Image via Wikimedia Commons History is more complicated than you think. It isn’t just some quarrel between different countries that started WWI. It was much more than that, and Lawrence of Arabia showcases this theme perfectly. I started watching the beginning of this movie, but I was very worried about the pacing and storyline, since it’s nearly four hours long. I tried avoiding it, but I couldn’t keep myself from doing so. I only watched about thirty minutes of it on a plane flight to India, and after that, I couldn’t get rid of it. My mind was obsessed with scenes from the movie, and kept on telling me the same thing: You have to watch this movie. You HAVE to. So after a long six months, I watched it all — in one sitting. My mind was blown away. Lawrence of Arabia is a true story of a British soldier named T.E Lawrence, who is assigned to protect Arabia in WWI and help Prince Feisal, the leader of Arabia, defeat the ruling Turkish Empire. But his journey to get freedom for Arabia is a bumpy one. He makes many friends, and many, many enemies. The thing that sets Lawrence of Arabia apart from other movies is that T.E Lawrence is not a hero that solves ALL the problems for Arabia. He realizes he can only do so much as a human being. For example, after he rallies the Arabs to defeat the Turks, he realizes that the Arab tribes are still fighting amongst each other, and cannot put their differences aside to unite as a common people and form a nation. By the end, Lawrence realizes he is just a mere pawn – used by Arabs for their own purpose (defeat enemy who is stealing their land), and used by the English/French and the Western countries for their own needs (to gain more land and control in the Middle East). This taught me that nothing in history is really solved. Problems creep up over and over again. For example, remember when we had WWI and Germany lost? Sure, the US and other countries got some relaxation for a while, but then Germany got revenge back in WWII! By the end, T.E Lawrence wants to get away from the desert and just live a normal life. T.E Lawrence also has many different aspects to his personality. Sometimes he’s good, sometimes he’s bad, but he never has one fixed personality! This leads to some really tense moments, because you’re scared about what he’s going to do! Lawrence also stands out from the crowd. He talks in a very strange way. Like in one part of the movie, Lawrence and his guide are traveling to Arabia, and they stop at a well. But just as they’re about to drink, a stranger comes and kills Lawrence’s guide! When the killer comes up to Lawrence and asks for his name, he says: “My name is for my friends. None of my friends is a murderer!” He also does some pretty crazy things, some resulting in near death. He also has some really memorable lines. One of the greatest lines he says is: “Nothing is written.” That one line captured the whole spirit of the movie for me. Lawrence is trying to say this when he tries to rescue a lost friend in an empty desert. Everyone is saying he would likely die from the heat, but Lawrence says that there’s still a chance, and he’s going to take it and obviously, he’s successful! The acting is just as perfect as everything else. Peter O Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn – all these actors play out their roles perfectly, and create very memorable characters. For example, Prince Faisal (played by Alec Guinness, aka Obi Won Kenobi) is very wise and kind as the Arab prince, but Auda Abu Tayi (a tribal Arab leader played by Anthony Quinn) is very quick-tempered and rough. The music is downright amazing. After I heard it, I started going on YouTube and playing the soundtrack over and over again. It truly fits the theme. The final thing I love is how this film captures history. Some of the battles and meetings are staged in a unique way, making this war with the Turks truly different than others (that’s also another reason this film is so good!). This is because this war is not just two different sides fighting each other. It showcases the stand-off between different tribes and countries, and some are fighting for different reasons than others! The imagery is awesome, like when Lawrence is shown on his camel traveling through the desert. The camera captures the shape and color of the mountains and sand and paints the whole scene in a beautiful sunny light. This is also one of the only movies I’ve watched that I seem to have no problems with! No wonder it won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture in 1962. I’m sure I can see it fifty times and I would still not be bored with it. Lawrence of Arabia completely surprised me. It truly captures the spirit of a simple, smart man that changed history, and trust me, he is more interesting than any superhero! He is the kind of protagonist I’ve always wanted in a movie.
Hello Neighbor: Missing Pieces, Reviewed by Abhi Sukhdial, 11
Hello Neighbor: Missing Pieces by Carly Anne West is a very unique kind of book. It’s because the book is based on a video game called “Hello Neighbor.” I didn’t know much about the video game at the time, but I knew the video game was very successful. So when I saw this book at my school book fair, I thought I should give it a try. I don’t regret my decision either. Missing Pieces is one of the best mystery books I have ever read. It takes all the mysterious elements the video game had, and included them in this book. While it might not be long (it’s only 200 pages), it’s extremely fun to read and very suspenseful. The story is about a young kid named Nicky Roth, who just moved to a new city called Raven Brooks. Not long after he moves, he befriends his neighbor next door, who is a kid named Aaron Peterson. They soon become best friends, and pull pranks and have fun around Raven Brooks. But soon, Nicky learns that the Petersons and Aaron are not a normal family, and they have secrets hiding deep within their houses… There are a lot of reasons I think this book is very unique compared to other mystery novels. The first is that I love the author’s style of writing. It’s told through the perspective of Nicky, and he is very creative in how he talks throughout the book. For example, instead of talking about moving to Raven Brooks like a normal person would talk about moving, he talks about it descriptively and interestingly, but you still feel like you don’t know all the details. I like this style of writing because it felt like the perfect style for this book and because it’s the most unique element that makes this story different from others. Like in one part of the book, they give the meaning of the word “bad” in a different way than what other people think: Nicky: What does make a person bad, then? Aaron: Being bad when bad things happen. This is how most of the book is written, and this makes the book even more suspenseful. The second reason I love this book is because the book doesn’t have any paranormal activity to make it scary. All the stuff in this book can happen in real life, and making a book like that is not as easy as you think. The book also involves messages like tragedy, fate, loss, and sadness. All this stuff can be related to, and that’s why you sometimes feel sad and depressed when you read this book. I also love that Aaron and Nicky don’t have a normal friendship. They have hobbies and habits that are unique (lock-picking, trespassing, etc.). Their friendship doesn’t always go well sometimes and even though they are friends, Aaron keeps secrets to himself, and doesn’t share everything about his personality. This made me scared, and I couldn’t put the book down when I first read it. It left me wondering: What’s really going on? Even though this book is amazing, there are some problems with it. The first and the biggest reason is the lack of variety in the story. The whole story revolves around Nicky developing a friendship with Aaron, while at the same time discovering his dark past. The setting usually takes place in Aaron’s house or around Raven Brooks, and the only things that Nicky and Aaron do are sleepovers, pulling pranks and picking locks. Other than that, there is not much that they do, and this disappoints me, because there are only a few chapters in the book that don’t involve these kinds of things. I also don’t like how the book sometimes tries to be funny. It can be really hilarious at times, but other times when it’s dark and gloomy, the author tries to sneak a joke in, and it really doesn’t fit the mood. Overall, I loved Hello Neighbor: Missing Pieces. It kept me hooked throughout the whole time reading it. However, I want to say one thing before I end the review. If you don’t enjoy dark, creepy and sad stories, then I suggest not to read this book. The book barely contains any cheerful or happy scenes, and this might scare some people. But as for me, I can’t wait to read the follow-books in the series, and I am very happy I didn’t underestimate the power of a book that is based on a video game.
Short Film: An Unusual Sunday
Editor’s Note: Abhi’s film received an award from the National PTA Reflections Program. https://youtu.be/9UuJ9IMx3lw I made this film because Sphero the robot is my hero. He is my hero because he inspired me to start coding and to become curious about advanced technologies. One of my favorite movie characters is Monsieur Hercule Poirot from Murder on the Orient Express, so in my movie Detective Monsieur Sphero is trying to enjoy a Sunday morning, but then gets called to solve a murder mystery! He is also admired and loved by the characters in my movie and that is why the ending is a bit surprising.