CLASSICS REVISITED: The Bridges Of Madison County

We are what choices we make in life. So when a girl chooses to spend rest of her life with someone […mostly in marriages], in one way, she starts her life but in other, she stops too. Priorities change. Preferences change. Dreams get suppressed. Passion takes shelter in some dark remote corners of the house. And in such times when she probably has nothing left within to describe as her own individuality, a sudden breeze of love and care coming from outskirts evokes emotions that are hard to hold.

Extra-marital affairs are something we shun to discuss while enjoying our meals on dining table but still it exists and may be very much in the house, in the inner-self of our loving partner. Now, without being judgmental on the subject, I can say Clint Eastwood’s THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY is one of the most poignant love-story between two individuals stuck badly in their ‘far from each others’ respective lives.

A loving wife & mother of 2 teenage kids [Meryl Streep in a mesmeric superlative performance] accidentally gets to meet an National Geographic travelling photographer in his sober age [Eastwood himself] and soon, in a short-span of 4 days, they both discover strong emotions towards each other that may change the way their life should have been if they haven’t met at the first place! Years later, once she is dead, her kids are made known to this ‘embarrassing’ story that explains about the decision her mother made with her life and why.

As a matured love-saga of different kind, if the film really belongs to someone, it has to be the immensely expressive and natural Meryl Streep. With those parched eyes filled with emptiness, she never misses a shot to make you feel for her. Watch her while answering a simple question as if she really likes the life she’s in. Or in a scene where she lets Eastwood in her house but still not very sure and convinced about her submission to the thought. Clint just creates some magical flare of romance on screen as a competent actor, brilliant writer and equally amazing director. The climax scene where both the lovers are left on a crossroad to make a last choice to be united or take a u-turn to their diverse lives, is for me, the most touching rain sequence on screen ever.

Mahesh Manjarekar’s ASTITVA has impersonated same emotions in a quite Bollywood manner but DO NOT MISS Clint Eastwood’s THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY as it is pure in emotions, clean in thoughts and lyrical in passion. ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED!

AMERICAN SNIPER: War in the head! Cooper’s career-best! [3.5/5]

On the losing side or on the winning side, no matter where you are; war takes a mouthful bite from your life without making much exemption. The real war-zone is never out in the geographical field measured by and directed as the degrees of longitudes and latitudes but is your conscience. The perfect illustration can be seen in a situation where Bradley Cooper playing US military’s deadliest shooter-sniper Chris Kyle is in wrestle with his own mind whether to pull the trigger or not. The target on the other side is an Iraqi kid with a grenade-launcher. The heart skips a beat or two and the tension in those fractions of a second makes the air hotter, for the scene and for a watcher too.

Veteran Clint Eastwood directs Bradley Cooper for his career-best performance in AMERICAN SNIPER, a war-drama based on the autobiography of Chris Kyle- a lethal sniper with a title ‘the legend’ for taking more than 160 targets down officially, in his term of more than 1000 days in Iraq. Kyle is; strong, unshaken and sure as his shots and shaky, uncertain and panicky as any family guy. Whenever at home, he’s never at peace. The ambiguity and the anguish of the war are slowly but steadily entering into the relaxed zone of a regular married life. The targets have changed to his wife [Sienna Miller] and the kids.

Besieged by the ruthless war-events, Kyle is looking at the blank TV screen with gunshots being played in the background. You don’t need to be a certified psychiatrist to read the chaotic mental status of a soldier. Eastwood does it for you brilliantly and Cooper plays it with equal conviction. Cooper not only shoulders a firm base to his killing machine but gives his best shot as a performer too. His silence echoing in the conflicts of mind can kill too. His ease at the job and the struggle at home are a pitch-perfect performance.

AMERICAN SNIPER is thrilling, moving and psychological that makes you restless many a times. The counterpart of Kyle is an Iraqi sniper who was once an Olympic medalist in shooting. Who wouldn’t sink in deep after learning such irony? The complexities and the conflicts of a war-hero in a story that is not exceedingly great but portrayed, pictured and performed well. Worth-watching! [3.5/5]