Train Man!

The landscape of Tokyo is eeirly electronic. Overwhelming advertisements glow endlessly, and much of the architecture is tinted glass and futuristic looking. Natural landmarks are not commonly seen. Tokyo is completely saturated with people. Much is paved over, industrial, and commercial. Tokyo is completly developed, however, when the camera gets out of the heart of Tokyo a much different landscape emerges. Hermess home is surrounded by hills, and has actual PLANTS growing everywhere. For the most part though, Tokyo does not have a horizon; your view, it seems, is obstructed by sky scrapers and businesses until the end of the movie.

Densha has two realities. The first reality is the physical realm. He enters this world when he walks outside, talks to people or doesn't talk to people, and buys groceries. He is not doing so hot here. He doesn't have many friends, and is charecterized as a poorly dressed, akward nerd. The other reality is online, where Densha is incredible. He has a large group of eclectic friends who care about him, and value his humanity. In the rooms of one of his friends, an infinite amount of wires exit the back of his computer. Densha has basically an Iphone and can communicate at any time with his online friends. At the same time technology is depicted in an isolating way. Though a husband and wife are both friends with Densha, they don't even realize it. She cooks the meals, and he just sits in front of the computer. Both seem disinterested in each others life. Technology is also viewed as a crutch. Densha runs off during the date to a computer cafe to get new info to find another location for a date. At this point he almost kills the entire relationship. Otaku means obsessive, and he is obsessed with computers and anime. His imagination is a movie. Outside reality is depicted as a war zone where he and his friends are always inches away from obliteration.
America and Japan have united on what a nerd is. Someone who acts and dresses akwardly, and is a fanatic about computers or some other "uncool" object. In Japan an unhealthy obsession of manga or anime can get you the label of otaku. In the United States it may be chess, computers, or being a fan of Star Trek. I, unfortunetely, like to play chess, and have a closer relationship with the word nerd than most people. Playing chess can lead to the classification as a nerd. Oh well. But it seems to me that both countries have the same perspective on what a nerd is, it differs only in the object of the nerds obsession. Both countries would agree that a nerd had an unhealthy obsessive interest with something (computers or anime or Spock), have no fashion sense, and are doomed to die alone, or possibly, only in the company of other nerds.
Densha does have friends! The intstant messaging shows that there is more to Densha than can be visibily seen. Most people in this movie seem alone. Densha's friends surround the air around him, they constantly type away giving advise, encouraging him to "be a man." The instant messaging also shows how seperate people in Japan are from each other. Rampant industrialization has lead to each person, even coworkers, living completely different lives. There is not a sense of community. Instant messaging can be viewed as a new attempt at creating a community.
The end of the movie can be looked at in two different ways. One level is the societal, the other is the personal. On the personal level, the point being made that the actions of the nerd do not go unnoticed. That despite his akwardness, his positive traits (helpfulness) are seen by those around him. It is a cause to rejoice. Nerds your positive aspects can also be seen! It is a way of saying to the nerd audience, buck up, you have good that others like, now just have some courage. The other way, is it shows how interconnected everyone is. Even though you think many people in your everyday surroundings are strangers they infact are not. Whenever I meet someone for the first time, it is amazing how they start showing up randomly in other places. You run into them while buying underwear, or you catch them driving the opposite direction on dodge street. This could be one of those comments on how despite the vastness of everything we aren't seperate.

Goodbye Lenin

East Berlin is gray and industrial. Drab apartment complexes are sprinkled across the horizon. Surrounding Berlin is the sprawling German wilderness. A trabi is driven on a one-lane road that cuts through the forest to the Kerner’s family home. It is quiet here. This is a place where Alex’s nostalgia lives. The nostalgia conveyed in this movie is not as simple as the superiority of the East versus the West. Alex says, “This is a country that I will always associate with my mother.” East Berlin represents his childhood. The narrator is not impersonal and omniscient. The narrator is, instead, a regular person, and therefore subjective. To Alex the DDR is serenity; this is seen by the opening scene of grainy family videos of the Kerner’s playing in the countryside.
Transition is not easy. Random quotations from Alex can display this. Alex says things like, “you Wessie assholes,” or “…consumption, spiraling consumerism, the rat race isn’t for everyone”. But to Alex it is less about economics, and more about calmness, a more relaxed way of life that will never happen again. Though a lot of what he does is done in the name of protecting his mother, it is also about protecting himself. He wants to make for himself a better life. But in doing this he lies at times, when it isn’t necessary. His girlfriend’s father is now a doctor instead of a cook.
The reunification of East and West Berlin is magnificent. A giant festival occurs as the wall becomes obliterated. That subsides and the comrades are introduced to garish capitalism. Older men and women stand transfixed as a bleached blond on a TV set covers herself in whip cream. They look, not shocked or aroused, just bewildered. The process of reunification will be difficult.
Communism is not always great. Here is a condensed history of bad things that happen in the DDR: free speech marchers receive police beatings in the streets, lines are longs supplies are short, maternity clothes are clownish, banks are so terrible that money seems better put in the inside of walls, non party members are intimidated, there are mass arrests and imprisonments with, seemingly, no trial.
The young adjust quickest to capitalism. The children “pioneer” singers sell their songs of the communist fatherland for 20 marks. The burger sun visors are donned and another day for another deutschmark begins. It is harder for the older generation. An old neighbor of Alex exclaims, “to think we worked 40 years for this”. This era of people is left with nothing to do but get drunk and attend faux communist era birthday parties.
As Berlin becomes reunited the hammer and sickle is now a clever looking TV satellite design on the back of a communist red jump suit. Spreewald pickles? Forget it, now there are a billion brands, endless choice, and an overwhelming and incomprehensible amount of things to buy and sell. Alex childhood is crushed by this onslaught. His heroes have been destroyed, forced by circumstance to drive taxis, or sit dormant in sterile hospitals. The memories of past accomplishments have been forgotten and a new uncertain era begins.
Goodbye Lenin is Alex’s story of transition, but a transition that seems proper. In this world, his hero cosmonaut, Sigmund Jahn, becomes President of all of Germany, and the West embraces a slower paced life in the East. This movie is fueled by nostalgia. It is driven by a sense that things should unfold in ways that leave people dignified and purposeful. But in the end Alex admits that, “it is a country that never existed.” A bronze statue of Lenin getting lifted by a helicopter down the street exemplifies the great contrast between the two worlds of Germany. East Germany is gone forever. Alex’s elaborate scheme to calm the nerves of his mother is a farewell to this way of life, an ending that feels right.

Seducing Dr. Lewis

Isolation: It is obvious that this movie was filmed in Quebec and not in some elaborately rustic Hollywood set. The town of Saint Marie is an island that can only be accessed by boat. Saint Marie is beautiful, but there is no fleet of tourist ships headed its way. One hundred and twenty people can claim to be residents and all of them seem to have lived there their entire lives. The town never speaks of neighboring areas. In fact one resident states that he has never even left (or at least has never been to a city). At one point St. Marie was self sufficient, but now that the fishing economy has petered out the residents can be seen early morning, waiting in line for welfare checks at the post office. Its isolation was sustained by the surplus of fish, but now they feel compelled to embrace the outside world, and industrialization, as a means of supporting themselves.
Landscape: St. Marie has a rocky coastline. It is a cold and wet environment. From the coast the land sharply plateaus, and upon this the town is built. The island has vegetation like Grasses and bushes, but there isn’t any top soil to lead to farming.
rural versus urban: To quickly stereotype, the people in the rural areas like to play hockey, drink beer and go fishing, while the people in the city like to play cricket, snort cocaine and listen to jazz fusion. The townspeople are depicted as provincial and not that knowledgeable about the world outside of their own. The interests of the people of Saint Marie are rooted in the region itself, while the people of the city are having worldly and eclectic tastes. There is one person in the small town that has the internet and he is viewed almost like a genie. Everybody knows each other in Saint Marie, even if they don’t particularly like them they still depend on them day to day. The character Dr. Lewis seems to have very few friends is associations beyond his best friend and his girlfriend.
Much like the city rural distinction the French Quebec vs. the non French Quebec division is rooted in the day to day atmosphere of things. French Quebec is more rural and poor. The architecture is local, that is, they build whatever they need. This is somewhat of a generalization. In non French Quebec more commerce happens, international commerce takes place and local culture and tradition is not as deeply emphasized.
The movie seems to view government in an unsympathetic light. The people are resentful towards being dependent on the government. They would rather work, like nearly everyone, than receive that money. However, things are not going so well, the aid is necessary. Any governmental assistance that would help improve their economy is shunned, and instead only enough money to keep them going is given. The movie views the government as a non-entity. Instead the only source of help that they embrace is industry. Because they will at least provide jobs for the people. Government is seen as something far off and cold, and is not looked toward as a solution for problems.
Transportation: If you have somewhere to go you walk. If you really have some place to go than you take the boat. The island is small so everything is local. Boats to the island are infrequent, and it seems that it is mostly the townspeople that traverse back forth from the mainland.
The people of St. Marie are permanent residents. Everyone seems to have grown up together. You cannot simply move away. Moving away is seen as being a traitor. In the past everyone was a fisherman and if you were a man that was what you would be. The island is more important to people than basic self interest. More money would be made by leaving, but the social support, custom, and traditions are too important for the people to abandon. The people of St. Marie will never leave St. Marie.

The Sun

Senegal is poor. Unemployment is at 48%, literacy 39%, and the median age is just under 19 years old (CIA world factbook). When I started reading articles about Senegal it seemed like two different places were being talked about. There was a reformist Senegal with an emerging private sector, low inflation, steadily increasing GDP, and a stable democracy. This Senegal was the envy of Sub-Saharan Africa. The other Senegal I read about was the one Mambety showed. I think “The Little Girl who sold the Sun” is an allegory on the reform Senegal needs to go through in order to obtain true independence.
It isn’t an accident that Mambety had a disabled illiterate girl as the central character. Sili Laam symbolizes the path the government needs to take to reform itself. She represents change. Throughout the movie Sili does things that a reforming government needs to do; she combats police corruption and releases the innocent from imprisonment, she invested her money to provide assistance to the poor and elderly (giving away coins and providing a shade for her mother), and withstood destruction by self interested factions (when her crutch was stolen). Though the literacy rate is at 50 percent, it is even worse for women who read at only 29%, and Sili is an example of that large group.
The scene where she is walking down the street with her friend, her yelling,“De Soleil” and him yelling the name of the competing paper shows, I think, shows how real independence can be achieved. Her friend doesn’t understand why she wastes her time selling a paper that isn’t as profitable. It is the government paper and only the rich business man or wealthy tourists seem to buy it. She says, “I’ll stay with the Soliel, so it is closer to the people.” In the short term it is against Sili’s self interest to work for the system which does practically nothing for her in return. For example, I read that in the past 11 years the GDP of Senegal has increased at a rate of 5 % a year(7-13-07, “Things not quite right in Senegal”, by Greg Mills) , but that is nowhere near the amount of capital Senegal could be making if their currency wasn’t drastically decreased by the CFA reevaluation. Sili knows that the government is working against her, and even still she persists. I am not sure why she decided to sell 13 papers again only when she made such a large profit the day before. It could be that this is a metaphor for the balance between the wealthy business people and the rest of the population. That short term profit by free enterprise is okay, but self restraint is needed in order to have more financial equality.
When Sili has her crutch taken away by the mob of paper boys she is unable to walk. Her friend picks her up and in the sudden uncertainty of what to do next she says, “We continue.” Sili seems to be symbolizing Senegal’s bumpy, but necessary, path to recovery.

On a different point, this movie was shot amazingly. It took me longer than it probably should have to figure out that it wasn’t an actual documentary. Some of the time it seemed like he just placed the camera in one location and leaves it there for 5 minutes and it never became boring.
Also I found this website that has 13 documentary films by Senegalese people. I watched about Senegalese immigrants living in New York, and also about the country’s hip hop community.
http://www.africanunderground.com/