Look not what a man has done, but what he hopes to do.

The Infidel (2010)

Rating 4.25/5.0

Where 5 is a life changing Czechoslovakian film which also won an Oscar (they do get it right sometimes)! 

The first thing that strikes you about this film is that it released in the same year as Four Lions and although the story is very different, the similarities are quite encouraging. Films have the potential to stimulate thought amongst those who are too brainwashed with jargon to think on their own. We're all brainwashed, aren't we? We can hardly claim to have independent, impartial thought - influenced as we are by our surroundings and our teachers and the messages they have chosen to give us. 

The best way to provoke free thought amongst such an audience is to truly entertain and then stealthily inject the thought grenade - a good comedy with a dash of pathos does this really well. It sounds like a conspiracy but it really is all for a good cause.

I hope people come out after watching this film not only with a smile and spring in their step but also with a ticking thought bomb - something that may erupt some day to answer questions that no film, prophet or book can.

If that sounds too heavy then why not watch this just to laugh like a mad man. Maybe your subconscious will do the rest :-)

Imdb Link here

You just killed the special needs donkey!

Four Lions (2010)

Rating 5.00/5.00
where 5 is a film I thought of while watching this

I watched two movies this weekend.

The first one was Noah Baumbach's Margot at the wedding (2007) which was insightful, funny in parts and as expected from Baumbach - described a dysfunctional family's love and hate yo-yo. Good but not really something I want to write about - Baumbach made the Squid and the Whale and worked with Wes Anderson on Fantastic Mr. Fox so I expect a lot more from him and it was a bit of a let down.

The second film - Four Lions - stunned me - infact I kept staring at the screen long after it went blank! The film was outrageously funny - a brilliant mix of British dryness and Indian/Pakistani slapstick. 5 people, 1 crow and 1 sheep get blown to bits (also some other folks get shot and blown to bits too but that's just the story) - do the makers of the film expect you to shed a tear or "feel" for the misguided jihadis? No. They want to you to laugh and maybe think a bit. Isn't that wonderful?

Now to the thinking part - the film makes your jaded mind take a fresh look at the news! It has a real story to tell with a message to boot - but it never gets preachy or pedantic - it enlightens because it draws a very plausible scenario which you always knew could happen but chose to ignore. Nowadays, it is difficult to come across a film (dealing with a sensitive topic) which doesn't sound like somebody's propoganda - this film does that well.

A must watch brother!! :-)

Imdb link here