Little Miss Sunshine

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2007)

With the Pathe membership pass on hand  I started to study the Pathe web site and studying the movies that are running in theaters. I came across good reviews of this movie. I had seen reviews of this movie on CNN TV in Amsterdam.
I went to see this movie at Pathe Tunishchi Theatre Hall. This was the third of Pathe theater I was visiting in Amsterdam. It is the oldest Pathe Theatre. It has historic looking wooden interior. It is also famous for Love seats for couples.
The movie is about a young 9 year old girl who gets a chance to take part in a beauty contest because another girl has opted out. The 9 year old girl's family consists of her father  who is a typical American  boastful positive speaker, her mother  who sees through the crap of her husbands' hollow optimism talk, her brother  who is so fed up with the family that has taken a silence vow  until he gets admission in the air-force, her maternal uncle  who is a brilliant professor  who is also gay  and brought home after his failed attempt to commit suicide because his gay partner ditches him for his rival professor who receives the nation's best philosophy prize; and lastly the young girls paternal grandfather  who is a jolly, loud mouth, drug addict even at this old age, who believes in the joy of living life fully  and enjoying as much sex as possible.
With these carefully drafted characters  instantaneously one gets drawn into the movie's flow when with hesitation  everyone of the family agrees to travel 18 hours journey in a home van - to take part in the beauty pageant  for the sake of this 9 year old lovely  fat chubby girl.
This is a journey that breaks, joins, breaks and unites the family in the end. The journey solves human dilemmas and notions in a very subtle but effective way through comical situations and dialogs.
All the characters have acted well. The only thing in the movie that is not acceptable is the death of grand father along the journey and the dead body being carried around in the back of the van. In the midst of the death scene also one does not stop laughing  but reflecting back  one does not get convinced with the situation.
The ending of the movie is the most inspiring and sends out a strong message against  the relevance of beauty pageants and humans have started considering everything in life like beauty pageant. This is reflected in a very lovely exchange between the professor and the young boy  who says that "everyone's whole life is like this silly beauty pageant".
At the end of the movie it is so pitiful to see the young girls of 5-10 years being tortured to act and behave like beauty queens  and it tells the story of today's times.
A very good movie!