Schindler's List

He who saves the life of one man, saves the world entire.

Schindler's List was a movie about a Nazi business man, Oskar Schindler, who was pursuing the success of his business. However, during his journey was when one of the darkest times of the human history, the Holocaust took place. It was a genocide conducted by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and their World War II collaborators, which killed millions of innocent Jews, including 1.5 million children. Oskar initially decides to hire these Jews to work in his factory as they were cheap and readily available, however realizes that this made a huge differences in the matter of life and death. Thus was born the Schindler's list. The film greatly depicts the horrors of the Holocaust and war in general, and the scene that I could remember the most was when the liquidation of the ghetto happened, the shooting, the mercy killings, the hiding. I could almost feel the tension while watching those women and children who were hiding in fear. The black-and-white filter made the film even more realistic, as if you were one of the characters in the movie, watching what was happening around you. 

Although Oskar was a womanizing, money-minded business man, throughout the movie I could see how he has changed into a man who would risk his life and wealth in order to save as many lives as he could. By the end of the war, he has already spent most of his money on bribery and black-market supplies purchases for his workers. 

This movie showed us that there is nothing more valuable than life, and that every single human life is irreplaceable. In reality, Schindler's list was more than just a list of competent worker, but the list of life, whether included in the list or not made a difference between life and death. Other than that, it also showed something significant that maybe not everyone would have paid attention to, which was the importance of wealth and power. Some may say that money cannot buy us everything, however truth is, it can. Problems get solved much easier when you are wealthy, just like how Oskar did what he did through bribery. When problems are solved, you should feel happier. 

Hunt For The Wilderpeople

"You know, sometimes in life it seems like there's no way out. Like a sheep trapped in a maze designed by wolves."

"Hunt for the Wilderpeople" was a heart-warming movie, jam-packed with joy and laughter. Considering this was a recent movie, many critics have said that this was probably Taika Waititi, the director's best movie so far! The movie was about a juvenile delinquent who was brought to live with foster parents Bella and Hec by the child welfare services. They described him as the troublesome kid who is into outlaw behaviors such as "graffiti-ing, littering, smashing stuff, burning stuff, breaking stuff, stealing stuff, throwing rocks...". When Bella suddenly passes away, Ricky, the main character left the foster home and ran into the woods. Unfortunately, he got lost in the woods and was found by Hec who went looking for him. Following several complications, the pair decided to flee deep into the woods and hoped not to be found.

It was interesting how the child welfare services kept the search for Ricky going on for months until they finally found and got him back to 'safety', perhaps to live up to their tagline, "no child left behind". They even went to ridiculous lengths of setting up a national manhunt for the pair, and not to forget, the car chasing scene at the second half of the movie with police in cars and helicopters.

Buried under the hilarious comedic scenes lies the message this movie probably intends to send across, that is unwavering and unconditional love can break barriers, even in such a harsh world where trusting others may bring harm to oneself. In the movie, Ricky was a isolated, defiant kid who was abandoned by his mother. However, once he had the taste of Bella's relentless love and care, it was obvious that he was just a kid who needed to feel love and wanted by others, especially after experiencing abandonment. Even when circumstances have changed, for example, Bella's death and being chased into the woods where comfort was leisure, he still tried to develop a more intimate relationship with his foster father, Hec.

Moreover, this movie showed us that freedom is not a dream, that it is achievable as long as we fight for it. Ricky and Hec fought and ran from the society because they did not want to get caught and be strained to the societal demands, to be placed in another foster home and to be locked up in jail. They represent the outcasts in our society, fighting against what others are demanding from them, and to live in the freedom they seek.

Grace Is Gone

This was a movie centered on the theme of lost and grieving, where a husband lost his soldier wife and struggled to inform his children about it. Instead, Stanley, the father did something no one who knew him would have pictured him doing, that was to bring his daughters Heidi and Dawn on a spontaneous road trip to an amusement park they visited awhile back with his wife, Grace. One thing I found that was really interesting about the movie was that throughout the movie, not once did Grace appear on screen, other than in blurry photographs. Also, the minimal use of background music made the movie clean and uncomplicated.

The Kubler-Ross model explains grief as a five-stage process, from denial, anger, bargaining, depression to acceptance. However, instead of a linear, progressive model, Kubler-Ross clarified that these were common experiences of the grieving process, which can occur in any order.

In the denial stage, individuals grasp on a false reality, refusing to accept the truth. As seen in the movie, Stanley made a phone call back home the evening he decided to bring Heidi and Dawn on the road trip to the Enchanted Garden. His action may be interpreted as he felt that Grace has not left and wanted to hold on to what's left of Grace, that is her voice on the answering machine. Stanley had shown signs of depression especially when he was in his mother's house alone while the girls were out with his brother. He broke down and cried to mourn for Grace. Throughout the movie, Stanley may not have shown apparent feelings of anger since he received the sad news, however, he did get into a fight with his brother John as he could not break the news to his daughters yet.

The second phone call back home that Stanley made at the gas station showed that he was trying to bargain or seek compromise. He said:"We would have been better off if it was me. The girls would have been better off." He wished that it was him who was deployed instead of her. In the end, he accepted the reality about Grace's death and finally informed his daughters about it on the way home from the Enchanted Garden.

Experimenter

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards - Soren Kierkegaard"

If anyone watched The Stanford Prison Experiment movie before watching Experimenter, they would most probably have expected this movie to be about Milgram's obedience study alone, just like I did. But in fact, Experimenter was more than just that, it was about Stanley Milgram's life, from the study onwards. It showed the audiences how that particular study shaped others' perceptions about him, and how it had affected his career later on.

The obedience study, or more well-known as the Milgram experiment was a famous experiment uncovering bits and pieces of the human behavior puzzles. On the flipside, some thought it was an inhumane experiment that psychologically harmed the participants of the study. So a question was raised, do the ethical standards exist to protect individuals from harm, or do they prohibit the efforts to explore human behaviors further?

As shown in the movie, after the participants were debriefed, most of them, statistically about 83% were glad they participated in the study. Just as the Stanford Prison Experiment, both uncovered a new and important aspect of human behavior, with methods that will never get the ethical boards' approvals in current days. It was through these now-unacceptable methods and procedures that these unknowns are now known. Can we, then, still uncover such shocking, unknown aspects of human behaviors like what Milgram had found if we abide to the current ethical standards?

"Human nature can be studied but not escaped - Stanley Milgram"

One of Milgram's student asked him how he would justify his deception and said: "These people didn't know it wasn't real. You tricked them." and that it was really him, as in Milgram himself, who was delivering the psychological shocks to the participants through the deception. Ethical standards exist so that participants are not harmed while participating in any psychological studies, and to safeguard their basic rights such as rights to withdrawal and protection.

In the movie after Milgram published his results, there was an outcry from the public about how unethical his study was. However, it is to note that the message of Milgram's study was that it is human nature to follow orders blindly without questions even if they were against our own beliefs. At the end of the movie, Sasha, Milgram's wife, was shown to be a 'victim' to the norm, quietly filling in the form when she rushed Milgram to the hospital. In reality, at least if it was me, I would have called for the doctor to attend to my husband right away, screw the paperwork.

"How do civilized human beings participate in destructive, inhumane acts? How was genocide implemented so systematically, so efficiently? And how did the perpetrators of these murders live with themselves? - Stanley Milgram"

A question to consider, do ethics help us understand the question, or stops us from getting an answer?

Amadeus

Amadeus /love of God/

Amadeus was about an Italian composer, Antonio Salieri, who was telling the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a priest at the lunatic asylum. It was rather interesting how the movie portrayed the last ten years of Mozart's life through Salieri's storytelling. I felt that the movie was quite lengthy, perhaps because it was the director's cut version, the beginning of the movie was rather slow. However, the musical pieces seamlessly link the parts of the movie altogether.

The movie was set in Vienna, Austria, where Salieri met the famous child prodigy, Mozart and was enraged as Mozart's real characteristics were not as virtuous as he expected. Instead, Mozart was quite childish, irreverent and lewd. It seems from there, his adoration turned into jealousy. He was envious of this man, however still appreciates his brilliance, as he recognizes himself as mediocre.

"On the page it looked nothing. The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse. Bassoons and basset horns, like a rusty squeezebook. And then suddenly, high above it, an oboe. A single note, hanging there, unwavering. Until a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing, it had me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing the voice of God.- Salieri"

Amadeus, which means "love of God" was a great title for the movie, not because it was a movie about Mozart, but it was a major theme throughout the movie as it was seen in the movie that Salieri keeps coming back to God. When he was young, he prayed to God if he can pursue a musical career he would remain chaste as an exchange. When he became a well-respected court composer in Vienna, he thanked God for rewarding him for his faith. Upon meeting Mozart, his faith was shaken. He felt that God was laughing at him through Mozart's God-given giftedness for his mediocrity. His avenging plan was to commission Mozart to write his own requiem mass, while he plots to murder Mozart. The plan was to gain victory over Mozart and God, however failed as Mozart eventually died leaving the requiem unfinished. Salieri saw this as the act of God, disallowing him to share in His glory by taking Mozart Himself.

Whale Rider

"A long time ago, my ancestor Paikea came to this place on the back of a whale. Since then, in every generation of my family, the first born son has carried his name and become the leader of our tribe... until now. - Paikea"

Before I start, we should all acknowledge Whale Rider's crazy resemblance to the latest Disney movie, Moana. Both girls in the movie was born to be the chief of their people, but Moana was a 'wanted' chief-in-the-making whereas Pai from Whale Rider was an 'unwanted' descendant. There is, also, another physical link between both movies, that Rachel House, who was the actress of Shilo from Whale Rider, was also the voice actress of Moana's Grandma Tala. 

Fun fact: The director of this movie, Niki Caro, is also going to be the director of the upcoming Mulan live-action reboot!

Other than tradition being the main theme, this movie showcased the love-hate relationships between the characters, and the cognitive dissonance experienced by almost all of the main characters. Cognitive dissonance is where a person experiences psychological discomfort as they simultaneously hold two or more contradictory beliefs or values. We can see this being experienced by Pai's grandfather Koro, Pai's father Porourangi, and Pai herself. 

"When she was born, that's when things went wrong for us"

This was the reason for the cognitive dissonance experienced by the characters, that Pai, the descendant from a long line of chiefs, was born a female. Koro was resentful of Pai because of that, as females cannot inherit the leadership. However, as depicted in the movie, Koro also formed an affectionate bond with Pai, he would cycle around with her sitting on the back of his bicycle. But when it comes to anything related to the tradition and leadership, he was never satisfied with Pai's effort, even though Pai herself was very interested and determined to succeed as the leader. 

Porourangi loved his father, Koro, but was not one bit interested in the role of the chief. After his wife died of childbirth, he left Pai with his parents and left to Germany to pursue a career as an artist. When he came back to visit them, it was clear that he still treasures his family ties.

When it comes to Pai, she was constantly in a struggle wondering if Koro actually loves her or not. She asked Porourangi, "Why doesn't he want me?". Pai made a lot of efforts to try and win her Koro's heart, and to prove to him that she is a worthy chief, despite the lack of encouragement from Koro. She also invited Koro to be her guest of honour at her concert of Maori, and dedicated a touching speech to him.

At the end of the movie, Pai has proven herself worthy, however also risked her life for that. Koro finally realised that he has been blinded by the rigidness of tradition that he overlooked the qualities his dear granddaughter possesses. 

Forget Paris

🎶 When you love someone, it comes back to you 🎶 - When You Love Someone by Anita Baker and James Ingram

Forget Paris depicted realistic relationships so well and this is usually not seen in romance movies, especially when the story sets, though not the whole time, in Paris, the city of love. It was quite interesting how the story was told by three different couples in a retrospective manner and from there we could observe the different types of romantic relationship each couple was in. For example, the hosts of the dinner, Andy and Liz were probably experiencing the Sternberg Triangular Theory of Love's romantic love as they were just about to get engaged after less than three months of knowing each other.

I really liked how the whole movie was centered around the bitters and sweets about romantic relationships, that it is not always a bed of roses. In reality, there will always be difficulties and challenges that couples have to overcome in order to maintain their relationship. The things I felt this movie wanted to highlight were about the importance of communication and compromise between two people.

Firstly, communication is always the key to any relationship, primarily in romantic relationships. We cannot always assume that that special someone can understand what we feel without voicing out. Come on, they are not the worm living in your stomach! Especially when there are disagreements, talk it out before it is too much to take in. Nowadays, when we see couples glued to their mobile devices instead of having conversations with each other when in restaurants. The lack of communication can cause the 'sparks' to die out, miscommunication and grudges may form and this harms relationships.

Furthermore, relationship in my opinion is a journey that requires constant effort from both the parties involved. Just like learning, we cannot only study for the first chapter and then expect to ace the whole subject. As long as the relationship goes on, both individuals are bound to grow, mature and change. Constant, conscious efforts mean that they acknowledge the changes and learn to compromise each other appropriately. There can never be a perfect fit from the start, but the 'honeymoon period' can last as long as couples learn and grow together as they walk through life hand-in-hand.

Though, healthy compromisation is not merely an act of pleasing the other. Just like in the movie, when Mickey learnt that Ellen felt lonely due to his absence at home, he compromised by taking a year off at the league and worked as a car salesman which was clearly not of his interest making him 'not him' anymore. Compromising in a relationship is not sacrificing yourself and what you like for your partner, but the efforts from both parties to close the gap between two distinct individuals.

To end, I think what Andy said, that "Marriages don't work when one partner is happy and the other is miserable. Marriage is about both people being equally miserable." fits my thoughts well.