award-winning film spree

While everyone's busy mugging up for prelim 1, or block tests, guess what i was doing. Yeah.. i tried to do the same, but i just can't do it. So, in the end, besides the usual playing, I went to borrow vcds from the library. I went on an "award-winning films" spree!! :D But I've only reached the second one. Gonna talk abt the movies today.

The first one i watched was a russian film called "The return". 2 brothers were living with their mother and grandmother. One day, their father returned, suddenly. According to him, he came back because his wife told him that he should. He brought his sons on a trip. They were supposed to head for this waterfall, but they end up everywhere else. :P For what reasons, i have no idea! The elder son accepted the man as his father immediately, but not the younger one. The young one felt that their father didn't love them at all, and that he might even be killing them. Well, as an audience, while watching, I thought that he didn't love them too.

Their final destination ended up to be an island (where there's no waterfall to be seen at all. o.O) and the 2 boys had asked to go fishing on the boat, so the father handed the elder son his watch and told him to return at 3. In the end, the young one requested to stay out longer, and the elder brother agreed, though he was reluctant at the beginning. In the end, they returned at 7. Imagine how the father was like. >.<>

The young one couldn't stand it anymore and after doing some shouting at his father, he ran off. Guess the father was worried, so he followed the young one, running after him. The young one climbed up the tower and shut the top entrance so that his father won't be able to get to him. He then threatened that if his father was not going away, he will jump down. He's actually afraid of heights, so can you imagine how distressed he was? Anyway, he really climbed to the top and was seriously thinking of jumping. Suddenly, a pair of hands appeared on one of the wood surrounding the top of the tower, it was his father. Out of desperation, he had climbed from the outside. Out of love, he wanted to save his son. The wood was loose, and so he fell all the way down. He died.

Not gonna continue the story, just that when he died, i was stunned. Eh.. probably i didn't expect that to happen. It's so sudden! and i was totally like "huh?". Oh anyway, i don't really understand what the director's getting at. He mentioned somethings in the movie, but didn't continue to reveal them. Like the waterfall.

Next movie that i watched today, is "Whale Rider".

'One girl dared to confront the past, change the present and determine the future.'

"In a small New Zealand coastal village, Maori claim descent from Paikea, the Whale Rider. In every generation, a male heir has succeeded to the chiefly title. The time is now. When the twins are born, and the baby boy dies. Grief-stricken, the father leaves the surviving baby girl to be raised by her grandparents. The chief, Koro, also the girl's grandfather, is convinced that the tribe's misfortunes began at Pai's birth and refused to acknowledge Pai as the inheritor of the tradition and claims she is of no use to him. Pai loves Koro more than anyone in the world, but she must fight him and a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny."

Well, firstly, i have to say that this movie made me shed a whole bucketful of tears. I'm amazed by how the girl doesn't even need to say her feelings out and i'll feel sad for her. I cried more than she did in the show. Haha.. This one is really worth watching! DO WATCH IT!! :)

Of course, it has a happy ending! I thought that she was going to die, but she didn't!! :D she survived but ended up in the hospital. That scene, made me feel relieved. Because Koro was sitting by Pai, who was unconscious. Around her neck, was the whale's tooth, only to be worn by the chief. Koro has finally acknowledged her. Why? What happened? Hahah... go watch it then :) Juz kidding. One night, the whales were found on the shore. If they don't leave, they will die. Koro and co. chanted and tried to push the leader of the whales into the waters so that the rest will follow. But while they were trying to do that, the whale slammed its tail hard on the ground, refusing to be moved. The rope broke. Everyone left, thinking that they should take a little rest and come back later to try again.

Koro had disallowed Pai to touch the whale when she approached it. She left the group and stood somewhere further, looking at the scene. Now that everyone has left, she went back to that whale, and touched it, greeted it. She then climbed on top of it, and tried to talk the whale into going back to the waters. She kicked it lightly while doing so, patting and stroking it's skin. The whale actually did attempt to propel itself back to the sea. By the time the group was back, the whale was gone. They thought that it had died, and they cried. In the end, they saw her sitting on the surface of the sea. She was riding the whale. She was the whale rider. Koro looked at her with a worried look, so did everyone else. She spoke softly, telling Koro that it's ok, but Koro couldn't hear her of course. She followed the whale until the whale dived deeper and deeper, and she could no longer hold her breath. While diving with the whale, there was this dialogue, "I wasn't afraid to die... "Finally she let go of the whale.

Bah.. whatever. It's really nice. It's a must-watch! It won a lot of awards too :)