Weekend movies - Munich & Chidambarathil Oru Appasamy
This was supposed to be my weekend movies post of last week. Just that it arrives late…
Munich - This is one movie which definitely has several layers to it and I am not all that good in understanding all of it. So, these are just my thoughts on watching the movie rather than a full-fledged review, something I do for a Tamil or a Hindi movie. Anyway, I have always been very interested to know more about this tragic incident, which this film deals about, which left the whole world in a shock. In case, you do not know about what I am talking about, here is what the film is about - 11 Israeli athletes were killed by terrorists belonging to the Black September group after being taking hostage from the Olympic village premises. The German government negotiated with the terrorists and arranged for their get-away but right when they were being allowed to fly off, the German police put together an ill-organized plan to overwhelm the terrorists who in their anger on not being able to get what they wanted, brutally killed the athletes. The Israeli government went about in its own way to take revenge for the Munich killings and this movie deals with the group that was assembled to carry out the revenge killings and the way they ended up killing people from a list provided by the Israeli government.
Like I said, the movie deals with a lot of complex issues that I can hardly comment upon. The movie was very intense. Though I was kind of knew what the movie was about before entering the hall, the movie was gripping till the very end. The suspense only increases when we get to know that just like the Mossad agents are hunting down the folks on their list, there is another group which was trying to kill every one of the Mossad agents. That is where the movie just picks up speed and excitement, after the first few killings which seemed to show that it was probably an easy job of assassinating everyone in the list. During the first few scenes of the movie which show the kidnapping in brief, I was disappointed bcos I thought that Spielberg had taken the easy way out by using real life images and not taking the pains to actually shoot the hijacking & the killing sequences. But the way he ends up inserting the hijacking & killing events was really interesting.
The best thing about the movie is that it did not end up just dealing with the revenge taken by the Mossad agents but the conflict that gets into their minds on whether what they were doing is right or wrong and also talks briefly about whether the whole war between the Israelis & Palestinians is really worth it. The movie ends with a long shot of the Twin towers in the background and may be that was Spielberg’s way of telling us what he personally feels after making a movie in which he clearly has not taken sides. The movie is set in the 1970s and Spielberg simply transports you back to those days in everything that the film deals with - from the clothes worn by the lead actors to the streets in the different cities around the world. The lead actor Eric Bana, but for a few scenes, is simply superb. But I am not sure if his performance was Oscar-worthy and I would be surprised if he even gets a nomination for the Best Actor Academy award. On the whole, this is a must-watch movie that keeps up the suspense till the very end and Spielberg’s mastery in story-telling is clearly evident all through the film. A must-see film. (A little bit of knowledge of the Munich Olympics incident which actually leads to events this movie deals with, would be my recommendation before watching this).
Chidambarathil Oru Appasamy - This was another movie I wanted to watch mainly for Thankar Bachan. Except for Azhagi, his movies haven't made any impact as expected after the excellent response that Azhagi received. I haven't seen Solla Marandha Kadhai but Thendral definitely was a good job, though in no way another Azhagi. Though the movie dealt with a story that is all too common in our society and watching it, one would relate to many of the scenes, somehow the movie was lacking the finesse and conviction that one got to see in Azhagi. The movie eventually ended up belonging to the list of movies which can neither be termed outright bad nor be called very good. Not bad bcos it had the potential to convey a message with a completely different storyline and not very good bcos of too many clichéd scenes.
Coming to performances, the hero's role was not a very demanding one and hence Thangar Bachan did not have any problems in getting through it with a good performance. He in fact fit the role perfectly bcos his face is as pedestrian as it gets and it suited the movie very well. Navya, as Thangar's wife, has done a great job. But somehow, I found Pyramid Natarajan overly loud and didn't like him a bit. Except in Alaipayuthe, I have only come to dislike his performance in every single movie that I have seen him. Even someone as seasoned as R. Sundarrajan did not all that good a job and could have done a lot better. I was particularly irritated by everyone in the group of friends that he was accused of wasting his time & money with.
Though only 1 song of Mottai stays in mind after watching the movie, the master as usual had done a great job in the background score. Its just amazing how his background score beautifully bringing out the right emotions behind the scenes. Overall, this movie only goes on to prove that Azhagi was a flash in Thangar Bachan's pan :)
Munich - This is one movie which definitely has several layers to it and I am not all that good in understanding all of it. So, these are just my thoughts on watching the movie rather than a full-fledged review, something I do for a Tamil or a Hindi movie. Anyway, I have always been very interested to know more about this tragic incident, which this film deals about, which left the whole world in a shock. In case, you do not know about what I am talking about, here is what the film is about - 11 Israeli athletes were killed by terrorists belonging to the Black September group after being taking hostage from the Olympic village premises. The German government negotiated with the terrorists and arranged for their get-away but right when they were being allowed to fly off, the German police put together an ill-organized plan to overwhelm the terrorists who in their anger on not being able to get what they wanted, brutally killed the athletes. The Israeli government went about in its own way to take revenge for the Munich killings and this movie deals with the group that was assembled to carry out the revenge killings and the way they ended up killing people from a list provided by the Israeli government.
Like I said, the movie deals with a lot of complex issues that I can hardly comment upon. The movie was very intense. Though I was kind of knew what the movie was about before entering the hall, the movie was gripping till the very end. The suspense only increases when we get to know that just like the Mossad agents are hunting down the folks on their list, there is another group which was trying to kill every one of the Mossad agents. That is where the movie just picks up speed and excitement, after the first few killings which seemed to show that it was probably an easy job of assassinating everyone in the list. During the first few scenes of the movie which show the kidnapping in brief, I was disappointed bcos I thought that Spielberg had taken the easy way out by using real life images and not taking the pains to actually shoot the hijacking & the killing sequences. But the way he ends up inserting the hijacking & killing events was really interesting.
The best thing about the movie is that it did not end up just dealing with the revenge taken by the Mossad agents but the conflict that gets into their minds on whether what they were doing is right or wrong and also talks briefly about whether the whole war between the Israelis & Palestinians is really worth it. The movie ends with a long shot of the Twin towers in the background and may be that was Spielberg’s way of telling us what he personally feels after making a movie in which he clearly has not taken sides. The movie is set in the 1970s and Spielberg simply transports you back to those days in everything that the film deals with - from the clothes worn by the lead actors to the streets in the different cities around the world. The lead actor Eric Bana, but for a few scenes, is simply superb. But I am not sure if his performance was Oscar-worthy and I would be surprised if he even gets a nomination for the Best Actor Academy award. On the whole, this is a must-watch movie that keeps up the suspense till the very end and Spielberg’s mastery in story-telling is clearly evident all through the film. A must-see film. (A little bit of knowledge of the Munich Olympics incident which actually leads to events this movie deals with, would be my recommendation before watching this).
Chidambarathil Oru Appasamy - This was another movie I wanted to watch mainly for Thankar Bachan. Except for Azhagi, his movies haven't made any impact as expected after the excellent response that Azhagi received. I haven't seen Solla Marandha Kadhai but Thendral definitely was a good job, though in no way another Azhagi. Though the movie dealt with a story that is all too common in our society and watching it, one would relate to many of the scenes, somehow the movie was lacking the finesse and conviction that one got to see in Azhagi. The movie eventually ended up belonging to the list of movies which can neither be termed outright bad nor be called very good. Not bad bcos it had the potential to convey a message with a completely different storyline and not very good bcos of too many clichéd scenes.
Coming to performances, the hero's role was not a very demanding one and hence Thangar Bachan did not have any problems in getting through it with a good performance. He in fact fit the role perfectly bcos his face is as pedestrian as it gets and it suited the movie very well. Navya, as Thangar's wife, has done a great job. But somehow, I found Pyramid Natarajan overly loud and didn't like him a bit. Except in Alaipayuthe, I have only come to dislike his performance in every single movie that I have seen him. Even someone as seasoned as R. Sundarrajan did not all that good a job and could have done a lot better. I was particularly irritated by everyone in the group of friends that he was accused of wasting his time & money with.
Though only 1 song of Mottai stays in mind after watching the movie, the master as usual had done a great job in the background score. Its just amazing how his background score beautifully bringing out the right emotions behind the scenes. Overall, this movie only goes on to prove that Azhagi was a flash in Thangar Bachan's pan :)
posted by Filbert at 2:55 PM
2 Comments:
i thot COA could be termed outright bad! esp. the first 3rd of the movie which was absolute torture.
i liked 'munich' but didn't think it was the classic most reviews paint it to be. probably cos it never touched me the way 'schindler's list' did.
Yeah Balaji, you are right. Though I was surprised to find COA in your list of 'Most disappoionting movies of 2005', your reasoning behind this movie finding a place there made sense. But for the initial few scenes, I thought the movie was OK.
About Munich - it definitely did not impact me the way Schindler's List did. But was gripping nevertheless.
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