A patriotic poem.

Full River Red (China; 2023)

Director: Zhang Yimou

'Full River Red' is a patriotic poem written by Yue Fei, a Chinese general during the reign of the Southern Song Dynasty. There was a time when the Jin Dynasty overpowered the Northern Song Dynasty from the area now known as Manchuria. Yue Fei was assigned to recapture the northern capital from the intruders. Just as he was about to overpower the invader, he was told to retreat.

The Southern King thought the released Northern King may have a claim to the throne. Yue Fei was called back to the southern capital, charged with trumped-up charges, and executed or died in prison. He was a victim of an internal political imbroglio. An established poet, Yue Fei wrote the poem to stir patriotic fervour among the people. It portrays his hatred towards the invading northern army and his frustration toward the peace accord with the Jin dynasty from the north. 'Full River Red' has become a masterpiece in the history of Chinese literature.

To put cold water into the sense of Chinese patriotism, a renowned Song scholar from Princeton, James T. C. Liu, says that the poem may have been written in the 16th century, looking at the words used. Yue Fei lived between 1103 and 1142! So, the poem may not be his at all.

As complicated as Chinese history was when we studied it in school, with similar-sounding names and convoluted turns of events, this movie follows the same trajectory. It should have occurred five years after Yue Fei's demise.

The Chancellor, who worked under the umbrella of the Southern Song emperor, had made a secret agreement with the Jin Dynasty representative. Yue Fei's supporters (the people) intercepted the papers by killing the Jin's messenger. The Chancellor had to prevent his maleficence from being out in the open. He assigns two men to find the culprit.

That snowballs into a sword unsheathing, head decapitating, violence-filled dark comedy. The film's climax is the poem's recital by all the prisoners. The entire army rises to the occasion with the inspiring patriotic hair-raising words of the poem.

This film turned out to be one of the highest-grossing Chinese movies. It is nothing more than using a common heritage to spur nationalism. But then, do they really share a common heritage when the People's Republic of China may be viewed as the rule of the Han people over other ethnicities like the Manchus, Uighurs, Tibetans, Mongols, and more. I am not sure whether the Chinese living in the areas bordering Central Asia and Tibetans share the same romantic views on a shared history.

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The hidden 9/10 of the iceberg!

Salaam Bombay! (Greetings to Bombay!, Hindi; 1988)

Story, Direction and Production: Mira Nair

My partner in crime, Eskay and I often argue about the presence of poverty and the push it gives to a person to succeed in life. I quote the numerous examples of rag-to-riches stories and the hardships in life being a driving force to accomplishments. Eskay politely disagrees. He insists that the success stories are just the tip of an iceberg. Beneath the majestic free-floating iceberg is 89% that did not quite make it to the surface, submerged beneath the ocean.

For every Ambani that makes it big, many failure stories remain buried in the annals of time. These disappointments are often forgotten. They are seen around but not observed. If we were to approach them, they would each have tall tales of dreams, hard work, near misses and twists of fate.

We, the abled bodies, often condescendingly decree that we all deserve the life we lead. We are all given the same footing, but some choose not to grasp the chances available to them. It is not that easy. Many life situations prevent some from usurping opportunities available to them. Familial poverty, social problems, mental illnesses, societal discrimination and even governmental discriminatory policies based on race and religion put many in a disadvantaged position to come up in life.

The deep-pocketed, educated bunch can always skirt around to jump onto the loopholes to springboard themselves to success. Not to underprivileged, there have to depend on goodwill, fate and divine grace to pull them up by their bootstraps.

This movie is Mira Nair's debut and was India's nomination for the Oscars. Nationalists may decry that the moviemakers are just churning out poverty porn just to whet the Western appetite for the hopelessness of Indian people and the discriminatory nature of the brown people. On the other hand, poverty is present in all big cities anywhere in the world, but this movie gave the life of the little people dignity, not garnering sympathy or playing on the chord of melancholy. The world anywhere is cruel. We just have to deal with it. Wandering illiterate barefoot street kids, abuse, drug addiction, forced prostitution, crimes and overcrowding are common occurrences in metropolitan areas. Bombay is no different. Again, nationalists would blame the British and the foreign Muslim conquerors for plundering all wealth from a country which used to own 25% of the world's GDP at one time.

Irfan Khan (pic) was initially supposed to get his big breakthrough via this movie, but unfortunately, he was deemed to be too well-nourished to fit the bill of a street kid. Khan was offered a minor role. A real street kid, Shafiq Syed, got the part. He went on to win multiple awards for his role but was last seen roughing it out as an autorickshaw in Bangalore. That is Bollywood for you. It is only about whom you know and which acting dynasty you are from.

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