The counterfeiters - 2007 - Austria

The counterfeiters is a 2007 film that won the best foreign language film awards in oscar for that year.

Its a WW2 movie and tells the story of a group of talented jews who are used by the germans for the war.

The Germans try to illegally print the British pound and American dollar and they use the jewish fraudster for this purpose.

Was the jews able to successfully produce counterfeit pounds and dollars and whether they escape alive is the story.

A good movie.

The counterfeiters

The Counterfeiters

Where Eagles Dare - English - 1968

Where Eagles dare is a War film set amidst world war 2.

A good war movie.

Cheers

Poi Solla Porom - Tamil - 2008

Poi solla Porom is the remake of Khosla ka Ghosla and this is the second remake from the director Vijay, the first one being Krieedom.

Poi solla porom was advertised as an out and out comedy film, but I didnot find anything comic in it.

the movie is clearly targeted at the multiplex crowd bcos it had no fights, no senti etc... And for a change, Karthik appears as a person wanting to go to America instead of being the America Return :-)

If you would like to see a movie about the hardships faced during construction of a house , you can just watch "veedu" from Balu Mahendra

Ok ... can be skipped.

cheers

Saroja - Tamil - 2008

With the release of Saroja, Venkat Prabhu proves that the success of Chennai-600028 was not a fluke.

I havent seen many movies from the road movie genre in Tamil and saroja I believe would fall into the genre of road movies.

Saroja is a slickly made film and the best element of the film is its comedy, music and the camera work.

Worth seeing.


Cheer

Gabbeh - Iran - 1996

Gabbeh - Iran - 1996



Gabbeh in IMDB

Gabbeh means "rug" or "carpet" in persian.

Iran or persia is well known for the rugs it produces and this film tells one such story about a rug.

An elderly couple wash a carpet and out comes a young girl, like genie. She then tells that she is the girl depicted in the rug and she
had weaved that rug. The rest of the film is the story of her.

Can be seen for the colors and Mohsen makhmalbaf.

V For Vendetta - English - 2005

This movie had screenplay by the Wachowski brothers, the ones who created the Matrix trilogy.

Apart from that, the movie is a story of how in the england of future, an experiment on humans goes wrong and how the totalitarian

government is brought to an end.

The Kite Runner - English - 2007

You will be able to relate to the movie ONLY if you have read the novel earlier.
Hence make sure that you read the book before you see the movie.

The movie doesnt bring anything new but after reading the book I was so fascinated by the book that I was compelled to see the movie.

Kungfu Panda - English - 2008

A good animation movie with a nice story.

Heard that this movie created a furore in china because the chinese have a soft corner for their national animal panda and
they would never try to make a movie with a Panda as a sloppy, lazy, fat character.

Spiderwick Chronicles - English - 2008

A good timepass Fantasy Movie.

Lives of Others - Germany - 2006

Lives of Others - German - 2006




I got to know about "Lives of Others" because Satyam theatres in Chennai screened it.
This film portrays the state of political affairs in Germany when it was under communist rule.
the Govt was so powerful that it listened to important peoples phone conversations to track their activities and to check whether
they were involved in anti-govt activities. Creative persons were the most hit by this. And this film portrays the story of
one such creative couple.

A good watch ..

Lives Of Others

IMDB has a rating of 8.5 for this movie, which means it has got very good reviews.

Lives of Others in IMDB

Treasure of Sierra Madre - 1948

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - 1948



This film is a black and White Adventure story about Gold hunters in Mexico.

A pair of Americans without money and better life decide to try their luck and go on gold digging in the mountains of mexico.


The film tells the story of how they go with treasure search and whether they find their treasure or not and how mans nature changes so easily.


IMDB link : Treasure of Sierra Madre

A slow one but OK.

City of Gods - Brazil

City of Gods

City of Gods is One of the best movies that I have seen till now. And it also figures in the Time list of 100 movies.

City of Gods is the name of a slum in Rio De Janeiro. The film tells the story of the slum and its teens and their violent lawless ways.

A must see.

The IMDB link for the movie is here.

City Of Gods

Shadows of Time - Schatten der Zeit - 2004

I am not sure how I got to know of this movie but I had this and when I saw it I was simply mesmerised by its production values.

The film is a love story of how 2 poor children who become friends in adverse situation go on to grow up and how their lives turn out.

The one thing that I remember from the film is its astounding cinematography.

Not to be missed for its technical values.

Shadows Of Time

The Way Home - Korea

The Way Home is a simple story told simply and realistacally.

The line is "What if a kid born and brought up in city comes to live in a village" ...

The film tells the story of how a kid is being brought to live in his grand mothers home and his interactions with his grandmother.

His grandmother is very old and cannot talk and hence there is not much of dialogues in the film. But the film conveys the message.

Its a Wonderful life - 1946 - USA

Its a wonderful life is a feel good family film fit for viewing with kids and family.No wonder it got released in 1946. But dont underestimate for a timepass movie.

Its a well written movie with a good story and nice moments.

The Basic premise of the movies is this " If you are given a chance to see the world where you wont be there, what it will be like?" otherwise stated as "How life would be if you had not met some of the persons in your life".

The book "Five people you meet in heaven" also works on a similar story.

Batman Begins - USA

I have been having plans for sometime to see the recently released Batman film , The Dark Knight which is creating box office records world wide. Hence I wanted to see the prequel, Batman Begins.

Batman Begins tells the story of Batman from the beginning. The story starts with Bruce Wayne (Character of Batman) losing his parents in Gotham City and growing up to revenge his parents death. But circumstances force him to get into the thick of criminals in Gotham city and he decides to fight criminals in Gotham city. For this he takes the help of Morgan Freeman a sort of scientist and leads 2 lives as batman and the rich playboy.

How he fights the corruption and criminals in Gotham city has been told in a riveting manner.

A Must see and make it a point to see this film before seeing The Dark Knight.

Amelie

Amelie is a poignant french film about a cute little girl who grows up to be a innocent lady.

The story is Amelie one day decides that her life's goal is to help others and make them happy. What she does to achive this is the film. and it depicts it in a very moving manner.

One of the best french films I have seen.

Kandahar

I have heard a lot about the Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Recently he came to chennai to check out the Color correction facilities available in chennai. I was glad to hear that a great director like him has come to chennai for his films. Hence I wanted to see any of his film this weekend and got hold of Kandahar, which I wanted to see for a long time.

If not for anything , It would show Afghanistan as it is in reality.

The movie is told through the eyes of a Afghani woman settled in Canada who wishes to see her sister in afghanistan. The film is all about how she travels to Kandahar.
The film is rich in its depiction of landscape and the people.

A Must see.

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 6

Have a look at the previous posts in this series.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day - 4 - Trek To Murugamalai
Day - 4 - Main Trek
Day - 5

We are onto the last day of our Nilgiris 2008 trek and the agenda of the last day is to leave after breakfast:-)

The team that stayed till the last :




From left, Edwins father,Saravanan,Mega,Prasanna,Camp Leader,Edwin,Sethu and Kathiravan.

After succesfully completing my first trek with YHAI, I am happy that I got to know them atleast now and have set a goal of 1 trek per year.
For those who dont know about YHAI , here is a brief description .

A little about YHAI:

YHAI stands for Youth Hostel Association of India. Its a Government funded organisation operating in a No-Profit, No-Loss basis.
The Youth Hostel movement was started in Germany and has since then spread to various countries.
The goal of it is to enable Youth to travel more in a cheap way.

In India, it comes under the control of the central Govt and is being run in a good manner.
Most of the Indian states have a state branch and organise State level treks.
In some cases, they organise National level treks also.


Advantages of trekking with YHAI :

1. Its Cheap.
2. Its safe, unless you do something stupid.
3. They cover the whole of India.
4. You need not run around for getting permissions.
5. Becoming a Lifetime Member is dirt cheap costing only 1700 Rs.

The YHAI main website :

http://www.yhaindia.org/

And become a member at

http://www.yhaindia.org/Transaction/Memebership/RegistrationDetail.aspx

Happy Trekking ...

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 5

Date: 1 May 2008

Please have a look at the previous 4 Days Trek Photos and experiences.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day - 4 - Trek To Murugamalai
Day - 4 - Main Trek

Todays agenda is start from Pykara and reach Singara Basecamp near Mudumalai by evening.



Wild buffaloes :
We came across a set of Buffaloes which though domesticated was clearly not happy with us in their place and were giving us a stern face.



Wild Boar:

From the beginning of the trek, we were told that we would have chances of seeing wild animals in 5th day when we were near to Mudumalai and so everyone was on the lookout for anything that moved amidst the bushes.

By Chance I was at the front of the group and had the time to look properly when the guide showed us a animal. I zoomed in and took a photo. It turned out to be a wild boar. Even though It was just a wild boar and my photo of it was not that much good, I was able to convince the 4 kids who had come to the trek, that I was a Photographer from National Geographic. Even though they would not believe me, the situation of me being the only one to capture the first sighting of a animal in the trek helped and they decided I was indeed a Wildlife Photographer :-).



Hemanth :

Hemanth is from mysore and had not come with his family. It was good to see that he has come to a trip this much far without his family members accompanying him.
He reads books and has read the kannada version of Pappillon. Till this time, I have never heard of that book. I would have to get it and read it.
And he has not seen Roja, the movie.




For most part of the day we trekked in the Route that was laid down by the Mysore rulers amidst the mountains.





Bokkapuram in the distant :



A good mountain to climb:

This mountain stood out amidst the surroundings and I wished that it would be bokkapuram, but sadly it wasnt and we did not visit tthis also.



The mountain we had crossed



Bokkapuram Temple:

This is the temple where Veerappan used to come for worship.



Masinagudi:



Singara Basecamp:

Singara, though not exactly mudumalai is some 5 kms from Mudumalai and we were warned that the previous day elephants had broken the windows in the basecamp. I am not sure about it though.

Deer at Singara:



Basecamp:

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 4

We are on Day 4 of the Nilgiris Trekking Expedition 2008 and if you missed out the previous days, check out the following.


Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 1

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 2

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 3

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 4 - Trek to Murugamalai

Terrace Estate:

Terrace Estate in front of Murugamalai.




Leaving behind Muruga malai

Below is the other side of Murugamalai and like every "other" face it looks tough to conqer.
I am sure that the side from which we climbed was much easy than the other side which is visible in the below photo.



Main Trek:

The trek for today is from Pandiar Hills to Pykara.



Me, Saravanan, Srini and Sharath.







Temple :

A temple amidst the clouds.



Kolam outside the temple:



TR Bazaar

TR Bazaar is the place where we meet civilisation during this day and acts a resting place midway.

The Loner and the Group:



Resting after a steep climb



Stream:









A Dragon Fly in flight:

Proof for the fact that Dragonfiles were the models for Helicopters.





At the end of the main trek for this day we reached our basecamp Pykara which is nearby the Pykara Dam and the Pykara waterfalls.

Pykara :

When we reached the entry point for the waterfalls we were stopped by the watchman and cautioned that entry was till 6.00 P.M and we cannot enter.
After haggling for sometime, we blurted out that we were part of the trekking and then his respose changed drastically. We were allowed in and he told us that we should have this comunicated this fact before itself. I am glad that I became a member of YHAI.



When we reached Pykara, we were repeatedly warned by the locals that the water here was not fit for bathing and we should restrain from doing so.
And the falls proved it with a toxic chemical smell.

At the end, this day we trekked less since it was mostly over the road, enjoyed the surroundings more.