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.