Literature Gandhi, Paradise Now and The Battle of Algiers

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Literature
Gandhi, Paradise Now and The Battle of Algiers are all politically and/or historically-based. Alternatively, "Raging Bull and Million Dollar Baby" are sports drama focusing specifically on boxing and the lives of the boxers beyond the ring. Making the transition from the former to the latter was initially difficult, since the two seemed quite at odds.
Gandhi, like Paradise Now and The Battle of Algiers, is a film about people who were ready to give their lives to fight against the current government, although they all did this in their own different ways. Gandhi held non-violent and non-cooperation campaigns that were of unprecedented scale, as he coordinated millions of Indians nationwide in opposition to the British colonialists; in Paradise Now, Said and Khaled fight for their liberation of their country though Said has a personal vendetta against Israelis and in The Battle of Algiers, the FLN guerrilla insurgency fight against the French counter insurgency. Conversely, both Raging Bull and Million Dollar Baby were about boxers who live for the boxing ring and their lives after they can no longer fight.
The contrast offered by this categorization is arguable. In spite of the contrasting backgrounds and motives of the characters, one thing is clear: they are all trying to do their best to make their lives better. They fight for this betterment on the battlefield, on the streets, or in the boxing ring. Therefore, they two types of movies are more similar than they first appear to be.
These movies explore the psychological states of the protagonists in the following way: Ganshi, Khaled and Said are all prepared to die, so they do not have any regrets, while on the other hand La Motta and Maggie are prepared to get hurt as they fight in the ring, but not death. Therefore, they do not live their lives to their fullest especially La Motta, who makes many decisions that he regrets in the ring, like accepting a bribe to lose a match. Comparing them individually, I would say that Gandhi is the polar opposite of La Motta, as Gandhi is peaceful, unbiased and loving when there is a lot of death, discrimination and pain around him, while La Motta is self-destructive, arrogant and violent when the people around him support him and only want the best for him. We can also say that Maggie is the polar opposite of Said and Khaled in her reason for wanting death, as after she becomes quadriplegic, she wants to die because of her own personal situation, while the two friends want to die because of the situation their country is in. Another difference is that the characters in The Battle of Algiers have only one-sided personalities we do not get to know their motives, their passions, their inner conflicts etc while in Million Dollar Baby, we get to know the main characters, namely Maggie and Frankie, their motivations, weaknesses and inner conflicts.
In the political and historical type of movies, it is the environment and outward situation that shape the characters they wouldn`t be the kind of people they were if it wasn`t for their surrounding having such an enormous effect on their lives while in the boxing type of movies, it`s the characters who shape the background and environments like the way La Motta made the people around him hate him.
Un Chien Andalou and Night and Fog are both deeply disturbing films.
As I watched Un Chien Andalou, I felt a lot of emotions. When the movie started, I felt curious as I saw the man sharpening the razor; I at first thought he was going to use the razor to shave, or maybe even to cut his nails. When the scene changed to the woman`s eye being held by the man, I was initially on fused as I wondered where she had come from and why she hadn`t been given a proper introduction. Then I noticed that the man was holding her eye open as she looked straight ahead with barely an emotion. As the man slit the woman's eye using the razor, and vitreous humor spilled out from it, I felt a great sense of revulsion; I had not expected such a gruesome thing to happen with no forewarning, no build-up, no reason and such brutality. I looked away from the screen immediately, in utter disgust.
The next scene, of a skinny young man bicycling down a calm and quiet urban street while wearing what seemed to be a nun's habit and a striped box along with a strap around his neck, was a complete contrast to the previous scene. There was just a little comic relief here, as the sight of the young man wearing something so ridiculous was hilarious. When the young woman went to the window and found the young man lying on the curb, with his bicycle on the ground, I felt sad for the young man.
During scene at which the little man and the woman stared at the young man`s hand, which had a hole in the palm from where ants emerge, I was shocked and repulsed, wondering where the ants had come from, why the man had a hole in his hand and why it wasn`t bandaged. These emotions were amplified as young woman in the street below, poked at a severed hand with a cane as she was surrounded by a policemen and a large crowd.
When this young woman was hit by a car and died, I felt sad, then disturbed, as the young man in the young woman`s apartment seemed fascinated by the turn of events.
There are plenty more scenes in the short film that evoke different emotions, but overall, the film works in what it aims to achieve: to shock and disturb.
Watching Night and Fog directly after watching Un Chien Andalou had a negative impact on me. After being relentlessly shocked by the earlier film, the shocks provided by Night and Fog seemed to have no effects; such were my emotions blunted. I only felt emotion at the end of the documentary as I saw the piles of bodies; a great sadness came over me.
Pairing movies with such different content, form, mood and style had a variety of effects. The only positive is that the change of mood, style and form might be refreshing to the viewer`s mind. The downside however, is that the first film might have been so emotionally taxing whether evoking the viewer`s happiness, sadness or anger that if the viewer watched another film directly after it, he or she might watch it emotionlessly, thereby not really getting into the mood and spirit of the movie.
Life is Beautiful borders on being both tragic and comic. It manages both successfully, with the first half of the movie bearing most of the comedy while the second half of the movie bears most of the tra...