3 Idiots (Rajkumar Hirani)

The Idiots.

Here's what pure cinematic escapism is all about. "3 Idiots", which gained an unexpected popularity among the adolescent demographic here in the Philippines, has combined colorful characters, a well-weaved (though a bit far-fetched at certain turns, I must admit) narrative and a breathing, all-smiling grasp of the meaning of true education, the joy of learning and of course, friendship.

Aamir Khan, looking like a cross between Tobey Maguire and Jude Law, plays Rancho, a character wrapped in a velvet of myth but whose energetic presence and sentimental vulnerability makes him all the more affecting and engaging even though merely imagining someone like him to exist in real life departs from plausibility. Think of him as Andy Dufresne reiterated into India's stoic engineering culture. Just like Jean-Pierre Jeunet's splendid "Amelie", which boast of relentless sub-narratives that have enhanced and expanded its mono-centered story (to that of the titular girl) into a 2-hour circus-like universe of emotions and ideas, "3 Idiots" has masterfully etched a unique atmosphere out of the potentially boring and monotonous everyday lives of the engineering world.

But then again, with Bollywood and its endless arsenal for entertainment, that which includes rainbow-palette dance sequences and sugary sentimentalism, nothing is impossible, except of course putting a toothpaste back into its tube (a little in-joke there).

Aside from being a highly amusing comedy film about camaraderie, it's also a wonderful showcase of existential optimism that even borders light philosophy, but never succumbs into conceptual confusion. This is "3 Idiots'" specific strength. Along with its long-running energy are well-conceived ideas that never falter in the face of quick humor. Director Rajkumar Hirani took advantage of the film's catchy overall visual texture and effectively inserted life lessons and instant but penetrating wisdom into its very core, added up some quick-witted conversational symbolism, a genuine inclination to connect with its viewers and voila, an ideal thinking man's quasi-fantasy dramedy.

But limiting "3 Idiots" within the accepted idea of the term 'thinking man' is just like adhering myself to school director Viru's (one of the film's great highlights, played by Boman Irani) stern but flawed educational principle of text-book knowledge and by-the-book intelligence. Just like what Rene Descartes famously stated, "I think, therefore I am"; with "3 Idiots", as what I have mentioned, being a film for thinking men, I used the term in the sense of how it encapsulates the cerebral wholeness of everyone whose gift to distinguish schooling from education, from memorization to absorption automatically makes them its tailor-made audience. A film that is purely fit for every autonomous thinker who can beat their heart or two for an education that is something more than a one-sided inclination towards a monetary future.

For once, I'm really glad that a film of this content and caliber has able to pervade itself into the immediate film-watching vicinity of many people, especially students. Glaring and losing hope at those trash comedy films being spoon-fed into mainstream audience's mouths just to compensate for everyone's hunger to be entertained and be somehow enlightened, along came "3 Idiots" with all barrels blazing and every means utilized to deliver something much, much more than a few laughs.

If the usual comedy film can induce laughter, this film 'inspires' laughter. This is an ideal film for values formation and a wonderful Indian picture that never squeezes out its distinct cinematic character from the common geographic and cultural staples of the country itself. It treads its own path and creates a name out of something truly original and very worthwhile. And also, it never felt like it's almost 3 hours long.

FINAL RATING

The Emperor's Club (Michael Hoffman)

Something suspicious.

Sheds of Peter Weir's "Dead Poets Society" manifest in this fairly heartwarming film about the transcendent relationship between a teacher and his students, and how the first may undergo extreme anxiety and regret if ever he failed to inspire change to the latter.

Kevin Kline, whom I knew most as the bumbling criminal Otto in "A Fish called Wanda", reversed all the characteristics of the role he became famous for and took on a mostly formalistic persona as the straightforward teacher, Mr. Hundert. Like all sentimental films yearning for some recall of memories to make a character evolve or eventually grow as a person, the film was told in a continuous flashback, looking at how his life as a Classics professor to able students could have been an ideal exercise of both his intellectual and emotional life; too bad he crossed paths with Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch), a hard-headed, unprincipled youngster bent on breaking the conventions and rules of adequate education and the seemingly strong authority of Hundert himself.

The true highlight of the film for me is the first 'Mr. Julius Caesar' contest, because there it lay the raw tension and anticipation of every questions and answers. Every slight pauses of the contestants. Every utterance of 'That is correct' by 'Mr. Hundert. Yes, for me, there should have never been a contrived rematch 25 years later for some kind of 'regaining an intellectual honor' (That's Sedgewick Bell right there). What is he trying to prove? That after all those years, he wanted to retell the tale of how he outsmarted his professor and the whole school by cheating into victory? Or was it just pure cinematic 'contrivance' to bring up another 'contrivance'?

But then again, though I just can't fathom the logic of that particular 'rematch', I still quite liked the message of the whole film. If "Dead Poets Society" was about an educator's 'influence' to his students, "The Emperor's Club' is completely about the opposite. Although some teachers may say that they only teach because of the paycheck or because they just want to impart their knowledge to random minds, an unconscious inclination, I believe, always grows within them: that in some ways, they teach because they also want to touch 'lives' and in accord with human nature, also want theirs, although how experienced and filled up it may be, to be nurtured and embraced as well.

For the majority of his life, Mr. Hundert was always haunted by the idea of how Sedgewick Bell got away with all of it. He questioned himself how he hasn't done anything about it. Here came the essence of the whole 'rematch' contrivance (which I learned to embrace as it is); it's not Mr. Hundert that failed Sedgewick Bell. He was given a chance to excel, he transgressed. It's himself.

(This is a paragraph tailor-made for my reaction paper in Values Education regarding this film) "The Emperor's Club", above all, is an exploration of the realities of being a 'leader'. We live in an imperfect world inhabited by flawed individuals. Even Gandhi had his share of detractors. You just can't go in front of many people and collectively change their lives. What counts is whom you've changed, how, and if they are willing to. And in that case, Sedgewick Bell isn't. The Dathan to Moses. The Cassius to Julius Caesar. But beyond that are some 'Marc Antonys' that may just lend their trust, loyalty, and time for what you have to say.

Early performances by young actors who has since made names for themselves by starring in equally great films by their own rights (Paul Dano in "There Will Be Blood", Emile Hirsch in "Into the Wild" and Jesse Eisenberg in the most recent "The Social Network").

FINAL RATING