RIFLE RANGE BOY

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 lite...

Dropout (Miniseries; 2022) Netflix Look at the following examples. When the people of the 13 colonies were desperate to be cut off from their colonial masters, they wanted a leader. They saw that in George Washington, a 6 ft 4 in the son of a wealthy Virginian planter who rode on the expensive horse on the land. His marriage to the fairest and richest widow in the land also aided this. (By the way, the State of Virginia was named after the English Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I). Even though Washington was quite a disappointment as a soldier. He failed to get to be an officer with a King’s commission in the regular British Army. In the Independence War, Washington bungled up too. He was party to war crimes, killing his own men. He was implicated in land scams. Even as the first President, he blundered. His own Federalists Party came to nought because of its own doing. The only thing that kept him going was his charisma. Then there is Napolean Bonaparte. At a time after the French Revolution...

Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) It is not easy to change society. The people of the top of the perch want to continue having their nice view undisturbed. Those in the middle rung wish to have continued access to the top and maintain their gateway to positions whilst asserting dominance upon the plebians under their feet. The plebians, well, they are a pathetic lot. They bicker amongst themselves to be king, imagining the changes in their lives upon springboarding to the top.  The minions' blinded voracious appetite is not the only impeding factor that prevents them from reaching the top. The kingmakers also send in their instigators and moles to derail any flicker of progress. The Civil War was not started by the Northerners because of altruistic intentions, because they could not stomach seeing black slaves being treated worse than animals. It was economics, stupid. The Union just wanted to liberate the slaves and pack them off to Africa, specifically Liberia, not treat them as...

Karwaan (Hindi, Caravan, 2018) Just to recapitulate what Jordan Peterson mentioned in his book 'The 12 Rules of Life', we tend to assume all social ailments or individual problems that one faces in the process of growing up must be solved with a radical restructuring of one's culture. The call for social revolution is heard loud and clear amongst the young chicklings in every generation. The oft-quoted complain among the youth is that adults are not in tune with reality or are living in the past. Names like fossils and dinosaurs have been heard. On the part of the elders, it is pejorative as well. Their offsprings have been referred to as the generation that would bring down civilisation. What we often forget is that revolution by nature is destructive. Look back at history. Revolutions have always been of chaos, destruction and re-setting or jump-starting a failing system. If every generation feels that the generation before them had wronged them, there must be someth...

Hunt for Red October (1990) Many keyboard warriors are so convinced by what they see online. They fail to understand why others are so dumb (in their eyes, of course). To them, truth our there is as clear as day. And everyone else just ought to follow, no questions asked. What these modern warriors or influencers, as they are referred to these days, need to know is that sometimes we become too blinded with our beliefs that we fail to practice mindfulness. They should wear another hat and maybe a different colour lens, other than rose, to get a different perspective on things. A revolution cannot be started by an army of one. It begins with the revolution of the collective minds and hearts of the people. This change is difficult, more so in modern times, as we are so divided by ideologies, cultures, faiths and identity. This film is based on Tom Clancy's 1984 novel which in turn was loosely based on Soviet Union's 1975 attempted mutiny aboard a warship. In the 1975 revol...

Joker (2019) It was a time when I was a teenager. I had been selected to play the role of Jesus Christ in a pantomime. It was an Easter play depicting the Resurrection. Obviously, the most alluring girl in the Sunday class, Catherine, was cast as Mary Magdelene. Everything went on all, and the show was enjoyed by everyone. I realised the hard way that people are generally not nice, and children are imps. Life is not fair. There is no justice on Earth, and we are kidding ourselves that there is a higher judge out there who would mete out appropriate justice when the time is ripe. As if pacifying a wailing child, we convince ourselves, rather foolishly that payback may happen in the afterlife or next birth. After the show, the children started teasing me as 'Black Jesus'. Of course, I did not know then that Jesus may have had Negroid features, but I felt particularly offended with the word 'black'. The teasing went on, joined by the other. One particular chap, Jere...