To Avoid the Worst Consequences of Change - Film Review: Pandemic

(Picture from Google Images)

“Pandemic” is a six-episode documentary series about the prevention of a pandemic outbreak. For my analysis I have chosen two of the episodes in the belief that they include ideas particularly inspiring at this time when COVID 19 is causing world panic. 

As I see it, the docuseries is intended to impress the audience with the global need for pandemic prevention and the efforts to overcome the hindrances on the path to success. Besides using maps and data to highlight the universal impact of a pandemic outbreak, the filming team has been to different parts of the world, bringing the viewers to the fields and laboratories where scientific research is done and to quarantine infested areas where there are strict government measures to break the transmission chain.

“Pandemic is now” (episode 2) is focused on the challenges involved in the implementation of a vaccination program. One challenge is from the strong opposition against a Vaccination Bill aimed to eliminate non-medical vaccine exemptions for school children in Oregon. Among the protesters is a mother of five children, who, when interviewed, questions the vaccine’s safety standard and asserts her right to decide what is best for her children. Conversely, Elizabeth, an Oregon state senator, demands that the votes for the Bill, though tough, are necessary as immunizing the children would be like protecting them in front of a traffic light while vaccine hesitancy can be a world threat. 

In addition to protecting the children, a vaccination program, if well accepted, also serves to prevent human-to-human transmission of viruses. This is the purpose for which the refugees held in US custody at the Mexican border in TUSCON are vaccinated before being granted the permit to settle down in the country. 

But the WHO Health Vaccination Program aiming to stop the transmission of Ebola virus is not so well accepted in democratic Goma. The communities, each with an established hierarchy not easy to cut through, tend to see the vaccine as a means to perpetuate the ruins by infecting the population with the virus. What adds to the problem is the frequent threat from armed attacks against the Ebola teams in the War Zone. Moreover, the program is hampered by the fact that vaccines cannot be mass produced fast enough to beat the quickly mutating virus.

Trust, therefore, is essential to the acceptability of a vaccine. Efforts are directed towards the development of a universal flu vaccine that can provide a broader protection against different classes of the influenza virus. This, according to Jacob Glanville, President of a biotech company, would be a biotechnology revolution, a dream to strive for. Accordingly, researchers test the vaccine on the pigs available at Guatemala at a comparatively low cost and this has achieved encouraging results.

Episode 3 – “Seek, don’t hide” - focuses on the efforts to track down the origin of viruses as this would enable the scientists to move from being reactive to being proactive -- to predict and prepare.   

The docuseries directs specific attention to the issue about avian viruses especially in densely populated regions. To broaden the surveillance strategy, field teams are sent to look out for emerging threats from wildlife to livestock and then to humans. The researchers collect blood samples from ducks to see if they have a pandemic potential when added to human blood samples in laboratory tests later. Likewise, influenza viruses are tracked in both wild and domesticated animals throughout the Middle East before they mutate.

Such surveillance studies have led to valuable findings. Bats have been proved to be the reservoir for the flu while raising livestock at unprecedented levels is deemed a culprit behind the spread. Alarmingly, animal caretakers are the most vulnerable population for an epidemic to start. Moreover, the seasonality of viruses entails the anticipation of the trends of birds as huge bird migration can trigger virus transmission.

The viewers meet the heroes -- the scientists and medical professionals – in shots that have captured their work and private lives. Every research project is seen as a positive learning opportunity for the researchers as well as the students working with them. Likewise, young scientists also get motivated by the chance to try new things not tested before in the laboratory. However, overworked and inadequately funded medical staff are under tremendous stress and some resort to Bible reading and spiritual gatherings for strength and consolation.

On the whole, the informative docuseries casts light on scientific and medical knowledge comprehensible to the average viewer. Attention is also drawn to the health perspective that “anything can affect any country and any country can affect other countries”, thus raising an awareness about the rapid and widespread impact of a pandemic outbreak. In fact, it teaches a moral lesson and ends with the advice of Dr. Dennis Carroll, director of USAID’s Emerging Threats Unit, that as nothing is eternal, we have to change the way we live on this planet to avoid the worst consequences of change.


I recommend this docuseries enthusiastically especially to people with curious questions about the large amount of information circulating online about the viruses these days.

Movie Review: The Two Popes

When a friend recommended The Two Popes on Netflix to me, I was not even aware of its prestige of being an Oscar nominee. I was prepared merely for a story about the two pontiffs I had always held in high regard. With a certain amount of knowledge about their backgrounds, I was curious to find out how close the film was to the truth.

The film centers on a number of conversations as it follows Pope Benedict XVI in his attempts to convince Cardinal Bergoglio to reconsider his resignation as an archbishop while he expresses his own wish to abdicate the papacy. The scenes are crafted to humorously play off what is already known about what will finally happen to the two men. The well-designed dialogues throw light on their interesting personality traits, Pope Benedict’s adherence to established traditions and values in contrast with the Cardinal’s liberalness and flexibility. Big close-up shots are used where facial expressions do better than words to illustrate the change in their inner thoughts as the conversation goes on. Though divided in their opinion about the distinction between change and compromise, their mutual understanding becomes more observable as the story unfolds. And, much to the delight of the audience, they finally compromise on the need for bridges rather than walls to be built between people.

Humour is used to lend credibility that the two pontiffs are human beings just like the rest of us. At the very start of the movie, Bergoglio is heard booking his own flight, which is taken for a joke about a forged identify. Then there is a scene with the two men watching a televised soccer match together, each cheering for his national team and another showing them enjoying a home-delivered pizza lunch. It is interesting, too, to see Cardinal Bergoglio take an attendant by surprise with a sudden casual question and then refuse a chauffeured car service in favour of a trip by train. When Benedict approaches the cheering crowd, Bergoglio stops the body guards going after him, thus allowing him to enjoy the moment he has long been deprived of. All these incidents convince the audience of the cheerful side of life behind the scenes at the Vatican. 

On the other hand, a more serious approach is used to show that they are not faultless or immune to criticism. With the use of black-and-white flashbacks, The Two Popes provides a few glimpses of the young Bergoglio’s life in Buenos Aires during the Argentina’s junta rule in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. This detail about his past mistake serves to explain why he turns down Pope Benedict’s invitation to take over his papacy. And the most touching moment is when Pope Benedict makes his confession to Bergoglio in a half kneeling position.

One important aspect of The Two Popes is the scenery -- the spectacular locations chosen for the Papal Palace, the pope’s summer residence and the Sistine Chapel. The actor playing the role of Pope Francis appears at the very window where the real Pope greets the immense crowd in St. Peter's Square. Besides, though filming is limited only to the grounds of the Vatican, the detail of its insides is faithfully represented with a number of rooms recreated, including the Room of Tears, Vatican offices and the Sistine Chapel. The replacements, as I see it, well serve the purpose even for viewers who have visited the Vatican themselves. 

I enjoy the film though there is some criticism about its being fictitious and for not accurately representing Pope Benedict and Pope Francis. The brilliant performance of the two leads is reminiscent of the real popes. And this is reason enough for watching the movie more than once.

picture from:
https://konica.al/2020/01/mos-e-humbisni-historine-e-vertete/

Will “Parasite” walk away with an Oscar?

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For a winner prediction at the 2020 Oscars, I would name the Korean film “Parasite”, written and directed by Bong Joon-ho. In my opinion, it stands a good chance of winning the Best Screenplay Award and the Foreign Language Film Award. 

One reason for my prediction is that “Parasite” has a well-crafted screenplay. It is a black comedy set in Seoul and, with the use of irony and satire, it sheds light on the wide gap between the rich and the poor. The film’s name itself invites reflection on the reality that the poor, just like a tree plundering parasite, often depend on the rich for their survival.

The story delivers the message that the Korean society is stratified, with the poor condemned to the lower stratum, hopeless of ever climbing up the social ladder. The Kims, living in a shabby basement apartment, have to sneak into a Wi-Fi signal for internet access and put up with men urinating outside their home. Conversely, the wealthy Park family enjoy bountiful space and luxury in their well-designed modernistic house. There is also Park Myung-hoon, who has secretly been living in the bunker beneath the big house for long years. In fact, the audience are deeply impressed by the stark contrasts portrayed so vividly in the film. 

The emphasis on the peculiar smell the Kims cannot do away with is a sarcastic touch. The smell, assumedly from the underground train, is an indelible mark of poverty enabling the Park family to tell them apart. And, finally, it is that smell that triggers an unplanned murder, thus implying that social divisions, if not bridged in time, will lead to unamendable conflicts.

Another attempt at sarcasm is the philosophical humor used in the dialogue. Song Kang Ho, the father, often remarks on money’s ability to iron out all problems. When Chang Hyae Jin, his wife, says, “If I were rich, I would also be kind”, the audience smile approvingly at the sarcasm well used. The mind behind the film also intends to mock the Koreans’ blind adoration of Western products; the Park couple have confidence in the tent’s durability in the thunderstorm because “it is American made”. 

Instead of being a medium for slapstick humour, “Parasite” provokes much compassionate thinking, with no laughs getting in the way. The most bitter sarcasm of all is the reference to the fact that it is useless making plans, as is mentioned more than once by Song Kang Ho. And there is rigorous evidence throughout the entire film. The planned camping birthday celebration, for example, has to be put off because of the thunderstorm. What materializes instead is a spontaneous garden party. While the audience are gleefully engaged in the festivity, the film takes a dramatic turn; what is meant to be a war game ends up being real violence. Above all, Ki-woo, Song Kang Ho’s son, is the one intent on having everything well planned. He tries in vain to seek wealth and status first through his success in university education and later through his intended marriage with the rich girl who is the daughter of the Park couple. And towards the end of the movie, his voice-over narration is about another grand plan of rescuing his father trapped in the bunker, leaving an unanswered question about its success. This gives the story an impressive wind-up. 

All in all, Parasite” has an award-worthy screenplay. However, in view of the severe competition from the other nominees, I have more confidence in its chance of walking away with the Best Foreign Film Award.

Movie Review: Little Women

picture from "https://screenrant.com/little-women-movie-2019-cast-character-guide/"

“Little Women” is a film adaptation based on a novel of the same name authored by Louisa May Alcott. Having read the original book decades ago, I was, while watching the movie, intent on identifying details of which I still treasured vague memories. 


Understandably, to squeeze the substantial content into a two-hour film would mean the exclusion of some details. Nevertheless, quite a few reminiscences of the original story are recognizable. Jo’s remark “Christmas won’t be Christmas without presents” is actually the very sentence the novel begins with. There is then the touching scene of the four girls offering their breakfast to a poor family on Christmas Day. Another recallable detail is the sisterly rivalry developed between Jo and Amy; one related incident is Amy’s falling into the half-frozen pond because Jo has intentionally hidden from her the existence of the lurking danger. Of course, one won’t forget the old man seeking consolation from Beth’s playing on his late granddaughter’s piano. We remember also how Jo sells her hair, her only pride, for the sake of her father lying sick in the army hospital. The film is thus high on adherence to the original story. 


On the other hand, the director has updated the story and offered it to the audience in increments. There are some details new to the readers. I cannot, for example, quite remember Mag quarrelling with her husband about spending 50 dollars on a garment. My memory is only limited to the four sisters’ youthful struggles. Their marriages are probably described mainly in “Good Wives”, part 2 of “Little Women”. And definitely, Jo was not the author of “Little Women”, contrary to what is described at the end of the movie. 


The film draws attention to its orderly orchestration of the tale’s segments, using well-paced flashbacks and non-linear timelines. The initial shots may appear to be a set of puzzle pieces as the many characters involved and the seemingly scattered and unrelated incidents may cause confusion of thoughts. But as the story unfolds, the audience gradually find themselves drawn to Jo’s nostalgic memories and thus get a clearer picture of what has happened to the March family as the time elapses. With the use of different genres of music, the film guides the audience back and forth between the sisters’ teenage stage and their adolescent years. The upbeat background music enhances the setting for the interaction between the noisy, chatty and playful teenage girls. Conversely, the music will suddenly switch back to an unhurried and melancholy genre, setting the mood for Jo’s obsession about the troubled present. And coloration also plays a part in the effective use of flashbacks and flashforwards. The audience won’t fail to notice the implication of maturity in the various shades of blue chosen for the costumes. In stark contrast, the teenage girls are almost always dressed in natural, fresh and vibrant colours of green and beige. 


Where flashbacks are concerned, there is, too, a skillful presentation of a lapse of time between two related incidents. At one scene Amy is blaming Laurie for treating her as the second choice after Jo and then comes the scene where Jo turns down Laurie’s proposal. Likewise, immediately following the scene of Jo happily greeting Beth, who has just recovered from her scarlet fever, she is seen again rushing down the same staircase, this time only to find her mother crying sadly over Beth’s death. The use of such switch shots produces a very strong dramatic effect: the audience will always remember the traumatic loss the family suffers from. 


 The actors and actresses are also well chosen; Joe with her vitality and rebelliousness, Amy, the jealous and selfish girl, and Mag, the clothes-conscious lady all bring to mind the characters in the novel. The only exception, I am afraid, is that the actress playing the role of Beth is too plump to give the impression of a frail, sickish looking figure.


All in all, the innovative screen adaptation would satisfy both the novel’s loyalists and the first-timers and is, therefore, a good movie well worth our time.

An Attempt to tap into Life’s Absurdity – Movie Review: A Swedish Love Story

“A Swedish love story”, directed by Roy Anderson, is a compelling film about the first love experience between two teenagers, Pär and Annika. Set in the summer of 1970 in Stockholm, the story features a strongly conveyed social climate of that time in Sweden. While the puppy love is the main focus of the chugging storyline, there are, as a continuous backdrop, details involving a world of dysfunctional adults who never seem to stop complaining about life.

The story weaves around the adolescent romance in a natural and engaging way, unfolding the two teenagers’ shy, awkward efforts to be together. On their first encounter in a garden party of a nursing home, they get attracted to each other, exchanging sidelong furtive glances, allowing the eyes to do all the talking. Though they later chance to meet again on several other occasions, it is only through peer support and encouragement that they finally become friends.

The puppy love, hitherto pure and implicit, soon gives way to their incipient sexual awakening, hence increasing intimacy as they get along. This detail comes as no surprise, considering the earlier description of the moped gang, always seen with a cigarette in the mouth, embracing and kissing in public. Teen sex, as well as smoking and fighting, is probably an indication of their eagerness to reach adulthood. This is already implied in Pär’s mimic smoking in front of the mirror at the start of the movie. However, in their attempts to venture into adulthood, they have apparently lost much of the miraculous grace in their emotional fusion – Are we not aware of the gradual lessening of the glittering charm in Annika’s blue eyes?

On the other hand, the film also draws attention to the dark corners of adulthood by giving a feeling of reality to the lives of the working class and the middle class in a subtle but critical tone. The parents, relatives and friends seem to be moaning endlessly about their lost dreams and failed opportunities. Pär’s grandfather, in the presence of his visiting relatives, declares tearfully his refusal to be discharged from the nursing home as he finds the world a place unfit for lonely people. There is also the floundering aunt of Annika, who keeps lamenting her loneliness and her being deprived of her desired job. Annika’s parents are an unhappy pair; the mother is often in tears while the father is troubled by his financial problems, angrily or even hysterically asserting more than once that “money is the only thing that matters”.

What is behind the “love story” is perhaps an attempt to tap into life’s absurdity at this rebellious time when children without parental care spend far too much time hanging around, getting themselves into trouble. Victimized by their parents’ fecklessness and psychological volatility, the teenagers are doomed to a bleak future. The intention of the movie, therefore, is probably to cast light on the evil consequences of inadequate parental concern rather than impressing the audience with a premature romance.

A Woman who Yearns for Liberation from all her Life Roles “The Disappearance of My Mother” – Movie Review

“The Disappearance of My Mother” is a memorable documentary that presents a vivid and fascinating portrait of Benedetta Barzini, an Italian fashion model and feminist intellectual. Italian filmmaker Beniamino Barrese, her son, has been photographing and filming her since he was a teenager. Beniamino obviously uses the film as a way of storing memories of her mother, tracing her journey from her charismatic past to her waning present.

Thanks to appropriate film techniques, the documentary is well organized, informative and dramatically bewitching. Frequent close-ups of Barzini’s eyes impress the audience with her look of resentment; she disapproves of publicity, of social life and even of the entire world. Her wrinkled face magnified strongly smacks of her wisdom and sense of individuality, which accrue with her age. The close-up of the mole on the cheek of a young model instantly replaced by that on a wrinkled face is a remarkable arrangement for Barzini’s first appearance in the documentary.

Besides, stock footage, both still images as well as archival film, is inserted into the documentary to enhance the description of Barzini’s involvement in women empowerment activities when she was still in middle age, thus showing her strong personality as an outspoken feminist with hatred for gender inequality and calling for a way of co-existing that would end sexism.

Narrative montages with a series of short shots are also used to indicate changes in time and place within the film. Now a university lecturer in her mid seventies, she still harbours contempt for the world based on male philosophy. Raising doubt about what she refers to as prototypes of beauty, she suggests that women disappear from men’s imagination. She tells her students that women equal Nature while men are for thought and reason. Quite surprisingly, though, she sees the image of a mother holding a baby the highest symbol of tenderness and love, and considers that even a business woman’s role is a mother.

With the use of the filmic flashback, structuring its narrative partly through memory, the director is careful to present selected evidence to Barzini’s long cherished intention of disappearing from public life though it is not known exactly when and how the plan was initiated. On several occasions, Barzini has hinted at “vanishing”. Amidst the mid-movie flashbacks of Barzini’s captivating appearances on catwalks and magazine covers in her youth, the wrinkle-faced former supermodel, speaking to the camera, expresses her annoyance at images. She is more interested in things that cannot be seen and wishes to walk concealed within her privacy. As she puts it, her real self is “unphotographable”. In a picture taken of her at the age of 15, she looks malnourished. She thinks that refusing to eat is one thing women can do in protest against family control and is pleased to feel her body vanishing. In addition, she is intent on vanishing from society, actually from a race to which she does not feel a sense of belonging as she disagrees with their current values. More than once, Barzini has been seen swimming in the sea with the voice-over narration of her wish to escape from it all. And the shot showing her disappearing beneath the waves is particularly expressive.

Barzini makes occasional protests against being filmed though most of the time she yields to her son’s whims. The verbal communication between mother and son during the filming process adds to the realism of the story. In fact, using a hand-held camera, the director is not hesitant about showing trifling details of Benedetta’s private life and even her unglamorous habits. However, there is some doubt about the naturalness of the filming as the director has once or twice put himself in front of the camera, appearing side by side with his mother, or contrasted against her in the mirror.

It is also doubted whether certain scenes have been constructed artificially to add to the documentary’s dramatic appeal. This is particularly apparent when they are discussing how the documentary will be brought to an end. In one scene, for example, she is seen walking in the woods, and in another, she is rowing a boat in the wide open sea, both giving the impression of her final disappearance when suddenly she appears again in her messy room smoking her usual electronic cigarette.
On the whole, the gripping documentary gives a complete picture of a fascinating central figure, provoking much thinking about what beauty actually means and what is more pursuable than the glamour of limelight. “The Disappearance of My Mother” is indeed a film too good to miss.

Humans should learn to respect Nature Movie Review: "Honeyland"

“Honeyland” is a documentary film set in a mountain village in Macedonia, one of the world’s poorest countries. The director and his team spent three years filming the life of Hatidze Muratova, a Macedonian woman believed to be the last female wild beekeeper in Europe.

The documentary is, for the main part, a factual film which is dramatic, telling about Hatidze’s life encounters while, at the same time, also providing a specific message along with the facts it presents.

The film provokes much thinking about human relationships. A considerable portion of the content is dedicated to the description of Hatidze’s daily routines, extracting and preparing honey for sale and taking care of her mother, who is sightless and bedridden. It is out of both love and necessity that she gives the old woman tender care despite her occasional fits of temper. The old woman also shows concern about Hatidze’s chance of getting married. The scene in which they exchange kisses is particularly touching. It is thus apparent that genuine love is infallible despite the challenges of ill health, poverty and hopelessness about the future.

On the other hand, what happens after the arrival of a nomadic family with their herd of cattle to reside in the neighbourhood shows the fragility of human relationships. Initially, Hatidze is very friendly, sharing ideas about breeding bees with the cattle farmer, going to market in his truck and having fun with his kids. But they end on bad terms with each other once they find themselves faced with a conflict of interest. And quarrels also occur between the cattle owner and his family. They blame one another for the loss of half of the number of cattle through their negligence. And peace is restored only when they move away, people and cattle together.

Of greater importance is the message about the relationship between humans and Nature. In harmony with Nature, human activities can yield fruitful results. Hatidze Muratova is seen extracting honey from the comb with her bare hands. She does not seem disturbed by the flying bees though there seems little protection from them except for what the head netting affords. One thing she specifies repeatedly is that she cuts only half of the honey comb, leaving the other half for the breeding of bees, a practice contributive to honeybee conservation and sustainability.

By contrast, human interferences can have a negative impact on ecosystems. Having learned about the profit Hatidze Muratova makes from the sale of honey in the market, the nomadic family also start breeding bees. But out of their greediness, they extract honey in excessive quantities, ignoring the need for conservation, thus causing damage to ecology and resulting in many deaths in Hatidze’s beehive. The scene showing the bees fiercely stinging the couple and their kids is probably intended to impress the audience with Nature’s vengeance on humans for their selfish invasion.

Added to this, due to their obsession with the honey business, they neglect their cattle, resulting in starvation, sickness and death. This is obviously another indication of the calamity humans are inflicted with as a punishment for their greed and selfishness. Furthermore, the incident about the bushes set on fire accidentally is another warning against lack of attention to environmental care. Luckily, the flames are put under control, suggesting that Hatidze and the others have finally learned the lesson.

In addition, the film is an example of direct cinema with a genre characterized by its creative treatment of actuality. Details of what is actually happening are filmed surreptitiously and are presented as they are. There are quite a number of single-shot moments captured on film: the journey by train to the market, bees stinging a crying baby, kids swinging on a tree, a boy helping a cow give birth, all emotionally engaging despite its being a non-fiction film.

Moreover, the film is also given credit for its creative visuals that reinforce storytelling. The audience is inevitably impressed by the landscape beauty of the mountain village and the gorgeous sunrise and sunset filmed with wide shot angles. Besides, precise lighting is used as an indicator of nonverbal mood and emotion in various scenes. For example, where Hatidze is taking care of her old mother, showing her worries about the latter’s gradually ebbing life, the only source of light is a candle, adding much to the scene of destitution and misery.

However, while the director is intent on delivering a positive message about environmental conservation, some doubt has been raised about the sincerity of his direct cinema approach. Could he have warned the people involved about the foreseeable problems instead of just remaining an outsider, allowing things to happen so that he could enjoy filming to his heart’s content?

In any case, I find the film very inspiring and would recommend it enthusiastically.