Aviator

I watched this movie a couple of days back. I think it was the New Year's day that I watched it. I really liked it. I was impressed with Leonardo's acting. The direction was good enough, definitely great, but apparently not worthy of oscar nomination. Martin Scorsese was the director of Gangs of New York as well. He seems to have a flair for digging up history and making pretty good movies out of it. Aviator was pretty neat. It's only through such movies do I get to learn some history. Never studied history well at school. Don't even know why they have it in curriculum. Who is going to appreciate what the great leaders did all over the world when you are 8? I mean, I have all these other things to worry about in life as such. Why bother me with stories of Hitler and World War II? Did somebody think that kids can comprehend why the world war took place?

Anyways, I learnt a whole lot about Howard Hughes. Such movies prompt me to dig up the biographies of the people involved. Yahoo Movies has this amazing compilation of people's biographies. They are short and sweet and contain just the details I always look for. I am mostly interested in people's childhood these days. 'Cause I believe that really lays a great foundation for any successful man. That's also the one thing which is not in our hands.

The scenes that depict Howard Hughes' obsessive compulsive disorder were done very neatly. The dialogues were concise and sharp. It must have been hell working for HH. He just orders around until things come up to his satisfaction. His satisfaction bar is only a little lower than the sky itself. But in the recent times, I have come to realize that being a perfectionist is not a great virtue to have. Looks like HH suffered from that. He wanted everything so perfect and neat - a lot of these symptoms run in my family. Mostly people around me crave for neatness, clean hands and things remaining in their designated places. I too was like that, but I have relaxed now. But HH had this mental state that was rather acute and made him a recluse. Seems like he locked himself up in some room, urinated in bottles and arranged them neatly and kept repeating things out of no apparent control. Inspite of all this, people didn't lose faith in him, at least that's what the movie shows. He comes out from this depressed state and builds one of the largest planes in aviation history. He seemed like somebody who couldn't take any bullshit or nonsense. I admired that. I would always admire successful people who shared my traits :) Needless to say, it is a confidence booster.

Yet another movie or event that reminds you of how much crap there is out there. I wonder how many artists, mathematicians, scientists, researchers, businessmen got buried under the evils of politics and lobbyism. Must be many. So, if somebody does make it to the top amidst all these things, you'll just have to blindly praise him for his accomplishments. I guess that's the essence of life.