Rookie Rainmaking

Matt Damon gives an understated and brilliant performance in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rainmaker. A human story, the rookie gets attached to the life stories of each of his 3 clients – a woman writing a will to ingrate children, a victim of domestic violence to whom he becomes romantically attached, and the pivotal case – a son that is denied an insurance claim and dies of leukemia. The appeal of the movie, as well as perhaps its drawback, lies in its simplicity – all black and white with no shades of gray. The protagonist and rainmaker eschews stardom to fulfil his obligations to those towards whom he has become attached. Like the stories of John Grisham, this one too makes you want to jump out of your hum-ho existence skin and become a lawyer who does not lose his moral compass in “lawyer jokes” America

Sinner or Saint?

Hoffa stars Jack Nicholson and Danny De Vito at their arsonist best. In times where the divide between labour and management was far wider and more un-bridged that it is now, it is hard to distinguish the business leader from the mafia, the union leader from the law-breaker and anarchist. In a day and age where rampant unionismis bringng down auto majors and sundry others in manufacturing America, the return to outright conflict with labour is a sobering thought