The Namesake
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.98 You Save: $11.00 (73%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.26 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Namesake
Movie Review: The Namesake
Summary: 5 Stars
The Namesake is a vivid interpretation of a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. It is a wonderful story which embodies love, betrayal, values, and much more. Having read the book, and watched the movie, I have fallen in love.
Gogol Ganguli has a funny name, a name that holds dear to his father, and a name of consequence that he does not understand. He belongs to a Hindu family living America, a family whose morals and values are still tied to India. From a young age Gogol was forced to maintain a balance between his American influences and Indian values. As he grew older, he became more distant from his Indian family, and closer to his girlfriend Max's family. His rejection of his heritage furthered when he chose to change his name from Gogol to Nikhil. However, all was going to change. Gogol's father, Ashoke, died of a sudden heart attack, leaving Gogol to realize that he needs to become closer to his family, and in order to do that, he needs to be closer to his culture. Before Ashoke's death, he told Gogol why he named him Gogol, because of life threatening accident he had, in his early years, while he was reading a book by Nikolai Gogol. Gogol understood, and was touched. Ashima, Ashoke's wife was faced with a life of singularity after his death, a life where she had to get a job, drive, and live alone, like any other single American. During this time, Gogol is swept away by Moushumi Mazoomdar, a Bengali girl who he knew from a very young age. He soon arranges to marry her. Their marriage is faced with the challenges of Moushumi's desire to study further, and her love affair with a French man. Gogol, heartbroken, grows further when he visits his mother's going away party to India. He stumbles upon a book, "The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogol; a gift his father had given him, a gift he never opened, or cared about when he was alive. He is changed.
This story is a beautiful story of culture that was suppressed, and values that were forgotten. It has many vibrant scenes showing certain indian traditions and is a vivid portrayal of rituals. A story enhanced by the ethics that Ashima and Ashoke embodied and later passed to their children.
Movie Review: The Namesake in comparison to World Religions and Hinduism
Summary: 5 Stars
The Namesake is an inspiring story about Gogol Ganguli's battle as an American-Indian living and growing up in America and having Indian born parents who are stuck in Indian culture. The setting of The Namesake is in 1977 in Calcutta, India. Gogol's parents were born here and are Bengalis and practice the traditional Bengali/Indian customs. Ashima is Gogol's mother and she marries another Bengali and moves to America with him. She makes a life in this country and raises her two children Gogol and Sonia. Gogol battles with his roots and wants to be an American. He moves to New York and begins to go by the name Nick. He settles down with a Caucasian American girl named Max. Then a drastic change occurs which makes Gogol return to his roots. He learns of the reasons behind his name Gogol that he hates so much and he learns to appreciate it and his culture. The Namesake is a great story about how life is a beautiful journey and just how important and meaningful just a name can be.
This movie relates to World Religions drastically because the main characters are Indians from Calcutta, India, which is the home to Bengali/Indian culture, which is of Hinduism. Therefore, the characters are Bengalis and practice traditions that have been passed on for many years. In this movie you can see the role of women as Bengalis because Ashima (Gogol's mother), does not get much choice in picking her future. She has to marry young and marry another Bengali. This tradition makes her move to America, which she calls, "the lonely country", and all she wants to do is go back home. Her husband Ashoke basically takes on the role of her father and is now her teacher (which is the role of men to women). He teaches her everything she knows for now on, down to how to live alone. At the end of the movie Ashoke's ashes are spread in the Ganges in India and The Ganges River is considered to be a very pure and sacred place and it is tradition to place cremated ashes of dead ones in the river so their sins will be washed away (Living Religions 87).
Movie Review: The Namesake
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie "The Namesake" was a wonderful film about an Indian husband and wife who migrated to America to start their family. The story begins in Calcutta India with Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli getting married. Shortly there after, they move to New York City. A few months later they have their first child, a son named Gogol Ganguli. He was named after his father's favorite author Nikolai Gogol. This fact will play a major role in the rest of Gogol's life. The family grows as they gain a daughter by the name of Sonali Ganguli. The story continues as the children grow up and graduate from high school. The summer before Gogol leaves to go to Yale University, he travels with his family to India to meet his relatives. While in India Gogol and his family travel to the Taj Mahal where Gogol is inspired to become an architect. After graduation from Yale, Gogol meets and falls in love with a young American artist named Maxine Ratliffe. However, after Gogol's father dies suddenly due to a heart attack, Gogol and Maxine go their separate ways due to there cultural differences. Not long after this ,Gogol meets and marries an Indian girl he knew from childhood. Her names is Moushumi Mazoomdar, and although they are married and seem to be happy, it is not long before she starts having an affair with an old boyfriend and their relationship also ends. The movie ends after this with Gogols mother returning to India and Gogol setting off to travel the world.
The Movie "The Namesake" also has many important references to traditional Indian culture such as the traditional dress of the Indian woman known as the "sari". The movie shows Indian weddings, as well as Indian funerals in great detail. In this movie is also apparent that in India the parents seem to have a lot to say in who their children marry. However, throughout the movie it is apparent that the Ganguli family in America do their best to mix the two cultures to get the best of both worlds.
Movie Review: Conflicts of Immigrant Cultures
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Namesake" is a look into the lives of an immigrant Bengali-American family as two generations cope with conflicts of culture and life. The parents assimilate into American life, arriving in this country as married grown adults. They adhere to their Bengali traditions but learn to build new lives, far away from their roots and relatives. The children, born in this country, regard themselves as "American" first, and seek to reconcile their family's upbringing and Bengali traditions with the secular, loose, American lifestyle. These are often in conflict.
"The Namesake" refers to why the father, Ashoke, named his son "Gogol", honoring the famed but flawed Russian author. Ashoke was reading one of Gogol's books while talking to a fellow train passenger outside Calcutta when there was a tragic train wreck. Before dying, the passenger advised Ashoke that life was short and to get out of India and see the world. This was a life transforming experience, and as one of the few survivors of the wreck, Ashoke took his advice and ended up living and raising a family in America. The name "Gogol" was a problem for the boy, making him the target of ridicule. The idea of names and identity is a theme throughout the movie.
This is an excellent movie that feels Indian but not Bollywood. There is something universal about the problems immigrants face on coming to America, and the impacts on the next generation. The movie talks to people of all immigrant backgrounds in a genuine and realistic way. It is truly a beautiful, powerful film.
Movie Review: A beautiful meditation on life, love, birth, and death -- what it means to be human in a changing & challenging world.
Summary: 5 Stars
Spoilers, be forewarned.
The Namesake is a beautifully shot film that not only gets to the heart of the immigrant experience, but also tells a deeply moving tale about humanity -- about what it means to be human, vulnerable and dependent on both family and strangers in a changing and insecure world. There are brilliant acting performances in this film (the "parent" Indian actors Tabu and Irfan Khan especially). "White Castle's" Kal Penn does a fine job as the young son who at first refuses to understand his immigrant father's "uncool" ways then learns to respect and even admire his father's difficult and haunted past (we learn in the film that the father was the only survivor of a catastrophic train crash as a young man).
The film follows the lives of the parents as they move to America (with gorgeous, small touches by director Mira Nair that show the challenges of moving to a completely unknown country) and in its second half the film focuses on the son as he grows into maturity and suffers a devastating, unexpected heartbreak that helps (as he puts it) him become truly "free." In the mid-section of the film the family visits India for a summer; the children see and appreciate the rich heritage they had ignored to this point in their lives when they visit the Taj Mahal and ingest the astonishing sights and sounds of Kolkata (Calcutta). The film also boasts one of the best soundtracks of the year, which mixes gorgeous Indian tunes and Western music and seamlessly blends the songs with key images from the film. Highly recommended.