The Dream Police?

Nineteen Eighty Four (1956)
It is eerie that whatever George Orwell predicated in his 1949 fiction of a bleak future has manifested in many forms in modern society. He predicted a dystopian society where life is literally a living hell. The world is at war, divided along three ideological / racial lines - Ocenia (UK and US mainly), Eurasia (Russia, Central Asia and allies) and Eastasia (East And South East Asia). Society in Airstrip One (a war ravaged 1984 London) comprise Inner Party (2% elite), (Outer Party (13% middle class) and Plebs (the remaining 85% uneducated).
The region is ruled by Big Brother, the supreme leader who watches and listens to your every move. To assists him he has ordinary citizens and even kids to pose as state spies. TV screens are placed at every nook and corner to transmit party propaganda, over glorify success and give a sense of euphoria to a country in shambles devastated  by effects of war.
Language is changed to suit the times. Even history is written and rewritten perennially to the whims and fancies of the ruling party to suit the flavour of the month. Information is vetted by Government. People are coerced to think highly of their country. Hatred is here, there and everywhere. People are suspicious of each other. They even have a week of Hate!
Ministry of Truth churns out half truths and lies. Wrongdoers or enemies of the states are ostracised publicly.
Trouble makers are dealt with the unquestionable power of the state and are 'rehabilitated' to conform to society's aspirations.
Critical thinking is a great enemy. Thought is policed. 'Ignorance is strength' is one of the motto of the Party.
This powerful story has made it way to the silver screen and TV set many times. I managed to catch the glimpse of the 1956 B&W version and the 1984 version starring John Hurt and Richard Burton. Both copies did not deviate from the main story. However, the 1984 version was more graphical in exposure of flesh.
It essentially the tale of a history editor, Winston Smith, who cannot stand the lies told by the Party to the masses. He decides to pen his thoughts in a diary. He befriends Julia who shares with sentiments. Their thoughts are discovered by the Party and are apprehended.
The rehabilitation process manage to put them back on track to serve the country and became model citizens.

"..those who control the past, control the future
those who control the present control the past."

"War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is Strength"

Nihilistic look into humanity

True Detectives (2013)

This TV detective show has been quite a hit the world over. Its story paints a bleak outlook on humanity. Its dialogue is so profound and tears up the fabric of the type of society that man immemorial have tried to develop over the generations. Its nihilistic message is uttered week over week as the detectives go on to detect a series of ritualistic murders involving young children. Whilst they were at it, they also took a jibe at the evangelical Christians who have ulterior motives behind the supposed spreading of God words. The word white thrash repeatedly rings in this show, which uses the backdrop of the eerie countryside of Louisiana in its setting.

The story is told in two timeframes (1995 and 2012, also 2002 when they split) as Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) and Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) investigate some gruesome murders as cops initially and later as private investigators.
Woody Harrelson whom most of us came to know the bartender in Cheers in the 80s is a married cop (Marty) with two young daughters but not much of a family man. In the pretext of working overtime, he is out with a mistress. Mathew McConaughey, who is often seen a beach bump more attention from exposing his torso than his acting abilities, have been doing an excellent job in the past few movies that I have seen. Here he is a depressing pessimist who looks at everything from a negative aspect, let it be religion, people or humanity. He has not got over the loss of his young daughter in an accident.

Marty juggles his police work, extracurricular activities and bringing up his daughters. His philandering ways soon comes to his wife's attention and out hell broke loose. It effectively ended Marty and Rustin's partnership.
They unite in 2012 during a police enquiry. They bury their hatchet and continue where they stopped.

The joy of watching this show is not the story but the low down nihilistic dialogue especially by Rustin and the depressingly directionless souls of the dwellers of the interior of the most advanced country on the planet.

The Story of Storytelling

The Racketeer by John Grisham (2012)


I remember a time in the early 80s when I was helping out in a relative's place. It was in an isolated part of town and I was in isolation all by myself in an empty house. The only form of entertainment there was a box of books. The TV antenna was not fixed and there was no radio for company.
Rummaging through the contents of the box only revealed volumes of law journal and a few paperbacks. Unfortunately the readable books were not my cup of tea at that time. The only 'readable' book was 'The Jungle is Neutral' by F.C. Chapman which was not much to my liking - too much circumlocution and dry.
And why I was wondering why people read non-fictions! How times have changed.
The history of storytelling is the story of mankind. Messages imparted in condescending or instructive manner are rarely remembered for a long time. Tell it in a story form, spice it up with emotions, suspense and drama, you got your audience hooked. The best way to be a favourite uncle is to tell stories or give sweets.
History has shown that stories, and later books when more people began to read, gave the people in power the feeling of being hot under the collar. Book burnings in the Moghul era, Nazi and lately Cultural Revolution in China is nothing new. It seems the biggest library in Bihar, India took a month to burn when it was set ablaze by the invading Moghul legion. During the pre-Independance India, dramas and puppetry were means to get the message of nationalism and spirit for self rule across the land.
Why am I not talking so much about this book? There is nothing much to tell of it anyway. As it says on the cover, it tells of a lawyer who loses everything about a client is involved in a high profile money laundering scheme and he, being his lawyer is implicated.
He gets even with the FBI who put him in by planning a devious plan involving a dead judge, gold nuggets, fellow inmates and a deal under witness protection programme.
With heightened security in the post 9-11 era, nobody buys the author's story of being able to cross boundaries carrying gold ingots and smuggling hard cold cash!
Well, just help to immerse oneself in the land of make believe.

Waste of money?

Economics was easy when I understood that you have to save and you cannot waste. My Form 1 teacher, however, confused things for me. In an essay about the pros and cons of space expeditions, he disagreed that it was a waste of money. As a matter of fact, he said, nothing is a waste of money. Money does not go anywhere out of the world to be wasted. It merely changes hands. The money at the side of the transaction could still be used for 'meaningful' reasons.
My nimble mind was never the same again. Money was no longer just income and expenditure. For that matter, everything had the other side, which is not necessarily the wrong one.

Money and wealth are not going anywhere, just changing owners. So, the recipient of the funds is still able to put it to 'good' use. Only then may their priorities be different. They may like to keep it in assets which may be useful for the next generation. However, the building and running or maintaining the well-being of the assets will generate economic activities. But then the bone of contention is that the minute 1% of the population seems to be possessing the lion's share of financial control.

The structure of any societal build-up makes it that 1% of the population is always one step ahead in terms of intelligence and leadership qualities. This selected few are not only smart but devious and sometimes psychopaths.

Whatever it is, economics on a global scale is a different scale from that of an individual or family, where what you spend is what you get. And what you spend and don't have will land you in lots of problems, no matter how easy the lure seems to portray it to be.

Before they become rabid!

Stray Dog (野良犬 Nora Inu, Japanese; 1949)
Story & Director: Akira Kurosawa

Unlike some police forces which take their loss of weapons lightly, like writing them off as lost in the toilet bowl or lost at sea, Murakami, a rookie homicide detective, gets all uptight when he got his police gun pickpocketed whilst travelling on a crowded train. He feels so guilty and is determined to get back his gun before it goes into a bad use.

It is postwar Japan with modernisation showing its appearance in every walk of life. It looks like even though the Japanese were severely wounded by the Americans, instead of sulking and harakiri themselves or going ballistic against their aggressors, they decide to embrace the culture of the victors. Throughout the movie, most men are dressed in suit and hat. Ladies have shed their kimonos for modern dresses. Even the children are singing nursery rhymes to the tune of English ones. And their attraction of the week is a baseball game.

In a way, this film subtly tells the metamorphic change in post-war Japan. It also shows disgruntled veterans going wayward, feeling frustrated after the war.

The high strung Murakami is paired with an old-timer, Sato, in his investigations. Sato, in his own calm way, extracts information from a suspected accomplice. From there, the search eventually led to the actual pickpocket, but he had already sold it off at the black market.

Here, the story shows the other side of post-war of Japan where poverty and evil ruled.
Meanwhile, it comes to attention from ballistic reports that Murakami's gun had been used for robbery and murder. Murakami is further depressed and frustrated for his carelessness in the first place. The pacifying factor seems to be Sato who calms him down with life experiences. Together, they (especially Murakami) learns about life.

They tracked down the gun to be in possession of a certain Yaso. To track him, they had to track down his girlfriend, Harumi, a showgirl. Here, we are exposed to the other side of the criminal Yaso. He is an ex-Army man just like Murakami who served in the war. He is capable of showing affection to Harumi. Just like Murakami who had lost his luggage on the train on his return to a chaotic Japan after the mayhem of war. Unlike Murakami, Yaso put the blame of his stresses of life and disappointment on the society and decide to tread the side of crime.

In a suspenseful finale, Yaso is apprehended.
Why stray dog, you may wonder? Well, that is precisely the duty of a policeman. They are supposed to catch the stray dogs before they become rabid and pose a menace to society—highly recommendable 4.5/5.

It is the economy, stupid!

So, there I was having a tête-à-tête with a friend who use to hail from the land of Karmasutra where the people could take you for a spin in more ways than you can shake your head. As I thought that the results of the recently concluded Indian elections would excite her, I started asking about the results at her home state. In Tamil Nadu, in spite of the bad publicity that Amma had many elections ago with the extravagant wedding of her adopted son, she literally swept the state this time around. Her nemesis failed to win a single seat. Over at the national level, the feared Hindu nationalist party won by a landslide. To be fair, Modi was cleared of wrongdoings by the court and the buoyant economic progress in his home state is the catalytic factor for his win. Many tragedies involving high level corruption, high profile national shames and stagnant economy of late had people going for a change.
So, my friend, when asked on Amma's victory, she nonchalantly asserted that the feel good factor won her over. Many of the poor folks were given monetary support. Rice was distributed freely to the needy. Senior citizens were given alms. Saving interests were higher for the elderly. With no major natural catastrophe to worry, she rode high to victory. At the end of the day, it is the economy, stupid!
Man, over the ages have experimented with a system that is apparently fair to everyone. They tried to unshackle themselves from the dependence of wealth and power. They tried to create an utopia where all man are equal, where human qualities are appreciated and law of nature is respected.
Unfortunately, time and time again, man have failed. And miserably, sometimes. Feudalism, communism, fascism, religious fundamentalism all met with the same disappointing fate.
Maybe, it is ingrained upon us to be rebellious. That is how we, as a human race have come thus far, from the plains of Sub Sahara Africa. Deep inside us is the desire for instant gratification.

All is grace?

Diary of a Country Priest (Journal d'un curé de campagne, French; 1951)
Director: Robert Bresson

It is one of the most depressing movies I ever saw. No one character in the whole presentation actually smiles, perhaps once.
It is a highly philosophical one questioning life and God through the eyes of a young but sick parish priest posted in a village.
It is not the best of times for the Man of God. Your boyish look is a ridicule point for the young girls in his class to play pranks. The clergyman is not welcomed by the villagers who have given up on the church probably due to poor produce from the fields. The winter and his tummy upset is helping either. Attendance at the service is dismal. The only attendee, a governess with a countess seem to be in sorrow but the priest cannot seem to get across to her. The countess' daughter, Chantal, is a young girl so full of anger. She curses the governess for having an affair with her father, the Count. She is naturally angry with her father too. She abhors her mother for not doing anything in spite of being aware of the union! Again, the young priest cannot get through to talk to Chantal.
Throughout this time, through his stomach pains, loss of appetite and his uncertainty of his capacity as a priest, he narrates the story in the background as he writes his diary. Sometimes, he also wonders what God's plans are and what he is supposed to. His senior priests tell him not to get involved too much with people's affairs but instead pray more.
The priest's reputation in the village is also bad. Due to his erratic behaviour due to pain and pathetic diet of dry bread and wine, he is labelled as an alcoholic.

The priests sees a local doctor for his ailment. This doctor, an all timer, is a disillusioned fellow. He is still practicing ancient method of treatment oblivious of sterility and use of modern medicine. He is depressed because no patients see him anymore. This doctor, a nihilistic, who asks the priest to just accept his ailment, commits suicide later!
The priest's meeting with the countess revealed further depressing news. She has not got over the news of the death of her young son and still lives in living memory of him. She had even given up the belief of God. The priests managed to talk her into the fold again in a compassionate sermon. Chantal overheard part of their conversation. When the countess died in her sleep the following day, the priest is accused of being too harsh in his coaxing.
The young parish continues his work, in spite of his sufferings, telling himself that the Lord had suffered more. He decides to visit a specialist in town.
During a motorcycle ride to the train station, the free riding against the gush of the wind makes him question himself whether he had wastefully given up his youth for the work of God. This same youthful desire to be free is the same thing that made Chantal act the way she acts, he thought.
The bad news of him afflicted with stomach cancer was given to him. We walks aimlessly trying to explain the meaning of all these. He is also sad that he cannot continue His work.
He stops at a friend's place. This friend had taken a break from the seminary. He was living in a dilapidated condition, living in sin, unwed with a lady. One particular scene that fascinated me, probably used by communist in their rhetoric , is when the friend's partner returns from work. She apologised to the priest for being a poor homemaker. She had to leave for work as early as 5am and return home late, too late to clean up the house. When the priest asked her of the nature of her job, she replied , "Cleaning lady!"
This was the idea brought up by individuals who fought for workers' rights. A worker who toils day and night doing repetitive work endangering his health and life gets peanuts for his services. The capitalist bosses laughed all the way to bank because they took the risk. Workers who make fancy phones cannot afford a simple phone.
Coming back to the story, the priest took his work his seriously trying to change the world as much as he could. He took all the brickbats as a challenge. On his dying bed, he deduced that 'God is not a torturer' and 'All is grace'.
It is said that the young priest (Claude Laydu) is actually a very bubbly chap. He was a boisterous host in a children's game show. In this film, the director told him not to show any emotion as he thought actors were just models. It is the character that actually determines the outcome!