Earth is a 1998 Indian period drama film directed by Deepa Mehta. The story is set in Lahore in the time period directly before and during the partition of India in 1947. The film recounts the holocaust of Partition through the eyes of Lenny, a crippled Parsi girl. Lenny 's parents live in Lahore with an army of servants, including the delectable ayah, a beautiful Hindu woman, Shanta.
The movie starts with Lenny revisiting her childhood days as a student coloring her drawing, and remembering the downfall of British Empire in India as she states something which indicates the theme of story that it will portray for next 101 minutes and upon which the story will build around. The words she stated accounts as- “Hindu, Muslim and Sikhs who had lived together as one entity for centuries suddenly started to clamor for pieces of India for themselves. The arbitrary line of division the British would draw to carve up India in August of 1947 would scar the subcontinent forever.” This dialogue clearly states that India was very near to getting its independence from the British Rule and for the final time the nation might have to become a victim to British’s much famous “DIVIDE & RULE” policy which will blow the nation into partition forming 2 separate countries- INDIA & PAKISTAN and in the dialogue she clearly predicts the ill effects people will have to face at the time of partition as she says that it would scar the subcontinent forever. Such a line of difference would be created
The unlawful nature between both races runs it s course, to lead a fragile impact, which is mainly highlighted through the film and
Each character expresses this theme in his or own unique, tragic way through interactions with Nazism and the exploration of the Fatherland concept. Central to the message of the movie lies the idea of tribal allegiance versus individual identity. As every character grapples with what it means to be a part of the effort to reestablish the Fatherland, we see a spectrum of positions ranging from outright rejection to fervent adoration of the tribal identity. Each member of the family occupies a different space on the pole, and their position on the spectrum defines their needs and desires within the story.
Salt of the Earth, first shown in theaters March 14, 1954, and was the only blacklisted movie in American history. It was blacklisted because it’s creators were accused of having been involved in communist affairs. It was written by Michael Wilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico, and was based off the true story of the 1951 Empire Zinc Company strike in Grant County, New Mexico, where miners went on strike for better working conditions while their wives protested for better treatment in the home. Though it may raise important points, the overall performance is disappointing when compared to the critics reviews.
The next scene we see Annie Lee Cooper being denied access to register to vote by a white man. I think that this shows us how they try to register but the white Americans do not let them. The movie starts out showing us how violent and cruel the world was. This plays with our emotions and makes us want to keep watching and keep the viewer interested. In my opinion, it is a great start to begin this type of
It was interesting to see how their culture describe who they are and how it was essential to the film during that period of time. I got an idea of what this film was going to be about as the movie played, but it was still hard for me to understand what the characters were talking about. The characters were not known in this film because they didn’t really mentioned any names and their identity. What
The tension in this film eventually built up to the point of senseless violence against each other. This just proves that there is no room for accommodation and cooperation of any kind in the near future. It would work best if all groups could come to a mutual understanding of each other and except the fact that they must learn to live in peace and as neighbors.
However, the main theme/message of this story is really the cultural difference between two different origins of country. As we can tell, Fleete doesn’t know much about India’s religious beliefs and traditions and this creates a conflict between the two different nations. This novel is like a critique, an
One scene portrays the director of the film being arrogant on the phone speaking in English about how much money he is saving because he is underpaying these actors. Just as in Columbus’ times this domination over who is in control and who has power is demonstrated; the indigenous people are those who always remain on the lower end of the deal showing colonialism, both in modern times and pre-modern. There is a scene in the film where a politician who is actively involved with the support for the movie who gives a negative remark on behalf of the Indian people. He claims they are hard to reason with due to their illiteracy. This exemplifies the necessity for a change, as the politician is degrading the actors in the film in which he is supporting. This exemplifies colonialism, the supremacy is seen as those who provide funds, and media outlets, but for those who put in the work and labor, they get belittled and are
Film opens with one of the most famous scenes called Two - Minute Hate. We see a mass of people watching the big screen about Goldstein, the video is there only to provoke people and fuel them with hate, brainwashing them every day. The video starts with classical music portraying the field of wheat, and women baking bread which represents some kind of home atmosphere, proud land with promising future. With its earth colours and meaning, wheat harvest stands as a symbol for prosperity, love, hope and spiritually we can see it as a symbol for religion. However, as the video proceeds it slowly shifts toward violent scenes portraying people in war, killing, hunting and showing the picture of notorious Goldstein, who is the enemy of The Party.
It started with a man named Charlton Heston whom spoke his views at a Harvard Law School Forum. By him speaking his mind it proved that the cultural balance is still in favor of ignorance. Charles mentioned that we are fighting a great cultural war against one another that can hijack your very own birthright. Charles has proven why we are in a cultural war within our own fellow Americans. No matter the outcome that he instills in to any of his speeches people would react no different no matter the background he has gone through. The audience does not know who or what Heston has done to prove that he believes that every fellow American is all one. Heston mentions, “the stuff that made this country rise from wilderness
In the film, The Yellow Earth directly addresses a relationship between the nature of the land that underlies the Maoist revolutionary. Peasants in The Yellow Earth struggle hard to survive against the hardships of the land, as they have done throughout their tradition and that tradition is questioned by a soldier that brings them the idea of Communism. Communism was meant to improve the lives of these peasants and create equality for all. In Chinese culture there is the ‘Theory of the Five Elements’ that is represented in the film as each representation of nature in the film is presented in a way to show this theory as that Earth is the color of yellow. Another example, is such as the girl in the opening scene, who spends a lot of time carrying
Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou’s Yellow Earth is a meaningful and controversial film that highlights the young and old, realist and idealist, as well as the ideal utopia and bounded bureaucracies – touching on the notion of fate. Set in early 1939 in China, Yellow Earth follows the story of Gu Qing, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) soldier sent out among the peasants in Northern Shaanxi to collect folksongs, to which the Communists intend to rewrite new lyrics to help inspire soldiers and peasant followers to fight the Japanese invasion and work towards the revolution. Gu Qing comes across a village holding a wedding procession and is
The opening scene in the movie is that of Gandhi’s January 30, 1948 assassination in New Delhi, India by Nathuram Godse, a
Lenny, who begins the novel as a very naïve young Parsi girl, “comes to understand that the foundations of violence in her surroundings are largely gendered and that the experience of this violence is differentiated along gender lines” (Rastegar 27). Lenny witnesses the evolution of Ayah’s suitors, (who are Parsi, Hindu and Muslim), from men interested in being with Ayah to men who are desperate to control Ayah. As Partition gets more violent, Ice Candy Man, one of Ayah’s suitors who is Muslim, “takes on the role of a minor nationalist leader in their area” and eventually coordinates a mob of Muslims to come to the Sethi house an abduct Lenny, who is Hindu (Rastegar 27). When Lenny witnesses the change in behavior of Ayah’s suitors she feels like
National and religious identity are two important identities that help make a country define itself among other countries. The religious identity is important because it determines what kind of belief structure a country’s government holds. This also help determines how a country functions as a society, what their culture and language is like, and what the country’s laws are. All of these aspects of religious identity help create this national identity among the citizens of each country. With a strong national identity, it helps create this sense of proudness or patriotism among countries’ citizens. Now what if both the religious and national identity suddenly shifts among the people in a country? What could happen to make this sudden shift? Well, in the film Earth, characters’ national and religious identity shift throughout the course of the film, because of the setting and events that happen, love and relationships, and fear of death.