Last modified: 2007-01-20 by marc pasquin
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by James Dignan
In the movie "Help!", the Beatles are pursued by the high priest of an eastern religious cult (played by British character actor Leo McKern) which worships the goddess Kaili, clearly based on the Indian deity Kali. Although it is never stated exactly where this religion is based, nor is the country mentioned, it is quite obviously intended to be somewhere in the Indian subcontinent.
The national flag is seen hoisted over a ski-jump in Austria.It is about 3x5, and follows the Canadian pattern with a central white square between two panels of deep gold. In the central panel is a red and gold four-bladed symbol enclosed in a red frame.
James Dignan, 3 december 2003
by James Dignan
A smaller, military-style version of the flag is seen flown from an army jeep. It is smaller, and closer to square (possibly 3x4). It simply shows the central emblem from the national flag, which is stretched to the dimensions of the flag.
Intriguingly, on the smaller flag, the emblem's blades rotate in the opposite direction to those on the national flag. Presumably this was an oversight by film-makers far more concerned about providing a fun vehicle for the (IMHO excellent) music.
James Dignan, 3 december 2003
Could it be a matter of obverse and reverse?
unknown poster , 4 december 2003
not as far as I could tell, although that's possible. The jeep flag was
shown in the movie with the pole to the left, and although the national
flag had the pole to the right (due to the breeze), light was showing
through the flag and it appeared that the flag was mirror reversed on the
two sides. If it wasn't moirror reversed (and the same pattern exactly was
on the two sides), then the national flag would actually have the symbol I
showed on the jeep flag (i.e., the reverse of how I drew it).
James Dignan, 5 december 2003