a few more film reviews

Cheche Lavi a film review This film is about 2 Haitian migrants who flee Haiti to Mexico in the hopes of immigrating to the US. Robens and James are portrayed as aspiring young men who are driven to flee because of desperation and poverty. Their friendship is portrayed realistically, and one can feel both the yearning for optimism & the bitter reality they feel. It is a documentary style film, that aims to portray these 2 men as both valuable & sincere in their quest for a better life. A few statistics for Haiti, 2 out of 3 Haitians live on less than $2.00 per day. And half of the Haitians living in urban areas are unemployed. (Jan. 26, 2017 Restavek Freedom). To make matters worse the Earthquake that caused so much damage added an immense toll to the already frail economy. Unfortunately, neither of the men make it into the US as a landed immigrant. Another obstacle these men faced was language barriers, as they spoke French, and being in Mexico they had to learn Spanish and English to deal with the immigration system. The movie closes with Robens back in Haiti among his family discussing repairs to the family home, and them going for a swim afterwards. Precious Guru a film review This film is about the eccentric and spiritual phenom Padmebhava, or Guru Rinpoche. This man was highly revered in his time for developing a practice of strong, intarnishable conviction to supernatural principles. The film is a documentary, with interviews with modern day Tibetans and foreign practitioners alike who have come to appreciate what this man stood for and his enigmatic story. His main student, was a consort he won from a King who became both his lover and chief historian after he was burned alive, and didn't die. She made a point of telling his story, and spreading the message of compassion. This man was very dear to the Tibetan people, and he foretold they would be faced with a difficult period with the Chinese. However, he said that his insights and those of the Buddha would reach far and wide in the future, so there was cause for great optimism. One of the qualities that this man possessed was “thinking outside of the box”. Or shocking people into great realization. It is available on Vimeo for $6.80 to rent. I highly recommend this film. Blood Machines a film review This series is about a sci-fi future where a duo of a Captain and Mechanic are on a distant planet where a ship of tribal women has crashed. They are combative and possess supernatural powers, at first the Captain is lured into the crashed ship that is possessed by a female spirit. Tracy is the guidance computer android of the Captain's ship who is also portrayed as a pregnant female. The women combatants overwhelm the Captain and kill the Captain and the Mechanic, and the women tribe retreat to a different star system, to a wreck yard to conduct their rituals and proliferate. This is a well-done Canadian production, and has a charming, sensual aspect to it, which is both tasteful and artistic. Only 3 episodes have been released thus far, but so far so good.