2nd Essay for final

                                                                                                                             Ismael Martinez

period: 4                    -

      Essay 2

              In the movie Persepolis Marjane's Grandmother told her, "To be true to yourself". The Protagonist/main character from Billy Elliot (Billy Elliot) was true to himself was well because people told him that if he were to dance that he would be a puff (homosexual/gay) and that he sucked at boxing. They were right about one thing...he did suck at boxing because it wasn't his thing thats all. He took and enjoyed ballet because he was good at it for his age and gender. No he wasn't a homosexual because he did enjoy playing with the daughter of the woman who trained him. His dad thought he was a homosexual just because he was taking ballet but Billy didn't listen to him and stayed true to himself because even though his dad didn't want him to do ballet Billy still did it because he loved and enjoyed it and it expressed him for who he was.

            He was still being true to himself because before he found out his best friend was a homosexual they were really good friends not judging each other and i guess helping each other out. After he found out that his best friend was a homosexual he told him that he wasn't and still accepted him as his best friend. He was being true to himself because he wasn't judging or being a bigot like his dad was when he thought his son was a homo sexual. Even when Billy and his best friend were caught dancing in the gym by Billy's dad he probably told himself to be himself and actually kept dancing and showed off to his father on how good he was at dancing ballet. After that the father realized that he was actually good and even tried and succeeded in getting Billy a trial to get him in the school of professional ballet school. Though at first his dad didn't want him dancing anymore but after Billy showed him his moves the dad finally realized that he was wrong and was proud of his son dancing and NOT being a homosexual and thought he deserved to go to that school and even sold his wife's jewelry which must of been hard for him since the death of his wife.

          So Basically Billy Elliot is a perfect example on what Marjane's grandmother statement was about being true to yourself. He showed the world who he was and what he enjoyed to do and didn't care what people thought of him.

1st Essay of final

                                                                                  Ismael Martinez

                                                                                  period:4

                                    Cultural Bridge

         The protagonist from the movie Chak De relates to me because we have our similarities and differences. For example when he gets the team of woman and all they do is just argue and fight. I’ve had a similar situation like that. He is also determined to achieve success and that’s sort of like me. Some difference though is that one he is older than me. He also agitated than me because of when his “girls” try to kick him out of the team by voting him off as captain.

         The similarities we have to do with our persona. For example he doesn’t give up when he gets a team who don’t get along and try to start fighting. I’ve had this similar situation because when I was in Mexico for my birthday I have a little sister too and a nephew. At first they didn’t get along because during the party my nephew got curious about hair I guess and pulled my sister’s hair real hard. I guess he got curious because my sister had long hair and he had short hair and it was his first time seeing my little sister. Also the couch was determined to win the championship and not lose the first round because earlier in the movie they had to play against the male team and they got their butts wooped but because they showed determination and skills and sportsmanship they let the girls compete.

         Me and the protagonist from this movie are also different. For example he is much older than me but I guess that doesn’t really matter in this situation. He also gets agitated very easily I guess because he wants to train these girls and make them become close like a family I guess but when he found out that all they can do argue and fight all the time he started to get very impatient and agitated because of this. Unlike me I’m a very calm person when it comes to situations like these. Yes I get very mad and agitated at times like when it comes to things like things that interests me like games.

                I don’t know if I could handle all the pressure that The protagonist in Chak De had but what I do know is that In many ways we are similar but also different as well.

My life in pink.

       So basically there is this boy who is a Transgender boy. He wants to become a girl. So because of this he looks like a girl and he likes a boy. After that people started noticing and people started to shun him and hate him basically because in their culture their not as accepting as the united states. People don't like "bent" (Gay,lesbian, homosexuals) people in their culture.
    Also we learned that in belgium they speak french as well. Gay's are not welcome and people shunned their family for that. The mother was so accepting then just snapped and i guess hated her child now. The father used to recent him because of his behavior and now he is accepting which is kind of weird because usually fathers will hate their children or not love them anymore if they are gay.
   Usually in the united states gay people could like each other in peace. Yes they would be harassed like in the movie but it would be accepted by others. In belgium everyone no one liked him. Not even the guy who was gonna "marry" after when he was told he was going to hell.  

The triplets of belleville

             So this movie is about a family. A grandmother and and grandson and a dog. While cleaning the grandsons room and making his bed she hear something drop to the ground. When she picked it up and checked it she saw it was a scrap book about biking and the tour de france. After she saw that her grandson was interested in biking she got him his first tricycle and he spent a long time just riding it in circles.
        Just right after that scene you see that the chubby grandson grew up to be a tall skinny biker who was in training for the tour de france but in this part of the movie you don't see him being happy or show any emotions other than exhaustion. His dog just got fatter. 
When he is done training during the day he goes back home with his grandmother who is very much still alive, then he lays in bed while his grandmother massages his calfs, back with a wisk and some other object. 
         During the race he participated in (the tour de france) he got tired and gave up and then was kidnapped by the french mafia i guess to be used in a gambling activity. Then the grandmother must go and rescue her grandson from this evil/bad group.
          This movie shows what athletes/bikers/marathon participants must do and are determined to do to win or even just barely even finish the race. Many people think that this is easy but in reality it is very stressful or even life endangering if the athletes don't pace themselves. 

new movies to review

- zatoichi
-the Italian
 -victor vargas
-the triplets of belleville

Billy Eliot

            So this movie is about a boy with a problem with his family and where he is from. Where he is from if you are a boy and you do ballet you are a puff (homosexual) and where in this case people don't like. He does boxing but sucked at it and tried ballet and enjoyed it very much. When he went to the gym he never went for boxing anymore he started going for ballet and started to dance very well i guess.
            When his dad found out he started skipping boxing for ballet he started to think he was a puff. After Billy told him off the dad wanted to beat him but billy got away and just ran and talked to his ballet teacher to give him private lessons so that his dad doesn't find out he is still taking ballet.
                His talent got him a chance to get into the school of ballet where they do this professionally. In which the moral of the story is if you are good at something and you enjoy it and you get the opportunity to go to a school who professionally train you, you should take the opportunity for it. So always go after your dream and fulfill it like billy did.

Crouching Tiger

                    So this movie is a fighting/cultural movie because one there is fighting within this movie. But it also shows their storys/folktales. It shows their strength, honor, and their beliefs of the stories of the warriors who are in this movie. There are a lot of problems with the princess in this movie because she is being forced to marry this one guy who she doesn't love and later on in the movie the princess turns out to be a "bad" guy or girl in this case.
         Also the princess has no freedom because she is being forced to stay in her home and be safe from any danger i guess.

Little miss sunshine

             So this movie was actually pretty funny. I think it was because it had funny family members. The grandfather gives very explicit advice to his grandson and he also does cocaine. The father is one of those motivational speaker who sucks at it. So when the daughter wins a contest or something and has a chance to be in a beauty pageant so her and her grandfather have been training for this for a while and was determined to win this until the grandfather died. 
             After that they were on the fritz of deciding what to do because the state they were in wouldn't allow them to take their grandfather with them so they decided to steal their grandfather/father body and go to the pageant and finish what they started to honor the grandfather. The brother of this girl wants to be in the air force and swore a year of silence to prove his point that he is disciplined but on the way to the pageant he found out that he was color blind and then got very upset because you can't go to the air force academy if you are color blind. The father is a motivational speaker who lost his job. The mother i actually don't know what she does.
            Over all this movie shows the "american" Culture on how old people were rude/Racist in the past and the background of this family in where they lived, how they acted and behaved and even the behavior of drug users like on how they can hide it from their family and how in general they act when not using drugs. This also shows stereotypical appearances of americans and how women/girls are looked upon by looks and how even during childhood they can be a little chubby.

The King's Speech

            The Concept of this movie is Bertie the son of King George all his life suffered from a stutter and people sort of made fun of him as a child. King George gets sick because he is dying i guess of old age. When George died, Bertie his son must take place as the king. During this time their country was at the brink of war and in need of a leader which has to be him. He has to give a speech which should unite and inspire all his people to one believe in themselves and in him. 
           So to help her husband Bertie with him and his stutter, Elizabeth brings him to a eccentric speech therapist named Lionel Logue to help inspire Bertie to believe in himself as a new king.
         
    This movie was sort of a comedy because one of his
practices when he was about to stutter he would start swearing which made this movie more enjoyable to the viewers and the cast themselves.

          Because of his stutter he had to try "different" methods that included swearing which in my opinion makes the movie so much funnier.

The last train home

          So this movie is about a family. The mother and father are away working hard to try to support their family. They parents have two children. One son and one daughter. The daughter is kind of mad at the parents because she hasn't for a while. She said a swear word and her father started to beat her. The son started to work on the fields with his grandmother. The grandfather is dead I'm assuming because of old age.
       In almost all cultures you respect your elders/parents no matter what. Even if it's not part of culture you should always respect them. It's Disrespectful when you defy or talk back to your parent/grandparent/anybody i guess who is your respected elder.
         So seeing her "talking back" to her parent causing her to get "abused/whopped" show that she is starting to grow up and show even without her parents she can somewhat fend for herself.
         Her parents where never there because they needed to work away from their family so their children had to basically grow up without their parents. So shes independent.

The Debt collector

       ( I couldn't find any information on this on google so I am only going to write about the movie. No pictures or anything.)

        This movie is placed in the Philippines. In the end two people get shot. A women you see through out the movie and a random guy.

Little Otik

       So this movie is about a couple who couldn't have a baby so the father as a joke dug up a tree truck and shaped it like a baby. The wife becomes a stupid lunatic. She becomes so obsessed with the baby. After faking a pregnancy the tree truck actually comes to life and is a baby which makes the mother look even more stupid.

Love and eggs

   
        So Is this movie dumb or what? I would agree if you say dumb. So basically this movie is about a neighborhood or something like that where authority's make them move out of their homes and move into like this place where they have a market. There is also three motherless children their names are Bimo, Asih, and Rindu. 
      To me this movie made no sense what so ever and I'm literally trying to research it just to get the concept of this movie. During this movie a father who trys to talk to his tells her he loves her with a microphone. It shoes religious issues, a praying rug and with young love with eggs.

Persepolis

        So Basically this movie is about a girl who lived in Iran during her childhood. During her childhood she was sort of rebellious and was getting into trouble once and a while. She also didn't understand communist and why her uncle got sent to jail. When the civil war in Iran started for her safety Persepolis's parents send her to australia where she met new people and got into what I think is a bad group.
        After a while in Australia She kept living in different places in which she called apartment hopping. To me I thought Persepolis was a ungrateful selfish brat and deserved everything that came at her. But when she finally learned her lesson and decided to leave I guess you could say that she turned a new leave.
       So overall everything was ok for her. Most of her family is save, she is alive, her uncle didn't die for nothing and she is now going to france to live there.

Hoop Dreams

           So basically this film shows the issues os race, class, economic division, education and values. Arthur Agee, and William Gates were both chosen/Recruited to play for saint Joseph. They are both African American I assume they were lower class/low income due to the fact that they were in that type of neighborhood. They both are very good at basketball and were trying to go to college with a sport scholarship.
        When they were young their values were different. All they could think about was to go and play in the NBA. Now their values and moral values have changed dramatically. They are both fathers and college graduates. But since then they did not make it to the NBA. Instead Arthur has a job/organization where they go to young teens and tell them to make the right choices. William Gates became a pastor in his home town.
        Both these people lived in a bad inner-city/neighborhood since they have been growing up. Since the making of this movie there have been three people who have been shot and murdered just because they neighborhood sucks. I cannot imagine how they felt when their family members were shot. Arthur Agee was almost shot. He was held at gun point and was robbed of what ever he had on him which actually in realty a scary thought. 
        Education was the main problem through out the movie i guess because william gates kept struggling through out the movie because he needed an 18 on his S.A.T's and all his scores were below that. Arthur had a bad influence and experience as well because when saint Joseph kicked him out of the school because he couldn't afford to pay for his tuition his self esteem lowered.

Run Lola Run

        This movie is about a woman named Lola who has a boyfriend named Manni who has to do this test/deal and has to transfer this bag of cash to Ronnie. There was three different versions in this movie. One Lola dies. One Manni dies. And the final one is where lola gambles, manni chases a hobo and everything goes alright. No one dies.
         I did not enjoy this movie what so ever because of its storyline, its repetition, and plainly it was honestly just a very bad movie. This movie cannot be related to me. I just wonder what made them make this movie.
         Manni was in a bad situation because he lost his boss's 100,000 dollars. He has to give it to his boss Ronnie at 12 Pm which only left him 20 minutes to get it.

Chak de

        This movie was about this one guy named Khaiber who was at the world cup. When it was a free shot he missed by an inch. This made him get shunned by his people. So his life turned to hell as you can say.
      When i saw this i discovered that hockey was played in india which at first i didn't know. But now i do. At first i thought it was weird that that could even play hockey without an ice rink. I guess i was wrong.
       And like any other sport these girls show how determined they are to the sport by training very hard but during this film these girls did have their share of problems like what position they are which got in to arguments and in the bunk bed rooms they fought about who got which bed while they knew they had assigned beds which showed they were a little rebellious.
       I can't actually related this to me but i can related this to my dad but i will not because it''s not relevant and honestly not any of my business.

The Host

    So This movie was about a man who has a daughter and some fish mutated thing who starts terrorizing korean people. During all the mayhem he drops his daughter(13 years old) and when he grabbed a hand it turns out to be a random person. So the mutated fish takes her away.
     So like every normal father he is devastated and assumes that his daughter died by being eatin by the monster. This shows that even though he is a very bad father by giving her daughter beer instead of a soda and accidentally grabbing another girls hand instead of her daughter's (which i guess can be forgiven because it was an accident) he trys his best.
      This movie in general is cannot be related to me nor can i connect to it what so ever i just found it very interesting because it had its very funny moments during this film.
     

The kite runner

This movie is about a boy who comes into american from Afghanistan and is her with his devoted best friend and he remote father. He returns to Afghanistan to help his friend who is in trouble.

   
            This movie was very good,very bogus,and very interesting.
It showed their history and what happened to their people. This shows betrayal and love in this movie. Hassan his best friend and his secret brother told Amir Jan (main character) that he would never betray him. He never did. Amir Jan did betray him. He betrayed him so bad. When he saw Hassan about to be anally raped he did not help him.
        This also showed love. Love for family,love towards marriage and love towards to old friends. Amir risked his life for his best friends son. It turns out that his best friend was his brother. So he wanted to rescue Sohrab his nephew. 
       The guy who beat the crap out of Amir was the person from his childhood that raped his friend Hassan. So to get the boy he had to give something because Assaf doesn't give nothing for free.So he beat the crap out of Hassan.
       I enjoyed this movie very much because it should fighting,success,and a twist during the movie.
 

Full of grace

So basically the storyline is, is that a women named maria is forced to smuggle in drugs by eating tablets filled with heroin. She is 17 and pregnant and in desperate need of money.

        I thought this movie was very good and very interesting because it shows struggles for money for her family and soon to come baby.  Her decisions could have hurt her baby so i thought she was kind of stupid for doing it because of the risk she could have killed herself and her baby if the heroin open inside of her stomach. 
        I enjoyed seeing that her baby was safe and not hurt from the heroin in her stomach. I thought her friend Blanca was a stupid idiot because she also wanted to be a mule and for yelling at Maria because she has no idea what to do as well. But keeping a secret from the only person she could rely on that her sister died was very very VERY bogus.
        I enjoyed the ending when Maria decided to stay because her baby would have many more opportunity's and a better lifestyle in america. When she got caught by the police in the airport they were so sure she had drugs in her. She got so lucky because of her pregnancy they didn't/couldn't do a X-ray to her.

Afghan star

        So basically this movie is Afghanistan's version of american idol. This movie has shown me how strict their religion because of the Taliban. In the 80's they didn't have as much restrictions as they do now. They used to be able to dance and show off their hair.
But not anymore. Now all they can do is sing and stand still. Women have to cover them selfs up so no one can see their hair.
        This movie also shows me that any type of religion can get along no matter what religion or government. As long as people have something in common and a common goal there is nothing people can do. Also when you sing you need supporters and loyal fans to go places.
        The ending wasn't much of a surprise because the whole movie was basically focused on the man with long hair because he was everywhere. All the scenes. Everyone talked about him. The biggest fans family mostly supported him. ENDING WAS NOT SURPRISING WHICH MADE ME NOT LIKE THE ENDING!!! 

Please vote for me

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1097256/

So basically 3 students are chosen to campaign and convince their classmates to vote for them as class president in china. It seems interesting but the question is that is it a good movie? we shall see later.


        I have just seen this movie. I enjoyed this movie because of the comical view. It was very funny how the chubby kid has only his undies on. Also on how they acting during the movie trying to sabotage each other and how they were acting like little turds. Everything they did to each other dissing each other,telling each other faults,BRIBING the students to win there vote. It was a true democracy....
        I also enjoyed seeing their parents helping them because something parents are to busy to help their child but not in china. In china they really focus and pay attention to their children which is nice to see. Also seeing them focusing on politics (voting) trying a different way was cool to see. They are communist and seeing them try democracy was a sight to see i guess.
        Making each other cry for dumb reasons wasn't or shouldn't be a part of this because it doesn't relate to debate. Booing someone before they could make their speech makes them doushes.
 

Mongolian ping pong

    so at  http://www.thebestmoviereview.com/movie/asian-movies/2005/30092/mongolian-ping-pong they reviewed this movie. So basically this boy named Bilike finds a ping pong ball floating down a river. He lives in isolation because of the fact he has no electricity or running water. He asks his grandmother what it is and lies to say it is a pearl from heaven. So one of his best friend's dad wins a tv and he goes over to their house. Thats when he finds out about the ping pong.




        What i liked about this movie is that the children could ride motorcycles at their age. I also enjoyed their sense of adventure because they wanted to go return the "national ball of china" which should a lot of enthusiasm  and determination which is not really shown within kids. What i really really disliked about this movie is the ending because all it showed the sound of ping pong players....that really irritated me i really dislike(hate) those types of endings.
        So basically these children are isolated from the world because they don't have any really sense of the world because they don't have electricity,tv,etc. So them not knowing about ping pong isn't really a big surprise and not much of a big deal. At first they thought it was a glowing treasure ball thing which at 1st I'm like are they really that stupid? But till i realized that they believed in spirits and what not. And their grandmother wasn't really all in the noggin if you know what I mean. If not then i'll tell you. IT MEANS SHE'S SORT OF OUT OF IT/CRAZY... 
        Basically I would rate this 6/10 because they deserved some credit for it for filming and trying. I myself did not enjoy the movie but I know some people who did so it should be included in this class because it showed their culture with their dances,language,and life style.

The weeping camel

This is basically the main plot of this movie. A mother camel/colt is having a very hard time giving birth to its new born. But after a while the brownish mother has givin birth to a new born WHITE colt. Then from there on when the colt try's to drink its mother's milk(nursing) the mother rejects it i guess because she doesn't want to nurse it. So then the family must do a ritual where they hope the mother will finally accept her offspring. If not then the colt will die. The sign that it is working(or worked) is that the mother weeps which is the main factor of the movies name i guess.

Citation:http://www.haro-online.com/movies/story_of_the_weeping_camel.html all credit for information goes to them.

        I cannot say much about this movie because I have yet to see it. I only have gotten to see the final 10 minutes about it. I used google to get some information about it to read on what i missed due to the fact that i was very sick. So basically when the camel gave birth to its offspring it rejected it since of its color.

    When i found this out I thought it was very bogus. This movie looks very interesting though because I would like to see how the mother reject it's offspring mostly cause it sounds funny theoretically. But when it really happens to you it is very messed up. So when i heard about the mother I got interested to watch this movie.

The Family has to do this ritual where a lady sings and a violin player starts playing it. The sign where that the camel finally accepts its child/offspring is when it begins to cry(weep) hence the name The weeping camel. After the mother finally accepted the child it starts to nurse it. And so there goes a happy ending.

The fact that i missed this movie does not bother me what so ever.