Into the Wild

First of all, kudos to Sean Penn who did a wonderful job as a director.  He was able to deeply explore Jon Krakauer’s book and make it into a captivating film.  Also, I would like to highlight Eddie Vedder’s beautiful soundtrack.  The Pearl Jam’s lead singer went further into Christopher McCandless’ feelings, connecting the facts read on the book to the music he wrote, in order to bring up the deepest within one’s heart.

Even though the movie was based on real events, as the previous post mentioned, we’ll never know exactly what was on Chris’ mind during his years on the road.  We can be sure of the reasons that made him choose such a risky and “lonely” path:  society.

Freud would definitely blame it on Mr. and Mrs. McCandless.  His relationship with his parents was far from friendly.  Chris himself (in the movie at least) many times repeated how the parents were to blame.  And you can also spot some of Mr. McCandless on Sean Penn’s portrait of Chris.

Some say he was spoiled and selfish, but the kid had balls to live what he thought was right.  Inspired by the American’s romantics, such as Thoreau, and others, Chris believed in the purest connection between humans and nature.  He believed in the communion of life into the wild.

Into the Wild

     Well, to start and situate about this movie I will give some extra information:

Directed by: Sean Penn
Country: United States
Distributed by: Paramount Vantage
Based on: Into the Wild, the 1996 non-fiction book, written by Jon Krakauer.
Movie Releases in: September 21, 2007.

     Initially, what calls my attention is that the whole story is based from the Krakauer filter of what was Christopher intentions and decisions. It's an outsider non-relate to the real person, however, calling the work as non-fiction. In fact, the story came to Krakauer because of his profession and when Christopher was already dead. We see what Jon wanted us to see.
     Focusing on the plot, we can see an ordinary young boy, who based on his readings, decide to live in the wilderness. It seems like a guy who can see the problems in modern society, especially because it is closely related to his life, his parents are sons of this time, perfect replicas of the futile world. Some knowledge and rebelliousness led him to fight against his reality, this future of becoming a lawyer and builting the way on money. However, even he trying to fight and find his own way, for me is a young guy who bought other people thinking that were against what he hated. And he hated because he suffered.
    Christopher's intentions guided him to go live, in the way he believed living meant. The experiences he lived were truly extraordinaries, although it was the ordinary, in his view it looked awesome. The way he dealt with people was humane, closed, involved. He was willing to the others experiences. This path causes his self improvement.
     The only problem I see is that few moments he has to deal with people like his parents, all people portrayted seems good and treat him very well. There are just two exceptions, the guard and the train worker, but were moments of people in their duties. It seems hard to believe that most people are open to a stranger like that.
      Finally, his sad end. I didn't read the book, but if it is like the movie, come on! He looks in the book, turns a few pages, and there is a good plant, poison plant. It's like he didn't check other pages to see about the specie that he eats! Then, the end, game over. It's a really silly death. And it's ironically how he aims to go to Canada, to be alone and isolated, and ends thinking how important is to have somebody. It's death laughing at him, that poor child lost his life pursuing something and left behind what was really important.

Yeah, Christopher, you left quite a history...

 
That his last words be mine:

Beasts of the Southern Wild

      In a forgotten world there is a little six-year old girl struggling to understand life and the world around here. Luxuries seem to be unimportant, as exemplified when the narrator exclaims: " in a million years, when kids go to school, they gonna know: once there was a Hushpuppy, and she lived with her daddy in The Bathtub."

      In a modern world where we live today it is quite hard to imagine living this way, where you cannot buy your food in a wrapped cellophane, where you have no future career plans and where money is not first priority.

      This movie is fascinating. When the director chose Quvenzhané Wallis, she was not what he was looking for, but she impressed the crew with her natural and brilliant performance. We can see that although Hushpuppy is very young and we would expect her to be naive, unprotected and not knowing anything about life, in actuality, she is far more knowledgeable than the viewer expects. She is wise and the way she interprets that which happens around her is a mixture of imagination and wisdom . This can be seen in one of her thoughts : "The whole universe depends on everything fitting together just right. If one piece busts, even the smallest piece, the whole universe will get busted." She wishes to say that we should take care of nature and respect it without changing the environment to our own good.

     The director provides a valuable point about being in a community. The community within "Beast of the Southern Wild" tries hard to keep away from modern society. What is important to them is that they take care of each other, and race does not seem to matter. Like one of the character says : "The most important thing I can teach youâ?? you gotta learn to take care of people smaller and sweeter than you are." 

     To be brave enough to face life without any comfort you must be " the beast".

THE HELP - (2011)

The Help is a fascinating must see movie based on the homonymous book written by Kathryn Stockett. It brings a provocative view toward the African-American maids who worked for white people. They were responsible for looking after their white children while doing the housework as well. A shocking atmosphere created in a moment where even using The white people’s toilet was forbidden.

The movie explores the life of black women that suffered exploitation from white families during the Jim Crow’s law. Women that most of the time gave up their own life and family in order to raise white people’s children. Without any life perspective, Black People were also hoping the new government to make some changes in order to benefit them, with the election of the new president John F. Kennedy in early 1960’s, but even this event wasn't favorable to them. The receive then an important help from a journalist that needs a good story to write a book. This is not only another movie where black people are helped by white ones, but it’s mainly a story about hope and courage in a place that being black meant have no voice or rights.

Additionally, an important aspect must be noticed, the way the story is developed. Although the movie explores a sad and painful theme, it brings an enjoyable atmosphere. The movie is vivid; the soundtrack is amazing, with a supreme cast who makes the movie skip from sadness to amusing moments, keeping the audience’s mood in balance.

Gasland - second analysis

Gasland, as the documentary about Wal-Mart, shows how money and personal interest generally come before common good. Both of them portray the human egotism in the attempt of getting richer and richer over people's health and lives. What makes Gasland more frightening than Wal-Mart's situation is that, while the latter is a private institution, the whole gas situation permeates the state's responsibility in giving their citizens at least a basic right such as having clean water in their homes, fit for human consumption.

Even though natural gas is a popular and praised fuel resource nowadays, it doesn't mean that it needs to be extracted regardless the effects it will cause. Besides the harmful consequences to the people in the areas the gas has been extracted, the animals which live in the area are also affected, altering the whole ecosystem.

The fact that the government seemed simply to ignore the problems faced by the affected people – forcing them even to collect proof and have supporting data to demonstrate that the water was really unfit for consumption – shows how big companies that promise to improve the economy are always ahead of “ordinary” people who try to live their lives in a fair way.

Finally, despite the documentary was monotonous (mainly due to the narrator/director’s voice and way of speaking), themes like these should be brought to our attention more frequently. Also, it had some great parts, such as when they set fire to the water coming from the taps.

Gasland

The natural gas deposits in USA has been an important issue not only in the country itself  but also in the world. There are the two side of such extraction. The positive side: is good for economy, to a certain extend Hydraulic fracturing or  “fracking,” boost the domestic economy. On the other hand it has a catastrophic impact on environment and mainly people lives. Since such extraction goes deep than ever before because of high technology invested in, it also inject million of gallons of water mixed with sand and dangerous chemicals. Consequently it pollutes the air and makes the water impossible to drink or do anything. What is more, the Gasland documentary show us the tremendous negative impact on nature, which such damages has no turning back.

Hello, guys!

Here is the full documentary called Wal-Mart: The high cost of low price. It is awesome and it makes us think about what REALLY happens behind the pretty propagandas. I hope you all enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jazb24Q2s94