CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

arjunflamingfeather The author of Midnight's Children is Salman Rushdie; screenplay's story is his visual guidelines whilst writing. Writing a movie based on pre-existing material is a category: like Winston Churchill who said 'England shall rise 'With' the occassion' implying the war at their doorstep. The wars in 'Midnight's Children' are fiction because Saleem and Shiva are imaginations wording Salman Rushdie's thoughts. Ideas that the cast and crew of 'Midnight Children's' movie have are not all on film because after a moment cinema is like a record that can be accessed. Assessing digital proof before the final cut or Director's cut is the final chance of making adjustments to the final cinema which will be aired in halls where money shall be collected as a revenue. Cyclic thoughts like found in the movie industry brought 'Deepa Mehta' the director to film the screenplay but the producer who bought or rented director and actors finished 'his' movie. The dates that the movie aired in cinema halls are relevant because the documentary of fiction or movie is a collection of fictional person's created by 'Salman Rushdie' and produced for nations under filmography. Bringing persons to appreciate cinema means that the entire visual film that we bought tickets for was watched with the organs that receive information; clue is it is one of the five senses.

sergelamarche Beautiful, good idea, but maybe much too long for a single film. Interesting take on the evolution of India but the drama did not take. Some events seems coming out of a magician hat. Something is missing for the film to glue together.

vincentlynch-moonoi The biggest problem for the American viewer of this film is a lack of knowledge about the history of India and Pakistan...which is understandable. It makes the first 20 or so minutes of the film totally confusing if one does not know the difference between Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus. About 20 minutes in there was a reference to halal meat, which finally made me realize this film was about people who were Indian Muslims.But then, I found the film fascinating, although I felt bad that I wouldn't be able to talk with my friend in Pakistan about it on the phone...because this film is probably not at all acceptable in Pakistan's political environment. Although to be honest, I can't say the film is at all complimentary about the governments of India or Pakistan.There's a lot of "magic" (for wont of a better term) in this film, and that's also difficult for Americans. I lived in Southeast Asia for a bit, and it's a whole different way of looking at spiritualism. So you need to go into this film with an open mind.The good news is, this is almost all in English, with a few subtitles here and there.I was very impressed with Satya Bhabha's performance as the lead male in the film, as one of the Midnight Children.The film does an excellent job of leading you through a character's journey from childhood through adult. But when it comes right down to it, this is a film about good - versus - evil. It's a very complex story. And it deals wonderfully with relationships between the various key characters.Highly recommended.

peter psp The inspiration for the parable of this movie seems to be the fact that Indira Ghandi was advised by an astrologer that people born on the night when India gained independence from Great Britain are dangerous to her. This caused persecution of many of them by some of them. The contact with astrologer and these consequences are a serious accusation directed to IG and that should not be brought up unless it is supportable by facts. The movie is difficult to watch since there is quite much of brutality and of unacceptable behaviour. This is an image of a world in which a human individual is almost meaningless. The fate of the people born on that day is simply a carrier for bitter accusations. Psychically ill people are treated with brutality and mostly without understanding. Many men shown in the movie are anti-heroes (when a boy says to his parents that he hears voices in his head he gets punched, another day a teacher humiliates him and pulls out a bunch of hair from his scalp). It is hard not to have compassion for these desperate people, and it is heart- breaking to see their sufferings. It is even more depressing to realize that all that was inflicted by themselves. Men in this movie are mostly a bit crazy or criminal or have marginal influence on the message of this story. However women are shown in much better light. They love and are less violent. The only one crazy between them is IG. The movie contains an insult addressed at IG. It is constructed in this way: one of characters has symptoms of schizophrenia and he notices that he can control the voices in his head by blowing his nose. Later he has a night dream in which a woman looking like IG blows her nose and blood appears on her handkerchief. The interpretation is clear: IG was crazy like schizophrenics, and the useless persecutions were a result of hallucinations. IG was in power quite long time and of that only one her deed is pulled out and then an insult is levelled at her. I do not want to defend her, for I am ignorant of history of India, but I bet the image of her is very skewed in this movie. This casts an unpleasant shadow on the rest of the movie that begins in colonial palaces and ends in slums of free India. Is this a reasonable image of the 55 years of independence of India? I doubt, the summary must be brighter than that. I share with Rushdie his disapproval of brutality and wars, however if one wanted to criticize just that then this should be somehow balanced by something positive. This movie is a venomous political satire and is scary to watch. I am afraid that the artistic duo will get death threats. Their view of Indian independence is a bit one-sided. However if the image they project is true then it is a sad prophecy addressed to all countries that want to be free of various oppressors or oppressive ideologies. This is a sad prophecy for Arab countries. An "exception" my be Syria, where they begun from mayhem instead to administer it in small doses, like in IG's prisons. The best way to enjoy this movie is not to understand it. This movie does not provide for the viewer to escape the desperation of the Authors. However I liked the music. I bet that $1 Rushdie received for the film rights is a gross overpayment. What is the point to invest so much money and good work into something so depressing? who will pay for seeing gradually more and more dense desperation?