SCREEN TUNED

"Death In Gaza" is a distressing documentary which portrays the violent horrors of the Israeli conflict and the resulting death of it's director/cameraman James Miller. According to me, this documentary is the most powerful one ever made, not only because a man gave up his life to make this documentary, but also the fact that it showcases the lifestyle of one of the cruelest and weapon filled lands about which only few of us are aware. If you watch this documentary, at least once, you would realize how the word 'luck' plays a major role in all of our lives. 






You get to watch the lives of Israeli children and the interview of a little girl whose parents and five brothers were killed and buried somewhere unknown. Her innocent smile would haunt the viewers for days. We have everything, a decent job, good friends, safe place to call home and a caring family. But seeing really small children getting trained with complicated machine guns introduce us to a world of labyrinth. 










Throughout the film, distant cries and gun shots were heard. Someone is always getting murdered brutally, someone is always pleading for their life, little children create riots by throwing small stones at the marching tanks and topping all of this a single shot on a night filled with confusion and danger kills James Miller. 


James Miller was a journalist turned filmmaker/cameraman . In 1995, he joined the Frontline News collective as cameraman, producer, and director. He reported from the vicious civil war in Algeria and from most of the world's major trouble spots. Since 1995 he workied for CNN and for all the leading news broadcasters in Britain. Prior filming Death In Gaza, he did several other documentaries which earned him many Emmy Awards. 





Miller always fought for causes. He was always keen on shedding light to social issues and problems which are faced by many underprivileged people and still not solved or not even known to many of us. His documentary "Children of the Secret State " is about the homeless North Korean orphans. 






The film brought out the issue well in public. "Children of the Secret State" gave many orphans, a place to call home and people to call family. Miller always worked with Saira Shah, even in "Death In Gaza", with whom he founded and operated an independent production company called Frostbite Productions in 2001. 




James Miller is the face of an ideal journalist. Even though he was a journalist turned filmmaker and cameraman, all of his movies, if one closely observes, are from a journalist's point of view. He took up a journalist's job to bring out the brutal social problems and he strove hard to find solutions. If you are a journalist, then be proud. If you have a passion to become a journalist, never deviate from your path or if you just love journalism, keep doing that, because journalism is the only profession where only passion matters and nothing else. It is for sure that Miller would be standing behind the success of every journalist who strive hard to make a difference in this society. 

I'm Karthick and this is my first post in this blog. Film making is my dream. By film making, I meant independent films, not the main stream industry films. I'm not interested in making movies which have commercial values. I really enjoy watching them but I think I don't have the capability of making one. By commercial values, I meant the movies which are made for pure entertainment and mindless fun. I'm always a fan of well executed commercial movies, movies which makes us forget about our problems and worries for couple of hours. But when it comes to making, I would rather go for films which share a personal connection with its viewers. Have you ever wondered about the difference between a movie and cinema?


Some argue that cinema is just another name for movie hall. Many sites argue about this difference and some came to the conclusion that movie and cinema are synonymous to each other. But I think that there is a fine line of difference between a movie and cinema. This is just my view. Movies are made as pure entertainers and they make us really enjoy the moment and as the movie gets over, we would forget about it and get back to our normal lives. But that's not the case of a cinema. Cinema strikes you hard and creates an impact, an impact from which you can't get over so easily. Including me, I've seen many people who share a personal connection with some films. They connect their problems or situations with a film which resemble their life. Some, even find solutions to their problems. I would like to share my experience about how cinema made an impact in my life, an impact from which I'm reluctant to get out, an impact which I love and cherish. Have you ever seen the movie "Children of Heaven." ? If not, then I highly recommend it. It is an Iranian film directed by Majid Majidi. It is about two children Ali and Zahra and the pair of shoes they share in common.


I watched this film, a couple of years back as a good friend of mine recommended it. When the child Zahra (Bahare Seddiqi) was introduced in the screen, I was dumbstruck. She closely resembled my best friend Shabana. Shabana was my childhood friend and the only best friend I ever had. We practically grew up together. We shared common interests and goals. She was everything to me. But few years back, she passed away. A simple illness took her away from me. She left me forever. I couldn't get over from her thought. Her death haunted me for years. I never knew that this little movie would become my solution. Zahra, in the movie was everything to me. She is beautiful, innocent and pure like Shabana.


Before watching this movie, my nights are long and sleepless. I used to think about her always. I even cry alone sometimes. Something always reminded me that she's not coming back. It made me worse. But it all stopped after watching this movie. Whenever I think of  Shabana, I would watch Zahra's smile. It makes me forget about everything, forget about my pain and sorrows and it would make me feel close to Shabana, again. I feel that there is no better time other than this to write the post as tomorrow is Shabana's birthday. I will buy her flowers, her favorite chocolates and I'm sure that Zarah's smile would cross my mind at least once.

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