Water -- A Movie About a Child Widow

I watched a great movie the other night. It was called Water.

The movie took place in India just as Gandhi was starting to gain popularity. It follows an eight year-old child bride whose husband has just died making her a widow.

At the time, widows were rather looked down upon. They were another mouth to feed so many families pushed widows out of their homes. New brides and married women tried to stay clear of widows as they didn't want their bad luck to rub off on them.

This young widowed child bride, then, is forced to move into a house full of widows. Because she is so young, she lacks the social understanding to comprehend what is happening to her.

It was a heart-wrenching tale, but very enlightening. I watched about half of it with the director commentary turned on, so I felt like I learned a lot.

I recommend it for anyone interested in great acting, foreign films, women's rights or India.

Brittany Murphy in Ramen Girl

Hubby and I were shocked to hear that actress Brittany Murphy died over the weekend. Just a week ago we rented a movie in which she starred -- The Ramen Girl.

We picked it up on a whim at Blockbuster. It sounded quirky and fun and we were both surprised by how much we liked it.

In it, Murphy moves to Tokyo. She goes to the city because she's following her boyfriend who is working there. Except as soon as she arrives, he decides he's feeling crowded, packs his things and leaves her there alone in his apartment.

After wallowing in self pity for a few days, she eventually plucks herself up and explores her neighborhood. She ends up in a local ramen shop eating what she thinks is the best bowl of ramen she's ever had.

Soon, she is deciding that her goal in life is to learn how to make the perfect bowl of ramen. She convinces the grumpy ramen chef to take her on as an apprentice and the movie unfolds from there.

We both agreed The Ramen Girl was more entertaining than the other movie (a Renee Zellweger flick) we'd rented along side it.

As winter sets in, perhaps you'll find yourself looking for a movie to help pass a cold Friday night. The Ramen Girl will give you several laughs and a taste of another culture to boot. Plus, you'll pause to realize the bright, smiley woman who starred in it is no longer with us.

Rudo y Cursi

I went to see Rudo y Cursi. It's a Mexican film about two brothers, soccer, fortune and tragic flaws.

It stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna.

Both did a good job and I enjoyed the movie much more than the recent Hollywood productions I've seen.

If you can find it playing somewhere around you, and you don't mind subtitles, I'd recommend it.

Mahouts Gone Mad

Sunday, as I was flipping through the New York Times, I was surprised to see this headline:

Caution: Elephants Break for Food on Bangkok's Roads

Of course I had to read the article. It was about how more and more manhouts (elephant handlers) are bringing their animals into Bangkok to earn money from tourists. The manhouts sell bananas and sugar cane to travelers, who then get the thrill of hand feeding an elephant.

Any number of things could go wrong when a giant beast is allowed to roam a city's streets -- traffic jams, human injuries, elephant injuries, damage to private property.

The article reminded me of a movie we recently watched called The
Protector. It features Tony Jaa, a Thai martial arts star. Jaa specializes in Mui Thai, a rather violent form of kickboxing.

In the film, Jaa plays a mahout gone mad when two of the elephants in his charge are kidnapped and stolen away to Australia.

Poor Sydney has no idea what damage is about to befall it when a worked up, revenge-minded Jaa comes to town.

Last year I saw Jaa's other film, Ong Bak, and was quite entertained, so I had high hopes for The Protector. Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed. The storyline wasn't very plausible, and given that I've seen a number of martial-arts films, I'm used to going along with the outrageous family-revenge theme.

There were some wicked fight sequences and as far as action-packed goes, The Protector certainly was. It wasn't the worst way to pass a Friday night and we did get quite a few laughs -- even if those laughs were from the far-fetchedness of it all.

* Photos
- elephant close up taken in Thailand
- The Protector cover art