Culture in the English-speaking world

In 2006, Irish writer John Boyle published his novel called The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Two years later, in 2008, the film of the same name was released. It is a historical drama, placed in the World War II. The film shows Holocaust through the eyes of the main character of the movie, a 8-year-old boy named Bruno.

Bruno’s family relocated from Berlin as the family’s father, a Nazi commandant, had been promoted. Their new home is located in the countryside with not that many residents there. As there are no friends for Bruno to play with, he doesn’t like the new place they  live in – until one day Bruno sees ”a farm” from his window. He decides to find the farm, in hopes that he might find a friend or two to play with. And he finds one, even though their friendship is not quite like the ones he has had before. With the naivety of 8-year-old kids and their innocent way of looking at the world, Bruno and his new Jew friend Shmuel take huge risks together and are willing to do a lot for each other – just like Bruno does when he gets into what he still thinks is a farm and tries to help Shmuel to find his dad. What happens then is one thing that will make you want to either scream or cry.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas tells a tragic but beautiful story of friendship and childhood in the world of World War II. One of the main reasons why I think the film is so significant, is the point of view from which it explores the horror of Holocaust. You get to learn about the World War II and the Nazi extermination camps a lot at school and on TV, but you don’t usually get to learn about it in this kind of way. This is the kind of way that really makes you understand how horrible and irreversible the things that happened back then were.

However, that’s not the only thing that makes the film so notable. More than the understanding of the Holocaust horror, you get to see the beautiful innocence that lives in children. At one point in the film Bruno says to Shmuel: ”We’re not supposed to be friends, you and me. We’re meant to be enemies. Did you know that?”. And they both know that, they just don’t understand why. They know we’re all humans and we shouldn’t have to be unequal because of a thing like religion. At the beginning of the film there is a quote by John Betjeman: “Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.” I think it describes the lesson of the film just as tragically and beautifully as the film teaches it.

Safe Haven is a romantic movie which is an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel of the same name. The director of the movie is Lasse Hällström and the stars are Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel and Cobie Smulders. In North America the premiere of the film was on February 14, 2013.

The movie is a story about escaping a violent husband and finding a love with a proper man from the small town. The plot is quite cheesy but it still works well. In the beginning of the film Katie (Julianne Hough) must to protect herself from her husband’s drunken assault. She stabs Kevin (David Lyons) with a knife and flees to the small town of Southport, North Carolina. There she falls in love with Alex (Josh Duhamel) and befriends with Jo (Cobie Smulders). Kevin starts looking for Katie and finally finds her. For a while Katie plays to Kevin that she wants to go back home. When Kevin believes her and doesn’t expect  that she could do anything bad to him Katie pushes Kevin to the lake. But he doesn’t drown. Kevin gets really angry and tries to shoot Katie but by accident he shoots himself. In the end of movie Katie, Alex and Alex’s children Lexie and Josh live happily ever after.

Safe Haven is visually pretentious because the staging and costumes are really beautiful. The stars were also chosen well. Julianne Hough played well Katie and her feelings about being maltreated. I think that Josh Duhamel was really good in Alex’s role because he is just so handsome and charismatic actor. Landscapes of the small town are peaceful and they create an illusion that the town truly is a safe haven. The soundtrack of the movie also continues beautiful and romantic line. In my opinion it fits exactly to the film. The artists are for example Colbie Caillat, Tristan Prettyman, Lissie, Dar Williams and Sara Haze. My favorite songs of the soundtrack are Tristan Prettyman’s Say anything and Lissie’s Go your own way.

I really liked Safe Haven because I just simply love films which are romantic and have a happy ending. I think that the entirety of the movie is very successful. It’s weird that I can’t say any bad word about that movie even if I’m very critical. The story is just so lovely that this is one of the best movies which I have ever seen.

Sources:

Wikipedia and my own head

Written and directed by Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life got its premiere in 2011. It shares opinions since it certaintly is something you haven’t seen before (unless you have actually seen it…). The Tree of Life could be best descriped as an ambiguous poem – in all its simplicity.

All the actors fit to their roles seamlessly. The film, starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Hunter McCracken, reaches its high quality standards with acting that looks effortless and realistic.

The plot is predominantly simple but needs a bit of concentration to be noticed and therefore watching the film for the second time might be crucial for greater experience and understandment. Basically The Tree of Life is a story about Jack O’Brian’s biography and the film starts with his brother’s death. Alongside it’s about a mother who questions her loss and the meaning of God and his powers. The reason for her son’s death isn’t told but the plot isn’t really depending on it. In my opinion, if the cause of his death had been revealed, the film would’ve lost it’s appealing obscurity. Although this film contains spiritual aspects, it also brings up its views through science. Since this film talks about life in general, I see the spirituality just as another perspective it gives about life.

In its entirety, the film talks nonverbally about emergence and meaning of life. It tells a story about a family but in fact, it tells a story about life through the feelings and questions the family brings to the viewer. The subject might sound too big to be grasped by a film but I would say The Tree of Life isn’t trying to be someone’s epiphany, it just wants to be beautiful.

The main characher, Jack, seems to be a succesfull man who begins to think about the world from a different perspective after his brother’s death which takes place when Jack’s an adult living his life in a buisness world. Like a lost soul, he starts to see memories from his childhood and understands his lost connection with nature. The film dives into the time when Jack was a child. He’s the eldest son and a brother of two. Jack has a hard and remote relationship with his authoritative father and he questions his motives – and in general, his existence. Jack feels hate towards his father but at the same time he seems sad about the tension he feels around him.

Mr. O’Brien, Jack’s father, is a seething personality and represents nature. However, despite his cold behaviour, I feel like he’s very vulnerable and lonely denying his need for love. Good people give love but he thinks that being good isn’t something you want to achieve if success is your goal. Others are not allowed to say anything against him. Even though he’s authoritarian, the anger is more a defensive way to protect his self-esteem. After the death of his son he begins to understand: ’’I made him feel shame. My shame.’’ I think the shame he mentiones had always been there, hidden, it had been tried to be covered by anger and success.

As the story of Jack’s childhood proceeds, Mr. O’Brien admits he has been a little tough for Jack and after he experiences the low-point of his career he surrenders: ’’I wanted to be loved because I was great. –Now I’m nothing. I lived in shame. I dishonored it all. And didn’t notice the glory.’’

At the beginning of the film, Mrs. O’Brian says ”—there’s two ways through life. The way of nature…and the way of grace.” Grace is accepting and good whereas nature is selfish, dissatisfied and dominant. These two opposite ways are brought up in the film through Jack’s parents’ personalities. His mother is caring, representing grace. She understands her sons but also loves her husband. She follows ’’the way of grace’’ and thus she accepts him. Along the film, Mrs. O’Brian undergoes the fact that one of her sons has died, but from the perspective of her three son’s childhood she has the role of teaching, loving and understanding.

I think that Jack’s parents have a distrackting effect on him. Which way should he follow? This thought could be the meaning of the line Jack has: ’’Father. Mother. Always you wrestle inside me. Always you will.’’

When digged deeper, The Tree of Life is a multidimentional film telling many stories. The stories are found right from the core of life that they might seem indistinguishable –eternity or change, understandment, brotherhood and love. The film bounds these stories together with the process of accepting. The viewer sees this through memory-like events from Jack’s perspective, his thoughts and feelings. However, the other characters also have an influence on this, especially Jack’s mother.

The lines in this film are very short but no more is needed. They complete the extremely skillful camerawork which is brought to life with enchanting music. The Tree of Life is pure but strong, clean but natural. The colours are subtle but that makes it intriguing and an enormous joy to watch. The film has managed to create 1950’s atmosphere to Jack’s memories but it has not been done too obvious since the colour scheme is very earthy and continuous throughout the film. Due to the minimalistic amount of text, some facts were hidden and relying on the viewer’s interpretations – and that’s why also my point of view of this film is just one among the others.

The lighting is very important in this film. For instance, the rays of light and the peeking Sun brings the memory-like feel to the scenes. In all its naturalness, this film does have special effects. When the film goes through the origin and development of life, special effects are obviously needed. Some of them are too much for my taste – the dinosaurs and individual cells or bacteria shown brake the earthy appearance of this film.

The Tree of Life is one of my favourite films but I do understand that some people don’t find it interesting. It doesn’t really have a clear plot, in a way you can see in other films, or surprising twists but I just enjoy the beauty it has. I’m also very pleased to see a film that gives you the opportunity for your own interpretation.

Bridge to Terabithia is American fantasy drama film directed by Gábor Csupó. The film is based on the Katherine Petersons novel ”Bridge to Terabithia” and released in February 16, 2007 by Walt Disney. Leading actors of the film are Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb. Bridge to Terabithia is story of two fifth-graders Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke. Jesse and Leslie become friends and create their own fantasy world in forest where they can spend time and escape the bullies from school. The story is set in Lark Creek, Virginia.

Plot of the film briefly: Jesse is an aspiring artist living with his financially struggling family. Jesse has four sisters and he goes to same school with May Belle, his youngest sister. The new girl Leslie has moved right next to Jesse’s house and starts going to same school. Already at the beginning Leslie is ”the weird new kid” in her classmates eyes. Both Jesse and Leslie have no friends so they start to spend time together and create their own safe place, a fantasy world called Terabithia. To get in to Terabithia they have to cross a river with a rope. Jesse’s sister May Belle tries to go to Terabithia with them many times but no one is allowed to go in Terabithia, except Jesse and Leslie.  They spend a lot of time in there making their own stories and adventures about trolls and battles against bad forces. Jesse has had a crush on his teacher, Miss Edmunds for a long time and one day Miss Edmunds invites Jesse to go to museum with her. Jesse was so excited about the trip that he forgot to ask if Leslie wants to go too. At the mean time when Jesse is in the museum, Leslie tries to go to Terabithia alone but the rope breaks and Leslie drowns in the river. When Jesse returns home he breaks when he find out that Leslie is dead. Jesse feels overwhelming guilt for Leslie’s death because he didn’t invite her to the museum trip and for not being there for her. After many breakdowns Jesse decides to re-imagine Terabithia and builds a bridge with a sign saying ”Nothing Crushes Us” across the creek to welcome a new ruler. Then he invites his little sister May Belle to enter Terabithia. She and Jesse bring back Terabithia in even greater splendor, with Jesse as king and his sister as princess.

When I first time saw the film my first impressions were like ” omg this is going to be my favorite film now”. And it’s still one of the best films I have seen. The film was so touching and emotional that it made me cry. My favorite part of the film is where the kids in school sings a songs because it is so good-humored and sweet. The film makes me realize how important friends are for me and how horrible it would be if I lose them. I think the message of the film is that sometimes bad things happen but you can always get through them. I watched the movie in english and it was very easy to follow and understand. I would recommend the film to everybody because it’s just the best film ever lol.

Modern Family is a mockumentary style television show, which premiered 23.9.2009. The series is created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan. It follows the lives of all related 3 families who live in suburban area in Los Angeles.

This show is really great and just my cup of tea. Camera work and interviews were a bit annoying at the beginning, but eventually I grew to love this show and noticed that the ”to camera” interviews and conversations really suit the story lines of episodes. I caught up on the action after 2 episodes. Series is good family entertainment and it is very clever and full of surprises.

The casting is very good. Each actor are really bringing something unique to the show. Set up is a bit cliche, a gay couple, stereotypical family and a Columbian wife with son and American husband. Jay (Ed O’Neill) is remarried to columbian woman, Gloria (Sofía Vergara), who have 2 children, baby son and 14-year old boy from Gloria’s previous marriage. Jay’s son Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and his gay partner Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) have just adopted Vietnamese baby girl. The daughter Claire (Julie Bowen) is married to Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) and they have 3 children with very different personalities. Ill-bred teenage girl Haley (Sarah Hyland), nerdy Alex (Ariel Winter), who is bullied by her older sister and the youngest of the family, Luke (Nolan Gould). The show focuses mainly on the parents and how they raise their families and interact with other people.

Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, the writers, pitch their comedy perfectly and every script is just flawlessly written. I noticed that the setting of show, as its name suggests, is very modern. Everything in the series is modern. Suburban area is modern, Lifestyles of people are modern. Families are not like ”normal loving and caring families”, just like nowadays.

If you’re looking for a great, funny, well written and well acted comedy series, look no further than the really enjoyable Modern Family. It’s not just typical three-camera sitcom. You may not laugh at every minute, but overall you will enjoy the show. I would recommend this to every comedy series lover.