1 Response to Obama

1. Anoniem schreef:

   15 augustus 2013 om 06:26

   If you believe the notion that character traits are formed when you are young then I suggest you see this 1hr and 36 minutes movie about the time our president spent his youth in Indonesia. In the US not much is known about this period except some outrageous comments by Fox TV and right wing uniformed neocons that he spent his time in madrases.
   I don’t know what is fact and what is fiction in the film script but since this is produced by Indonesian film makers I assume that they have access to neighbors, friends, schoolmates, teachers, servants, in their research for the movie.
   The film is well made in terms of camera work, editing and soundtracks resembling the Slumdog Millionaire and I saw some Indian names in the film credits and the musical intermezzo is definitely a Bollywood trademark. The movie is called Obama the Menteng kid. (Jakarta neigbourhood)
   The main characters is of course Young Obama and two neighbor kids Slamet and Yuni. The language of the kids is Indonesian mixed with the Jakarta dialect the Betawi and some English sentences when he speaks to his mother and stepfather. All dialogs are subtitled.
   Having spent my own youth in Indonesia, the films comes very believable over with the games kids play, fights with neighborhood bullies, playing soccer on your bare feet.
   The underlying message of the movie is, here is this kid destined to achieve something great in his future as indicated in the chess play with the other kids and unhappiness by his mother that he need a better school and the extra homework she is giving him about American history and English literature. This eventually lead her to move back to Hawaii. There is some symbolism like young Obama going over the world map and globe and holding a miniature statue of liberty in his hand.
   The film has funny moments in the wordplay of the kids like Bary (Obama’s nickname) and beri-beri and the confusion with the name Shakespeare. The clown in the movie is played by the transvestite who is a house servant of the family and also in charge of driving young Obama to school on the backseat of a bike.
   The movie expressed some lessons in life too where his stepfather telling young Obama: Don’t be arrogant when you are winning, that way you how to handle it when you loose. Also Obama telling his friends not to retreat, that way you showed your weakness. His mother telling him to apologize to the bully for beating him up even he started the fight and to shake hands. Violence is not a solution to conflicts.
   I think I said enough about the movie, go see it. You won’t regret it and you may look differently at our president now if you believe in the first sentence I said.

   http://youtu.be/fi2B5QCEu_w
   Walter Ben von Stockhausen.

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