Today’s movie(s) review is for the Baahubali series: “Baahubali: The Beginning” (2015) and “Baahubali 2 – The Conclusion” (2017). | |
Now, before I get into my review, a few comments. I have a few Indian friends from my time in Saudi Arabia, but I have practically no experience with their culture: historic or mythological. I have only seen a handful of Indian movies and those, recently viewed (mostly in the last five years), on NetFlix. What I’m taking so long to say is I have little to no background to understand Indian history or its cinema. I watched the first movie because it was recommended by NetFlix and the second, because I enjoyed the first. | |
“Baahubali: The Beginning” (2015) | |
This movie stars Prabhas as Shivudu / Baahubali (the hero / good king), Rana Daggubati plays Bhallaladeva (the bad guy / evil king), Ramya Krishnan plays Shivagami (the Queen designate), Sathyaraj plays Kattappa (the loyal / royal bodyguard), Anushka Shetty plays Devasena (the good king’s mother), Tamannaah Bhatia plays Avanthika (the good king’s girlfriend), Nassar plays Bijjaladeva (the bad king’s father and husband of the Queen designate). | |
Although a “foreign” film, the film’s speaking portions have been dubbed into English, but the movies’ songs remain in the original tongue, so to understand them you have to have your closed captions turned on. I highly suggest you do this, as the songs add meaning to the movie. They are not just background filler or for mood setting. | |
Basically, the plot is a mythic tale of heroism and courage in the face of evil. The good king’s father is betrayed and the baby king is saved by the courage of a court handmaiden. The infant (now named Shivudu) is adopted and raised by “regular” folk, but he quickly demonstrates strength and intelligence beyond his villager status. | |
Shivudu struggles against a cliff / waterfall, meets his future wife, saves his mother from imprisonment by the evil king and then leads a revolt against the evil king. The royal bodyguard realizes at the end who the real king is (now called by Baahubali) and the movie ends. | |
“Indian” movies, to me, means bright colors, a cast of thousands, and (at some point) dancing. By this strict definition, this is an INDIAN movie. But, is it any good? Particularly to a “Western” viewer? Yes and YES!! This is an action movie, a love story, a drama and a special effects extravaganza. Much like any comic book adaptation (DC or Marvel) or any Chinese martial arts (fly by wire) movie, you have to suspend your understanding of physics, gravity, biology and human anatomy and then just settle in and enjoy the show. | |
Final recommendation: if you like action movies with drama, romance (but no sex), color and terrific scale – you will enjoy this movie – strong to highly recommended. | |
“Baahubali 2: The Conclusion” (2017) | |
This movie (with essentially the same cast) stars Prabhas as Shivudu / Baahubali (the hero / good king – father and son), Rana Daggubati plays Bhallaladeva (the bad guy / evil king – young and old), Ramya Krishnan plays Shivagami (the Queen designate), Sathyaraj plays Kattappa (the loyal / royal bodyguard), Anushka Shetty plays Devasena (the good king’s mother), Tamannaah Bhatia plays Avanthika (the good king’s girlfriend), Nassar plays Bijjaladeva (the bad king’s father and husband of the Queen designate). | |
This movie relates the palace intrigue which resulted in Kattappa killing the first good king (Amarendra Baahubali), who is the father of Mahendra Baahubali (the second good king). Kattappa assists the son in reclaiming the throne and everyone lives happily ever after. (Not so happily for the bad king and his father, of course.) | |
Is this sequel better than or equal to the original? Better? No. Equal to? Well, okay. I enjoyed the first movie more and the sequel really just seems like more of the same. Does that make it bad? No. It just makes it the same. It should be noted, the Indian people voted with their wallets. The original was the second most sales (in crore) of all time in their internal market. What movie did it replace? You guessed it. The original / first movie. | |
Final recommendation: Strong to highly recommended. You can definitely watch this movie without viewing the first and enjoy it on its on merit. Again, good acting, drama, romance and vast scale special effects. One more comment: this movie is not currently dubbed into English, so you are committed to sub-titles. This was tolerable, but I definitely would have rated it higher if I could have enjoyed the visuals more and not had to bother with the distraction of reading. | |
Series recommendation: Strong. It isn’t often you can watch a series in or out of order and still enjoy both movies. I think this is one of those rare series. One caution for non-Indian viewers: my understanding is this a story about a “possibly” historic / mythological hero and kingdom – much like King Arthur in English lore. You shouldn’t come away feeling you have any real knowledge of Indian history or geography, anymore than watching Marvel’s “The Avengers” teaches you anything about American politics or history. Oh, yeah… You’ll need lots of popcorn because each film is over two hours long. | |
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On This Day In: | |
2018 | Nothing |
2017 | Approval First |
2016 | In Search Of Words |
Day 2 – Blending | |
2015 | At What Price? |
2014 | Intricate And Subtle Order |
2013 | Attention To Detail |
2012 | Aequanimitas! |
2011 | Consider This |
Posts Tagged ‘Strong To Highly recommended series / movies’
Indian Myth
Posted in Movie Review, Movies, Reviews, tagged Amarendra Baahubali, Anushka Shetty, Avanthika, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion -- movie review, Baahubali: The Beginning -- movie review, Bhallaladeva, Bijjaladeva, Devasena, Indian Myth In Movies, Kattappa, Mahendra Baahubali, Nassar, Netflix, Prabhas, Ramya Krishnan, Rana Daggubati, Sathyaraj, Shivagami, Shivudu, Strong To Highly Recommended Movie, Strong To Highly recommended series / movies, Tamannaah Bhatia on March 29, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Iterum Vale Tres*
Posted in 2019 Book Review, Book Review, Education, Movie Review, Movies, Reviews, Series (TV or Streaming) Review, tagged 2019 Book Review, Amazon, Arthur Chipping, BBC, Brookfield School, Doc Martin, Goodbye Mr. Chips (1984) -- movie review, Goodbye Mr. Chips (2002) -- movie review, Goodbye Mr. Chips -- book review, ITV, James Hilton, Jill Meager, Katherine Bridges, Katherine Chipping, Latin, Martin Clunes, Masterpiece Theater, Max Staefel, Moderate To Strong TV Movie Recommendation, Mr. Chips, PBS, Roy Marsden, Strong To Highly recommended series / movies, Very Highly Recommended Book, Victoria Hamilton, YouTube on February 11, 2019| Leave a Comment »
“Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1934©) — book review | |
Like a dog with a fresh bone, sometimes I find it hard to let go… | |
Over this last weekend, I indulged my OCD and read the short novel “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1934©), written by James Hilton. Amazon says the paperback is seventy pages, but there are eighteen chapters and most seem less than a full page long. I read the novella in under two hours. The book is in public domain, so you can download it and read it for free. | |
The book has a number of adaptations, including movies made in 1939 (a drama) and 1969 (a musical – review here), a TV series from 1984 (BBC) and a TV movie from 2002 (ITV). More on these later… (OCD remember). | |
The author, James Hilton was the son of a school headmaster and he attended a public boarding school. Note: a “public” school in England is a “private” school in the U.S. Hilton is said to have based the work on both his father and a master (“teacher / instructor”) at his own school (although it is believed to be mostly based on the teacher at the school he attended). | |
The main character of the novel and movies, Mr. Chipping, spends the majority of his life (50-plus years) teaching Latin (and Greek) at a single school (Brookfield School) and the book is a reminiscence of his time there. There are two notable occurrences: one is the meeting of a best-friend Herr (Max) Staefel, the school’s German language teacher and the second is a chance meeting with a young lady who ultimately becomes his wife. The “shock” of the wedding is not just the marriage of a “confirmed” bachelor, but that the bride is considerably younger than the groom (on the order of 23 years) AND she is as attractive as he is staid. The book is unclear how long they are wed (roughly one year to eighteen months) as she passes away in childbirth (on 1 April – “April Fool’s Day”). Chipping stays long enough at the school that he instructs four generations of one family and, on his deathbed, only his housemaid is aware that he was ever married (over thirty years before the death scene). This results in the famous lines that it was a shame he never had any sons of his own who might have attended the school. Chipping’s dying response is that indeed he did, thousands of them – and all boys. | |
Final recommendation: very highly recommended! I would recommend reading this very short book before viewing any of the four adaptations, but I have seen all of them (three of them in the last week) and you won’t be put off by reversing my call. | |
“Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1984) — TV series review | |
This version of the novella was on the BBC in six half-hour episodes (roughly three hours run time) and starred Roy Marsden as Chipping and Jill Meager as his wife. I am fairly certain this is the first version I saw of the adaptations as I have a distinct memory of the cricket scene which appears in the this version. I believe I saw this version on PBS, and probably first viewed it with my new (British) wife in 1985, the summer after we married. The series is available on YouTube, which is where I watched it this weekend. | |
Final recommendation: strong to highly recommended. As stated above, this was my first exposure to the “Chips” story, so it has a special place in my heart / memory. I will add this version is closer to the actual time frame depicted in the book and the first (1939) movie version. It also is much closer to being an anti-war movie than the book or other adaptations. Finally, in this version, Katherine (Bridges) Chipping is an unemployed governess living with her aunt in London, as opposed to the stage singer / dancer portrayed in the 1969 musical adaptation. | |
“Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (2002) — TV movie review | |
Staring Martin Clunes (of Doc Martin fame) as Mr. Chipping and Victoria Hamilton as Katherine (Bridges) Chipping. This version appeared on ITV and Masterpiece Theater as a two hour “TV movie”. I watched it on YouTube where it runs as six episodes of approximately 15 min. This version is not only an anti-war movie, it is also anti-bullying. It goes out of its way to critique the hazing of new students and bullying of the younger and smaller students by the bigger, older and / or wealthier students. | |
At first I found it difficult to get past the “Doc Martin” typecast I have for Clunes. I didn’t care for his aging (special effects / makeup work) as it looked like glued on rubber pieces. It was more than halfway through, before I could finally see the role and not the actor in the role. I have a feeling that was as much me as Clunes, though. Also, the YouTube version I was watching lacked the start of the movie, so I was left wondering if any other parts had been cut out / off. | |
Final recommendation: moderate to strong. If this (YouTube version) is the only version you can find, it is good enough for you grasp and enjoy the movie. Clunes ends up convincing as Chips and Hamilton is equal to the role of Katherine. She is not nearly as “young beauty” as Meager or as winning as Clark (in the 1969 musical), but, in her own way, I felt she owned the role – particularly in her telling of the tale of the “sun vs wind wager”. | |
So, all in all, my reading and three viewings of “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” have been very enjoyable. Each offered a slightly different aspect of what is considered a “classic” English tale and have hi-lighted (to me) what a true gem the story remains – even eighty years on (and counting). I look forward to watching the 1939 version as soon as I can find it and to re-watching the others when they eventually become generally available (instead of broken up on YouTube). | |
* The post title is my weak attempt at a Latin translation of: “Goodbye Again, Three Times“. | |
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2017 | Do We Still Listen To Her Silent Lips? |
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