Trois Couleurs: Bleu

Bleu is the story of a woman who looses her husband and daughter in a car accident that she survived. Her husband was a famous composer who was working on a special piece that was only half finished when he passed away. Rumors had been thrown around about her writing all of her husbands music. After he passes away she tries to commit suicide but can not go through with it. Instead, she withdraws her self from society, selling her house and moving into an apartment by her self. She wants no friends and no family so she can avoid heartbreak describing friendships and relationships as traps.

Her friends refuse to let her live a meaningless life and eventually track her down bringing her back to reality regardless of how reluctant she is. She meets her husbands pregnant mistress that she didn't know about until after his death. After meeting this girl and seeing that she meant a lot to her deceased husband, she opens up. She takes her house off the market and moves back in to work on her music with her husbands partner who happens to be the man she was having an affair with.

Through out the movie you can see a clear transformation in Julie. After her husband and daughters death, she becomes a shell. Not caring about anything, moving into her own apartment to live the rest of her life by herself with no friends and no relationships. As the movie progresses she is slowly drawn out of this rut by people that need her, starting with the "loose" woman in her apartment complex.

Although this movie moved slowly I enjoyed watching it. Along with phenomenal cinematography, Bleu, told an original and amazing story. Following Julie as she jumped off a cliff and with the help of her friends and people that needed her, slowly climbed back up.

Strawberry and Chocolate

The Movie "Strawberry and Chocolate" is about a University student named David in Havana, Cuba. He meets a gay man named Diego who is against Castro because of his look on the LGBT and his censorship of society. He has many posters and books that are not aloud as well as foreign booze and statues. David being a part of the communist regime thinks Diego is suspicious and tells his roommate Miguel.

Miguel convinces David to spy on Diego so they can turn him in for being against the communist cause. David starts to visit Diego on a regular basis and finds out about an exhibit. The more David meets with Diego the more he starts to change his view on the communist regime. Eventually David becomes very close with Diego and tells Miguel he is not going to spy anymore.

Diego changes David over the course of the movie and shows him what Castro is actually doing. Diego's exhibit gets cancelled and he gets very upset. He writes a letter to the government telling them how upset he is. He looses his job because of it and after getting turned down for a a job at the embassy he decides to leave the country. They took everything from him and made it impossible for him to get a job.

This movie was very good. It had a very in depth depiction of the reality of communism . It showed that Castro was running the country mentally as well as physically. Most people conformed to the Communist cause but some people like Diego saw the truth. David was blind until he met Diego and through out the movie Diego slowly showed him the truth and changed him.

The Battle of Algiers

The Battle of Algiers is about a group called the FLN (National Liberation Front) fighting against French paratrooper's for their freedom. The group is set up like a triangle with the leader being the top. He recruits 2 men to work for him, each of these men recruit 2 men to work for them, and so on.

The FLN starts by taking out most of the police force in Algeria, the capitol city of Algiers. French paratrooper's were brought in to control the situation. The FLN continued to kill French police and blow places up but sneaking children past paratrooper's or dressing their women like french women. They would walk past the French Paratrooper's with bombs in their purses and leave them in public places.

Eventually the French paratroops take out the FLN by torturing and murdering FLN insurgents. Both side were ruthless; the FLN would kill French colonists and in return French colonists would form lynch mobs against the natives. Although the French paratrooper's won against the FLN, Algiers was still liberated from France through Algerians rioting in the streets for their freedom.

Although many of the subtitles were unreadable it was very easy to follow the movie. It flowed very well and gave you a good idea of what actually happen during the Battle of Algiers. This was a very informative movie and I'm glad I watched it.

Tsotsi

The movie "Totsi" or "thug" takes place in Africa and follows a young man. He is the leader of a small gang and right in the beginning of the film they show you how heartless he is when he stabs a large black man on the subway and takes his money. As the movie progresses Totsi does too. He steals a car after shooting a woman in the the stomic only to find the woman's baby in the back seat. Instead of leaving the baby in the car he shows that he isn't as hard as he wants people to think and takes the baby with him. This sparks a change in Totsi that snowballs through out the rest of the movie.

They go through Totsi's past and show that his childhood was nothing short of a nightmare. They give explanations to why he is the way he is. When he first gets the baby he is almost jealous of his life style and wants to give him a similar life to the one he had. This feeling slowly fades as he starts to do what is best for the baby and eventually brings it back it's family.

I was not expecting to like this movie, but i did. The drastic change that Totsi went through from beginning to end alone, was enough to make this a good movie. The cinematography was awesome as well, from the streets of the slum to the pipes where Totsi grew up. They bring you into his life and give you a real sense of what he is feeling. This made the movie flow very nicely and I never felt like it was dragging. All in all, I enjoyed this movie very much and would recommend it to anyone that likes a fast passed, well flowing drama.