The Boondock Saints: Lighting and Setting

The setting in the Boondock Saints took place in Boston; it never said the date but I'm guessing it took place in 1999, in March (the very first day on the movie started on St. Patrick's Day). The lighting in the movie was overall realistic, with no shade over the whole movie, which gave a...realistic feel. What I found interesting was that when the two protagonists in the movie would kill and/or execute someone, the lighting would remain the same. But when the protagonists would perform their sacred ritual of putting pennies in the eyes of the dead, to give access to the River Styx in the afterlife, the lighting would turn black and white. There were most dolly shots, too.

The Boondock Saints: Story

The story is about two brothers, Connor and Murphy McManus, that kill 2 Russian mobsters in self-defense, and believe they are sent from God to rid the city of evil. There are 3 Russian mobsters in the very beginning that try to take over a local bar the brothers enjoy going to, and there are about 5 men at the bar, including the brothers, their Italian friend, and 2 other friends, that engage in a bar fight with the mobsters; the mobsters are outnumbered, and are beaten up. The next morning, the brothers are jumped by two of the three mobsters, and the brothers end up killing them by dropping a toilet on one of them and beating the other to death. F.B.I. detective Smecker is at the crime scene of the mobsters, and Smecker ends up with the conclusion that the boys killed them in self defense, after the brothers turn themselves in, so no charges were pressed. After spending a night in jail so the press wouldn't get involved, the brothers are picked up by their friend Rocco; while in jail, the brothers have a vision in their dreams from God that they are meant to rid Boston, their city, of crime and corruption. The brothers tell Rocco of this vision; the brothers then trade in the Russian mobster's valuables that were earlier stolen for guns and other supplies, notably silenced guns. After this, the brothers find out about a Russian mob meeting being held in a hotel, and manage to kill all 8 of them. Rocco, who was sent to kill the 8 Russians by his Italian mob boss "Papa Joe" Zakavetta, is told by the brothers that Papa Joe set him up. Agent Smecker arrives at the crime scene, and suggests that an international mob war has be triggered. Rocco finally realizes he was set up by Papa Joe, and tells the brothers to take down Papa Joe and his mob. The brothers agree, and kill Vincezo, the Yakavetta crime family's underboss. After killing a criminal that Rocco had a personal hatred for at that man's house, the three men are ambushed by Il Duce, a hitman hired by Papa Joe, as they are exiting the house. The three suffer wounds, as does Il Duce. Rocco's finger is shot off, and after the three flee the scene, agent Smecker finds it and finds out not only who the finger belongs to, but who the killers are. Then, Smecker goes to a confession stand in a church, to get advice. Without much help from the priest, Smecker decides to help the brothers take down crime, since they seem to be much better at it than himself. The brothers and Rocco attempt to break into Papa Joe's house and assassinate him and his men, but fail and are tied and bound in his basement. Papa Joe kills Rocco, then leaves his men in charge of the brothers, to do whatever they like. At this time, agent Smecker disguises himself as a woman to infiltrate the house, and kills two men before being knocked out by Il Duce. The brothers themselves brake out of their handcuffs and kills two men themselves. In honor of their friend Rocco, they begin their sacred ritual by putting pennies in his eyes and saying their family prayer. Il Duce sneaks up on them from behind, with the intention to kill them. When he hears their prayer, he realizes the two brothers are his own sons. Papa Joe has a court trial after being charges for killing 17 men; the court trial is raided by the brothers and their father, ridding the security there of their guns. The father tells everyone in the courthouse they have been chosen to witness what is going to happen, and they are to tell the world of their existence. After the brothers give a speech that their intention is to rid the city of evil to protect the innocent, the brothers and their father execute Papa Joe with two silences shots and one automatic gun shot to the back of the head. When the three men kill Papa Joe, everyone in the courtroom flees. There is a scene where the media dubbed the three men "the Saints", asking people's opinions about these saints and what they do.

Viva Cuba

Viva Cuba is a movie about a a boy named Jorgito and a girl named Malu. Malu is from a rich, educated family whereas Jorgito is from a poor family. They go on a journey all across Mexico to find Malu's father after they hear her mother is cheating on her father with another man. Along the journey they learn more about each other and bond with each other. Their mothers don't like each other much, but as they find out Jorgito and Malu go missing they bond with each other as well.

This movie uses a lot of magic realism. In one scene where Malu's mom is talking endlessly on the phone with someone, Malu is watering a small plant and imagines it blooming into pretty yellow flowers. Another scene is Malu and Jorgito are hanging out in the beaches of Varadero and they imagine drawing on the night sky with the stars. The two also "encounter" strange creatures called guijes in the wilderness. The way magic realism was used here was very amusing.

viva cuba

The story of two kids malu and jorgito that are best friends but argue to much, malu finds out that her mom is planning on leaving cuba but her and jorgito decide to go and run away to the other side of the island to persuade her dad to sign the papers to keep malu here in cuba with jorgito.

Viva cuba

The Twilight Samurai

The twilight samurai is about a man raising his two daughters after losing their mother. He is considered the lowest ranking as a samurai but works hard for his two daughters and his senile mother. When a long time friend of his comes back after getting divorced from her alcoholic husband they both find comfort in each other.

The Owl And The Sparrow

Owl and the sparrow is about a young girl feeling alone after the passing of her parents. Working at her uncle’s factory and being unhappy she runs away selling roses to live by and meets a lonely working woman as a flight attendant who offers her to stay with her as long as she needed. While at the zoo she meets the zookeeper and starts her plan to get them together.

The Scent Of Green Papaya

The scent of green papaya was about a young girl working as a servant for a rich family and as a reminder of the grandmothers own daughter if she were to be alive, the grandmother blames the wife for not keeping her son happy and the reason why he leaves at the last time he leaves he takes all the money and leave them with nothing. As the wife’s two son’s get older and leave she sends the servant to his oldest son’s home to be his servant with his soon to be fiance but soon he realizes she is more than a servant to him.

The Emperor And The Assassin

The emperor and the assassin is about an emperor trying to unify all of china bringing all the 6 kingdoms together to one and stops at nothing to do this having a plan of a assassination against him will give him a reason to attack but when he sends to invade lady Zhao’s former land she is very disappointed as well as his mother.

The Boondock Saints: Story

The story is about two brothers, Connor and Murphy McManus, that kill 2 Russian mobsters in self-defense, and believe they are sent from God to rid the city of evil. There are 3 Russian mobsters in the very beginning that try to take over a local bar the brothers enjoy going to, and there are about 5 men at the bar, including the brothers, their Italian friend, and 2 other friends, that engage in a bar fight with the mobsters; the mobsters are outnumbered, and are beaten up. The next morning, the brothers are jumped by two of the three mobsters, and the brothers end up killing them by dropping a toilet on one of them and beating the other to death. F.B.I. detective Smecker is at the crime scene of the mobsters, and Smecker ends up with the conclusion that the boys killed them in self defense, after the brothers turn themselves in, so no charges were pressed. After spending a night in jail so the press wouldn't get involved, the brothers are picked up by their friend Rocco; while in jail, the brothers have a vision in their dreams from God that they are meant to rid Boston, their city, of crime and corruption. The brothers tell Rocco of this vision; the brothers then trade in the Russian mobster's valuables that were earlier stolen for guns and other supplies, notably silenced guns. After this, the brothers find out about a Russian mob meeting being held in a hotel, and manage to kill all 8 of them. Rocco, who was sent to kill the 8 Russians by his Italian mob boss "Papa Joe" Zakavetta, is told by the brothers that Papa Joe set him up. Agent Smecker arrives at the crime scene, and suggests that an international mob war has be triggered. Rocco finally realizes he was set up by Papa Joe, and tells the brothers to take down Papa Joe and his mob. The brothers agree, and kill Vincezo, the Yakavetta crime family's underboss. After killing a criminal that Rocco had a personal hatred for at that man's house, the three men are ambushed by Il Duce, a hitman hired by Papa Joe, as they are exiting the house. The three suffer wounds, as does Il Duce. Rocco's finger is shot off, and after the three flee the scene, agent Smecker finds it and finds out not only who the finger belongs to, but who the killers are. Then, Smecker goes to a confession stand in a church, to get advice. Without much help from the priest, Smecker decides to help the brothers take down crime, since they seem to be much better at it than himself. The brothers and Rocco attempt to break into Papa Joe's house and assassinate him and his men, but fail and are tied and bound in his basement. Papa Joe kills Rocco, then leaves his men in charge of the brothers, to do whatever they like. At this time, agent Smecker disguises himself as a woman to infiltrate the house, and kills two men before being knocked out by Il Duce. The brothers themselves brake out of their handcuffs and kills two men themselves. In honor of their friend Rocco, they begin their sacred ritual by putting pennies in his eyes and saying their family prayer. Il Duce sneaks up on them from behind, with the intention to kill them. When he hears their prayer, he realizes the two brothers are his own sons. Papa Joe has a court trial after being charges for killing 17 men; the court trial is raided by the brothers and their father, ridding the security there of their guns. The father tells everyone in the courthouse they have been chosen to witness what is going to happen, and they are to tell the world of their existence. After the brothers give a speech that their intention is to rid the city of evil to protect the innocent, the brothers and their father execute Papa Joe with two silences shots and one automatic gun shot to the back of the head. When the three men kill Papa Joe, everyone in the courtroom flees. There is a scene where the media dubbed the three men "the Saints", asking people's opinions about these saints and what they do.

Killing fields

Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times journalist covering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the American forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won't have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he's a local, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in.

Viva Cuba

the friendship between two children is threatened by their parents' differences. Malu is from an upper-class family and her single mother does not want her to play with Jorgito, as she thinks his background coarse and commonplace. Jorgito's mother is a poor socialist that is proud of her family's social standing. She places similar restriction on her son. What neither woman recognizes is the immense strength of the bond between Malu and Jorgito. When the children learn that Malu's mother is planning to leave Cuba, they decide to travel to the other side of the island to find Malu's father and persuade him against signing the forms that would allow it.

Innocent Voices

A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980's El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.

Mongolian Pin Pong

Bilike has never seen a ping-pong ball before. He and his family live without electricity and running water in a solitary tent home among the vast steppe grasslands. The magnificent landscape here has changed little since the days of Genghis Kahn. But life in the middle of nowhere can be exciting for a young boy. The smallest of details become big events for curious Bilike and his best friends Erguotou and Dawa. The mystery of the small white ball floating in the creek leads to questions about the world around them, as well as innocent mischief. Bilike's grandmother says the ball is a glowing pearl from heaven. But the boys are sceptical after waiting all night outdoors for the ball to light up. Since nobody has an idea about the odd white object, they trek to the faraway monastery to consult the wise lamas. But even the grasslands' most knowledgeable inhabitants are stumped.

Himalaya

An aging chief's last stand, lessons for the new, and the education of a young chief-to-be played against harsh Nature in Nepal's Dolpo. When his son dies returning from Tibet's salt lakes, Tinle blames Karma, his son's friend, refuses to give Karma his blessing as the new chief, and organizes a rival caravan to take the salt to lower Nepal to trade for grain. He, a few old men, his son's widow, his grandson, and his second son, a monk, set out on the arduous journey. Fearing storms, Karma has led his caravan out of the village before the auspicious day ordained by the lamas. Tinle's group catches Karma's before the final pass; the two stubborn men lock wills with Tinle's grandson watching.

The Twilight Samurai

Seibei Iguchi, a low-ranking samurai, leads a life without glory as a bureaucrat in the mid-XIX century Japan. A widower, he has charge of two daughters and a senile mother; he must therefore work in the fields and accept piecework to make ends meet. New prospects seem to open up when Tomoe, his long-time love, divorces a brutal husband. However, even as the Japanese feudal system is unraveling, Seibei remains bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedences.

Owl and the Sparrow

Thuy is 10, an orphan, working in her uncle's factory outside Saigon. He beats her constantly, so she runs away to Saigon. Over five days, we watch her survive on the streets selling flowers, while her uncle looks for her. She encounters Hai, a reserved zoo-keeper whose fiancée. She also sells a flower to Lan, a flight attendant in the city for a layover, unlucky in love, who buys dinner for Thuy and offers her a place to stay that night. Thuy, who thinks of Lan as a sparrow and Hai as an owl, determines to bring them together.

The Scent of Green Papaya

A little girl, Mui, went to a house as a new servant. The mother still mourns the death of her daughter, who would have been Mui's age. In her mind she treated Mui as her daughter. 10 years later Mui was sent to another family, a young pianist and his wife. The musician falls in love with the peasant, he taught her literacy and they eventually married.

The Emperor and the Assassin

Set during the third century BC, is the story of an ambitious King, Ying Zheng, obsessed with unifying all of China and becoming its first emperor. To this end, he goes on reign of terror and brutality against all who, he believes, stands between him and his destiny.Hoping to contribute in some way to Ying Zheng's dream of Chinese unification, Lady Zhao, his lover from childhood, makes a fake assassination plot against Ying Zheng which, when uncovered, will provide him with a excuse to invade the kingdom of Yan, his greatest obstacle to unification.

innocent voices

The movie tells of a 12 year old boy who lives in a small town in el salvador where a civil war is happening with the army against the guerilla forces and the army is recruiting all kids who are twelve years old but the boy tells everyone in the village so they could hide their kids from the army but at the end the boy went to united states because if he stay in his village he would be dead so in a couple more years he'll come back for his brother when he is twelve.

Inocent Voices

Innocent Voices was a Movie set in the 1980's in El Salvador. The story is being told by a boy who went the war and was able to escape to the United States where he was reunited with his family 6 years later. Chava (the boy) has to fight for his life and goes through watching his best friends die. He falls in love with a girl who ends up being murder. He trys to join the guerrilla, who is against the Salvadorean army who killing everyone. Then he gets caught by the Salvadorean army and watches his friends get killed (going back to the beginning scene of the movie).

This is definitely an anti war film.

by Amber Lovell

mongolian ping pong

The movie was mostly about a boy who finds a ping pong in the river but he doesn't know what it is because he lives in the middle of nowhere so he takes a journey about finding out the origins of the ping pong.

Mongolian Ping Pong

Was a story from Mongolia, It was really sad. It was a story of a group of 3 boys who find a ping pong in a lake. they believe that it is a glowing ball and therefore it was a spirits treasure. But then it was sad because an adult told them that in reality it was a ping pong. Then they heard on the tv that the ball was a national sport ball. So then they wanted to return the ball to the nation, so they went on this quest to go to Beijing, but they ended up going in the wrong direction. But this police officer brought them home. And then the boys mom stepped on the ping pong as a punishment and it was really sad because the 3 boys were so happy to have a national ball, and it meant a lot to them. then one of the boys stole the ball from the other boy and they stopped being friends. Then they were sent to different schools because he turned to the age of 7. And at the school he learned about ping pong.. he didn't seem to happy.

So this was a story of Mongolia that was poor and they didn't know much about the outside world so something that was so insignificant to us,was amazing and filled their whole day.


there was lots and lots of green pastors and not much in there land It was an underdeveloped land.
but every peaceful non the less

by Amber Lovell

Himalaya

Is a movie from Tibet.

The movie is about the struggles of a village in the Himalayans in picking a new chef when their chef expired early. They need a chef to help led their carvans into the Himalayan mountains, where the led Yaks carrying Rocks of salt to sell so their village can trade it for grain. This is an annual event that happens so that the village won't starve during the winter. But there is a major misunderstanding between the past chef and the herdsman who is being picked to led the carvan. The old chef wants karma (herdsman) not to led so he doesn't everything in his power to make it so. And it works, even though it was hard. Karma had the problem of not lessening to the Gods in leading his people so tthe old chef was always on his tail and never far off. At the end the old chef was able to except that Karma would be the next leader/chef of the caravan.

It was very good and it also showed the hard path that the Himalayans take in order to protect their people.

One good piece of advise that the old chef was giving karma when he was giving him his blessings was that he needs to be able to lead his people but always be lead by the Lord. He also said that every good leader disobeyed at first. So even though Karma didnt want to follow the Gods at first he learned to and was going to become a great leader


by Amber Lovell

Twilight Samurai

The film Twilight Samurai; which is set in the 19th century before the Meji Restoration. The movie starts out with the main character, Iguchi Seibei preparing for his wife's funeral, even though he's poor to afford a funeral his wife got a grand funeral. Despite being poor and a widow Iguchi goes through many events, but somehow he finds himself happy because he still has his daughters and mother. As the film progresses though Iguchi meets his old friend Tomoe he begins to fall for her and ends up dueling the husband of Tomoe...After three years being married to Tomoe, Iguchi dies in war.

The Owl and the Sparrow

The owl and the sparrow was a wonderful movie. It was really sad but unlike must of the movies we watch it ended up happy. =]

It was the story of a girl name Thuy, whos parents both died. It starts off with her working in her uncles factory. She miss measures something nd her uncle tell her how she is worthless. He continues to tell her how we would not survive one day away from him.
So she runs a way to the city, she trys to sell postcards on her first day in down but that doesn't work. Soon she begins to sell followers this was a period of a week. She meets two people a female flight attendant and a male zookeeper. Both of them are having relationship problems with different people. But they feel the need to help this thuy out. They end up meeting and falling for each other. They want to help Thuy out as well.
Thuy is then sent to an orphanage, and they try to get her back but there are rules, because they aren't her parents she couldn't be released to them.
The Uncle is call and he comes to retrieve his niece, and he wasn't worried about her but that she made a fool out of him. She was put right back to work in the factory but then she ran away a second time this time she stole her uncles money to buy the elephant that was going to be sold away from the zoo. But the zookeeper returned the money and made a deal to keep Thuy. All the uncle cared about was money
So the zookeeper put her into school, then he got back together with the filght attendant that almost left for work and it was all happy ever after.

So in short its a story of three strangers who made a family within a week =D


by Amber Lovell

Himilaya

The story is about villagers who take a caravan of yaks across the mountains carrying rock salt from the high plateau down to the lowlands to trade for grain because it's an annual event, the caravan provides the grain that the villagers depend on to survive the winter. It also tells about a story about rivalry between the aging chief and the young daring herdsman who is both friend and a rival to the chief's family as they struggle for leadership of the Caravan.

The owl and the sparrow

This is the story of three people and their lives, Thuy is a ten year old girl who works only in her uncles bamboo factory until she packs her bag and runs away and tries to survive by selling postcards and then she sells flower. Lan is a flight attendant who goes to ho chi minh on a five day layover checking in the same family run hotel every week and doesn't tell anyone about the affair that she is having with the airline pilot. Hai is a zookeeper who just had a bad brake up and now stays and lives with the animals in shack that's when he finds out that the zoo is shipping out his beloved elephant until the runaway girl wants to help him keep his elephant and see if she can be part of his family.

the scent of green papaya

The story starts out with a girl named mui who is a servant of a rich family which considers a husband, mother, an older son, two younger sons, and the husbands mother. when the husband leaves for the fourth and final time taking all the household money , then he returns with an ill and passes away. Ten years later mui is all grown up then she works for another owner who is only a husband and a wife and then his life left him and then the husband started teaching mui how to read and write.

The Scent of Green Papaya

This movie didn't focus on words, but on colors and actions. This is a story about a young girl and how she grew up what she went through in vietmam. She was maid, for a will to do family. In thid family the husband would leave for months at a time with all the families money and spend it one women. then he would come crawling back. The last time he left before the maid came, he left for to long and when he returned his little girl had fell sick and died. The next day he returned to find his daughter dead. He always blamed him self (which he should, I do to ). His wife would always take him back with arms wide because she loved him. When the wifes own mother died the husbands mother lived with them every time her good for nothing son would leave with all the families money, the step mother would tell the wife she always knew she wouldn't be able to please her son, that she wasn't good enough for her son. Then the grandma died and the wife was all sad, for reasons I dont understand. The wife/ mistress was always extra nice to the maid because she was the same age her dead daughter would be if she was still alive. She had a little son who was terrible, and would torment the maid all the time. (He needed to be punch in the face).
Later she was moved to another house I believe maybe the older brothers house. Whoever this guy was the maid was in Love with him, but at last he had a fiancee. But the fiancee was giving out way to early and all over her man, which was not proper in Vietnam. soon the man fell in love with the maid and they had a baby together and he taught her how to read and write.

By Amber Lovell

killing fields

Is a movie that takes place in the 80s about the massacres that happened in Cambodia. This was the biggest massacre that happened in history were the people who where killing people were killing their own peoples. This story is being shown by two survivors who where/are journalist during the killings. These journalist tell their stories of their escape from the concentration camps. There is death every where and these journalist is trying to get the story out to the world. It is a very sad sad story and its true. Bodies are still being found from these massacres over millions of Cambodian people died... it was so sad.


by Amber Lovell

The Empire and the Assassin

Was a movie about the creation of China becoming a whole kingdom by the hands of Ying Zkeng an heir of the Qin Empire. It takes place from the realistic side of view of things. It doesn't show the uniting as a positive thing. It shows all the death, how friendships where ended because of the murdering. Massive groups of people from the 6 different kingdoms that would soon make china where killed.
Ying Zkeng sends many assassins to kill Jing Ke, but none of his assassin succeed tell he has to do it himself,
He sends a massacre to Zhao, the land of his former Lover. He does this because someone from this state had rap? his mother. His former Lover then goes against him, and his Mother is also very displease. so he becomes dishonored by mother and his ex lover.
The movie covers many parts Ying Zkeng life.


by Amber Lovell

Twlight Samuri

Twlight Samurai is an anti war flim. Its the story of a Samurai whose wife died, he has two daughters, and his mother is being senile. In this society there are ranks between the Samuri's and Twlight only had an allowance of 50 (something). He has lost his passion to fight in the war because his family needed him. The clan which all Samurais must follow forced him to go to kill another Samurai who had defined the Clan. He didn't want to and ended up having to for his owns families safety.

It is also a love story, his neighborhood friend falls in love with him and is able to become his children mother. At first he didn't want to marry her because she came from a 500 (something) family and he didn't want to have her have to live with being a 50 (something) family for the rest of her livfe. It is truely sad that he must have ti worry about this.

I believe that two years after he got married to his childhood friend, he died in the war. This movie was truly an anti war film.


by Amber Lovell

twilight samurai

The movie was an action film with a low rank samurai who is poor but still lives a happy life with his daughter and without their mother then the samurai meets a childhood friend whos name is tomoe who he loves and wants to get married to but she is supposed to marry another man and then the samurai is told by his clanthat he is suppose to kill another samurai to get his honor back and at the end after he killed the old samurai he went back home and saw his two loving daugthers and tomoe and then they got married and he died three years later in the boshin war, japans last civil war.

Rinne no Ame (Rain of Rebirth)

Rinne no Ame, a Japanese film directed by Michiko Namiki, tells of two brothers and the struggle between family and identity. Kouhei and Shuhei Mikami were abandoned by their father after their mother passed away. Shuhei is mentally disabled and works at a factory while his older brother Kouhei, a college student, takes care of him. Shuhei is regularly abused by the manager at the factory. When Kouhei finds out, he kills the manager and, for good measure, steals the bloodstained money from the safe. When cops are investigating the murder, they are drawn to Shuhei through his actions and words as a person with a mental disability.

This movie protrays loyalty and shame in much of the same way as the title character in What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Shuhei is very attached to Kouhei, which makes him into a parental figure of sorts. At first, Kouhei is very protective of Shuhei and how people treat him because of his mental disability. As time passes, Kouhei feels trapped in the role of caring for Shuhei like Gilbert did for Arnie. There is a lot of dark lighting and rain throughout the movie, reflecting the inner turmoil swirling inside Kouhei, including hiding the murder of the factory manager, taking care of Shuhei, and the reappearance of his father. It also explores the theme of reincarnation and rebirth quite heavily.

The Dungeon Masters

The Dungeon Masters is a documentary which takes the viewer into the lives of the people who play the role playing game, Dungeons and Dragons. This film tells the stories of three dungeon masters, Richard Meeks, Elizabeth Reesman, and Scott Corum. The Dungeon Masters is truly a surreal film; this film brought me great insight into the world of role playing. These people are not just playing these games for fun, they are playing in order to live another, better, life.

killing fields

Based on a true story of two journalist who go into cambodia in the 80s to see the horror of people dying and killing one another and taking pictures of desperate and poor people who try to leave the country but most of them get killed by guerilla fighters of cambodia and some are lucky to escape and then real pictures of this event was showed at the end.

paradise now

The Killing Fields: Lighting and Setting

The Killing Fields was set in Cambodia. The lighting in the movie was natural, which means that light wasn't very much produced by man, instead, light from the sun and moon was used. There were a little more hand-held shots in this movie, like when the prisoner escapes by hiding in the water and rice fields.

The Sicilian Girl: Lighting and Setting

The setting of The Sicilian Girl was set in Sicily, Italy. The lighting of the movie is overall gloomy, with some light; some scenes of cloudy gloom were when Rita'f father is asassinated in the street, and her brother is asassinated in the bay; even Rita's gravestone when it's smashed by her mother is cloudy, and Rita's suicide is at night. There were mostly dolly shots.

The Sicilian Girl

The Sililian Girl is a true story about a female living in Sicily during the late 20th century. What she did was so profound and unheard of that she will always be remembered. Her name was Rita Mancuso, at the age of 11 years old she saw her father killed. She saw her father as a honest man and would always be great in her eyes. When she found out that her uncle was responsible for the murder of her father she sought out to get revenge, hoping to kill him. She kept a journal of everything that she observed that her mafia family was doing. When her brother was killed, she was alone. Her mother had always hated her for having all her husbands attention. She finally went to the police to get help. She rated out the mafia and in doing so she had to accept that her father wasn't as noble as she thought. She was finally left alone because the mafia killed everyone that mattered to her. She ended her life.

The ending shows how Rita life effected all those in Sicily.

Amber Lovell

Turles can Fly

Turtles can Fly is a story about the hardships of war. It tells the story of
what the orphans of the war must indure to get any sort of a living. These kids led by Satellite (another orphan child) go into minefields to clear the area of any dangerous mine. The kids sell the mines to men who I think are trying to gain the knowledge of how to make mines? But Im not to sure.
Satellite falls in love with another orphan child named Argin, not before totally being terrible to her older brother. ( <-- I feel Satellite ruined any chance they had together from the beginning). Argin and her brother who is armless from working the mining fields, have experinced war is some of the worst ways. Their family was murdered and Argin was rapped, and her son was born mentally ill and blind. She wanted to kill her son so she made many attempts. But her brother kept bagging her not to. I feel he really needed them sense he had no arms and what not.
But in the end she succed in killing not only her son but herself... It was a very sad movie that I don't think many people in America think that stuff really happens.

Amber Lovell

Across The Universe

This film tells the story of a man, Jude, who came to America in search for his father. While there, Jude meets another man, Max, and Max's sister, Lucy. Across The Universe is a musical based on The Beatles' songs, taking the viewer through the lives of these three young adults during the Vietnam War. The special effects in this film are mind-blowing, and the soundtrack is amazing.

Persepolis

A animated film, showing the film in color and mostly in black and white had told of a story of Marjane Satrapi, main character of the recurring events when she was younger of the days during the Iranian Revolution. Going through so much she began to develop more and more of a character of herself and how she lived through the revolution.

Waltz With Bashir

An animated film pertaining to war had an eerie plot to it, but came together in a way. The movie's plot was focused on the Lebanon War in 1982, which the main character, Ari Folman had lost memory of it and dreaming one certain event that he thought happened. He began searching for answers by reminiscing with other soldiers of his squadron. Many told different stories that happened which turned out to bring more mysteries.

Turtles Can Fly

The film is takes place in a refugee camp on the Iraq-Turkish border on the beginning of the US invasion of Iraq. The film focuses on young youth leader Satellite; which he got his name for installing dishes and antennas. He makes the village children sweep up mines and sells them to get the necessities of their lives and also protection of their village. Satellite then becomes infatuated by a girl, Agrin, and helps her in anyway. The brother of Agrin, Hengov, who is physically disabled can tell the future, but for some reason brings bad luck. Soon the film becomes more harsh as many events begin and many end.

The Sicilian Girl

This film is about a 17-year-old, Rita, who's father and brother were in the Mafia. Both were killed by other members of the Mafia, and Rita is out to get even with the men who killed her father and brother. The Sicilian Girl is a powerful film not only because it is a true story, but also because the actors, especially Veronica D'Agostino(Rita), did an impeccable job, along with the director.

Gandhi

The film was based on Gandhi's life and went through events; such as him leading the nonviolent resistance against the British colonial rule in India. The movie begins with his assassination in 1948. But the movie after that goes to Gandhi's early days to when he was at the time a lawyer in the late 19th century. The movie goes on as Gandhi goes through many ordeals and challenges that have to do with freeing India from British rule. Gandhi went through so much to free India, but he was strong willed; whether if it was fasting for days, weeks, months or walking hundreds of miles.

Ajamy

Ajamy was one of those movies that tell a whole bunch of sides to one story that doesn't make sense until the end. It shows different characters point of views. The main story is about a man who uncle killed a member of a mob who was had wanted money for protection from the uncle. The mob is trying to kill everyone man and boy in the family to revenge the dead member. The oldest boy who is still alive flees to another area where his extended family lives. Here he meets a member of his family who needs money as well. The member's mother is dieing and needs a medical treatment. So he convinces the family member to sell drugs. But this is a trap, that another man set up because he doesn't want the main boy to marry his daughter. It was suppose to be safe but people died. It was really confusing but cool.

Amber Lovell

The sicilian girl

The beginning of the movie in 1985 in Balata, Sicily an 11 year old girl named Rita Mancuso saw her father killed in cold blood by a rival mafia family. So six years later her brother is killed by the same mafia she decides to avenge her brother and father by going to an anti-mafia prosecutor in Palermo with her diary used as evidence. So she was forced to flee her village and put into witness protection and was transferred to a safe house in Rome. She already knew that the mafia won't give up until she is dead and that's when she took her own life by falling off a building of a motel and then at the end of the movie they showed actual videos of Rita's life.

Ajami

This is about many different stories. It begins with a accidental shooting of a neighbor that was meant to be for Omar because of revenge from Nasri's uncle. Omar's relationship with the daughter of the restaurant's owner was not approved because he was a Muslim and she was a Arab christian. Malek is illegally working at a restaurant and ends up forcefully taking some drugs and he decides to sell them to get money for his mother's bone marrow transplant. All these stories end up tying together and shows everything they went through.

Turtles Can Fly

This takes place on a refugee camp on the verge of the invasion of Iraq. Satellite is thirteen and the leader of the children there and sends them and arranges work to be done in the dangerous but necessary clearings of minefields.

Gandhi

This is about Gandhi's life with many arrests and hate he went through how he came to be a famous speaker and everything he did to try to make peace.

Waltz With Bashir

This is about a soldier having dreams about the Lebanon war he was fighting in and finding different people to talk about what they remember from it and how those memories connect and helps him remember and revive his own memories.

Lagaan

This takes place in India where a village's taxes goes up but it has not rained so they do not have produce and the money to pay them so they attempt to reduce the taxes but instead a British officer makes them a bet if they would beat his team at a game of cricket they would not have to pay for three years but if they lost they would pay three times the normal taxes. The village is furious but when the officer's sister helps them they start joining him and support to win and not have to worry about it for three years.

Earth

This is about a young girl growing up as a wealthy Parsi girl with a group of friends and their different views and different faiths on the partition of India but as things progress with the partition things get worse and they end up turning on each other.

Udaan

This is about a boy that is expelled from the boarding school he was attending and is sent home with his abusive father and his younger new step brother, his father forces him to attend engineering classes and does not condemn his dream of being a writer and is constantly verbally and physically abusive with him and his step brother at one time his father goes as far as putting the boy in the hospital and claims he fell down the stairs but he knows it is not true. When his father announces he will marry a woman that he met and has a daughter, he decides to leave and take his brother so he will be safe.

Like Stars On Earth

This is about a boy who is considered lazy and a troublemaker and has trouble keeping up his academic grades, as much as he tried to understand the work he is given he couldn't, misunderstood by his parents, teachers, and friends the parent's decide to send him to a boarding school believing this is what he needs to straighten up but what he has needs more help then what they expected. A art teacher from the boarding school believes he has dyslexic and helps him and his family as well understand why it is so difficult for him to learn and how to overcome it.

Big Fish

This is about a boy that has been told stories by his father for years and believes he has not been told a single truth and that he does not know his father leading them to not speak for years until his father's heart starts to fail and he and his pregnant wife go see him and when he ends up in the hospital and passes away, at his funeral he realizes that his stories were true but expanded.

Amelie

This has magic realism throughout the film and show how her life was growing up with the loss of her mother and the isolation she felt without any attention from her father and how she starts helping others and finding herself and overcoming her shyness with the help of friends.

Slumdog Millionaire

This is about a boy who is a participant in the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? but is accused of cheating and is interrogated by police and explains with flashbacks why he knew the answers and what he went through in his past with the loss of his mother, what he went through with his brother and losing the girl of his dreams and not giving up hope of finding her.

Hero

This is about a man who is asked by the king to give the reason and the plan that they came up with to kill him and tells different stories of the three assassins that attempted to kill the king of ancient china.

The Power of One

This was about a boy that was sent to a boarding school and was bullied for being English and gets sent with his grandfather and discovers the fun of boxing. He joins the team winning every match he has been put against and throughout his life with school and friends he sadly views the unfair treatment of people and racism.

Rabbit Proof Fence

This is about three girls that are mixed-race considered half-castes in Australia that were taken from their home and were taken to a place where they teach them to be servants for the whites and end up running away from the camp walking for weeks along the rabbit proof fence trying to get back home.

The Sicilian Girl

Rita Atria a young 17-year-old Sicilian girl, goes to see an anti-Mafia judge Paolo Borsellino to denounce the Mafia system that was responsible for the murder of her father and her brother. It is the first time that such a young woman from a Mafia family rebels and betrays the Mafia. From that moment on, Rita's days are numbered. She only has nine months to live

OSAMA

The mother had been working as a nurse in a hospital, but regardless of she not being allowed to work, the Taliban has cut off funding to the hospital. The mother and grandmother make what they feel is the only decision they can to survive: they will have the preteen daughter masquerade as a boy so that she can get a job to support the family. The daughter, feeling powerless, agrees despite being scared as if the Taliban discover her masquerade, she is certain they will kill her


.

Paradise Now

This movie is about two friends who known each other for years. Said and Khaled who experienced living under another nations rule for their whole lives. They feel oppression, humiliation and consider themselves prisoners in their own land. As soon as a friend presents to them an opportunity to avenge their way of life, the filmmaker follows their steps as they prepare themselves for their final act of resistance, a suicide mission in Tel-Aviv.

Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi

A teenager discovers he may be a genius, which turns out to be a less-than-welcome surprise to his family, in this comedy-drama from Israel. Shlomi is a 17-year-old boy who has unwittingly become the most important member of his household. But Shlomi's math teacher discovers that Shlomi has a rare gift for working with numbers wants to transfer him to another school where he can hone this talent. But Shlomi's family resists the idea because they're not sure if he can do the work and partly because they don't want to see the family's go away.

Turtles can fly

The film takes place in Iraqi Kurdistan near the border with Turkey. It is set right before the American invasion in 2003. One of the main characters is called Satellite because he sets up satellite dishes and antennae for local villagers hungry for news about the impending battle. He leads a large group of children, many of whom make money by collecting unexploded mines.
Satellite guides them and strikes deals with local merchants interested in buying the mines.

Ajami

This movie is about the revenge killing reveal the cultural and religious tensions beneath the surface: two young brothers fear assassination after their uncle wounds a local criminal; a young Palestinian refugee works illegally in Israel to finance his mother’s surgery; an Israeli woman and her affluent Palestinian boyfriend dream of building a life together; and a Jewish cop is obsessed with finding his missing brother.

Gandhi

this movie starts of with the death of Gandhi the go through his life showing how he became a movement in peace and showing his methods and ideas on how to get there.

Persepolis

In 1970s Iran, Marji Statrapi watches events through her eyes and her family. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her to Vienna to study for a better life. But this change becomes difficult for her to finding herself in a different. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs.

Waltz with Bashir

This movie shows the plot that unfolded one night in September of 1982, when Christian militia members massacred more than 3,000 Palestinian refugees in the heart of Beirut as Israeli soldiers surrounded the area. Ari Folman who was a 19-year-old infantry soldier. In 2006, he meets with a friend from his army service period, who tells him of the nightmares connected to his experiences from the Lebanon War. Folman is surprised to find that he does not remember a thing from that period.

Paradise Now

This film is about two Palestinian men who are are recruited to be suicide bombers in Tel Aviv. The men, who are childhood friends, are separated at the border. One of the men finds his way back to the people planning the attack, while the other man continues to carry out the plan. Whether or not the man actually carries out the attack up to the viewer to decide. Paradise Now is an intense film, that gives the viewer the ability to come up with the ending, which, in my opinion, is a privilege.

Osama

This film is about a young Afghan girl who pretends to be a boy, working at a tea shop. All of the boys in the village are taken by the Taliban so they can be trained as soldiers. She is discovered as a girl, and is sent to be the wife of an old man. Osama is a moving film that takes the viewer on a depressing journey through a young girl's true story. This film gives the viewer a look at what the Taliban is, and how the Taliban ruins people's lives.

Paradise Now (Ellis Carroll Remix)

Hany Abu-Assad takes us into the minds of two friends who are (initially) dead set on becoming suicide martyrs for their extremist ideals. Every aspect of this movie is fabulous, from the derelect city in which the two friends live, the use of imagery in the crisp and clean suits they wear, to the slightest interactions between the main character Said and his (girlfriend?) Suha. Every single second of movie is dedicated to showing the emotional attachment to bombs strapped to their chests. This movie is a marvel of modern directing and should be seen by everyone who enjoys movies.

waltz with bashir

The movie talked about a man named Ari Folman who was in the Lebanon War in 1982. It focus on letting us see into the world of a teenager going in through the war as he grows up. And all the trauma that comes along with it. This story talks about a man Ari Folman who has repressed his memories of the war. He continuously has a dream of the war or how he was the war this one image. He wants to remember what happened there so he goes back to all the people that was with him there and gains little bits and pieces from his past. The movie is showing the after math of what happens to the brain after war. etc.



Amber Lovell

OSAMA

Osama is a story of a little girl who tries to pose as a boy. She is traveling with her mother when she has to change her appearance in order to get work. one day the taliban is recruiting all the boys from their village and has to go with them. She almost stayed undercover but she was found out.  She was forced to marry an old fat man and all of the other wives of the old fat man were telling her about how bad it was and that their childhood was ruined because they were forced to marry this man. The End.

Paradise now

This is the story of two suicide bombers. It shows what is going through a  suicide bombers mind and what they have to go through to do there job. One of the men backed down because he was convinced that there are other ways to solve there problems. They try to stop the other suicide bomber but he runs off ad the scene ends with him in a bus with a bunch of soldiers and small children with their mothers.

Bonjoure Monsiure Shlomi

It's about a boy with a learning disability who falls in love with the girl that his brother is pretending to have relations with. His family has been torn apart except for him and his grandpa. He struggles in school but is incredible at multiplication and his principle discovered it. he argues with his mom and finaly convinces her to let him go to a charter school with other kids like him.

Osama

The movie of a girl who is desperate to get a job for her family so she decides to dress and look like a boy to work until a soldier took her away to a camp to learn and train to become a Taliban soldier like all the young kids until she was caught that she was a girl and for that she was forced to get married to an old man and the story ends with the girl using her jumprope.

Thor

This film is about a warrior, Thor, who is sent to Earth by his father, Odin. Odin takes away Thor's powers, leaving Thor forced to live like a mortal. Thor's brother, Loki, makes sure Thor stays on Earth, powerless. Thor meets a human, Jane, who helps him in any way she can. This film had amazing special effects and the actors did an impeccable job. Chris Hemsworth(Thor) stole the show, with his sculpted body and chiselled face, and, I suppose, his superb dedication towards the role of Thor.