These boots are made for walking...

The Wild Angels (1966)

This movie is the prelude to the 1969 'Easy Rider' about counterculture movement. Honestly, there is nothing great to say about this one. It is about a bunch of young adults of the Hell's Angels just riding and riding being chased by cop, beating up people, breaking up things and getting high.

The thing that struck me was the two main actors - Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra, both offspring of great legends of showbiz, namely Henry Fonda and Frank Sinatra. Peter Fonda had his own successes and so did Nancy Sinatra. Nancy, famous with her signature tune 'These boots are made for walking', did not do so well in the silver screen as she did on the music front.
It made me uneasy whilst watching this movie is to see how offspring of a generation who had strived hard to make it big, never have the tenacity to scale great heights as the generation before them did. The story also reminds me of how the younger ones in any society at any time of history tend to be weaker and less resilient physically and mentally than their predecessors. The younger one also yearn for 'freedom' and the need to avert difficulty and sufferings. The living example around us is the ability to withstand labour pains. Our grandmothers and mothers just embraced childbirth with all its anxieties and uncertainties with the stride of life and the off loading their worries at the altar or at the lotus feet of the Divine.
The newer generation are not going to leave the moment of their joy to the hands of others without giving a fight. They want to know exactly goes on with them. within them and they will just not take the discomforts of childbirth lying down. They cannot accept the old grandma's tale of the pain of childbirth is nothing compared to pain of dying on a cross. Times change.

You are made to think that you are free!

Easy Rider (1969)

This classic of the late 60s glorifies the counterculture spirit of that era. Even though it seem to showcase a decadent lifestyle with hedonistic desires away from the usual requirements of society like working and following the law, herein lies the philosophical outlook on life. The message is imparted via the travelogues of two hippie bikers as the they span the USA from Los Angeles to St Louis to attend Mardi Gras before they retire in style in Florida with the ill-gotten stash of cash obtain by drug trafficking big time.

The riders (Wyatt@Captain America, Peter Fonda, the producer; Billy, Dennis Hopper, the director) pick up a hitchhiker and spend a night in a commune. In the 60s, people who were disillusioned with the way the capitalistic industrial world was heading, with war and nuclear threat, decide to give it all up to live the simple life with simple desires with lots of love and hallucinogens. The riders could see that the members of the commune, even though they think they are free, they are actually having a very hard time trying to grow their own grain in a hostile environment, bad soil, bad weather without the proper tools and know how. They seem to get detachment from their troubles through the performing arts. So, they are close to nature and away from modernity but are they truly happy and free?

They continue their journey only to find themselves arrested for 'parading without a permit' when they rode through a street parade. In the lock-up, they get the good acquaintance of a drunken lawyer in the same cell, George Hanson (the most talented actor, Jack Nicholson) who got them out and followed them en route to attend the Mardi Gras. Another bashing at free American, people need to get a permit to parade in public!
Jack Nicholson's presence really livens up the whole movie after that.
They stop at a diner. Their presence in the squeaky clean town is not welcomed. The diners would not take their orders and the sheriff's men gave condescending looks on their gruffly unkempt appearances. The older townsfolk made disparaging remarks about their lifestyles and even sexual orientations. The young girls at the place are all starry eyed about them and would die to ride with them, so they say. To avert trouble, they leave. The message here is that, even though America is a free country, people are frowned upon for being different and vilified for that.

The hostility of the local men continued. They turned up at their camping site under the cloak of the darkness of the night to bash the living daylights out of the three bikers. George succumbed to his injuries.

Wyatt and Billy, obviously referring to Earp Wyatt and Billy the Kid of the Wild West, continue their journey. They symbolise the old America. Wyatt is dressed in a leather jacket emblazoned with the logo of American Eagle. Billy looks like he is draped in Indian garb, minus the headgear.

As they were riding along dreaming of their retirement in Florida, they passed by two farmers travelling in a pick up truck. Just for the heck of it, they shot both of them down! That is how the Old America was brought down. The New America and its inhabitants think they have the right formula to be free. Real freedom is a fallacy. The people is power, over time again and again, gave is the elusive idea that we are free while keeping us tight under their rein. By the way, what are we free from? Free from the evil that lurks around us? Free from the hardship of life? Free from our worldly obligations? Free from the cycle of Life? What are we free from?

NB. The film comes with an array of beautiful rock ballad from The Byrds, Steffanwolf, Bob Dylan and others. Film was shot exclusively outdoors depicting the picturesque landscape of the American wild.

A philosophical sci-fi

Blade Runner (1982)

I remember watching this movie during the carefree days of post-STPM examinations. It was one of the films that my friends and I managed to watch through a then-new contraption called VCR using VHS tapes.

One thing that struck me then was the rampant use of Chinese in the film's billboards and the hawker food stalls. It was, however, set in Los Angeles.Was it a subtle message that the Chinese culture would prevail in the year 2019? The world is an Orwellian type of dark, wet and chaotic world where pandemonium ruled, and police are kings whilst the big corporations rule. Clones of men called replicants are used to do menial and dangerous works, especially those that involve work in outer space. They are outlawed to be on Earth. Blade Runners are law enforcement officers specific to apprehend them.

Four replicants made it back and pose a threat. Basically, they came back to get their makers to extend their lifespan. You see, they are only made to serve for four years, and every replicant has a shelf life. That is where our hero, Rick Deckard ( Harrison Ford) comes in. He is the best-known Blade Runner but left the force because he could not stomach all those killing. So starts the cat and mouse hunt for the replicants. In the process, there is also a new generation clone Nexus 6 replicant which has more human qualities and becomes the hero's love interest. This sci-fi offering is quite a cerebral offering with questions regarding the purpose of life and issues about death. The dialogue is quite philosophical giving the whole film a noir feel.

Memorable quote:

Roy (Replicant): I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those ... moments will be lost in time, like tears...in rain. Time to die.

Deckard: [voiceover] I don't know why he saved my life. Maybe in those last moments he loved life more than he ever had before. Not just his life... anybody's life... my life. All he'd wanted was the same answers the rest of us want. Where do I come from? Where am I going? How long have I got? All I could do is sit there and watch him die.

Relive the past?

The Big Chill (1983)

It is nice to see how some of the actors who we have seen through the years use to look in their younger days. This early romedy (romantic comedy) film is supported by a group of actors who went on to greater heights on their own accord - Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, William Hurt, Tom Berenger and Jeff Goldblum.
4 guys and 3 girls who were childhood friends gather together for the funeral of friend who had committed suicide.
All of them compare notes of the successes, their failures and their lost dreams in this poignant tale of self discovery. They soon realise that they are all different after battling the hard knocks and cruelty of life. After the short stint at the village of the deceased, they discover that they would never find out why the friend committed suicide but they found new zest to carry on with life.
The best part of the movie is the soundtrack of many marvellous songs of the yesteryears.

Bad Moon Rising - CCR

Heard it on the grapevine - Marvin Gaye

When a man loves a woman - Percy Sledge

Wouldn't it be nice - Beach Boys

In the midnight hour - The Young Rascals

Joy to the world - Three Dog Night

A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum

We lack super heroes?

The actions of King Rama, his consort Sita, his brother Laxman, his humble servant Hanuman have been used as the yardstick of how a human being should live his life. King Rama and his principle on natural justice, respect of power and upholding of promises; Queen Sita and her virtues of a chaste wife exemplified by her conduct; Laxman with the meaning of true friendship and Hanuman with undivided subservience to authority. The conducts and misconducts of the aristocrats and noblemen in Rama's court yard form the pillar of what Hindus the world over use to run and not to run their daily lives.
Man, the losers, were always awed by their captors. They would try to emulate and assimilate the cultures of their new found victors as their own. That would explain why we speak English and not don our sarongs to work.
So what I am saying is...Everyone is a role model either directly or indirectly to his subordinates. A child, no matter how much he despises his parents, will eventually pick up the subtle cues from the elders. So goes to the common man in the streets. His priorities are set according what he sees from his leaders and people in power. In the modern age of ICT and TV, pop and movie stars fill in the gap as well.

If the idols display traits that seem to glorify wealth, prosperity and the good life without hard work, that it would be. Money becomes the aim in life. If stars can be okay with shameless lifestyles and call it living the life, so be it too. Like in the case of the broken window theory, when the lethargy of enforcing law and order is the rule of the law, noble attributes that differentiate man and animal takes a back seat.
That my friend is the real reason why the young 12 year-olds need to re-sit their public examination papers. The people entrusted with the duty to maintain the cold chain of secrets had failed repeatedly because they fail to appreciate the need to maintain integrity in their line of work. Guess they have all their priorities twisted....

A swipe at McCarthyism

A King in New York (1957)
Many Americans look back at the early years of the 50s with much disdain. They had let the idea of a senator and politics of the time to go on a witch hunt on individuals based on frivolous hearsay. All in the name of nationalism and national security, many valuable man-hours were wasted. After all these, one would think that the general public cannot be taken for a ride anymore or can they? Based on turn of events of late, the hoodwinking continues.
Coming closer to our shores, people are being unpatriotic with same flimsy reasons with a hidden agenda behind them. It seem that we will never learn from history. We will have to endure the whole thrust of its mayhem before we look back at yourselves, in years to come, and hopefully laugh at ourselves!
The post WW2 years in America was tumultuous one. The Cold War had started and US of A had slowly taken the rein as the leader of the free world. Free they may be with their capitalistic market forces stance on liberty, the Government was hot under the collar with individuals sympathetic to the course of the left. Charlie Chaplin was one of the many performers blacklisted for being a member of the communist party. During a holiday trip back to his native England, his return visa was cancelled and lived exiled in UK. Anyway, he had not surrendered his British passport.
This last of Charlie Chaplin's film was a sarcastic look at the times that America was in. It poked fun as its anti-communist stance, the pop culture, the over glamorisation of youth, the invasion of privacy, the media frenzied population and the monetisation of everything. In a subtle way, the story shows how the old European values lose out to the demands of the American way of doing things. Chaplin also in a way, tries to re-live his youthful days in some scenes by trying to re-enact some acts from his 1927 'The Tramp'.
A deposed King Shadov of Estrovia, abdicates his throne and finds refuge in New York. Thinking that he could live in high life with his ill-gotten fortunes from his national coffers till the revolution in his country is over, he checks in to The Ritz with his ambassador. He is lured to attend a party where he is tricked to appear in a commercial. He was such a hit that the advertising industry wants more of him.
When he discovers that his fortune had been squandered by his trusted Prime Minister, he is forced to appear in commercials to pay his bills.
It is here that he takes a swipe at the public obsession with youthfulness and plastic surgery. He undergoes plastic surgery with disastrous outcome and reverts back to usual appearance!
He makes an official visit to a school. He befriends a child prodigy, Rupert, whose parents are being tried for involvement in the Communist Party. This child actor is Chaplin's son, Michael. Even though he showed so much calibre as an actor, he apparently went wayward later, living on dole.
Rupert later is on the run from the police for his parents' crimes. He seeks refuge with the King.
The rest of the story shows how the King is wrongly drawn in to the fiasco but is found innocent. He returns to Paris to be with his Queen.

Memorable quote:
"One of the minor annoyances in modern life is a revolution"

It's a wild world, out there!

Jalan Pintas (Short cut, Malay, 2011)

This Malaysian film is banned by FINAS but had to be nominated for 2012 Puchon Fantastic Film Festival to be noticed. The reason for its ban is probably due to the copious use of unnecessary foul four lettered Malaysian words and the protagonist's given name in the credit is Najib Razak. In the movie itself, he introduces himself as Bakar (Burn) Razak! Every now and then you see snippets of government logo which seem contradictory to the story, as if in a mocking manner.

And the movie screams of nihilism from every angle - a hostile urban environment streaming with gangsters, loafers and mad men, people in power who nonchalantly practise favouritism and nepotism, town folks are rude and that the country is a living hell for an educated young man with no connections.

It narrates how possibly Bakar's life would have been if he had taken a short-cut to attend his job interview. At the end of the day, both roads lead to path of destruction.

The story would perhaps remind you of 'Sliding Doors' narrating a parallel universe where things may happen differently. For a Malaysian, the style of story-telling is quite unique in that the story is told in flash backs and present time in sequence but the essence is quite obvious. 

Bakar, a kampong boy with an engineering degree and good grade, leaves the comforts of his village to seek for job and greener pastures in KL. What meets him is heartaches, unpaid rent, unrealistic employers and dead ends at interviews.

A some what immature Bakar, it seems, cannot take the injustices that happens to him, in front of him, lying down. He fights back, sometimes foolishly to devastating outcomes. 

It is refreshing to see a fresh angle of filmmaking coming from our local boys instead of the usual run-of-the-mill condescending boy-meet-girl, love failure, decadent behaviour, repentance kind of story for the masses. Of course, the powers that be are not going to kindly accept the negative depiction of our beloved land even though it is not far from the truth. Living for the common people is indeed becoming a struggle as the inequality between the haves and have nots widens and unlike most developing countries, our middle class shrinks.