1947 Earth
|
Our Price: $39.92 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $29.19 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of 1947 Earth
Movie Review: The human animal
Summary: 5 Stars
"1947 -- Earth" is stunning, ravishing both visually and emotionally. The story is, ostensibly, about a particular time and place -- the city of Lahore, just on the line where the August 1947 end of the British Raj would crack the subcontinent into two parts. In a real sense, though, the film is not about one piece of history safely long ago and in someplace comfortably far away from us. It is about human behavior: what we hope we'll do, and what we're afraid we'll do.Deepa Mehta's work here surely does impact most deeply on Indian and Pakistani audiences precisely because it IS their personal history. But look at Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Darfur, 9/11, Iraq, Abu Ghraib,the bombings in Madrid and London -- the darkness there is the same one Mehta shows us in "Earth." She's talking about (and warning) people like us, too. The cast is remarkable. Even small roles are in the hands of quality like Kuhlbushan Kharbanda and Raguvir Yadav. The girl who is Lenny-baby beautifully combines innocence with the willful caprice of a child who's been over-indulged. Rahul Khanna has the sweetness of one who loves but has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Nandita Das' Shanta -- a flower around which Musselman, Hindu, Sikh, and Parsi bees all hover -- is knowledgeably flirtatious yet obtusely unobservant, or perhaps careless, of her effect. Best of all is Aamir Khan, whose Ice-Candy Man sees what is inside him, tries to stave it off, and then can do no more. Khan knows the value of stillnes. In that stillnes, his eyes -- Olivier eyes -- look at us, show us what he's seen inside and show us what we should fear inside ourselves.Movie Review: Birth of a nation . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
This story of lovers and friends caught in the murderous tides of political discord and sectarian violence is almost Shakespearean in scope, especially with its richly lush photography and swelling surges of music. The actors in the roles of the central characters deliver compelling performances, while their Bollywood good looks make the interplay of emotions among them (and the occasional singing and dancing) fascinating to watch.
Young Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, their long-time loyalties torn apart by the creation of Pakistan in 1947, are seen from the perspective of a well-to-do family from the much smaller (and little known) ethnic group of Parsees, who are descendants of Persian Zoroastrians. Their presence in the film provides an international audience with a point of reference that is sympathetic to neither India nor Pakistan, while setting up its Swiss-like detachment as a form a betrayal, which the narrator of the film fifty years later remembers with some remorse. The lesson, perhaps, is that sectarian violence leaves no one untouched, and even "innocent" bystanders must in some way share responsibility for it. While it simplifies the political realities of the time, it is very much worth seeing, especially for the generation that has inherited the troubled aftermath of Partition.
Movie Review: The painful partition of India
Summary: 5 Stars
"Earth" explores the event that triggered the largest mass migration in human history through a small group of friends torn apart almost against their will. Lahore is reputedly the most beautiful city in what is now Pakistan; in 1947 it was a melting pot for Muslims, Hindus, Parsees, Christians and others. The story is told through the eyes of Lenny, an upper class Parsee girl whose family desperately tries to stay neutral as the world falls apart around them. Lahore fell on the Muslim side of the line, and amidst growing violence the friends have to make choices. Hasan the Muslim decides to marry his love Shanta, a Hindu, convert, and move to India. Dil Navaz, who also loves Shanta, turns bitter and vengeful when he learns his three Muslim sisters are killed on their way back to Lahore. Others convert to save themselves; for some it is too late. But, as always, violence and extremism become a cover to take revenge for very personal reasons. "Earth" ends with a stunning betrayal that will leave you shaking. Beautifully and realistically filmed, "Earth" portrays a lost world, as the new nation of India is born. It's a painful film to watch but well worth your time.Movie Review: How best friends become enemies:The breakup of India
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first of a trilogy of films written and directed by Deepa Mehta.EARTH is the film that sets up the following films by telling us the history of the breakup of India from British rule.For 250 years Hindus,Muslims,Sikhs and Parcees had all coexisted under British Colonial rule.Now,in 1947 Britain,as it is pulling out,divides the land into India and Pakistan.The best of friends and families are forced to choose where they will go and where their loyalties will be.Nine year old Lenny-baby.a lame girl from the neutral Parcees,witnesses this calamity as the story is told from her innocent viewpoint.EARTH sets up the conditions that existed in India at the time to prepare you for the following FIRE and WATER.EARTH is an excellent companion movie to GANDHIand A PASSAGE TO INDIA as it sets all of the historical facts into place,yet telling the story with great pathos.EARTH is the most action oriented of the Deepa Mehta trilogy.FIRE and WATER are much more introspective and reflective.THIS IS A TREMENDOUS THREESOME OF FILMS THAT ARE ALL HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.Movie Review: Devastation on Film
Summary: 5 Stars
I decided that because Water and Fire were such brilliant films, I had to see Earth as well. Deepa Mehta is an unbelievably remarkable film-maker, and I knew that Earth would be up to her usual genius - beautiful shots, tenderness and pain, all I have come to expect from her. Earth, however, so aptly titled, went far beyond what I expected. First of all, its educational aspect cannot be overlooked - I thought I knew Indian history, but things on a page are very different from the visceral definition of what they mean captured on film. The sudden barbarism of people who had lived peacefully side by side for centuries, is beautifully rendered using a group of friends who represent all the factions that emerged at Britian's departure from and catastrophic division of India. The agony of loss and suffering of love are painted so believably by this most intelligent and creative director that you are there, aching with the characters. Earth is a painfully beautiful film, devastating and gorgeous at once, and totally, frighteningly, unforgettable.