Food Pray Love

Another individual who is good to look at although unlike the previous film I felt the word Fake described everything about the super glossy visual candy of Eat Pray Love with Julia Roberts throughout and Javiar Bardem towards the end

However I had better rephrase the introduction because the film is based on an autobiographical best seller by Elizabeth Gilbert. I must also admit that there is a time in my life when the existential search attracted although my interest was psychoanalytical, psychiatric and psychological than transcendental meditation, yoga and all that jazz.

As with The Rebound the film is about a marriage that did not work because the two individuals involved had different life agendas and as in The Rebound, a follow up affairs does not work out either, so the subject, played by Julia Roberts, sets out on a year long adventure of self exploration which takes her to Italy, India, Bali and back to India although I may have got the order of the adventuring wrong.

The trouble is that Julia Roberts looks good, fails to convey any of the insecurity uncertainty trial and error, the panic and misadventure which someone in that position would experience. The Fake aspect is the performance of Julia Roberts and the overall direction which has to show the countries visited at their tourist best and portrays a character who appears comfortable in whatever her surroundings. Life is not like that nor are individuals who engage in such experiences. The write of the original book might be closer to the reality as Oprah Winfrey devoted two of her programmes to the subjects covered.

I enjoyed the Italian experience best because it primarily consisted of Julia eating glorious meals in which she had to sample everything, usually at the same sitting. However far from putting on weight she remained her gorgeous self without taking exercise or deliberately making herself sick. I love Italy and the Italians, (despite the Mafia), because of their love of life, great climate and beautiful country.

I am impressed with the strides India is taking to do something about its unacceptable racism and poverty although the class barriers are more ingrained and perverse than in the UK when it is possible to move from the lowest to the top within the one generation and well as to drop.

I do admire the self discipline and self control that is at the heart of oriental spirituality although it is something which is for those already integrated with themselves and their environment rather than for those full of internal strife and relationships out of equilibrium although I make the observation at some distance. The aspect of the relationship with Bardem which had some reality is the need for some to have a partner who understands, with whom they can fight, who is themselves secure and uncertain sufficient to let them be free and fly away if needs be. The film also did well at the box office making 300% on production costs.