AVATAR, a true insight into the present and future

Just came back after seeing AVATAR, the new hot topic in the movie world, a special blend of technology that actually satisfied the critics, which is really rare For those readers who feel that this is a review about the movie, please don't go any further. I mean I am not a critic; I am just an ordinary fellow who has the biggest passion for Cinema and the magic happening inside.

I am an Indian, a Malayali to be precise (another way to say that I am from Kerala, Gods own country or as National Geographic puts it The Land of Coconut and Lagoons). Here a 3d film is something a bit rare and people would definitely rush to the Cinema just because its 3D. To those Grand Parents coming with their grandsons hoping to see sparks or spears thrown straight at you, or ice creams being offered so close to your eyes you actually blink for the first time in front of an ordinary Ice-cream, please please and please raised to the power infinity, stay off the Cinema, because this is not the movie for you.This is serious stuff, and has to be appreciated on that level. This is not a 3D movie where the script is done for one, rather this is a script which can only be defined in 3D.If we have to understand or realize what we have done with our world, we have to see what we destroyed and Pandora is exactly what earth was, and is exactly what it will never be. And to appreciate the beauty of what we missed the movie has to be in 3D(as if to say, shame on You!!)

For me, the movie really satisfied my senses, and seriously I am not a big fan of overrated visual magic, the script warranted each and every one of the effects the movie showcases. As a matter of fact this movie is a huge relief in an array of apocalyptic movies with all the destructions and hell loads of running and flying and with the movie closing with the hero's family or his friends as the last survivors. Gosh I really hate those movies

James Horner,the genius as he is, has done some amazing work with the moods in this film, the music is truly original and spell binding and has blended along with the movie. No wonder he has got two nominations for the film in the Golden Globes and I will eat my Hat if he doesn't win them both.

The cinematography and editing is innovative and brilliant. The word exceptional is so soft a word when we use it for a new miracle in film making. Hats off to all the techy nerdy geniuses who pushed the wall to a new dimension.


The actors did justice to the script, and the two who really stick out, are Zoe Saldana who plays the beautiful Neytiri and Stephen Lang who plays Colonel Miles Quaritch the ruthless, unstoppable Colonel, who gives a rat's fart about Diplomatic Solution. Both of them, let’s just say brilliant presentation people, beautiful work. Sam wothington(Jake Sully) and Sigourney Weaver(Dr. Grace Augustine) have done justice to their parts and no wonder this is a great school of actors, and I am definitely waiting for the sequel.

The Na'vi language was created by linguist Paul Frommer, who was hired by James Cameron to construct a language that was easily pronounceable by the actors, but lacking any resemblance or influence from any single human language. Considering the Middle Earth Saga of J.R.R.Tolkien this would have been a walk in the park(cant help it, great fan of J.R.R's work). But all together this is wonderful movie and a great watch.

My prediction: The movie will bag 7 academy awards(or may be 8 hoping Zoe Saldana will be considered) .

As for the plot of the movie, people please don’t be so Lazy, hop on your car or bike whatever it is that you people use and rush to the nearest Cinema, cos this blog is not about movie plots or ratings.This space is where I conclude, saying something that is straight from my heart.

The reason why I like Avatar is not because this is a Visual treat but because there is a greater truth that the movie project in all its 3-Dimensions. The Na'vis are a group of people who really understood the true meaning of Co-existing with nature, that same word which lost its hope after the Copenhagen Summit. The movie shows Colonel Miles Quaritch leading a party of marines destroying the beauty of the land exploiting the resources. Sounds so familiar, isn’t? Think!! All the while when we were booing the colonel, who did we actually hate. Colonel Miles Quaritchis is just a representation of Man's hunger for more,and the price of his deeds when he upsets the balance of nature. The deity Eywa is similar to Gaia the spirit of earth or let’s say mother Earth herself and the Colonel’s attempt to take out the tree of Eyra is symbollic to our attempt to exploit the last juice from this planet.Pandora as in the Pandora's Box represents the Nature we have lost, because of our indulgence and curiousity and we are still waiting for someone to close the lid so that we can save something for the future.

All I am suggesting here is the Na'vi stood against the powerful men in their fight for Pandorra, then why can’t we? Think!!!!!!!! One man cannot do everything but he can do something and act quickly for we may not have enough time. Let me sign off with a quote from the movie. Dr. Grace Augustine ‘s last words:

"I can see her(eywa),she is real"

The other Side of madness

Some days ago, me and my friends from my college visited this orphanage run by the missionaries of charity (yeah right the same one started by Mother Theresa). It was really some kind of "mixed bag" experience; you know the type where you feel an array of emotions at the exact same micro second. There was happiness, irritation, frustration,the feeling that you are doing the right thing, of course the pride that you have great friends and last but the not the least “I don’t made the baby cry" feeling. Tina, my soul sister, who I lovingly call "TT"(pronounce it as if u are saying “T” twice) came up with this idea to visit an orphanage which of course is not part of our lousy Engineering syllabus. Any who, there is this saying "Well begun is half done" (or something like that I am not sure about the starting part but I am pretty much sure any idiot with a second grade education can crack this code and understand what I meant), but screw the people who invented the proverbs, you know me (No you don't, but maybe someday u will) I was doing the thing I do best that day, being Lazy. And Aneesh who I lovingly call Chuku dropped by, just to kill me because I was not answering his calls and my mom actually discovered a new way to accidently make the phone "out of service".

He dragged me out of the house and took me to the Spencer food world and we bought some fruits (I saw a lot of apples man, different names but you know they were just red to me, some were pale, some were really dark, but eventually just say apples are red and there colours make the difference at least wallet wise), the international brand of light drinking, “Tang" and some chocolates for the kids. We entered the premises at about 11:30. The looks from the other side of the blue gate, the one where the real world is, was I guess a bit different, you know. I was just having these mental frames where we were giving the fruits and niceties to the children and some boy with a red T-shirt punching me on my crotch, screaming "We don’t need fruits any more even if it’s part of the diet plan"(sorry for being insensitive, but damn me and my inner Cinema, I really have to shut it down). Team "Fruit Basket" got in the compound.

It was vaguely decorated with all this xmas spirit still occupying the noon air, and there he was the boy with red T-shirt (damn this inner Cinema), he was coming to me, O dear Eiywa, my crotch. He stretched his arm and waited. It took me a while to actually understand the situation, I mean with this long film stripes running inside your head, it’s actually hard to register the twist in a story. Any how I came to my senses eventually. I understood the 2 year's language. He wanted me to lift him up, and funny thing was that there weren’t any of that hypocrite's crap of saying hello or a good afternoon, or how do you do? A simple gesture of an outstretched hand is all that is required to break all the ice. I obliged and he was way up in mid air with just me, a total stranger supporting him and strangely enough the boy did trust me. We spend some time together, all the while, he was enjoying the view from 5 feet 6 inches above the ground.

His name is Ratheesh, cute fellow and I don’t know if he can pronounce or as a matter of fact remember my name, and I am not sure what was going through his mind all those 1 hr he spend with me,(maybe a hope that I will stay, or maybe a hope of a new life or may be nothing, I really am going with nothing because, (1) he is a 2 years old and all the love from him is without a want and, (2) it really makes sense). He touched ground at about 12:30 and rushed for lunch.

There were about 37 children there, but irrespective of the sex or the level of cuteness or the ability to walk or talk, every one, I mean every one of them is a Ratheesh, all beautiful, all small, all in need of the love they deserve, all Children of God. There was "Thumby"(U as in Universal and not Umbrella) who couldn’t talk, yet, who took a special affection towards Rohith, Lima who would pass that very beautiful flying kiss(She was adopted by a couple but they gave her back because according to them she has a temper. Would you believe it she is just 1 or 2 yrs old and you are judging some tiny tot, after all she is not a commodity, to replace if it has some defects) to each and every one of us, a Saranya who was about few months old and clasped my pointing finger with all her tiny fingers which actually made me realize what Ross's dad explained to him in Friends season 1. There is a Muthulekshmi who is now doing her 8th standard, and Nimisha who always had a strange look on her face as if she didn’t trust us, and whenever one of us tried to break the ice, she cried and she really cried hard (She was with her mother till recently and well now she is here and can't blame her for not wanting to share company), and this cute,adorable, nameless beauty who is just 1 week old to whom Sadath was singing a strange lullaby. The world around us was I should say the paradise, for Jesus says “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
(Matthew 18:2-6 ESV). We left the place at about 2 and I must say that was one of the best days of my life.

But I am just wondering if I showed them too much love. Now hold on a second before you judge me. I mean think of those beautiful shooting stars which you see just ones and you wish you would see it again or that it was too short.Why should I give such love to them to those I am sure I won’t be able to give it permanently, may be its just me and my weird sense of love, or maybe I am a product of that Victorian cliché of "charity creates idle men", maybe my brain is protecting me from a bigger truth, that I really care for this tots. The best thing I can do about it is that I can visit Ratheesh,Lima, or Saranya whenever I can or I can write about my experience so that someday maybe a friend or a friend of friend who will read this simple chapter, may also feel the same way.

Any way merry xmas and a happy new year friends