Movie Reflections

These are compilations of movie reflections I wrote for History 18.2 (Academic Year 2008-2009) under Sir Jo-Ed Tirol. I've been trying to look for them so I will know how I wrote back then. I finally found them on my Yahoo Mail because I did not have my own laptop until sophomore college. I used my email to save files and typed at the computer lab. PS: Back then, I insanely looked forward to new films to write about. I kinda loved reflecting then. All-time favorite line from Emperor's Club: The worth of a life is not determined by a single failure or a solitary success.

EUROPA, EUROPA

Memory is often associated to the brain. It is usually an indicator for physical wellness. People who are detailed in recalling past events are commended for having good memory. However, the greatness of memory does not linger on the rote aspect of facts and cannot be quantified by simply long or short term. Memory’s value includes not just stories the teller remembers and thus may tell, but also goes beyond the superficial- actions, reactions and inactions that a person exhibits consciously or subconsciously, as influenced by memory. This abstract term may be catalyst for the exposition of either of the opposing verbs- remember or forget, stop or go, live or die. Since memory digs from a reservoir of both personal and collective experiences (willingly made or unintentionally and regretfully acquired), recognition of memory has a tendency to emancipate a wide range of emotions- happiness, despair, gratitude, misery.

Europa Europa discusses a sensitive issue about the Jews and the Holocaust. In addition to showing an historic event, the movie becomes more intriguing as the story portrayed is coming from the memory of a Jew with the narration of Solomon Perel. Being the victims of the ‘final solution’, there is a normal tendency for the Jews to remember in despair. Had the movie been made from Adolf Hitler’s perspective, the memory would have had a different tone- that of fulfillment for successfully eliminating the inferior race.

The initial approach towards memory is to remember. A person may opt to partially forget but prior to this action is firstly, to remember. We despair because we remember. If taken the other way around, “Because we remember, we despair”, this already has a different connotation. This suggests that memory brings out negative emotions. This absolutely affirms the causal relationship between remembering and feeling despair, eliminating other possibilities. Remembrance brought by memory certainly has other effects, more than despair. Memory of triumph gives satisfaction and confidence to strive for more. On the other hand, Perel’s memory of defeat- death of loved ones and separation from them, intentionally uprooting himself from the Jewish community, gives pain. He was fortunate to have been strong enough to continue on living, with the living, for the sake of living despite of despair.

But because we remember, we have a choice of rejecting despair. This choice is not obligatory. Saying that rejecting despair is a duty is like adding insult to injury. While it is normal for human beings to repress what causes him pain and shame, this human nature is processed within an indefinite time. In contrast to duty that should be accomplished with strict compliance to rules, having a choice is subject to a person’s willingness and limitations of opting and doing things to come up with a desirable convergence- the goal to achieve. Upon making the choice of rejecting despair comes another dilemma wherein a person should pick an option again- the way in which despair may be rejected. Possibilities include a variety of actions from trying to forget, to facing life, to ending life, to finding hope. For Solomon Perel, he decided to face life and find hope.

Solomon Perel was urged with necessity to live a different life (having been a good communist while with the Russians and German hero while with the Germany’s side) for survival. Aware of his fellowmen’s mass death, starvation and suffering in the ghetto, pretending not to be a Jew is not an easy choice for Solomon Perel. While one may not completely remember (perfect memory), it is impossible to totally forget and deny the misery brought by sorrowful events. Memory cannot be altered by simply changing name, burying documents or pulling one’s skin to force fit into a criteria; especially if the person trying to do this can even remember the first physical manifestation of the sense of belongingness to the community- his circumcision.

Inventing the reasons to hope is essential because through hope, memory is perpetuated in a way that despair is not diminished but its effects are positively diverted. Although this seems to be a beneficial choice, favoring this way means accepting a struggle while in the process. This struggle is intensified by despair brought by remembering. Success in this struggle will prove that hope is possible beyond despair. I may not say that this is a universal conclusion but the affirmation of the possibility of hope beyond despair may be a motivation enough to encourage people in despair to strive.

Perel’s experience may back this claim up. His hardship confirmed the reality of struggle that should and must be faced, that he, himself faced, in order to find hope. Perel had an identity crisis. While being treated as a German hero and interpreter for the enemy’s side, hiding his Jewish identity made personal security hard to find for him. He needed to check that the bathroom’s lock is functioning, be careful when urinating and pretend to have a tooth ache to escape the medical check-up that would have required him to take his clothes off. His Jewish identity hindered him to love Leny intimately.

While making his best to maximize the limitations, Perel’s consciousness and sub-consciousness still know the memory- that he is a Jew and that he still sympathizes for the Jews. Giving allegiance to Hitler, uttering ‘Heil Hitler’ and singing the Hitler Youth hymn confused him as the actions seemed obliging him to stab the knife (he will be using) to his own flesh and his fellow Jews’. He even had a fight with Leny when she condemned the Jews for being Jews. Perel suffered emotionally because of his emotional attachment with the Jews in the ghetto. In his dream, he saw his family doing the Jewish ritual.

Memory of undesirable events certainly brings despair. However, hope is possible despite of despair. Despite of Perel’s personal and collective (together with the entire Jewish population) defeats, he continued to fight for his life through whatever means he may have to take. Of course, not all the successful experience may be attributed to his courage to find hope despite of despair. Fate and good luck helped in building things up to give him a place that is at least conducive for living. This may sound ironic, but the evilness (as seen through the perspective of people especially the Jews and except the pro-Nazis) of the German Nazis also did its contribution for the Jewish community and for Perel to still hope despite of despair. Despite of despair, hope is possible if and only if a person can successfully endure the struggle. In Perel’s case, he successfully endured- maybe because of constant revisiting of his main goal to live for himself, to give honor to the memory of his family and the European Jews.

 Perel decided to first come back with the Russians where he can freely be a Jew. He chose to be a Jew after all. He raised his family in Palestine. Because of his despair, he became aware of the bitterness and sweetness of life. Because of losing his family members, he valued his own family more. He provided his sons a home in Palestine where they can develop their identity from which they may be strongly rooted.

Hope is possible because of despair. If this negative emotion may be seen as a barrier, it is also a reason and initiator to encourage hope. While 6million death of Jews may be considered statistics for comparison to other evil and irrational mass murder, the figure is unique and tragic to the people who have personal relationship with even one of those 6million. It is tragic to those who sympathize and incomprehensible to those seeking logic. Because of despair, people learn to deal with traumatic but irreversible events. Dealing with this memory is associated to difficulty and it is such a noble thing to remember, appropriate the feeling of despair and still be hopeful after all.

EMPEROR'S CLUB

TIME. A word so simple yet has a very profound meaning. Meaning, as a term may not be enough to characterize it because time encompasses aspects beyond such word. Time is the generous dimension of life. Unlike space, it is given equally among individuals. However, this munificence is not infinite. Human mind can never entirely enclose this dimension. The characteristic of time that is best defined by the tenses (past, present, future) is that of being irreversible. Travelling back to time is not possible. The best that a person can do is to cherish or regret for memory bound within the past and learn afterwards. Human consciousness lingers in the present. The past experiences are subject to falling into oblivion or being the blacksmith to mold one’s future, subjective to one’s individuality.

Significant events are significantly remembered. I cannot blame people who act like spiders trapped in the web of the past. Social conventions so dictate humanity to. Even our first reading material in childhood begins with “Once upon a time”. It became habitual for us to raise questions like, “How did I begin?”, “Have I started it right?” because we are bound to the view that the end depends on the beginning. No matter what the answers to these questions are- positive or negative, we cannot ask for a replay. Time will not allow us. We may no longer shape our past.

If events in the past are as favorable as they are, who would wish to shape the past anyway? The desire to shaping the past is correlated to regretful decisions we once had. In The Emperor’s Club, Martin Blythe may never undo his father’s championship in Mr. Julius Caesar just to remove from himself the pressure of also becoming one. William Hundert may never un-know his knowledge that once as a teacher, he violated his life’s principles and wronged an innocent student to give way for another. Sedgewick Bell has no capability to unmake his cheating paraphernalia that he has already used in the contest. Sedgewick Bell’s son may never un-hear the painful words he had listened to from his dad just to retain his confidence with his father.

Although we may no longer shape the past, we can still shape how the past affects us. It is ironic that people tend to forget to remember things worthy of reminiscence while regret for unfortunate events forever. We are not coerced by the Janus-face of “remember triumphs-forget failures” dilemma. Since human consciousness lingers in the present, we have the partial ability to manage our “today” by learning from past mistakes and improving on some aspects. The way we are driven by the past is up to us. Definitely, simply remembering or forgetting is not enough. There should be rationalizing action to precede one’s reaction.

In the movie, William Hundert failed in molding Bell’s values. Fortunately, his realization begets another realization that his life is not determined by a single failure or a solitary success. Blythe’s personal tension brought by the memory of his Mr. Julius Caesar-father only motivated him to study hard. Bell’s defeat, despite of cheating, directed him to cheat again to open up the possibility of winning in the second match.  When Hundert admitted to Blythe that Blythe was supposed to have joined Mr. Julius Caesar, Blythe had no way to travel back through time and get what he deserved. It is part of the past.  Anything to change that is completely beyond his control. His capability as an individual is to shape how this revelation will affect his present life and how he will appropriate his actions. As humans have the way to shape the effects of the past, we may also choose which road to take and/or make to divert from the topsy-turvy path of our past.

Human capacity is not absolute. Future may be completely in our hands provided that some assumptions are held true or more scientifically “constant”. Decisions certainly lead to specific events if and only if the following concepts are presumed to be nonexistent- fate, luck, destiny, serendipity and other metaphysical aspects. However, the real world is not a vacuum. Real events are always accompanied, not only by the dimensions of time and space, but also with the mentioned factors that are beyond human control. I humbly believe that I am not the only captain of my life, that luck and/or bad luck also play their part. Future is not completely in our hands.

Having the future completely in our hands is ideal. Idealists have the tendency to force-fit the yet-to-come dimension of time within the boundary of human capacity. Probably, idealists want security and assurance of success. Bell’s philosophy can back my claim up. For him to get what he wants (to be crowned Julius Caesar or to have a seat in the Senate), it is all right to lie and cheat. It is his view of the ideal future for him. Martin Blythe’s decision to send his son to St. Benedict Academy is also accompanied by his want to manipulate the future of his son- to orient his son with the same formation from Mr. Hundert. Mr. Hundert’s dishonest act of giving way to Bell what he did not initially deserved was also an attempt to control the future. I think that human tendency to strive to be in-control is explainable because it is the natural struggle for power.

The movie’s events prove that there is no such thing as “completely manageable”. Bell cheated twice to win, but he lost twice also. Hundert sacrificed Blythe’s position for the sake of providing inspiration to Bell that should have been a catalyst for the betterment of his character. What did Hundert get for it? Undeserved failure. This is justifiable since the events in the movie are designed to be realistic- not experimental wherein other variables can be held constant and only human actions-curve shall be observed to clearly see its intersection to a specific time in the y-axis.

The last scene shows St. Benedict Academy as coed. While this is a decision made by the school board, this future has not been forecasted. Liberalization of education and society might have been a factor in this decision, not only the accordance of the school board. The relationship between human’s actions and the future is neither absolute nor arbitrary. If this is absolute, then the concept of “failure” might have not been known. Everyone is bound to succeed. Ironically, “success” might not be as important due to lack of comparison to its binary opposite. In either way, if the future is arbitrarily related to our decisions, then we will not take time thinking about our lives. We will all be dependent to the “natural way”. A part of the future is in our hands, another part may be in the hands of a person superior to us, to society, government, culture or to “something” beyond what are five senses can grasp.

If I divide time into three- past, present and future, I can only work out for the one-third center part, my present. The past, on the other hand, does not even qualify for an argument because it is a given. I have control in my present although it is not a hundred percent, just partial manipulation. In as much as I may not have a replay to shape my past, I may not have a fast-forward to the future as well. Events, experiences, your lives and my life are unpredictable variables moving along an omnipresent and predictable dimension of time. 

MONSTER'S BALL

Status quo is a reservoir from where an individual gets his/her framework. Status quo is not static but change is almost always very slow because people tend to just accept societal norms- appreciating the good parts and regretting or but living with the problematic parts. These diverging factors will eventually build the framework of an individual. The perpetuation of the status quo through generations can be attributed to the commonalities present between generations that are asserted by the older one to the latter.

In the movie, the status quo is very prevalent and discriminating against the women and the black. This is rejoiced and affirmed by Hank and his father. Even Leticia, being a woman and black, frustratingly accepts the status quo and she always tells her son that, “You can’t be a black man and fat”. The context is trying not to have a double inferiority. More so, Hank and his father believe that a man is incomplete if he has not yet split a black woman. Some events/images in the movie suggest symbolic persistence of status quo. Buck was a Correction Officer, therefore, Hank and Sonny should also be. The belief that parents and children should have a commonality was symbolically represented by a common prostitute and the manner of doing sex by Hank and Sonny. Tyrell’s father said that some of his clothes may be worn by Tyrell when he grows up. Tyrell and his father both have drawing skills.

In comprehending the idea of being bound by or freed from a framework, one should first fully understand what that framework is. I believe that framework is the dominant perception of reality as conceptualized by the individual’s mind.  Although influenced by both the universal human nature and the specific culture one is immersed in, conceptualization of a framework is something individual- ingrained in one’s mind that some actions are subconscious and more so, seems to be non-reflexive as breathing and regular blinking of the eye.

In the Monster’s Ball, the grandfather is a racist and sexist individual. He believes that his wife was weak although he never was able to prove his wife’s weakness. He can not imagine himself living in a neighborhood where most people are black. He was even threatened seeing two black boys playing around his front yard. This view is shared by his son Hank because Hank’s father insisted it so.

As I said earlier, a framework is a perception of reality as conceptualized by an individual’s mind. While giving my highest respect to individuality, I still believe that we can not choose either be bound by or freed from this framework. Saying that “we can be free” implies our independence from universal human nature and the status quo. I’m not saying that we do not have the capability of deciding for ourselves but our decisions- minor, life-changing and those that we see as deviants from societal norms are still bound within a framework.

The movie is set in Georgia, a conservative state, still observing traditions and not as liberal as New York, Washington and other states. At first, Hank supports his father who lives with him. Hank is undeniably influenced by his father’s sexist and racist qualities. The moment he became aware of hid flaws and faults, as influenced by Buck, he sent his father to a home for the aged with the notion that his decision would free him from the state of mind he’s used to. But no, his framework was well-constructed enough to motivate not only is actions but also the action he’s trying to avoid, not only his way of thinking but also the thoughts he’s trying not to think of.

Freedom from the framework influenced by societal norms requires a human isolated from birth (bornt but not raised by anybody), cultureless, living in a vacuum (without the influence of nature or living beings other than human). Realistically, surviving, literally “alone” is highly unlikely, if not impossible.

In looking at the possible side of framework appropriation is the attempt to reformat the framework we are bound by but this quest is never easy. It is like trying to achieve the freest that’s not free at all and the least bound that is still bound. We may manipulate our actions and our way of thinking sometimes but there should be continuous determination as the status quo to divert us back will forever be present. Enforcing one’s self to divert from the status quo, although hard is a lot easier than changing the status quo itself since the latter takes time or more so, more than one’s lifetime.