I had been hearing about this movie for about a few months now... it looked like it was always destined for success and now all the more poignant after what happened with Mumbai 26/11.

Hi Gotham and Everyone,

I have been hearing a lot about this movie..plan on seeing it...although...you write.....

We live in conflicted times. Economies and ecologies are crumbling. Wars are raging and Mavericks and Martyrs, sinners and saints, Jihadis and jingoists are all separated by a razor’s edge. Still, some stories rise above the noise and make a difference, contribute in a way to a planetary dialogue about who we are, where we are going, and why we believe that no matter the dire circumstance we may find ourselves in, there is always the chance that we might endure it and succeed. Danny Boyle gets this"

I hate to stick a pin in your ballon but since the humanity's soap opera "As the World Turns" stated it run so many many years ago...this has been the case....there have been many scripts from many a Danny Boyle....as, there, will be many more for many hundreds of years in our future...that is, if, our show doesn't get "cancelled" by the "number one media exec in the sky." :))ruth

Hi Gotham and Everyone,

I have been hearing a lot about this movie..plan on seeing it...although...you write.....

We live in conflicted times. Economies and ecologies are crumbling. Wars are raging and Mavericks and Martyrs, sinners and saints, Jihadis and jingoists are all separated by a razor’s edge. Still, some stories rise above the noise and make a difference, contribute in a way to a planetary dialogue about who we are, where we are going, and why we believe that no matter the dire circumstance we may find ourselves in, there is always the chance that we might endure it and succeed. Danny Boyle gets this"

I hate to stick a pin in your ballon but since the humanity's soap opera "As the World Turns" stated it run so many many years ago...this has been the case....there have been many scripts from many a Danny Boyle....as, there, will be many more for many hundreds of years in our future...that is, if, our show doesn't get "cancelled" by the "number one media exec in the sky." :))ruth

It's great to see the Indian verison of the American Dream alive and well in this movie.

Does it irk people to mention something positive about America vis a vis the global politik?

Cheers,

Steve

I haven't seen it yet but i've heard predictions of "Best Picture/Film"... if so, what an honor for an Indie Director.
Hugs, Lily

I completely in the power of film and stories. They are fun, enteraining and the potential change people's lives for the better. Stephen Simon says that filmmakers are like today's shamans.

Well this barbarian tried crashing the gate at the movie theater . . .; but those darn usher kids are tougher than they look!

Arrrr

Dear Gotham,

I have not seen that movie (yet), but if you ask me, India and China have a great future ahead. Within thirty years from now our world will look a whole lot different from now.

Just believe in the future, you are now only some thirty years behind (of Europe) and will more quickly make up for these years. More quickly than everybody can imagine!

Kishore Mahbubani is already making the minds of Europe get ready for this!

U.S. will follow, albeit a bit reluctantly :)

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Kishore Mahbubani is the author of the new book
(1) The New Asian Hemisphere:
The Irresistible Shift of Power to the East....,

as well as (2) Can Asians Think?

and (3) Beyond the Age of Innocence:
Rebuilding Trust between America and the World.
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the new book by Kishore Mahbubani
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The New Asian Hemisphere
The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East

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http://www.mahbubani.net/

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A note from Kishore Mahbubani

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For over two decades, I have lived the life of a nomadic intellectual, absorbing ideas at great intellectual watering holes, like Davos and Aspen, Ditchley and Pocantico. Initially, I was overwhelmed by the confidence and energy of Western intellectuals. They had sharp minds, always producing new insights as they spoke. It has come as a huge personal shock for me to see this same group of Western intellectuals now becoming totally blind to emerging new realities. At a time of rapid change, these Western minds remain complacent and smug. I tried to puncture this smugness in my speeches and columns. Sadly, I failed. They could not see that we are moving from a monocivilizational world to a multi-civilizational world. These failures taught me a lesson. The only way to persuade the West of the need to change mindsets was to try and develop an alternative weltanschauung. That is the ambitious goal of this book. If we do not wake the West up from its intellectual complacency, we are headed for trouble....The need to develop a better understanding of our world has never been greater. We are now entering one of the most plastic moments of world history. The decisions we make today could influence the course of the entire twenty-first century. But it is clear that the worldviews of the leading Western minds are trapped in the previous centuries. These minds cannot even conceive of the possibility that they may have to change these worldviews to understand the new world. Unless they do, we could make disastrous decisions....For centuries, the Asians (Chinese, Indians, Muslims, and others) have been bystanders in world history. Now they are ready to become co-drivers. Asians have finally understood, absorbed, and implemented Western best practices in many areas: from free-market economics to modern science and technology, from meritocracy to rule of law. They have also become innovative in their own way, creating new patterns of cooperation not seen in the West. Will the West resist the rise of Asia? The good news is that Asia wants to replicate, not dominate, the West. For a happy outcome to emerge, the West must gracefully give up its domination of global institutions, from the IMF to the World Bank, from the G7 to the UN Security Council. History teaches that tensions and conflicts are more likely when new powers emerge. This, too, may happen. But such tensions can be avoided if the world accepts the key principles for a new global partnership spelled out in The New Asian Hemisphere

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http://www.mahbubani.net/

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A REVIEW OF THE BOOK
The New Asian Hemisphere:
The Irresistible Shift of Power to the East

on amazon.com

Hail the March to Modernity!
May 23, 2008

by H. Schneider "Hermit"
First I noticed the controversy about this book in Hard Talk on BBC, where the host and the author did some very unsatisfactory pirouettes around the contentious issues, which are related to the Western reservations about current Asian progress. Then I read an even worse interview in Der Spiegel, where the interviewers excelled in stupidity while the author excelled in stubbornness. Consequently I had to pick up the book and read it. KM expects to provoke 'us' Westerners, but he asks some pundits to write blurbs, which Summers and Zbig and others did. ... KM's thesis is this: Asia rises, and that is good for the world. The Western leaders have trouble in adjusting their mental maps, which are trapped in the past. Asia has benefitted from the world system as established after WW2 and has no interest in endangering it. The current wave of optimism will enter West Asia as well and Pakistan, Iran and others will want to have the same progress as China and India etc... The March to Modernity is good for all, and it is not just material, rather the escape from poverty has far reaching immaterial value for the masses of Asia. In short, KM is a 'hopeless' optimist, and I do hope that his victorious scenario wins. My biggest doubts are over the Islamic world's ability to join the trend. Maybe KM knows better. I do hope so. One surprise for me was that KM steps away from the old litany of Lee Kuan Yew and others, i.e. that Asian economic success is due to traditonal Confucian values. In the contrary, KM argues that China, India, and the others, are following Japan in adopting the '7 pillars' that were the basis of the West's surge forward some centuries ago. These 7 pillars are:
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1. free economy (expect Adam Smith in the Asian pantheon of the future!),

2.science (enormous push forward; quote Rajiv Gandhi: better brain drain than brain in the drain);

3. meritocracy/equal opportunity, a trend which requires overcoming huge traditional obstacles, but which is clearly on the way;

4.pragmatism: possibly a euphemism for copying;

5.a culture of peace (maybe hard to believe for many in the West);

6. the rule of law: far from being an attained target so far;

7.education.

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If KM is right, the adoption of Western values is going far beyond copying Gucci bags and Lacoste shirts. In that sense I would'nt be surprised if he got as much headwind in Asia as in the West. The headwind in the West comes from his criticism of the exportation of democracy into nations that are not ready for it. And of course from his criticism of the way the West dominates the international institutions and applies double standards. Why are we not happy with the Asians following our example? Because it means loss of power, plain and simple. Can't say that I don't see his point. Equally I think he is right in blaming the current Western leadership for gross incompetence in critical issues such as Middle East policy (the Iraq invasion as the single worst case of bad judgment and terrible implementation), free trade, nuclear non-proliferation, global warming... Incidentally, KM points out, at the time when Giordano Bruno was burned for heresy in Rome, the Muslim emperor Akbar the Great pronounced principles of a secular government in India. So much for Western conceit..
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Biography ----- KISHORE MAHBUBANI
Dean
Professor in the Practice of Public Policy
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
National University of Singapore
469C Bukit Timah Road Singapore 259772
Tel: +65-6516 3500
Fax: +65-6777 7020

A student of philosophy and history, Kishore Mahbubani has had the good fortune of enjoying a career in government and, at the same time, in writing on public issues. With the Singapore Foreign Service from 1971 to 2004, he had postings in Cambodia (where he served during the war in 1973-74), Malaysia, Washington DC and New York, where he served two stints as Singapore’s Ambassador to the UN and as President of the UN Security Council in January 2001 and May 2002. He was Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Ministry from 1993 to 1998. Currently, he is the Dean and Professor in the Practice of Public Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) of the National University of Singapore. He is also a Faculty Associate for the LKYSPP’s Centre on Asia and Globalisation (CAG). Concurrently, Prof Mahbubani continues to serve in Boards and Councils of several institutions in Singapore, Europe and North America, including the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Council, the Asia Society's International Council, the Yale President's Council on International Activities (PCIA), and the Singapore-China Foundation - Scholarship Committee. In the world of ideas, Prof Mahbubani has spoken and published globally. His articles have appeared in a wide range of journals and newspapers, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Washington Quarterly, Survival, American Interest, the National Interest, Time, Newsweek and New York Times. He has also been profiled in the Economist and in Time Magazine. He is the author of “Can Asians Think?” (published in Singapore, Canada, US, Mexico, India, China and Malaysia) and of “Beyond The Age Of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust between America and the World” (published in New York). His new book entitled “The New Asian Hemisphere: the irresistible shift of global power to the East” was published in New York in February 2008. More information on his writings can be found on www.mahbubani.net. Prof Mahbubani was awarded the President’s Scholarship in 1967. He graduated with a First Class honours degree in Philosophy from the University of Singapore in 1971. From Dalhousie University, Canada, he received a Masters degree in Philosophy in 1976 and an honorary doctorate in 1995. He spent a year as a fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University from 1991 to 1992. He was also given the 2003–2004 Dr Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award by the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) at Tufts University. He has been conferred The Public Administration Medal (Gold) by the Singapore Government in 1998. The Foreign Policy Association Medal was awarded to him in New York in June 2004 with the following opening words in the citation: “A gifted diplomat, a student of history and philosophy, a provocative writer and an intuitive thinker”. Prof Mahbubani was also listed as one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines in September 2005.

http://www.mahbubani.net/index.html

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a sidenote

very interesting the above book reviewer's mention of Asia's "culture of peace... ." Seems true to me. It is fascinating to contemplate how the people in crowded Asian cities and in crowded countries like Japan manage to get along together without more conflict than what exists. The Japanese, for instance, have exquisite manners and a way of dealing with others that is very conducive to peace.

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http://www.suite101.com/print_article.cfm/japan_retired/26834
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Foundations of Japanese Etiquette: A Primer
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Author: Lance Lindley
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Published on: Oct 1, 1999

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speaking of Asia....

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China News--
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a great world news website.

here's the url.
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http://www.chinaview.cn/world/index.htm
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Thanks Jane for the link #12.

Always good to enlarge the horizon :)

And to be able to learn a thing or two...

Again.... :)

And thanks for all the info on Kishore Mahbubani, i have read his book about the Asian Hemisphere.

All the best to you!

Mieke

The most intentbloggish/non-intentbloggish review of two exceptional films, I read so far, by Jordan Hiller of bangitout.com:

JE SUIS AWARE: Existentialism and Fate in JCVD and Slumdog Millionaire

12-07-2008

"Being productive, finding love, earning a pay check, surviving daily grinds which transform into more complex annual grinds (in other words: Living Life) is sufficient an all-consuming occupation. Who has time to understand the grander nature of the process? Who has time to contemplate the questions WHY and HOW in a circumstance where WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE come knocking every crowded moment of every overly scheduled day. The average person who even attempts to intellectualize the meaning of it all is typically reduced to scanning Socrates on the subway (or even better, the toilet), interpreting Maimonides before passing out on a Friday night, or watching Deepak Chopra ruminate on TV (or even better, Dr. Phil). While the masses live lives void of an inner peace or elevated consciousness, writers (both for screen and page) continually produce tales of everymen who desperately search for (and more often than not find) their purposes in the universe. Each of us are mere specks in the wide, cold, clueless galaxy, but leave it to the artists to promote the notion that with some effort, our raison d'etre will present itself in a marvelous display of fireworks, string music, and end credits.

Two films currently playing in select theatres and enjoying overwhelming critical success continue the tradition of challenging the perceptible reality of chaos and randomness. Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire does so overtly, with a fantastic scenario, elegantly told with a straight face and a subtle wink, while Mabrouk El Mechri's JCVD accomplishes its task with a surreal, ultimately raw and stinging analysis of an actor portrayed by and modeled closely after Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Since 1995, Danny Boyle has proven that he can master any genre. From hip thriller (Shallow Grave) to twisted caper (Trainspotting) to gory horror (28 Days Later) to kiddie fare (Millions) to science fiction (Sunshine). Each one of his films are unique sparkling gems in their own right. With Slumdog Millionaire it is almost as if Boyle got tired of perfecting established genres and decided to create a new one. The film tells the story (through two tiered flashbacks) of a supremely decent boy, Jamal, who after growing up in a pre-industrialized, poverty infested Mumbai and overcoming a horrendous childhood filled with tragedy and gross betrayal somehow (see FATE) becomes a contestant on the Hindi version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The gimmick (and I will call it that because that is certainly what it is) turns on the fact that Jamal, an uneducated (possibly street-smart) thistle in the wind, inexplicably knows every answer asked of him and begins to amass a truckload of rupees. How does he know all the answers even though the questions cover a range of topics and a variety of miscellanea from poetry, economics, literature, cinema, and mythology? Well, Simon Beaufoy's screenplay based on the novel by Vikas Swarup wants us to believe that it is written. In other words, Jamal is on a mystical journey, he travels an enlightened path, he treads a providential road. Why him? Was he chosen for a specific reason or is he simply another fortunate everyman? We are not told.

Okay. That's cool, I guess.

Though critics and audiences are raving, problems with Slumdog Millionaire do exist; including the concept that destiny can (or will chose to) manifest itself with such cavalier apparentness. It's all kind of a dumbed-down version of a lofty pursuit in the guise of a wise, omnipotent guru (hence India as the setting). I mean, it is very nice that the puppeteers of the cosmos have concentrated their efforts to give one angelic boy a fairytale ending (replete with fame, riches, and the girl), but why do it in such a roundabout way? A cheesy game show? I know He works in mysterious ways, but…there is nothing really mysterious or transcendent about Is that your final answer?! or I would like to ask the audience. Certainly the format lends itself to drama and allows the filmmakers to create a revelatory flashback accompanying each question (some more powerful and poignant than others), but life is inherently a chain of point A to point B to point C. Every end result has a beginning and a series of encounters and choices that lead to that particular finale. In a movie that is undoubtedly a fable with a worthwhile lesson (that the bigger picture can sometimes reveal the sacred importance and beauty of even the most painful details), it is curious to find the lesson so enwrapped in a blatant and shamelessly constructed development. It is as if we are constantly reminded that we do not drink from the fountain of real wisdom, but rather, with Slumdog Millionaire, it is just a movie, that it is most assuredly written.

One can tell also that the producers refused to commit entirely to the magical storyline, as if they may not have been fully comfortable, because thrown in (to somber the mood and place it in awards contention perhaps) are ill-fitting torture scenes as Indian police "interrogate" Jamal regarding his unprecedented knowledge, as well as a throwaway attempt to depict the game show's host (gleefully played by Anil Kapoor) as corrupt.

The reason Slumdog Millionaire eventually comes out on top, despite its philosophical missteps is that Boyle relates the story in such a winning way, combined with such pure performances by his cast of unknowns (in America). He displays such a passion for his characters and their plights and such a child prodigy's eye for framing a scene that we concede the experience to him. We walk away no more illuminated, but thoroughly entertained.

JCVD is a whole 'nother animal. This is pop existentialism done right with a capital 'R.' We leave the theatre satiated, with a heavy brow and a deeper connection to the sordid human experience. Granted the film, on its own, is severely reliant upon its audience being a bit more than familiar with the actor Jean-Claude Van Damme and his history as an American action star in the late 80's and 90's (thereby becoming a hero in his native Belgium). Luckily for me, I am 30 years old, grew up watching the Muscles from Brussels, and rooted for him on the big screen whether he fought as an underdog in to-the-death tournaments, against a renegade Dolph Lundgren, alongside his twin, or traveled through time. In no uncertain terms: I appreciate Jean-Claude Van Damme, and before the lights went down for JCVD I had earned my degree. So imagine the overwhelming nachas in witnessing Van Damme deliver a knockout, Oscar caliber performance in – to date – the most mesmerizing and wholly satisfying movie of 2008. Mabrouk El Mechri, directing from a script he co-wrote with Frederic Benudis, blends together fact, fiction, the gravely serious, and the astoundingly surreal with genuine genius en route to a stunning result. If I were Sephardic, I would say Mabrouk! Mabrouk! Mabrouk! to the young, very promising auteur. It is yet to be determined if he has reanimated Van Damme's acting career, but he has blazed ahead in his own as a filmmaker.

JCVD (an unnecessarily odd title) revolves around a hostage situation in which a destitute actor named Jean-Claude Van Damme (with obvious uncanny similarities to the actual performer) gets caught up in the heist gone awry. The film succeeds in telling the story a number of times from different angles with a sharp, witty script in order to get the full perspective of the event, but describing the narrative, here, is no business of mine. The only story that matters (in the larger sense) is that JCVD is a phenomenal achievement, and not despite the work of Van Damme, but thoroughly because of it. He is removed from the cockiness of his directionless youth, the groin testing splits, and the terribly articulated one-liners; what is left is a glum, beaten down, shell of a superstar, barely holding on. The actor Van Damme can certainly relate to his doppelganger character (if he is not in actuality him). The actor has risen and fallen in America and has succumbed to abuses both externally and internally supplied. He has sustained the trappings of celebrity and suffered the loneliness and emptiness of being something that "once was" while still something that "is." Whether his experience translated directly to the performance or it simply took Mabrouk's direction to coax it from him, we may never be able to establish. The movie is intentionally warped and blurs the lines between life and art. In a most remarkable, heart-wrenching moment, the actor (or is it the character?) rises from the movie-set like a spirit and speaks directly to the audience (in French with subtitles). There, he laments some life-choices and bares his regrets with an openness that is both terrifying and humbling. In that instant we are utterly lost, swimming, drowning in the layers of an existential masterpiece.

Slumdog Millionaire treats fate and purpose as if they were a carnival trick. JCVD indeed takes us into the carnival, but leaves us spellbound and bewildered in an unexpectedly edifying house of mirrors."
http://www.bangitout.com/articles/viewarticle.php?a=2449

Well, I haven't seen either one of the movies.

I saw another one some years ago (from 1947) with James Stewart, acting like a person who thought he never did anything good in his life.

And then there came an angel who showed him what would NOT have happened if he would not have been alive.

And so the conclusion was that even he, a very simple soul had made quite an impact on the world around him without him even knowing he did!

So whatever one does in one's life, whether making a movie or being the star in one's own life movie, it is all going to have influence on one's world around, and one can be a hero in a very simple way.

Everybody makes an imprint on this earth, and I agree with Gayatri's point of view, we do not all have to be well-known heroes to be the change in our own world.

Because this is what I have learnt: If I cannot do it in my own personal environment, I will never be able to do it in the whole wide world.

What one radiates, one receives back, or: You give what you take and you take what you give.

Even the most simple thing, a smile, can move another’s perception from hell to heaven!

I made a special page on my web-site to honour everyone who has been a voice on this Intentblog for the last more than 3 years, we really moved some stones :)

http://www.heartphone.org/poem_of_the_stone.htm