NEIU Independent

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The Seventh Seal – An Essay about Finding Utopia in Dystopia

Mariana Silva Lindner , Arts & Life Editor January 19, 2023

The Corona Pandemic, the Ukraine war, the rising inflation accompanied by an impending recession. Society has been in a permanent crisis. But how does this affect us as human beings? Especially the Corona...

Book Review – Babel

Bella Cardoza, Writer November 22, 2022

Do you like Dark academia? Are you an avid historian? Do you also love dystopian settings? If you answered yes, then read Babel by R.F. Kuang. Babel is about a young boy whose life was taken by Cholera...

Klaudia Biskup: Artist Of The Week

Klaudia Biskup: Artist Of The Week

Savannah Owens, Production Manager November 1, 2022

What’s your background and how do you think it has affected your work?   I was born and raised in Poland. At 18, I moved to Chicago with my family. Since childhood, I have been interested...

Dia De Los Muertos: A Time To Remember

Dia De Los Muertos: A Time To Remember

Angie Ybarra , Writer November 1, 2022

The last few years have been a challenge for many families, especially the ones that celebrate Dia De Los Muertos. Yes, the day is dedicated to our loved ones and remembering the lives that they led but...

Hocus Pocus 2

Hocus Pocus 2

Bella Cardoza, writer November 1, 2022

The Sanderson sisters are back in this new sequel everybody! Hocus Pocus 2 is about two girls that accidentally summon the three sisters back on Halloween night and it’s up to them and their other friends...

NEIU Fine Arts Center Gallery: Where She Comes From

NEIU Fine Arts Center Gallery: Where She Comes From

Dan Maurer, Opinions Editor October 18, 2022

Located in the Fine Arts Center Gallery, Where She Comes From, is a new exhibit that will be available to view until Oct. 28. Curated by Pia Singh, the exhibit contains works from five femme artists from...

he movie was so emotional, with all the heated argument scenes, and so real: the rain in a family camp scene and landscapes in driving car scenes. Viewers are given too many visual special effects in modern films and series, but movies like “Vengeance Is Mine give us scenes with genuine emotions and settings: drawings with black eyes, playing piano in the middle of a heated argument: you feel and endless energy and effort of the actors to give their character and everything that is placed in the scene liveliness. Watching this film in the middle of the midterm exams surprisingly relaxes your mind. The movie allows you to escape reality for a couple of hours. You are crying; you are laughing together with the characters. With total immersion in their roles, actors unintentionally expose the audience’s traumas. It seems like actors were chosen not just for their outstanding acting skills but also for their natural facial expressions of sadness and disillusionment with the world. The natural downward smile of Brooke Adams makes everything in the film look even more dramatic. A sad face is the one people usually try to hide. We make everyone think we are happy and careless. Maybe thats why it is so hard to cope with the modern world. All these contemporary works have nothing in common with old films, which make the past closer to the modern generations and vivid for those whose reckless past was a part of their lives. The Chicago Film Society screened the film, as directed by Michael Roemer, in the Auditorium at NEIU. “Vengeance Is Mine was not getting [a] proper release until now, and you are among the first who watch the film in the theatrical format,” – mentioned Becca Hall in the middle of her speech before the movie screening. Even the way Hall used small square stickers, which guided her speech, made the atmosphere different from what you typically expect from the presenters. This movie is focused on two women with their demons, whose lives are curiously intertwined. Characters learn life lessons by carefully watching and engaging in each other’s personal lives. Jo found her child in a different family, and Donna feels like she is losing her value as a mother. One tries to get away from her abusive husband, and another tries to get closer to her daughter. Jo is destroyed mentally by her unhappy marriage, and her sister lives in peace and harmony with her husband and a newborn. Jo’s mother is cold to her and is much closer to her sister. A scene when Jo begs her husband to drive slower and constantly asks him where he rushes, and a scene when Jo peacefully drives with Tom – Donna’s husband – and Jackie - Donnas daughter - all the film is about contrasts. The film makes us question what we look for in a marriage. Do we search for love? Or do we try to find a soulmate, and marriage is the only way we can possess it for life? Or is marriage about getting a certain status? The film shows marriages grayest and most real side: “I don’t love you. I just need you.” But why do we need marriage? Maybe we want to dominate; it is about obsession: “I cannot get you out of my mind,” – said Steve, Jo’s husband with whom Jo desperately tries to get a divorce. In that scene, when Steve cuts Jo’s hair, both scream at each other, and then, all of a sudden, Jo rushes out of the car, and Steve leaves her alone with the suitcase. The same situation is with dealing with children in a family. “She is my child,” – said Donna. “But it doesn’t mean to possess!” – argues Jo. Sometimes we all like to blame someone else for our faults. We may blame a full moon for crying all day and feeling a bit more depressed than on other days, having a headache because you argue with your son or daughter, or blaming the rain that starts to pour when you are in the middle of your way back home. But the thing is that in all these situations, we are involved personally, and maybe first we should search for a cause of a problem within ourselves “it wasn’t God, it was you” – this phrase from the movie opens eyes to most of our insecurities in life. How many things may happen within a short time, and not all the trips result in how you planned – Jo couldn’t expect to get acquainted with the new people at all. At the movies beginning, she was drinking and periodically chuckling, but a genuine smile appeared at the end. The characters body language tells us a lot and just by looking at their faces, you see the story behind the character. “Vengeance Is Mine” is about something in between the past and the present. It is not only about happiness or sadness. What do we think action films usually look like? Car races, extreme situations characters deal with, chases, something always explodes and so on. The film doesn’t have the genre “action,” but it’s something beyond “drama.” Just by looking at the driving cars scenes, the one when Jo’s husband was driving as he competed in a Formula 1 when he was younger, that was fantastically shot and performed.

Vengeance Is Mine – just the reality as it is— movie review

Olga Shalaeva,, writer October 18, 2022

The movie was so emotional, with all the heated argument scenes, and so real: the rain in a family camp scene and landscapes in driving car scenes. Viewers are given too many visual special effects in...

Review: John Carpenter’s “The Thing” (1982) At the Logan Theater

Dan Maurer and Leslie Lozada October 18, 2022

Located at 2646 N. Milwaukee Ave, the Logan Theater is an historic icon that has been open since 1915. Even as Logan Square and the local community has changed around it, the theater has continued to serve...

Anastasia: The Musical

Anastasia: The Musical

Bella Cardoza , writer October 4, 2022

Words cannot describe how honored I felt to see the broadway musical “Anastasia” on “Friday,” Sept. 23, 2022. For those who are not familiar with the broadway musical or movie, they are both based...

Beyond The NEIU Campus –– “Open House Chicago” And Its Relevance To All Students

Beyond The NEIU Campus –– “Open House Chicago” And Its Relevance To All Students

Ananth Prabhu , Sports Editor October 4, 2022

“Open House Chicago” is a free annual upcoming citywide event and includes some select suburbs with architectural significance, such as Evanston and Oak Park. “Open House Chicago” is organized...

Fun on the Cheap!

Fun on the Cheap!

Dan Maurer, Opinions Editor October 4, 2022

With cooler days ahead as we move into the beginning of fall, we thought it would be nice to point out some fun things to do and places to go near our three NEIU campuses: the Main Campus, El Centro, and...

Sam Adams Lakeview Taco Fest Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

Sam Adams Lakeview Taco Fest Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

Stephanie Quintana, writer October 4, 2022

Paying tribute to the National Hispanic Heritage Month running from September 15th through October 15th, the Sam Adams Lakeview Taco’s Fest returned for its ninth annual occurrence. Recognizing the many...

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