Preview of Maria Full of Grace

Maria Full of Grace is a movie about a girl named Maria and her story as a drug mule. Maria is from a poor family in Columbia and has to work in a factory for money. She becomes pregnant and then quits her job in the factory. She takes a job as a drug mule to America. She is forced to swallow 62 pellets of cocaine. She goes on the trip with a friend of hers named Blanca. At the airport she is almost x-rayed but slides by because she is pregnant. Once at the motel Maria, Blanca, their new friend Lucy and the other mules are forced to stay their till the have passed all of the drugs. Unfortunately one of the pellets in Lucy breaks and they kill her trying to get all the drugs out of her. Maria and Blanca run away and stay with Lucy's sister till she finds out that Lucy is dead. They go back and return the drugs for the money. In the end Blanca goes back to Columbia and Maria decides to stay in America.

Reaction to Afghan Star

    I really enjoyed watching Afghan star. It was like getting a behind the scenes look at Afghanistan. Their culture is so important to them. When they were controlled by the Taliban they were not allowed to sing. But now it is allowed.
    The fact that they even had this show was a giant cultural leap from where they were just a few years ago. Unlike here in the U.S. it is always been encouraged to sing and dance and celebrate.
    When one of the girls was voted off she performed her final song. During her song she danced around a little bit, and I mean a little bit. It could be classified as swaying to the music. But when she did this is was a GIANT mistake. In the Islamic religion dancing is not allowed so everyone went into an uproar about it. She received death threats and had to stay in a different city in fear of losing her life. And when she did return home she needed to stay hidden. I didn't know that just by dancing you cold have people calling for your life.
   The clothing that they were was a huge difference I saw between their country and ours. The women were completely covered except for their faces. And in some of the provinces they went to they even covered their face. Here in America we are free to wear whatever we want. This is also weird because in the movie they had a flashback to the 80s where the women were in a pop band with men. They were also wearing metallic pants. It is amazing how in a couple decades they can go from a thriving pop culture to a controlled traditional way of life.
    I learned a lot from this movie about the culture in Afghanistan. It's surprising how different they are from us here in the United States.

Preview of Afgan Star

Afghan Star is a movie about four contestants that are participating in the Afghan equivalent of American Idol. They go through the same steps that the contestants in American go through. First they audition in front of the judges then are either rejected or they move on to the next round. Once through they perform on television while all of Afghanistan watches. They people then send in SMS text messages voting for their favorites. Each week someone is voted off till they have one winner. Throughout the show the constants travel around meeting their fans. Fans will start campaigns to get their favorite constant to win, anything from posters to buying more phones so they can have more votes.

Reaction to Please Vote for Me

    Please Vote for Me was a eye opening movie. I really liked being able to see our type of government function within another type of government. The Communism was very apparent. The main thing was that the children acted like dictators in order to show what they would be like as class monitor. In China they have the "One Child Policy" this means each family can only have one child. When these children found out that they were in the running for this position and they told their parents; the parents wanted them to win more than they did.

Here in America parents are less involved in their children's lives. They will support and help them, but not to the same capacity as the Chinese parents. These parents were writing speeches for their kids and even bribing the other students for their votes. Also every night they made them practice and practice getting ready for their harsh debates.

The Chinese Communism has put a winning drive in these children. They are willing to do anything to win this election. They go around spreading lies and being very mean to each other trying to get the upper hand. I am sure this happens here in America too but I have personally never seen it. I was really surprised that these kids could do this at such a young age.

In the end of this movie Lou Lei won the election. He had been class monitor in the past years and also his parents took the children on a field trip and gave them presents. I believe that this helped his chances of winning and in the end he did emerge victirious. This movie was very good and I really enjoyed watching it.

Please Vote For Me Preview

    Vote for Me is a movie about three children; Cheng Cheng, Luo Lei and Xu Xaiofei who are all running to become their class monitor. To experiment democracy in class the teachers have decided to have these three kids run for it. They will go through debates, speeches and talent shows to prove that they are the best candidate for the position. Because of the one child law in China these children are all only children. Their parents are very involved in the election. From bribery to writing the speeches for them. This is a very interesting look into a communism crossed with a democracy.

Reaction To Mongolian Ping Pong

Mongolian Ping Pong was a slower moving movie. I felt like there wasn't really a climax to it. I expected the boys to go on a bigger adventure to get to Beijing. Though I did enjoy watching to see what their life is like compared to ours.
     Their home was a round home made from wood with a canvas roof. Unlike here in the United States we live in square shaped homes. The families made their living off of there animals. They had horses, sheep and goats. To pay for the necessities they need or the luxuries they want. Whereas here we would use regular currency. They did have paper money but it seemed they used the animals for negotiating more often. Though unlike in The Weeping Camel you could see that the families had bee touched by modern seocity more often. One of the families had a motor scooter and one had a television. Also the man that came to them with the new objects would come to them in a truck.

  
    Near the end of this movie the older daughter is offered the chance to move to the city and be a dance group. The parents are weary about letting her go beacuse they need her to help around the house and care for the animals. Also this is the same time that their son will also go to the city and attend school. Which would cause the parents to be home alone. Though in the end they allow them to go to their respective places. Unlike here parents encourage their children to move out and become a independent person.
   This movie was good overall. I enjoyed it and it was a very good way to look at how people from more remote places live their lives, which in comparison to us is less modernized.

Mongolian Ping Pong Overview

This movie is about a young boy who lives in a village away from the modern world. One day when he is out with his friends they find a ping pong ball floating in the river. Because they had never seen one before they are unaware of what it is. They decided to ask the people in their area and when shown to no one knows what it is.

   The boy's father wins a television and one day the boy sees his white ball. When they hear that it is the "Ball of China" they go out to return the ball to Benji. So the boy and his two friends leave their secluded life to return the ball.

Reaction to The Weeping Camel

The Weeping Camel was a good movie overall. I enjoyed seeing a world different from my own. Even though Mongolia is half way around the world I could understand how they made their living and how people around them lived.
    Something that really interested me was that even though they are in the Gobi Desert they wear many layers of clothing and winter hats. I had a hard time grasping the fact they were in the desert and it was sunny all the time, it seemed to be cold. In addition to this the clothing they wore was very colorful. This added a more vibrant feel to the world around them.
   Family was very important. All three generations lived together in one household. The grandmothers were the home keepers. They cleaned, cooked and looked after the youngest granddaughter. The daughter and her husband were a key role in watching and herding the animals. The grandfathers were also involved in the animals. They seemed to handle the animals less and organize everything that was going on.
   Compared to what we do here where grandparents tend to live on their own. I feel like that is different from other places in the world. Even though they do live in a different home grandparents are still involved in the life of the family. Also they don't feel the need to stay and take care of the family. When there aren't as many jobs needed around the home, grandparents can live on their own and take care of themselves.
   The lack of technology is something very different from what we have here in the United States. Almost everyone here has a television and a car. We take this for granted. The family in Mongolia needed to send their children out on camels to get to the city. Here we would just jump in our cars and go. We would not think twice about it. Once they had returned from the city the littlest boy wanted a television. We were then informed that they did not even have electricity to power it. Luckily in the end they were able to purchase a television for their home.

    Overall this movie was very different. But different in a good way. It gave me good insight into what life is like for the people in Mongolia. I was impressed by the way they lived their lives. They were so in touch with the animals and were very family-oriented. I would recommend this to someone who wants to learn about how people in other countries live.

The Weeping Camel

The Story of the Weeping Camel is a story about a tribe living in Mongolia that raise camels. In the spring all their camels are giving birth but one camel seems to be having a rough time giving birth. After a couple days of labor the camel finally gives birth to a rare type of camel. The mother does not accept the calf and the family seeks help to get the camel help. Some of the solutions they try are different rituals and seek services of other people in other villages. Two of the boys from the tribe go out in search of a musician who can help get the mother to accept the calf. This works and the mother accepts the calf.