Category History

BY SUDDHASATYA GHOSH. KOLKATA, INDIA –India had to pay dear for it’s independence. Other than the blood-stained partitions it had also been deprived of a Gandhi, who was Mohandas Karamchand and a lonely soldier of his battle for his truth. He was one who had transformed Congress into a mass platform for independence movement and was not above controversy on doing so.  He was beyond Congress by his political and substantial reach towards Indian people at times of need and this movie MOHANDAS by Mazhar Kamran is truly beyond that protagonist Mohandas.

Mohandas, a Dalit (lower cast in cast-strata of Indian society) youth had been a student of first rate throughout his academic career. Set in post independent Indian background his character even challenges reservation syndrome that divides the whole nation into a battle ground for general and other backward classes. Here, it is believed that Dalits and other lower cast stratum are traditionally deprived of knowledge and money power by upper casts conspiracy from the ages of Vedas (so-called sacrosanct religious texts of Hindus), though they are the real India. They are largest in numbers and poorer in gatherings. So the conscious section of this Indian society had argued and successfully achieved a larger reservation for them in educations and governmental jobs.

These exploited casts need state protection to be at par with dominant Brahmins and Khsatriyas (two leading casts who are priests, teachers and warriors of Hindu society) along with Vaishyas (cast for business people who are third in traditional respect). One day when they will be ready for fair competition the reservation system will be withdrawn by the state. V.P.Singh government had implemented Mandal commission report to protect weaker casts on the basis of above mentioned argument. It had horizontally divided Hindu, as well as Indian society at large in demands and decent. Major political upheavals had followed and the last one was seen in 2008 itself with general cast medical and business management students of AIIMS (All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences) and IIM (Indian Institute of Management)-s in the lead. In the past this reservation issue had made or broke several governments in regions and centre too. Parties, such as BSP  [Bahujaan Samajbadi (Socialist)Party], SP [Samajbadi (Socialsit) Party] are in vogue that call them messiah of Dalits or other lower casts like Yadav-s.

Kamran had started with a telling hit on that thesis on depicting this character to be on his own to achieve glory. From my personal knowledge I could not disagree with this portrayal. Because I have such friends from Dalit or SC (Scheduled cast) or ST (Scheduled Tribe) who had never taken any advantage of that reservation. But they are not those who are first generation educated and they have a good monetary support system too. A first generation educated Dalit youth on one’s own capacity is really an exception. Yet Kamran had taken this character to move through and I think to establish a farm ground to make his coming points even stronger.

That boy Mohandas had became a beaming youth and then faded away in the remote corner of rural India. He had competed for several jobs and finally had wrestled one of a colliery manager only to lose in a peculiar circumstances. He had  never received appointment letter for that job, although he had topped the list. His mystery had been pursued, quite by chance, by a local journalist Anil and then by Meghna Sengupta, a national media server. This Dalit from Madhyapradesh of India, had been cheated by the system. His job had been taken by fraudulence and the recipient was none other than upper cast Bishwanath who used to fail in examinations at their college days and was jealous of Mohan since.

Mazhar had made this Anuppur coliary a mini India. Bishwanath was living a life of luxuary at the expense of Dalit Mohandas, just the same as upper cast exploitations in Indian history since castist divide. That fraud was defended by the then state powers (here corrupt police and coal officials). That corruption by Bishwanath and his associates in return had been challenged by consciuos and aggrived media people, a local lawyar, a  honest judge. Mohandas in several stages of that battle for truth and identity (as he was ridiculosly put into test by cruel system to prove that he was Mohandas indeed) had lost and won in seasaw movements. He won the court case only to emphatically lose the final battle. His friend and lawyar had got killed and Bishwanath had finally won inspite of a jail sentence. Meghna Sengupta, when had travelled to that remote extent of India to share Mohandas’s defeat as her own too,  was at a lose. Being thrown to an unexpected and unseen dark corner of contemporary India she was utterly confused on reactions. Mohandas was refusing to identify him as Mohandas.

Just in the beginning of this complex saga Mohandas was in that state too. Then he came out to fight again on the insistance of justice seeking India. But all the measures of legal protection and reservation had failed to deliver justice at the end. This is the face of real India that is refusing to admit discriminations against Dalits and other lower casts (of racial and skin-colour based nature) in UN and is proclaiming that they are well protected here. How can they be?

Identity of Mohandas, a Gandhian by chance, who never rebells with arms, even in utter desparations of his crisis ridden life, is also a metaphorical one. After the death of Gandhi his place had been taken by some Bishwanath like politicians through fraudulent Gandhi cap and white Kurta (traditional Indian wear). Gandhi, if alive, will probably refrain India to identify him as a political leader in this muddy business that is totally bereft of his life-long love of truth.

Mazhar had subtly infused these thoughts in his movie. A main-stream cinematographer of repute had taken a substantial risk to make a movie like this. Uttam Haldar as Anil and Sonali Kulkarni as Meghna had delivered some brilliant performances to lend a good hand to him. But Nakul Vaid as Mohandas was far from impressing. Probably he had missed the subtext to be a hero in it and Kamran had a responsibility in it. He has to handle his resources better in his future projects. I found that Uttam is under rated here, though he is miles ahead from others and technically I myself will like to see someone with Uttam’s darkish skin-tone to act as a Dalit than a fair complexioned Nakul. This, to some extent, is historical and anthropological need too.

I had a viewers response after this movie’s screening in Kolkata Festival. That was overwhelming. People are crying, raging with anger and at the same time congratulating Mazhar Kamran from the core of their hearts. Now as I have been informed that they are ready to release MOHANDAS in India very soon I am glad to report this advent to my beloved Cinema Minima followers. This tale of one Mohandas is outstanding even among so-many Gandhi hyped movies of rescent times. This maker is going to be one major after the fashion of Govind Nihalni in Mumbai and Hindi moviedom.

BY ANDRE SOARES. LOS ANGELES (CINEMA MINIMA) — A screening of a new print of THE GAUCHO (1927) will be the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’s celebration of Hollywood’s biggest action-adventure star of the silent era, Douglas Fairbanks. The event will take place 2008 November 6 Thursday, at 7:30 p.m., at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California.

This new print (from the Museum of Modern Art) of Fairbanks’ penultimate silent film will be accompanied by music composed and conducted by Michael Mortilla, performed by a quintet. The screening will be preceded by outtakes shot in two-strip Technicolor.

THE GAUCHO is presented in conjunction with the publication of the Academy’s new book, Douglas Fairbanks, by Jeffrey Vance (with Tony Maietta and photo editor Robert Cushman). All three contributors will be on hand signing books before and after the screening.

This screening will be an excellent chance to watch a major silent — or rather, dialogue-less — production the way it was meant to be watched: a great print, on the big screen, with live musical accompaniment. Not to be missed by those interested in the development of the art of cinema.

BY ANDRE SOARES. LOS ANGELES (CINEMA MINIMA) — The 1992 Oscar-winning documentaries THE PANAMA DECEPTION and EDUCATING PETER, will be screened as part of “Oscar’s Docs, Part Four: Academy Award-Winning Documentaries 1988–1997″ on 2008 October 20, Monday, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.

Producer-director Barbara Trent and producer-writer-editor David Kasper of THE PANAMA DECEPTION — about the untold story behind the events that led to the US invasion of Panama in the late 1980s — will take part in a post-screening discussion.

BUY The Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide: A Down & Dirty DV Production, at Amazon.com

International versions of Hollywood movies from the 1930s

BY ANDRE SOARES. LOS ANGELES (CINEMA MINIMA) — The little-seen 1934 melodrama NADA MAS QUE UNA MUJER | NOTHING MORE THAN A WOMAN by Harry Lachman, a unique example of the many Spanish-language versions of Hollywood films made in the 1930s, will be screened 2008 October 19, Sunday, 7:00 PM at UCLA’s Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood in Los Angeles.

NADA MAS QUE UNA MUJER will be followed by the 1933 romantic comedy NO DEJES LA PUERTA ABIERTA | DON’T LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN by Frank R. Strayer and Miguel de Zárraga, starring Raul Roulien of FLYING DOWN TO RIO. Both restored, 35mm prints will be screened with English subtitles.

This will be a great opportunity to become acquainted with “foreign-language” (international) versions of Hollywood movies made during the first decade of talking pictures, a time — before adequate dubbing and subtitling — when Hollywood studios and independent producers were doing what they could so as not to lose their “foreign” (international) markets.

NADA MAS QUE UNA MUJER is particularly important because it marks one of the rare film appearances of legendary Argentinean stage performer Berta Singerman, a poetry interpreter who has been compared to Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. [The Alternative Film Guide]

Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution

The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926-1930, by Scott Eyman. Nowadays the “talkie” seems, like some other technological breakthroughs, to have obliterated its less-advanced predecessor, the silent movie, in one fell swoop. The reality, of course, is more complex. As Scott Eyman writes in his prologue to The Speed of Sound, “To examine this period of unparalleled industrial change, it is necessary to reverse the perspective, to give a fair, detailed idea of what silents were like to the people who made and watched them, and how talkies permanently changed the creative and personal equations.” Eyman’s eye-opening book fulfills this mission. He focuses on just five years — 1926 through 1930 — but tells the story on many levels. We learn about the technology, the details of actors’ and technicians’ lives, the elaborate business machinations associated with the rise of sound, and the resulting transformation, of not just the movies, but of Hollywood itself. Your purchase at Amazon.com through this link supports Cinema Minima.

BY ANDRE SOARES. LOS ANGELES (CINEMA MINIMA) — The American Cinematheque and the Santa Monica Puppetry Center pay homage to Leslie Caron this weekend in Santa Monica, California.

2008 October 11 Saturday 7:30 PM at the Aero Theater, Ms Caron will be the guest of honor at the inaugural Santa Monica Puppetry Festival with “A Celebration of Puppetry,” starring Mallory Lewis — daughter of the late ventriloquist Shari Lewis — with puppet Lambchop.

2008 October 12 Sunday 7:30 PM at the Aero, Leslie Caron will return for a screening of her 1953 classic LILI. Film historian Leonard Maltin will chat with Caron after the movie.

Two books tell histories of innovation in Hollywood but reach very different conclusions.

The story of Hollywood is a story of successful technical innovation

Inventing the Movies a new book by journalist Scott Kirsner, advances this thesis: “From Edison to the iPod, from the Warner Brothers to George Lucas, the story of how the movies became America’s favorite form of escapist entertainment — and retained their hold on our imaginations for more than a century — is a story of innovators prevailing again and again over skeptics who prefer to preserve the status quo.

“In Inventing the Movies, Scott Kirsner unspools a never-before-told story of innovators who shaped Hollywood:

• How a chance meeting at the Saratoga Race Track led to the end of black-and-white movies;
• How Bing Crosby brought you the VCR;
• How Walt Disney tamed television;
• How a shotgun blast signaled the end of hand-made models and the beginning of digital special effects;
• And how even the almighty Morgan Freeman had trouble persuading theater owners that the Internet wasn’t their mortal enemy.

“Inventing the Movies is an important read, not just for fans of Hollywood’s history, but for innovators trying to make change happen — in any industry.” The author, journalist Scott Kirsner, blogs Hollywood at Cinema Tech. [Inventing the Movies: Hollywood's Epic Battle Between Innovation and the Status Quo, from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs, by Scott Kirsner]

To the contrary: Misunderstanding Media

For a contrary history, which holds that Hollywood has prospered by successfully retarding innovation for as long as possible — read Misunderstanding Media by Brian Winston.