Closely Watched Trains is a Czech New wave film set in Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation in World War II. It revolves around the life and coming of age of Milos, a train officer. The major theme of the movie is the way it satirizes Soviet Russia during this historical time period, which is unconventional for a movie set in World War II. Other themes emerge as well, such as sexuality (or the repression of sexuality), gender roles and masculinity. There was also a scene that stuck out to me at the beginning of the movie, where Milos’ mother seems to crown him with his conductors’ hat, maybe signifying the important role that Milos being a train officer plays at the end of the film. I also thought it was interesting that the movie did not demonize the Germans, as is usually the case with films set in World War II. The Germans are portrayed as benevolent in two scenes; the first is the portrayal of the German soldiers with the nurses, which demonstrates the loneliness of war. The second scene is when the Germans capture Milos, only to let him go after seeing his attempt at suicide. As mentioned in class, the film is a masterpiece due to its subversive use of metaphor. The young Milos is a symbolic representation of the whole Czech state. He is, to put it lightly, “socially retarded.” He’s sexually repressed, juvenile, awkward, and shows a disinterest towards work. The metaphorical message is that Soviet Russia and the hand of communism never let anyone grow to full maturity, and that the Czech state was suffering from this adolescence. This movie is a demonstration of the ways in which sexuality can be transformed into a political message. Entry 4: September 23d, 2011: My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? Directed... ... middle of paper ... ...e overall theme of the movie is one of liberation. The reason why I think this is because at the end of the film as he’s getting into the cop car, Brad mentions how he sees ostriches running in a field. Then there’s cinematic shot of a pack of ostriches running freely. I believe that Brad may have felt suffocated by his mother, which eventually led him to kill her. However, he was also mad, and it is possible he could not distinguish reality from Greek tragedy, and simply wanted to play the part he was assigned before getting kicked out of the play for not reciting his lines correctly. I also thought it was interesting to see two great directors come together to make a movie, and incorporated both of their signature styles in a few scenes. Even though Herzog directed the film, the incorporation of flamingos and a midget reminds you that Lynch also had a hand in it.
This is an immigration movie geared towards kids to show and teach them about immigration to America. It shows them the reasons they (the Mousekewitz) left their homeland Russia to come to America. In their case it was to escape the Czarist rule of the cats, parallel to most immigrants who escaped their land due to religious and political persecution. Once aboard the ship to America, it showed the long and unpleasant trip to New York Harbor, where in this movie, Fievel gets separated from his family to inclimate weather. Once they arrive in New York Harbor, it shows children the happiness immigrants got when they saw the statue of liberty and the process through Ellis Island to become a citizen of America. The rest of the movie takes place in America where it shows “political machines”, such as Warren T. Rat, who really is a cat but takes advantage of new immigrants by dressing as a mouse and receiving the mice’s trust. With trust came their money and broken promises, just as “political machines” really did back then. The movie shows the immigrants hardships and poor living conditions in America with tenement housing and unsanitary conditions.
A message that really explains the movie in a sentence is every human is not perfect and each human has their own personal struggles that they will try to overcome. Boobie Miles thought he was perfect and he actually put a curse on himself and got injured right at the beginning.The primary theme in the film is the Underdogs don’t always win. We thought because they were underdogs they were going to win but they ended up losing. They still did put up a great fight. Some other themes are the impact of adults’ hopes and goals lived vicariously through their children. The most important theme of the novel involves the impact of adults’ hopes and goals lived vicariously through their children. The people of Odessa place an unmistaken spell on the shoulders of their sons to be champions every year so that the adults can take the triumph as their own. The result is that their children can never leave their triumphs and defeats of that short time behind. It follows them no matter what they make of their lives, and it is unfair that they must do so. The last important theme is that of misplaced priorities. The people of Odessa wouldn’t accept the fact that their obsession with football was impacting on the educational success of their children. Their need to have a winning season affected class time, homework, tests, and even whether school
The major theme of the book is shown through the bonds of friendship and how in the most of unlikely circumstances friendship can survive and exist between people possessing an extensive and most restrictive division. A second theme is the evil and the intolerance which existed around these times of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust, as seen by the Germans having the Jews in the concentration camp. And the third theme is the curiosity and innocence of Bruno, Shmuel and Gretel, who all seem to fail to properly notice and understand what is really happening in the world around them, all contrasting with the well acknowledgement of others, such as Lt. Kottler.
The main reason for the orphan trains was not to necessarily help the children but to clean up the streets. The children were treated horrible. They were forced to join in gangs to survive and live on the streets. These children were also known as "st...
The movie is all about the Joad family and their pursuit to find the American dream. They are a very poor family who lives during the great depression. They decide to leave their home that gets demolished and move to California in order to hopefully get some work, make some money, and eventually one day own land of their own again. The main themes of this movie were the pursuit of the American dream, and how it can be completely different depending on the people. The Joad family when compared to Jay Gatsby or The Buchanan family. They did not want everything, they just wanted to be fed and have a place to call their
The film stays in line with classic noir in many ways. The usage of dark sets and high contrast lighting, which creates heavy shadows on the actors faces, makes the movie feel like it all happens at night and in dark alley ways. The story focuses on the inhumane parts of human nature. Each of the main characters experiences some kind of tragedy. For Vargas his tragedy was in dealing with Quinlin who has set out to frame him and his wife. For Quinlin his entire life represented a man consumed with darkness who lives his life with a “Touch of Evil.” Menzies was a hopeful man who looked up to Quinlin but was let down. For the viewer, film noir represents truth, even if it is not a truth that all people would like to hear.
... society, any one that was not an Aryan was inferior to their pure race. This race that included the characteristics of fair skin, blond hair, and blue eyes a pure German blood. Overall this movie should be shown to students so they can learn many things from this. Teach them a lesson about respect to others. So anyone who has disagreements with other people can understand that not everyone thinks the same and people need to learn how to accept others. Not two people think the same way. The question is, why would anyone stay in the place where they are not wanted? This question may have more than one answer, but it is for sure that the hope was never lost. Today’s society is more opened minded but we still have to learn many things in life. This movie is historically accurate because it was based on a true life event. This movie was amazing, any one should watch it.
The first theme is the aggressive actions and posturing (political as well as military) of the Soviet Union (whether it be Stalin through Andropov) forced the West and its allies into an ever increasing response to the perceived threat of a Soviet attack. The second theme is the United States confronted this aggressive posturing responded in kind; in turning raising the stakes back to the Soviet Union. In the last theme attempts to counter what the Soviets/Americans believed an encroachment to their spheres of influence required a response. The reality in this nuclear poker was everyone could afford to lose the small hands, but would not commit to all out confrontation unless threatened with the threat of total war. The commitment of the United States represented its stake to become active responsible for the freedom and
The film I have chosen to explore the micro features on is The Pianist (2002) which is directed by Roman Polanski. Polanski assures that the audience gets a sense of belonging to that period of history and gets to explore the theme of discrimination through the characters life risking challenges that they face throughout the film. This micro essay will explore the following features, framing and camera movement in a 5 minute sequence.
...the predominant theme of disorientation and lack of understanding throughout the film. The audience is never clear of if the scene happening is authentic or if there is a false reality.
...satisfied and comforted. People in the tail section were utterly exhausted and lost their hope after experiencing a host great turmoil. The most serious and crucial problem I found in the movie is that a manager from the head section regularly visits the rear section and take some children with her. In the latter half of the movie clearly demonstrates how the children are being ‘abused’ with several purposes. Immature children with short stature go into the engine, the heart of the train, and modulate the saw teeth not to be mingled with each other. At the place where they have to lower their heads and close their legs, the innocent children were being sacrificed for the unknown people. Children with pure spirits became the victims of the pleasure and fortune of the greatest number of people. Who on earth would pledge the rights of the children and their parents?
The first scene is a television which automatically brings the modern feel to the film. As the camera gives the sense of the television moving slowly towards us we suddenly break into a quick speedy montage showing the story and some of the characters. The introduction to the play is repeated, once on the television by the news reader and again during the opening montage. This may be to create effect or perhaps to show the importance and publicity this story had. The scene in the petrol station focuses on the rivalry and hatred of the two families, The Capulets and the Montagues.
Also, the film revealed women empowerment and how superior they can be compared to men. While demonstrating sexual objectification, empowerment, there was also sexual exploitation of the women, shown through the film. Throughout this essay, gender based issues that were associated with the film character will be demonstrated while connecting to the real world and popular culture.
As time goes on, history has a way of getting distorted from its most truthful form. Time causes people to drift away from accuracy and become more interested in what they want to remember. Hollywood has a reputation of creating films that cater more to the average viewer, rather than the history buff. Inglorious Basterds, by Quentin Taratino, take very liberal liberty with a history story, and creates a story that will sell to the crowd. This may seem dubious, but it is often not such a bad thing. Hollywood can take a story that may have one connotation, may it be serious or dreary, and turn it into something that evokes different emotions, will still addressing historical issues or topics. Taratino chooses to film a movie of this type because of the way he can portray a very serious topic in way that no one has before. He picks the topic of World War II and the Nazi’s, but does not take the generic portrayal of it. Many previous movies of this subject have been released either show heroic American that battle insurmountable odds, or forsaken Jews that fight threw the worst. While it may seem dark to make a movie that takes a serious subject so lightly, it is part of the process of history. As it becomes more and more distant in time, there is less and less truth and seriousness put into it. It is seen in many other Hollywood movies, such as The Patriot (2000), 300 (2007), Braveheart (1995), and Django Unchained (2012). The interesting thing in many of the movies like these, is the enemy is often portrayed in an extremely negative, almost so extreme, they could be compared to the Nazis. Hollywood uses that Nazis as the level setter for enemies, it does not get worse than them. It is interesting to see how Taratino portrays the ...
...director did not limit the film to its historical context but extended the same to romance and fantasy. From a different angle of view, the director made use of the theme to communicate with the viewers and the fictional characters can be considered as his tools. Besides, ample importance is given to historical and fictional characters. In short, the amalgamation of history, fantasy and romance constituted much to the film’s importance as a historical/fictional masterpiece.