- Also Known As:
- Breaking News
- Year:
- 2008
- Country:
- Predominant Genre:
- Crime
- Director:
- Outstanding Performances:
- None.
- Premiss:
- Lives of several people intertwine during an eventful day in Mumbai.
- Themes:
- Alienation
- Compassion
- Destiny
- Emotional repression
- Empathy
- Friendship
- Humanity
- Identity
- Loneliness
- Loyalty
- Narcissism
- Personal change
- Solipsism
- Stereotyping
- Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
- Crash
- Review Format:
- DVD
Zero-Sum Game
There are rather too many coincidences in this too non-realistic melodrama but the religious hatreds exposed are spot on. Not only that but this movie actually poses solutions in terms of remembering more what is good rather than bad and letting what you remember be your guide in life. Indeed, this well-titled film makes it clear why breaking news can be so depressing to watch since it usually involves the deaths of large numbers of people.
The materialism that foments terrorism is shown to fail as an ethical and a political philosophy because any true separation between peoples is impossible because people do not live fully merely as objects. This explains the intersecting story-lines here; successfully augmented by the superb quality of the acting on display. The latter helps overcome the contrived and rather naïve aspect to the drama which is nonetheless topical and heartfelt.
Terrorism is presented as a zero-sum game of internecine conflict leading nowhere. This movie is also largely a paean to an India in a difficult transition period with its manifold past problems and the general difficulties of rapid cultural change. There is honesty about politics here absent from Western films that is more than refreshing and more than just a breath of fresh air.
Copyright © 2014 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute this posting in any format; provided mention of the author’s Weblog (Esthetics) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment