Always a fan of brilliant animation, I was very excited to see the second instalment of How To Train Your Dragon. This film, set 5 years after the first, allows us the chance to revisit some hilarious and well conceived characters. And of course, the return of Toothless and his puppy-like charm!
The film opened and closed with a voice over. Always an interesting decision to make but ultimately it neither hindered nor improved the story telling of the film. Hiccup recaps the last five years of life in Berk and how things have drastically changed to the conditions seen in the first film. Now, dragons and Vikings live in peace and have adopted each other as pets and owners. I do enjoy when a film revisits previous episodes as it helps the audience re-engage with the story and the characters. But the voice over at the end felt a little too 'brave heart' for me. For someone who normally loves a happy ending and a real conclusion, it was just an obvious reminder that the film was for children. It felt immature and very Disney (even though it was Dreamworks Animation who created the film. An animation studio that has, so often in the past, made fun of Disney).
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My main gripe about this film, and its predecessor, was the accents. Vikings are typically Scandinavian but were portrayed in this film as being Celtic, either Scottish or Irish. And then their is Hiccup, our protagonist and hero! His accent is obviously that of Jay Baruchel, a Canadian actor who clearly was either told not to change his voice or simply didn't bother. His character supposedly from a Scottish father and a Scottish/Irish mixed Mother has an accent better suited in the 21st Century. I haven't delved much into the creation of either film, so I don't know if there was thought behind this decision. I, as a Scot, found it distracting and annoying. If you're not going to make your Viking's Scandinavian, then at least make the accents consistent!
The animation was superb in this film. With hundreds of new species of dragons on screen in all shapes, sizes and colours, there were moments of real artistic beauty. My only regret was seeing the film in 2D instead of 3D. I think 3D could have enhanced the experience but it was still wonderful in 2D. I watched the first film at home on my computer months ago, so I missed many of the subtle markings on the dragons and on the faces of characters. It was nice to see the sequel on a big screen and to see all of the things I had missed before. If anything, this proves that watching a movie at home is nowhere near as good as watching one in a cinema.
Without spoiling the film, there was one particular moment that hit me hard. It involves Hiccup's father and for some reason I couldn't stop a small tear and squeeze of my dates hand. Whenever films explore the relationship between father and child, I become a blubbering mess. I suppose it's a sign of my love for my Dad and how much I value him in my life. Blah blah blah emotions. The film was good - go see it in 3D!
This week I took some well deserved time out to join my flatmate for a screening of #ChicagoGirl - The Social Network Takes on a Dictator at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Nathan works as a volunteer for the festival and was able to secure us two free tickets. The film was being shown in the Filmhouse cinema on Lothian Road, which is one of the main venues hosting this years festival. The rooms were packed and quickly heating up but none of this hindered my experience.
The documentary takes place primarily in two cities - Chicago, USA and Damascus, Syria. Nineteen-year-old, Ala'a Basatneh is the focus of the film along with her friends Omar, Bassel and Aous. From the comfort of her home in Chicago, Ala'a communicates with the boys and with several other revolutionaries on the ground in Syria over social networks. Having moved from Syria to the states in an attempt to avoid Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship, Ala'a works close to 24/7 to help those still trapped in the harshly governed country. The film highlights the development of the revolution and how it was heavily influenced by similar protests in Egypt and Tunisia. Both of these protests successfully de-reigned their dictators in less than 30 days, however, the Syrian conflict continues to this day with the death toll rising.
Normally, documentaries like this do not appeal to me but I'm so grateful I saw it. To see the influence that a young girl can have and the impact of our actions online. It's an incredibly eye-opening experience to watch a girl, my age, change lives on Facebook when all I do is post photographs of drunken adventures and comparatively minimal achievements. Ala'a is a positive influence on everyone she talks to, helping to save lives from both Chicago and from the ground in Syria. As the film closed, the audience learnt that Ala'a had a successful first trip to Syria and was set to return a second time to provide medical supplies.
One aspect I found interesting was when Ala'a described what the police would ask the protesters when they got arrested. For their Facebook username and password. The government, obviously learning as they go, caught on to protesters using Facebook as their main form of communication and their way of organising events. Ala'a takes her friends account information before they attend a protest and once she hears that they have been captured she logs in and deactivates their account.The police use the information online to find other protesters and at one point they even found Ala'a. A few weeks after this, she was sent a death threat that explained that she would be made an example of. Clearly stressing the importance of deactivating the accounts once someone has been arrested.
A huge part of the documentary was the citizen journalists that documented the revolution with hidden cameras for the world to see. One of the Syrian government's ploys was to hide their actions from the rest of the world with the intentions of dealing with this problem 'in house'. Al-Assad has even appeared on American television blatantly lying about the state of the country and the horrific amounts of police brutality. So to counteract this, young, educated, men are filming the protests, and in some cases first hand accounts of government ordered killings, and uploading the content online. Basically a cry for help that the world wasn't hearing. The featured citizen journalist in this documentary was Bassel, obviously a representation of thousands of others just like him. He was educated in the USA before deciding to return to Syria to help in the fight against dictatorship.
Unfortunately, documentaries about such a conflict don't often end on a high. Both Omar and Bassel die during the course of this film with both funerals briefly shown. Their stories memorialised and used in an attempt to further highlight the problems within the country and the importance of support for the people on the ground who are only fighting for the freedom they deserve. The film contains graphic images of many injured men, women and children and shouldn't be taken lightly.
Something I never thought would capture my attention has fascinated me in a way I couldn't imagine. It makes me wonder about the way our world and our government bodies work and whether or not we are making the right steps forward towards a more peaceful world.
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