FAM Movie Review : Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Genre : Drama | Biography

Our rating : 9/10

Director : Terry George

Cast : Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo and Joaquin Phoenix

Hotel Rwanda by Terry George is based on true historic events which speaks about one of worst genocide occurred in Country of Rwanda during 90's and how a simple man Paul Rusesabagina with a act of courage , determination and great risk he took to save thousands of innocent life's from the massacre . Paul Rusesabagina( Don Cheadle ) is a gentle polite and a caring house manager in a Four star Hotel Mille Collines in Rwanda . Its a place inhabited by Two race groups Hutus and tutsis who hate one another so badly due to their racial discrimination and disputes over Power. Paul is survived by his wife Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo) and children, hel is a hutu by birth but his wife belong to Tutsi race .Though the tensions were high in the region , normal life of people along with Pauls life was moving smoothly without any rough patches until one fine day where news hits the region that the Rwanda President who used to support the rebellious Hutu was bombed with the plane he was traveling provoking war between Hutu Militia and Tutsi . Hutu militia radio propaganda blasts out messages of hate toward the Tutsis, which served a catalyst to this genocide.

The conditions in Rwanda changed so drastically that the people were slaughtered everywhere Just with their differences in identity resulting day to day life a living hell on earth with no guarantee for their survival. Its Hutus are on majority and Tutsis are on their run for Life. Paul being a Hutu is on a safer ground for Hutu Militia is targeting only Tutsi people and killing them mercilessly.Paul realizes the situation that his wife and children could be in danger decides to move to his hotel along with few of his tutsi neighbors who took shelter in Pauls house for safety. Mille Collines being a four star hotel occupied mostly by foreign nationals was given a UN Security patrol round the clock to safeguard them. Boss of this Hotel decides to leave the country temporary for the mounting pressure in the region and hands over complete responsibility to Paul for managing the hotel .Paul brought all the refugees to the hotel and gave them the much needed shelter while UN Troops protecting the gates of the hotel. He also paid the bribe to one of Hutu militia official when he discovers that Paul is helping the Tutsi. Things take a turn when UN calls back his force along with evacuating only the foreign national living there leaving the others orphaned.

The one last hope for the refugees also diminished with no help outside arrived. More and More people young n old start coming to the hotel to take shelter and Paul invites them all whole heartedly even though the hotel doesn't have much room to accommodate all .The day arrives when UN Start their evacuation plan ,that feels so bad to see when the white people leave the hotel with act of selfishness leaving the other struggle there who has every reason to live in this earth just like any other. Their Hope , trust all vanished and its now only Paul whom they can trust. Its is also sad to see the reluctance of western world to help the people in this situation and No care attitude of the outside world which resulted in a million deaths in a span of three months. UN Reporter who stays at the hotel shoots the horrific incidents slaughtering of Tutisi people by Hutu .When paul gets to know about it informs reporter that the video might help getting outside intervention when telecast-ed , the reply from the reporter was " "If people see this footage, they'll say, 'Oh my God, that's horrible,' and then go on eating their dinners." which was touching , questioning our inner soul leaving us ashamed for being silent to the situation which demands people attention.With most of damage done resulting in half of Rwanda population dead , UN Force return Rwanda to help with pressure form various embassy around the world. Paul also manages to get hold of top official in Hutu Militia for help with evacuation plan from the killing zone. The rest of the movie is about how Paul manage to save life's of many by working with the UN Officials n Hutu militia person and shows how far he goes to protect these so many innocent life's from the hands of Blood thirsty rebels.

Terry George manages to convey this historic events with perfection, one of worst genocide world had ever seen. The toughest is to make biographical move and Terry George perfectly crafted this movie while he also managed to avoid all the bloody graphic contents of the massacre carefully. It doesn't create much impact on the movie though he delivered the message brilliantly which he intended to..This movie provokes lots of questions within us , asking every soul living on earth to realize how shameful we were to turn our back when people were longing for help with the one last bit of hope in their eye's . But saying that , this movie is definitely a honor and tribute to the one brave hero who stepped in when everyone stepped out. No wonder why the title quote of the movie says " When whole world closed its eye , Paul opened his harm to help the needy " . Its these situation which brings the real Hero Out. its a act of humanity , selflessness which doesn't come much easily without courage.FAM Salutes the real Hero Paul Rusesabagina and Mourns for many Lives lost on this genocide . Don Cheadle has lived to the character , did a splendid job with his onscreen performance. Don did work with th real Paul Rusesabagina to understand his life better and the importance of the events which definitely could have helped him greatly. The scene when he shivers after seeing thousands of dead bodies near the river all over the road was touching , disturbing , a tear dropping one.

FAM Punch Line : Biographical movies are always had to be watched to better understand the world we are living in. This movie will touch you by heart , disturb you so much that it will take some time to digest it. An excellent historic film beautifully narrated down to the finest details with much amazing , mind blowing onscreen performance by Don Cheadle leaving you with one hell of a unique experience which will stay with you for ever.This is one among few movies which can create a great impact in your life just like Motorcycle diaries , Schindler List leaving you to see things around in a different perspective. Don't wait , if you haven't seen this masterpiece yet. FAM Certified Must watch Movie

FAM Movie Review : Departures ( 2008 )

Orginal Title : Okuribito ( Japanese )

Genre : Drama | Romance | Classic | Musical

Our Rating : 9.5/10

Director : Yojiro Takita

Casting : Masahiro Motoki , Ryoko Hisosue , Tsutomu Yamazaki


Departures by Yojiro Takita is one of finest musical drama ever made and will remain as a unique masterpiece in Japanese Film Archives. No wonder why it won so many awards including academy award for best Foreign language film on 81st Oscar ( 2009 ) . Movie plot focus on three main characters Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a cellist in Tokyo , his wife Mika (Ryoko Hirosue) and his new boss new boss Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki). Daigo is a middle class man who works full-time playing cello in a orchestra and his wife Mika who also works part-time to help Daigo financially. Everything goes well until one day when his Orchestra is disbanded leaving him Jobless. . He also admits to his well understanding supportive wife that he has struck up in debt to purchase his new cello and that losing his job has a toll on him to payback the debt. With no other option left, he sells the instrument to settle up things and they decide to move back to his hometown near Yamagata to live in a house which was left behind by his recently deceased mother..The house which they are going to live was used as a coffee bar run by his dad who abandoned her mother when Daigo was just six years old. This had a very deep impact on daigo leaving a scar in his heart with much hatred towards his dad.

Finally they movie into the house were daigo grew up during his childhood days. Daigo's past memories haunts him for every breath he spends in this old house. Things seems to settle and Mika seem to adapt well with the new environment with Daigo forced to look out for a job in this town to run their day to day life. Daigo while going through daily newspaper , reads a Job offer news wanting a Assistant of Departures ,along with a note that the job doesn't require any educational qualification or previous experience to apply. Daigo thinking it as a mail or Courier services job which goes well with a name Departures takes interest on this position and travels to meet up the employer Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki). His first meet with sasaki gets interesting when daigo gets to know that the paper ad infact was a mistake and that the job was actually for a assistant to Sasaki for working as a encoffiner who performs encoffinment a ceremony that prepares the deceased for a peaceful departure from this world with a curious combination of funeral rites and embalming procedures on the freshly deceased which involves bathing the body , grooming the corpse by performing makeup , dress them up with new ones, to prepare them to look like living so the deceased family can have a one last glimpse of the person in a way they want to see them before buried or burned. The procedure involves much patience , gesture , precise technique and more importantly should empathize with the deceased family by giving the much needed respect to the corpse though not alive and they are actually employed by Undertaker in local town .Sasaki as soon as their first meet with no questions to ask immediately appoints him as his assistant with a huge salary offer along with paying a token advance even without checking much details about him . Though Daigo has no interest to take up this job which no other person would ever take nor he his mentally prepared to work as a encoffiner decides to take it up initially because of his financial instability and immediate need of job to keep Mika Happy. He hides to mika about his nature of job convincing her that he is working in a marketing firm.Daigo starts to play the cello again, the one he had left in the house as a child making the audience travel through the music to their childhood memories.

He starts to work with Sasaki at various scenes for performing last funeral rites . Daigo who is currently a encoffiner in training slowly learns the art from his master 'n' boss Sasaki takes up the calls single handed as days progress. Things go well until the day when his wife discovers about his job as a encoffiner requests daigo to stop continuing his current job thinking it could affect their pride and family name. Daijo now in a helpless position where he has taken up the job whole heartedly as a carrier for he feels it not just a service performed to deceased person but more of a spiritual journey it embarks and he feels connected to the deceased helping their family express their grief. This changed his perception on how he looked at this job initially. So he refuses the request from mika , leaving her no option to depart to her mother's hometown. Many days pass by , many emotional scenes daigo come across through his journey as a encoffinner while attending various funerals making it a part of his life. In a fine winter day , he finds his wife returned back to live with him , but still with a same condition to stop working as a encoffiner. While they are in midst of discussion , he gets a call to prepare the body of Yamashita's mother, who ran a local bath house. She is well known to daigo from childhood and he personally deals with grief mourning for his loss while performing the service to her in-front of her family members and mika . This event changes Mika once for all and starts to respect her husband job. While things settle down for daigo , mika receives a telegram reporting about diago's father death in a nearby town. First diago hesitate to visit him for the hatred he had on him , later convinced by his wife and coworker he travels to visit his father for performing final rights. That's when he comes to know that his father was living single through his life time after the separation and that he was still carrying the memories of his family till his last breath. Touched by the love his father had and realizing his great loss, performs his father funeral service himself personally with tears in his eyes all over leaving us heavy hearted.

Yojiro Takita brilliance is seen allover the film especially choosing a script which is very hard to make , difficult to present in a way its intended to. But Yjiro definitely sculpted it out beautifully with a astonishing screenplay. A Great applause for the performance of Masahiro Motoki who had delivered his acting to perfection scene by scene. More than the movie its the music which will make your heart melt through , Simply amazing and Mesmerizing .There are few scenes where the music would speak up rather then the dialogues from the cast especially the Track in below Link is mind blowing and for sure a melody to hear. Am sure the movie wouldn't have been in a place where its now without the perfect blending of right music in .

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdhjHAGFQH8&feature=related
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiyFeT0Tpkk&feature=related
3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72UHlQ4TyHA (Departures (Soundtrack) - 19 Okuribito (Ending) )

The last 10 minutes of the movie , especially when Daigo discovers a gravel stone held tightly by his dad during funeral service is one hell of a touching scene were you couldn't help yourself crying it out. Its guaranteed that it will bring tears on any kind of person watching it. Overall the movie covers the great things about a life and death , the Japanese tradition followed during funeral services and the life of a encoffiner with the great respect , pride involved on their job even though they are dealing with dead corpse. Director definitely sends out a strong message that there is no job called a bad job for every service they provide will be much needed by all now or later...Respect and to treat everyone equally.

FAM Punch Line : If there is one movie which can create a great emotional impact on viewers , then it would be it. This is definitely a smooth , soothing , melancholic , Touching , emotionally attracting movie which will haunt you for ever. It would be a sin not watching this movie for missing one of all time great film ever created. Watch it , feel connected and Share my joy i had while watching this film . FAM Certified Must watch Movie

FAM Movie Review : The Hunger Games (2012)

Genre : Sci-Fi | Action | Thriller

Our Rating : 7/10

Director : Gary Ross

Cast : Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth

The Hunger games Directed by Gary Ross is a engaging Sci-Fi Action Thriller based on Suzanne Collins's popular series of American novels called young adults Plot revolves around Katniss Everdeen ( Jennifer Lawrence ) a young girl in 20's who is chosen for 74th annual Hunger games league which is a survival of fittest reality game show where only one Contender emerges alive as a winner . Set forth in the near future , Its about the citizens of Panem's 12 suffering districts where two individual from both sex in every district between 16-24 age are chosen by a lot system and sent to Capital State where the president would host a game titled Hunger Games every year. There are total of 24 people male 'n' female individuals who are sent to a killing zone and are made to fight each other till death .The Games are a punishment invented by the Capitol of Panem for the 12 districts whose rebels fought against Capitol rule which was crushed more than 74 years ago .So to aviod war , prevail peace these games are hosted every year by the President -Capital of Panem , which is more or less a indirect mode of punishing the people from the districts for their uprising.

Katniss is from District 12 , she volunteers to the game when her young sister was selected from the lot to participate in 74th annual hunger games. Katniss is good with using bow 'n' arrow , lives in a village where people are deprived , poor whose main source of food is hunting. She along with her male counterpart Peeta Mellark ( Josh Hutcherson ) travel to the capital to face the much stronger representatives from other districts. All the members are greeted well with a VIP Treatment and they are trained there with survival skills for a span of four days before they are taken to the actual fighting zone which is a dense forest completely monitored and everything inside the forest controlled by a control room under the supervision of Seneca ( Wes Bentley ) . What happens during the training days , Will they survive the game , Love blossoms between Peeta and Katniss but only one can come out alive , who will sacrifice for their love , How well Kaitniss use her archery skill to come across the strong odds will be the finishing part of the movie.

Though The hunger games doesn't create a huge attention in Box office , its definitely a very good entertaining movie from start to end. Gary Ross definitely did the best bringing out a movie with hardly no or few logic errors and the CG Works definitely deserves a applause. Screenplay was so good that you will be surprised to note that you are almost at end of the movie , Runs in a gradual phase and never felt dragged. Though it involves Gladiatorial fights and killing , it doesn't create a sense of uneasiness in watching it and care was taken to avoid most of graphic contents which can impact the viewers and making it viewable to audience of any age. Thus said it did not effect the movie in anyway. It was Kaitniss allover and she takes the movie on her shoulder totally. Definitely awesome performance by Jennifer and as well all the crew who worked in this movie.

FAM Punch Line : Its not too best in its genre , but that said its not underrated too. This movie is definitely watchable and for sure would satisfy audience who like sci-fi action flicks. The important thing is that the movie will not drag itself through its long run leaving the audience with a pleasant experience worth spend of their valuable time. Try it and have fun. A Must watch in High Def.

FAM Movie Review : Angel Heart (1987)

Genre : Thriller | Mystery | Horror

Our Rating : 8/10

Director : Alan Parker

Cast : Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro and Lisa Bonet

Angel Heart directed by Alan Parker is one of Best Mystery Thriller among other movies in same genre. Plot of this movie revolves around two Main characters Harry Angel ( Mickey Rourke ) and Louis Cyphere ( Robert De Niro ). Film Sets back in 1950's , were Harry Angel who is a Private detective been hired by an wealthy individual Louis Cyphere to find a Missing Person who was also a band singer named Johnny Favorite, for Louis has some unfinished business which he wants to close it off with Johnny Favorite. Rourke takes up the job , starts to investigate about this missing person from every records available , soon finds himself in a deep trouble as he starts to unearth many details about Johnny Favorite. Started as a normal investigation , gradually develops into a strange missing person case with lots of hidden mysterious and dark past.

Angel starts to realizes that this is not just a missing person case , but something very strange masked behind it. He soon finds himself stuck into a trail of dead leads where he himself becomes a primary suspect of every murder which he did not commit. Thinking something fishy , he refuses to continue the job where Robert de niro immediately raises his fee to 5K Dollars which is a huge sum on 50's . As any other person would do and that not to miss a chance , angel decide to continue the case for being the huge fees put upon him by the client . Though its a tough path he travels while he investigates about J.F , he happen to find Johnny Fav gal friend , daughter , Band member Friend who are also linked with a World of Black Magic , Wodoo and performing strange rituals. No sooner they are interviewed by Angel , they are been Murdered by someone , mostly by a person who is following him for a while. Puzzled with the happenings around him , it becomes more personal now to find whats going on and why he is been marked as a victim for a case which he is leading. What would he do to get out of this situation , why are people been killed around him , Who is Louis Cyphere , why exactly he is behind Johnny F ,and where actually is Johnny Favorite will be a thrilling finish of the movie with a very much unexpected twist at the End.

Alan Parker has directed one of a best Supernatural \ Paranormal investigation Thriller Movie of all time. The film is adapted from the novel Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg and alan did complete justice to Williams writing giving him much needed attention to detail by bringing the characters live in big screen. Screen play was awesome and BGM at few scenes were mind blowing sending chills to the spine. Robert De Niro Performance is unquestionable for he is a master of art. In this Movie especially with a strange black Suit along with a Deep Strong Tone perfectly fits the character he played. I guess this is sure one of his unique performance in a different Role. Robert De Niro, Charlotte , Lisa Bonet and all the cast were excellent and did their best to perfection. Alan Parker work is much appreciated for blending a superb Horror movie which started as a normal thriller genre. Especially the twist at the end will definitely make it one of a best Mind bending Movie. Watch out for Stunning acting by Rob De Niro and a astonishing onscreen performance by Rourke.

My Favorite Lines from the movie

Harry Angel: You're crazy. I know who I am. You're trying to frame me. You're trying to frame me. Cyphre, I know who I am. You murdered them people. I never killed nobody. I didn't kill Fowler, and... and I didn't kill Toots, and I didn't kill Margaret, and I didn't kill Krusemark, I didn't kill no-one!
Louis Cyphre: I'm afraid you did, Johnny

FAM Punch Line : This movie will be a definite treat to watch especially for those who like Fight Club , Ninth gate ,Seven , Devils advocate Movies. A very good investigation thriller which can easily take its place at your favorite DVD Collection. Its a kind of horror movie but don't expect ghosts to walk out in park and a thriller movie which delivers the thrill more than what you expected. Overall a different movie in its genre to watch out far.