"Sita Sings the Blues"

Surfing the net earlier today, I came across this amazing animation movie based on the Ramayana (meaning 'Rama's journey'), an ancient Sanskrit epic dating back to around 400-200 B.C. and recognised as a fundamental part of Indian cultural consciousness. The epic is also well-known throughout Southeast Asia.

The plot centres on the characters of Rama (an incarnation of the hindu god Vishnu), his wife Sita (an incarnation of the goddess Lakshmi), and the evil demon king, Ravana. Sita is kidnapped by the demon king and Rama has to undertake a journey, helped along the way by his faithful companions Hanuman and Lakshmana, in order to get her back. The story finally culminates in a battle between Rama and Ravana on the island of Lanka, which ends in victory for the good guys.

Sita Sings the Blues (HD 720p)
Uploaded by Drakar2007 - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

Now I'm no movie expert, nor do I own the techniques to critique, so please do not read too much into this. Here's my thoughts on Sita Sings the Blues:

The story of the movie centres on the theme of lost love & heart ache. The main story is set in ancient times in India and plays out the story of the Ramanyana, parallelled by a second story set in modern day San Francisco-come India-come New York, and is based upon the real-life experience of the director herself , Nina Paley.

The artwork in the movie is really stunning. Highly detailed & colourful, and I think it has a true surrealistic quality to it. The director displays a great repetoire of animation techniques - did I mention that she's a self-taught animator! - mixing elements of photography, print illustrations, cartoonish animation and computerised scribble drawings. There's even sections where traditional-style shaddow puppets narrate the story of the Ramayana in a funny and highly informative way, and end up in discussions on what really happened (according to the FAQ on the film's website it's due to the fact that the people voicing the characters are from different parts of India and grew up with different versions of the story)(BTW, these sections are completely un-scripted!).

Finally, the story is accompanied by beautiful, heartfelt music. Especially worth mentioning here are the songs by jazz/blues singer Annette Hanshaw, who gives the voice to Sita.

Sita Sings the Blues is a stunning/beautiful/amazing movie - it's hard to describe in words what I think about it. All I've got to say is that I loved it! L-O-V-E-D it! ...and I wish I could force all of you to see it too! The movie's just over 80 minutes long, and as far as I'm concerned you wouldn't be wasting 80 minutes of your life (as you do with some movies). Though, don't start watching it unless you've got the time to see all of it.

Now, watch it, watch it I say!!!