The Pursuit of Happyness

This is a movie, what I called inspirational.

This is a story of struggle, determination, hope, conviction, sacrifice, bond and love.

Chris Gardner played by box office talent Will Smith, is the center of this movie. Chris Gardner questioned one important thing. Why it is in the declaration of independence by Thomas Jefferson, he said ‘To pursuit for happiness’. Does happiness need to seek and hound? For who have had watched this movie, we will understand why Gardner asked this question.

Everything seems not right for Gardner even he’s trying so hard to make his family happy. The story begins as Gardner struggling as a businessman try to sell machine called bone scanner. That is what Gardner does for living. Jobs which help him pay for rent, bill and tax. He has a wife and a son. A son he will protect with all his willpower, with all his heart and for what its take. Unconditional love with only one who have had experienced it can enlighten us with all the details.

But he does not doing well in his selling business. His wife asked more than a simple life and decided not to take it anymore. Gardner thought for a change, so he tried his luck to become an intern as a stock broker in one respected company. This is his struggle. Been left by his wife, kicked out from house, not be able to sell any of bone scanners, doing internship, have to take care of his only son and all the privation which will invite tears to your eyes.

A moment when Gardner has to take his son to do the selling, he told his son an advised which I will never forget for the rest of my life,

“Don’t ever let somebody told you, you can’t do something. Not even me.
You got a dream, you got to protect it.
People can’t do something, they wanna tell you, you can’t do it.
If you want something, go get it. Period”.

I do agree, happy is to be pursuit.
But is happy enough?

To the end of this story, I got so many things to reflect. Which conclude to my searching for life. “Happy is just not enough; you need love. Love is still not enough, you need to find the essence to sustain and fights for”.
Essense for Gardner, he want his son to know he is a good father, despite all. And...he is.
Me? Well, I think I have one!

I never knew

I never knew what it is feel, when you witnessed a body lying at the road side, covered with 'kain pelikat' with a lot of people watching with interest.

I never knew what it is feel when you was the one inside the car, slowed to catch up with the concerned Malaysia watching the stiff body.

I never knew how long the image will sustained in you cell called memory.

I never knew what it's feel, when you finally reached home people gathered with sorrow. At your own house, but still you knew nothing.

I never knew what is the feeling, when only then you learn the lying body was your only son.

And the 'kain pelikat' was belong to his godfather which is your own good neighbour.

I never knew the grief, the sorrow, the emptiness.

I never knew how hard, but then I knew then, when the mother of the lying body followed him into the graveyard, less than a year.

But I knew what is sorrow, grief and tears.

And I knew what is heartache and emptiness.

Children of Heaven

Children of heaven are really children from heaven.

It is quite sometimes ago, when I was first trying myself to watch a movie at the silver screen. It was the year which the stigma is still there. You’re not a decent person if you watch movie with friends or your family. Big screen then is seemed like the source of evil. There is some wave coming out from the screen and will eat up the best part of you, the angel part.

But still, I’m the one suggesting to my friends to watch a movie which will be screen at the international screen at GSC Mid Valley. And I’m suggesting them an Iranian movie title Children of Heaven. The title seemed delicious, but unlucky me, I do not know anything about movie, not to tell how to get a ticket and finding sits inside the cinema. Even so, my friends are there to help me on the technical thingy. The ticket price is more expensive from regular, which is RM12 per sit because it is featuring on the international screen. So, I thought that, it must be a good movie.

Well, confidently sitting there, which that was my first experience and I never thought the room so big. I remember the cinema so big (literally) cause there in nobody else to watch (if I can remember, maybe there a two or three people excluding us that watch the movie). We can choose where we want to sit then. What wrong with the movie? That was the first weird thing.

Maybe I’m trying to look smart so that why I choose Children of Heaven. I never knew, Iranian movie is away from what we know about a movie. I’m thinking of the good looking actors and actresses, actions, technologies, stunning scenery and superb sound but, none! Children of Heaven always had been a film similar what we can see from regular television drama. That was the second weird thing.

Third, the film all and all is about children which is run and run and run and run. Till the end, the child is still running. Owh my goodness, I look stupid already in front of my friends. The lights on and we are up to have lunch. No comment that slips form my friends’, and I’m too speechless.

Last night, I watch the rerun of Children of Heaven alone, in front of my audio visual set, and I knew I not been apologetic bringing my friends to watch years ago. Because there is no evil, none of the angels part will be sucked out from your body, in fact, the film very much teach us about to have faith in God and God alone, total depend on Him, responsibility, sacrifice, the family bond and so many more. And what the director need is only a pair of shoes, and two children, Ali and Zahrah, which maybe I’m too believing that they have been send down from heaven.

There is a moment that starttled me. Zahrah is pouring tea to her father, which at that particular time his father breaking sugar to smaller pieces. The sugar is from a masjid that will be used for religious ceremony.

Her father then asked her, “Zahrah Jan, where is my sugar my dear”.

Zahrah said, “Look father, there is a lot of sugar in front of you, do we really need to take sugar out from our kitchen shelf?”

The father then replied, “Well dear, this sugar is not ours. It is for a ceremony at masjid. This is an amanah, we can’t take it”.

I was feeling so much guilt years ago, RM12 is still expensive for some of us (we are students back then). But I know now, RM12 is still not that much to watch a movie that can fill your soul and send it to the sky. In fact, I think, I’m outreaching my friends by using popular medium.

Enjoy and been blessed at the same time, guilty? Nope. It is a beauty.

In fact if my friends come, I will play the movie again.

Angels & Demons

Dan Brown must be obnoxious to the very foundation of Christianity when he dares to publish his books both in: Da Vincci Code and Angels and Demons. He used realism in his creative works which make it more daring and open for critics. Which make the Christians mad and angry.

So what make Dan Brown then, an angel or the devil himself?

Yeah, me, totally depend on the movie to understand the issue. To be frank, I never read Dan Brown novels. But both of the movies, loved it! Not conventional Hollywood movie, well some part of it. It makes me to watch Da Vincci Code more than 5 times to understand the whole issues. But the story is quite direct I pressumed. The issues of Holy Grail, Council of Nicea, the battle between Christianity and Pagan (Rome), either Jesus man or divine, Leonardo works, The Knight Templer and so on that make me stumble at one moment. Of course all of the issues is not really new to me (as there is a time I constantly read Ahmad Deedat's, Freemason) but the way how director put all in motion picture make me amaze for a while.

Second movie, Angels & Demons, is quite frustrating. Even there are twist here and there which stuck my eyes to the wide screen, but it is not as I expected such in Da Vincci Code. But to be in Vatican City, with the event of Pope dismissal, how they elect new Pope as a replacement, the corruption within the robe in the name of religion and Jesus, the facinating ancient manuscript in the most protective library (event this is an imaginary, it still alluring) that, make me amazed. In Da Vinci Code, Prof Langdon has worthy opponent, his colleague, his mentor and teacher. So the intelectual debate is fresh rather than to focus only on one opinion.

My drive to both pictures (movies) is the devotion of the Symbologist, Dr Robert Langdon to his research and work. To search for the truth or simply for the academic proposes? It is clear, Langdon do not have a stand, unless if he is an atheist. Being an atheist to me is not a stand either. This will conclude the character (Langdon) is not strong as people believe he is. Even he speak the bitter part in the very foundation of European and Western religion worldview, Christian but he does not provide us with alternative right? So, what is truth then?

I strongly believe, truth is out there. As my friend Eduardo from Italy believes.

I really keen to the symbologist as a main character in a film. It quite strange then, how he would analyze all the symbols and believe it as true? As all of the sources are doubtable.

But me myself believe in symbols, as God sometime Speaks by using this code. Not to hide things, but to reveal and manifest at the foundation of the absolute truth. But at the moment I just can't compose anything yet, its all mix up.