The Boyle-Rahman bandwagon goes beyond expectations!

Rating: 9/10 (18 February 2011)

Ever since we jumped onto the Boyle-Rahman bandwagon 2 years ago with Slumdog Millionaire, even back then, at least for me, it was hard to fathom the combined strength of this duo. Which brings me back to an amazing concept pointed out by Napoleon Hill called the "mastermind group"....which literally states that the combined mind powers of a group can generate enough energy and force which is greater than the individual strengths of any single mind. And this is one work by the master duo of Boyle and Rahman which establishes a vibrant and dominant punch,just like Slumdog. The directorial ingenuity of Boyle, added to the musical grace of Rahman, throws them into the ring of other brilliant contemporary directors.
A nicely directed film with a prefect plot which reverts close to the actual reality. Sure, Boyle by himself is a maestro in his entirety, and for the heck of it I'm being repetitive here, but Rahman has also always been worth more than his salt, but a killer combination or fusion of the Boyle-ian and Rahman-ian elements generated a power worth more than the common mind could fathom. As far as I was affected, I haven't come across a movie like this which not only grabs you by the throat right into its heart, but dials-up your emotions that you begin to experience something on the likes of anxiety, panic attacks, fear, and all those essential feelings which make it almost impossible for you to stick to your seats and watch with the normal relaxation you would expect. Definitely I would not recommend this movie for the weak-hearted.
But how does the Boyle-Rahman formula actually come into play? Sure, we could have removed Rahman and had still a gripping tale which makes our eyes pop out when we see the challenging and grueling battle against the natural elements of isolation, heat , plus the addition of a dwindling water supply and food supply, which Aron has to play out. But the brilliance of the genius in a director combo is truly evaluated by its ability to hide your mind from the reality - the reality that this is acting and not fact. The true brilliance is felt when it draws you under its covers so much, that you begin to feel the powerful emotions which the main protagonist goes through. So much so, that the viewer is drawn into a totally new "reality", a reality non-existent. In other words, for those few minutes, the mind cannot even realise that none of this is real. I, for starters, during those "gory" moments, found myself unable to keep still, and kept moving around in my seat, wondering how anyone could actually carry that out! Of course, on closer analysis, it's evident that it's not just what is projected on the screen which triggers this adrenalin rush, and makes one register on the emotional richter scale, but also the music eclat which really helps manifest the true plight, emotions, agony, challenge, despair,faced by Aron Ralston, and even more, bring all these beyond the big screen and actually inject these feelings into us! A brilliant job by Rahman........kudos to you!All it takes is your musical genius to give this movie a white-knuckle finish and make us actually "live" it!
A truly daedal killer scheme for direction and music.
Of course, the 127 Hours effect wouldn't be complete without giving true commendation to James Franco's brilliant acting. Thorughout the film, his professional brilliance and dexterous acting never let up which themselves contribute to creating a riveting appeal for the film. This becomes particularly eminent when the climax of the film begins to surface, that is, from the moment Aron gets trapped in the canyon unable to free his arm. The novelty of the portrayal of his flashback memories becomes clear when it becomes hard to decipher exactly the points when Aron drifts from reality into flashback and back. Being part of the audience, it was very difficult for my mind to get a handle on what was reality and what was hallucination. This is the combined work of the direction and cinematography which go hand in hand to create such an effect on the mind that the line between the reality and imagination on the screen gets totally blurred!
I can positively say, beyond the shadow of doubt, that Boyle and Rahman provide a holistic approach towards their own creation or rather genre which helps stir up those emotions that put our minds right in the heart of the film and make us live those powerful moments. And nice work, which has generated enough Oscar buzz that it remains to be seen how well it can compete against the other potential candidates. This is one film which speaks of novelty on all fronts - direction, cinematography, music, and last but not least, star acting!
And if we thought Slumdog Millionaire was gung-ho enough, we now realise that Boyle and Rahman are crossing over towards the pinnacle of their success as a duo.