A movie I liked.:p

(I'm tired of ranting - I'm going to talk about a movie I liked for a change.:)

Kung Fu Panda [* * * * *]

Ok, now ... what's Not to like in this, right?:)

It's a story about a cute panda who follows his heart (and stomach) to become the greatest kung fu fighter of all time. Along the way we learn some lessons about living. How much cooler can it get in movie making!

Just like a hindi movie it has a dishoom-dishoom fight sequences, no romance, but lots of trees and a lot of advice on HOW TO BE in a very patriarchal kung fu environment.

Unlike the usual movies of bollywood or hollywood it's got no sexism, ageism, weightism or speciesism. Just a lovely lesson in living and learning simply to be yourself as the highest art.

The panda didn't really catch my eye as much as Tai Lung, the son who's adopted father betrayed. [Betrayal is a fascinating theme - in real life and in movies. It has a cataclysmic quality of tipping over long unresolved issues beyond retrieval.]

In the end, after 20 yrs of incarceration he escapes 'by the same road his father seeks to escape his destiny' . The father apologizes and says that he feared his love overcame his judgement of the boy's capacity. Outraged, the son, Tai Lung, says to the father, "I don't want your apology. You knew I was the best, but when someone else criticized me, you didn't trust what you knew. Everything I did and became, I did it for you."

Ah! Such a tragic truth about Love. The very people you love will betray you because their love overpowers their judgement. You can't forgive them. You can't forget that they took away the very thing you had built, in a weak moment. Yet you must live on and act without resolution, without closure from that moment on.

How many times this takes place in real life - in families, lovers, friends - and how perfectly this movie expresses the endless karmic cycle a betrayal sets off!

This one's for you, the Tai Lungs of the world.:)