I’m unspoilering this part because it isn’t a spoiler:
I’m not Hindu, so I may be mangling this somewhat, but the god depicted as having four arms and being blue is Vishnu. I say “depicted as” because Vishnu is an omnipotent, omnipresent god and so doesn’t really have a body. He can manifest himself in whatever form he likes, but he is depicted in Hindu art in a standardized way. Wikipedia tells me the blue color is because the sky and ocean are blue, and Vishnu is vast like the sky and ocean.
Anyway, Rama is an avatar of Vishnu. So is Krishna. Both are often but not always depicted as being blue like Vishnu. I don’t think this is meant to be taken literally though, it’s just to show their connection to Vishnu. In life they presumably had ordinary complexions.
Vishnu’s female companion is the goddess Lakshmi (who isn’t blue, but is also depicted with four arms), and Sita is an avatar of Lakshmi.
I saw it just to prove the OP wrong. Seriously, thank you for bringing this link to us. It’s a wonderful film and a remarkable achievement. It does take a bit of concentration at first, and you need to divest yourself of the need for strict chronological/linear storytelling (or consistency in animation styles), but if you give over to Ms. Paley’s incredible imagination and vision, it’s one helluva ride. My favorite parts were the shadow puppet sections with the contemporary Indian perspective on the Sita/Rama story.
At first I found myself distracted by the Annette Hanshaw sections, funnily enough, even though I knew her music was a big inspiration for the filmmaker; I love that genre of music on its own, but I was impatient and just wanted to get back to the modern story or the Sita plot. (And I have to say that her "that’s all"s bugged me, for some reason.) But after a while I started digging it. Really astonishing that Ms. Paley accomplished this almost completely by herself.
When we reached the end, I found myself ill-at-ease 'cause I kept wondering what happened to one of the characters who seemed to be unaccounted for.
Lexi! To my delight, the credits answered that question, and in a happy way. Still, I’m dying to know the real story behind “Dave” and his asshattish behavior. Was he seeing someone else? Was he planning to leave her the whole time? Argh! Still, it was “tactful” (as the NYTimes article calls it) of her to leave his tale untold.
BTW, I was almost turned off from viewing this (I’m contrary like that) by the OP’s rather lofty dismissals of other animation, especially Disney-esque/Pixar-style animation, and pooh-poohing it because it often features talking animals or fairy tale elements. Mythology is rife with talking animals – heck, we’ve got a half-monkey figure in Sita’s tale – and if a story is well told, I don’t care if it uses humans or animals or fairies or Hindu deities or jazz or blues or classical music or a sixties-action-film-inspired score to do it. I don’t see why one has to laud one film style by denigrating another. Might wanna try another tactic if you’re trying to encourage fans to see a movie they might enjoy.
Yes, but I don’t know if “amazing” is quite the word I’d used. Actually, I don’t know what adjective best describes that movie! It’s really something, though.
I do have to say that Rock & Rule has a truly great supervillain character, one of my favorites.
I’ve been trying to download one of those so I can put it on my iPhone, but whenever I click on a link, the movie starts playing in my browser, instead of downloading the file onto my computer. How do I just get the file?
If you’re using a PC, do a right click and select “save as.” On a Mac, click and hold until a menu comes up, then select “save to disk” or “save target as.”
I tried that, and there’s an option to “Save as QuickTime file” or “Save as Source,” but neither do anything if I select them. They both have a little “PRO” bubble next to them, so I’m assuming that I can’t do that unless I upgrade my version of Quicktime.
How old a child would you recommend this for? I’d like to watch it with my daughter.
I’ll watch it on my own anyway if it’s not appropriate but if it’s as good as you all say I’m sure she’d love it (She’s 11 BTW).
Oh, I think for an eleven-year-old it should be fine. There is a mention of rape, however, relating to the Sita myth (she’s kidnapped and the commentors mention that her captor doesn’t rape her) but if she’s read any Greek or Roman myths about Zeus and his various targets, it’s nothing worse than that. Some violence but again, nothing she wouldn’t have seen by now in either cartoons or movies unless she’s been living in a cloister.
Yeah I wanted to put it on my ipod so I could connect it to my tv. I tend to not like playing video on my computer both because if I have a lot of things open it doesn’t play well, and because it’s just not that comfortable.
Just saw it at the Roger Ebert Film Festival. Excellent! I’ve been dying to see it ever since I read Ebert’s review and if it wasn’t quite as soul-shaking as he described, it was still fun and thought-provoking and original.
I loved the varying styles of animation for the different, intertwining parts of the story. The three commenters were hugely amusing. The Indian music was wonderful – better than the Henshaw songs, I think.
I know nothing about Rama or the Ramayana, so I was surprised to learn in the discussion after the showing that Paley’s movie is controversial in India because of its irreverent approach to a religious figure. I gather it’s not that different from doing an animated musical version of Jesus’ life told from the point of view of Mary Magdelene.
Seriously, thank you for bringing this link to us. It’s a wonderful film and a remarkable achievement. It does take a bit of concentration at first, and you need to divest yourself of the need for strict chronological/linear storytelling (or consistency in animation styles), but if you give over to Ms. Paley’s incredible imagination and vision, it’s one helluva ride. My favorite parts were the shadow puppet sections with the contemporary Indian perspective on the Sita/Rama story.