Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006) (8/10)

Gory details of the killing of a good initiative. Given the vagaries of the gas prices (they are down today, but wait until summer) and the demand for hybrids, the wonderful, if fledgling, electric cars that were around a few years back and then gotten rid of by car companies, oil industry, politicians, selfish California officials is nothing short of shameful. That in fact is a very mild word.

The documentary is fairly thorough in looking at different aspects of the introduction and vanishing of the electric car. When the time is ripe things happen. Or do they? Hopefully the Japaneses hybrids and electrics will keep coming. If the US wants to play dumb, so be it. I wonder why other countries had not picked up the development though.

Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006)(8/10)

Dune (1984) (5/10)

Its a very sketchy movie. The first time I saw it was soon after reading the book and I thought it fell way short of the quality of the book, perhaps because you have to fit it in to a movie's length. A few years later, now, many of the original mental images are not as sharp. Though the sight of the spaceships, and the Baron etc. are still jarring, it is somewhat easier to pardon. Will the 2010 movie be better? All we can do now is wait and watch. Do read the book though. That allows more vivid imagination, especially in the context of events currently unfolding on the world-stage.

Dune (1984) (5/10)

Bronenosets Potyomkin aka Battleship Potemkin (1925) (6/10)

An epic movie about the Russian revolution. The revolution is almost shown as black and white. It is an important thing to understand. The need to revolt is an important one. And it can come through persistent oppression. When the pent up forces are let out, almost anything is possible. What are the lessons to be learnt? Are there lessons to be learnt? I don't know.

Bronenosets Potyomkin aka Battleship Potemkin (1925) (6/10)

Diarios de motocicleta AKA The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) (7/10)

The well made movie about Che Guevera's formative days does not reveal what is to follow except for a sentence to the effect that you can not do much without guns. What is depicted instead is a compassionate, socialist, frank young person. True the stirrings increase in frequency and intensity after he and his motorcycle buddy see discrimination everywhere and signs of things getting worse. There is a genuineness which is often lacking in many revolutionaries. Many, even with the genuineness can get affected by power just like Che's later partner Fidel Castro did. Che himself jumped elsewhere to free other countries. The one sentence that stood out was when they were in Peru and he says: How is it possible to feel nostalgia for a world I never knew?

His desire to unite the people stand out. While they are not depicted as atheists, their almost revolt against everyone having to go to mass in the leper colony testifies to their being people-centric. There seemed to be many parallels with Bhagatsingh although fairly vague. Sources of the unrest, displeasure are not shown starkly or blatently which makes the movie appeal more to the mind. It is left for the viewers to find out more about the central person, and may be others like him.

Diarios de motocicleta AKA The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) (7/10)

El Laberinto del fauno AKA Pan's Labyrinth (2006) (6/10)

A fairy tale intertwined with a revolution in 1941 Spain highlighting different facets of human nature. The way real life and the fairy tale is seamlessly mixed is amazing and so is the acting. That said, I am not a great fan of mixing genres where it is not natural i.e. just for a great effect. If there was a deeper analogy e.g escapism, it was lost on me. The good thing was that neither part seemed jarring (if you excuse the violence in the war which you really shouldn't).

El Laberinto del fauno AKA Pan's Labyrinth (2006) (6/10)

V for Vendetta (2005) (7/10)

A philosophical action movie trying to make it hard to draw a line between terrorism and revolutionism. Asking questions if destroying symbols of democracy wielded by a few is okay if that is going to make a peoples democracy available. If the revenge is not going to do any good for you personally, do you have the right to do good to others whether or not they want it?

Good dialogues, excellent acting, and good theme. It is all exaggerated a bit (a lot) but it is fair enough to drive across the point. Or may be not. If one person could do so many things, may be such a persion should do it. The issue is mainly due to fractured mandates, fractured identities etc. The human variety is what is sometimes the problem. But hopefully it is a solution too.

V for Vendetta (2005) (7/10)