The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 04:31 PM PDT

OCT 15 — The Superclasico to overshadow all other Superclasicos returns to our screens this weekend as Manchester United travel a few miles west to take on Liverpool in the English Premier League.

With apologies to Real Madrid and Barcelona fans (and, perhaps, those of River Plate, Boca Juniors, Rangers and Celtic), I agree with Sir Alex Ferguson's comments yesterday that this is still the most eagerly anticipated footballing event in the world.

Maybe there's now a higher quality of play when the aforementioned two Spanish giants clash but, on a global scale, there's just nothing to compare with the passion and devotion inspired by meetings between the Reds and the Red Devils — especially when they come head to head in a meaningful fixture.

And today's meeting is certainly meaningful. Liverpool's renaissance under Kenny Dalglish largely has continued at the start of the current campaign, with his team collecting four wins from their opening seven games to sit in fifth position at the start of the weekend — six points behind their not-so-friendly near neighbours.

If they can narrow that gap to three points with a win at Anfield later today, Liverpool fans around the world might genuinely start to believe that their side could mount a serious title challenge this season. (For what it's worth, I don't think they will last the course — but let's not spoil any dreams just yet.)

It's not been plain sailing for Liverpool this season. An opening-day home draw against Sunderland was disappointing, and there have also been away league defeats at Stoke and Tottenham. But there are still plenty of reasons for Reds supporters to be cautiously optimistic about their team's chances ahead of this season's first meeting with the old enemy from Old Trafford.

Firstly, Luis Suarez has continued to cement his reputation as a truly world-class striker with four goals and a string of impressive performances. The Uruguayan is well on track to become a Liverpool legend, despite having only joined the club earlier this year, and a match-winning performance this weekend would further enhance his already huge popularity amongst Anfield fans.

Suarez will be well aware of that fact after seeing the generous adulation poured in Dirk Kuyt's direction following the Dutchman's hat-trick against United last season, so the Uruguayan will be desperate to make an impact against a United defence that could still be missing Nemanja Vidic.

A second cause for Liverpool optimism comes from another player whose status as a Reds idol is already assured: Steven Gerrard is ready to return to centre stage after missing six months of action with a groin injury.

Gerrard made his long-awaited comeback as a late substitute in the 2-1 win over Wolves in Liverpool's last home game, and the international break then came at a good time for the all-action midfielder, allowing him to ease himself back and have two further weeks to prepare for the visit of United.

Liverpool should also be buoyed in confidence after winning their last fixture before the international break 2-0 away from home. Any road victory is always a commendable achievement in the Premier League, but this wasn't just any old away game — it was the Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park.

Their cause may have been helped by an unjust red card awarded to Everton's Jack Rodwell when the game was still goalless, but winning the last game before an international break is also a big plus, ensuring that players and coaches take positive thoughts away with them rather than stewing on a defeat. That effect is significantly exacerbated when the victory happens to come away from home against your local rivals.

Of course, reigning champions Manchester United will be feeling pretty good about themselves as well, sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table after registering six wins and a draw in the opening seven games at the start of the new season. With young players such as Danny Welbeck and Phil Jones reinvigorating the United squad, Sir Alex's troops will be there or thereabouts yet again at the end of the season.

There's also the Wayne Rooney factor to consider — and that one could go either way.

After enduring a week of demonisation for the senseless red card that will see him miss the group phase of England's European Championships campaign next summer, Rooney will be one big bag of frustration when he takes to the pitch at Anfield.

If he can channel that frustration in the right way — resisting the urge to kick an opponent violently on the calves, for starters — it would be no surprise to see him take hold of the game and single-handedly impose his will on the outcome.

However, I have another theory about Rooney. Like many strikers, he is a "streak" player — either scoring in several consecutive games or not scoring at all. His goals and his best form tend to come all at once in a furious flurry — and so do his dips in form.

And I believe his shattering experience with England last week might spark a downturn. Rooney has never been great at dealing with frustration — see last week's game against Montenegro, for example. He's far better when he can just pin his ears back and play without a care in the world.

Only time will tell, but the red card for England could prove to be the catalyst for a dip in Rooney's form. If we have to wait until December to see his next goal, I'll come back and say I told you so; if, however, he scores a matchwinner at Anfield, let's just forget all about it...

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

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Understanding ‘The Tree Of Life’

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 04:10 PM PDT

OCT 15 — I think it is possibly safe to say that the release of "The Tree Of Life", only the fifth feature film in 38 years from the reclusive writer-director genius Terrence Malick, is without a doubt the most culturally important film event of 2011. It might not make big bucks at the box office, but just skim through the world wide web and print media and you'll see that just about every important film publication out there will have not only a review of the film, but in some cases debates and round-table discussions, such is the level of interest that it manages to attract.

Like I mentioned above, being only his fifth film in 38 years, any new film from Malick is considered a major event by cinephiles the world over. The reason such high reverence exists for him can simply be seen in the films themselves — "Badlands", "Days Of Heaven", "The Thin Red Line" and "The New World" — all of them beautiful, poetic works of art that have the word genius written all over them. Add to that his refusal to give interviews or talk about his films, and you have a tantalising layer of mystery added to his already legendary reputation.

This week marks the official DVD and Bluray release of "The Tree Of Life" in the US, and like many other Malick fans living in parts of the world that will unlikely see a cinema release of the film, the home video release is my only opportunity to finally see the film itself. After reading so much about the film, especially since it won the Palme D'Or for best film at this year's Cannes Film Festival, now I finally have my chance to participate in the great debate surrounding "The Tree Of Life" that has begun since May this year.

Those who have seen a Malick film before will know very well what to expect from any new Malick film, but for those of you who haven't, let me just say that, with the exception of his debut film "Badlands", all his other films are rather impressionistic in nature and way less reliant on narrative drive than normal movies. Some might even say that they're too less reliant on narrative. They're not exactly essay films either, even if the prominence of voiceovers and narration in them might imply that.

I guess the best way to describe his films is that they're personal ruminations on all kinds of things, a sort of visualisation of those contemplative moments that we usually preserve for our private self, when we ask questions like why did this happen, or why did he or she do that, or why did things have to happen this way and things like that. Almost embarrassingly schoolboy poetry sometimes, but elevated to incredible heights by the sheer visual rapture of the images that accompany them.

With that in mind, I was quite surprised to see the words "embarrassing", "over-reaching" and phrases like "hard to swallow" crop up a lot of times from the camp not convinced by "The Tree of Life", usually with the disclaimer that they've been loving Malick's films before this. While I won't go so far as to say that this is the best Malick film, which I personally think is a tussle between "Days Of Heaven" and "The Thin Red Line", I definitely do not agree with the assertion that this is his weakest film.

An impressionistic account of a family in '50s suburban America, specifically young Jack and his troubled relationship with his father (in a superb performance by Brad Pitt) and their trauma when a member of their family dies, most reviews make a really big deal of the film's opening sentence, uttered by the mother in voiceover, in which she said that "There is the way of nature, and there is the way of grace." Most of the negative reviews also make another big deal of the fact that the father quite clearly personifies nature and the mother personifies grace, and the whole film is basically an unnecessarily long and deep exploration of such a flimsy idea, especially from non-believers, atheists and agnostics. The fact that there have been reports that Malick is a born again Christian probably contributed to this reading of the film.

Personally I think this reading of the film is missing the point entirely. Like all other Malick films, despite the grown-up characters, the internal dialogue or perspective of the films are all from a pure, innocent and even childish point of view. The young Sissy Spacek character in "Badlands", the younger sister in "Days Of Heaven", the young Pocahontas in "The New World", and the idealistic young Private Witt in "The Thin Red Line", his films are all about the ideals of the young coming against the hard reality of life. And "The Tree Of Life" is all about young Jack's perspective, his memories, experiences and struggle to understand the different ways that his father and mother show their love.

Ultimately, the film is never about the way of grace prevailing over nature, nor is it even about a battle between them. It is ultimately about accepting that we have both grace and nature inside us, as the film makes plainly clear from one of Jack's voiceovers, and can also be seen in that remarkable scene involving dinosaurs from the film's notorious "creation" sequence, wherein we see what is probably the first act of mercy and compassion in world history in which a predator lets its prey go. Yes, there are dinosaurs in this film too, so what are you waiting for?

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

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Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Sabtu, 15 Oktober 2011

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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