2010 Movie World Cup, Group F

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

Films: Il Divo, Paraguayan Hammock, Black Sheep, Orbis Pictus

Italy: Il Divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)

This glossy political film based on real life prime minister Giulio Andreotti has some interesting moments in its depiction of corruption and abuse of power. While the film does a decent job in showing how easily truth and justice can be extinguished in a democratic system, it is still tame and disappointing. The dramatic introduction of some characters does not mesh with the film's overall low key tone and as a result, the film does not have a consistent feel.

In a way, Il Divo is an appropriate choice for the movie world cup as the Italian soccer team disappoints more often than lives up to its potential. Even though Italy won the 2006 World Cup, it should have won the 1990 and 1994 tournaments but failed to play to its potential. Italy should have done a lot better in 2002 but fumbled out due to their own mistakes; the ref incorrectly sent Totti off but Vieri should not have missed an open net and Italy should have stayed with 3 attackers in the second half against South Korea. Also, it can't be forgotten that Italy were a mere 30 seconds away from winning Euro 2000 but eventually lost out to France. So like the Italian soccer team, Il Divo promised plenty, offered some nice moments, but failed to deliver a winning end product.

Note: linking political leaders to mafia and murder may not be seen too much in North American films but it is a common topic in most Bollywood political films. Even average Bollywood films do a good job in depicting the ruthless nature of politics and showing how easily rules can be twisted in a democracy. Some of the better political movies such as Gulzar's Hu Tu Tu, Satta, Shool, Haasil and Gulaal provided me with more viewing pleasure than Il Divo.

Paraguay: Paraguayan Hammock (2006, Paz Encina)


Paz Encina's meditative film evokes sentiments of Beckett's Waiting for Godot. An elderly couple sits around in a hammock, talking and waiting for their son to return from the war. The two do fear that their son will not come back and later on in the film, the father does indeed learn that the war has been over but his son has failed to return. But the two still wait not for happiness in the form of their son but instead for death which can be seen hovering in each frame amid the silence. Their time is passed away by simple activities and talk of rain, which also threatens to occur at any moment.

Simple. Haunting. Poetic.

Note: It took me almost 3 years to track this film down but the wait was worth it.

New Zealand: Black Sheep (2006, Jonathan King)


Beware the killer Sheep! Beware even more of the killer sheep that can drive!



Given the number of jokes that circulate about kiwi's and sheep, a horror treatment was long overdue to bring in some balance. The real experiments of cloning sheep are used as a germ of an idea in Black Sheep to create a dangerous killer sheep. The film ultimately comes off as a B grade horror movie with unexpected laughs in scenes of serious biting and blood letting. Though there are a few well done moments such as the following scene in which the top of the frame is packed with sheep rushing to attack the unsuspecting humans.


Slovakia: Orbis Pictus (1997, Martin Sulík)

A young girl's, Terezka, journey across the land to track down her mother leads to unexpected meetings and adventures. Terezka gets plenty of help and advice along the way but also has to guard against some lustful eyes. Her journey, aided by a map, leads her to the poetic end of the world. The film does a good job of keeping out darkness by incorporating a playful and innocent tone througout.

Standings and Points (maximum 9)

Paraguayan Hammock: 8
Il Divo: 6
Orbis Pictus: 6
Black Sheep: 4

Il Divo narrowly takes 2nd spot over Orbis Pictus.

Soccer Group predictions

Starting with Italia 1990, Italy has failed at the World Cup everytime I expected them to do well. But when I had no expectations in 2006, they ended up winning. So will something change this time around? Yes. I do not expect Italy to achieve anything and I am sure they will comply. It is hard to see this Italian team make it to the semi's but they have enough talent to win their group and advance to the next round.

2nd spot will come down to Paraguay vs Slovakia with New Zealand finishing comfortably in 4th. For now, I am going to pick Paraguay to advance even though my instinct tells me Slovakia will go through.

District 9: 1.8 million 'prawns' in a slum

District 9 (2009, South Africa/New Zealand, Neill Blomkamp): 10/10

District 9 is a rare thing -- an intelligent sci-fi alien film with plenty of political and social observations packaged as a fun summer movie.

Sci-fi aware

The film starts off with a voice-over explaining that an alien spaceship didn’t stop over New York City, but surprisingly came to a halt over Johannesburg. This is clearly a reference towards films like Independence Day or other Hollywood films which believe that aliens would somehow only stop over America.

The basis of some sci-fi movies in the past was that aliens were kept in Area 51 and government/military personnel used alien technology to develop weapons. District 9 also picks up on this idea and expands it to depict private military contractors wanting to harness the power of advanced alien weapons. Given the rise of private military contractors around the world, the film is properly updated.

Segregation, Refugees and border issues

The setting of the film in South Africa and the director’s interview has focused most of the attention on apartheid but District 9 achieves a lot more than that as it highlights the problem that refugees face in temporary camps when they cross a border. In the film, the alien population is forced to live in slums with substandard conditions, the same treatment that refugees who cross boundaries in Africa or Asia face. On top of that, the social hierarchy shown in the camps is modeled on real life people who take advantage of refugees living in camps.

Another interesting point is depicted by the character of the alien child born and raised in District 9. The alien child asks his father what their planet is like and wants to go home even though he has never seen his home planet. Scores of refugee children are born in camps far away from their home nations and hardly get a chance to ever return to their homeland. As a result, an entire generation (or two) of people have no concept of understanding their roots and have to depend on stories or the rare picture of their homeland (a hologram stands in for a photo in District 9).

The genesis of hatred and genocide

One key ingredient for genocide is when one group of people dehumanizes another group and considers the other group unworthy of living. In District 9 that concept is shown at face value as the tall, skinny and underfed aliens are the object of hatred of their neighbours. The sentiments of the people who live around District 9 indicates that if the South African government does not act to move the aliens, then something far more dangerous would likely take place.

Cruel humans

In a twist on the regular Hollywood alien film template, District 9 shows that if aliens did land on earth, then it would be humans who would do more harm to the aliens than the other way around. Given the messed up carnage that has taken place over the last few decades, it is entirely believable that humans would be far more evil when dealing with aliens. Once again, the film is appropriately updated.

Action...

There are some action sequences in the film but they are nicely integrated in the story and do not cause the film to halt for mindless 20 minutes of explosive situations. The finale action scene takes place in the same slums that the rest of the film is shot in thereby making the action scene an inevitable consequence of the forces brewing in the camps. Plus, the action scenes do not include any silly cuts to generate humour (like Spider Man 3 or even Dark Knight) but are completely focused on the task at hand.

Overall...

District 9 brilliantly proves that it is possible to make an intelligent action/sci-fi film without loud explosions or a brain dead script. If strong word of mouth enables the film to make more money, a sequel would follow. And the sequel will surely be called District 10.