HUMAN NATURE

I say this with regrets, but it’s not human nature to forgive others. We tend to fight back rather than letting go. We say we forgive, but we don’t forget. The problem is… we tend to remember the bad things rather than the good things about what other people have done to us. Forgiving is often the hardest thing to do in life. Maybe that is the one that differentiate us from God Himself. God is merciful but we humans don’t. After all, we are only humans… Please forgive us… Forgive me too…

The war against terrorists started from a long time ago and took place almost all over the world. The big question is what triggers it in the first place? Is it really true that we are fighting the bad guys? Or maybe we are just fighting at each other? This question must be asked from both sides and both point of view.

The Kingdom tells a story about a team led by an FBI agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) who was sent to investigate a terrorist attack at the housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Terrible bomb incidents took place at the compound and killed many locals and foreigners. Ronald Fleury took off along with his team members Agent Sykes, Janet Mayes, and Adam Leavitt on a revenge mission with an objective to find and stop the mastermind behind the bombing.

Upon arrival at Saudi Arabia, the elite team was supported by Colonel Fariz Al Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom). Fariz and Ronald slowly became friends and along with the team, they tried to unravel the horrors behind the bombing act. The mission got more difficult as they only had five days, given by government, to solve the case before they had to leave the city. The city was being watched. In fact their every move was being monitored. Ronald thought he only needed a Kevlar to protect his life until he realized that the city was too hostile even for an experienced FBI agent like himself. They needed full firepower just to stay alive.

This is a movie about human nature – A mixture between action, drama and politics. You will get different moral story depends from your point of view and perception. Hope you can get and absorb the positive messages from this movie.

Sometimes a war is inevitable, but a war is always useless...

Ivan the Freelancer

Ivan’s Journal – MATCH SELLER GIRL

For some people, childhood memories never fade away. They linger but asleep. Sometimes, you remember them when you experience certain things in life – Things like a simple lunch I had at the office with my colleagues just few days ago.

Men used to smoke their cigarettes after lunch, but not me, cause I don’t smoke. Suddenly, in the middle of our conversations, there was one thing that caught my attention. A blue-and-yellow-colored matchbox full of matchsticks was laid on the table. Not many people used it nowadays because there’re so many easy-to-use lighters sold everywhere.

The match reminded me of a story that I used to listen when I was little. There was this cassette that contained a bedtime story about a little girl selling matches on a windy and snowy night – One of the saddest stories I’d ever heard in my entire life. Some of you may already hear / read about this, but let me share it anyway. There’re many versions of this story, but this is what I remember. Since it was only a cassette, you could only listen to the sound (dialogs, songs, and music). But I’ll try to tell you the story here by writing it.

It was a cold, windy and snowy night at Christmas when a little girl was walking around alone in the streets selling matches to the people around. The wind is so strong and snows fell to the ground. Nobody noticed a little girl trying her best to offer and sell matches just to get something to fill her empty stomach. Having no one to give her shelter and no home to give her warmth and comfort, she struggled to face the cold snowy night.

“Sir, will you buy these matches? Madam, please buy these matches. It can warm your body and light your fireplace at home. Please, buy one or two for your family. Does anyone need matches? ” The girl kept repeating those words but found no one who’s interested.

The night was getting late and the cold weather pierced to the bone. People started to go home and entered their houses. But the girl still could not sell even a single matchbox. She could barely walk as her stomach cried for food and her body started to weaken. She still tried to knock on doors to see if she could sell her matches. But no one wanted her matches because they had their own fireplace at their houses. They didn’t even realize that the girl was all alone and her body nearly frozen.

As the night got colder and colder, the little girl did not have anymore strength to walk further. So she tried to find a safe and warm place to get some rest. Tears fell from her eyes along with prayers that came out from her tiny frozen lips. “I’m dreaming of a warm house, full of food. God, I’m so cold and hungry.”

Suddenly, she had an idea to use her own matches to warm up her own body. She pulled one matchstick from the box and lighted it up. The fire emerged from the match but quickly washed away by the cold wind. “Oh, still cold, I’ll try to light three matchsticks all at once.” The little girl said. The fire quickly lighted up the matchsticks finally giving her warmth. The warm sensation brought up pleasant memories throughout her life – But not for long because her body started to freeze again as the matchsticks were burnt up.

One last hope, she tried to light up all of her matches. The fire gave her warmth that made her smile. It was a sad smile, knowing that no more matches left. “God, I’m so cold and hungry… Cold… Hungry…”

As the last match was burnt up, she fell to the ground. “I’m so sleepy… so sleepy.” Soon enough, she had visions – Visions of her grandmother who actually had passed away long ago, standing at a nice place with lots of food and warmth. “Grandma, is that you? Oh grandma, please take me with you… I am so cold…”

The little girl finally fell asleep and had the most beautiful dream ever. It’s a dream where she was with her grandmother – the person who truly loves her. They flew to a place, full of warmth and delicious food. She felt warm and happy – Little did she know it was a sleep that she would never wake up again.

In the next morning, people found her frozen body lying on the street with burnt matches scattered around her. Her heart stopped beating but there was a smile on her face. She’s now on a place far away from here… Sleep well little girl, no more hunger, no more pain – you won’t need anymore matches…

Ivan the Freelancer

THE WORLD IS YOURS

There is a thin line between “passion” and “ambition”. Passion is usually driven by heart and mostly ends up great. On the other hand, ambition is usually driven by lust and mostly ends up in disaster. His name was Tony Montana (Al Pacino), but the world knew him as the Scarface. Being a powerful gangster who succeeded in reaching the American Dream, there’re lots of things we could learn from him. Don’t forget that we can learn not only from the wise or the successful, but also from the wicked or from the one who had shattered life.

This fantastic movie by Brian De Palma tells a story about a Cuban refugee named Tony Montana along with his close friend Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) who managed to set their feet in the United States. It’s the land where millions of opportunities awaited. They started a small time job together until they were hired by Omar Suarez, who happened to be in the dirty business, to do a dangerous job. Unfortunately the job went wrong but Tony and Manny managed to get away with lots of money and succeeded in accomplishing their mission. Omar’s boss, Frank Lopez was very pleased with Tony’s work and recruited him along with Manny to work for him.

The path in the dirty business went smooth for Tony and he quickly climbed to the top with lots of money filling his pockets. Manny seemed satisfied with the current condition, but apparently Tony had something else on his mind. He wanted more… and more… He wanted what’s coming to him, the world, and everything in it – truly a big ambition for small time gangster like him at that time.

But Tony found his way around pretty fast. He even had many quarrels with his boss, Frank, cause he always chose to play safe. So Tony began to take decisions by himself and set his eyes on the pretty but dangerous Elvira Hancock (Michelle Pfeiffer) for a wife. Finally when his boss gave orders to Tony, he replied, “The only thing in this world that gives orders is “Balls”. Do you have “Balls?” What happened next is only for you to see…

Tony’s power began to grow, and so did his ego and paranoia. Could he handle “The world and everything in it”? The man who wants too much may not get what he really wants. But a man who wants too little might not get anything at all… How about you? Do you really want to get the world and everything in it?

Ivan the Freelancer

PANDAMONIUM

Po is cute and sweet… Po is clumsy but adorable… Po wears tight shorts and has a big tummy… He is a fat panda who has a talent that only the wise can discover. Being a panda, Po loves to eat a lot and sleep a lot. He lived and ran a restaurant selling noodles with his dad – Although they don’t look like father and son physically, but they surely have emotional bonds toward each other. Po makes me laugh a lot with his big butt and wacky face expressions.

Po had a dream to become a master of kung fu. As we all know, all things start from a dream. One day, Po heard a news that Master Oogway the turtle was about to choose someone to become a Dragon Warrior in a competition held in the Jade Temple. So, he brought his big butt and tummy to the Jade Temple high up the hills. Po always wanted to go there so that he could see the competition and his great kung fu idols, the Furious Five (Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper, and Monkey) – All trained by the famous kung fu master named Shifu.

Shifu with his big-fluffy-furry tail believed that one of the Furious Five would be chosen to become the Dragon Warrior. But Master Oogway had another thing in his head when he saw Po fell down from the sky with a chair full of firecrackers. Everybody dropped their jaws as Oogway with his sleepy eyes pointed Po to become a Dragon Warrior instead of the Furious Five. Everybody thought Oogway was crazy. How could a big fat panda who couldn’t even see his own feet become a Dragon Warrior?

Nearly at the same time, a bad and savage kung fu master, the snow leopard named Tai Lung escaped from his prison and demanded revenge for his exile. Tai Lung was very powerful and his skills in kung fu were superior. The Dragon Warrior was the only one who could defeat Tai Lung, and that choice had been put to Po the Panda by Master Oogway. Being the wisest of all, Oogway could somehow see the hidden talent in Po that everyone else couldn’t see.

Time was running out, as Master Shifu had to give everything he got to train Po, the fat and clumsy Kung Fu Panda into a Dragon Warrior in order to defeat Tai Lung. In the middle of desperation between Shifu and Po, Oogway told them the most precious lessons ever – that they only had to believe. Shifu and Po finally managed to believe, but was it enough to defeat the mighty Tai Lung?

Sweet Po gives us lots of fun and laughter – and we should remember him as a kung fu panda who could reach his dream – simply because he believes in it. Po also tells us that there is no secret recipe to become what we want to be. There is only us and what we do…

This is the first animation movie that I write in my blog. Is this a coincidence? No, there is no coincidence – Like Master Oogway used to say with his sleepy eyes, “There is no coincidence”.







Ivan the Freelancer

LONG WINTER

Narnia is a place where the animals can speak, where the winter and summer can appear in the same time, and where dreams and magic can come true. But this world can only be seen by those who believe. As we all already aware of, that besides us humans, there’re also other living beings that walk the earth. What makes us more superior than those other living beings? In this movie, the humans as the sons of Adam’s became an important part in the survival of Narnia from its long-cold-freezing winter curse.

The story of Narnia is based on a classic novel by CS Lewis. Four kids – Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley) – were sent and evacuated to another place by their mother, in order to avoid the war which took place in their homeland. Little did they knew, that they would face another war which was far more dangerous and epic in another world called Narnia. They were evacuated to a house of a mysterious professor. The house was huge but they found it dull and boring – until Lucy found a magical wardrobe that could bring them to a mystical land called the Narnia.

The world of Narnia was not able to celebrate Christmas for a hundred years and the cold winter covered it with chilling snow. The source of the curse came from a White Witch named Jadis (Tilda Swinton) who was powerful enough to freeze almost the whole part of Narnia. Yet, a small area remained at summer and the forest was still covered with green trees. The forest was dwelled by the living beings who survive from the winter – the defender of Narnia – led by a wise lion named Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson).

The prophecy said that if the four sons of Adam’s came to the world of Narnia, then the battle to defeat the evil witch would come. Apparently Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were the chosen ones in order to lead an army to defeat the army of Jadis the White Witch, and banished her for good. It seemed that the mighty Aslan and his army were powerful enough to bring Jadis’ curse to an end. But why did they need humans – the sons of Adam’s anyway? Let it remain a question for you until you see this movie.

Narnia tells us a clear message that humans are needed in order to bring peace and harmony to the world – any world that we live in. But look at what we do to the nature as humans nowadays. We create so many chaos and destruction. There’re too many “white witches” in this world today.

Nature and animals have the ability to heal or recover themselves, but they cannot save this world alone. They need us humans to help them. The nature calls for our help to restore the once prosperous and fertile land back to one piece – All for our own sake.

Ivan the Freelancer

LOVE BETWEEN TWO REALMS

They say love knows no border, distance, or limit – even beyond death. Although love can die or wither, the good news is love can also remain no matter what happen in the physical world. The proof is love will still be there although your loved ones are not. Although love can be painful, but it is actually the one that makes you feel alive. This is especially true in this movie called Ghost.

Sam (Patrick Swayze) had a great job at the local bank and his fiancée named Molly (Demi Moore) worked as an artist making ceramics. They were a happy couple who fell deeply in love. Things went fine as they walked the streets in Manhattan. But one day, when they strolled home from a movie theatre, they ran into a mugger named Willie Lopez. Sam tried to overcome the situation but got murdered. The shot from Willie’s gun instantly killed Sam on the spot.

Sam chased Willie, but Willie managed to escape. Sam ran back to check on Molly if she’s alright. But when he got to Molly, he found her crying while holding his body on the street. How come he could see his own body being held by Molly while he was standing next to her? At that time, Sam realized a horrible truth – which he was dead, and now he had become a ghost.

As a ghost, Sam couldn’t be seen, heard, and touched by the living. On the other hand, he could not travel to another place that he was supposed to be after death either. His love on Molly somehow held him in this world. Not just that, Sam realized that Molly’s life was in danger. So he decided to become her protector.

Being a ghost, Sam couldn’t communicate like any other human beings. But fate led him to a woman who happened to be a spiritualist named Oda Mae Brown (Whoopie Goldberg). Oda could somehow communicate with Sam only by hearing his voices. Sam tried his best to be with Molly and protect her from harm through Oda. But could he do it? – As time was running out for Molly.

Love is a mystery – Cannot be explained by words and can only be felt by heart – Although it can be expressed in many forms. It maybe easy to be loved, but it’s never easy to love someone else. To love means to have each other and to be with each other – no matter what the obstacles and problems are.

Ivan the Freelancer

FALLING STAR

This is a story about stars, what they do, and how to find one. People often assume stars as something they’d like to pursue. Stars can be referred as hopes, dreams, destinations, or maybe our loved ones. You see them twinkling at night and yet you wonder what they really are. Stars are mysterious – as mysterious as our destinies. We should all pursue our stars, or maybe wait until they fall upon us.

Stardust tells a story about a man named Tristan (Charlie Cox) who was asked to get a star by a girl he loved named Victoria (Sienna Miller), and brought it to her. How can a man reach a star and bring it to the woman he loves? So Tristan ventured on a journey in order to get the star that was said had fallen from the sky. The truth was Victoria didn’t love Tristan so she made what seemed to be an impossible request for him. That’s the only way Tristan could get Victoria to marry him.

It was not difficult for Tristan to find the falling star, but the real problem was to keep it. How come it’s difficult to keep a falling star? Was it too big or maybe too hot? No… It’s because the falling star surprisingly turned out to be a beautiful maiden named Yvaine (Claire Daines). Having no choice, Tristan had to bring Yvaine to Victoria as a proof that he had found the star. But Yvaine was not a “thing” – She was a living human beings. Tristan couldn’t “bring” a girl to another girl just like that.

To make matters more complicated, it’s not only Tristan who was pursuing the falling star. A cruel and powerful witch named Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) desperately searched Yvaine because she needed Yvaine’s heart to make her body became young again. On the other hand, there were also sons from a dead king who were eager to take the throne of the Stormhold Kingdom also looked for Yvaine, because she possessed the evil ruby stone required to gain the throne.

Everybody wanted to get their hands on Yvaine, the falling star. But who would make it until the end? It’s hard to reach the stars at the sky, but keeping a falling star was not easy either. As they say, it’s hard to reach your hopes and dreams, but when you do reach them, it’s even harder to keep them. All stars are able to perform their best talent, that’s to glow and shine – But their light may attract many. Would Tristan managed to “keep” Yvaine? Did he get the star that’s truly meant for him?

Every journey gives us life experiences and we will never be the same person again as before. Every life experiences change our life and hopefully to a better state. In order to reach our own stars, we all have to venture on a journey in our life. A journey that hopefully will take you to a destination you’ve wished for.

Sometimes we fight for ourselves, sometimes we fight for others. So girls, if you ever request your man to get you a star, be very sure you’re there when he returns… Otherwise he will find “another star” instead.

Ivan the Freelancer