Singapore Dreaming

A family consisted of six members having big dreams living on a small island. Singapore Dreaming is a movie representing a typical middle-class Singaporean family hoping for a better life. However, the reality was harsh like a rock which the family dreams crashed on it. When the patriarch of the family won two million in the lottery they thought this was the end of their struggles. But, destiny had different opinion.

The Movie Characters

Poh Huat the patriarch was working as a lawyer’s clerk seizing goods from credit card home debts. As he performs his job, he feels jealous from the home owners, whishing he had a condo in high neighborhood like them. His housewife Siew Luan was simple person content with her life. She was working hard cleaning and cooking for her family. They have one son, Seng and one daughter, Mei. Seng had just come from the United State after finishing his studying. The family was hoping that Seng would get a job and contribute to the family and improve its situation. And his fiancée couldn't wait to see her dream come true which was having family and children. Seng was self-centered unlike his sister. Mei was working as secretary maintaining a good relationship with her boss. Her husband just quit from military and he is working in insurance company making small money.

Public Houses

The majority of Singaporean people are living in public houses; since the cost of private housing is very high. Public houses are affordable and provided by the government for middle and lower-class. Public housing in Singapore as such is not generally considered as a sign of poverty or lower standards of living as compared to public housing in other countries (Australia, England etc). www.wikipedia.org. On the other hand, moving to privet housing is a dream for most of Singaporean people and Poh and his family was one of them.

English Usage

English language is one of the four official languages in Singapore. This is why it was strongly present during the movie. English goes back to colonial Singapore. As more of its people experienced learning English at school, English became widely spoken. The use of English has increased still further and since 1987 English is the main language. Most of children grow up bilingual form infancy and learn more languages as they grow up. www.leeds.ac.uk.

According to Singaporean government, Singaporean consisted of Chinese 76.8%, Malay 13.9%, Indian 7.9%, other 1.4% (2000 census) and each of these ethnics is speak its own language. I believe they needed a common ground unite these three ethnics. So, they found English as the right choice, because especially English has root in Singapore to colonial era and because it is the international language. Consequently, English has became fourth official language since 1987.

Foreigners in Singapore

Foreigners in Singapore were mainly represented by two characters. First character was the maid was working for Mei she was from Philippine. Second character was China who had interesting conversation with Mei's husband. Probably she was depicting the way foreigners looking at Singaporean. She was saying that Singaporean always complaining about their situations. In addition, they did not suffer or encounter hard life for example lack of food or security.

Wonderful Scene

After Poh Huat death his wife Siew Luan filled with sadness because of three facts, losing her husband was one of them. Second fact, was uncovered during the funeral when she found out that her husband had mystery. Finding this bitter true came down harsh on Siew and maximized her sorrow. This fact made Siew angry and put her in silence for several days after the funeral. Third fact was the greatest scene in the whole movie. If truth be told, this scene one of the most wonderful scenes I have ever seen. The scene took place when Mei tried to push her mother to break her silence. After several attempts Mei did to urging her mother to talk. Siwe talked and said" I was singing I even was number one in singing contest at the school. Poh promised me to take care of me all my life. Now he left and I can sing no more.

What Siwe meant by these words that she had singing talent and she was dreaming to be a singer before she met Poh. After that, Poh promised her to take care of her all the time and she doesn't need to sing anymore. So, she gave her talent and dreams a way. She thought that Poh going to be there forever. Now she doesn't have either. She killed her dreams and talent and Poh gone forever. This is a big lesson for everyone who wrongly thinking of giving his/her talent away for "love". The true love is where the dreams thrive and flourish not where the dreams die and deteriorate.

Tsotsi

Hope Set Him Free

Tsotsi’s mother was dying from HIV disease and his father was only family. Tsotsi’s father was abusive and cruel so, he ran away to live in huge abandoned pipes. He was involved in murders and robbing. Tsotis lived on survival base without goal or dreams his only concern was feeding himself. Until one night felt desperate and stole a woman’s car and ran away. As he was driving away he found shocked to find an infant in the backseat. Since that his life has changed forever.

Tsosti and his gangsters were living in Soweto slum on the edge of Johannesburg. The houses were randomly spread most of them were missing the basic utilities such as water and electricity. They look like shacks some of them made of concrete and some made of wood covered by steel board. In contrast, inside the city which is resembled any modern city with contemporary infrastructure and facilities. Johannesburg is an up to date city has big streets and buildings full of lights and mixed ethnics groups. On the other hand, the Soweto slum consists of African ethnic background only. That gives an idea about the living situation of Africans compared to the other ethnics although; apartheid was not depicted in this movie.

Tsosti was surrounded by his three gang members. They were Boston, Die Aap, and Butcher. Boston was supposed to be a teacher, but he did make it to the final test. His talk about decency and education enraged Tsosti. Die Aap was Tsosti’s friend from childhood. He always depended on Tsosti on everything and never did anything on his own. The third member is Butcher who went too far by murdering two people during the film.

The three members of the gang involved in robbing ended with murder. Boston was not happy about how things ended up and started reprimanding and questioning Tsosti about his past. The conversation took violence turns when Tsotsi started attaching Boston and beat him. After that, Tsotsi ran away, but he did not know where to go. Eventually, he sat cross from a big house when he noticed a woman struggling opening the garage. He jumped in the car and shot the woman when she was trying to stop him. As he was driving off he found that there is an infant in the backseat. After spending several minutes of hesitation he decided to take the child with him. This decision made sharp turn in his life.

Tsosti tried to take care of the child, but he couldn't. He asked the help of a single mom which was Miriam. He started to take the child to Miriam to feed him and take care of him. He saw Miriam the opposite of him. She was a responsible single mom working hard to support her child. As days went on he started having feelings for her and she returned these feelings. Moreover, he saw himself through that child and named him after his real name "David". The child refreshes Tsotsi memories and wake up the human inside him. The child was symbolic of hope in desperate days and a light in otherwise dark future.

Having the child is one of three major events that shake Tsotsi's life. The second event that contributes to the sharp turn in Tsotis's life is his conversation with the "Stolen legs man". During their conversation Tsotis asked the paralyzed man" why do you go on? When you live like a dog? The old man replied "I like to feel the sun on the street. Even with these hands I can still feel the heat. That answer brought the tears into Tostis eyes. The third event that happened to Tsotis was the love that has born recently between him and Miriam. Loving someone and knowing that she return the same feeling had great impact on Tsotsi.

City of god

City of God was released in 2002 in Brazil and 2003 for the world wide. This movie is base on true story taken place in City of God in west of Rio de Janeiro early 80's. The movie is depicting how the crime effects poor population in the slum and how poorness affects the crime vice versa. Poor and unenlightenment people with high crimes rate among them are living in a circle. Poor people giving birth of kids who grow up and make poor families and the same goes for crimes and unenlightement. The first generation the movie was depicting committing crimes with limit. They were armed robbers and thieves but not killers. The following generation follows the pervious generation steps. However, the following generation has gone further and started committing crimes with no limits and more severity. In addition, crime diffusion continues to find its way to the new generation like a chain.

Poverty Poverty and Poverty

**Ali bin Abetaleb said "wherever poverty exists, the miscreantness exists along with it" and he said "If poorness is a man I would kill him". He meant that poorness is always associates with disorder, war, spread of diseases and high crimes rate. There are many live examples depicting this fact. Check the list of World's 50 poorest countries http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908763.html and ask this question; what kind of news we usually hear about these countries? We usually hear war, spread of diseases, disorder and corruptions. It doesn't have to be a form of country only but, it could be any form of community such as neighborhood or a family. Poor community produces high percentage of hapless people with not so much to loose and they have tendency to use violence. This kind of community provide expedient climate to plant crimes and gangster. What I meant by all that, the poverty is the base where most of problems comes from and this what the movie is depicting.

Chain

Crimes, violence and drugs were like a chain each generation spread them in the neighborhood and surroundings area before passes it to the next generation. Drugs produce gangster, gangster produce violence and addicted people. Some addicted become a part of the gang and uses violence. Victim of the violence uses violence to revenge, violence produce violence and so on. Best example of this chain was presented in the movie by Knockout Ned character. He was peaceful man seeking revenge after his beloved woman raped and his father and brother were killed. In order to get help to achieve his goal and kill Li'l Zé he became a member of Cenoura gang who was the rival of Li'l Zé gang.

Favela

The origin of Cidade de Deus, or City of the Gods, is a city that was built on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro in the 1960's. It was built by a Brazillian government which had become obsessed with the benefits of capitalism, economic rationalization, and foreign debt. The city was built for all the people of Rio who could not afford housing and living essentials. It was initially devoid of roads and buses. Eventually it was dominated by gangs of indiscriminately murderous drug-dealers.

Recently, Favelas resemble tiny independent country inside a country. This independent country has one or several gangsters playing the government role. They control, arrest and punish. Moreover, each gangster respects the other gangster's boundary and any interfere with this law could lead to a war. Moreover, the police and any other official organization are not excluded from this law. If the police have to break this law they should prepare themselves ahead of time and plan as it a big war. They usually choose one of two options; either shoot from outside the Favela or go inside with hundreds of armed soldiers.

Favela in the Movie

Media has powerful massages can form and portrayal of entire cultures and people. I know how Rio de Janeiro is a beautiful, varied and big city. However, now every time I read or I hear something about it, pictures from the movie cross my mind. Pictures of Li'l Zé and his gang are walking in the small passages of the city of god killing with cold blood. People are living in congestion where they use every space for building homes and shops. People were difficult to live in peace. Beside the gangster there were the runts who mug residents and hold-ups shops.

Island

People who are living in a Favela have totally different life style than the people outside like separate island in an ocean. Coming out from a Favela and going to the city like coming form wet dark room to a dry room full of lights and colors. Favela is crowded place isolate poor people from the community and put them under mercy of gangster.

Facts about the Movie

• God was filmed in a housing project called Cidade Alta, whose drug trade was run by a guy named Paulo Sergio Magno, who just happened to be arrested in the theatre lobby while attending a special screening of God. Who said films don't make the world a better place? According to http://www.sick-boy.com/cityofgod.htm.
• 
  Most of these actors had never acted before, and were, in fact, residents of Favelas such Vidigal and the Cidade d Deus. According to http://www.wikipedia.org/

Veer-Zaara

In last movie we had been in the most populated country in the world either by humans or bikes. This time we are in the second largest populated country in the world not by humans only, but bikes as well. However, in this movie we are discussing a more complicated issue than the previous one. This movie was discussing the conflict that started in 1947 between Pakistan and India over Kashmir territory. Moreover, this conflict was addressed as one exists between the two governments. The two peoples have nothing to do with it. In other words it was political issue more than a clash between the two nations.

Veer-Zaara is an Exception

Bollywood has totally different style film than the one in west. It is influenced by local culture. The popularity of Indian movies goes beyond India's boundaries to another Asian nations for example: Pakistan and Bangladesh. Moreover, Indian movies have fans in Gulf Countries as well like Kuwait and Emirates. I have seen a lot of Indian movies myself when I was a teenager. Most of Gulf Countries Indian movies fans are between ages 12-18 and when they grow up they start making fun of them! In gulf countries we have many idioms related to or quoted from the way that Indian movies are. For example; when we describe something so silly or unbelievable for example: we say, "You won't believe what happened to me it was an Indian movie". Or when we describe something takes too long we say "Why are you taking too much time to dress up, is it Indian movie"? So, why is Veer-Zaara is an exception movie? There are several characteristics differentiate Veer-Zaara from other Indian movies. First, usually Indian movies goal is to entertain the audience by presenting a love story mixed with action where the "good guys always win in the end". In Veer-Zaara case the cast had further goal which was brining peace between warring nations. Second, most of the time Indian movies are "too romantic" or "go too far" and "full of fairy tale". On the other hand, the story in Veer-Zaara was believable though there were many exaggerations. For example, stays at the prison for 20 years just to clear his beloved woman's name and she spends the same period keeping his dream alive. Please see the two below videos that I have chosen to show you what I meant by unbelievable actions and stories that Bollywood usually have.

Some Indian Culture Characteristics

Usually movies reflect cultures; depict places, environment and lives of people. And if we would examine Indian movies such as Veer-Zaara we will see some characteristics of India presented in the movie. For instance, singing and dancing, emotions and English are characteristics of Bollywood films. There was an English word fitted in every two lines. Some people contribute this usage to British influence on the Indian people during the coloniel era between 1858 and 1937 when the Indian region including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh was ruled by the British Crown. Let us suppose the English usage was because of the British influence. We are left with two questions there; Why don't Pakistan and Bangladesh have the same influence on them? Are pop music and contemporary western life style part of British influence? I don't thinks so. I believe British have some influence, but the biggest influence part was American culture. Indians think that America is the moddel that they should follow. Moreover, I have been told by some Indians and friends who went to India that western culture are major effect on large cities, people's life style and teenagers are trying to resemble west as much as they can.

There are 1.4 million Indians working and living in Saudi and I worked with and have Indians friends . I can see how singing and dancing are part of their culture. They listen to music at their job site, home and while they are driving. I can hear them singing all the time. So, for me it is natural to see singing and dancing play a big part of their movies. In addition, Indians show emotions and cry so often in sad situations and that was present in the movie and the real life as well. I have been told that the Indian audience is reacting with the actors crying and you can see them filled with tears whenever there is a sad scene. Watch blew video "when Bollywood cry"

Over simplifying

There were more than one occasion where cases and situations were over simplified, for example:the relationship between Pakistan and Indian peoples. The movie shows there is harmony or no hard feeling between the two peoples. Nevertheless, there is a tension between these two nations, and it cannot be denied. It is not a matter of political issue only as the movie is trying to address, but in fact it is much more.

Landscape

The movie takes place on two places a village located in the Punjab Region, India and in Lahore City, Pakistan. In India, the movie did not show the population density that India known is for because the movie takes place in a rural area where Veer was raised. Farming was its people's main activity. On the other hand, a dense city was depicted in Lahore, Pakistan. In the same time, the movie was filmed in Purana Qila which is an historical place out side New Delhi. Bollywood often usws this place because of the beauty it has.

Conclusion

In general the movie went beyond Bollywood limit and has sat a new concept of Indian movies. In this movie the cast have decided to get over the traditional stories that Bollywood has stick with for a long time though it has some exaggerations and over simplifying facts. I like the backgrounds, views and the songs. I have put Do Pal song in my favorite foreign songs enjoy the songs and have fun reading the lyrics below.

Do, pal ruka, khwaabon ka kaarvaanAur phir,chal diye, um kahaan, ham kahaan Do pal ki thi, ye dilon ki daastaanAur phir, chal diye, tum kahaan, ham kahaan Aur phir chal diye, tum kahaan, ham kahaan

Tum the ke thi koyi ujli kiranTum the ya koyi kali muskaayi thi Tum the ya tha sapnon ka tha saawanTum the ke khushiyon ki ghata chhaayi thi Tum the ke tha koyi phool khila Tum the ya mila tha mujhe naya jahaan Do pal ruka khwaabon ka kaarvaanAur phir chal diye tum kahaan ham kahaan Do pal ki thi, ye dilon ki daastaanAur phir chal diye, tum kahaan, ham kahaan Aur phir chal diye, tum kahaan, ham kahaan

Tum the aa khushboo hawaaon mein thiTum the ya rang saari dishaaon mein the Tum the ya roshni raahon mein thiTum the ya geet goonje fizaaon mein the Tum the mile ya mili thi manzilein Tum the ke tha jaadoo bhara koyi sama Do pal ruka, khwaabon ka kaarvaanAur phir chal diye, tum kahaan, ham kahaan Do pal ki thi, ye dilon ki daastaanAur phir chal diye, tum kahaan, ham kahaan Aur phir chal diye, tum kahaan, ham kahaan Aur phir chal diye, tum kahaan, ham kahaan