The Norway Tragedy

Words fail in describing or coming to terms with the massive tragedy that shook the peace and tranquility of the people of Norway and the world when a madman went berserk on the young and the innocent.

The man Anders Behring Breivik not only set off two powerful bombs and killed 77 youths, but desecrated humanity and civilization. Even more terrifying is the fact that this was not a crazed lunatic out to satisfy his bloodlust, but a cold, calculating man believing in an ideology, writing a 1500 page book on it, and carefully planning the slaughter of innocent youth months if not years ahead.

The world media reacted precisely in the way that it was expected to, the blame was on 'Muslim terrorists' or just 'terrorists', them being interchangeable terms for the media these days. The airwaves and digital streams, usually humming with perpetual activity, all collectively stuttered for a few very awkward pauses when the true identity and ideology of the perpetrator was revealed.


There was confusion and chaos. The media shuffled in uneasy ways to make things right once again. The comment section on website like NY Times (www.nytimes.com), the Wall Street Journal (with scathing anti-muslim editorials that the killer himself would have been proud of) and just about every major news outlet with any and everyone calling themselves an 'expert' were patiently explaining why Norway was a soft target and why it was attacked. This article explains in better detail: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/24/charlie-brooker-norway-mass-killings




Another major disappointment to come out of this is the apparent silence of Muslim media and activists, who were very quick to condemn when blamed for it, yet awkwardly silent when the mists cleared.

Its is extremely sad to see that they are not showing understanding and support of the level that must be shown to the extremely brave and astoundingly tolerant and understanding society of Norway. The people of Norway have proved to the world their commitment to be the best that humanity can offer.

Even whilst the heinous rampage was going on, they were showing tolerance and restraint  of the highest order, extremely uncharacteristic of most other nations of the world. Had it been the US, the first barrage of missiles and a horde of drone strikes would have been fired before the batting of an eyelid. Followed by no shame or remorse of any kind after realizing their error.

However, this is a time for Muslim media and communities to be more vocal in their support and praise the greatness of the people of Norway to bear such a tragedy with this magnitude of courage. Especially Muslims living in countries affected by homegrown terror of such type such as Pakistan should be at the forefront of the campaign.

It must also be mentioned that the island where the rally was taking place, held a pro-palestinian rally just one day prior to the attacks. The tragedy seems to ring even louder when Muslims, the most victimized people of such hate crimes, remain silent and distracted through this. 

Bol : Say it isn't so

Take a bow Mr. Shoaib Mansoor. You have achieved single handedly (along with your principal cast and crew) what many thought impossible. Shock and awe are two words that come to mind regarding the imagery of the film, and fair and balanced is what comes to mind when pondering on the ebb and flow of the films story.

To further elaborate, more light must be shed onto the gritty portrayal of the intertwined lives of two neighbouring families living worlds apart and their plunge into the abyss of what is Pakistani society’s extremely authentic depiction. The film is definitely greater than the sum of its parts and succeeds outstandingly on multiple levels. 

It would not do the reader justice if praise was gushed down on the film as a whole, and a marvel of such intricate depth and complexity certainly requires a part by part analysis of its different aspects.

Production Quality:

‘Bol’ has managed to make the very term ‘production quality’ into an oxymoron. Although both words may be used to describe different elements, they may never be used together, for they seem to go against the films very base values.

The ‘hand held’ technique is used with wild abandon in a few shots, and the palpable and barely containable excitement of the camera operator is quite clear by the excessive shaking and twitching of his hands as he maneuvers the camera deftly through the scenes, with the grace of a one armed hunch back suffering from an epileptic seizure. But then who wouldn’t when filming pure art incarnate?

The sound of the film is artfully crafted as well, and seems to have a mind of its own, choosing to grace some shots whilst disappearing behind the sheer magic of the visuals at other times, with ambient sound being the most prone to flights of fancy during different shots of the same scenes.

The soundtrack, specifically the superstar Atif Aslam’s work needs to be mentioned. It is to the great credit of the producers of the film that they managed to replace unnecessarily well-choreographed dance videos with scantily clad, gyrating attractive models with a series of indistinguishable montages of repetitive activity. It is as if the movie is swooning over itself, which of course, it should. And to top it off, they also manage to make Atif sound like he used to, before he became famous and widely renowned.

Like true auteurs embellishing their raw skills, the skilled team behind ‘Bol’ manages to convey the conflict and chaos of the characters’ lives into the very hues and colours of the film. There are golden sunrises and bright blue sunsets, further highlighting the characters confusion as they strive to create this shattered reality.

In what appears to be a skillful and creative implementation of beginners mistakes, many shots are shot with angles and lenses that create defocused and flat shots, highlighting the same aspects of the characters. The mind reels at the depth of thought that went into the conjuring of such surreal images.

Story and Characters:

This is by far the most important and crucial aspect of any film and it only attains much greater importance in this masterpiece. Yet, it is also one of the hardest to describe. Great effort shall be made to refrain from divulging any spoilers that may mar this intense experience of the journey of self-discovery (of the characters in more ways than one).

Suffice to say, the writing of Bol has rewritten the rule books of what script writing is all about. It throws out the pre-established notions of plot, character arc, structure, and even manages to mortally wound the outdated notion of cause and effect in story structure and character motivation.

At its very basic, Bol is the painful,  gritty and vengeful story of the destruction wrought on the lives of those foolish enough to reject such basic and important principles of life such as enlightened moderation, liberalization and the pressing need of society to shun idiotic notions such as faith, culture and family values.

However, Bol would not be the magnum opus of a great director had its plot stopped merely at that. Those basics are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the films deft additions of tackling just about any and all social problems of Pakistani society; overpopulation, illiteracy, domestic abuse, women rights, youth power, cricket players’ attractiveness and ability to corrupt naïve underage girls, girl and boy love, man on man love, man on boy love, boy and boy/girl love… and the sheer depth of the powerful plot keeps pulsating and throbbing, penetrating with its brutal intensity, pounding the senses into submission by its pulverizing thrusts.

Bol takes its symbolism extremely seriously. So seriously in fact, that it makes master directors such as Scorcese, Hitchcock, and modern day heavyweights like Nolan seem like rank amateurs. Not a shot goes by where one is not instantly reminded of how powerful images can be while conveying symbols and ideas that are being repeated in the simplest of words scene after scene.

It brings tears to the eyes to see music Atif Aslam playing the guitar in a bird cage with pigeons hovering overhead, imprisoned, for reasons too complex to understand as his character belongs to a liberal family.  

And a fair word of warning to sensitive souls, mark these words, never again will one be able to witness tea coming to boil after understanding its insidious symbolic meaning.

The closest any recent movie comes to attaining the lofty heights of ‘Bol’ is probably Shutter Island. But whereas Di Caprio and Mark Ruffalo tried hard to portray their rather simple characters, the much simple cast of Bol has out done them by playing far more complex characters. Characters of Bol seem to pluck random motivations out of the air at times showing incredible powers of intuition, or at times, blinded and foiled by the simplest of gaps and holes in the plot.

The director uses a revolutionary new technique to increase the depth of the characters. Echoing shades of M. Night Shamalayan, there is a ‘coming of age’ sequence early in the movie of a child. As the child matures from a young child to a version over twice its previous age, the sisters of the character, of which there are quite a few, remain exactly the same age. While others may claim a basic continuity error, the genius of Mr. Mansoor and his capable team is too much for them to comprehend.

Continuing in the same vein, later on, the characters seem to speak lines and commit actions that go against everything that the psychology of the character would indicate. And like the different dream stages of Inception, the viewer comes to the stunning realization that there are no characters in this film at all, only symbols. And once clear, it is impossible to see them as otherwise. There are characters that are the very incarnation of good, then there is pure evil manifesting itself as faith and authority, and of course there is the liberator, the innocent as the victims.

Another great artistic touch is the utter lack of authenticity of the characters. Rather than seem to appear like the unwashed huddled masses of inferiority that the film focuses on, the young actors have endearing Urdu accents that only students from English speaking schools can conjure up. We can only be thankful for not being subjected to the crude, realistic language of the have nots for whom the film is based on and targets so lucidly.

Conclusion:

Words still fall short of the scale and scope of the achievement that Bol has attained. This movie will be remembered for a long time, hopefully even more than its producers wish for. It can also be hoped that Mr. Shoaib Mansoor get considerably more budget so he may add amazing special effects in his next films, as they are the only thing separating him from the nuanced and subtle filmmaking genius known as Michael Bay (director of Bad Boys and Transformers series of movies).

This is the place....