Central Station.

"Central Station" is a Brazilian-French film located in Brazil. While the film had heartwarming and soft moments, I found it to be very action-packed and full of drama. I learned while reading that the film's title in Portuguese, Central do Brasil, is the name of Rio de Janeiro's main railway station. The film revolved around the journey between Dora, a retired school teacher, and Josue, a 9 year old boy. The beginning of the film was very sad as you watch Josue's mother get killed by a bus accident outside of the train station where Dora works. Dora makes a living writing letters for others and her duty is to send them out to its desired recipient. Often in the beginning, you see Dora become impatient, rude, and grumpy towards customers.

After witnessing the tragic death of Josue's mother, Dora makes it her duty to take responsibility for the boy and care after him. Often they would get into arguments, due to the boy's lack of manners towards authority. Dora decides to sell him off to what seemed to be an orphanage. However, her friend Irene convinces Dora to that this idea would not be the best and that Josue would likely be sold off to others. Irene's suspicions turned out to be right after all, it was a human trafficking couple plotting to hurt Josue. In the end, Dora was able to save Josue by rescuing him from danger. While Dora was not able to fulfill Josue's wish by meeting his father, she was able to join him with his brothers and decides to leave Josue with them. While both Dora and Josue had grown to love each other from their bond, they knew that the choice was for the best.

Themes that I found through out this film are love, friendship, and the importance of family. Initially, there was not anyone near Josue that he could consider family after the death of his mother. Dora's decision to take him in allowed her to temporarily play the role of a mother, a figure that he extremely needed in his life at that tender age. The road to their bond was not easy with their bickering, but they were able to form one in the end of it all. Seeing them depart from one another was a sad ending, but it was heartwarming one as well and sent a positive message about the universal meaning of love. Religion was also an important theme because you were able to see how much people valued what they believed in through what they chose to put in the letters they wanted to send through Dora. Overall, I fully enjoyed watching "Central Station" and would recommend it to a friend.

Strawberry & Chocolate.

"Strawberry & Chocolate" was directed by Tomas Gutierrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabio. It is a Cuban-Spanish-Mexican film and based on the short story "The Wolf, The Forest, and the New Man." I thought the title of the movie was interesting in reference to the quote used in the film - "I knew he was homosexual because they had chocolate ice cream, and yet he ordered strawberry." The movie takes place in the late 1970's in Cuba where a college student by the name of David randomly meets a gay artist by the name of Diego. David goes through a few struggles, in which we see from the beginning of the film where he loses the love his life to someone else. He also has a tough time in Cuba. Diego is unsatisfied with Castro regime's outlook towards the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender (LGBT) community. After David's homophobic friend/roommate, Miguel, hears about David's encounter with the gay man Diego, Miguel decides that Diego can be used as a spy on dangerous events occuring by the Cuban communists. After some time, a friendship begins to develop between David and Diego. Diego becomes a mentor and teaches David about life from another angle that can enhance David's perspective on things.

Although there were a few themes,I believe that the biggest one worth mentioning is the existence of the LGBT community. Diego heavily flirts with David in the beginning of the film, borderline seducing him, but it dies down. Diego has a new-found motivation that does not include seduction, but trying to change the outlook of those who are close minded or uneducated on subjects.

My reaction towards the film is a positive one. I do not believe it was a bad film because of the strong message it portrayed, the production, and the craft of acting performed by the main characters. I thought that Diego was so entertaining to watch in the beginning of the film because of his charisma and enthusiasm. I found Diego to be very animated during certain scenes. The foul languages/slang used to refer to homosexual people was a bit uncomfortable for me to hear, because they are words that are not in my vocabulary. Overall, the film was a great one.

Bombay.

Bombay is a 1995 Indian film based on the love between a Hindu man and a Muslim woman. Shekhar, the Muslim man, lived in a village of Tamil Nadu. He worked as a journalism student studying in Bombay and would frequently visit home to spend time with his own family. On one of Shekhar's trips home, he noticed a Muslim school girl by the name of Shaila Bano. Shaila Bano is initially shy during Shekhar's pursuit in getting to know her. After a while, Shaila finds herself having feelings for Shekhar. Eventually the two of them fall in love. Shekhar and Shaila introduce their relationship to their families, whom both do not approve. Regardless of the disapproval, the couple leaves the village and go off to Bombay to get married. They live a happy life and go on to have twin boys, Kabir Narayan and Kamal Basheer. The rest of the movie takes place in a time period where there was religious tension in Mumbai and many other parts of India. Family members are killed in their home when their home is burnt down by individuals rioting the streets.

A reoccurring theme is violence and family core values. Also, an issue that kept coming up was whether or not an individual considered themselves to be a Hindu or a Muslim. Even their twin sons are faced with the issue on the streets when violent men are plotting to hurt them. Shekhar joins a movement with religious leaders to stop the rioting and succeeds in his goal. Once the rioting finally comes to an end, the family and children are reunited.

My reaction to the film is positive for the most part. This was my first time watching a Bollywood film in its entirety. I was not a fan of the love story initially, I found it to be very cliché and melodramatic. I believe what helped made it realistic was showing the family's disapproval of the relationship. I was very much a fan of the music. There was one particular song in the middle that I enjoyed, it was a male group dancing outdoors. It was catchy and I even found myself singing some of the words in my head as I watched on. Overall, “Bombay” was a good film with a powerful message.

Children of Heaven.

“Children of Heaven” is an Iranian film following the lives of a brother and sister and their quest over a pair of lost shoes. The beginning of the film shows the family experiencing many financial issues. Their neighborhood is located in South Tehran and is poor. Their landlord is frustrated with them while telling them that they are five months behind in rent and the grocer had not received any pay in a long time period as well. Ali, the brother of Zahra, takes his little sister's shoes to a shoemaker place in order to get them repaired. Ali loses the shoes in the process. Ali begins to worry on how they will manage, but tells Zahra to make a promise that she will not tattletale to their parents about the lost shoes. The family cannot afford another pair of shoes to by for Zahra, due to the struggle you can witness them experiencing in the film. In order to make do with what they have, Ali and Zahra create a strategic plan by sharing the same pair of sneakers. Zahra goes to school in the early morning hours and finishes the school day right before Ali's time for school begins. Everyday, Zahra runs home after school to give Ali the pair of shoes he needs to wear to school. Although Ali is a great student, this got him into a lot of trouble, due to the fact that he would arrive late to school because of the shoe switching schedule.

In the middle of the film, Zahra discovers that another young girl at school had on her shoes. While she found herself in many occasions where she was tempted to ask for her shoes back, she never musters up the confidence to do so and leaves the girl be. Once Zahra becomes friendly with her fellow classmate, the classmate had already thrown out the shoes Zahra thought was hers and was wearing a fresh new pair. The classmate assured Zahra that the shoes were old and worn down, but it did not matter to Zahra. It was clear that Zahra could not comprehend how a person could throw out a pair of shoes so easily, especially being that she had to share a pair with her brother.

In order to put an end to the lost shoe saga, Ali discovers that there is a marathon race going on at his school. While all of the prizes were rewarding, what Ali considered to be the most worthy was third place. The third place winner was to receive a consolation prize of a brand new pair of shoes. Ali promised Zahra that he would finish in third place as a guarantee and will win the sneakers for her. During the race, there were times that Ali was close to losing. Then there were times that he ran too fast ahead of the bunch and had to slow down in order to get back to third place instead of first. Ali was determined to get the prize for third, he did not want what first place offered. In the end, he was close to losing due to a competitor shoving him down. Ali got back up and ran as fast as he could to the make it line. The minute he made the finish line, he asked out loud “Did I finish third?!” An adult chuckled and told Ali that he finished in first place. It was a bittersweet ending and very sad. First place is not what Ali wanted. Ali wanted third place, he wanted those shoes for his little sister. He was very disappointed and could not hold his head up high for the winning photos.

Poverty is the main theme through out this film. You witness Ali and Zahra's parents struggle to make ends meet and to provide for their children in the best way possible. Their father picked up a job as a gardener and went door-to-door in the rich suburbs in hopes of finding a client that would take him in for a paid job. Also, seeing Zahra and Ali puts things into perspective into how fortunate we may be more than others in poor countries. We often take for granted our ability to wear whatever clothing item we choose and a selection of shoes to wear everyday. While there are many children, like the characters Ali and Zahra, that are not so fortunate. They did not have more than one pair of shoes to wear and were forced to share. Ali was not comfortable when wearing the shoes because they were not the size of her own, but the size of her brother's, which made it too large.

I really enjoyed watching “Children of Heaven.” It made me thank my lucky stars that I do not have to experience the struggle that this family endured everyday to survive. Also, I admired the sibling bond between Ali and Zahra, I thought that they were adorable children. Ali's promise to his sister for a new pair of shoes was a sweet gesture, despite the unfortunate outcome. I was on the edge of my seat during Ali's race, because I really wanted him to win and receive what he wished for in the head. I believe that this was a very good film and I would definitely watch it again.

Moolaadé.

“Moolade” is a film that takes place in a Burkina Faso village. The film addresses the sensitive subject of female genital mutilation. Moolade symbolizes magical protection spread over others to keep them safe. Female genital mutilation is a practice that is common in many African countries, especially countries that are in the south of the Sahara Desert. Through out the film, it is visible that the film showcases that they are strongly against the practice of female genital mutilation with the character Colle. Colle is a village woman who uses the magical protection, moolaade, to protect a group of women. The villagers outside of her believe that female genital mutilation is a necessary act of purification and they oppose her. Colle is one of three wives of a man highly respected in the village. Colle refused to have her teenage daughter to be mutilated due to the fear of losing her, especially since she had lost other children prior.

Colle's daughter, Amastatou, is engaged to a man that is expected to return from France. Ironically enough, Colle's daughter is considered to be an unfit candidate for marriage by the village leaders, due to the fact that she is not “purified” through mutilation. While her husband is away, four young girls escape from the traditional genital mutilation ceremony in fear that they might lose their life in the process. The young girls ran away and went to Colle for protection. Colle uses moolade, the magical protection, to protect them from the elders that carry out the process of mutilation.

Colle's actions of protecting others with moolade caused a huge dispute to break out in the village between her and the leaders. The leaders made demands that the four girls must return back to be mutilated, along with Colle's teenage daughter, and that Colle must end the moolade. Female villagers began ti pay attention to Colle's actions and proceeded to follow in her footsteps by protesting against those that were opposed to it. The village leaders reacted to this by removing every radio in the village owned by women, with the belief that women are being persuaded by their radios. The removal of the radios furthered the protest and created a larger issue. Upon the return of Colle's daughter's fiance, he refuses to marry her due to the fact that she had not been purified, also known as being mutilated. The film concludes with Colle's daughter telling her fiance that she will never allow herself to be mutilated.

A theme that I believe showed throughout Moolade was the exposure of the tradition behind female genital mutilation in South Africa and how much it deeply affects individuals that are forced to go through it. The procedure is a form of bodily harm and runs high risks of killing the young females that go through with it. Colle stood her ground, along with her daughter, by vocalizing how much they are against female genital mutilations. Another theme in the film was female dominance. Despite what they believed in or their opposed views, women were taking a stand to spread the word of how they felt and to be treated as equal. The village also seemed to be showing signs of modernization, by showing individuals owning radios and television sets.

While the cinematography and message behind the film Moolade was powerful, I personally was not a fan of it. It would not be a foreign film that I would particularly choose to watch on my own time. However, I believe that the overall message and the topic of what countries outside of the United States go through was important to raise awareness about.

Tsotsi.

Tsotsi is an action packed, drama film released in 2005 and directed by Gavin Hood. The film is based off the novel with the same title, written by Athol Fugard. The setting of the film takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa and part of the Alexandra Slum. The film follows the main character Tsotsi, who is a young, violent thug that actively commits crimes. The beginning of the film shows Tsotsi, along with three other thugs, in an extremely graphic scene. All four of the individuals decide to rob and kill a man that enters the train. Soon after mugging the passenger on the train and a fight that occurs within the group, Tsotsi shoots a young woman by the name of Pumla and steals her car. While attempting to steal her car and steal valuables, Tsotsi soon discovers that a young baby is strapped to its baby seat in the back of the vehicle. Unable to cruelly leave the three month old baby alone as it cried out for its mother's touch, Tsotsi decides to take the baby back to his home. Once realizing that he could not take care of the baby properly and to his best attempt, he spots a woman in his village and forces her at gunpoint to feed the baby he kidnapped. Many times after, Tsotsi continues to make the woman feed the baby he could not care for. However, once the woman pieced together his violent lifestyle after reading the newspaper, Tsotsi takes the baby back from her for good. As he walks away, the woman reminds him that as much as he may try to take care of this kidnapped baby, he will never take the place of his mother and he needs to return the baby back to his parents. Flooded with guilt, Tsotsi sets off to finally return the baby back home to his parents. Once Tsotsi spoke into the intercom that he will leave the baby outside of the home's gates, the police soon arrives and takes over the premises with their cars. The baby is safely returned to the arms of his parents. The film ends with Tsotsi surrendering to the police with his hands in the air.

There were many themes through out the film that can be seen. Violence was a frequent occurring thing that began from the moment the film started in the train with the gang, to the end where the police are pointing their guns at Tsotsi. Violence was not only a source of action, but a way of life for the men of the film. Poverty can also be seen within the neighborhood that Tsotsi lived and his own living conditions. When he left the baby alone at home, he returned to seeing insects crawling all over the baby's face. You can see the contrast of worlds existing within the film once you see the community that the parents of the baby lived in, their home was gated and the size of the home was much larger than what we saw earlier in the film.

Tsotsi was an interesting film and very good. Initially, I did not look forward to watching it because of the violence that was showcased so early on in the film. The scene on the train with the passenger being murdered made my stomach turn. I felt the expression on my face become extremely concerned and bothered by what I witnessed. Initially, I saw Tsotsi as a cruel man that continuously committed horrible crimes. Although his actions were still inexcusable, I began to see Tsotsi as a person. The difference between Tsotsi and other criminals is that Tsotsi clearly had a conscience. Most people that commits acts of crime are selfish individuals that only care about their wants and gains, in my opinion. Tsotsi could not leave that baby alone as it cried out in the car. He also took measures in making sure it was cared for, then eventually returned the baby home. When Tsotsi asked the young woman caring for the baby if he could return back to see her afterward, it was clear that he lacked something in his life. Tsotsi needed a family of his own, love, and/or support that would deter him from continuously acting out violently. It seemed that violence was his only way of compensating for what he was missing in life.