The War Within

Watched Joseph Castelo’s The War Within (2005) yesterday (after the delayed telecast of Pacquiao’s victory over Hatton, and after agonizing over the endless ads in-between the two rounds — which they replayed twice).

I remembered Julia Loktev’s Day Night Day Night while watching this movie. Castelo’s The War Within tackles the same issue, but this time goes into the motivation that drives suicide bombers to sacrifice themselves for the higher cause they believe.

I liked how the movie follows the morose Hassan (played by Ayad Akhtar, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Castelo), soon after his cell’s failed terrorist attack on New York City targets, as he hides from the authorities by trying to meld into the New Jersey community where his childhood friend Sayeed (Firdous Bamji) now lives the American dream.

Throughout the movie we see two sides of the Muslim faithful — the fanatical Hassan who is ready to blow himself up for the injustices against his fellow Muslims, particularly his older brother; and the liberal Sayeed, who finds nothing wrong with trying to make a successful life beside his Jewish and Christian American neighbors.

The dire circumstances at the movie’s ending opens up a whole new set of questions as we see Sayeed’s son, taught how to pray by Hassan, going up to his room and we see him kneeling and bowing in prayer.

Watched Joseph Castelo’s The War Within (2005) yesterday (after the delayed telecast of Pacquiao’s victory over Hatton, and after agonizing over the endless ads in-between the two rounds — which they replayed twice).

I remembered Julia Loktev’s Day Night Day Night while watching this movie. Castelo’s The War Within tackles the same issue, but this time goes into the motivation that drives suicide bombers to sacrifice themselves for the higher cause they believe.

I liked how the movie follows the morose Hassan (played by Ayad Akhtar, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Castelo), soon after his cell’s failed terrorist attack on New York City targets, as he hides from the authorities by trying to meld into the New Jersey community where his childhood friend Sayeed (Firdous Bamji) now lives the American dream.

Throughout the movie we see two sides of the Muslim faithful — the fanatical Hassan who is ready to blow himself up for the injustices against his fellow Muslims, particularly his older brother; and the liberal Sayeed, who finds nothing wrong with trying to make a successful life beside his Jewish and Christian American neighbors.

The dire circumstances at the movie’s ending opens up a whole new set of questions as we see Sayeed’s son, taught how to pray by Hassan, going up to his room and we see him kneeling and bowing in prayer.

No Country for Old Men

Watched the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men (2007) yesterday. Was I floored.

As usual, I was looking for a Hollywood kind of ending to the movie given that it was a holiday yesterday and i didn’t really want to ponder abstract concepts like “fate and circumstance.” So yes, I was kinda let down that no such resolution to the thrilling plot was in the offing. You know, where all the loose ends are tied neatly together like a ribbon on a gift.

But more than the plot really were the characters, particularly Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh. This character is tops on my list of movie villians. But also because in that last scene with Kelly Macdonald’s Carla Jean, where the latter doesn’t call Chigurh’s play, you can see the loneliness in Bardem’s eyes that ultimately shows us a glimpse into the source of Chigurh’s coldbloodedness. Great performance by Bardem.

But the other characters are played just as amazingly by Tommy Lee Jones (as Sheriff Bell), Josh Brolin (as Llewelyn Moss), and Kelly Macdonald (as Moss’s wife, Carla Jean).

Must see.

Watched the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men (2007) yesterday. Was I floored.

As usual, I was looking for a Hollywood kind of ending to the movie given that it was a holiday yesterday and i didn’t really want to ponder abstract concepts like “fate and circumstance.” So yes, I was kinda let down that no such resolution to the thrilling plot was in the offing. You know, where all the loose ends are tied neatly together like a ribbon on a gift.

But more than the plot really were the characters, particularly Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh. This character is tops on my list of movie villians. But also because in that last scene with Kelly Macdonald’s Carla Jean, where the latter doesn’t call Chigurh’s play, you can see the loneliness in Bardem’s eyes that ultimately shows us a glimpse into the source of Chigurh’s coldbloodedness. Great performance by Bardem.

But the other characters are played just as amazingly by Tommy Lee Jones (as Sheriff Bell), Josh Brolin (as Llewelyn Moss), and Kelly Macdonald (as Moss’s wife, Carla Jean).

A must see.

The Spirit

Watched Frank Miller’s adaptation of the newspaper comic strip, The Spirit. Was supposed to work on a writing project, but got snagged by this film that C was screening.

I don’t know what it is about graphic novels that gets me quiet and absorbed. Perhaps because I grew up consuming (that’s the only way to put it) what some may scoff at as pulp. One memory of me reading comics was when I was around six or seven, and I would stay up late going through piles of comic books while the grown-ups played mahjong.

I don’t remember having read The Spirit before, but the world Miller creates in the movie is a familiar world that I could even say is home.

Incendiary

Watched this movie by Sharon Maguire, with wonderful performances by Michelle Williams, Ewan McGregor, and Matthew Macfadyen. Incendiary (2008) tackles the questions usually left unasked and unanswered in the wake of the increasing public tragedies like terrorist attacks.

It focuses on the personal life of a young mother (Williams) who loses her young son and husband in a terrorist bombing of a soccer match. The movie mainly deals with the mother’s guilt and her grief over her son’s death.

A Filipino, perhaps a Davao or Moro filmmaker, should do a movie like this about the bombings here in Mindanao.