David Lean – “Nothing is Written”

Sir David Lean (1908 - 1991) Source: mptvimages.com

David Lean is one of the greatest film directors of all time. His works included films like Great Expectations (1946) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). He won two Academy Awards for Best Director for his most famous and admired movies The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962), considered among the best motion pictures of all time.  He received the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1990.

His work inspires many of the important directors of our times, especially Steven Spielberg, who once said that he always visited a David Lean movie before making a film himself after he had the honor of having a director’s commentary session with Lean on Lawrence of Arabia.

For further details, check his filmography at the IMDB.

 

A glimpse of how he perceived filmmaking.

I think people remember pictures not dialogue. That’s why I like pictures.

Film is a dramatized reality and it is the director’s job to make it appear real… an audience should not be conscious of technique.

Always cast against the part and it won’t be boring.

I wouldn’t take the advice of a lot of so-called critics on how to shoot a close-up of a teapot.

I like making films about characters I’d like to have dinner with.

 

On the birthday of the master British filmmaker, one of the most important lessons to learn from one of his most famous works Lawrence of Arabia (1962), an epic based on the life of T. E. Lawrence, a British soldier and writer who played a great part in changing the face of World War I for the British and Allies on the Arabian Front against Turkey.

Nothing is Written.

Cyber-Bullying Institutionalized & Published

According to one of my twitter friends, the social media have brought out the assholes in everyone. Cyber-bullying has become a phenomenon in the age of social networking, but it was taken to the next level with the case of a young man in an Imran Khan protest rally talking about the conduct of the police and the difficulties he faced in the rally. The video which has become the object of ridicule on twitter, facebook and other social media, unfortunately, was either leaked or aired from a private Pakistani TV channel, and I’m sure the experience must have been traumatic to the person in the video.

While everyone shared the video to their personal audience, something odd caught my eye yesterday. The correspondent of the New York Times in Pakistan, who apparently had run out of topics to write about, had all the time in the world to write about the video and use it to prove how ridiculous was Imran Khan’s cause. Of course, it was an important event in the history of AfPak. Even a few of well-known Pakistani journalists were sharing the link and cracking jokes on it.

While I disagree with Imran Khan and his supporters as far as their so-called revolution is concerned too,  but this had certainly gone too far, simply out of political opposition and hatred, which goes to show the kind of journalism that is being practised.

The New York Times blog post, along with the video broadcasted from Pakistani channels,  institutionalized the cyber-bullying and since it was against the PTI and published in an American publication, it was OK by the standards of the so-called liberal journalists in Pakistan. But what to say about Pakistani journalists, who were of course the source of the video anyway. To make matters worse, the Honorable Pakistani Ambassador to the United States made it official by tweeting the post.

Yes, nothing wrong with sharing the link, and let us not expect any sane behavior from the general public including myself. Well everyone needs a good laugh, isn’t it? But institutions need to be more responsible than individuals and the public, Pakistani channels included, especially the Honorable Ambassador. Isn’t it?

Hilarious.

It’s a lesson to everyone that you should think twice before talking to the press.

I shared the link on social networking as well and rather feel ashamed and disgusted at myself, though the idea was not to ridicule but to show how much people know about a revolution. But that is when the cause is lost and you invade someone’s privacy and become the culprit yourself. The intention of other people and journalists sharing it would have been the same, except for those cracking jokes on him, but making his comments a point to discuss on publications, …well you decide.

I apologize to the person in the video and have learned my lesson in cyber-bullying.  Also learned my lesson in how the press works.

While this post would only propagate the video further, it would also hopefully offer the side of the picture that very few are presenting, so I thought that writing about is alright after all. Comments are welcome.

The point to ponder, which goes for myself too, is:

There is no point in laughing at the political ideas of kids. They are only learning.

But guess what, adults need to learn too.