SATURDAY LETTERS : To Understand Movie, Know the Culture

I take strong exception to Peter Rainer’s review of the Indian film “Khuda Gawah” (“ ‘God Is My Witness’: Why Over the Top Works,” June 11). One has to have some knowledge about the cultural ethos of a country to understand its films, for a film is the reflection of historical development, cultural mores and the present-day political and social reality of its society.

Such movies as “Khuda Gawah” are not made “largely for the poor and illiterate Indian audiences.” The Indian audience is neither largely poor nor largely illiterate.

Indian cinema is roughly divided in two categories: commercial and art. Films under the commercial division are mostly musicals. Cross-cultural symbolism, as well as clan, caste, religion, are passionate themes. Most films are built around love, loyalty, morality, sacrifice and religious beliefs. In Indian culture, sexual relationship between a man and a woman is not flaunted, neither by the attire nor by the actions. Hence, a lot of subtlety is involved in depicting passion.

By no means is “Khuda Gawah” a classic or even a sensible film, but surely not targeted for the poor and illiterate. I have a master’s degree and pursue medical research, and I still enjoyed the film.

VISHALINI VIMAL

Van Nuys

The Sound and Fury

Part of the promotional frenzy for Universal’s “Jurassic Park” included a new sound system, DTS. You know what DTS is, right? Digital sound? Yes. But did you know that there are two types of DTS?

There is DTS-6, which is a full six discrete channels of sound, somewhat comparable to 70-millimeter, and there is a somewhat cheaper DTS-S (as in stereo), which is two tracks only. Basically, it works the same as listening to a two-track print master: The sound is digital, true, but its source is only two channels, which are passed through the theater’s decoder matrix to derive four “pseudo-channels” that then play in the theater.

DTS has made no effort to explain or distinguish the difference in advertising--and there is a distinct difference in quality and effect, if for no other reason than that DTS-6 has split surrounds (separate left and right channels).

I work in a location that has one of each systems installed. We have had complaints from people who have heard the sound first in the DTS-6 house, then have come back for another show and, unaware of the different systems, ended up in the DTS-S house. They were most displeased !

PAUL RAYTON

Los Angeles

Value Judgment

Re “Sprinkle’s Brave, Witty Journey to ‘Post-Post Porn Modernist’ ” (June 12): My wife and I would like to thank The Times and Jan Breslauer for their assistance in raising our young daughter.

We are no longer swayed by the “hot and bothered” members of the “religious right.” Instead, Annie Sprinkle’s “brave, witty journey” will serve as a role model for young Mary. We have canceled her baptism and first communion and are now eagerly awaiting the day she demonstrates that she is a “powerful woman” by inviting “viewers up to look at her cervix” during a “Public Cervix Announcement” and “douche break.”

When will “Sen. Jesse Helms and his cronies” stop their misguided efforts? Thank God, rather than the National Endowment for the Arts, that such an important message receives significant taxpayer funding above and beyond the $12 per person paid by the “overflow crowd.”

WILLIAM R. WEIDER JR.

San Pedro

Korda’s ‘Jungle Book’

About Disney’s planned “live-action” production of Rudyard Kipling’s “Jungle Book” (Morning Report, June 12): It’s always mentioned as if there had never been a “live action” version of that story.

The 1942 United Artists release of the unbelievably Technicolored Zoltan Korda version of this story starring Sabu is the stuff that dreams are made of. For sheer Technicolored extravagance, it belongs right up there in the pantheon alongside “Black Narcissus,” “Blood and Sand,” John Ford’s “Three Godfathers,” and maybe two or three others.

It was a wondrous congress of delights that, while straying further from Kipling than it probably should have, presented images of such lush, poetic fantasy that any of them would stand today.

Sabu never had a role before or after that was as perfect for him. The supporting cast had the strongest character actors that the era had to offer, Rosemary DeCamp and Joseph Calleia among them.

And, as in almost any Zoltan Korda film, the visuals were near perfection. Has a fire ever been photographed with such hypnotic exoticism as the one that consumed Mowgli’s jungle? The King’s Treasure Chamber in the Lost City has lived in my mind’s eye since first I ever beheld it.

But don’t look to be impressed by “The Jungle Book” in any of the three variously marketed versions that are available on videocassette. These 10th- or 20th-generation prints committed to tape are so dark and drained of the vibrant, three-strip Technicolor palette that there is no comparison to the original.

It’s too bad that somebody out there doesn’t have the wherewithal and the desire to “restore” this incredibly beautiful movie.

GEORGE P. ERENGIS

Los Angeles

Too Much Woody

In response to “Love (and Death?) of Woody’s Art” (June 12), the threat to Woody Allen’s position as a commercially viable artist is overexposure rather than the moral dilemma of his personal actions. Artists have never been known for their rationality or stability--or sanity, for that matter. In fact, the imperfections of artists have traditionally been more endearing to us, thus immortalizing those who might have been forgotten. Allen’s neuroses have made him famous and bankable.

Most of us were not surprised by his personal problems. We’ve been watching his interpersonal relationships fail for years on screen. We didn’t have a problem watching him bed a teen-ager in “Manhattan.” He uses his movies for personal therapy, and we have been happy to sit on the doctor’s couch with him.

But now we are forced to sit on the couch when we watch television. We’re tired of it. We don’t need his headaches every day in addition to our own. When the publicity dies down, and Allen is once again only available to us through a $7 admission, he will regain his position in the hierarchy of film excellence. But, for now, he’s just another pain in the neck.

CRISTINA CLARKE

Santa Barbara

Playing the Violin

I have a quibble with Kevin Thomas. In his June 18 article about the fascinating film “Un Coeur en Hiver” (“The Musical Style of France’s Claude Sautet”), filmmaker Sautet talks about Emmanuelle Beart, who portrays a concert violinist named Camille.

Sautet said, “It took her one year to learn to play the violin” (emphasis mine). Thomas then writes, “Sautet deliberately chose demanding passages for Camille to play in order to show that playing the violin is work.”

Any musician knows that the difficult passages in the Ravel Duo and Trio couldn’t possibly be learned by someone playing the violin for only one year or even 10 years!

DAVID SCHWARTZ

Studio City

Memo to CBS

It was such a breath of fresh air to read Rosey Klein’s letter about David Letterman (“David the Great,” June 5). I have always felt that the show was moronic and the humor juvenile. I ascribe its popularity to the brain-dead era of the ‘80s. If many people agree with Klein, I would say there is still hope for America.

D. V. GOKHALE

Los Angeles

Several other letter writers also concur with Klein.