Heaven and Earth

The movie is somewhat historical since it is based on a true to life story. It is based on the memoir written by Le Ly Hayslip on account of her life from childhood until such time that he conquered what life has to offer. Obviously, the story mainly happened in Vietnam wherein the author lived and survived during the series of war and bloodshed. Basically, the plot of the story is inherently brutal. What could you expect during war time? It may be hard on the part of Le Ly Hayslip, but she definitely endured and learned many lessons.

The genres of the film include drama, history, adventure, and biography. It is a story of survival and the ability to embrace truth and life itself. The value of true love is difficult to measure in the story since the primary purpose of the author is to survive her difficult ordeal. It is not less than two times that she almost died from the hands of her tormentors. Oliver Stone shaped this movie as honest as he could endear life between death scenes. The village girl Le Ly Hayslip loved her family so much that he would do everything to run away from poverty, bloodshed, terror, betrayal and pain. She was married to an American soldier who taught her to improve life, only to kill himself out of misunderstanding and pride. All things considered, the movie is superb and will make us realize that life is precious more than anything else. Having one Golden Globe award, the film is worth our time.

Shinjuku Incident Movie Review

The movie is directed by Derek Yee and played by Jackie Chan as the lead star, Naoto Takenaka as Inspector Kitano, Daniel Wu as Jie, and Masaya Kato as Eguchi. The plot of the movie comprises more of drama blended with action. The story is also interesting as it triggers the mind of a person who knows much about illegal immigrants in Japan. The values that are developed in the movie are loyalty, camaraderie, deep understanding, survival of the fittest, and word of honor. The actors played well their parts especially the yakuza gang and their leaders.

The Shinjuku Incident movie directs its way to the life of a Chinese illegal immigrant in Japan. Jackie Chan plays Steelhead who is a tractor mechanic from Japan who entered Japan illegally to look for his long lost girlfriend. His character was supported by a friend Jie who also stayed at the busy place Shinjuku district in Tokyo. They worked for crappy jobs just to earn a living while staying in the country until such time that Steelhead found out that his girlfriend already married a yakuza leader named Eguchi. When Eguchi's life was in danger, Steelhead saved his life and they later agreed to revenge for the incident. For several reasons, Steelhead could no longer leave his friends within Shinjuku despite chances given to him. A police inspector named Kitano became his friend when he saved the former's life. The gang life in Shinjuku district became so dangerous that when Steelhead's friends got hold of power and influence, they gained several enemies from the rival gang. In trying to live life in the legal way, Steelhead tried to advise his friends to change their wrong attitude. But as fate dictates, blood flooded in the area as their rival gang tried to kill them all. Inspector Kitano got hold of important information about the yakuza before Steelhead died.

Lars and the Real Girl

My perceptions and presumptions about people who order sex dolls are not limited on the morality of the person but on how he was raised as a child. In most cases, people who perform something unusual are a reflection on his childhood days. This perception and presumption was supported by the movie Lars and the Real Girl wherein Lars fell in love with a doll because of his unhappy childhood. In my case, if a family member or a friend ordered a sex doll, I will not judge the person right away. I will deal the matter with reasonable thinking and focus on the reason why the said act happened.

Lars constructed a social identity for Bianca by means of introducing her as his girlfriend, as if she was a real girl. The fact that Bianca is just a doll was lost when the townspeople accepted her character as if she was a real girl. Since Lars treated Bianca as a real girl and allowed her to grow by working as a model and attending meetings, he painted a scenario that Bianca is an active and normal girl who loves him. Hence, the social identity of Bianca is a girl who is willing to love him while reaching for her dreams.

The townspeople accepted Bianca as a real girl despite the fact that she was a doll. They also accepted her as the girlfriend of Lars which made Lars able to interact with them well. Aside from that, the people in the town allowed Bianca to work as a model in a clothing store and attend social activities. When Bianca was sick and later on died, the people in the town also offered flowers and support for the couple, Lars and Bianca.

About family and romantic relationships, our moral presumption is that boy-girl relationships must be acceptable in the society in such a way that parents and family members agree to the relationship. The girl must be hardworking, attractive, and intelligent. In the human race, the person who knows how to interact well with other people is always accepted in the society. People base friendship and camaraderie with how a person agrees to the norms and practices of the community he or she belongs. A person is also considered dignified when he has pride and wit to run his life. For example, in the movie Lars and the Real Girl, the attitude of Lars in buying a sex doll named Bianca in the Internet made people think that he was insane. But when he introduced Bianca to the people and the latter's acceptance made Lars capable of interacting well with them, he became a dignified person and was accepted as a real man. Sexuality is based on the quest of becoming a real man and capable of performing responsibilities in the family and the society as a whole. The people in the community believe that the presence of Bianca in the life of Lars made him a better person. Buying sex dolls is not really an immoral act, and what is important is how the act touches the lives of many people. The relationship of Bianca and Lars is not really immoral. Their relationship is based on the norms of the society and the difference is only the fact that Bianca is a doll and not the real girl. But it still depends on the way people think and perceive in a given situation. I believe that the movie reinforced the belief that femininity (and females) is best represented by silence and passivity. I believe that the movie offered a view of femininity (and females) that is vibrant, active and engaged in their abilities and lives. I choose this description in the film as an assessment because it was proven in the movie that a vibrant, active, and hard working girl is mostly accepted in the society. Like Bianca, any girl who works hard and interacts well with other people is a likeable person.