The Great Debaters

Set in the 1930's, The Great Debaters is a movie portraying a debate team from an all black college in Texas that wins its way to make a name for itself, culminating with an invitation to debate at Havard University. The movie was inspired by the story of the debate coach of Wiley College, Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington), who taught his students to use words in the ring of social justice, instead of violence. Faced with racial slanders, prison threats and even lynching, the coach encourages his students to see God as their judge and their only enemy being that of not speaking the truth.

Overall it is an entertaining movie, no doubt parading a strong cast. However its weakest point lay where it should have had its strongest: the debates themselves are cliche and predictable. For a movie boasting the title of The Great Debaters, it was disappointing to watch the young team discuss issues like welfare, civil disobedience, violence and anti-capitalism (all being in favor of the above), using emotion to appeal to the audience, which is the first thing taught NOT to do when debating. Instead of basing the debates on reason and evidence, the movie focused on feelings and victim-hood, contradicting the underlying principle of speaking the truth. Feelings are relative; the truth is not. It would have been better if the intrinsic dignity of man was highlighted, rather than the tears of a black mother when she looks into her child's eyes, who is down-trodden with hunger, for the same holds true for a white mother whose child is hungry.

In short, debate should be objective and reasonable, not subjective and hyperbolized with emotion. It is an intellectual process of critical thinking -- something Hollywood's techniques of dumbing everything down for the big screen has yet to prove it can accomplish.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman: big names remaking a classic tale dripping with blood, betrayal and revenge. The new film, due in theatres this month, is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Benjamin Barker (Depp) is a carefree barber living in England. A wicked judge, played by Rickman, tries to seduce Barker's wife and in turn has the barber exiled to Australia. When Barker finally returns to England under the phony name of Sweeney Todd, he has only one thing on his mind: revenge. He doubles up with Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), a pie shop owner who knew Barker and his family´s history from the years past. The two form a pact in which Todd slits the throats of his unlikable clients and Lovett disposes of them in her minced meat pies -- no doubt an improvement on British cuisine.

Characterized usually as a "musical thriller", the movie is a cinematic version of the broadway musical composed by Stephen Sondheim. Box office sales will show if the Hollywood rendition has the same success as its theatrical counter-part. Being that graphic design can create the perfect murder, soaked in blood and gore, the movie version of Sweeney Todd will most likely take out the "music" and highlight the "thriller" in its description. Would be recommendation: go light on the sweets and popcorn...

JUNO

The movie Juno is a film about a teenager named Juno MacGuff (played by Ellen Page), who after having sex with one of her classmates finds out she is pregnant. She decides against an abortion and simultaneously becomes the laughing stock of her highschool, as she battles to confront the un-expected pregnancy. Her quick tongue and witt, ultimately help her in deciding who are to be the parents of her child.

It is interesting to think what would have happened, if this screenplay had been proposed to directors in Hollywood fifty or sixty years ago. What would the creators of Gone With the Wind, Roman Holiday, or Casablanca have done with a protagonist like, Juno: a pregnant teenager contemplating decisions like abortion and adoption? Hard to say who they would they have cast. Debbie Reynolds or Ingrid Bergman? Audrey Hepburn or Katharine Hepburn for that matter? She was a bit more feisty...

Juno is obviously and unfortunately a movie of our generation. And although her decision to not abort her baby is a good one, I find it hardly believable that she is capable of choosing the "perfect set of parents" for her unborn child. How does she know what good parents are if she is sleeping with her classmates, just for the fun of it? Shouldn't her mother have taught her otherwise? But today nevertheless, with a cute remark and a cheeky attitude, you can become famous on the big screen -- unlike back in the day, when feminine ladies and strong beauties were the stars of the show.

BELLA

Winner of the "People's Choice Award" at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, Bella is a movie that is sweeping hearts across America and one can only hope the same as it heads for European Cinemas.

It is a film directed by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde starring and co-directed by the famous Mexican actor Eduardo Verastegui. The film takes place in New York city where an international soccer star named Jose (Verastegui) encounters a series of events prohibiting him from signing a multi-million dollar contract with a distinguished soccer club, consequently ending his career. He begins working as a chef in his brother's restaurant and there he meets Nina (Tammy Blanchard), a waitress who has recently found out she is pregnant. She resolves to have an abortion, however due to Jose's kindness she changes her mind, deciding to keep the child.

Some have called Bella a "disguised anti-abortion tract" whereas others have described it as being a tale about St. Joseph, himself. The Smithsonian Latino Center called it a "Poignant movie [...] that is a universal story of friendship, family, struggle and triumph in the face of the unexpected." Taking these opinions at face value, one could only hope that a movie such as this, which protrays values such as these, would be an interest and success in the public sphere even if it would cause a woman not to have an abortion...