Went for the 6th Pune International Film Festival. 2nd year for me!! Day I was pretty good. Saw some interesting films.

Film: Bad Education
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Country: Spain
Year: 2004

What I felt:
The film is primarily about three people, two young boys who are in love in a Christian school and a priest who is sexually abusing one of the boys. These events lead to certain repercussions which are shown to us through flashbacks at various points in the film. The 3 meet after school twice after gaps of many years. But the education the boys had at school through the priest is going to have some serious effect on the 3 lives. The character sketches I felt were of utmost importance in such a movie because only 4 people form the entire film. I think Juan’s character was brilliantly written. He’s so ruthless and cold. Simply amazing job by Gael Garcia Bernal. Another thing I felt was noteworthy was Almodovar’s style of execution of constantly interspersing the frames between the present and past….and its done so smoothly that not once does the viewer get confused.

Film: Kaalchakra
Director: Vishal Bhandari
Country: India(Marathi)
Year: 2007

What I felt:
Kaalchakra is about basically the story of one man who achieves great success in life in a very short span and then loses hope for living due to a shocking revelation. How he musters courage to fight back in life against society is what forms the narrative of Kaalchakra. Sachin Khedekar was damn good….he does not look young anymore as the films tries to hard to show in many frames….but his performance makes up for the same. He’s one chap I liked since his ‘Sailaab’ days(Sailaab for the record was a damn good hindi serial which aired on Zee TV around 1994-96). Another actor whom I liked immensely is Shilpa Tulaskar….she comes in post interval…and that is exactly when the film begins to get better and better. A really moving performance(especially the ‘dinner at the restaurant’ scene). The film gets a little draggy near the interval…for about 10-15 minutes. But post interval it is very sensitively handled and does get you moist-eyed in certain frames.

Film: A Bahraini Tale
Director: Bassam Al-Thawadi
Country: Bahrain
Year: 2006

What I felt:
The movie is set in 1967 during the Arab-Israel War time. It tells the story of a middle class family and the trying times the women go through as men around them exploit them and torture them. It also shows the change in attitudes of several people who are engaged in the war and political scenario. Honestly I did not understand much of the film. Large portions of what I saw(1 hour and 20 minutes) revolved around women getting thrashed or physically/sexually abused by males around them. I got so sick of ‘women suffering’ scenes that I left the auditorium after 1 hour 20 minutes. Heaven knows how the films proceeded later. I’d also like to mention that the auditorium was full……..so I seemed to be the only idiot who did not understand the true ‘art’ behind persistent ‘women suffering’.

-Aneesh Kamat