Volume 124 Issue 144
kansan.com
Friday, April 27, 2012
ENTERTAINMENT
--over the city like a dirty hangnail. An elite SWAT team under the command of Jaka (Joe Taslim) is dispatched to storm the building and arrest the mobster by any means necessary. Rama (Iko Uwais), the unit's token rookie and expectant father, is there with an ulterior motive: to find his no-good gangbanger brother Andi (Doni Alamsyah) and bring him home. And that's all you need to know. The rest is sound and fury, signifying the arrival of a new gold standard for action cinema.
You can't keep a Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian) down in the Indonesian martial arts extravaganza "The Raid."
Movie Review The Raid
// LANDON MCDONALD
Believe everything you've heard about this one. Gareth Evans" "The Raid" is a certifiably insane bone-cruncher of an action film; doused in uncut adrenaline and primed to detonate in a glorious firestorm of high kicks, low blows and a disturbing appreciation for what bullets, blades and exploding refrigerators can do to the human body. I haven't seen perfectly choreographed mayhem of this caliber since the glory days of John Woo and Bloody Sam Peckinpah. Here's a film designed for your inner caveman, the hulking brute that nearly tore out your spinal column and used it to pole vault when your better half-dragged you to see "Titanic 3D."
The set-up couldn't be simpler. An Indonesian drug lord rules the slums of Jakarta with an iron fist thanks to his most vicious enforcer, the appropriately named Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian). The kingpin's entire operation is housed in the grimy confines of a 30-story tenement building, an ugly slab of concrete that looms
ONTRIBUTED
Despite originally hailing from Wales, Gareth Evans has done more to popularize Indonesian martial arts than any filmmaker alive. The style most often showcased in "The Raid" is the discipline known as Silat, which involves the careful manipulation of one's joints in conjunction with wielding multiple blades. The result is fight choreography like none you've ever witnessed; a blood-drenched ballet of death that couldn't be replicated with even the most finely detailed CGI. The combatants become a flurry of appendages, landing blow after blow in rapid succession until the enemy is literally torn open.
doubles as his own stuntman, adding to the seamless quality of the film. Ruhian, who brings an almost mythic malevolence to the role of Mad Dog, even trained for the Indonesian equivalent of the Secret Service. Uwais, whose character quickly becomes our central protagonist, also astounds, both with his incredible martial prowess and the occasional flicker of vulnerability he lends to Rama and his quest
Nearly every actor in "The Raid"
to redeem his wayward sibling.
For those who still take their action red of tooth and claw, seek out "The Raid" and treat yourself to a full-tilt action smorgasbord. But be warned: it might sour you on Hollywood blockbusters for a while. Turns out they really do make 'em like they used to, at least in Indonesia.
FINAL RATING: ★★★★
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FILM
Documentary prompts race discussion in schools
XIN LI/KANSAN
Patrick Monroe, a senior from New Berlin, Wis., looks through a lens to focus a shot for his documentary. The documentary features the "Can We Talk" program at Free State High School, which focuses on racial issues in public schools.
XIN LI
editor@kansan.com
Sylvia Yimer, a graduate student in the School of Social Welfare, went to visit the program "Can We Talk" at Free State High School. "Can We Talk" is a localized part of a national program. Yimer said her visit was driven by her interest in race equality in public schools.
Yimer said the program was meant to facilitate understanding of different races and reduce the academic performance gap between white students and students of minority groups. She said she was surprised by how unrecognized the program
A group of University students is producing a documentary called, "Courageous Conversations about Race," a program encouraging high school students to face racial issues.
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Index
Last September, Yimer brought the documentary idea to a University student club, the Documentary Film Society. The student club was just established by then. The president of the club, Patrick Monroe, a senior studying film, was excited to hear about the idea.
"Film can be used to make change and be the outlet for voices that are marginalized to be heard," Yimer said. "These kids wouldn't get an opportunity to get their stories heard without someone giving that to them necessarily."
Monroe said it was great to know that Sylvia was as dedicated as he was to filming and directing.
was. Yimer decided to make a documentary to raise awareness of the program.
CRYPTOQUIPS 4
OPINION 5
"Since we started, we were focusing on funding and didn't have
Yimer said Singleton was personable. The author set aside more than four hours of his day to meet exclusively with Monroe and Yimer.
The program is inspired by the book "Courageous Conversations about Race — a Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools" by Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton. In February, Yimer and Monroe flew to San Francisco to interview and film Singleton.
"It was easy to tell how passionate he was about his work and how eager he was to help us," Yimer said. "The interview with Glenn is by far the most important interview for the film."
anything solid to work on," Monroe said. "Then Sylvia called me with this golden idea"
Don't forget
Monroe said a lot of work needs to be done to make the documentary successful and he hoped they could eventually send the documentary to film festivals. He hasn't yet announced a release date.
During spring break the team conducted an interview with a Free
II contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
"As a filmmaker, I hope this will be a calling card not just for me, for the club, but for KU." Monroe said. "We want to show people what KU students are capable of"
Monroe said the project would expand through the school year and develop into a 70-minute feature.
State High School student who said to have benefited from the program. Yimer said their next goal was to set up an interview with Tim Wise, one of the leading authors on race and racism in America.
Taterv is the Brown Bag Drag Show sponsored by SUA, Queers & Allies and Kicker. This is the last Tunes @ Noon of the year.
Edited by Anna Allen
Today's Weather
Showers and thunderstorms are likely, otherwise mostly cloudy.
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HI: 67
L0: 54
Don't get struck by lightning
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