Unembedded

It has been a while since I have had the luxury and time for a lazy Sunday morning tea. Read something. Watch something.

I am very familiar with embedded journalism in general and embedded journalism in Iraq in particular. I was immediately hooked when I saw four independent photojournalists talking about their work, "Unembedded". A book that documents and reveals the unembedded side of the war in Iraq. Going behind siege lines in Najaf and elsewhere under constant threat of being kidnapped or killed. Photographing daily lives of people there. People trying to cope with the kidnappings and lack of security, sectarian violence and the looming threat of civil war.

One image in particular probably sums up daily life there. The picture was taken during the shooting of a Iraqi television serial. A road side bomb blast and its aftermath was the scene being shot. Road side bomb blasts, the maiming and killing of civilians have become part of the everyday culture!

While I haven't read the book, I get the feeling it is quite powerful. Listening to the photographers and seeing some of the images and stories just reinforces my belief that there is a side of the war that the main stream media is just not telling us. Maybe they are not willing to tell us. Or maybe it is the people who are not interested in listening.

http://www.unembedded.net

Quote of the day
" We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter."~Denis Diderot (via quotegarden.com)

Rang De

Rang De Basanti turned out to be a good movie going experience. It has been a long time since an Indian movie has hit regular theatres here. While I don't agree with the violence theory of the movie, I am happy to see mainstream Indian cinema moving away from the tiring sing, dance and runaround trees routine.

For about 3-4 hours, it felt like home.... The latecomers, the prolonged settling down, the different languages, the cellphoners, all the kids running around, the Uncles and Aunties, the food passing around, the jokes, the long line at the restroom after the movie, the insta movie reviews while at the restroom. All in all it was vintage Indian movie going. Loved it!

Syriana

One word to describe this movie would be "Intelligent".

If I correctly understand the meaning of the word "Syriana", it is an ideology of reshaping nations in an American image. The movie is based on the book titled, "See No Evil" by Robert Baer. Mr Baer is a former CIA agent who wrote the book based on his experiences in the Middle East.

Syriana tells the untold story behind cheap foreign oil. A web of characters, corporations, CIA, politics, greed, power, poverty and fundamentalism. The movie threads through each of these aspects and ties it into one powerful ending.

This is a no-nonsense movie. I would highly recommend it.

As I walked out of the theatre pondering over the movie, I heard this comment from a young guy in front of me, "Dude, that was an awesome movie". I agreed

Quote of the day
"All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field."~Albert Einstein (via quotegarden.com)