The shame of our times

The film "No country for old men" portrays the harsh and unbearable reality of our current times which is far from the lives our fathers, grandfathers and ancestors lived. The story is quite simple. The plot happens to take place in the countryside of modern America, where a man finds a briefcase filled with millions of dollars. The people to whom it belonged have killed each other in a gun battle and their corpses are lying there to rot in the deserted countryside, in scorching sun. And then begins a cat and mouse game between him and a psychotic assassin hired by the mafia to whom the briefcase originally belonged. When the news of the mass murders spreads, the town sheriffs get involved and try to unravel the mysterious and brutal serial killings that take place after this event, courtesy the hired hit-man.

The old sheriffs of the town have been there working and doing their duty for so long but they haven't experienced crime as it happens in today's world. They talk to each other of the times when they saw children playing outside without any fear and how people in the neighbourhood used to feel protected and happy in each and others company.  The lead sheriff seems pretty nostalgic about his father and of the fact that he has been continuing the family legacy of being the town sheriff in the foot steps of his father and grandfather. These old guys can't really make sense of the bad bad world of the time. But they have to work in desperation and keep their faith like their ancestors. Can we make sense of this money-crazy world, where human beings are butchered worse than the animals in slaughterhouse?

Lets face it. Our forefather's lived in a much peaceful and kinder world. Their idea of happiness did not necessarily come from money. They lived with dignity, worked with honesty, behaved with simplicity, helped each other with empathy and believed in the power of kindness. If we reflect on our lives today and try to find how many of the above qualities it encompasses, we would definitely be put to shame.

Fortunately, some of us still have time, to understand, get wise and change the way our modern world works. The way to do it is to be the change you want to see in the world. Easier said then done ha? Lets give it a try.  At this point I can't help but quote a few words from Gurucharan Das's lecture that I happened to listen to : "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars".

Definition of a good film

It should have a catchy beginning. This may be done using either or some of the following several techniques.

• The manner in which titles are shown.

• The opening scene. This is when the film begins without much introduction and credits.

• Background score / Title score.

• Cinematography.

• Narration.

• Written message describing an event/occurrence. Or stating that the film is based on a famous novel, or stating that it’s a true story.

• Screen presence of a powerful actor.

Once the film has taken a strong grip of the audience with a good start, then the next objective is to maintain it till its end. Here is where the plot, screenplay and editing matter most.

An original plot/story means half the battle is won. But in cinema it’s not all to have a good story; how you tell it decides whether it would be appreciated or not. Few of the styles in which one can tell a story is as follows (Note: In case of some films, some styles might overlap).

• In a straight line, as a sequence of events, chronologically. Ex: A Civil Action, Motorcycle Diaries, Goodwill Hunting, Rocky, As good as it gets, Rain man, Capote, Benhur, McKenna's Gold, Jurrasic Park, Independence day, The Recruit, Troy, Lost in Translation, Finding Forrester, Godfather I, Midnight Run, Scent of a woman, The Edge, Unbreakable, U.S. Marshalls, The Departed etc.
  

• Flashback. Again this could be a continuous one or as intermittent flashbacks. Ex: Godfather II, Lawrence of Arabia, Green Mile, Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, Catch me if you can, Bandits.
  

• As a narrative, in first person or in third person. Ex: Forrest Gump, Apocalypse Now, Platoon
  

• As a sequence of events, chronologically incorrect. This is a modern style where the audience is first put into chaos only to be given a pleasant shock of coincidental merger of events that solves the jigsaw puzzle and evolves into a perfect story. A rare examples are, Lucky Number Sleven and Babel.
  

• More that one story told separately. They all have the same theme. Another of the modern styles. Ex: Babel, Gandha (Marathi).
  

• Absurdity. Just events that have a captivating effect but not much or no reason. Another of the modern styles. But it’s a very difficult art to do so. A rare example is, “Pulp fiction”.

Once we have a script it needs to be told/represented on screen. Whatever you see on screen - every single detail - comes through a screenplay. A well-crafted screenplay keeps the audience involved and glued to the screen, to use a hyperbola not allowing a blink of eye. So the screenplay dictates which actors and things will makeup the scene and what every animate/inanimate thing would act like while the scene is running.

Finally, editing which without doubt is the heart of filmmaking process. It is through good editing that a filmmaker cuts and trims each scene in the film. Good editing simply means making the film concise/compact without affecting its essentials. Thus this also decides the length of the film.

I intend to add on to this write-up as and when I learn more about this difficult yet wonderful art of filmmaking.