Sunday, March 13, 2005

Life Is A Miracle

Black marketeers hoovering up cocaine from railway tracks, brass beds flying through the air, naked lovers rolling down hillsides, dogs pouncing on dying pigeons, suicidal love-sick donkeys, deranged opera singers, and bathing bears all featured in the chaotic, frenetic and vibrant slapstick-cum-romantic movie we saw last night, Life Is A Miracle.

Set during the Bosnian war, the movie ostensibly tells the Romeo and Juliet tale of a Bosnian Serb railway engineer falling in love with his Muslim hostage. It has been slaughtered by the English critics for its superfluous storyline and for making a farcical lightness of war, but I really liked the fact that it shows how the mayhem of peoples' lives continues in spite of the mayhem of war: at its heart is not a story about the factions of war per se, but a story about the factions that persist within a community.

I found Life Is A Miracle so delightful, warm, funny and beautifully shot, that I broke out into spontaneous applause at the end (thankfully for those around me, it was a quiet applause).

Related link:

"What is the problem with you English? You killed millions of Indians and Africans, and yet you go nuts about the circumstances of the death of a single Serbian pigeon. I am touched you hold the lives of Serbian birds so dear, but you are crazy." Director Emir Kusturica chats to The Guardian in the village he built for himself on a mountain.

Other links today:
+ Turkey meatballs with sultanas and pine nuts. Yum.
+ Mumbai to Midtown, chaat hits the spot. "Chaats are jumbles of flavor and texture: sweet, sour, salty, spicy, crunchy, soft, nutty, fried and flaky tidbits, doused with cool yogurt, fresh cilantro and tangy tamarind and sprinkled with chaat masala, a spice mixture that is itself wildly eventful. The contrasts are, as one fan said, 'a steeplechase for your mouth,' with different sensations galloping by faster than you can track them." More yum. (Reg. req.)
+ Saucy is the new foodie webzine from the people behind Bookslut. "This is not a website for picky eaters. If you're cutting carbs, eating at McDonald's, or buying margarine, this may not be the site for you. But if you love all kinds of food like we do, Saucy is here to entertain and enlighten." Yey!
+ Wiki becomes a way of life. Hardcore Wikipedians.

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