Chariots of Fire

     This is a movie about two athletes who join in the athletic events for two different reasons. The true story portrayed the story of two athletes from 1920s. First will be  Eric Liddell a devout Scottish christian who runs for the Glory of God and Harold Abrahams an English Jew who runs to overcome the prejudice. This movie showed how surrounding and environmental factors played important roles in motivating people to indulge and work hard to prove themselves. This movie also remind us people do not only involve in sports to get famous but there will be many intense feelings and thoughts deep in their heart.

     In this movie both characters was intrinsically motivated to join and achieve in their respective competitions. Both Liddell and Abrahams had different reasons to motivate them to take part in the running competition. Liddel sees his ability as a gift from god therefore he used his ability without failing even after his sister failed to support him for not being able to attend a prayer in church accidentally. Abraham was motivated as a reaction to antisemitism that he was not happy with. this brought the fire in him to prove himself as an athlete. high level of intrinsic motivation was outstandingly portrayed in the movie when Liddell was pushed by another participant during a competition. Even after falling down Liddell did not give up but have managed to win in that competition. Here I was able to see the ability to overcome the challenge because he was goal directed.
     Another aspect that can be linked and observed was the "Need for Achievement" by McClelland. when all these traits and behaviour was shown by both of the characters. Both of them had a strong need to set and accomplish challenging goals and Takes calculated risks to accomplish their goals.So the strong need for achievement cannot be shown more clearly than this movie. I would link the same incident again when Liddell fell down. It will be impossible for most of the athletes even though they are trained well. There are more than training needed for such incidents to occur.
    Besides that, I could feel took this running as a journey towards self actualisation in Maslow's hierarchy of needs" when he actually says that he feels divinely inspired when running and "I believe that God made me for a purpose. There are also phrases that refers to God he used such as  "But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure." So, he actually use this to achieve self actualisation.
     This movie show that nothing comes easy. More hard work, motivation and sacrifices are needed to shine out.

Grace is Gone

"Grace is gone" is a movie brings an intense feeling to the viewers. I felt the same too. It is a movie about a father who are put in a difficult situation. He is in a situation where he need to convey a message of the death of his wife and the mother of his daughters to them. the movie moves in a way where the father struggles to inform his daughters about the wife being killed in a combat when she was serving in Iraq. Then the story moves how the father deals with his daughter and disclose the matter. He got stuck into a painful trap that he could not share and explain to anyone. It takes a lot for a person to lose their loved one in a split second.                                                                        

  The theory that I could relate the most from watching the movie was the "Five Stages of Loss and Grief". Stanley Phillips the father actually show the signs of "Denial and Isolation". This was clearly shown in the scenes where Phillips was on strong denial. He called his home answer machine to hear his wife Grace's voice. He did also talked to the answering machine saying that he hoped that he should have been deployed rather than her. This clearly shows that he is in denial stage and he did not accept the death of his wife. Isolation was also portrayed in a scene where Phillips stayed at home alone without joining his brother and daughters for lunch. He took that chance to isolate himself and he did also broke down. Another stage will be the "Anger" he was angry with his wife's demise. This can be seen in a scene where he hit his brother because he asked why he still did not revealing about his wife's death to his daughters. Depression was shown in every scenes even during him driving his daughters and in his mother's house where he preferred to stay alone and cried for the lost. The movie also Finally shows the "Acceptance"at the ending of the movie when three of them sat in a beach during a sunset and in another scene where three of them visits the grave of Grace. This symbolically shows that they accepting that the mother is no more.
  In my opinion, this movie shows the struggle one could face in revealing the death of loved ones and handling the lost in a correct way. it made me think the sacrifices that our Army officers are facing because they give importance for our safety. We can only stay in our country peacefully because our Army officers are providing their service for our country. The ending part where the elder daughter Heidi wrote an eulogy an reads it out at her mother's funeral was touching emotionally.

Forget Paris

     Forget Paris is a romantic comedy movie. Watching "Forget Paris" actually was fun and entertaining. It is a movie that bring us the experience of love in real life setting on how love blooms between two random people. The relationship between Mickey a NBA referee and Ellen an airline employee starts in France. This happens because Ellen helps Mickey to relocate his father's casket which went missing. Besides that, Ellen was kind enough to company Mikey for his father's burial because she believed that none should be alone for their loved ones funeral. Here, Mikey had the feelings towards Ellen then he decided to extend his visit to Paris. There both of them spent a wonderful time together. Until they decided to get married and move in togrther.

     I could link the Strenberg's Triangular Theory of love (1986). This is because in different scenes of the movie shows the different types of love. In the beginning they had romantic love which includes passion and intimacy between two of them. It was because they was in a state of love where they did not think about the commitment they should have in a relationship and they just was having a fun time in Paris. Then after a while they got married there was only companionate love because the passion towards each other was reduced ad ca be said absent because both of them are seem to be busy with their own career and Mikey was also away from Ellen most of the time and Ellen was also seem to be busy with her work after she got promoted. The physical and sexual desire towards each other seem to be reduced significantly in the scenes where Ellen was alone at home waiting for arrival of Mickey. Mostly, everyone will have the aim of achieving a consummate love which is very difficult type of love to achieve but it is even harder to to maintain it. Later on in the movie I could see the effort both of them to achieve consummate love.

     In another part of the movie I understood the importance of give and take policy. This is because initially Ellen gave up her job just to be with Mikey and later Mickey took a one year of leave of absence and worked as a car salesmen which he did not like.But here I could sense the ability of both of them in giving in for their partner's happiness. In addition, Mikey did also took care Ellen's father when shes not around even he found that Ellen's father was annoying. Ellen also sent her father away to her brothers place because she understood that Mickey was not happy with hr father around. Here I could see the the give and take policy and understanding between both Ellen and Mickey.
     In a nutshell, this will be a movie that everyone should watch because such incident could happen in anyone's married life. It is how we face and deal with the issues that arise. in a married life there could be a lot of ups and down that might arise unexpectedly. We should not give up on the relationship but we also should work harder to make it work as shown in the movie which ended with a happy ending.

Sybil

     Sybil is a movie which bring the story of a shy and reserved substitute school teacher. she seem to be normal in the initial scenes of the movie then I realised that there is something is wrong in the scene where she broke down in front of her students. Later in the movie when Sybil started to see a psychiatrists Dr Cornelia Wilbur, Sybil the admits that she experiences blackouts. The movie then leads to the scenes where Sybil being diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. There were 13 personalities in Sybil that arises in different timings.

   Sybil seem to be experiencing DID because the trauma she had experienced when she was young. Her mother who was also a mental health patient who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. She tortured little Sybil. Sybil had experienced a painful chilhood where she was abused by her mother. This could be the main reason behind the occurrence of the disorder on Sybil. Sybil tend to change her posture and behavior when she posses different personality. Her body language totally changes into a different manner to portray different personality. There are also personalities disruptive and seem to be dangerous because the tend to break windows, injure herself and attempts to suicide. There was also a part where Sybil has a personality of on infant where the psychiatrist herself could not carry conversation with.

     Another aspect that I have found was the boundary issues between a client and a therapist. In the movie it was controversial to show that a therapist to have a very close relationship where she hugs the client, she shares her seat with her client sand even brought her client Sybil to her home. This actually shows that it is less professional to have such relationship with clients who a therapist dealing with. Besides that, in a scene Dr Wilbur also says that Sybil had brought her an experience where she could fell her motherhood. This seem to be unprofessional to have a very close relationship with a client where it could affect the professional boundaries.

    There were also scenes that in the movie that shows that Sybil was hypnotised to identify what had happened in her childhood and so on. Here, I felt that there might be some issues in trusting the repressed and recovered memories. There might be some incident that could not happened or might be added or some fake memories that could be shared by the client. Therefore, analysing the fact that being share dare seem to be important to prevent some unwanted misunderstandings.
     Although, the story plays a an important role the actress who acted as Sybil performed outstandingly because it is not easy to act in a role that carries such weight to the story and the ability to carry the characters as real as possible shows her dedication and talent very well. This is a movie that could give a person ideas about the actual challenges and the things that a person with DID could experiance and the reasons that could trigger such disorders.

The Sixth Sense

    It is a movie about a little boy (Cole Sear) who could see dead people. It shows the challenges he is facing and his struggles. He was in a situation where he could not share anything about his ability to anyone around him including his mother. So, the mother Lynn Sear was also confused about what is actually going on with her son because there will be scars and bruises will be appearing on her son’s body. Its shows the torturous experience a young boy faces everyday and every second in his life. This then become well after the appearance of Dr Malcom Crowe who is a psychologist that helps Cole to slowly face the issue by slowly being able to talk with the dead people bravely. Then, Cole understands that everyone appearing to him are actually are having unfinished business or wishes that needed to be fulfilled.

    In this movie there are aspects other than the actors’ performance that induces fear such the background music which are scary. The visuals that shows a person who are terribly wounded with half head, dead bodies hanging in the school and scary pale faces. This made the movie scarier.
     Another portion in that movie show that the little boy is in fear and he was shaking terribly depicted the fact that when a person is in fear their body system automatically starts to react for the survival. This is because by reducing body temperature it helps us to be less visible to predators. This was clearly portrayed in the movie to make the viewer to understand the situation clearer.
    Besides that, the relationship that Cole had with his mother also explains the secure attachment that both of them have between them. This can be seen in a scene where Lynn getting mad over Cole for not admitting that he actually took the bumble bee brooch. Actually it was not Cole who took it and he never admits. Lynn asks Cole to leave the dinner table because he was not telling the truth. This is a situation which shows a situation that depicts the situation on the little boy Cole was facing because the mother herself not understanding him. But later after the scene scared Cole will ask the mother whether he can sleep with her and the mother actually says yes and hugs him. Here, secure attachment between a mother and a son can be seen obviously.

     Defence mechanism specifically denial was also included in the movie. Where Dr Malcom Crowe who is actually dead in the shooting incident that happened in his house did not accept the fact but actually roams around and communicate with Cole without knowing that he was already dead. Dr Malcom started to feel that his wife is having an affair and betraying him. This however increases the anger in him and there is a scene that shows Dr Malcom breaking the glass door after seeing his wife with another male.  He only realise in the end that he is actually dead.

On the whole  “The Sixth Sense” are full of suspense!

Whale Rider

This was an inspiring movie that everyone should watch. I made my friends whoever had not watched this movie to watch. This movie brought an intense message that everyone should practice in our daily life. This is a movie that show the importance of the gender equality and gender biasness should be eliminated and never being introduced anymore. This is because there are a lots of unwanted incidents are still happening due to gender biasness and stereotypes that were instilled in us since hundreds of years ago which still being practised. This is really sad. We as human beings need to pay attention on gender equality. Whereas should help women who are gentle and soft who produces all the living human beings to this world.  We should help them to pursue their dreams but not stop them.

In this movie the little girl who acted as Kahu Paikea Apirana had done a phenomenal job. In this movie the immediate aspect that I could connect since the beginning of the movie was on gender and social roles. Paikeas grandfather Koro who is a master he always restrict pai’s behaviour which is adventurous. He always never wanted pai to do stuffs that are only boys should do. Even though he loves Pai he was always in a denial state whenever Pai shows her ability to be a leader because of the gender and social roles that was set years ago and he still follows it. This turned the relationship between a grandfather and a granddaughter into a bitter one.  
Another will be social norms and expectation. The scene where Pai’s grandfather asked her to leave the spot just because she refused to sit behind as her grandfather’s instruction portrays the orthodox social norms in many cultures that actually controls females’ behaviour and activities in example girls should only sit behind on so on. This shows that the cultural beliefs are still strong and not changed according to the time frame where it is not so sensible for now because females started to achieve more than males. Chances should be given too everyone to explore and learn according to their wish. There should be no restrictions, stereotyping and discrimination on females. Another part which made me to think was when the grandfather actually warns paikea not to start the engine of the boat again. I could not actually digest that fact because It is not acceptable anymore because in this era such beliefs that Gender roles are being forced to be followed will not work. Now women are becoming pilots who handles aircrafts why not a boat? This also made me to think twice about the gender and social roles are still being followed in our cultures here in Malaysia.

As a whole “Whale Rider “ should be a must watch movies for growing girls and boys to be inspired and to be learn how to treat everyone fairly without difference in any way. Whereas for grown up people this should be a wakeup call for whoever are still living in a mindset which are no more acceptable in this 21st century.

Strictly Ballroom

This is a movie depicts about people who looks dance in a other level of passion. Here, the story portrays about the challenges a ballroom dancer face. Scott Hastings a ballroom dancer from a family which has history of ballroom dancing and had been trained on ballroom dance since young. He struggles to win the Pan-Pacific Dancing Grand Prix championship because he introduces his own new steps which are not “Strictly Ballroom”. Even Scott’s dancing partner Liz Holt left him and joined with Scott’s rival Ken Railings. After these events he was devastated and was put in a situation where he needs to find another partner to dance with. Scott’s mother was also unhappy with her son’s situation because she worried that Scott will not make it as a champion.

One of the psychological aspects that can be seen in this movie was “Social Influence”. Social influence takes place when a person’s opinion, emotion and behaviours are affected by others. In this movie I could link this to conformity. This can be seen when Scott’s mother started to pressurised Scott to follow the strictly ballroom dancing steps to make sure he wins in the championship. She was also upset and broke down in a point when Scott’s partner Liz left him and joined his rival because Scott is not dancing with the old same step as everyone whereas Scott likes to explore and introduce new steps.  Scott’s mother was also upset because she was worried that he might not be able to follow her footstep and prove himself as a ballroom dancer. The mother also forced Scott to dance using the old ordinary steps and warned not to use his new steps. 

In another part Scott’s father Doug was shown as a person who ruined and failed in his dancing career after he started to introduce unorthodox new dance steps. This was done to make Scott from introducing new steps in the championship but actually it was a plot done by Barry Fife, the conniving president of the Australian Dancing Federation to make Scott to lose in the championship. However, Scott believed the fake story and conforms to the old step just to win in the competition. 
Another concept will be “Love and Attraction” between Scott and Fran a beginner dancer in his parents dance studio. Initially, Scott did not show any kind of attraction because Fran looked very ordinary. Scott started to get attracted to Fran after he found out that she could dance Pasodoble.

 As they started to rehearse together she saw Fran got more confident and she turned to be attractive for him. This can be seen in a scene clearly when Scott and Fran were walking together until they kissed each other. Here I could see that  women’s confidence could also attract a men and eventually will make him to fall in love. 

Gandhi

 This is a movie which everyone should watch. It is about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhi was called as Mahatma because of his anti-war thought. He always will prefer non violence. Even though he followed anti-war method he still achieved his goal especially getting India its independence. He was absolute inspiration for lots of people around the world.

 He was always disagree towards prejudice and discrimination towards Indians, He always insisted equality among people to create a peaceful nation. A scene from the movie where he was asked to leave the first class compartment even though he had the ticket. However he was adamant to leave and he was thrown out of the train. This ignited the though in Gandhi to start a Non violent protest campaign because he understood there are discrimination towards Indians. After facing a lot of hurdles Gandhi reached his goal because he made the government to make some changes on rights of Indians.

Gandhi was also a strong men who are persuasive. He always follows the non violent method to persuade people around him. This can be related when there were fight between Hindus and Muslims in India, Gandhi begin fasting. This was a way to indicate his unhappiness towards the issue. It however worked and the fight was stopped. He always wanted an united nation without any differences between the population but however he agreed to separate the parts of India to prevent Civil War as threatened by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. 

I was also astonished with the leadership quality of Mahatma Gandhi which is outstanding. He always apply democratic leadership style where it ,mostly provides a positive outcome. Gandhi always open to feedback and ideas from his friend Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and both of them shares their decision making process. This made Gandhi as a successful leader and he always give importance and respect to others opinion too. He never thought that he is the leader and treated others simply.

 However, towards the end of the movie it was quiet unhappy to see that after a lots of hard work and sacrifices Mahatma Gandhi did there were still rivalry among Indians from different religions such as Hindus and Muslims. It was disturbing to see the rivalry between citizens of India are attacking each other. Gandhi was very unhappy with the issue going on and he started fasting until he the commotion stops. Here I would say that we can achieve something big without being aggressive and violent. We should always choose a nonviolent method to make some difference around us. When we realie this there will be no need to hurt others or take revenge to achieve anything. As the saying goes "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind" we must understand this to
 maintain a harmonious country. The messages that Mahatma Gandhi conveyed to us trough
 words and behaviour itself should be practised by all of us.  

Running on Empty

     This will be a story about an unusual family that we would rarely hear about. The "Popes" a family  who changes their identity and place they stay a lot. That was because the parents involved in an anti-war activity. Living in such condition needs a lot of courage especially for the younger ones to understand what are the real issues going on and beware of the problem that may arise.

     Here I would say the parents also played their roles well. They did not give up on their life even they are in a dangerous situation. They managed to find a job to make the family survive and to move on with life. This really has instilled me with an important value to be strong. I would reflect this to myself because I will mostly feel demotivated to small issues that occurs in my life. Here the family are in a serious situation where they might get caught anytime, but they still enjoy they life more than people who are living freely. This can be seen when they celebrate Annie Pope's birthday together as a family.

     Another highlight that I would mention here will be the spirit they have in them as a family where they believe they must be working as a unit and the fact they need each other to live. This is another value or example that I think all of us should instill in ourselves the important aspect which is the unity as a family. Besides the connection they had among themselves, Danny did try to go and meet his maternal grandmother who took care of him when he was young, here we can sense the love he has in him towards his grandmother. 

     Danny is also an important character in the movie. River Phoenix portrayed the role of Danny well. Danny who is a teenager or in a stage of identity vs role confusion by Erik Erikson. Danny are really trying to fit in a society but he was finding it hard because the hardship he was experiencing changing his personality frequently. This is a major stage where a person try to learn and adopt living as an adult. It is also the stage where a person tend to make independent decision regarding their relationship, career and family. Danny also had an intimate relationship going on with his schoolmate.

    Besides that, he was unable to form his personality due to his multiple migration to different places with different names. He also found it is hard to pursue his dream towards music without his parents knowing to Juilliard because they need his transcript from his previous schools. Here, Danny turned little rebellious because his father did not allow him to pursue his dream and he was forced to another identity which was not his. Hence, Danny had a role confusion too. However, at the end his father let him to be independent.

    Even though, Danny was not happy with his father's decision or behavior he still respected his father's advise and followed his instruction knowing the father will not be wrong and will not take a wrong decision. Here, it shows that we should respect our parents even we do not agree with them because they are more experienced than us.

AWAKENINGS

     This is a movie based on a novel written by Dr Oliver Sacks acted by two legendary actor Robbin Williams as Dr Malcolm Sayer and Robert De Niro  Leonard Lowe. In my opinion this movie really have taught me the value of life because there are a lot of people who are catatonic. They are actually unable to lead a normal life as a normal human beings due to immobility and they are dependent on others for everything. So, I realised that when we have the capability to fulfil our need without depending on others but we still complain on small matters that bothers us. Watching this movie made me to have the sense of gratitude towards everything I have.

     Two main characters in this story which are Dr Sayer and Leonard Lowe. The relationship both of them portrayed towards each other was more than a relationship between a doctor and a patient. 

     Another part which was very inspiring was Dr Sayer’s dedication and high motivation towards helping the patients who have been catatonic for long period of time. Dr Sayer also tried to talk to another doctor to actually try to administer a drug called L-Dopa which makes the patient’s condition better. Here I could relate McClelland Learned Needs Theory here to Dr Sayer’s passion towards his job. Need for achievements can be clearly see in Dr Sayer’s character which he has a strong need to set and accomplish challenging goals. Takes calculated risks to accomplish their goals. Dr Sayer took risk when he administers high amount of L-Dopa for Leonard without other doctors knowing. Likes to receive regular feedback on their progress and achievements as we can see from the movie where he waits for the feedbacks from the nurses and fellow doctors. He also often likes to work alone and he do not really mixes with anybody else and even when Eleanor a nurse from the same department as Dr Sayer asked for coffee out and Dr Sayer actually did not go.

In another prospect we can see Leonard’s character after he regained mobility. Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory can be linked to Leonard. Physiological needs and Love and belonging when Leonard fell in love with a young lady who takes care of her father who are in the same hospital. This clearly shows that Leonard tried to fulfil his physiological and love and belonging needs. Next, we can see esteem needs where Leonard tries to be rebellious because he was not treated as a normal person who are able to walk around freely he feels that he was not given respect and not valued by others. This shows that Leonard had inferiority complex in him and he even fought with Dr Sayer who actually gave him a second chance after 30 years to live and feel a normal life again. Leonard also made others in the same detention ward to be rebellious and created an issue. These incidents clearly shows the need of freedom and independence in Leonard.

     The highlight in this movie I found interesting was when all the patients who got up after being administered with the medication. They started to live and enjoy their life as a normal human beings. This will ensure us to value every small fun elements in our life and enjoy every moment with GRATITUDE. In the ending of the movie Dr Sayer also started to value Eleanor’s love towards him.

Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Cinema Paradiso (1988)

     Cinema Paradiso is an Italian drama movie written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. The film also bagged several awards including an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This is a film which could be close to the heart for people who had a guider or role model other than their own family members. This can be clearly seen in this movie. The relationship between Salvatore @ Toto  and Alfredo who shares a bond beyond father and son bond even they are not related biologically. Besides that, little Toto even endangered his life and saved Alfredo in the fire accident occurred in the cinema. Where Alfredo saved Toto from being punished by his mother for not buying milk and used the money given to watch movie. These small events actually clearly indicated the relationship both of them actually having. Alfredo is almost a father figure to Toto, whereas Alfredo actually sees Toto as a son. 

     This movie clearly display one of stages in our life which is Generativity Vs Stagnation by Erik Erikson. This can be clearly seen when Alfredo always wanted Toto to succeed in life and never wanted Toto to end up either in theatre or the village. There are several scenes and incidents depicts these. First can be seen when Alfredo always prevents Salvatore @ Toto from entering the projection room even he knows that little Toto has passion towards movies. But when Toto really insisted to learn how to handle the projector. Alfredo taught him to handle it. Alfredo always wanted Toto to achieve a better place in his life. To an important extent Alfredo did even stopped Elena from meeting Toto so that Toto would leave the village to pursue his dream towards movie making and made Toto to hold on a promise that he will not return back to the village and if he would Alfredo never will meet him. This actually will be a reason Salvatore to be a successful filmmaker. Alfredo actually knew that if  Toto stayed in the village to pursue his love with Elena there will be no opportunity for Toto to work towards his film dream. This absolutely will be an out most example to portray if  person who are in the 7th stage of Erik Erikson's  psychosocial stage which is "Generativity vs Stagnation". Alfredo actually played an important role in producing a talented filmmaker to the society.

     Furthermore, the bond between Toto and Alfredo also shows a secure attachment. Other than the incident where Toto saved Alfredo from a fire accident where Alfredo lost his eyesight. To take such a move a person need a lot of courage but the highlight will be a little boy doing it. This clearly explains the attachment both of them sharing. Another incident we can realise the attachment will be when Toto obeyed to Alfredo's advise not to come back to the village. It takes a big amount of trust for a person to follow a person's advise. Moreover, Toto even left his mother and sister in the village and obeyed to Alfredo's advise.
    
     In a nutshell, this movie actually a movie could make a person to realise that not only biological relationship could play an essential role in a person's life and success. In one word Cinema Paradiso is simply mesmerising.