RIFLE RANGE BOY

Delhi Crimes (2019) Miniseries, Netflix It is often said that there is goodness in each one of us. Correspondingly, is evil also a permanent resident within us or is there an external force that lures us into creating mayhem and entropy? Is evil an inborn trait that dwells within us, only to unleash when our guards are down? Is it a learned experience over the generations and is imprinted in our DNA to help us survive? Are we cursed with the original sin committed by our forefathers, and we, as pallbearers of their act, suffer? Are we lured by the charms of prompting by Satan and his helpers? Others would argue that good and evil are a spectrum of a continuum. One is not mutually exclusive of the other. Everything is a cycle; good and evil are part of an array of an entity. The Universe and its passage in the space of time are not human-centric or animal-centric. We are mere accidental participants in this cosmic accident and collateral damage in the passage of t...

Yi Yi - A One and A Two (Taiwan, 2000) Written, Directed: Edward Yang. Perhaps deep inside, we are all voyeurs. We like to observe people, seeing what they do behind the privacy of their doors. In the new pigeon holes that city dwellers run their hectic lives on the outside, they seem to be boxed in exclusivity. Conversely, with their clear glass exterior seemingly guarding their private spaces, to an inquisitive eye, all their dealing are bare open. Perusing through the landscape, we realise that everyone carries their own stories. What we see, as an outsider, maybe half-truths, skewed perspective, jaundiced or judgemental. We do not know the real predicament or turmoil that he is going through, but surely to a thinking person, it could be educational as we pave our own paths in the journey of life. This Made-in-Taiwan movie tells the story of an extended family who lives in an exclusive high-rise apartment in Taipei. A 40-something couple with their two schoo...

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) If we learn anything from the biography of Ruben 'Hurricane' Carter and the 'Innocence Project', one thing is clear. There is no justice. The act of upholding the law and maintaining peace is just a facade to dupe everyone into believing that everything is hunky dory. Well, it is far from the truth for the voiceless and the economically deprived. They always get the short end of the stick. The slum dweller, the coloured, the illiterate and the poor invariably end up as part of the statistics for society to brag about the progress they had made. The elites and the haves more often than not escape punishment. Like it or not, the world is not fair. Justice remains only poetic to sooth the romantics and a promise to the helpless in the afterlife. Set in the 1970s, at a time when racial discrimination still reared its ugly head despite what The Civil Rights Act and Martin Luther King Jr's death made us believe, the film is a love...

After Life (2019) Created, Directed, Acted: Ricky Gervais You think you had it bad. You think nobody gives two hoots. You, only you had the realisation to come out of the rut to shine. Then everything clamps down on you. You realise nobody owes you a living, but you also say that no one gives a damn. God is dead. He was never there to start with, and humanity is gone too. There is no such thing as altruism, and everyone is in it for self-gain. Money is the be it all! You drag your feet in this journey called life wearing a perpetual frown and exuding a tone so melancholic that a bean would fail to sprout. You see that there is no purpose in anything. Ending everything is easy. Then you realise it is not so easy after all. The mind is saying 'go', but the body is saying 'to hell with it all'. You chicken out. For the first time, you look around. In the eyes of those around you see the weary worries of concern. You sense real compassion even in the most inanimate ...

Man is a social animal. He finds comfort in numbers. Generations of living in fear of the elements of Nature and wild creatures have made him develop survival instincts. He had become very comfortable in his 'comfort zone'. His senses heightened when the status quo is disturbed. He becomes agitated when there is cognitive dissonance. Any ideas that questioned his accepted hierarchy and structural make-up of his world are met with violence, the most archaic of his primal defences.  Scrolling through the 73-page manifesto issued by the Christchurch shooter, Brenton H Tarrant, a 28-year old man full of hate, one can appreciate the loss of space that everybody feels when one has to share his living area. Most sane people would also empathise the plight of legal immigrants (whom he refers to as invaders) and not shoot at them in cold blood.  Tarrant who labels himself as an eco-fascist believes that all the present world ideologies seem to lead to de...

I heard that the human race is redundant. The race is useless. They are dispensable. They are more of a nuisance. Putting a small segment of the population aside, the majority can be done away. We need to propel the human race forward with its knowledge, advancement in sciences, development of the arts and exploring of the spaces beyond the confines of our Milky Way. The way we act, we tend to create animosity and thrive on separating ourselves under banners of race, religion, skin colour, social class and what not. Workers are not reliable. Like Neanderthals, we fight, squabble over trivialities influenced by our animalistic instincts.   Lost in Space "It does not compute!" The world is changing, but the only thing that holds us down are people themselves. Despite the easy access to a plethora of information at their fingertips for them to peruse, judge and form their opinions, we opt to stay ignorant and behave like zombies, wandering aimlessly to the wand of thei...

Vice (2018) Violence has always been justified to attain specific agendas. Naturam Godse justified the assassination of Gandhi by invoking the Gita. He substantiated his claim by highlighting Krishna's teachings to the cold-feet warrior in Arjuna to basically carry out the duties that he was born to the world. Unfortunately, not everybody knows the reason for their existence. Some births seem so wasted that one often wonders whether it was Nature's accident. The Universe has had a lousy track record. Violence and destruction have been the mainstay, periodically jostling creations to another jumpstart. Just like how a white lie is not considered wrong, violence for a bigger narrative seems totally justified. In the Crusade Wars, brutal killings of brothers defended as a necessary evil to uphold a divine decree. In the name of race and religion, Man continues to ponder and kill, making excuses as they go. This Oscar-nominated film tells about the life and times of Dick...

Capernaum (Capharnaüm, Arabic    کفرناحوم ‎,  Lebanon; 2018) Story, Screenplay, Direction: Nadine Labaki I remember a family in Penang which had so many children that even the family members never knew how many siblings they had. The mother had so many miscarriages, stillbirths and twins that she gave away that if she were in Stalin Russia, she would have been conferred the 'Order of Maternal Glory' award. The last time the siblings counted, the tally was 16. Despite growing like wildflowers on a shoestring budget provided by the single breadwinner of the family, they all achieved success in their own accord by adulthood. Nobody had arrested psychological development due to a lack of parental attention.  It was a time when children were viewed as God's gift. Never mind if Man a lot to do with it to make it possible. The extended family concept of living ensured that everyone, especially the older ones, was cared.  Soon with the changes in societal ...

Credit: depositphotos.com The social media wants us to believe that there is only One Truth, the one that we seem to be churning. The constant words of approval and barrage of 'likes' make us convinced that we are indeed God's gift to mankind, little geniuses, knowing the secrets of life and the rules of the Game. In the comfort of the cocoon of our private spaces with the security of nods of yeomen who agree and add on in agreement to whatever we say, we go on a roll.  The squeal of dissent is muffled and vilified by roars of mobs of netizens on our platform. What we fail to realise is that these disapproving netizens are equally loud in their own social backyard cheered correspondingly by loud spectators who agree with them. Together they glorify each other in the sweet melody of their echo chamber. With the splurge of adrenaline spiralled by cheering of bystanders, the momentum to act and to react snowballs. Keyboard warriors with their fangs and steely knive...