Midnight's Children is a story about India after independence, and how the hopes for that country materialized for the first generation after 1947. But primarily this is a film about India. It is a sprawling, complex, epic movie with several themes, including Indian history, Indian politics, fate, destiny, the relationship between men and women, and social justice. The film tells us the life story of Saleem Sinai and his family.
As someone who has not been to India, and has (so far) developed little interest in it, I enjoyed the rich depiction of this exotic and beautiful world. I enjoyed learning more about India and its history. The filmmaker's and writer's love for that country shines through the celluloid.
The first half of the movie, the family drama involving the Sinai family, is the strongest. We follow the events that occur to this family, including the shocking act of two babies being switched at birth. We find out that our protagonist is not really from this family at all. The character development in this part of the movie is excellent. Some scenes from this part will remain with me a long time.
About halfway through, the movie changes direction completely. I had to be dragged along after this because I was truly enjoying the family story and didn't want it to end. I feel it might have been more satisfying to film this as two or three movies, rather than trying to cram it all into one.
Strange, supernatural and symbolic elements are added to the mix. (At this point I'd like to point out that I have not read the book, or any Rushdie novel. I understand this is a feature of his work.)
I have to admit that this aspect did not work that well for me. I suppose it's because this film is mostly realistic, and I thought it was unnecessary.
At times I was quite moved; however, at other times I felt the pathos was laid on a little too thick.
Also, some of the plot, and a few of the scenes, felt unrealistic to me, especially the portrayal of the military and war. Perhaps this was meant to be one of the stylized aspects of the movie. Saleem's immediate relationship with Parvati and his ready acceptance of the child also felt wrong to me.
I thought the acting in this movie was fine, even from the child actors. There are a few truly beautiful women in this movie. It's as if the allure (and suffering) of Indian women was one of the themes. However, Shiva's character felt like a caricature to me.
Satya Bhabha was required to play a most difficult and at times far-fetched role, and essentially had to carry the difficult, more unrealistic half of the movie himself. I think it would have been difficult for anyone to pull it off. They didn't really do a good job transforming him physically so that he actually looked like the victim of an abusive family situation, a coma patient, an amnesiac, a soldier and a war victim. He did not really convey these things well.
I'm so glad they brought Mary back at the end. It would have been unbearable not to know what had become of her.
This movie depicted Indira Gandhi and Muslims in a way that was new to me. That's all I want to say about that. Religion is always in the background, but it does not play much of a role in this movie at all.
This is a movie that makes you think "Let the rich be poor, and the poor rich". (No, this doesn't work out at all.) "You can be whatever you want to be." (As we are shown, also not true.) "India after independence did not turn out the way we wanted, but at least we survived." (But many did not.)
I would recommend this beautiful and passionate movie particularly to anyone who is interested in India and Salman Rushdie's work, and is willing to cope with the length, unevenness and stylized elements. It's worth about 8 in my view, but I'm rounding it down because of these factors.
As someone who has not been to India, and has (so far) developed little interest in it, I enjoyed the rich depiction of this exotic and beautiful world. I enjoyed learning more about India and its history. The filmmaker's and writer's love for that country shines through the celluloid.
The first half of the movie, the family drama involving the Sinai family, is the strongest. We follow the events that occur to this family, including the shocking act of two babies being switched at birth. We find out that our protagonist is not really from this family at all. The character development in this part of the movie is excellent. Some scenes from this part will remain with me a long time.
About halfway through, the movie changes direction completely. I had to be dragged along after this because I was truly enjoying the family story and didn't want it to end. I feel it might have been more satisfying to film this as two or three movies, rather than trying to cram it all into one.
Strange, supernatural and symbolic elements are added to the mix. (At this point I'd like to point out that I have not read the book, or any Rushdie novel. I understand this is a feature of his work.)
I have to admit that this aspect did not work that well for me. I suppose it's because this film is mostly realistic, and I thought it was unnecessary.
At times I was quite moved; however, at other times I felt the pathos was laid on a little too thick.
Also, some of the plot, and a few of the scenes, felt unrealistic to me, especially the portrayal of the military and war. Perhaps this was meant to be one of the stylized aspects of the movie. Saleem's immediate relationship with Parvati and his ready acceptance of the child also felt wrong to me.
I thought the acting in this movie was fine, even from the child actors. There are a few truly beautiful women in this movie. It's as if the allure (and suffering) of Indian women was one of the themes. However, Shiva's character felt like a caricature to me.
Satya Bhabha was required to play a most difficult and at times far-fetched role, and essentially had to carry the difficult, more unrealistic half of the movie himself. I think it would have been difficult for anyone to pull it off. They didn't really do a good job transforming him physically so that he actually looked like the victim of an abusive family situation, a coma patient, an amnesiac, a soldier and a war victim. He did not really convey these things well.
I'm so glad they brought Mary back at the end. It would have been unbearable not to know what had become of her.
This movie depicted Indira Gandhi and Muslims in a way that was new to me. That's all I want to say about that. Religion is always in the background, but it does not play much of a role in this movie at all.
This is a movie that makes you think "Let the rich be poor, and the poor rich". (No, this doesn't work out at all.) "You can be whatever you want to be." (As we are shown, also not true.) "India after independence did not turn out the way we wanted, but at least we survived." (But many did not.)
I would recommend this beautiful and passionate movie particularly to anyone who is interested in India and Salman Rushdie's work, and is willing to cope with the length, unevenness and stylized elements. It's worth about 8 in my view, but I'm rounding it down because of these factors.