Wednesday, December 20, 2006
other than English language
Unlike most people, I don't insist that I have to understand what's being said in movies. Good action movies should be understandable even if you don't speak the language they're in. More personal types of movies are not as easily understood, but it can still be interesting to watch and gauge the emotional interactions of the characters without understand the specifics of the words they're using.
Of course, there're are subtitles, but these can be misleading. I once watched a string of Hong Kong movies and the English in their subtitles was pretty funny.
I recall once watching a movie on cable while traveling. Not only could I not figure out what language the movie was in (let alone understand it), I couldn't figure out what language the subtitles were in.
But I did enjoy seeing the people ride around on horses, killing each other. And at the end the armed men questioning the old man telling the story opened his robes to reveal he'd had both arms cut off. I suspect it was from some Middle Eastern country, but am still not sure.
Now, although India's "Ballywood" commercial film capital has gotten some attention following Hong Kong's, I've never been able to watch one for long. Maybe I just tune into that cable channel at the wrong time. But I've tried to watch Indian movies in both India and in other countries.
Whenever I switch to that channel, what's happening in the movie is that an overweight man and an overweight woman are singing and dancing, obviously about how much they love each other. You don't have to understand the words to figure that much out. So every time, I decide to relax and enjoy the Indian music, and I do . . . for a few minutes. But as a few minutes drags on into many more minutes . . . and the man and woman are still dancing and singing . . . I admit it, I just get bored with them. It feels as though they'll never stop singing and dancing and I just have to change the channel.
Maybe I'd enjoy an Indian movie if I watched it from start to finish. I was going to try to see one in a movie theater in Calcutta, but the line outside was jammed pack full of teenaged boys. And by "jammed pack," I'm not speaking metaphorically. It was obvious that Indian teenaged boys do not retain any body "space" with each other. They were belly to chest in a long line.
I'm sure there's guys out there that wouldn't mind spending a lot of time pressing the flesh with 15 year old Indian boys, risking their pocket getting picked without their even knowing it, but I'm not one of them. So I passed on that watching that movie.
Of course, there're are subtitles, but these can be misleading. I once watched a string of Hong Kong movies and the English in their subtitles was pretty funny.
I recall once watching a movie on cable while traveling. Not only could I not figure out what language the movie was in (let alone understand it), I couldn't figure out what language the subtitles were in.
But I did enjoy seeing the people ride around on horses, killing each other. And at the end the armed men questioning the old man telling the story opened his robes to reveal he'd had both arms cut off. I suspect it was from some Middle Eastern country, but am still not sure.
Now, although India's "Ballywood" commercial film capital has gotten some attention following Hong Kong's, I've never been able to watch one for long. Maybe I just tune into that cable channel at the wrong time. But I've tried to watch Indian movies in both India and in other countries.
Whenever I switch to that channel, what's happening in the movie is that an overweight man and an overweight woman are singing and dancing, obviously about how much they love each other. You don't have to understand the words to figure that much out. So every time, I decide to relax and enjoy the Indian music, and I do . . . for a few minutes. But as a few minutes drags on into many more minutes . . . and the man and woman are still dancing and singing . . . I admit it, I just get bored with them. It feels as though they'll never stop singing and dancing and I just have to change the channel.
Maybe I'd enjoy an Indian movie if I watched it from start to finish. I was going to try to see one in a movie theater in Calcutta, but the line outside was jammed pack full of teenaged boys. And by "jammed pack," I'm not speaking metaphorically. It was obvious that Indian teenaged boys do not retain any body "space" with each other. They were belly to chest in a long line.
I'm sure there's guys out there that wouldn't mind spending a lot of time pressing the flesh with 15 year old Indian boys, risking their pocket getting picked without their even knowing it, but I'm not one of them. So I passed on that watching that movie.
