It is bullying!

The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009, Iranian)

Everyone is innocent until they are proven guilty. Not so, according to this controversial film which is an adaptation from a book (La Femme Lapidée) of a French journalist's experience as he, Freiduone Sahebjam, was travelling through Iran. He stopped in a small village at the edge of the country to be narrated of a recent stoning of an alleged adulterous villager, Soraya Monitchehri. The authenticity of the story was always disputed by the Iranian authorities. Still, by a twist of fate, the book's release coincided with the trial of another accused awaiting sentencing by stoning for adultery. About 190 persons were stoned to death in Iran in 2010.

The world kind of accepted the fact that the one who had sinned should cast the first stone, but apparently, the memo did not reach everyone in the world. Stone-throwing is still practised as a form of punishment in many traditional Muslim societies. 

Do not, for a moment, imagine that our modern society is immune to this type of harsh punishments to something which happens in the confines of the four walls within the ambit of personal choice. Snoop squats are freely available at the drop of a hat. Remember the number of volunteer orthopaedic surgeons who were willing to perform amputations if Kelantan expressed its wish to carry hudud law? All they need is a dog whistle.

Soraya, a mother of four, two boys and two girls, was trapped in an abusive marriage. Her husband, Ali, a jailer, had intentions of marrying a 14-year-old girl. He did not, however, wanted to pay child support or return the dowry money. He did not even provide for the day to day running of the household and did not want to utter talaq to free her misery. He concocted a tale of a clandestine affair with an old widower of a home where she worked as a helper to supplement her income. 

An ulama with a shady past, whose secret is known to Ali, influenced the local chieftain to begin sharia proceedings. Even though the husband was accusing his wife, the wife needed to prove her innocence rather than the accuser providing proof of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. The accused is no longer innocent before proven guilty. Why? Because she is a female, and the fairer sex is easily confused, their evidence is suspect. In this patriarchal society, women have no rights.

Ali managed to arm-twist the widower and his son to admit to inappropriate conduct with Soraya. On top of that, the women in the village have no voice. They cannot stand as witnesses. It is herd mentality at its heights. He says, she says, hearsay and then everybody agrees. Even Soraya's father curses his daughter as a whore to cast the first stone.

The most excruciating part of the movie is the graphic 7-minute graphic depiction of the brutal stoning as the family members, one by one, even her sons, take turns to do their bit to ensure God Law on Earth. (I fast-forwarded the scene.)

Every law is manipulated to suit the convenience of the affluent, the rulers, the influenced, the elite and those at rubbing shoulders distance with the above. For the rest, the whole wheel of justice will roll not to mete justice but to guarantee that the law is upheld. That is it. 

With the adultress buried in the sand to her waist and her hands tied to her back, she is target 

practice for village folks. It becomes their battleground to showcase their piety to Almighty. 

It is an arena to display their assertation that God's Law is carried out on Earth. 

''She is drenched in blood and crumpled on the ground, mutilated face partially obscured by a mass of dark hair. Over an excruciating seven-and-a-half minute, she has been disowned by her family, buried to her waist in a hole at the centre of the village square and finally reduced to tattered rags of flesh by a baying mob hurling stones. Now, tentative, her husband bends to examine her face. The filmy eye blinks. He recoils. 'The bitch is still alive,' he shouts. There is a roar of fury and the crowd close in.''

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1320989/The-Stoning-Soraya-M-The-horrific-execution-scene-got-film-banned.html

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Lost it!

Wonder Woman @ WW84 (2020)

I remember my school teacher telling me this. Doing well at the first attempt does not ensure that things will pen nicely the second time around. In fact, it is more difficult to excel on the second occasion. There is mounting pressure to prove that the first win was no flash in the pan. These pearls of wisdom rang so clearly as I restless laboured through the two and a half-hour of scenes after scenes of a disjointed story whose plot did not make any sense. 

After an exciting outing with the first of the current franchise, I thought this would be like its predecessor. I expected a well-crafted story with visually pleasing cinematography ending with a message sprinkled with philosophy or meaning of life. It was a disappointment.

To the followers of the DC Cinematic Universe, the story might be confusing. According to Batman vs Superman, WW was supposed to be missing somewhere after World War 1, and Superman had to search high and low to trace her in the 1990s. She was doing so much stuff and damage in 1984, but the man in cape obviously missed it in his research. 

The story seems disjointed, and the scenes appear inserted in like an afterthought. The power that the maniacal villain is so vague and the premise of another Superhero manifestation is unwarranted. A wishing crystal as a weapon of mass destruction to control people, President of the USA and nuclear warheads is all too confusing.

As we saw over the recent years, we saw superhero movies develop complex stories where the heroes struggle with worldly and personal issues. It tends to leave with a public message and food for thought. But, not this one. It seems like this film was churned out just to con the audience to depart from their hard-earned moolah in the name of fandom.

Bruce Wayne got hold of this rare photograph to locate the whereabouts of WW.

Wonder Woman of another era.

Law is maintained only as long as it is respected.

I always wondered what is it that maintains order in our lives. What ensures total silence in the cinema when the movie is starting? What is it that assures that the viewers in an art gallery do not go around touching their exhibits with their dirty stubby fingers? What forces a patient to pay at a clinic after a consultation and the customer settle his bill after enjoying (or hating) his meal? They can jolly well just scoot off, now that their mission is accomplished. 

Well, it can happen with the occasional client who refuses to pay, but that is not the norm. Perhaps he is dissatisfied with the service or just because he can. Rather than creating a scene and draw unwanted publicity, the service provider would probably write it off as miscellaneous loss of doing business. To the rest, they know the long arm of the law would get them. They know that as the majority support orderly running of life transactions, they would not garner support against a sea of law-abiding supporters no matter how justified the lawbreaker can be with his wrongdoings. 

The balance will be tipped when the majority starts distrusting the institutions that maintain law and order. Anarchy prevails when the majority begins disrespecting the law. Law must be just and seen to be fair. Public perception is all to it. People hold law enforcement to high esteem not because they are scared of the law, they simply respect too much. 

Ask the British East India Company and the British Empire. They would tell you how a puny force managed to overpower and bring down a nation of many millions over - too much respect given to authority.

Roberto Schmidt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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The secret of happy living?

Ikigai, Discover your Reason for Being

Justin Barnes (2019)

Modern living has become complicated. From a community which used to live simply using age-tested traditions, we had evolved to one that simply lived for the moment, fulfilling the hedonistic desires of senses of the individual self. They thought they could live long lives enjoying the gift of life indefinitely unlike their forefathers because they knew the sciences and they had the armamentarium of modern medicine as a shield.

Unfortunately, life proved to be empty despite the vast knowledge and precise know-how that they had discovered over the leaps and bounds of various industrial and scientific revolutions. They started looking for answers to fill this void. They wanted long modern lives but not aches, encumbrances and the emptiness associated with it.

They look around, and they saw the Okinawans who were happy and led extremely long lives. They postulated that probably it is their moai - the safety net of lifelong friends and support groups at various levels to aid in their social, financial, health and spiritual needs. 

Beyond all these, the researches posit that the individual mindset is of paramount importance. One should find contentment in whatever situation he is embroiled. Like Sisyphus, they should find happiness in whatever mundane position they are stuck in. After a certain level of attainment in life, one should do things for the joy of doing it. It should not be a chore. Only then, the drive would be there to delve into the nitty-gritty, fine-tuning and turning it into an art form. A simple example of this would be the case of a ramen maker. He would spend years and years learning and perfecting the craft of making the dish from scratch and ensuring that it is flawless in every aspect.

One strategy is to aim for small joys; not grand targets. The importance of early to rise and shine cannot be overstated. Physical activities mobilise and energise the day ahead. Prudent plant-based food consumption and stopping eating when one is 80% full cannot be overstated. 

One cannot be fixated with beauty. He must learn to appreciate blemishes and find beauty in the perfectly imperfect. Every imperfection has a tale to tell. Learn to relish the simple pleasures in life. 

The mystery of human existence lies not just about staying alive but also in finding something to live for. We just tune in and tune out. 

Talking about leading purposeful, happy lives, I am reminded of what my Tamil Language teacher taught us way back during POL classes. I have to admit that I only remember two verses of the 109 of the Avvaiyyar's Aathichoodi. In Tamil schools, these verses from the foundation of inculcating good values, discipline and doing good deeds. Students are expected to memorise these verses. Like writing lines, they were used as punishment. On the other hand, competitions are held to pick out students with flawless pronunciation. 

Like that it goes on with almost every alphabet of the Tamil language.

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Play ball or be cancelled!

Falling Down (1993)

Thanks, Danny, for showing the existence of this film.

We are constantly bombarded with the notion that we should follow the weather-beaten path, and everything will be alright. Do as I say, not as I do. Follow the dotted lines, and you will be taken care of. We are expected to act in a particular manner as it is how a civil society behaves. Keeping your emotions under check denotes maturity, and everybody will play their part.

We do our share of our bargain diligently but then, we realise that we had been taken for a ride. The promise turned out to be an empty one—a dream not, but a nightmare. And we flip. The system to whom we had been loyal all these while turns around and say that we are the evil one. The significant others whom we saw as the scourge is now the protected one.

Foster must have found himself in the same kind of predicament. Working diligently as a faithful servant in a defence facility, he realised one day that he had neither a job nor her family to go to. His employer had terminated him, and his wife has a restraining order against him. He is stuck in a bad traffic jam, his car air-conditioning has failed, and it is scorching hot outside. He had it. He decided to abandon his vehicle and walk-on home. Then it dawned upon him. He is the bad guy now. He is chided for leaving his car in traffic; he is threatened by ruffians when resting in an empty plot - is thought to have nefarious thoughts; guns and weapons are at everybody disposals, but was told that it was for peaceful reasons; he had to conform to pre-set orders on the menu; that people are outwardly pleasant masking a suppressed hatred; the immigrants who scaled the country in poverty are now dictating terms. Foster is now hunted as a villain because he deviated from the socially accepted norms.

Even his wife does not think he is right for her anymore as he has deviated from the societal pre-set rules. There is no place for self-expression; conform or be shipped out! (Hey, this is #cancel culture!)

In contrast, another character, a policeman, despite the curveballs that life has to offer, he is accepted as he plays ball. Like a domesticated cat, he conforms to the home environment.

A thoughtful offering on the pressure cooker state that modern man has to endure to stay relevant in modern societies. His wings are clipped, and his testosterone slowly dwindling in an environment that continually looks at him as toxic.

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The devil is in the details

Andhaghaaram (Darkness, Tamil; 2020)

Netflix
Story and Direction: V. Vignarajan

At first look, the storyline suggests that this film will be one with scares and screams. Midway through the movie, you think it is a remake of Hollywood's 'What Lies Beneath'  where the dead communicates with the living to uncover a murder. The thing done differently is that two dead people (spoilers) are communicating with the protagonist. The protagonist, Vinodh, appears to be going into paranoid schizophrenia ever since his best buddy died. He feels guilty as he had gifted his friend a book on the subject of occultism. He thinks his friend was pushed to suicide after delving into the book. 

Ever since a rotary phone was installed in his apartment, Vinodh feels like he is being watched. His girlfriend arranges for a therapist. 

Another plot is about a blind library clerk, Selvam trying to earn enough money for his kidney transplant. He moonshine as a medium. One of the jobs he manages to secure involves exorcising a building. Selvam also inherited a priced building in the heart of town from his father. Selvam's teacher is Vinodh's friend's sister. This is how Selvam and Vinodh get connected.

In another plot, a psychiatrist is confronted by his patient who shoots him and his family. The doctor 'survives' the shooting but his licence is suspended. He visits his patients at home instead.

As the story goes, you soon realise that both Selvam and the doctor are trying to contact Vinodh on his new phone. But the problem is their stories are both told different timelines. Both were dead many months previously and it is their spirits which is doing the job!

Refreshing storytelling makes the audiences connect the dots to get a composite picture of the whole story. The devil is in the details as a line in the movie says. After completing the story, only then you would realise why certain scenes were told in that particular way. It seems no stones were left unturned. The acting is brilliant indeed especially by the character of Selvam. I thought they had got a visually handicapped actor for the role. Googling later, I realised that he had acted in many other movies before. All the actors are new (at least to me) and did justice to their roles.

The movie is almost three hours long but the director managed to capture the suspense. The ending may be perceived as an anticlimax as viewers are used to having melodramatic ends in keeping with the Indian psyche. It is decent enough.

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Get real!

Bad Santa (2003)

Mention Christmas movies, everyone will think of the 1939 'It's a Wonderful Life' or perhaps 'Home Alone' or even Nakatomi Plaza, John McClane and the' Die Hard' franchise. I bet nobody would want to remember 'Bad Santa'. Most, if not all, Christmas movies try to spread the message of love and the joy of giving in general. In their own way, they try to convey that good prevails over evil, and the Grace of God will help overcome any adversities. Even the antithesis of Christmas - Charles Dickens' Uncle Scrooge in 'Christmas Carol' came around to finally see the spirit of the Yuletide. No, not in Billy Bob Thornton's depiction of Santa Claus.
Come to think of it, nobody likes to dresses in a fat man's suit to listen to children demands (yes, not request) for Christmas presents. These days, children are too smart to believe that there is an old saint up there in the North Pole who works all through the year with his elves making gifts for them as per request. And he has a list of who had been naughty or nice. To top it all, he can deliver all his presents in a single night on a one-man open sleigh squeezing through a chimney for a cookie and milk. DHL would be out of a job.

I remember an episode on 'Family Guy' (S9E3 -The Road to the North Pole) where Stewie and Brian go to the North Pole to discover an ailing Santa Claus because of exhaustion, wilting to the pressures of a highly materialistic world and a 'sweatshop' like working conditions of the elves in keeping with the demands of an exploding population number. It is not a gratifying to be a provider as they soon discover when they took over the ailing Santa's job. People are suspicious of anything free, and the idea of their child sitting on a hirsute old man with a lousy dressing sense does not excite any average parents. Whatsmore, in the pandemic times, coming in contact with someone who has been wandering around.

Anyway, the character of 'Bad Santa' is about an alcoholic who is generally a sourpuss who grudgingly dresses up as Santa annually to the beck and call of his 'partner in crime', his old midget friend who dresses up as an elf. They work in malls during the Christmas season, but their real MO is to rob the mall come Christmas eve. That particular, their path crosses with that of a lonely unattended boy who lives with an old demented granny. If you think Santa Claus will bring the joy of the festivities to everyone, look elsewhere. Here, Santa used the young boy's naivety to squat in his mansion and gave unlimited access to his out-at-work father's access to booze and other luxury accessories. At the same time, he and his elf friend with his Asian girlfriend architect their next heist. This dark comedy is an excellent diversion to the age-old lovey-dovey warmth atmosphere in a White Christmas that is often depicted in most Xmas films. It is set in the hot desert city of Phoenix, Arizona, by the way.

Dan Cowley @riflerangeboyII just sent me a song in the spirit of the occasion. Ariana Grande's 2014 hit song asks Santa to tell her whether her new beau is for real or he will be one of her love interests who would disappear into the dark of the night. Maybe, it is just me, but I think this song would only excite a paedophile. The backup singers/dancers, even Grande herself, are way too young to be having many previous romantic trysts! The dancers look mere tweens for Christ sake.

Anyway, in the spirit of eternal hopefulness of better times ahead, Merry Christmas and a Happy 2021.

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