Thursday, August 17, 2006

Da

I watched the movie a couple of days back. It was a DVD copy from a friend's original. A wonderfully knit script based on a man's imagination.

The movie was made in 1988, starring Martin Sheen and Barnard Hughes. Directed by Matt Clark and Julie Corman.

"Da" is the Irish equivalent of "father". So I learnt from a friend. The movie itself is a autobiographical drama about playwright Hugh Leonard's relationship with his father. So I learnt from the internet.

Charlie gets the news of his father's death and travels to take care of the funeral. What follows is Charlie's imagination involving his father, to a large extent his mother and to a small extent his pet dog. He relives many of his childhood moments.

As I sat watching this movie, I was reminded very much of my father and mother. How they would care, be angry one moment and melt with love the very next. How they would try to put me off a topic when I, as a child, keep pestering them for answers that a child cannot understand. How I used to think that I am being weighed down by all the love and care they show. I did grow up and realized that I was wrong to feel so.

The sequence where a middle-aged Charlie transforms into a kid Charlie and asks his father, why he had lied to him about his mother, is lovely.

"It was not a lie. I would never lie. It was a maky-up", was his father's reply. I smiled.

Was it because I was thinking of my own father, that I smiled the way I usually do when I watch kids play their games, when I watched the movie? True.

It was the wonderful chemistry between Martin Sheen (Charlie) and Barnard Hughes (Da) that made me see a father and son relationship, as it would normally be in real life. They were amazing in their roles.

"I love you, Da"
"Ofcourse, you do. Why wouldn't you?"

Now, I smiled again.

6 comments:

Gururaj said...

Awesome man... keep writing...

Gururaj said...

awesome man...
very good for a first timer.
keep writing.

Anonymous said...

I must accept, it is a piece of GOOD work!!!
The message is conveyed beautifully,simply nice.
Wud b gr8 if ur 'Da' reads it too :-)

Srivatsan said...

Goyz,
Great to see you writing. Keep it going man! I have been quite lazy (in the pretext of doing an MBA) to write more frequently. Hope your venture spurs me on too!
Martin Sheen is a wonderful actor - ever the loving dad! Even in the few scenes in "Catch Me if you can" he did an awesome job as the "loser" dad!

Anonymous said...

Mebbe you wouldnt have seen cherans movie "Thavamai Thavamirunthu"!! Thatzy you are talking about some Irish film da.

- UrFrnd

Anonymous said...

I have not seen the movie but yes, I admit that when I watch such movies I can probably see a movie going on parallelly. This is nothing but my own childhood being replayed in my mind. But there are very few movies around which can have this effect. The sequences shown are grossly skewed from what happens in real life. So if you could actually relate to this movie it has got to be good.