A War Hero and His Faith in God: Thoughts on Hacksaw Ridge

Today I have a day off because it's the election day in some cities in Indonesia, including Jakarta. If you live in Indonesia, I'm sure you're aware that the election and the candidates for the governor of Jakarta have been hot topics these days. I've tried to follow the news and conversations about the election and the candidates just to, you know, keep myself informed and updated, but I find it quite hard to do that. I'm the kind of person who avoids arguments and confrontations, while talks about the election mostly take the form of heated arguments that involve sensitive issues like religion and race. I always cringe whenever I read or see news about the election.

Last week, when people were anticipating the final debate of the candidates, I chose to watch Hacksaw Ridge, not the debate. I know it may seem like there is no relation between the film and the election at all, but after seeing it, I feel like this movie has a story that is very important and needs to be heard by those people who are involved in those heated arguments and fights.

Hacksaw Ridge is based on a true story of Desmond Doss, played by my favorite actor who is now an Oscar nominee, Andrew Garfield. As a religious man who, as his father says, needs to sit down, think and pray before doing anything, Desmond joins the army to serve his nation. However, he refuses to use any weapon and kill his enemies as his religion teaches him not to kill. This gives Desmond a rough time during his training and an even more brutal experience on the battlefield as he insists to save lives instead of taking them.

Academy Award nominee Andrew Garfield as Desmond Doss
(Source: www.thecoli.com)

If you want to watch this film, you must know that this film contains very disturbing images that involve blood and body parts. Did I once say that Rogue One capture the harshness of wars? Well Hacksaw is on a higher level. The battle scenes are long and brutal. Luckily my friend Lia warned me about this before I saw this film, so I had the chance to prepare my heart and stomach first haha.

I know that some people think this films is a bit too dramatic, but I have to admit it really touches my heart. This film made me cry so much. I started crying five minutes into the film, I guess haha. There is a scene at the beginning, where deep regret slowly fills young Desmond's heart after he realizes that he almost kills his brother with a brick, that made me feel so connected to him. I could really feel him in that scene.

When Andrew Garfield takes over as adult Desmond, the connection that I felt didn't vanish. He has incredible scenes where he dramatically saves his wounded friends (75 of them) from a battlefield full of his nation's enemies alone. However, the scenes that really touched my heart are those where Desmond has these small talks with the people around him. The scene where he and Jack (Sam Worthington) talk as they're resting enables me to see Desmond from Jack's point of view. It made me think that Desmond is totally crazy and weird, but at the same time I realized that those qualities are the ones that make him different from others and admirable. The same thing happened whenever Desmond has scenes with his lady Dorothy (Teresa Palmer). Desmond's complex relationship with his dad (Hugo Weaving) is another emotional roller coaster. I couldn't hold my tears when Desmond tells the story of him holding a gun before his dad's head. He doesn't kill him but he says that he does kill him in his heart and swears that he will never use a rifle anymore after that. I cried with Hugo Weaving as he slides down the wall in front of his son in that scene. And then there is this scene where Desmond fails to save his friend Smitty (Luke Bracey) and has a breakdown. Smitty's last words ("I'm scared!") and Desmond's breakdown just gave me goosebumps. It's cool how Andrew is able to have such a strong chemistry with all his castmates. He is just amazing, like the amazing Spiderman (sorry I just can't help but adding this pathetic line hahaha).

After seeing this film, I spent some time thinking about it and realized that it is pretty relevant to the situation in my country right now. These days, a lot of people hate, fight and argue with each other when they try to defend their beliefs. There are people who hate those whose religions are different from theirs, and there are others who glorify their leader and see those who don't do the same as their enemies. It's just saddening, sickening and exhausting to see people hate and insult each other on a daily basis like that. When I saw Desmond in this film, I was stunned by how he could stay true to what he believes in without being aggresive at all. He shows me that we can fight with kindness and compassion as our weapons. He shows that strength and bravery that grow from kindness, compassion and faith in God are the greatest kinds of them. Desmond's story is a reminder that all religions teach kindness, not malice.

"While everyone else is going to be taking life, I'm going to be saving it." - Desmond Doss
(Source: MovieNewsPlus.com)

Besides that, I think this story also speaks to those who have been bullied by other people. I think all of us have experienced being laughed at because we do things a bit differently, being labeled as a weirdo, being told that we are ugly, wrong, pathetic, not good enough... Desmond has to face all of them too but he doesn't let that bring him down. I know it's not easy at all but, if you get bullied for being who you are, you should stay strong like Desmond because, as Desmond says, how are you going to live with yourself if you don't stay true to what you believe in?

So, Hacksaw Ridge feels like a very religious film for me. However, I think the message that it carries is universal and can be applied by anyone no matter what their religions or races are.

Rating :4,5/5

Learn The Power of Language in Arrival

So many great movies these days, eh? I gave 5-out-of-5 ratings in my last three film reviews and now I'm about to give the fourth one to this critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated film, Arrival.

Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner in Arrival
Source: wegotthiscovered.com

To read the synopsis of this film and some information about it, please read my older post here. As I wrote in that post, Amy Adams leads the cast as Louise Banks, a language expert who is hired to translate the visiting aliens' language. Jeremy Renner plays Ian Donnelly, a science expert who works alongside Louise while Forest Whitaker plays a military guy who is tasked to figure out the aliens' intentions.

Like La La Land, this film's conclusion completely blows my mind. After seeing this film, I had to sit down for a long time in order to process the ending and recover from it. So this post contains spoilers because I just have to talk about the ending.

The one thing about Arrival that made me so eager to see this movie is the fact that this sci-fi film centers on a linguistics expert. I just have never seen a sci-fi movie that involves a linguistics expert. Films from this genre usually feature military guys, science experts and sometimes teenagers who are in the wrong place and the wrong time, not language experts. So I was so intrigued by the premise because I find it rare and unique. I really wanted to know how they would present a story of a language expert in a sci-fi world.

Arrival can be classified as a sci-fi movie, but if you expect to see an exhibition of CGI creatures and spaceship battles here, you will be disappointed because this film doesn't have any of that. Arrival does have aliens and spaceships, but it is the rare kind of sci-fi movies that drains not only your brain with its science elements, but also your heart with its intimate, deep story. It's kind of similar to Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.

As Amy Adams states in an interview, Arrival is basically a story of a mother who loves her daughter; a love letter from a mom to her daughter. Throughout the movie, we are made to believe that Louise is haunted by the memories of her deceased daughter, but at the end it is revealed that she doesn't know, or maybe I should say hasn't known, who that girl in her memories is. It is because the glimpses that she sees are from her future. Yes, Louise gets the ability to see her whole life, her past, present and future, because of the aliens' language that she learns during her mission. It turns out that the aliens' intention is to deliver a gift to the humans, which is their precious, unique language that gives anyone who has mastered it the ability to perceive time as something without beginnings and endings, like a loop. So, in the present time, Louise has already got the knowledge about what the aliens' purpose is, their language, how the problems that they are facing will be solved, that she and Ian will fall in love with each other, that they will have a daughter, that Ian will leave her and, the most heartbreaking one, that an incurable disease will kill her daughter at a young age. However, with all that knowledge, Louise chooses to cherish every moment in her life as if she didn't know the future. She still chooses to be with Ian and have and love her daughter with all her heart even though she knows she will lose them. This completely blows my mind and shatters my heart.

Source: https://bradscribe.wordpress.com/2016/11/16/arrival-the-bradscribe-review/

I think the revelation hits me so hard because it instantly changes the way I perceive the story, just like the language alters the way Louise sees her life. It connects every moment in the film, clears all the confusion, concludes the story beautifully and sends its deep, meaningful message right into my helpless heart. I almost can't contain the feeling that the revelation brings. Besides its greatness, it is also totally unexpected. I expected mind-boggling science theories but I get this emotional story that gives me all the feels. Films that can make you feel so much like this one are what we call art.

Some people say that a great movie is a movie that can make the audience feel related to its characters. Arrival makes me feel related to its main character, Louise Banks. Similar to Louise, language is my area as I have a degree in English literature, do translation jobs and teach English to children. I know that learning a language and teaching it to someone who is not familiar to that language at all are long processes that require patience. So I get really angry when I see how they push Louise to finish her work quickly. I can really feel her frustration in this film. I bet she is the kind of person who appreciates the process of everything, not only the final product. Louise also has scenes where she just stares at her work in front of her, thinking hard and deeply without saying a word, which looks exactly like I do right now as I am trying to find the right words to describe how I feel about this film haha. Her scenes with the aliens, Abbott and Costello, the way she takes off her suit as she says, "They need to see me," the way she touches the screen to connect with the creatures on the other side and the way she stays calm and quiet let me know that she also appreciates real interaction, intimacy and peace. Amy Adams's performance here really makes me feel close to her character. I think she deserves all the recognition she has been receiving and should be nominated for an Oscar for her role here. She has received many nominations this year but, suprisingly, is not nominated for an Oscar. Check the full list of nominees for this year's Oscars here.

Source: wegotthiscovered.com

Arrival might not lead the Oscars race this year, but I think it is one of the best, the most thought-provoking and mind-blowing films ever. Five stars for this movie!

Rating: 5/5

Here's To The Fools Who Dream: My Review of La La Land

Sometimes I secretly wish that I could just burst into songs and dance in public places whenever I feel emotional without being labeled as a crazy person. But unfortunately that's not possible, and I'm a terrible singer and dancer anyway haha, so I will never do that. To fulfill my fantasy, I usually just watch people do that in musicals. 

  

One of the most popular musical films this year is La La Land, directed by Damien Chazelle with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as the leads. Just a few days after La La Land was crowned as the best musical or comedy film of the year in the Golden Globe Awards, the film was released in my country. I didn't expect it to be released here that fast because they usually wait until after the Oscars to release award-winning films, but didn't complain. As I said before in one of my older posts (click here to read it and see the synopsis of La La Land), I had been very excited to watch this movie.

Before I start, I need you to know that this review contains spoilers. I just have to talk about the ending because it's just so powerful and great.

I've never seen anything like La La Land before.

Visually, this film is very artistic and dramatic. Here, we can see men and women twirling and jumping around in bright-colored outfits as they sing together, a dark purple sky that is full of stars during night scenes, people vanish as the lights get focused on the main characters whenever they lose themselves in the songs... Just so dreamy. A lot of people say that La La Land looks like classic musical films, which I've never seen before. Surprisingly, these dreamy qualities are combined with a very realistic story. The story is very relatable, not just for people who work in the show business like Mia and Sebastian, but for anyone who is pursuing their dreams. I really love it when a film can combine these qualities. I think the credit should be given to director/screenwriter Damien Chazelle. 

La La Land is basically carried by its two lead actors: Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. The chemistry between these two is one of the best things about this film. I really love watching the scenes where they just talk to each other because, there, you can really see the strong bond between them. Their performances also touch my heart many times. I can see myself in Sebastian when he gets frustrated as he tries to explain to Mia, who states that she doesn't like jazz, why he is so passionate about jazz. I imagine I must be just like him whenever I explain to other people why I love films and books haha. When Sebastian tells Mia to give her all if she gets a role in the film she auditions for, my heart just breaks because, at that moment, I know that he loves her and wants her to be happy even though that means she will have nothing left for him because she has given her all to her dreams. Mia's last audition before she becomes a successful actress, the one where she sings Audition, really destroys me because  it shows a lot of emotions. Emma and Ryan totally deserve to win Oscars this year.

Mia and Sebastian
(Source: http://therumpus.net/2016/12/the-rumpus-review-of-la-la-land/)

The most important aspect in a musical is definitely the songs. La La Land features seven original songs and all are very catchy and awesome. After seeing the movie, I just can't stop singing City of Stars, a duet performed by Emma and Ryan. I even have memorized the lyrics now. Audition is, as I said before, so beautiful and emotional. The scene where Ryan and Emma dance as they sing A Lovely Night is so iconic and memorable; it makes me want to learn tap dance haha. The opening scene in the middle of a terrible traffic jam, which features Another Day of Sun, is so epic. They even made a parody of it for the opening of this year's Golden Globes.

Source: http://giphy.com/lalaland

La La Land is amazing in every aspect, but if I have to choose my favorite part of it, I would choose the ending. [SPOILER ALERT] At the end of the film, Mia and Sebastian have made their dreams come true but live separately. When they accidentally meet again, Mia imagines what her life would be like if they decide to stay together. The life she imagines (which is presented in such a beautiful way that looks like a musical performance on a stage) is wonderful, but, in that life, Sebastian would have to sacrifice his dreams to be with her. That is why it is best for Mia and Sebastian not to be together; because none of them could sacrifice their dreams. It doesn't mean that they don't love each other; it's because, in this life, we just can't have everything. There will always be things that we must let go and it's up to us to decide which one it is that we want to keep and which one to sacrifice. Mia and Sebastian choose to let go of each other, but there are other peope who choose to give up their dreams and be with the ones they love. Some others also choose to compromise and change their dreams in order to make things work. None of the choices is better than the others because people have different ways of thinking and priorities. I think this is a very powerful message that everybody needs to understand. It gets me thinking about it for a long time, even until now. Another interesting thing about the ending is the fact that they show how Mia and Sebastian's life would be if Sebastian, the guy, sacrifices his dreams. In my country, and possibly others too, it's usually the women who are expected to give up their dreams in order to take care of their families when they marry their men. A lot of people think that it is normal for women to do that. I'm not saying that it is wrong for women to do that - it's actually very heroic, but not all women are willing to do that and that's okay too - but have you ever imagined what it would be like if a man sacrifices his dreams to be with his woman and allow her to reach her dreams? I just find it interesting.

So, does La La Land deserve all the buzz it has been receiving? Definitely yes! Go see La La Land everybody! If you're still not convinced, take a look a this clip!

Rating: 5/5 

Get Ready for the Awards Season!

As we enter the last month of the year, discussions and predictions regarding the Oscars and other prestigious awards start to emerge. Critics' Choice Awards announced its list of nominees for this year and, from there, I think we can see which movies are likely to dominate the awards season this time. Just click here to see the complete list of nominees in the film categories. The list of nominees makes me really excited for the 2017 awards season. Some of my favorite actors like Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone (hmmm) are there. Some films that I really want to see are nominated too, and I'm going to write about them in this post.

All images are taken from each movie's official Twitter account

ARRIVAL

I first found out about this film when one of my friends told me about it. He told me the movie was about alien spaceships that have landed on Earth, which made me think of alien invasion movies where the humans fight the aliens like Independence Day and War of the Worlds. However, it all changed when I saw this trailer.

Arrival is about a linguistics expert named Louise Banks (Amy Adams) who is summoned to investigate mysterious alien spaceships that have landed on our planet. Having no idea what the aliens' intentions are, Louise must use her knowledge to understand the aliens' language in order to be able to communicate with them before a war is declared. The film is directed by Denis Villeneuve (Sicario) with some high profile actors like Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker in the cast.

As someone who learned linguistics at school and does translation jobs, the involvement of a linguist in an alien movie makes me somehow thrilled. I never imagined someone like me could be involved in a situation like that, so it would be interesting to see how it goes in the movie. Besides, Arrival receives 10 nominations in the Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Amy Adams, so it must be a pretty impressive movie.

HACKSAW RIDGE

This film has been on my list of anticipated movies even before the trailer hit the internet because one of my favorite actors (and celebrity crushes hahaha), Andrew Garfield, is in it. I became more and more curious about it when I saw this trailer, which I think is really moving, and when I heard that it receives positive reviews and even Oscar buzz. An Oscar-worthy movie with Andrew Garfield as the lead actor? Count me in! This film has been released in my country but I haven't got the chance to see it. I hope I can see it soon.

Hacksaw Ridge is based on a true story of Desmond Doss, an American soldier in World War II who saved many lives in Okinawa without using any kinds of weapon. Doss refused to use weapons and kill people but insisted to join the army. He really wanted to serve his nation but believed that there are other ways besides killing to do that. The inspiring man received Congressional Medal of Honor for his merit. Hacksaw Ridge is directed by actor/director Mel Gibson. Andrew Garfield leads a cast full of, again, high profile actors which includes Teresa Palmer, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington and Hugo Weaving. It receives 7 nominations in the Crtitics' Choice Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor for Andrew (Woohoo!) and Best Director for Mel Gibson. I really hope Andrew wins.

LA LA LAND

Yeah, I ship Stonefield (Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield, in case you don't know...) but the reason why Emma's latest movie La La Land is on my list is not because I'm obsessed with the ex-couple. It's because this movie looks soooo amazing. Take a look at the dreamy trailer below if you don't believe me. I was so moved and almost cried when I first saw it. The way Emma sings the song is the kind that makes you want to smile and weep at the same time.

La La Land follows the journey of two people, Mia (Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), who fall in love with each other as they struggle to pursue their dreams to reach success in the show business. As you might have guessed after seeing the trailer, it's a musical, so, yes, ladies, you can see Ryan Gosling sing and dance in it haha. It's not a full-on musical like Les Miserables, though. It's more like Grease where the characters burst into songs when they feel like talking can't express their feelings. La La Land is directed by Damien Chazelle, whose previous film, Whiplash, dominated the 2014 awards season. This film leads the Critics' Choice Awards nominees with 12 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Damien Chazelle, Best Actress for Emma Stone (Hooray!), Best Actor for Ryan Gosling and two Best Song nominations. I have a feeling this movie will win big this awards season.

LION

Lion is led by another actor that I admire: Dev Patel. In this film, Dev is accompanied by Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara and directed by Garth Davis. Like Hacksaw Ridge, this film is based on an extraordinary true story. When he was a little boy, Saroo (played by Dev in the movie) got separated from his family when he was lost on a train. He was then adopted by an Australian family. Haunted by the memories of his biological family in India, adult Saroo used his memories and Google Earth to track his lost family. It sounds like a movie that will make me cry and want to hug my family members haha.

Lion is nominated in six categories in the Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Dev Patel (Yay!) and Best Supporting Actress for Nicole Kidman. Sia has a song called Never Give Up which is taken from this film's soundtrack, but unfortunately it's not nominated for Best Song in the Critics' Choice Awards.

Do you want to see those four films as much as I do? Or maybe you're more excited for the red carpets and the awards ceremonies? I just hope those films and the awards ceremonies will be played in our country haha.