Blackbird

 Just watched the premiere airing of Blackbird on Cinema World Asia recognized as the Best Canadian First Feature Film at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.

"It's just who I am. Too bad not too many people like that!"

Sean is an obedient 16-year-old son, intelligent, a principled person with a character. He loves his little half-sister who he does not see. He reads Frank Kafka known for themes on transformation, isolation, sacrifice.

Story revolved around deconstructing what's going on in Sean's mind wrongly accused of plotting a crime.

The sufferings and conditions he faced, bullied, ostracized, beaten up toughened his grit, endurance and perseverance.

As the story unfolded, we eagerly track how he gets redeemed from the misconceptions about him and how the universe makes up for the injustice done to him.

Detention in prison not once but twice drew out the true good humanity in Sean. Resolving issues on his own; he simply was just truthful about himself and how he feel for others.

"Doesn't anyone care about the truth?"

His goodness was not easy to extract but once it surfaced, he is seen not just human but an extraordinary human.

Nothing not even the most adverse condition can put a good man down. The universe finds a way for one to get what one deserves. 

"Easy isn't really my thing"

Still serving the last 2 months of his sentence, the black bird has been freed

https://cinemaworld.asia/movie/blackbird/

Burning Birds

 Disturbing, depressing, enraging

How can a patriarchal society be cruel to a marginalized mother who took on the difficult responsibility of raising her family?

Burning Birds movie shown on Cinema World at Cignal TV set in Sri Langka makes you question why families have to face such tragic fate.

It is about the plight of Kusum, wife of a murdered fish vendor who took on the role of a breadwinner to feed her family doing odd and compromising jobs.

A responsible mother will do whatever it takes for the sake of the children even at the expense of her pride and dignity. Man as humans has limits and tipping points.

Watching Burning Birds, I recalled Pope Francis' message to the youth at UST in January 2015 when he saw the children assigned to present cry.

Pope Francis in his message paid tribute to women and posed a question on suffering children.

Women see differently from men. She poses questions which have no answers and could not put them in words but in tears.

"Why do we allow children to suffer?," he asked. There are no answers but reaction can  either be in silence or in tears.

Only when we weep are we cleansed to see the reality of life. Only when we weep are we capable of fully understanding life.

I weep for what all that mother Kusum did to raise her family when the breadwinner of the house was deliberately killed. I weep for the tragedy that she faced doing what she did for the love of her family.

The movie Burning Fires powerfully elicited that response.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/.../burning-birds.../

https://cinemaworld.asia/movie/burning-birds/

The Vegetarian

 The Vegetarian shown on Cignal TV's Cinema World channel 59 introduced me to the culture of the Indian Brahmin from an Indian-Italian male son perspective particularly on beliefs on family, death, reincarnation, after life journey.

Story as narrated by Krishna, a staff at an Italian cow farm milking and measuring the outputs has a firm embrace on the caste and the sacredness of a cow; through narration, poetry, images, flashback, storytelling as a "live book" he educates us on nature, trees, rivers, marriage and singleness and the relationship between a vegetarian meal and the cow.

Living in Italy working hard to make ends meet to support his Italian wife, he stood by his Indian roots.

Admirable how Krishna has not compromised the sacredness of the cow, beliefs even with most difficult situations confronting him.

Enlightened and inspired by the lead character, The Vegetarian as it ended left an unexplainable impression, not sadness nor joy, not disturbed nor convinced but certainly respect for the Brahmin's beliefs.

"When the sun has set, when the moon has set, when the fire has gone out, what is then the light of man?"

https://cinemaworld.asia/movie/the-vegetarian/

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Bon Appetit, set in Switzerland and Spain is another favourite

https://cinemaworld.asia/movie/bon-appetit/

https://cinemaworld.asia/schedule/

Film Festival Movies on TV at Cinema World

 @CignalTV’s CinemaWorld on channel 59 features foreign "indie" films entered in international film festivals

Watching several films in a marathon each day feels like being in the festival itself without paying for festival passes

Literature on synopsis and schedules is available on Cinema World Asia website https://cinemaworld.asia/schedule/

 (all foreign films have English subtitles)

Channel is an exposition of the diversity of culture, values, tradition, language, norms, landscape, situations and emotions across the continents

Conflicts though are universal differing in resolution

-Felt how an Afghan woman is tortured if pregnant and not married in Wajma

-Experienced how the Italian farmers love preparing food, enjoying meals together and how influential the police and the Mafia are in Mafia and Red Tomatoes

-Brought me to Saint-Petersburg in Russia figuring out how a single mother can make a tourist park work to save it in Love in Saint-Petersburg

-Introduced to Dafne, an extraordinary daughter with syndrome managing the grief of the loss of her mother and emotional state of her father through her wisdom, long walk and conversation

-Witnessed how couples in Sweden plan their weddings, work out divorce papers and live on boats in Greta's Wedding

-Brought me to a safari farm in Johannesburg South Africa following the changing behaviors of a grandfather, teenage boys, daughter and their relationships with each other in Nanny on Board in South Africa

-Observed how an introverted only son living with an absentee single mother cope with struggles in school and with his relationship with his mother in Sebbe. Disturbed with the escape choices Sebastian set up: self-destruction or disappearance

-Saw through the psyche of a refugee son in Macando Austria acting as the man of the house for his mother and two young sisters in the absence of a soldier father who died in the war. Witnessed his coming of age as influenced by young friends, older father image neighbor friend from responsible to mischievous, delinquent, hating eventually accepting

-Followed the turnaround in a waiter's life when he took on an identity of a mysterious writer living a life of lie in My Words, My Lie, My Life

At the comfort of your home theatre, watch how the stories are differently said, struggles resolved and how they deepen your understanding of the complexities and mysteries of being human

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wajma_2013

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbird_(2012_film)

https://2015.italianfilmfestival.com.au/.../mafia-and-red

https://cinemaworld.asia/movie/love-in-saint-petersburg/

https://www.screendaily.com/.../dafne.../5136806.article

https://cinemaworld.asia/movie/gretas-wedding/

https://cinemaworld.asia/.../nanny-on-board-ii-south-africa/

https://europeanfilmawards.eu/en_EN/film/macondo.7368

https://theweereview.com/.../my-words-my-lies-my-love.../

A number of films tackle difficult and disturbing conflicts between child and parent ending either with a redemption or left unresolved

Son and mother https://europeanfilmawards.eu/en_EN/film/sebbe.7886

Son and mother https://europeanfilmawards.eu/en_EN/film/macondo.7368

Daughter and father https://europeanfilmawards.eu/en_EN/film/dafne.13154

Daughter and father https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wajma_2013

Daughter and father https://cinemaworld.asia/.../nanny-on-board-ii-south-africa/

Son and mother https://cineuropa.org/en/film/309499/