Missing

As the attorney for the Horman family I would like to simply inform the jury of three reasons why the U.S. Government should be held accountable for the death of Charles Horman.

1. The government falsely arrested my son. The U.S. government arrested my son Charles without probable cause.
2. The government also did not allow my son contact with a lawyer or contact with family members. Not only did they arrest my son unjustly but they also caused stress and grief amonst my family. No one new where he was. The only way we were able to link his disappearance to the police was because the neighbors saw him being taken away.
3. The third of many reasons, is they murdered my son. After Charles was taken he was killed while in the custody of the U.S. government. They were complicit in his death becuase they were responsible for him while he was in there custody. They also buried his body and had to retrieve the body in order for it to be sent back to the U.S. to be buried by his family.

A Dry White Season

A Dry White Season was a movie that tried to illustrate to the viewing world the injustice taking place in South Africa. I believe it did an excellent job in doing just that. By looking at the lives of the Ngubene family, the viewer is allowed to see how the injustices of South Africa have taken the lives of many of it citizens as well as taken the lives of caring, loving and hard working family. The injustices expressed in the film though they may not have been perfectly true to the novel were purposeful. The directors and screen writers were trying to drive home the shocking reality of the people who are faced with these travesties everyday. The one thing that I would say that was not true to the book but purposeful was the ending of the film. In the book, Stanley disappears without having the satisfaction of having vengeance on Captain Stolz. Even though this may not have been the actual case, by the end of the movie the viewer needs to feel some sort of gratification after the death of so many.

The Day I Became a Woman

There were several scenes that were poignant in the film, The Day I Became a Woman but if I had to choose 3 they would be:

1. In the first vignette when Hava gives her scarf to the boys in order to get the floating fish toy is such a poignant scene. The trading of the scarf symbolizes Hava’s child-like innocence. She trades her scarf a symbol of her femininity and subservience for they toy. This act shows that she is still very much a child and really unknowing of cultural rules. Also she gives her scarf to the boys in order for them to make a sail. The sail represents freedom.
2. In the second vignette when Ahoo says to her husband that he can go ahead and divorce her it said so much about her determination. Ahoo’s entire vignette was all about freedom and moving from tradition to more modern vantage point. Her husband rides up on a horse while Ahoo is riding the bike. There modes of transportation show the difference in the two. Ahoo is determined to continue in the bicycle race while her husband issues an ultimatum to either leave the race or be divorced. It is a struggle between her freedom and new ways of thinking and their traditions and customary ways of thinking.
3. The last scene is the last scene of the movie when all of the vignettes come together. You see Houra sailing away with all of her coveted new possession symbolizing her finally being allowed to have those items she has been forbidden for so many years. Then you see the young girls who lost the bicycle race. This symbolizes the Iranian woman’s conflict with tradition and the cultural standards placed on them. Finally you see Hava and her mother watching her scarf sail away as the boys ferry Houra’s items to the boat. This shows Hava’s loss of freedom and her embrace of the traditional women’s head covering.

Paradise Now

So far in this course, Paradise Now has been the most difficult film for me to watch. I stopped the movies several times and came back to it, but with the other films for the course I glued to my seat. I asked myself what was different about this film. Was it less interesting? No. Where the characters bad actors? No. Was the historical and cultural connotations less stimulating? No. Was the script or plot lacking. Again I answered no. What I discovered was that it was my own personal unease about the content.

I found myself sympathizing more with the petition against the movie. I have to agree that had the content been about the planning and bombing of an American bus or locations, it would have been recieved with less enthusiasm. It is important to me try to understand both sides of the story, but terrorism is terrorism. Many people have strong religious beliefs, family grudges and feuds but that doesn't mean that they have the right to violence. I also understood by the counter petition that the movie is not condoning violence but just seeking to educated the viewer in the other side of the story, but irregardless of this point the film made me uncomfortable.