Black Robe' is the story of a young Jesuit Priest from France who embarks on a religious journey to convert, to Christianity, the Aboriginal tribes of New France. Set primarily in Ontario during the mid 1630's, Father Lafargue travels from Quebec via the Ottawa River to the home of the Huron people in what is now referred to as the Simcoe Region of South Central Ontario. He is aided by a band of Algonquin-speaking people, numbering roughly 20 and a young Frenchman with aspirations of Priesthood in the motherland. Blackrobe offers an intriguing insight into the relationships between the French and the Aboriginals. That being said most of the background for the movie is taken from a massive archive of Jesuit texts which needs to be taken into consideration when objectively looking at the portrayal of the Aboriginals. Blackrobe is a fictional movie although for the most part it is historically accurate and has been accepted as such by many historians and Aboriginal people alike. When critically reviewing Black Robe' it is important to look at the relationships between the two vastly different cultures and how they are represented. To a lesser extent it is important to look at the different Aboriginal tribes and how they not only interact with themselves, but with the French and Jesuits as well. The portrayal of the Europeans in the feature film Black Robe' was one of social superiority in relation to the Aboriginal tribes, specifically the Algonquin and Iroquois and to a lesser extent the Huron. This does not, however, qualify Europeans as good' and the Aboriginals as bad' as that aspect of interpretation would better be left to moral philosophers and not historians or movie critics.…
I selected the movie Black Hawk Down, because I really respect the soldiers who fight to keep all of us safe. Also, my mother told me that she had a personal connection with this movie because her mentor's son was one of the Army Rangers that participated in this battle. On October 3, 1993, a group of U.S. Elite Forces consisting of more than 100 Delta Force soldiers and Army Rangers, who were part of a larger United Nations peacekeeping force, were dropped into civil war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia. They are there in an effort to capture local crime lord Mohamed Farah Aidid's top lieutenants and Aidid himself if possible. The day was anything but routine in the opening salvo against an enemy we did not recognize: Al-Qaeda.…
The film Twilight tells the story of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), a typical moody teenager from Phoenix, Arizona who has recently moved to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with Charlie, her father. She attends Forks High School where she meets Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison) and unknowingly changes the course of her life from that point on. In time Bella comes to the realisation that Edward and his family are vampires. They have lived for over a thousand years between them but have never once come across the relationship that forms between Bella and Edward. This supernatural drama directed by Catherine Hardwicke, with its engaging storyline and action packed drama is set to engage the viewer from start to finish.…
Black Swan (2010) is a film where Natalie Portman plays the character of Nina, a passionate ballet dancer in New York City. Though Nina is conservative and pure, suiting the role as the “White Swan,” the production of “Swan Lake” also requires the role of a sensual, yet malicious “Black Swan,” the opposite of Nina’s character. As Nina attempts to perfect the role of the “Black Swan,” she suffers with major consequences. The character, Nina, in the Black Swan illustrates a clear example of schizophrenia because of the hallucinations, delusions, and the struggles with the basics of daily life.…
Macbeth is a story of passion, power, and violent betrayal: all of which are found in Mark Brozel’s contemporary adaptation of the Shakespearian classic. Set in Scotland, this production uses modern day language and dress to better relate to today’s audience. In this representation of Macbeth, Joe Macbeth is the sous chef in Duncan Docherty’s three star restaurant. Ella Macbeth, Billy Banquo, and Peter Macduff are also important characters. Macbeth has had multiple productions, from Orson Welles’ 1948 cinematic masterpiece to Polanski’s 1971 blood-filled horror story, and I believe that “Shakespeare Retold: Macbeth” was a fairly charming take this chilling dramatic piece; however, Brozel completely fails to bring Shakespeare’s crafted language and symbolism into view. Brozel focused on the unraveling of Joe and Ella’s relationship, and evil coming from Ella.…
“Perfection” how does American society define such a label? Perfection is an abstract, an impossible ideal that is likely beyond most people’s talents, ambitions, and drive. Despite this impossibility, people feel the need to pursue “perfection” because that ambition is essential to help them succeed in their lives. Many people aspire to perfection as parents, students, athletes, or even artists. Is reaching “perfection” conceivable or considered something out of the hands of a human being? But the bottom line is do we really know the true meaning of the description itself?…
Black Swan is about ballerina Nina Sayer (Portman) who lands the role of the Swan Queen in a production of the Tchaikovsky classic. Normally, this should have been a happy occasion but with a mother who pushes her all the time, she strives to get picked in lead roles only to see roles go to lesser talents. Years of failure to get that big break, including an overwhelming sense of paranoia make her a tad psychotic, easily given to hallucinations and such. When she does get the role, she finds herself even more insecure than before. The director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) doesn't help matters by constantly riling her for being too frigid instead of losing herself in the character.…
The film Black Swan presents the story of Nina Sayers, a professional dancer in a prestigious New York ballet troupe who’s tasked with the leading role in an upcoming production. She’s expected to convey two opposing personas--the delicate, innocent white swan and the wild, seductive black swan--simultaneously, and while she had no issue with the white swan, she found the character of the black swan incredibly difficult to relate to. Under extreme pressure from both her artistic director and herself to fit the role, Nina’s psyche broke down as she tried to develop a darker personality; she started to have hallucinatory episodes, and, in such episodes, self harmed and eventually stabbed herself. Judging from her portrayal in the movie, Nina…
First let’s start with a quick plot of “Black Swan.” Nina is a talented ballet dancer and frontrunner for the lead role as the Black and White swan (Swan Queen) in the production of Swan Lake. Nina’s life revolves around making the lead role in the production which seems to stress her out and looks like she might have an eating disorder as well. Throughout the movie between the auditions and practicing for the grand performance of the new and improved Swan Lake we get a glimpse of Nina’s private life at home as well as her relationships and social interactions with others. There is the relationship between Nina and her mother which sparks some theory behind Nina’s odd behavior. The relationship between the two seems as though the mother is a bit controlling and treats Nina as a child and also tries to live her life through Nina’s dancing because she failed as a dancer. Next, there is the relationship between Nina and Thomas her ballet director. Thomas knows Nina has what it takes to take the lead in the show but tries to get her to embody the black swan role by trying to get her to loosen up. She is as Thomas describes throughout the movie a frigid little girl. However he does this through seduction, or is that all in her head? And last but not least is the…
Once Nina successfully obtains the role as the Swan Queen, she is to portray both personas of the innocent and fragile White Swan, as well as the destructive and devious Black Swan. As expected Nina could easily capture the essence of the White Swan since they both share very similar personalities. Nina is a well-structured dancer and is always in control of every movement she makes, but her overall timid and fragile character cannot gain the essence of the Black Swan. The Black Swan represents a looser and sensual structure of dance that becomes difficult for Nina to embrace. With such frustration in Nina’s inability to fully grasp both characters in one dance, Nina begins to suffer from delusions, hallucinations, and amongst other irrational behaviors, all of which later contributes to her diagnosis of the borderline personality disorder.…
The movie Black Swan has many traits of psychological disorders. Some of the disorders that are displayed through out the movie are delusional disorder, schizophrenia, and depression. Delusional disorder is displayed by severe delusions of jealousy and persecution. Schizophrenia is displayed by delusions, and hallucinations split between though and emotion. Depression is sadness, hopelessness, and a state of despondency.…
This causes her to enter a downward spiral of hallucinations and anxiety disorders. The Black Swan thus cuts deep into the psychology of Nina. This essay seeks to apply several psychological themes to the movie and discusses how: dream theory based on an explicit dream, how colours, specifically white and black, affect Nina’s behaviour, how the dancer brain functions in executing dance routines, and the increasingly abnormal psychology she exhibits as the movie progresses.…
For my AP World History Movie Review, I chose to watch Les Miserables; a movie based on the inspirational novel by Victor Hugo. I selected this movie because i had a summer assignment on it for ADV English and also because i thought it would be a good idea to watch the movie before reading the book and compare the two afterwards. Watching this and reading the book has helped me in starting out this school year more prepared with my schoolwork.…
In the movie Frozen there are two sisters named Elsa and Anna. Elsa was born with the powers of ice. After accidently injuring her sister with her powers, the king and the queen locked down the castle so that the people of the city don’t figure out that Elsa has powers and think that she’s a monster. After the parents go across the sea they run into a storm and the ship capsizes and they both die. Elsa becomes queen and they have to open up the castle for the coronation ceremony. Anna means a prince and they fall in “love,” so they ask Elsa for her blessing to marry and Elsa denies it. Anna makes a big deal about it and Elsa accidently uses her powers and freezes the whole city and runs off to the mountains. Anna goes to find her and save the day but during this Anna gets ice on her heart and has to find love to unfreeze it. The power of sisterly love unfreezes Anna’s heart and Elsa learns how to use her powers correctly. The city is now unfrozen and the girls keep the castle open and live happily ever after.…
* Harry Potter is an average 11-year-old boy who has lived with the Dursley family ever since his parents died in a car crash. For some reason the family has always mistreated him. On his 11th birthday a giant man named Rubeus Hagrid hands him a letter telling him that he has been accepted as a student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.…