Why I like Indian cinema

I was watching a movie called Break Ke Baad the other day and I realized why I like Bollywood movies. They are infused with a Humanistic sensibility. This is a love story with a traditional guy and a modern girl. The girl doesn't want to follow the traditional marriage route. She wants to live by her own rules.

They attend a wedding and have a discussion about family obligations. She doesn't like the obligations. He talks about how they aren't obligations. They are ways for you to show that you love the other person by taking their feelings into account in your decision making.

Like the girl in this movie - I think obligations for the sake of obligations aren't a good thing. However, I also understand the fact that being responsible to my relationships and the people I love is what not only gives my life meaning, it is what makes life enjoyable.

Keep in mind that no one in this woman's life is asking her to do anything she doesn't want to do.They want her to fulfill her dreams. They are only asking her to take their feelings into consideration. She is at first unable to understand the difference. It is only when she looses the guy she loves because she isn't treating him well that she finally understands.

As a Humanist, I feel very strongly that we must be compassionate with other people in our interpersonal relationships. It is how we strike the balance between our need for autonomy and our need for companionship that dictates how successful we will be in life.

In other words,you fulfill your social obligations are because of love – you don’t do them because you have to. You do them because you care about the impact you have on other people.

Here is a preview of the movie which I definitely enjoyed even though it wasn't a traditional musical. The musical numbers were all montages.

People Will Talk about Humanistic Medicine

 

I saw this movie last night. My mother had recommended it. It was excellent. Classic Cary Grant. But more important to me was the story it told. People Will Talk is a  1951 remake of a German film that came out the year before and the plot is basically Humanism vs. traditionalism. As a Humanist, I loved it.

The basic story is that you have a doctor practicing what we now call Humanistic Medicine who is a) being challenged for unethical conduct by a colleague and b) who falls in love with a pregnant woman, which is obviously scandalous for the time. But what gets people talking is actually his mysterious friend who is like a man servant to him, but who is actually just a very good friend. This friend has his own story that again, highlights the applied humanist ethics of our lead character. And yes, it is very powerful.

Dr. Praetorius, our lead, runs a clinic where patients are considered humans and not inmates. They are real people to be treated with compassion and not just as lumps of flesh to be cured. As much attention is paid to their mental health as it is to their physical health. And if you were wondering why more doctors don't practice medicine this way, you will be glad to know that there is a modern movement to encourage doctors to approach their work with exactly this attitude. It is promoted by the Gold Foundation (for Humanistic Medicine).

Dr. Praetorius' relationship with the woman pregnant out of wedlock and her family is compassionate, ethical, and responsible and ultimately very loving. As is his relationship with his friend Shunderson. Shunderson is a beautifully written character and well acted by Finlay Currie.

This movie covers a variety of difficult topics but ultimately encourages all of us to lead ethical and compassionate lives and to do what is right by others. It doesn't matter that people will talk, as Dr. Praetorius shows, there is joy to be found living life ethically, fully, intentionally and compassionately.