a 2009 drama film directed by Joe Wright, and starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. The screenplay by Susannah Grant is based on the book, The Soloist by Steve Lopez. The film is based on a true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who develops schizophrenia and becomes homeless.

Foxx portrays Ayers, who is considered a cello prodigy, and Downey portrays Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist who discovers Ayers and writes about him in the newspaper. The film was released in theatres on 24 April 2009[1] and on DVD and Blu-Ray August 5.

I watched this movie during my hibernating period a couple of weeks ago... ohh those precious couple of days ...and was deeply moved.

Well, here I saw how a writing can have such an impact to people's life everywhere, even to the writer himself. I watched how well meaning act of kindness can be turned down because of some mental disabilities, but how friendship would bridge the gap and actually bring healing to a mentally disturb person.

The movie really moves me - I don't care what the rating posted by Rotten Tomatoes said - it bring forth the softer side of people, the tender spot any human being has deep within their heart - the side that want to do act of kindness, the side that grieve whenever there's pain and injustice done to mankind.

I wish there will be many more movies like this come to the theaters, to revive the numbness in people's heart because of all the junks in the media [00...i should be sharing more on this in my next posting...hmmm...i just can't stand it!]

Well... watch the movie...you won't regret it!

The movie "UP" (don't let your dreams die...)

The synopsis for Up reads something like this: “By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn’t alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.”

The opening of this movie is nothing short of magical. It shows us Carl (the main character) as a young boy who loves and dreams of adventure. He meets a young girl who shares his imagination and the movie then, mostly without dialog, goes on to tell the story of how they fell in love, married and shared a wonderful life together, a life where the two always dreamed of going on an adventure, an adventure they never got to share due to his wife passing away. I just can not put into words how beautifully this entire part of the story was told. So touching, so real, so happy and so sad.

Watching this movie, I can’t help thinking of my own dreams. Carl had his dreams paced on the walls, on their DREAM Book. Ah, how important it is!

Our mind get weary, our vision get blurred at times. Life’s pressure sometimes can get us so down that we loose sight of our dreams. It was said, “Write this.Write what you see.Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run…”

Writing down our DREAMS and make it visual is very important.

People says, ‘Time flies…’. Yes, it does. Before you know it, you’ll get old like Carl and you’ve spent most of your time leaving in the comfort zone, neglecting all the dreams you once had when you are young. Not that the comfort zone is not good enough. But as John Maxwell said it, the good can be the enemy of the best out there. As we reach out, step out, suddenly we’ll find out all the potentials we never knew exist from within us. All the creativity, the ideas, the talents and skills…all that were invested by God as He formed us in our mother’s womb.

Up is perfect. I have no other way to put it. Thoroughly entertaining, extremely touching, brilliantly animated, hilariously funny, excitingly adventurous and flawlessly told.

Overall, it spoke a personal message to me…Dreams can come through, no matter how old you finally see it manifested, as long as you pursue it with all of your heart.