Hollywood Film's Perspective on Historical World Events

While reflecting on everything that I have learned throughout this course, it has been interesting to see how we have used films to examine many important historical events in our world. These movies fit very well with the lessons from the Learning Area and how they were able to paint a picture of the context and facts we were reading about. Throughout these films, we were able to learn about many issues that had occurred in all regions of the world. Not only were we able to express our own view and interpretations of the film, but I specifically enjoyed being able to read about others’ thoughts and interpretations on the same film. Over the weeks, we have covered a lot of different topics, however, I have seen a few common themes in the movies that had been chosen for this class. The rest of my paper will focus on the themes of violence, nationalism, ethnic conflict, and gender roles as I continue to analyze the significance of these films when relating to the reality of our world events.

Many of the films in this course were attempting to portray the brutal acts of violence that had occurred in different parts of our world. Violence was a major theme because it seemed to most likely be driven by the historical force of war. There were many movies throughout this course where I found myself grimacing at the gruesome and graphic acts of violence that directors and producers had illustrated in their movies. For the second paper, I had chosen to focus on and review the movie Black Hawk Down. This film is based off of the real-life events of the Somalia operation that was carried out by U.S. troops. The film was particularly interesting to the audience because of the way that it made you feel like you were right in the heat of the battle taking place during the raid. I believe that the director’s intentions to show the violence of this situation was to emphasize the fierceness of the raid.

Another movie that captures the theme of violence for the films in this course was Before the Rain. I believe this film attempted to portray the culture and civilization of the Balkans in the 1990s. Going off of the movie, I would characterize the Balkans as being very violent people. Specifically, many times throughout the film, the audience views the Balkans walking around with very large weapons. I assumed that this was the director’s way of demonstrating the intensity of the tension and conflict in that region. Another scene from the movie that accurately depicts the violent actions of the Balkans was when a man that was supposedly of Balkan heritage started a shooting in a restaurant. This particularly was sad to see how such a violent act injured and killed many innocent people. The violence shown in many of the films throughout the course made me continue to ask myself one question: Is there ever a time when violent acts may be considered as justifiable?

It seemed that in many of the films, violence and war normally were many groups reasons to fight for their freedom and independence. A group or a country’s fight for nationalism was another similar theme that was noticeable in some of the films. In Deepa Mehta’s film Earth, the movie explores the divide of India around 1947. Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs had all lived together at one point in Indian history. However, the historical force behind this divide was that the British had colonized the country of India. In the movie, the audience views the effects of the political and social split through a young child’s eyes. Each one of these groups is fighting for their own nationalistic views. In 1947, the British had granted India their independence only if they separated into two countries, India and Pakistan. The divide caused a lot of tension within society as the religious groups became territorial and focused on their own fight for national pride. The social pressures within the Indian society began to affect the group of friends in the film. I believe that the friend group represented people’s realistic views during this time as the audience is able to see how an Indian citizen’s religious affiliation caused them to fear for their lives.

In many of the films from this course, there were times that we saw how conflicts had arose from issues involving ethnic hatred. Ethnic groups simply did not get along all the time because they didn’t have the same beliefs or ideas. Specifically, in the movie Hotel Rwanda, the film displays the events associated with the ethnic hatred between the Hutus and Tutsis. The tension and vengeance between these two groups of Rwanda in the 1990s led to violent attacks, devastation, and bloodshed within the country. The audience is able to catch a glimpse of the hostility between the groups that had resulted in the actions of genocide. I believe this historical event is viewed from an intriguing perspective as the main character Paul, was a Hutu, but his wife was a Tutsi. Paul begins to realize the effects of the tensions between the two ethnic groups as he aspires to protect his own family, and his neighbors that happen to be associated with the opposite ethnic group as him.

The last common theme that emerged in the films during this course was the issue of gender roles, specifically the treatment of women. Particularly, in the film Zinat, it seemed to me that the director’s goal in the film was to accurately present women’s roles within the Iranian society. The film attempts to portray the way that Iranian women are perceived in their culture, and it also reveals an example of an Iranian marriage. Women in Iran were expected to have a particular role in their family once they were married. They were expected to stay home and manage the family’s household, while also taking care of the children. Zinat was looked at differently because she wanted to continue working in the community health clinic after she was married. Many people around her such as her husband and her in-laws, were pressuring her to obey the traditional values of her culture. Another movie from the course that displays the role and treatment of women in their culture was Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl. It is obvious that director, Joan Chen, specifically chooses to focus on the sexual exploitation and the victimization of women during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. I was very taken back by the scenes that were used to demonstrate how young girls were perceived and victimized during this time. It was sad to see Xiu Xiu come to the realization that her innocence as a young girl was actually being taken advantage of by older male figures within her own society. In both Zinat and Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl, the historical force behind the perception of gender roles was the issue of inequality within both of these societies. Zinat chose to handle the situation differently than Xiu Xiu. As an audience, we witness Zinat refuse to give in to the Iranian traditional values that are being reiterated around her, while Xiu Xiu feels that she needs to go along with the terrible treatment of women in her society so that she is able to remain alive and return to her home.

Overall, this course has definitely opened my eyes to more of the significant historical events that have occurred throughout our world history. I was mostly captivated by the way Hollywood films were able to create fictional films that still very accurately represent the world’s historical issues involving violence/war, nationalism, ethnic conflict, and gender roles. I was able to expand my own thinking by taking the time to reflect on my own interpretations and reviews of the films. As you can see, there were numerous takeaways from this course.