Tsotsi

Tsoti is a crime leader and gang member in Johannesburg. He steals the car of a woman and when helooks in the back seat he realizes that there is a baby. The baby forms a quick bond to the killer and the audience sees the change in the protagonist.

I would highly reccomend this film, while it is a dark film, it is interesting to see the culture of South Africa. It is a unique country that continues to deal with the seperation between the rich and the poor or the black and the white.

Tsotsi lives in slums in a small part of Johannesburg. Unfortunately they live a difficult life which leads to an increased risk in crime . When he feels seperated from his family he turns to the gang as his family.

In the US we live much easier and simpler lives than the characters of Tsosti and I think we need to make more of an effort to help other countries that are working to become more developed. It is sad to see the living conditions of other countries and how in the US we waste the most basic resources that people all over the world would die to have. I reccomend this film to anyone, it is important to be aware of other countries and their difficulties and work to try to help them.

Nuovo cinema Paradiso

This film was produced in 1990 and takes place in Italy. The film features a young boy who is in love with films and appreciates every aspect of the film industry. The person in charge of running the cinema takes him on as a student and teaches him everything about films. It is an excellent film that shows the culture of a remote Italian village.

The film was exceptional and I enjoyed the light heartedness of the film. The small boy is easy to make a cultural connection with because of his passion for films. I have an extreme passion for running and I could connect with the protagonist about a strong passion for something and the appreciation of it.

In Italy the Roman Catholic Church is the ruler of the land and makes the laws in the city. The laws are created around religion and respecting the Catholic traditions are very important. In the beginning of the film we see how viewing kissing in films is not tolerated and it is cut out. It was interesting to see how a religion can control so much of a society.

In the US we claim that there is a seperration between church and state, however, religion plays a critical role in our government system as well. When morals are discussed while developing laws, the politicans always refer to the Bible when they question their decisions. It is was interesting to see how the Italian community was far mroe reserved than our society. In modern times, televsion shows have become a lot more inappropriate than they used to be. It was interesting to see how films have revolved over the years and the role of religion in a society.

The Host

The Host is a thriller/horror film that takes place in South Korea. In the film a monster is created in the Hahn River and begins to kill people. When a young girl is sperated from her father by the beast, the family works to get her back. However, at the end of the film they discover that she had been killed by the beast itself. But the family takes in an orphan and begins to repiece itself back together.

This film was based off of the idea of the Us dropping a toix chemical into the river where it poisoned many people. When the US no longer can deal with the situation they release the toxic chemical agent yellow to get rid of the growing opposition. The film was based off the United State's involvement in South Korean affairs.

The film was interesting to see how the history between the US and South Korea has affected their current relationship. There was a strong cultural connection made during the film. In their culture family is very important and appreciating the elders of the household is also imporant. In our society, the youth is worshiped instead of the elders.

This film taught me to respect my elders and it taught me more about the Asian culture. I did not know a lot about the culture before watching this film.

Napolean Dynamite

"Just follow your heart. That's what I do."
-Napolean Dynamite


The film Napolean Dynamite was a comical film about a boy in the suburbs of the United States who does not fit in with his classmates until Pedro arrives. The two become instantly good friends and develop a strong connection and Napolean encourages Pedro to run for president. Throughout the film, we see the characters develop and build a strong bond amongst one another.

I thought that the film was extremely funny, because the sense of humor represented in the film was similar to my sense of humor.

There was a major difference in the lifestyle of Napolean's and that of the Twin Cities. We live in a city with stores, and the famous Mississippi River. Napolean lives in a small remote town where everyone dresses the same and their is not a variety of culture or activites. While I could not make a strong connection with the main character, I enjoyed the humor of the film and I appreciated Napoleans efforts to befriend the "new kid" in school.

Les Triplettes de Bellevilles

Les Triplettes de Belleville is about a young boy who develops a passion for bicycle racing and his grandmother becomes his trainer. During the Tour de France, he is kidnapped and the grandmother goes on a hunt for he young cyclist. The grandmother soon discovers that he has been captured by the French Mafia and goes to extensive lengths to free him.

This movie was an interesting representation of the French culture. It is a silent film and it was interesting to see how important the Tour de France is to the people of France. The producers use dull colors to reflect the emotions of the young boy who was abandoned by his parents and taken in by his grandmother. It shows how difficult his life has been before he found his passion for bicycling.

The French Mafia are an important factor in the film, while me may only have believed that the mafia existed in Italy, it continued into France. We just had presentations in History class about gang violence and how gang violence had been increasing recently. Watching this movie made a strong cultural connection between France and the United States. While we believe the French to be to some degree rude, after watching this film it changed my opinion. I could relate to the character who has a passion for a sport like myself.

Fargo

Fargo is a film that was released in 1996 and was produced by the Coen brothers. The film is about a man living in Minnesota named Jerry who is facing financial difficulties and goes to extreme measures to make some extra money. As he works with a couple of criminals to give them a stolen vehicle, his family is put in danger at the expense of his dangerous decisions.

The Coen brothers created a comical thriller and make jokes about the Minnesota culture. They exaggerate the Minnesota accent and the idea of Minnesota nice.

The end of the film was sad, because many innocent people were murdered in the plot, but it was interesting to see how people perceive the "typical" Minnesotan.

The characters live simple lives, but it was interesting to see the Northern area of Minnesota and the difference in their accents and personalities.

The Son's Room

This is a film that takes place in Italy. It shows a family and their greivences after the death of their son. The film primarily focused on the family and not so much the culture of Italy, but it was a touching film to watch. The family was easy to connect with.

In the introduction of the film, we see the life of a psychologist who spends a lot of his time with his patients and his family. However, one afternoon when he chooses to go help one of his patients instead of spending time with his son, the son tragically dies while scuba diving.

The film has beautiful landscape scenes and uses simplistic music to reflect the emotions of the characters who have just lost a member of the family. In the end, the family connects with a friend of their son's and they start to feel less sad about the loss of their son. It was an emotional film that was set in Italy.

Noi the Albino

Noi the Albino takes place in Sweden in the dead of winter. Sweden is a cold nordic country with a socialist government. Noi is a young teenager who wants to break free of the country's small town and move to a warmer place. As the audience is introduced to the character, we discover that Noi is very intelligent. He later meets a girl, however, in the end of the film there is a deadly avalanche that kills his entire family.

Noi the Albino is an extrememly dark film, it takes place in the dead of winter. The colors of the film are dull to reflect the emotions of the characters and the dull season. The dull brown colors are used to make a connection with the audience and Noi who is very depressed by the nordic country where he lives.

Their culture is somewhat similar to ours. There was a strong connection between Minnesota and the nordic country because both places experience cold winters and depressed times due to the surrounding snow.

It was a depressing film, however, it was interesting to see the impact of the effect of dull colors used in the film's production.

Noi the Albino Research

This is a film about a young teenage boy whom is seventeen years old. He lives in a cold nordic country where he dreams of escaping. A girl arrives in his town and he envisions leaving the small twon with her to start a warmer life in a warmer place in Hawaii.

Persepolis Reflection

Persepolis was a film produced in France about the Iranian Revolution that was occuring at the same tim as the Cold War. The protagonist, a young girl, sees how her family suffers during the Iranian Cold War and is sent off to a boarding school in France to get a safer childhood and a better education.

This film was an accurate description of the Iranian Revolution and gave an excellent perspective on another culture in the Middle East. Before she escapes war torn Iran, more rules are put in place for all of the citizens of Iran. Women and girls are forced to wear their headscarfs and cover most of their bodies. The government strongly believes in absolute control over women and all citizens. They put in place a dictatorship where any opposition was murdered for their political beliefs against the government.

Run Lola Run

Run Lola Run is a German thriller produced in 1998. It is about a young women that must raise a large sum of money to give to a rober. If she does not raise enough money then he will break into a store and steal the money himself. Then she has to raise 100000DM in twenty minutes. Suspense and fate are two major components to the film that contribute to the intense structure of the film.

I would highly reccomend this film, because it does an excellent job of demonstrating the idea of fate in our lives. In the film it shoes three different conclusions of a difficult situation and how small things affected each situtation. It was interesting to see the significance of fate in our lives.

It was a thriller, because each ending to the film was drastically different and you see how handling a situation in a better fashion can entirely change the outcome. It caused me to be mroe aware of my everyday decisions and the consequences of everything. I appreciated the film.

The music was also and extremely important factor in the film. The music created an emotional connection to the characters as they panicked but in the end figured out a solution to their issue. The music was a constant techno beat and kept you on the edge of your seat as you waited for the ending of their critical situation.

Dark colors are also used to represent the dark attitude towards the film and the emotions of the characters. They both are in critical situations trying to save one another, it adds a hint of sadness and anger in the film and makes you just as anxious as the characters.

Maria Full of Grace Reflection

Maria Full of Grace was a film about a young pregnant Columbian girl who finds herself looking for money and becomes a drug mule. She travels to New York where she sees all of the opportunities her baby would have if she continued to live there. After facing several unexpected circumstances, she chooses to remain in New York.

This film reflects the cultural differences between the United States and Columbia. In Columbia, they lack the educational opportunities that children in the United States take for granted. While many children in the united states attend school daily, Maria is forced to work in a floral factory where she unfortunately is treated unfairly. Her future does not include college or time for explorationm but continuous working to support her family. She is paid minimum wage at her job, and the only opportunity she has to make more money is to become a drug mule. It is sad to see how people in Clumbia have so little opportunities and have to make such great sacrifices to support their families.

Their health care system is much different as well. While in New York she decides to go to the doctor to get an update about her baby. In comparison to Columbia, she did not have the resources to go to the doctor for a check up. Since Maria did not have the opportunity to continue with her education she is forced to work a low income job, only to later to have to give the money to her sister.

Persepolis Film Research

Persepolis was a recent film released in 2007 in France. The film takes place in 1970's Iran where the protagonist sees her country and family change after the Iran Revolution in 1979. The new Iranian representative is more repressive than ever. The Islamic Fundamentalists are drastically changing her country and culture. Through the eyes of a young Iranian girl, the audience sees her preception of a difficult transformation taking place in her home country. She eventually is sent away to Vienna to study and live a better life, however, when she returns she has come to the realization that she and Iran have changed too much and she feels uncomfortable in the country.

Maria Full of Grace Research

Maria Full of Grace was released in 2004 in Clumbia. It is about a film about a Columbian pregnant teen and works hard to support her family in the floriculture business. After being fired, she risks her life to smuggle cocaine into New York in roder to start a new life. However, unexpected events occur that the young seventeen year old is not prepared for.

The film introduces the audience to Columbian culture, and the rising drug issues within the country. Columbia has long been battling the war against drugs, the US has put ina significant amount of effort into the drug battle. However, as Columbia works with the US to develop the Columbian Plan, their efforts are disregarded as drug lords continue to fight against the governments.

Shall We Dance? Reflection

This film was about a Japanese man with a loving wife and a teenage daughter. He has a nice home and job, however, he is not satisfied and bored with his lifestyle. He finds inspiration while riding on the monorail when he sees a beautiful young woman standing in a dance studio. He ventures to the dance studio and takes beginner lessons where he finds a passion for the art of dance. As he becomes more involved with his dancing, his wife develops suspicion into his life assuming that he is having an affair. To her surprise later, she finds him dancing in a competition. The dancing reunites the couple after he tells her about his passion for dance.

This film demonstrates the culture of the Japanese. They work many hours in the country, and most transportation in the city is the train or the monorail. The Japanese culture is not all that different from the lifestyle of the Americans. They have the same goals: to start a family and have a house and successful job. Once these goals are obtained, their lives remain unfulfilled until they find a hobby to give them a new passion.

Shall we Dance? research

This film is about a Japanese man who cannot find happiness in his life and is inspired to begin dance lessons when he sees a beautiful woman in the window of the dance studio. He works hard to be a proficient dancer and enters a dance competition, unfortunately this comes at the cost of his marriage which begins to deteriorate until the end of the film.

In this film, it will accurately depict the everyday society of the Japanese and their culture and customs.

Please Vote for me Reflection

This film was released a couple of years ago in China. In this third grade classroom the teacher used an interactive activity to demonstrate democracy to her class. Three promising classroom monitors were elected as candidates and they worked on their campaign strategies and participated in debates in order to become elected as class monitor. Each candidate experienced difficulties, however, they worked hard to prove their leadership to their peers. In the end of the documentary, Luo Lei was elected for the class monitor.

This film was interesting, because it reflected how a communist country responded to democracy. Watching the film made me think on the politics of democracy and the pros and cons of this type of government. There is a big difference between the Chinese lifestyle and American lifestyle. All Chinese are treated equally and their strengths are determined by the government. Their parents are far more competitive in this film than one would have anticipated. The parents worked just as hard as their children to have their kids be successful in the election. Due to the communist government in the country and the overwhelming amount of people in the Chinese population, each child must be better and smarter to make an impression to be more successful. In American, each person is in charge of their intelligence and future.

Their representation of democracy successfully demonstrated how a democratic society can be unfair. The candidates had help from their parents and bribed the other kids to vote for them by giving gifts and free trips on the monorail. Unfortunately due to this bribery factor, it gave some of the candidates a advantage that not all candidates could offer.

Watching this film, makes one think about a communist society and its positive and negative effects. There is a harsh stereotype of communism government, that it is a suppressing regime, however, it is a myth. A communist government makes sense for China with its high population. While communism gives less freedom to its community it is not as harsh a government as believed.

Please Vote for Me, is a documentary that takes place in China, which is a strictly communist country. In this third grade class, the teacher uses an activity to demonstrate democracy by having the children vote for a class monitor. The third grade candidates endure the same process as a democratic election would and at the end of the film, a class monitor is chosen.

When Chairman Mao was elected to presidency in China, he worked to bring China communism. China went through the Great Leap forward where the country was moderneized in order for their economy to imporve. However, during this process millions of chinese were killed. In order to improve the country, Mao felt the need to enfore a Cultureal Revolution where all "old" materials were destroyed and burnd in the country as a renewing for the country. Any opponent Mao discovered was executed and thousands of people were executed during this process.

The Betrayal Reflection

The Betrayal follows a family whose life has been thrown into chaos during the war with vietnam and the Americans. The family is forced to emigrate after their father who is highly involved in the military becomes a prisoner of the new regime. The family is sponsored to come to the United States and live in New York. However, their lives become increasingly difficult when the childern become involved with gangs and the father returns only to tell his family that he has a new family in Florida 15 years later. This powerful film demonstrates the difficultes refugees face when they are forced to leave their native countries.

The Laotian people are very clam people and believe in the strength of wisdom to aid them in difficult times. There is a single powerful connection that I can make with this film and that is the determination of the young male. He risks his life to escape the new regime who view his as a threat to the nation and security. He works hard to keep his family together and does not become involved with gangs and eventually marries and returns to his native lands. His determination and motivation is inspiring and I learned a lot from his experience. He listened to his grandmother in always rememebering the past regardless of the certain circumstances. While he faces many obstacles in coming to another country and not being ablt to speak Enlgish, he learns. Their life in Laos is far more simplisitic and they have different values in their culture. Raising a family and repsecting your family is important and is a characterisitic that my family also values.

This film causes the viewer to look at their own decisions and their relationships with their family. Family is very important, because without family and help you have nothing. Seeing how the American tore this family apart unintentionally is distrubing on many levels as the Americans are more focused on themselves than the other people in the countries where war had erupted.

Betrayal Research

The Betrayal was relased in 2008 and documented the lives of a Laotian family who are refugees in America after leaving Laos during the war.

This critical documentary shows how war had destroyed a family and their culture. It shows how the Americans did not take into consideration the repricutions of their actions after recruiting Laotian people to fight against their country's government.

Laos is a country located in Southeast Asia and declared its independence from France in 1945. However, by 1950 France had repositioned its control and stated that Laos was an "associated state" within the French Union. Laos has a long history of involved foreign countries and slowly they were drawn into the difficulties and war with North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Their intereference with the War cased the U.S. to become invovled with the country in order to prevent a communist governement from taking control. While the U.S. fought to maintain peace and democracy in Southeast Asia, their efforts were useless when a civil war developed in Laos and a communist government was established.

Gran Torino Reflection

Gran Torino is about a secluded elderly man who watches as his once beautiful neighborhood disintegrates as a new culture arrives. Walt who loses his wife and has no familial connection with his sons, develops a complicated relationship with his Hmong neighbors. He grows attached to the family as their family faces numerous threats from the Hmong gang in the local area. Walt goes to protect the teens and gets shot as he attempts to bring peace into his once quiet neighborhood.

Through the connection that is developed between walt and his neighbors, we are given insight into the Hmong culture. The Hmong culture is not always recognized, because they only live in certain areas throughout the united States. The Hmong peoples originated from China. As Walt becomes apart of their culture, they belive in respect of the elders and quality family relationships. In contrast to Walt's relationship with his family, his neighbors are his closest thing to family. My family believes it is important to respect one's elders and spend time with the family. Many Americans like Walt resent new cultures that they do not understand or have previous knowldge about. This film made me recognize the importance of learning about new cultures and taking the time to help others.

Gran Torino Research

Gran Torino is about an elderly man whose wife has recently died and he becomes mroe secluded after her death. He works to fight against a Hmong gang that terrorizes his neighbos who he becomes close with. The film was released in 2009 and shows the relationship between Hmong's and the american peoples.

This movie reveals direct insight the Hmong culture in the United States. We see their culture and customs up close.

Taare Zameen Par Reflection

Taare Zameen Par is a touching film about a young boy living in India who has dyslexia, but no one could diagnose it. He struggles through grade three multiple times, until his parents send him to boarding school where he makes new friends and recevies special attention from the art teacher who sees a lot of potential in Ishaan artisitically. The art teacher can relate to this young boy, because like Ishaan he is dyslexic and makes the boy his project and helps him overcome his learning disability.

Watching the children in the film and the vairous parents, we see the close relationship between success in school and success in a family. Parents place an abundant amount of pressure upon their children for them to excel not only academically but athletically as well. These children must be the best in their class and receive high test scores, otherwise their parents are displeased. Their is a great contrast between the Indian school system and the United States school system. Unlike India, they go to school for a longer of period of time than American children do. The success of a child in school within India is vital, because if they fail to make it past a certain point in the educational system they will live a very simple and poor life, most likely on the streets. Children are competing against one another for an important place in the business world when they have completeed all of their required schooling.

While I do not have a learning disability like Ishaan, I can share his severe feeling of fustration when something in school does not make sense. When I was in elementary school I struggled with math and it was upsetting and frustrating to try so hard and still remain confused in the class. It feels overwhelming because you are unable to complete the homework and it feels as if you are all alone in the situation. It was empowering to see how Ishaan worked extra hard in order to overcome his obstacle.

The translation of the title of the film is: a star among us. This title accurately reflects the unrecognized talents of Ishaan. He is a powerful artist who uses his disability in a way that helps him. He views the world in a different light than most people and has a different perception of everyday sights than the average person. He takes his observations and transforms them into his paitnings and creatings that reveals insights into his mind and his feelings that he is unable to express to his parents and teachers. All kids can relate to Ishaan's problem's of parents that expect you to be perfect and the pressure. However, it is important to devise a method that will help you cope with the stress like Ishaan's gift of painting.

Taare Zameen Par Research

This film is about a young boy who struggles in school and is later discovered to be dyslexic. In India excelling in education and other activities is very important to be successful and a lot of pressure is placed upon young children to be perfect in every aspect. When an art teacher takes the time out to teach Ishaan how to read and write the young boy becomes successful in his new boarding school.

Chak De India Reflection

In the film Chak de India, it is about a group of girls from various states in India who are the best players in their states. In this film we see the group of girls become a team that plays for their entire country. Their team is coached by the former captain of the men's field hockey team, but missed the penalty shot and was accused of secretly working with the Pakistan's team. It was a motivational film that inspires everyone to pursue their dreams.

Through this film there were a lot of new cultural aspects represented in this film. Women do not play a significant role in their Indian society. They only have one main purpose which is to become married and raise a family. We see this team move past their cultural obstacles and dominate in a sport where they had previouslt not excelled at.

In India they have different traditions than other countries. Before they competed in the Field Hockey World Championships, they participated in a ritual that was used for good luck in their match. While some teams may pray before an important match, they have different rituals that give them power and strength. Before the penalty shot the coach prays for strength to help his team win in the world championships. In their culture, rituals and higher powers are more important.

Their traditional clothing is different from the average American dress. Their Saris that they wear are worn upon important events and demonstrate their culture. They have a lot of pride for their country and culture. In the film we see how their culture differs from state to state. Living closer to the Chinese border resulted in several girls having a Chinese influence in their appearance compared to other girls. In addition, some of the girls spoke different languages and were forced to learn English in order to compete in the World Championships.

The girls represented in the teams faced imilar issues that any team can experience when people are from different areas in a country. However, we see the team unite in order to win against the six time World Champs, Australia.

Chak De India

Chak De India is a film produced in 2007 and is about a girls field hockey team. The team comprises of girls from all of the states within India. Within in each, there are significant differences in their cultures and the way they communicate with one another. This diversity amongst the team causes rivalries and arguments. While all of the girls have a common goal, to go to the World Championships, their separation and obstacles will cause them to overcome their differences and unite to compete against the most experienced and successful teams throughout the world.

Mongolian Ping Pong Reflection

Mongolian Ping Pong, it is about a boy Bilike, who finds a ping pong ball in the river, however he and his friends are unsure of what it is. They use various simple experiments to determine what the white ball is. When Bilike arrives home, he asks advice from his grandmother who declares is to be a glowing pearl. The boys believe that to be the true identity and guard the ball with their lives. Later on in the film when they discover that it is the national ball of Mongolia, the boys set out to determine where it came from. At the end of the film, while Bilike is at school he discovers the sport of ping pong.

In comparison to the previous Mongolian film, Bilike and his family do not live in the Gobi desert and have more money than the other family. Their son the privilege to attend school along with the older sister. In addition, since they live in a different part of Mongolia, they use horses to get around along with motor bikes in replace of camels.

Family is highly important in their culture, family is one's primary concern. The entire extended family lives together in the small house and raise the sheep and horses together. They do not have a lot of technology like people in the United States and it is interesting to see how their family interacts. Respecting one's elders and helping the family is more valued and encouraged in their culture than in the American culture. While they value their elders, in the US we value youth in our culture and expect more from the youth in our society. Being successful and studying in school is more important in their society. In America we got to school for a far less number of days compared to the Asian cultures, who encourage more study and success. In America, we go to school to find our passion and have more free time.

In Mongolia, they live far simpler lives than we do. Technology does not have a constant presence in their lives in comparison to ours. There are many differences between their culture and ours. Family, school and respect your elders are highly emphasized. I would highly recommend this film, it demonstrates a different culture and way of living that I am not used to. It was interesting to see their different values and compare them to society in the US. We put more value on money and success, where as success in their country is defined in numerous ways.

Mongolian Ping Pong

This film is about a little boy that lives in Mongolia and finds a ping pong ball and he goes on an adventure to find its purpose. He and his friends together search for the answer to the conundrum and experience issues, but eventually discover what the 'national ball' is. Through and adventure with his friends and being sent off to school, we see how this will help the main character find the answer to his question. In addition, we will see their culture and how that affects their lifestyle.

Flirting

Flirting is an Australian coming of age film produced in 1991 which is about the romance between two teenagers and the movie is set in 1965. Danny has been sent to a boarding school where he pursues a relationship with an African American girl, Thandiwe, studying at the all girls school. Their affair progresses, meanwhile everyone tries to prevent the relationship from continuing.

Rabbit Proof Fence Reflection

In the Rabbit Proof fence, three "half caste" girls are removed from their homes by the rabbit proof fence in Australia by the govenrment, who are developing a new policy towards aborogines. They are going to re-educate them in order for them to become slaves to the white people in society. They felt that they were helping the aborgine's culture by keeping them together, but this only harmed them. The girls escaped from the Moore River facility and traveled 1200 miles back to their home, while outsmarting the tracker. Once they returned 9 weeks later they were immediately in hiding in the desert and were taken back when discovered, but escaped again and returned home. This movie showed the determination of three young girls who wanted to be with their families.

This movie showed how the government controlled the aboriginal peoples and affected a generation of children, because of their skin color. While some countries faced segregation in the society, Australia isolated children and removed them from their homes. Children were removed from their homes until the 1970's and it is not until recently has the governement apologized for their actions. Their isolation of aborginal people has affected the way society co habitates, because it created in some way a caste system where some skin colors were better than others. The US and Australia had segregated communities and it took a civil war for America to dissolved it segregation in the south and the north. Many countries have faced issues with race and culture and today are still recovering from this issue. In the US we still face racism issuesand other races struggle to overcome their obstacles with race. In both countries, race has had a significant impact on society and in both cases society struggles to move forward and diregard race. When other races or cultures are misunderstood, people do not take them seriously and think of themselves as better people. Many people do not take the time to understand and learn about other cultures and label their culture as "weird" when in relaity they know nothing about it. Learning about other cultures will give one a better understanding of the world and this movie was an excellent representation of how people need to make the extra effort to learn about other cultures so we can work together to solve other problems. Segregation in society and around the world holds generations back.

The Weeping Camel Reflection

The Weeping Camel takes place in a remote desert in Mongolia known as the Gobi desert. In this isolated area camels are a necessiety as means of food and transportation for the Mongolians. In the beginning of the film the viewer gains direct insight into the simple lifestyle and culture of a family of Mongolians who raise both sheep and camels. Throughout the film one camel becomes pregnant and has a small colt, but after the birth rejects her young camel. Her labor was an extensive two days long and extremely painful. In the film we see how the Mongolian culture reacts to the problematic relationship between the colt and his mother. The family calls upon a professional violinist and they perform a ritual to bring the mother and colt back together.

In this documentary the viewer sees the contrast between the lifestyle of the Monglians and their own life. In the Gobi desert, there are no televisions or cars or bicycles, camels are the primary form of transportation. In relation to one another, they use sheep to bargain with in place of money unless they are in the main city. The poeple in Mongolia value family and their entire family lives together in their small huts. They spend quality time together and help each other out in order to have a successful crop of livestock. In addition to their familial support, they live simply. The family lives in a series of small huts, and wear more traditional outfits than the city people in MOngolia. They value quality family time and being respectful to their elders. The Weeping Camel shows how through their culture they can solve problems that we may not have thought of. Throug simple vocal and violin mehtods they were able to reconnect the mother and her colt. The film shows how a direct contrast between our culture and their culture where technology is limited and simple. In Mongolia they have different values that poeple in the United States, there is more of a focus on family than on anything else.

The Rabbit Proof Fence

This film takes place in Jigalong, Australia where three young sisters are removed from the family and placed in a re-education camp in 1931. Due to their aboroginal backgrounds, they are forced into the camps where they will learn to become servents for the white people in Australia. The government believed that the "half breeds" should be removed from society and this is the governement's solution to the problem. The movie is a reflection of the government's laws and policies that were put in place against the aborigines.

AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

During this time in Australia, children were being removed from their homes due to their skin color and were being re-educated under the order of the government, who strongly wanted to all "half breeds" isolated from society and become servents. This lasted from the late 19th century to the late 1960's. This cruel act by the Australian government cause a segregation from the aborginial peoples and the whites within the country. While these events have been critically debated throughout the world, on February 13, 2008, the Prime Minister of Autralia, Kevin Rudd, apologized in parliament for all acts and laws the were placed against the aborigines. In his apology he included a sincere regret for the past actions of the government that "inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss". While the aboriginal people were pleased to hear the governement's apology they had expected a compensation to be included for the problems caused.

Full Text of Australi's Apology:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/12/australia.text/index.html

"The secret to film is that it's an illusion "

-Georger Lucas

During this semester I will be exploring foreign films and developing a cultural bridge.