Cinemascope

June is celebrated as Mental Health Awareness Month for Men. Mental health in men is a less discussed topic due to the stigma that displaying emotions is a woman's thing to do. We forget that men go through the same emotions as women. Yet now in 2023 we are moving towards a time when men express, take therapy, and talk about what they are going through. Just like women are not “taught” how to handle a man in pain, men too are not taught that. Let's end this social stigma that men don't cry or care or don't go through pain or express happiness. Because they certainly do and are equally entitled to do so.

In Tabilan-controlled Afghanistan in 2001 is a crippled teacher who wants his 11year old daughter Parvana to read and write. But he is unjustly arrested by his former student (now a member of the Taliban). The Taliban did not allow women to go out without accompanying a man due to which Parvana, her elder sister, infant brother and mother are to live without food and water for days to come. Until one day Parvana disguises herself as a boy to support her family. Through her journey, she navigates the challenges and dangers of a war-torn society, breaking gender norms and showcasing the strength of the human spirit. The film beautifully depicts Parvana’s determination and resilience as she fights for her family’s survival and her own freedom. “The Breadwinner” is an animated film based on the novel of the same name by Deborah Ellis.

Midsommar | Ari Aster | 2019 As colourful as the people and lands may seem, the Midsommar festival holds within it the darkest of secrets. Dani deals with an anxious and depressed personality full of doubts. Yet in the end when she watches everything around her burn, she smiles. She no longer has anything to lose. She is the Queen.

What makes you free? Papillon is a true story that tells us about a longing for freedom in a false conviction. Henri “Papillon” Charrière, a safecracker hailing from the Parisian underworld, finds himself falsely accused of murder and is sentenced to spend his life in the infamous Devil’s Island penal colony. Built on the orders of Napoleon III, Originally, Devil Island operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953. The movie is series of events between Papi and Louis Dega, a convicted counterfeiter. Initially supposed to be only a mutual agreement where Papillon would protect Dega while Dega finances his escape, the story turns out to be more than just a longing to escape from prison while also displaying acts on human (and inhuman) grounds inside one of the most notorious prisons.

Spirited Away | Hayao Miyazaki | 2001 | Japan Spirited Away is an animation movie about a young girls quest on saving her parents turned into pigs when they stumble upon an abandoned amusement park. Little do they know that the park is an entry into the spirit world where spirits of all kinds visit and live and humans are not allowed. Chihiro is a puny, stubborn kid, dependent on her parents yet is forced to face the reality of a new world, learn her ways and survive to come out as brave when she embarks on unforseen adventures among the dead. Spirited away appeals the viewer in ways more than one and keeps them engrossed in a detailed imaginative world that Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli so beautifully create using the Japanese aesthetics.

Only God Forgives | Nicholas Winding Refn | 2013 Julian and Billy, brothers, run a boxing club in Bangkok and also deal in drugs. Their mother asks Julian to take revenge for his brother Billy's murder, her firstborn son. This ultimately leads him to a retired cop -Chang. Chang believes in restoring order and is referred to as ‘angel of vengeance’. Julian and Billy shared a complicated and biased relationship with their mother which created several mental and traumatic hurdles. According to the mother, Julian can't kill his brother's killer because he believes that Billy died due to his own fault.