Must Watch Classics

It was only last 5 years I came out of the shell of Only-Indian-Movies-are-best-in-all-genres and started watching Hollywood/British movies that were splendid than I thought it was. Ever since I moved to South Africa, my urge only doubled up and thanks to my Colleague and other friends who keep suggesting tried-and-tested movies. Going a step further, I watched a couple of non-indian-non-english classics that really made me feel WoW.

La vita è bella (Italian) – Life is Beautiful


The Italian classic that won many awards took me to surprise with the humor screenplay they built on a bloody-serious-story. The hero (director himself) Roberto Beningi is an Italian Jew who arrives to a new town, fall in love with a non-jew, got married and living happily. When his son was about 4 years old, the family was arrested by the German army as an attempt to eliminate Jews from the country. I thought the movie will take a u-turn and will get traumatic. Further, my wife was worried to see a father and son suffering in a German prison. However, our thoughts took u-turn as the father projected the whole prison life as part of a game and the lil one should survive with the rules to win the maximum points to get the big prize of army tank. Thus moving the story with all humour.

Though the whole movie was funny (felt like watching tamil classics of Nagesh (Ethirneechal), the determination that the helpless father had to give the utmost comfort to his son inside the prison was absolutely eye squeezer. The stunning climax where Roberto sacrifices himself playing a gimmick and got executed will really make any one feel heavy. My wife finally smiled only to see the son rejoined his mom at the end. A must watch movie for a movie lover.

Das Leben Der Anderen (German) – The Lives of Others

This one got academy awards for best foreign film in 2006. This is a classic German drama that showcases the emotions going through between a state security spy (Police officer) and his victim.

Here is the plot…

East Germany’s state security deployed a police officer to spy a stage play screen writer

The officer is a honest and staunch socialist. In our language, a good guy

The screen writer is a communist. A good guy but angry about East Germany’s ongoing dictatorship

The minister who used his influence to assign the spy basically wants to get the writter’s girl friend for good in spite of the fact that she doesn’t like the minister

The honest officer gets to know this and use his intelligence and honesty to reach the inevitable, save-the-good-people

Again, I loved the last sentence of the movie and that’s the Midas touch. Watch only if you like classic movies.

Hey Raam (Tamil)

This is an old Indian-Tamil movie starring Kamal hassan. I watched this movie long ago and didn’t really like it but not after reading this analysis report by a final year film institute student. I strongly suggest you to read all the chapters in the following link and watch the movie again to understand how Tamil movie attempted to match the international standards to deliver a classic.

http://theseventhart.info/2008/06/20/hey-ram-an-analysis-part-120/