Sunday 30 December 2012
The Chess Players/Shratanj Ke Khilari (Nov 2012)
Chosen by Andi and Juliet
The Film
Set in 1856 in northern India, the film moves as slowly as a game of chess. Two upper-middle-class men are obsessed with chess, ignoring their wives, the deaths of their acquaintances, and political machinations.
The film's set during the run-up to the the British annexation of the Indian State of Awadh (or Oudh) and the subsequent Indian rebellion of 1857.
The response
The slow, dated (1977) style of this film was too much for some of us; at least two people fell asleep before the end. But, the discussion revealed lots of interest in the subjects it explored. The obsession with a game - was this appropriate, at a time of social turmoil? The two wives' responses (one weeping with frustration, the other conducting an affair with a nephew...) seemed extreme from today's perspective (just leave him!). General Outram of the East India Company, mildly troubled but determined to pursue power; and Captain Weston, the Anglo-Indian who loves Urdu poetry. The fey prince who refused to defend his status - the end of the film suggested he avoided massive violence against his people; but we know that the events were, in fact, followed by long and bloody conflict, and ultimately led to the downfall of the East India Company.
The Film
Set in 1856 in northern India, the film moves as slowly as a game of chess. Two upper-middle-class men are obsessed with chess, ignoring their wives, the deaths of their acquaintances, and political machinations.
The film's set during the run-up to the the British annexation of the Indian State of Awadh (or Oudh) and the subsequent Indian rebellion of 1857.
The response
The slow, dated (1977) style of this film was too much for some of us; at least two people fell asleep before the end. But, the discussion revealed lots of interest in the subjects it explored. The obsession with a game - was this appropriate, at a time of social turmoil? The two wives' responses (one weeping with frustration, the other conducting an affair with a nephew...) seemed extreme from today's perspective (just leave him!). General Outram of the East India Company, mildly troubled but determined to pursue power; and Captain Weston, the Anglo-Indian who loves Urdu poetry. The fey prince who refused to defend his status - the end of the film suggested he avoided massive violence against his people; but we know that the events were, in fact, followed by long and bloody conflict, and ultimately led to the downfall of the East India Company.
My Week With Marylin (October 2012)
Colin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier's, documents the tense interaction between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during production of The Prince and the Showgirl.
A Separation/Jodái-e Náder az Simin (September 2012)
chosen by Tom and Jeani
The Film
Life in Iran, exploring tensions within a family and between classes and cultures. A middle-class couple have an 11-year-old daughter and care for his frail, elderly father. Simin, the wife, wants the family to leave the oppressive state: Nader, reluctant to leave his father, refuses.
When Simin leaves the family home he employs Razieh, a young, deeply religious woman from a poor suburb. She desperately needs the work, but has religious hesitations about caring for a male outside of her own family. Struggling to keep things going she ties the father to his bed when she is out of the flat. Nader confronts her by angrily pushing her out of the flat; she falls, and miscarries.
Complex legal proceedings, first concerning compensation for the life of the unborn child and then the couple's separation, end with the daughter having to decide which parent to live with.
The Film
Life in Iran, exploring tensions within a family and between classes and cultures. A middle-class couple have an 11-year-old daughter and care for his frail, elderly father. Simin, the wife, wants the family to leave the oppressive state: Nader, reluctant to leave his father, refuses.
When Simin leaves the family home he employs Razieh, a young, deeply religious woman from a poor suburb. She desperately needs the work, but has religious hesitations about caring for a male outside of her own family. Struggling to keep things going she ties the father to his bed when she is out of the flat. Nader confronts her by angrily pushing her out of the flat; she falls, and miscarries.
Complex legal proceedings, first concerning compensation for the life of the unborn child and then the couple's separation, end with the daughter having to decide which parent to live with.
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