Hero

Hero is a very deep and meaningful film.  There are so many colors in this film and many of them correspond with the mood of the story that is being told at the time. There is a bit of confusion because it is hard to tell what is real and what is fake. However, Nameless tells a false story to the King of Qin and the King recognizes that it is not the truth. The King and Nameless bounce back and forth telling what they think, through this the viewer learns the truth.

 

This film has so many meanings and so many local, national, and global issues through out it. The main global issue is about war. There is use of very old war tactics however the war is for unity. The King of Qin wishes to unite all four kingdoms of China. My favorite part of the film was when King of Qin said that it was too confusing to have so many characters for one word; there is no way everyone can communicate like that. I thought this was very important and very relevant to today’s world. Are wars happening just because of miscommunication? I think that it was a great thing that King of Qin united the Middle Kingdom and helped to unify the Chinese language. Another local, national, and global issue is love. The love story in this particular film is sort of hidden until the end. There is a saying that goes something along the lines of, “you never know what you’re missing until its gone.” This must have been exactly the way Snow felt at the end of this film and helped to lead to her death.

 

All in all this turned out to be a very deep and interesting film that I really enjoyed. I wasn’t too sure if I would enjoy it after the first few scenes, but it definitely picked up and turned out to be very pleasurable.

Amélie

Amélie begins with random scenes introducing the likes and dislikes of several of the main characters, setting up the background for Amélie's life in an attempt to explain why she behaves like she does. As a child her dad, a doctor, thought Amélie had heart issues because she would get excited every time her dad would touch her when giving her a checkup. As a result of this she lived a very sheltered life with no real friends as a child. The film then transitions to her quirky life as an adult where she works at a restaurant named "The Two Windmills". The story progresses as she finds a box full of children's toys. Her life changes as she searches for the boy, now an old man, so she can return his box to him. After seeing the satisfaction the man had from this nice act she attempts to bring happiness to other people's lives. The rest of the plot includes more romance and mischief as Amélie messes with a man she feels is rude. She also both sets up a short romance between a coworker and a customer and enters into her own relationship with a man she was trying to help.

Amélie is an excellent film with both an interesting storyline and beautiful scene designs. The film is worth watch just for the pretty backdrops created for each scene with bright, matching colors with intricate patterns. The scene design and narration style was also copied by Pushing Daisies, a popular TV show in the US on ABC. The rich colors give a sense of a larger than life world and the use of the narrator gives a nice alternative to the typical way films from Hollywood are made.

The story focuses on three main themes of romance, the freedom of women, and helpfulness.
Overall, Amélie is a great film that has an interesting story and is a wonderful example of French cinematography.