Motorcycle Diaries: the anti-Che & anti-road movie

I have little respect for Relevant magazine. Some time ago they did a film review on the film The Motorcycle Diaries. But this review did not actually discuss anything about the film save the concept of portraying Che Guevara in a possitive way. The review simply tore the film apart for portraying a montrous killer as a young idealist. Unfortunately, such a review only furthers the distance between North American (or western) views on such things this film addresses. It would be easier for us all to simply disregard Che as a muderous revolutionary whose lust for power proved that the CIA was justified in aiding his assassination. It's very western to demonize someone and believe that they were not pure-hearted idealists. I do not know the complete story about Che. What I know is limited to the credibility of those whom wear his T-shirts and this film that I cannot shake.

The real Che and the Che of his diaries may be two different people, but that is not what is important. The Motorcycle Diaries is not about Che, it is about a young potential med student who goes on a road trip in hopes of finding himself and getting some tail, but instead realizes that the world he wanted to take advantage of was too fucked up for another apathetic academic snob to ignore. The Relevant review missed it spent its view hundred words more worried about the messenger than the message.

This is a gorgeous that has caused me to rethink things. Suddenly, I don't to learn German in order to better understand certain cultural scholars, instead I have, once again, heard the call of Spanish and the hope of reading from large body of writers that revealed much about the oppression of Latin America: Che, liberation theologians, and Octavio Paz. I find myself torn by a film. When a bunch of stuck up white people are tyring to say that film is ruining the youth of America, I find myself moved by something those same ignorant/apathetic/don't-know-any- better white people would not even be able to find amidst their complaints.

I've been taking a road movie class, and find that this road movie critiques every other Americna road movie. While it does so in several ways, I find myself stuck on one scene. Che and his traveling companion come across an older married couple traveling and looking for mining work (this is the only work they can get since they are communists). They ask if Che and co. are looking for work, and they say no because they are traveling just to travel. Here is the biggest kick in the nuts (this could work literally as road movies are a male dominated genre) of most American road movies. The road movie is a reflection of western privilege. Only in the U.S. could someone travel just to travel. We dream of being mobile...with our back up plan. People camp and travel because they are forced and we camp and travel for liesure activity. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?

Fast food and coke vs. Lent

This year I tried to give up something for Lent. Two years ago I attempted to give up cussing, but that only lasted half a damn day. This year I took a 40 day fast food and coke embargo. I was a weird experience. I found out how dependent on easy food I am. I'm a stress eater and not having easy access to food was hard. Also, I love coke. Beer, cocktails, slurpies, martinis, cider, shakes, or juice-nothing tastes better than a coke on tap (I don't care what any fool says, coke is better than that piss water Pepsi). I went to In 'n' Out today. It was amazing. Luckily, the 40 days has given me a new appreciation for less heart burn (though I had a lot of red wine yesterday, causing that trend to change).

But after the 40 days, I found that it did not cause me to reflect on the cross. I hate to say this but I am numb to the Christian calender. This may be a flaw, but I find such dogmatic things to be a huge distraction to understanding the Bible. I love the Lord and continue to search meaning in the scriptures and books on theology and biblical interpretation, but I cannot find God within the walls of a church. It has a become a huge distraction. When I was a music major I began to hate music. Thus, I switched to a different degree and found a new love for songwriting. I do not mean to demean those that still find God in church practices. I am not even making a declaration that I will not take part in them. I truly believe that I must be within a community in order to understand God-I am simply distracted by Sunday morning politics. In Karen Osiek's book Beyond Anger, she discusses the importance of feminists within the church as well as those who choose to leave the church. Both make important statements: there is hope within and there is hope from without. I find myself somewhere between there. I believe that the American church can become something amazing, but it is not there yet. I am within my church to, hopefully, find the reasons for those traditions and, also, become part of the change I always whine about.

Lent can be a powerful event, but for now it didn't bring me closer to God-just lowered my belt size. I haven't left my church and do not plan to (and hopefully if any from my congregation read this will not see such vulnerability as a negative). I am simply a guy with Donnie Darko synrdrome-I see something wrong but am paralyzed to change anything because I was shot down when I tried to make such changes.

Ninja Turtles for the Entire Family

So my roommates and I dressed up like the ninja turtles and went to see it on Friday night at the West Covina AMC. Our cast was as follows:
Casey-Raphael
Steve-Donotello
Jon-Leonardo
Tim-Michelangelo
Dominic-splinter
Jackson-Casey Jones
Matt-Foot soldier
Katie, Mellissa, and Kristen-themselves
We planned for the 9pm showing, but alas re arrived at the theatre at 8:30, thus the sold out showing forced us to wait an extra 1 and a half hours for the next show. We spent out time taking pictures with hundreds of jr. highers. Surprisingly, only three moderately adolescent boys gave into pathetic vocabulary with claims that we were gay. There were two bratty kids inside, but Master Splinter took care of those kids with his ancient words of wisdom about the ninja way. The majority of people loved it and wanted to take pictures with us. One such girl jumped and teared up like she had just met Justin Timberlake. Before the film began we all went to the bathroom, a teenager asked me what film we were going to see and I said, "Music and Lyrics," and walked away leaving the poor kid stumped. Everyone had a great time. The actual film was alright, it needed a better storyline. But the character chemistry was good-though Splinter's voice vaguely sounded like a New York godfather's. We all had a great time.

Year of the Fish (Sundance Film Review)

It’s Cinderella in New York’s Chinatown. But this Cinderella isn’t a daughter-in-law put to work for the evil stepsisters, she’s a immigrant from China that refused to do the usual work at a “massage” parlor, thus she was forced to do all the cleaning and cooking. Add to this a unique visual effect also found in Richard Linklater’s Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, and this is a shoe-in for the “most indie film ever” award. Also, the fair godmother isn’t as much a nurturing figure as she is a creepy old witch that runs a sweatshop. Besides the intriguing visuals only, possible through painting over top of what was filmed, The Year of the Fish has a wonderful soundtrack created from within the film. The romantic interest is a professional accordion player, and his music becomes the music of the modern fairy tale. Just as the melody sung by Mercedes becomes the theme of Pan’s Labyrinth, the accordion consumes each scene’s mood and is then elevated when the full orchestra builds on what the accordion began. Unfortunately, this film does play on many stereotypes. All the Asian characters fall into the normal categories of bitch, slut, and innocent/ignorant/weak. While it may be argued that the leading lady defies these stereotypes because she is stronger, she begins from this stereotype and is really only elevated with the help of another man. And the conclusion does not defy the system of oppression that allowed Asian immigrants to be imprisoned in places like a “massage” parlor. It actually makes light of the system. However, it might be more appropriate to say that the film does not try to answer the question of oppression, but simply states that amidst such tragic circumstances people can still find love and happiness.

Padre Nuestro (Sundance Film Review)

Padre Nuestro won the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic feature. This is the story of two Mexican illegal immigrants who sneak into New York. One is going to meet his father he hasn’t met, while the other is simply trying to get away from all the trouble he brings upon himself. The second boy then steals the identity of the first and poses as the son of someone that is not his father. The other boy survives on the street, befriending a homeless woman, and tries to find his father, while being forced to do low pay jobs and sexual favours to survive. What makes this film so unique is that it is a foreign language film set in New York. Unlike most films like this, the social oppression of illegal immigrants is in the backdrop of this film. The storyline takes a much larger role than any political statement. The end result is a compelling story about interlocking characters, leading to the climax with their final interaction.
Padre Nuestro was a very intriguing film, but it did not deserve to win best dramatic feature. There were several other films that were more deserving than this one. This film once because of its setting and story. Letters from Iwo Jima provided much the same response—telling the same story from a different perspective. And like Letters from Iwo Jima, Padre Nuestro was not a truly engaging and strong story but was just different enough to cause people to take notice.

Bugmaster (Sundance Film Review)

Bugmaster was the most difficult film to understand at Sundance. This film is one of director Katsuhiro Ôtomo’s (Akira and Steamboy) few live action features. It is a period piece set in a mystical Japan where people called “Bugmasters” travel and use their special herbs, potions, and powers to calm bugs that cause pain to humans. The film features two driving stories, one in the past and other in the present. The two stories are connected by the lead character. Unlike Ôtomo’s normal dose of anime, the special effects of this film are subtle. But like most anime, the storyline is thick. Many compared this film to those of Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke), this comparison is only made by people that do not know enough about Japanese cinema. The only commonality between the Bugmaster and Miyazaki’s films is the purity of nature. Bugmaster looks at the spiritual realm of creation and discusses a growing spirit that exists deep in the forest. Unfortunately, this film becomes hard to follow at this point and ends rather abruptly, thus to say more would require a second viewing.

Save Me (Sundance Film Review)

While For the Bible Tells Me So was very informational and well done, Save Me did a better job at presenting both sides of the “homosexuality” argument. The lead character Mark (Chad Allen) is put in a ministry meant to help gay men become straight. While there, he finds a community he loves and is able to kick drugs. But while there, Scott (Robert Gant) and him fall in love. While films like Saved portrays Christians as a completely irredeemable, dogmatic bunch, Save Me has a much healthier perspective. Once again, as opposed to Saved, which felt like it was made by a bitter person trying to get back at the private high school he or she went to, Save Me was made with the hope to bring people together. Many of those involved in making this film are Christians and gay (Chad Allen actually attends All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena). With this said, the Christians in the film that believe acting on homosexuality is wrong are portrayed as single-minded and evil but humans that, just like the gay Christians, have God in them as well. This is a powerful film because it does not answer any questions but simply concludes that God is with everyone. While the film did suffer from Lifetime channel production value, it remains a powerful piece of art that will bring about a conversation better than anything else.