Sunday, September 9, 2007

Breach - How one man betrayed the security of a nation

A movie based on the greatest security breach in the history of U.S.

FBI allocates Eric O'Neill, a fresh and young FBI employee to work under senior Robert Hanssen.

Hanssen, who has been working with the FBI for 15 years and is given the duty of guarding America's most sensitive documents, is believed to be a Soviet Union spy.

Initially O'Neill is told that he is to monitor Hanssen's weird habits. However, it doesnt take him long to realize that the real reason behind monioring Hanssen was to find evidence about Hanssen selling American secrets to the Soviet Union, which in turn had led to the death of many.

After a long escapade of marking every single of Hanssen's moves, O'Neill and the FBI manage to catch Hanssen red handed while trying to send a secret document at the Virginia Park.

The movie is attention grabbing from beginning till the end. The part where O'Neill tries to get data out of Hanssen's palm pilot is perhaps one of the most intersting scene in the movie.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Amnesty International and The Road to Guantanamo

Human Rights are the rights to which every individual is entitled. Unfortunately, half the world will either never know what it means or they will never live to experience it.

A student gets suspended from school for starting an activist group in Iran, a woman in Pakistan gets stoned for being raped, a transgender in NewYork is humiliated in a bar and is arrested and later strip searched and assaulted at the police station.

These are just few stories that the Amnesty International strives to bring in front of people, hoping for a change. A.I. doesnt care about republicans or democrats or white or black or brown. All it cares about is humanity.

Since my blog cannot be complete without a movie.. a must watch movie on this topic would be "The Road to Guantanamo" once again based on a true life story.

It's the story of three Britons of Pakistani origin who go to Pakistan for their friends wedding and end up as prisoners in Guantanamo bay, Cuba, as Al-Qaeda suspects. The movie shows how these friends were denied their right to a lawyer and were kept there for three years.

When you watch the movie, you'll realize that it's not against the government. It's rather an attempt to illustrate the importance of human right.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

The Pursuit of Happyness

You know how they say good things happen to good people? Well they lie. Seriously, how often does that happen? It's extremely rare and that's why I loved "The Pursuit of Happyness"

It features Will Smith as Chris Gardner, who goes through a series of challenging events in his life. From getting evicted from his home, to sleeping in the restroom, he does it all. However, through his patience, perseverance and above all diligence, he finally manages to get the job at the stock brokerage.

Chris Gardner, in fact, had gone through these very phases in his life. Once a homeless guy, he is a self-made millionaire today. He is a great man and a great father and is the founder of the stock brokerage called "Gardner Rich" based in Chicago.

The entire movie was an overwhelming experience. Seeing a man go through so many hardships in his life with a young son by his side was quite emotional.

My favorite scene in the movie is in the basketball court where Gardner tells his son that nothing is impossible. He says, people think something is impossible because they cant do it and they think no one else will be able to do it either. I loved that part simply because it came from a man who was homeless, jobless and yet hadn't given up on life.


Blood Diamond

A few years back when I watched Titanic, I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that Leonardo DiCaprio could ever do a good movie.

And was I wrong.... with movies like The Aviator, Catch me if you can, Departed and of course my all time favorite- Blood Diamond, DiCaprio has successfully managed to mark himself as an A list actor.

Blood Diamond remains close to my heart since it depicts yet another murky and heart wrenching story of Africa.
I watched Blood Diamond this week again. For some reason, this movie never fails to create the magic it did the first time I saw it. DiCaprio, once again, proved his acting proficiency as Danny Archer from Zimbabwe. In the movie, he plays a businessman involved in illegal trading of diamonds to and fro the war zone of Sierra Leone.

Even in reality, countries like Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia etc. have been inflicted with the pain of this illegal trading for a long time now. The money obtained from this trade is used to fund wars in these places. Hence the diamond is called the blood diamond. Worse- children are brain washed to be used as pawns in war.

The movie is also an indirect satire to DeBeers, a renowned diamond company. It's believed that this company is involved in the illegal trade that has managed to wipe hundreds of innocent African lives.

A well devised plot and a great cinematography. It's a "must watch" movie and once you're done wathcing it, it leaves you wanting to know more about the situation in these countries.