After the Flood

Among the various better-documented paranormal phenomena would be near-death experiences, and the subsequent connectivity that people with such experiences supposedly have with the dead. At the heart of Hereafter there are just three characters (and I don’t mean director Clint Eastwood, producer Steven Spielberg and writer Peter Morgan). Marie Lelay (Cecile de France) almost dies as the tsunami hits Thailand – and the subsequent changes in her have profound consequences upon her work and relationships, as she embarks to write a book about her experience. George Lonegan (Matt Damon) is a San Francisco based reluctant psychic, a man running away from his gift and the psychological consequences of communicating with the dead, even as he is not quite stably employed. Marcus (Frankie McLaren and George McLaren) cannot cope with the death of brother Jason and looks for ways and means to communicate. The paths of all three cross unexpectedly in London – with the hope of positive outcomes all round. Well-executed like all Clint Eastwood fare, sensitive and touching in parts, and a good watch all round, though never crossing into exceptional territory as Eastwood has done so often

13.5/20

Play, United

The World Cup of Football just got over, and, for the moment, the world does not doubt the capability of sport to unite nations in a shared passion. However, uniting a nation – South Africa - in the midst of cataclysmic change – through sport is another matter altogether. With an insecure and newly disenfranchised white population, and a newly liberated but deeply suspicious black population, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) turns to the captain of the national rugby team – Francois Piennar (Matt Damon) with a mission – win the world cup of rugby. A victory would unite a nation torn by decades of deep-rooted animosity, in a manner that no change in law or governance could possibly accomplish. Another brilliant and award-winning film by Clint Eastwood, and moving like only sports movies can be – the spirit of the movie (and its name) is no better captured than by William Ernest Henley’s poem Invictus – No matter how straight the gate/ or charged with adventures the scroll/ I am the master of my fate/ I am the captain of my soul

15.5/20

LA Changing
Clint Eastwood continues his glittering directorial second coming with Changeling. While Angelina Jolie is better known for her more “commercial” performances (with the possible exception of A Mighty Heart), here is a clearly well-deserved Oscar nomination. The movie is about a single mother and her boy that goes missing and her search for that boy. In the course of that search, many wrongs are righted – the LAPD is reformed, laws regarding detention without sufficient evidence are passed, a serial killer is unearthed and executed, a boy returns to his family. And in the middle of all this is the poignant undertone of the search by Christine Collins of her son Walter Collins, alternating between hope and despair and taking the viewer along with both

Rating 16.5/20