The Miracle of Life, #Enrichyourweekend ( EYW ): Week 30

I find movies, a powerful medium for learning.

Watching great films has been a liberating experience.

Good movies often require multiple viewings to get a proper understanding.

Understanding of some movies, also seem to improve over a period of time.

Movies stimulate introspection and the individuals can experience Eureka moments.

Movies can also be seen in groups and teams. Since individuals process information in different ways, groups could discuss ideas and arrive at an enhanced understanding.

It has been my endeavour to bring perspectives to movies that can impact the quality of our lives.

I recognize there are other perspectives to great works of art.

I would encourage the readers of this post, to offer their perspectives, so that there can be greater insights and collective learning.

In the 30th week of Enrich your weekend series, I visit, Paradise Now(Arabic, 2005) and The Terrorist(Tamil, 1998), movies based on the lives of suicide bombers.

As one of the suicide bombers, reflects, Has the world become cowardly and indifferent? May be there is an element of truth in it. As we become increasingly insensitive and apathetic, I think these two movies are a must watch for the entire humanity.

Both the movies deal with suicide bombers, the impregnation of ideas and ideals in impressionable minds and the consequent birth of a resolve. The resolve that could arise out of sheer sense of helplessness, helplessness created by a cowardly and indifferent world.

We all need to be concerned. While global leaders denounce terrorism, the root cause does not seem to be addressed. Should we be concerned about the quality of leadership across the world? Is there too much focus on commerce, that the importance of human lives have been relegated to the background? How responsible have the business leaders been? Are they being catalysts to dehumanizing lives?

Mr. Kishore Mahbubani, a former Singapore diplomat, while addressing the PAN IIT Alumini annual meet at Chennai, in 2008 made pertinent points, about the extraordinary hurt that people carry in different regions of the world and dialogue was the key to healing that hurt.

Are we as a planet doing enough to heal that hurt? Do the powers that matter, listen and demonstrate empathy. Voices of dissent cannot just be done away by snuffing them out. They shall always find ways to germinate again.

On May 19th, 1991, I was at the Sixth floor Museum, Dealey Plaza, Dallas, dedicated to John F Kennedy, gazing and reflecting on JFKs quote on assassinating him.

"If anyone wants to do it, no amount of protection is enough. All a man needs is a willingness to trade his life for mine."

And chillingly enough, one of India's, former, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated, just two days later on May 21, 1991 by a suicide bomber.

The intention of this post is not to compare the struggles of Palestinians or the Tamils, neither do I have any antagonism against Israel or the Sinhalese, the clip from Paradise Now, is instructive on thinking and the birth of a suicide bomber. In a connected world, were incidences of terrorism are prevalent, the idea of this post, as it evolves is to delve upon aspects that can make this planet a better place to live.

In 1981, on the eve of my Physics exams, in the third semester, I took a break at six in the evening to catch up with 'Sujatha' Rangarajan's short story "Oru latcham Puthagam"(One Lakh books), published in the Tamil daily Ananda Vikatan on the occasion of the venerable poet, Subramanya Bharati's, Birth Centenary.

'Oru Latcham Puthagam', dealt with the burning of One Lakh Books at Jaffna and references to the agony of the Srilankan Tamils. After reading the short story, I went into deep thinking and did not bother to prepare for my exams again. The genocide in Sri Lanka is yet another example were the world did not do enough and may have demonstrated cowardice and indifference.

The discussions in Paradise Now, apply to the predicament of not only Sri Lankan Tamils as well but to other groups around the world who are struggling to find peace with themselves and the world.

I found these interactions in Paradise Now, instructive and enlightening

If you can kill and die for equality......you should be able to find a way to be equal in life.

As long as there is injustice, someone must make a sacrifice. That's no sacrifice. That's revenge.

Don't you see that what, you're doing is destroying us? And that you give Israel, an excuse to carry on?

We do what we have to. God decides the rest. But God says, "Think first." We kill and are killed, and nothing changes.

There is no paradise. It only exists in your head.

The Terrorist, while loosely based on the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, is a celebration of life.

Roger Ebert concludes his last line of his review, about The Terrorist as follows

"Every time I see the film, I feel a great sadness, that a human imagination could be so limited that it sees its own extinction as a victory."

While the profoundness of the statement cannot be taken away, I felt there was hope in the wisdom of the wise farmer in, The Terrorist.

Along with The Terrorist, we get to experience The Miracle of Life.

The visual grandeur of The Terrorist is remarkable. Michael Chapman, Martin Scorsese's cinematographer, uses the scenes in, The Terrorist, to explain the tenets of cinematography during workshops.

For me the audiography, in The Terrorist, helps to instill the existence of the universe around us. We live in the midst of the constantly chirping birds, the sounds of the rain and wind, the stillness of the night, wailing of the distraught, the jingle of the cattle, the breath of fear and anxiety.

In addition to sight and the sound, you get to smell the blazing guns, smoking bombs and burning carcasses. The gloomy background is accentuated by shades of grey. War and bloodshed can not only take away lives, but the shattering loss of innocence of the children could be the greatest casualty of war.

As The Terrorist arrives at the village to execute her assignment to assassinate a political leader, the shades of grey get replaced by clear and sunny skies. The beautiful temple on the hillock, the still temple tank, flanked by tall coconut trees, in an envelope of green, with lazy cattle, infinite number of birds, and simple uncomplicated rustic folks far away from the madding complex world make the village a beacon of hope.

As the Terrorist's life intersects with the life of the wise farmer, she discovers that the farmer's wife is in coma and he has lost his son seven years ago.

The wise cheerful farmer is eternally hopeful that his beloved wife will always return back. The wise cheerful farmer who lives the in the presence of his wife, not only houses her in the perfect ambiance of his home but also has an empty plaintain leaf, earmarked for her, every time he has his meal.

When he discovers that the terrorist is pregnant, he becomes exhilarated, reassuring her and dons the mantle of the grandfather nonchalantly.

The Terrorist, to me will always be celebration of life, A Miracle of Life.

Go on to watch, The Terrorist, to discover if she executes her assignment and assassinates the leader.