Catch-22
Saw a fantastic film yesterday night : .CATCH-22 based on the book of the same name by Hellen Keller. The movie was a pleasent surprise and I was dreading watching it after having read the book so many times but Mike Nichols does a fantastic job directing this anti-war satire and it is so true to the book.If you are wondering what Catch-22 is, it is a military term that is confusing and difficult to describe. In short, its basic meaning is that if there was a rule, no matter what the rule is, there is always an exception to it. So Yossarian, one of the main characters, can not escape the war because a concern for one's own life provs that he is not really crazy, and to get out of combat you have to be crazy. And thus creates this endless circle of trying to get away from something you can't. The movie was hilarious and you have to watch it to believe it.
The more and more I am seeing Mike Nichols work, the more I bow to him with respect and awe. The body of work he has done is fantastic and include classics like 'The Graduate'; 'Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf'; 'Carnal Knowledge' to name a few.
Today is a sad day because the first thing I read today morning was the massive earthquake(the biggest in the past 40 years) near Sumatra and the resulting Tsunami causing havoc and death in six countries across southern and southeast Asia. The latest death toll was about 10,000 and it is rising steadily and the effects are being felt right across Somalia where atleast 9 people were killed. The magnitude of the disaster is hard to comprehend and it almost seems surreal. Death is a transition, to where -I don't know but it definitely effects the living. Incase you are reading this post, then please close your eyes and observe silence for a minute in rememberance for all those who passed away and for all those families who lost their loved ones.
Amit
UPDATE - My bad - thanks for the correction 'dd': Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22 and not Helen Keller... I think I wrote Hellen Keller's name because I was totally confused and I had quoted her in one of my short films, which says " Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content."
posted by Amit @ 8:20 AM
1 Comments:
hey, fyi: Joseph Heller wrote CATCH-22, not Helen Keller. Helen Keller didn't write much of anything. ;)
Incidentally, Mike Nichols' new movie, CLOSER, is supposed to be fantastic. I saw the previews when I was in the States, and it looked really good.
All of which seems trivial with the current wave of devastation. Sad.
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