Movies are more than just a source of entertainment for me. They have saved me from going insane and helped me become a better person. Even to this day, movies serve as my mentors and guardians continually shaping my conscience. That might put a big question mark on the credibility of my sense of right and wrong. To say the least, Dude where’s my car? doesn't even come close to getting a piece of my conscience.
I watched movies primarily to escape my sad reality. Growing up poor in a third world country among conservative hardliners led to several instances where I wanted to scream, cry and make my head explode. It was precisely at such moments that I appreciated movies the most. I could rent a VHS tape (and later VCDs & DVDs) and get lost in a different world. I'd watch comedies -romantic or otherwise, action flicks, historical dramas, documentaries, animated shorts - anything! It did not matter if they were good or bad. All that counted was, I could forget about the encroaching poverty that infested my family, the school bullies, the constant whining of my mother and my father’s frightening rage. I even managed to forget that I was growing up in a society defined by caste, class and race where even my own kin treated me differently for being a ‘mule’1.
Movies were a great way to see the outside world while I struggled within the small and unyielding world around me. I could put aside all reality and travel through space & time as I munched through every flickering sequence. I remember watching Schindler’s List and The English Patient only to realize how ignorant I really was. It was movies and not parents or teachers who got me to borrow books from libraries and cultivate a voracious reading habit. I’d watch movies from all over the world in several languages. It greatly contributed to my curiosity of cultures across national boundaries and kept me from developing any stereotypes about anyone based on CNN and BBC talk shows.
As they saved me from turning into a narrow minded prick, movies also helped me find myself. As embarrassingly clichéd as it sounds, I could relate to several fantasy world heroes - Anakin Skywalker and Frodo Baggins are my favorites. I could even see a piece of me in Thelma & Louise. Sure the movie could be about feminism, but the protagonists’ desire to be free and fly resonated deeply with me. And then there were some that surprised me by helping me discover an unknown side of me. Silence of the Lambs brought out my own gory imaginations (I tried the insides of a bird once….yuck!), and others like Boy and Pirate of the Carribean made me hate having to grow up.
I hate having to pick favorite movies. In most of my social profiles I include Say Anything as my favorite. John Cusack quite effectively captures the ‘wanna-be-cool-guy’ in me. However, the one movie that has left its mark on me is Forrest Gump. I envy Forrest’s child-like innocence to this day. I will never get sick of watching Forrest Gump over and over again. I will also never get sick of going to the theater or renting a DVD. After all, ‘Life is a box full of chocolates’, you never know how the next movie you watch is going to affect you.
1. The Nepali word for ‘mule’ is a derogatory word used to describe someone born from the marriage of two different castes, races or classes.
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