Musings of an Idiot

Rules of Engagement

A recommended documentary to watch is 'Waco: The Rules of Engagement' and deals with the events which unfolded between Feb 28th, 1993 and April 19th, 1993 in Waco, Texas. It is a controversial doco because it dares to defy people's perception of what happened and highlights the cover-ups and brutality of the then US government. It is powerful, moving and heart breaking. You don't really want to see 70 men, women and children being senslessly burnt to death by the government {ATF and then the FBI} . Some might aruge that the doco does not highlight all the issues - well the way things stand - there is atleast something to counter government propoganda and brain wash. What the doco did do was highlight the lies and the cover-ups which FBI was putting on the table and got the US congress to re-open investigations in 1999 but I don't think there was any outcome to be mentioned. There is no freedom and we all are being truly ruled by idiots - maybe not as much in NZ {at this stage}. How can one concieve such a notion of ending human life without regard to basic principles of humanity? Another good website to know more about the Waco massacre is here.

The doco has left me shaken a lot and wants me to scream with the frustration about the illusion of freedom we are living in. Another news item which I saw today read something like "The head of the UK's security services has warned that civil liberties across the world may have to be sacrificed to prevent future terrorist attacks...." what the f***???

The other doco I watched straight after was 'To Be And To Have' - a simple doco about a one man school in rural france. It was gentle and cute but the pacing was incredibly slow and could easily have done with a tighter edit and would have shaved off 20 minutes off the current running length {yeah it is that slow}... the interesting news I came across {besides the knowledge that this was the biggest grossing documentary in france} though is that Georges Lopez sued the production company and lost the law suit.

Excerpt from an article in The Observer from October 2004 - "Speaking for the first time since losing his claim for €250,000 compensation last week, Lopez said he was not motivated by a desire for money, but was simply determined to win recognition of his rights. He said he and his young pupils had been exploited by the film's producers and had been left permanently traumatised.

The families of nine of the pupils feel so strongly about their mistreatment that they have launched legal proceedings against the film's producers. Lopez learnt last week that he had lost his own claim, but plans to appeal.

'We were misled. The production company told me and the children's families that they were making a small documentary about the phenomenon of the one-teacher village school and that the film would be used primarily for educational purposes. 'They said it would have a restricted screening and never discussed marketing the film to make it such a commercial venture.' He said the film's huge national and international distribution had had a very negative effect on the pupils. 'We had no idea that it would be in cinemas all over the country, released on DVD or distributed abroad. One child, who had been very stable and happy until the film's release, was so distressed by his unexpected fame, that he started wetting the bed, and became afraid of the dark.

'Other children have been teased at their new secondary schools because of their involvement. All have been subjected to a great deal of stress as a direct consequence of the film,' he said. Lopez is relaxed about his fall from grace in the minds of the public. 'The media like to burn tomorrow what they adore today. Worse still, it's not socially acceptable for school teachers to seek money. I'm meant to live a quiet life in the countryside, eking out a reclusive retirement on my meagre pension. It's a cliche, but that's how people think,' he said. 'I think a lot of people haven't understood what's motivated my legal case. I'm not doing this for the money, I'm simply trying to make the film company recognise my rights.' "

Strange little world just got a whole lot stranger.

Saturday had been a relaxing day - spent the better part of the day cooking 'chicken korma' in mughlai style and it took about 2 hours in total but the result is yummy and satisfying - it definitely aroused the interests of my flatmates by its aroma. I had it today and it was delicious - i probably put in a little too much water, so gravy was thin but otherwise it was niceeeeeeeeee....

Yesterday evening I went over to Alex Samuel's house for dinner. Alex is one of my classmates from South Seas and a good friend. He used to run his own production house in Bombay before he came over to NZ. He cooked some kebabs and they are awesome..I helped him sort out some of his editing and DVD authoring workflow in exchange for the recipe to those kebabs..will be getting that soon and can't wait to make those kebabs... There aren't any good places which sell kebabs in auckland and i think it is an excellent opportunity to overcome that drawback. :D

Greencine.com had liked 'Memories' and I was keen for the movie to go onto that website but since the internet rights are now with York Entertainment things weren't making much sense. Things have finally started moving after York Entertainment finally got in touch with Greencine and I am keeping fingers crossed that something will shape up on that front sooner than later. While still talking of the movie, 'Memories' would have screened at Bluegrass Independent Film Festival and I wonder how it fared at all. Will try and find out somehow.

On a sign off note - I just finished watching the first 3 episodes of 'Firefly' and fell in love with it. It is an amazing sci-fi series. The background is that the TV networks prematurely killed off the TV series even before it completed its first season but soon the growing popularity made them reconsider that fact and they allowed for a movie to be developed from the same series and that movie is being released this year {in NZ...don't know when}..the movie is called 'Serenity' and even though I have heard that there is a leap of some storylines between the movie and the TV series - i still can't wait to finish off the TV series soon { Got another 4 episodes on me and need to rent out the other DVD as soon as I finish with the current ones}.

Ciao later,
Amit

posted by Amit @ 5:14 PM