Sahamatha Film Society Mangalore screens two films this week on 3rd November Saturday at 3.00PM and 6.00PM at Karavali Lekhakiyara Vachakiyara Sangha Uva Store. Mangalore.

3.00PM- K.Balachandar’s ‘THAPPIDA THAALA’ (1978) Kannada (black& white).

6.00PM Ernesto Cheguera’s biopic ‘THE MOTOR CYCLE DIARIES” 2004 Spanish

Discussion will follow after the screenings.

You are Heartily Welcome to the screenings !

The Motorcycle Diaries

Directed by Walter Salles

Produced by Edgard Tenenbaum, Michael Nozik, Karen Tenkoff

Screenplay by José Rivera

Based on The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara

Starring

Gael García Bernal

Rodrigo de la Serna

Music by Gustavo Santaolalla

Screenplay by José Rivera

Based on The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara

Starring

Gael García Bernal

Rodrigo de la Serna

Music by Gustavo Santaolalla

Cinematography Eric Gautier

Editing by Daniel Rezende

Release date(s) January 15, 2004

Running time 126 minutes

Country Argentina

Language Spanish , Quechua.

The Motorcycle Diaries (Spanish: Diarios de motocicleta) is a 2004 biopic about the journey and written memoir of the 23-year-old Ernesto Guevara, who would several years later become internationally known as the iconic Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. The film recounts the 1952 expedition, initially by motorcycle, across South America by Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado. As the adventure, initially centered around youthful hedonism, unfolds, Guevara discovers himself transformed by his observations on the life of the impoverished indigenous peasantry. Through the characters they encounter on their continental trek, Guevara and Granado witness firsthand the injustices that the destitute face and are exposed to people and social classes they would have never encountered otherwise. To their surprise, the road presents to them both a genuine and captivating picture of Latin American identity. As a result, the trip also plants the initial seed of cognitive dissonance and radicalization within Guevara, who ostensibly would later view armed revolution as a way to challenge the continent’s endemic economic inequalities.

Thappida Thala (1978) Kannada (Black & White)

Produced by R Venkataraman

Directed by K Balachandar

Music by Vijayabhaskar

Released date: 06 Oct 1978.

Cast & Crew:

Rajinikanth

Saritha

Pramila Joshai

Plot:- Rajanikanth as Devu, a local thug seeks refuge at a whorehouse run by a hooker Sarasu,( Sarita). Despite her vehement protests, he stays put and leaves only at daybreak, but her persistent cough stays with him. At a theatre, Devu watches an advertisement for Glycodin Cough Syrup and proceeds to buy her a bottle. Devu and Sarasu bond over the cough syrup and philosophize late into the night, exchanging notes on their immoral lifestyles.

Both of them dicide to burry their past and get married and to lead a decent life. But the past doesn’t allow them. Their effort to get a job goes futile and ultimately Sarasu is raped and Devu lands up in prison. The couple’s plans for normality never attain fruition. The inevitable return to lives of vice is especially tragic and heartbreaking.

Balachander excels at the verite portrayal of the daily drama in the lives of pimps, hookers, and their varied clientele, as well as the politicians who hire thugs like Devu to achieve their aims through violence. Devu’s inherent goodness is contrasted with his “evil twin”, a stepbrother Soma who thwarts his every attempt at morality and finally succumbs at Devu’s hands. Kamalhaasan has an interesting cameo as a Hindi speaking client of Sarasu. Balachander skewers middle-class morality and takes potshots at the hypocrisy of do-gooders.