Sugar Cane Alley

Sugar Cane Alley is an interesting movie. It is amazing how most of the characters in it were not professional actors, nor had they acted before. With the movie taking place in a different time and century, it showed me what living in poverty is like. The children were amazed at a chicken egg. They did not have much to play with. Left alone all day to keep busy, they got into quite a bit of trouble. Jose, a children living in poverty was smart, he got out of the poverty and ended well off in life.
Sadly, there were a few deaths. The one that surprised me most was the young boy who ran away from his father and tried giving his secrets away. Another thing that I was sort of surprised at was the discipline for the children when they got in trouble. Spanking them with a stick seemed pretty harsh. This was not a bad movie, it was not as entertaining as most are use to. It taught a lot though and that is always a plus.

Persepolis

Persepolis is a very interesting movie. It tells you about what life is like to be a girl living in Iran. One of the topics we discussed was whether or not the animation was well for this movie. My opinion is that the animation used for this movie fits perfectly. Throughout the whole movie there are exaggerations that the animation captures perfectly. When she describes people that take part in her life, you really see what they appeared to her as. There were a few inappropriate times and the animations helped limit those moments as well.
This movie really opened my eyes to the way people live in Iran. I now see all the differences between Iran and the U.S. I feel blessed to live in America and have all the privileges I have. This movie was definitely different than what I usually watch but I am glad I did. It is a great movie when you enjoy it and you learn something from it.

Inconvenient Hero on a Wire

Watching the Chinese movie Hero in both lip dubbed and with subtitles made me realize the huge difference they have. I normally do not watch foreign movies but when I do, I know I will watch it with subtitles. As many details as I may miss while trying to read what the characters are saying, I find it too bizarre for the characters to try and mouth the words with English. It looks ridiculous. I am also pretty sure that I will not miss so many details that I do not understand what is going on.

I also do not watch documentaries much. Watching both Man on Wire and the Inconvenient Truth made me realize how many ways a documentary can be presented. Man on Wire seemed to be more like a movie with entertainment. Inconvenient Truth was more informational like the stereotype documentary. Through discussion, I noticed that other movies like Paranormal Activity are considered documentary. It came as a shock to me. Through these three films, I learned that there can be many different types of movies.

I would also like to talk about who I thought was the actual hero in Hero. I believe Broken Sword was the hero. He realized that it may take many lives to save many more in the end. Towards the end, he tries to stop Nameless from assassinating the emperor and makes Nameless realize the intentions that the emperor has for their countries future. Nameless dies heroically but he would have killed the emperor had Broken Sword not talked to him and China could be worse off now. Broken Sword saved the emperor and saved china. I believe he is the true hero.