Unforgiven is my favorite Western movie and my second favorite movie of all time, which is really saying something, considering the number of movies I’ve been watching on Netflix since schools closed in mid-March. Most Westerns focus on stories about killing bandits for money or robbing banks, however Unforgiven focuses on the emotions of brotherhood, hatred, anger and grief which most Westerns tend to ignore. It shows us the effects violence (and the inability to turn away from killing) have on who we are–deep inside. Unforgiven tells the story of an old man named William Munny, who used to be a cruel, blood-thirsty gunslinger. But when the movie begins, we learn that his wife has died, which has made him rethink his whole profession. So now he is just a plain, old farmer trying to raise his two young kids. However, when he learns that there is a high bounty ($1000!) on a group of outlaws for physically assaulting a local woman, he decides he has no choice but to pick up that gun again. Along the way, he is joined by his friend, Ned Logan, and the Schofield Kid. Like I said before, Unforgiven is not like other Westerns. Most Westerns have gunslingers kill people on sight, and they’re mostly just fun adventures with twists and turns. For example, The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly is a classic Western movie with interesting characters and an exciting plot line, however, it doesn’t really make you feel any emotion towards all the deaths throughout the film and the pain of the Civil War (the Wild West era began at the end of the Civil War, 1865, and lasted till around 1895). The movie pretends that killing is normal and that it is so easy to do it. Unforgiven, however, takes you deeper into the characters’ actions and the pain. Whenever someone kills another person during the movie, you feel his/her real pain and suffering. The person doesn’t just walk away after wielding the fatal blow, but instead, shakes and shivers in fear and sadness. The movie also presents and develops characters that are perfectly suited for the story. One such character is a gunslinger named English Bob, who travels with a journalist interested in writing a book about Bob and all his “heroic” adventures. The relationship between these characters is perfect because (and I won’t spoil it) English Bob is somewhat of a liar and traitor. The journalist never thinks for a moment that this brilliant gunslinger may actually be a liar, who is just exaggerating about his wild exploits. Such irony! Another great thing about Unforgiven and what makes it so awesome is that characters often have a weakness or tragic flaw that is exposed near the end of the movie, and which fundamentally changes how we perceive them. For most of the movie, Munny’s two sidekicks, Ned Logan and the Schofield kid, claim they can kill a whole group of bandits, but when faced with real killers, they turn into helpless individuals who are scared of killing and scared of what having a reputation as a killer might do to their lives. In most Westerns, such themes are usually ignored. William Munny sums up it well when he says: “It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away everything he’s got, and everything’s he’s ever gonna have.” The actors of course are all top-notch – they include Clint Eastwood (or the Man with No Name), Morgan Freeman, and Gene Hackman. Their performances are so convincing that they made me think about the real Wild West and how people might have looked, talked and lived during those times. After watching Unforgiven, I kept on thinking about one of the greatest video games I’ve ever played, Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s about a gang of outlaws in 1899 who grow increasingly desperate for money. But as the gang starts to fall apart, the main protagonist, Arthur Morgan, changes his perspective about himself and of his gang. Now instead of continuing to be the bloody killer he used to be, he becomes a loving man and is scared to continue his spree of killing with his remaining gang members. It is one of the only video games that made me cry at the end. Unforgiven is a sweet, but also a sour movie. The premise sounds simple, but as you look deeper into the film, you’ll see it’s extremely powerful. It’s one of those movies that has stood and will continue to stand the test of time. Important note from the Stone Soup Editors: Readers should talk to and obtain permission from their parents or other responsible adult before watching this movie, which is rated R in the USA. More information that may be helpful is available at Kids-in-Mind, which scored it 3.6.5. Unforgiven (1992), directed by Clint Eastwood. Winner of 4 Academy Awards, 3 Golden Globes, 1 BAFTA.
Inkheart, Reviewed by Abhi, 11
To be honest, when I first saw this book, my heart stopped. At the time, I didn’t really have a book to read (at least not a book for my reading level) and I was running out of what to choose from. Then when I realized there was another fantasy series on the shelf that I didn’t know about, I froze. A fantasy series, for me? I thought. In no time at all I ran up to the librarian, checked the book out, and ran all the way back home. Even after all that, I didn’t expect a ton from this book. But then when I realized what the book was trying to convey, and learned more about the characters and their complex backgrounds, my mind was blown. Inkheart is a book about books. I know that sounds weird, but you’ll understand soon enough. Basically, the whole book revolves around a young girl named Meggie. When she one day discovers a book her father, Mo, tries to keep secret, she gets very suspicious about what’s going on. Soon enough, her father gets captured by a man named Capricorn. She tries to save him, but she gets captured as well! She and her father are then taken to a creepy village, and as Meggie soon learns what’s really happening, discovers that this village, and this devil Capricorn not only want the book, but something far bigger than she could have ever imagined. Now, I didn’t love this book at first. The first half was very slow, underwhelming, and didn’t deliver much. However, once I got to the second half, my whole perspective changed. I then understood why the first half was so slow, and soon, I got addicted. Very addicted. The reason the second half (and basically the whole book if you think about it) stands out compared to other fantasy books is that it makes you think. Most fantasy books I’ve read are mostly just quick adventures with fast-paced action and some small themes, but that’s it. Even my favorite ones (like Harry Potter Books 1-6) focus mostly on the adventure and action in Harry’s adventure, rather than the relationships between the characters, and themes like friendship, sacrifice and power. But Inkheart is different. You learn about the characters’ lives, and ask questions like “Why?” or “How?” For example, Mo doesn’t immediately tell Meggie about the book (because obviously, it’s a secret), but as Meggie gets more caught up in it, he tells her the truth. And he doesn’t just say, “So I found this book and took it with me,” but talks personally about how this book has affected him. It’s amazing that this whole book revolves around one book, and how all these characters get deeply affected by it one way or another. It made me realize the power of books. The amount of knowledge, happiness, and sadness you can get from them— depending on which one you read. It changed my perspective not only about the genre of fantasy, but also about books themselves, which is saying something for a five-hundred-page book. The book is also very clever in how it handles the evolution of the main story line. During their stay at Capricorn’s village, Meg and friends don’t just escape through a window using some crazy James Bond 007 skills. It’s nothing like that. Instead, the author uses these moments to teach us more about the characters, and to reveal more about the villain’s backstory. And he doesn’t do this this through long conversations where the characters sit around and just talk. Instead, Meggie and her father know they have a specific time window before the villains crash the party, and as a reader, you can feel the clock ticking. So much stuff happens at once—all leading to one epic finale—in which there’s no crazy prison escape. There are many characters cleverly brought into the main story to solve various problems, and each of them impacts the plot in some way (even the animals!). In sum, the author conveys the story through clever storytelling techniques rather than long drawn out dialogues or discussions about the Truth and hidden secrets, like The Kane Chronicles and The Heroes of Olympus. Inkheart is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. At first glance, it might seem just like a fun, whimsical adventure, but when you look deeper into it, you’ll realize the themes and beauty it’s trying to convey, and that is why I absolutely loved it. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. Scholastic, 2005. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? Let us know in the comments below!
The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, Reviewed By Abhi, 11
When I first saw the cover of this book a couple of years ago, I was genuinely surprised. I am not a very historical fiction type of guy, so getting surprised by one is not common. Then, after starting middle school, our English teacher assigned us to read it, and at first, I was really excited. I had never read a novel about the Holocaust, and I was ready to see what would come of this book. Sadly after I read it, I was extremely disappointed. Mainly because the author had so much potential to create something amazing. The Boy In The Striped Pajamas is set during the Holocaust, and is about a young kid named Bruno who just moved from Berlin to Poland. But in the book, they call the place Out-With. Obviously, Bruno doesn’t like the new home, but after a couple of days, he comes across a young kid named Shmuel that lives on the other side of a barbed wire/fence within a concentration camp. If you didn’t know, concentration camps were very heavily guarded, and had to be surrounded by fences so that the Jews wouldn’t escape. But anyway, after Bruno meets Shmuel, they become best friends, and Bruno suddenly finds a reason to like Poland! For the next few days, Bruno mostly lives peacefully with his family, and talks to Shmuel on a daily basis, until the end… I want to point out for some readers, though, that the book never explicitly says any of this. The author wants you to figure out what’s going on. He never says that they’re in Poland. He never says the book takes place during the Holocaust. In fact, Bruno always call the new place Out-With! But my classmates and I soon discovered that it wasn’t Out-With; it was Auschwitz, one of the worst concentration camps at the time! After I learned this, I finally understood more about the story! But now, the review. The worst thing about The Boy In The Striped Pajamas is that it’s so linear, and it becomes very predictable. It just moves along, chapter after chapter, without many twists and turns. This is especially seen during the ending, which I won’t spoil! There were also these little side stories drifting away from the main story, and none of them connect to each other or the main plot. Like for example, Bruno’s family pays a maid named Maria to work for them. But we learn nothing interesting about her! What if SHE was a Jew, and was hiding as the maid for Bruno’s family, but then gets caught, and the reader gets suspicious of this because she is shaking and shivering the whole time? But no, instead, the author uses Maria as a character that appears and disappears, and the author does this frequently with other characters as well. The story also doesn’t have anything interesting to show during some periods of the book, and instead brings in these other characters for a couple of minutes. An example of this is when Hitler (aka The Fury, according to this book) is invited to Bruno’s new house, and he just comes and goes, and never comes back again. This not only cuts out what could have been some interesting moments, but leaves you bored and annoyed, thinking, “That’s It?” We also barely get to learn about Shmuel’s past, so you don’t feel very connected to their friendship. What if we actually got to see his family? We also never get to see Auschwitz very well. I really wish Bruno would have actually spent more time there instead of getting told by Shmuel what’s going on. This lack of freedom also dramatically affected the ending for me, and I didn’t really feel any emotion after I finished the book. The Boy In The Striped Pajamas really disappointed me not only because the author failed to create an interesting story, but also because he had such a huge opportunity to make one! This book could have been an action-packed, suspenseful adventure with a dramatic closing, but it unfortunately isn’t. I like how the author never explicitly said anything about the setting, and I like how the description is sometimes funny, but after a while, that also becomes really annoying. Unless you have a lot of patience for getting through books, I’d recommend to go and read something else. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. David Fickling Books, 2006. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? Let us know in the comments below!
