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Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Sunday, January 31, 2010

PostHeaderIcon Monsoon Wedding

8:39 PM | Posted by Michael | Edit Post

    Monsoon Wedding was a very entertaining film once I had sorted out the plot and all the surrounding sub-plots. Once I had found my bearings on the story, I quickly found myself immersed in a hectic Indian family's dilemmas of hosting a wedding for their daughter. It was extremely interesting to see an authentic Punjab arranged marriage by a middle class family. Since, unfortunately, the stereotype of India is that of poverty. But to see the wedding in full form was quite elegant and beautiful. The director Mira Nair does a terrific job of reminding you that the story is still based in the poverty stricken city of Delhi with transition shots of the slums and crowded markets of the city. I think that really helped keep the film in context with the fact that you are still in India, given that all the sub-plots would be expected from an American produced romantic comedy.
   As I said earlier, the organization and the events surrounding the wedding are astounding. The whole ceremony really puts to shame the concept we have in the west of a traditional wedding! This wedding is a four day event that does not, at any point, involve the father's of the bride and groom bickering over the cost of the centerpieces. A massive, colourful tent is erected in the yard of the father of the bride. Family members from all over the globe flood in for the days of celebrating to come. The film truly manages to depict that the marriage is more than the union of two individuals, but really two families. But when the whole family comes together there are bound to be problems. There were many conflicts arising between different family members and such, which caused me a fair bit of confusion when trying to sort out who was who. I'm not sure if the many sub-plots are a trademark of Mira Nair, but the drawback of all this conflict is that it can become very confusing, especially with the movie having sub-titles.
    Just as a final remark, who wouldn't want to be paraded into their wedding with a marching band?

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