The Final Word

Give me freedom
Give me fire
Give me reason
Take me higher

And for the reason that I was naive enough to believe this to be the spirit of the FIFA Football World Cup 2010, I am a disappointed man today. 12th July 2010 (11th for those who chronologically "happen" after India), is a black day in all of Sports and Sporting events. Spain, the Champions from Euro 2008, the team with heavyweights like Casillas, Fabregas, Villa and Torres, the team who's dominance in possession of the football in the semi-finals sent home the Mighty Germans, became WORLD CHAMPIONS. As my friend painfully reminded me, history does not record HOW but just WHAT happened. For this reason, I want to pen this down, that Spain won the match and the championship; but they behaved not in the least like a champion side.

Today; Spain may have won the greatest prize in the football world; but the football world lost something - Honor.

There are not many occasions where one would usually consider using a sentence which has both "spaniards" and "cowards" in the same line; but when playing negative football for a good two hours is the only way of winning, the sentence forms itself. It was a big stage. People were nervy. The anxiety rushes out often as aggression. But the teams that made it to the very top of the best of the best in the footballing world, they are expected to know beyond pushing the next guy down to get possession of the ball.

Oranje; was a color that neutralized the Spanish advances and launched a few good attacks of their own during the course of the match. However, when one team gets showered with Yellow cards and free-kicks being awarded to the poorest actor swooning to the ground from the other team, one starts thinking. What about winning with dignity? After posing around with piss-poor on-field attitude the Spanish team managed every dirty trick in the book. However, one wonders how much of their attitude won the game for them; for the Hollanders despite holding fair-play as a virtue, managed to survive 118 minutes with their heads above the water. What a ridiculous moment it was, when the coach kept signaling demanding a penalty kick just as three of the Spanish players just fell faking consecutively. Incidentally, the man who scored the only and winning goal for Spain was someone who faked a fall just to promptly get up and push another player deliberately to the ground. He deserved a Red card for that. But he has become Spain's biggest hero.

Of course, there was Arjen Robben; on the other hand. He who knew that something had been set irrevocably on its path when he blinked and shot a moment too late. It must have been a sinking feeling to know that between him and Casillas, he would have won. That was the turning point of this match. Not the second such attempt where Puyol was dragging Robben by his waist to the ground and was not even awarded a free kick. Oh wait; Robben was awarded something immediately after - a Yellow Card.

The sheer number of Yellow Cards is an indicator of how surprisingly one-sided the tough-justice of the referee seems to be. While the Spainiards seem to be excellent negotiators talking their way out of offenses; any hint of dissent from the Dutch got them booked. And the unkindest cut of all, there was a red-card as well; again for an excellent piece of acting from a good Spanish actor. I was transported to 2006; where another Red Card brought about an abrupt unfair end to a great career that deserved a second World Title that year. Down to Ten-men, the Neds showed courage and it was no Dutch Courage; for one of the best plays where the Spaniards could not do anything about the passes in place for nearly a minute. They looked strong and seemed to suggest that if any team can come back from a man down and win the match; it was them. But history takes a different course; again.

My friend pointed out that I always have the problem of saying that some other team deserved the victory when they had lost. It was Kahn's Germany in 2002, Zizou's France in 2006 and Oranje in 2010. However, this year is different from the others. The Italian side that won the title last time was a champion side to boot with some of the best players in the world. They could have won the title any given day and nobody would have been surprised. I have a problem with the way France was deprived of an opportunity to have a level playing field; but Italians flexed their strength. But tonight's final is different for the best player on the field was someone who was constantly being hit, kicked, elbowed, crotched, pushed and shoved by different members from the other side. The better team looked down and cried; knowing that history would see them as a statistical anomaly and nothing more. That they would be the only team to have reached the finals thrice without winning even a single title. And that is what will become of them.

However, I saw something else happen too. When we started watching the match, there were three people out of the four in the group supporting the Spanish team and I was a sore Oranje thumb. By the end of the match, there were three who were supporting Holland and the fourth was apologetic for the way that Spain won. It is definitely not a freak incident. I am sure that there are a lot of fans across the globe who "turned" on the guys that they were told they should be supporting. And that is something that the generation that we belong to will remember, silently, of course; but it shall not be forgotten. Future will look back at this fact as a minor footnote. For I said, history only cares about things that did happen. And we will carry this tangible, organic, perishable information that greatness was denied to a team when they had deemed perfectly worthy of it. A few million fans richer, Holland will have to look at their strategies. The Spanish team, the world Champions, will have to look into their souls; if they have any.

I end this post here; hoping that four years down the line in Brazil; things are done in a different way. In a way where true sportsmanship and skill is meted out with its due reward and success.

Until then,
it is I, Hoping.
saravanan mani

Dr Strangelove; or How I stopped worrying and started loving the bomb

When I heard a lot of people rating this as one of the, if not the best movie ever seen; I was wondering what was so special about it. But watching this movie was the most-shockingly real film experience I have had this year; and maybe all-time. More on that later. First off, I have always been a fan of Stanley Kubrik's craft. But I have always had a feeling that his movies had an unwatchable quality about them. Of course, it was intense viewing. But the best movies in the world are those which pass quickly like a bullet while subtly pervading your thought process for a long time. The Matrix movies did that (the first more than any other). Jurassic Park, for all its simple-minded conception, did that. Jaws did that. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind did that. Most of Woody Allen's film, do that. However, Kubrik's films are not known for this quality. Clockwork Orange was twisted as twisted can be. 2001: A Space Odessey is almost a prophetic film. Eyes Wide Shut is a meditation in perversion. However, all these movies take themselves too seriously for the viewer to have an unobstrusive sight of what is going on in the story. I like the fact that Kubrik can work on such a vast canvas while other "big name" directors are stuck with the same frigging theme for decades (*cough* James Cameroon *cough*). However, none of his movies made an effort to "connect" with the audience; except perhaps The Shining.

This was my opinion, until I saw Dr Strangelove. Please do not get put off by the most boring five minutes in all film history (exaggerating) just after an impressive start. The movie takes a little time to heat up. What follows is perhaps the darkest of black comedies as well as a realistic and possible tragedy of the infinite human capacity to screw things up. The disclaimer on the top of the film is from the US Air Force assuring that the events depicted in the movie cannot happen in real life (due to the precautions they have taken). If you can feel a nervous undertone to that voice, don't be surprised. For this is definitely the most dangerously "real" film not for no reason. Many things depicted here are, and I quote from another excellent Anti-War film, The Men Who Stare at Goats, More of this is true than what you might imagine. The polemic that the movie tries to set up is simple; there is, on the one hand, enough fire power to destory completely the entire planet and on the other hand, the access to this power in the hands of few men, who could be just as fragile or unstable as every other human being in the world. The threat of Purity of Essence has played itself over and over, so many times, that it is uncomfortable to think that nobody has ever done to change the equation of power balance.

The plot is way too simple. At the height of Cold War, an American general whose mental stability is questionable has launched unilaterally an attack on 34 strategic points of Russia. What follows is chaos as the President and other people in the war room literally bite their nails trying to crack the foolproof plan in activation. The idea of power and the corrupting influence of power is foregrounded in this movie; however the darker/deeper fact that even without this corruption, there EXISTS an infrastructure which is ready to attack and destroy completely another nation of the world. This brings us to the next big concept of the movie.

The Doomsday Device

The idea of the Doomsday Device is that it is a failsafe that would automatically kick in when a certain number of parameters are just right. Nobody can deactivate it. Nobody can control it. It's very existence is supposed to deter everyone from even thinking about war. This is the most ironic thing about the movie; that the best peace-keeping force in existence in the world, is a force that can destroy the world. Would it not be simpler to negotiate peace as an everyday process? As a mode of life? No. It would not work because it is too unrealistic to expect people to just mind their own business. And therein lies the most likeable experience of being told, how the human species is simply incapable of just letting things be.

The last thing I would like to bring to your attention is the name of the film. It is titled Dr Strangelove, after a German scientist who has changed his name after moving to America post WWII. Not the obvious choice, one would say. The scientist is unsuccessful in his attempts to repress his natural sense of loyalty towards his Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. One can only wonder why that is... For the name of his lord has changed but the roles they play and the needs of their position have not changed. Beware, Kubrik seems to warn us, that you may be turned into this unfortunate creature called Strangelove...

I am not tired of Bruce

Apart from inspiring me to consider his name for one of my many future children, Bruce Willis has made sure of one thing. He can play a cop when he is ninety and making his hundred and thirty eigth cop film, and we would still not be bored. This man, is the new Clint Eastwood. Surprising, that he was a bartender who played second fiddle on a sitcom before breaking out as one of the greatest Hollywood action stars and by far the greatest in the nineties (and surprisingly even in the 2000s). Yes, he has done sucky movies like Perfect Stranger and Planet Terror (there, I have said it) but Bruce Willis is funny and cool. He does not don those six packs but he has edged out the muscle-mountains like Stallone or Schwarzenegger with his cool. So, without much ado or expression of such unadulterated man-love... Let me give you my view on Surrogates (2009).

Begin review. Surrogates is a kickass movie. End of review.

For the slightly longer version: The movie starts off with an extremely artificial Bruce Willis with ultra-smooth, pink skin, considerably a few inches taller and with fake golden hair parted at one side. Ugghh! I felt so squeamish, for having brought someone along who has not seen any Bruce Willis movies and having put him on a pedastal for being the man who could kill a helicopter with a car. I did not want the image of Bruce Willis on a schtick to be the first impression. Anywho, the good lord heard my prayers and out comes a sleepy, unshaven, bald (I like!) Willis who realizes that he needs to kickass oldschool. Five cops, under his command are killed and he needs justice be done. Ooh.. I forgot to add, the world (about a quarter century in the future) has adopted the use of surrogates (manequins that do whatever you think). No matter what happens to the surrogates, you are safe - or so the world believed. Until this new weapon takes out a bunch of people. Bruce has to walk the unsafe streets and get to the bottom of this mystery. On the way, he encounters a prophet (Rastafarian Ving Rhames. 'nuff said), a mad scientist, his scarred wife (a little too literal for my taste), his eternal love-puppy/partner, a really cool fat dude and a couple of cars that can take serious damage. At the end of the movie, you smile when you get to the "yippee kay-yay motherfucker" moment. Worth a million in gold. The movie is hilarious, at times intentionally and sometimes not so much. The acting is really good. The special effects have been used very wisely. Kudos on the detailing about the entire surrogacy. The movie walks a good mile away from being anything close to the heavy philosophy side of the issue, like they did in movies like The Matrix. This is clean, uncomplicated fun which very clearly conveys a couple of profound and more tangible truths of addiction to comfort/technology. Willis has done this before by taking a 2x4 to a digital war (in Die Hard 4.0). Loved every bit of that. However the movie cannot give you the feeling of existential crisis that Matrix so easily evokes. Another of my favorite movies which I saw this reflecting, was Wall E. The futuristic age where we are too comfortable was portrayed in that movie so well. This seems like a link from our age to the age of that speechless computer. And of course, for the first time, Bruce Willis does not get totally mothered before he gets the bad guys. At the end, it is pretty much a whodunit. Whoever wants to rally for Bruce Willis as the next Batman, raise your hands and scream "marshmallow". The Dark Knight, is essentially a detective. Anyway, this movie works for me in so many levels. I give it a two-thumbs up!