Change Your Image
David B-2
Reviews
Bagh Bahadur (1989)
Realistic, and downright depressing.
The story of a man who dances to a small village while painted as a tiger, once a year, would seem to be a boring idea, but it is executes in such a fantastic style that I forgive the producers for depressing me for the night that I saw it. The views of Indian village life are totally realistic in my opinion and so are the villagers' attitudes. This ends the rosy view that many have of the countryside by showing ill-educated villagers for what they really are.
The whole film managed to depress me because I actually liked the main character, whose name I have forgotten, and felt what he was feeling as his life was taken apart by his new competitor. The ending, although slightly implausible given the brutal realism of the rest of the film, was full of tension and did manage to cap off a sad, sad film. Worth a look if you ever come across it.
Listen (1996)
Amateurish crap.
Quite the most boring nonsense I have seen in a long time. The plot was full of irrelevance, and the acting was the worst I have seen in a long time.
To make it worse, camera angles that made me feel sick were used , the incidental music was terrible and drowned out the dialogue (maybe not a bad thing then), and the shots of San Francisco looked as if they had been stolen straight out of the city tourist board's promotional video.
Oh, and the obligatory sex scene was not even half well done. Better lighting next time, please.
Shooting the Past (1999)
A Gem.
This is a real gem to behold. The story of how a photo library is threatened by a vile American awakes all of my fears of US imperialism. The storytelling is wonderful, if a trifle far fetched, and it is accessible to all, as a lot of it is told by the pictures in the library.
I only caught the last two parts, but still felt as if I had been there all along, sharing in the hurt that the custodians of the collection were going through.
If it ever comes out on video, I will be the first to buy it, and I only hope that people all over the world watch and identify with it as I did, to learn that there are some things that progress must not destroy.