Hotel Rwanda/Speaker-Imaculee

1.
Prior to last week I knew nothing about the genocides in Rwanda. From the movie I learned about the terrible genocide acts in Rwanda during the Rwandan Civil War. I learned about how nearly 1 million innocent people were slaughtered and a President killed immediately after signing a peace agreement. Hutus killed Tutsis just because of their ethnic background and Hutus who protected Tutsis were also killed.
Imaculee talked about how she hid in a bathroom for 91 days with 6 other women, I wouldn’t want to stand in a bathroom with six women for 91 seconds. Imaculee also talked about how prayer and God helped her make it through the terrible incident. Imaculee shared the story of how her and the other women were almost found and murdered until the soldiers gave up and left the preacher’s house. Imaculee said that the reason they were not found was because of God, her faith is inspiring. What I found to be a miracle was when Imaculee was kneeling with a gun to her head and a soldier recognized her as being his teacher’s daughter. Imaculee was so close to death and at the last minute God once again saved her life.
What I found to be extremely disappointing was when the movie and Imaculee shared that our United States government refused to help out during the genocide. I cannot believe that our government will send soldiers to Iraq for oil but they wouldn’t send soldiers to help stop the Rwandan genocide. It actually maddens me to think that not only did the US refuse but so did France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations. These countries did not move in and help until the genocide was almost over.
Imaculee talked about the horrific events of the genocide but focused on her faith. She said that throughout the genocide God listened to her and answered her prayers. After the genocide was over Imaculee continued to have faith in God and relied on Him to find a job. Imaculee said that she went to the United Nations almost ten times before she gave up and left but, as she walked out a man asked her to come back the next week for a job interview. Imaculee said that God introduced her to this man that would help to change her life forever.
It was nice to hear Imaculee speak about the genocide and see how wise and strong she has become. The movie was nice to watch before she spoke so that I knew the graphic detail of the genocide and had an idea of how the events occurred.

2.
On September 11, 2001, there were terrorist attacks made on the United States by al-Queda. On the same morning I was in a terrible car accident and ended up in the hospital, I had no idea what was going on with the terrorist attacks. I do not remember the first month that I was in the hospital and I didn’t find out about the attack until I was ready to go back to school (3 months later). Most people remember 9/11 and are sad or maybe angry about the lives that were lost, I remember 9/11 and I get sad because I was in so much pain at the time from my injuries and that 3 months of my childhood were taken away from me.
The first time that I heard about the attack was when a news station was talking about it. My parents were so overwhelmed with my condition that they didn’t think to tell me what had happened and my friends had never said anything. At first I changed the channel and told my family and friends I didn’t care to know the details nor did I want to. I guess I figured I had experienced enough pain and didn’t feel I needed to experience more.
Two years ago my significant other rented the movie about 9/11 and I decided to watch it. I was shocked when I saw the pictures and heard the witnesses talk about the experience, at first I didn’t want to believe what I heard or saw. Near the end of the movie I was crying as I watched footage of the plane crashing and the fireman running into the buildings. It was very hard for me to learn about 9/11 by watching the movie but it would not have been any different than learning about it on national television. It was very emotional to have everything thrown at me all at one time, I learned what happened, why it happened, and what the results were all in one setting. The thing I remember the most is watching a little girl crying as a firefighter was holding her by the burning building. I can’t describe how much I feel for those who lost mothers, fathers, grandparents, daughters, sons, and friends, it makes me very sad.
If I would have learned about the event in a different way I think that I may have been able to process the information a little better. I think that I am more sympathetic about the event because of learning about it in a documentary.

3.
I think that a director has a great responsibility to the truth about events that happened such as the Rwanda genocide. I think that when true life events are made into a movie they are dramatized a bit but they need to keep the core events realistic. In the movie “Hotel Rwanda” I think that the director did an excellent job sticking to portraying true events as best as he could. In a movie about real events a director needs to think about how much he/she can dramatize events or change things around because alterations in the truth can cause people (like Imaculee) great pain if they are not portrayed the right way. The director has a responsibility to respect people involved by telling the truth about an event. If a director does not tell the truth about events then people get the wrong idea and assume that it is right. When a director does stretch the truth then the director must state in the opening of the movie that events seen in the movie may not have actually happened but are based on true life events. Sometimes for a director to get a point across he needs to stretch the truth to get a good response out of audience.

Artistic or Visual Design-Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is an excellent movie that used great set design, colors, costumes, and lighting. The movie was shot on the island of Kauai, which was perfect for the film’s story about having a theme park on a private island. Filming the movie on an actual island made all of the outdoor effects more realistic since they were actually the real outdoors. The movie was put on hold when a hurricane hit the island and later filming resumed. All of the scenes in which it was raining were actually filmed in the pouring rain. The famous kitchen scene, in which dinosaurs attack workers, was filmed with large animations of dinosaur replicas. Most of the Dinosaurs were generated by computer software but in the kitchen scene they were actually molded replicas.
The setting of the film definitely made this film more attractive. Most of the scenes were filmed outside in the wilderness with mother nature’s help. The weather contributed greatly to the film because many scenes needed to be done on rainy days. In the summer, the island of Kauai has plenty of rain and sunshine. Other than the first 30-45 minutes of the movie, scenes take place in the rainy forest, which made everything look so much more exciting and adventurous. The lighting was great, for the outside scenes the sun contributed greatly as “natural light”. It seems to me that from watching the film, a lot of the lighting used in the dark was soft, front lighting.
Lighting can make or break a scene in a movie, example: For a romantic dinner scene, low-key lighting allows the subjects and a few key props to be seen. But if the director used high-key lighting there would be mostly light areas with less contrast and the scene would not look as romantic. Steven Spielberg has mastered lighting concepts and his movies are created beautifully. I think that with Jurassic Park, Spielberg wanted everything to look as real as possible because he was using computer images to recreate dinosaurs. If Spielberg had chosen the wrong location for the film, or used the wrong lighting, the movie may have seemed too fake and would not have been as easy to view.
The art director had to choose appropriate costumes for the actors. The Jurassic Park employees all wore believable uniforms with neutral colors, all guests that came to the island wore warm, bright colors. The difference in contrast between the costumes makes the effect of good vs. bad. Innocent people came to the island to see this large, wonderful theme park and lives were lost as the dinosaurs escaped. The park employees were aware of the dangers and still allowed the park to open. The art director’s use of make-up was excellent, the wounds all looked so real and had details that seemed as if they really were present.
This movie was full of visual and artistic design, Steven Spielberg has evolved and matured into one of the world’s best movie directors. He makes movies that have great plots and makes them better with artistic design.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Prior to class on Wednesday I had not watched The Raiders of the Lost Ark because I was very skeptical and thought that it would not be a very good film. Oh Boy was I wrong, it was great! The movie had great special effects, acting, costumes, music, action, and use of colors. It was interesting to watch an archeologist go on adventures to find artifacts and survive against nature and the “bad guys”. The main adventure of the film was to find the original remains of the Ten Commandments stored in the lost ark.
Indiana was definitely the hero in this film, he was the individual always overcoming the obstacles to retrieve the artifacts and he was able to take down ten men on his own. Indiana was also the individual who saved the girl, Marion of whom he had a deep attraction for. I also liked that the director had Indiana use a whip instead of a gun for most of the film, seldom was Indiana’s gun used unless there was a shootout. I think that the director was trying to tell the audience that Indiana was a gentle and kind individual that liked to go on adventures and only used violence when absolutely needed.
Red was a color that was seen worn by individuals that were going to die. I think that red was the warning color of danger. When Marion was presumed to be killed in a car blowup she was wearing a red dress. When Marion was found to be alive, but still in danger, she was wearing the same dress and was tied to a wooden post. Once Marion was untied she changed into a white dress, which led me to believe that she would escape and be okay.
During scenes that Indiana was home he was dressed professionally and had a clean shaved look to his appearance. The moment that Indiana got ready to go on his adventure he changed into his costume that had a rugged, strong appearance. The costume included his rifle, hat, and whip. What I found was amazing (as also stated in Real Archaeologists Wear Whips) was that through all of the beatings, rivals, gunshot wounds, and being hit by Marion, Indy was still able to keep his hat. I think that Indy’s costume was wonderful and was very popular among the public that watched the film as children bought costumes like Indiana’s for Halloween.
I saw Indiana as a role model for young children. Until I read the article Real Archaeologists Wear Whips, I didn’t notice that in the movie Indiana never screams, yells or loses control, no matter what he is faced with. The only time Indy shows fear and “freaks out” is when he is by snakes. I thought that he was going to jump out of the plane when he found the pet snake, and I didn’t think he was going to survive the million snakes he saw when he discovered the ark. The article also pointed out that Indy is portrayed as a innocent and honest man. Indiana was never tempted to reap the financial rewards of the discovery of artifacts, for Indy the knowledge was the reward and the discovery an adventure. He believed that all the artifacts belonged in a museum for people to study and admire. At his college Indy told the students, “Archaeology is about fact, not truth, giving us all a little truth worth hoarding.” Indiana was portrayed as a brave and very knowledgeable man, a fictional role model.
Like most great movies there was also a love story within the movie. Indiana reunited with a past love, Marion and the two of them continued on his adventure together. Right away the actors shared gazes in each others’ eyes and their body posture told me that their romance would be rekindled. At the end of the movie Indiana and Marion shared a passionate kiss on screen which showed that they were once again in love.
At rogertebert.com I found it interesting to read about the religious satire. I had noticed the symbols but did not interpret them in the way the article does. An example of the religious satire is when Indiana is holding on for dear life to the Mercedes truck and grabs onto the hood ornament and snaps it off. It was not coincidental but well thought out and a great idea. I did however notice that the Nazi officer was uneasy about opening the ark because of it being a Jewish ritual.
This film’s title depicts exactly what the movie is about. The raiders are the Nazis and the ark was the Ark that held the Ten Commandments given to Moses on the hill, which is of great importance to the Jewish and people of Catholic faith. This was a great movie with non-stop action, it is one of those movies that you can watch over and over and learn the scripts of the characters. I will definitely be watching it again.
(Within the summary I included aspects learned from lecture and the book such as: costume, color, theme, evaluation of character, and symbolism.)