Tout un cinema...

Who knows me, knows that i am not a big movies fan... I'd rather stay home reading a good book (or alternatively go for a beer...) than paying 8 euros for a crap blockbuster. Twice a year maximum, mainly due to peer pressure, I would accept to enter a cinema. But that's a max. Yet, abroad, it figures as a sociologic experiment. In Jaipur, Rajasthan, going to the theater is a must-do. It is like entering Disneyland since it is designed as a kitsch creamy cake circle. A thick carpet softens your steps and the reclining chairs are a luxury for only 60 Rs (not even 1 euro).

The movie as such was not too bad... forget about the cliche of Bollywood movies as displaying only dances and hindi songs with a green Swiss scenery behind. Black and White is a very modern story taking place in the "war against terrorism" context. A Muslim (originally from Afghanistan) comes to Delhi, planning a suicide bombing in the Red Fort during the Independance Day memorial. The bad boy will get to know a very famous professor of islamic culture and his hindu wife and will start doubting about his mission. Of course (it is still a Bollywood movie at the end of the day) some hindi dances and a little bit of romance were added to complete the story... So Indians are as afraid as us of terrorists, but in a country where muslims are still present, despite the Partition having created Pakistan - the nation of the pures- in 1947, the message tries to be positive and peace oriented. Yet, in a still very conservative country, sex scenes were mere pillows fight between wife and husband. It was interesting to notice as well how the way of shooting did not transfigure reality but mainly stands to please one's eyes. Delhi appears very quiet and clean, no one in the subway or in the Red fort surroudings for instance. When you know how it is in for real, you can only smile...

This, added to the French movie I'd seen in Delhi in the framework of a French festival organised by the French embassy, I reckon I am done with cinema for 2008...