Ken Loach, the Palme D'Or award and a film on the horrors of neoliberal austerity

"The world we live in is at a dangerous point right now. We are in the grip of a dangerous project of austerity driven by ideas that we call neo-liberalism that have brought us to near catastrophe. It has led to billions of people in serious hardship and many millions struggling from Greece in the east to Spain in the west while this has brought a tiny few immense wealth..... When there is despair, the people from the far right take advantage. We must say that another world is possible and necessary.”
Ken Loach in his acceptance speech to the Cannes Film Festival

Great to hear that British left wing filmmaker Ken Loach has won his second Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his new film I Daniel Blake about the impact of Britain's barbaric welfare system.

In his acceptance speech Ken Loach slammed neoliberal austerity policies and welfare cuts across Europe and in Britain:

"There is a conscious cruelty in the way that we are organising our lives now, where the most vulnerable people are told that their poverty is their own fault... If you have no work it's your fault you haven't got a job"

I Daniel Blake shows what happens to people trapped in a punitive neoliberal welfare bureaucracy designed to give expression to the political rhetoric of 'lifters and leaners' in contemporary Britain.

The film documents the shame and horror of poverty and 'workfare' in UK and shows what happens when an older man living in Newcastle has a heart attack and can no longer work. He is declared fit for work, meaning his benefits are stopped, and he goes hungry.

A review of the film from the UK Independent is here:

Ken Loach’s latest feature (unveiled in competition in Cannes) is a story of an eminently decent man being ground down by an uncaring British welfare state. Scripted by Loach’s regular collaborator Paul Laverty, it is a melodramatic and sometimes very didactic film but also an intensely moving one.

This is the second time that Loach has won the Palme D'Or, the Cannes Festival's highest award. Loach won the award in 2006 for his film The Wind That Shakes the Barley, about two brothers who join the IRA in the early 1920s. He is the ninth Director to win the award twice. 

Loach, who has directed 50 features for screen and TV, has been a left wing socialist activist and political campaigner for most of his career.

The rising voice of Paul Robeson

“All that Paul Robeson stood for had enormous impact on American and global history. The combination of his art, intellect and humanity was rarely paralleled. The cruelties visited upon him by the power of the State stands as a great blemish on the pages of American history.”
Harry Belafonte

"..while Robeson’s reputation and name recognition will gradually grow, he will remain a marginal figure, greatly admired by the relatively few Americans who understand his giant accomplishments and his remarkable courage, but otherwise eclipsed by one of the ugliest episodes in our country’s history, one of the lasting legacies of McCarthyism and the Cold War'
Peter Dreier

We are witnessing a growing recognition of the remarkable life and achievements of Paul Robeson, who is unquestionably one of the towering figures of the twentieth century.

There are few people whose achievements can match those of Paul Robeson.

In an article in the Los Angeles Review of Books titled, We are long overdue for a Paul Robeson revival, Peter Dreier writes that Paul Robeson was the most talented man of the twentieth century.

Dreier writes:

He was an internationally renowned concert and opera singer, film star and stage actor, college football star and professional athlete, writer, linguist (he sang in 25 languages), scholar, orator, lawyer, and activist in the civil rights, labor, and peace movements. In the 1930s and 1940s, Robeson was one of the best-known, and most admired, Americans in the world. Today, however, he is almost a forgotten figure. Few Americans know his name or accomplishments.

We are familiar with authoritarian governments that seek to “erase” the memory of prominent critics, but how can it happen in a democracy like the United States? Starting in the late 1940s, as the Cold War escalated, America’s political establishment began an assault on Robeson’s career and reputation because of his political activism and outspoken radicalism. He was blacklisted, his concerts and recording contracts canceled, and his passport revoked. By the mid-1950s, he had become a marginal figure — emotionally depressed, physically exhausted, and politically isolated.

As Dreier points out, other public figures who challenged the status quo retained their reputation, but not Robeson. Dreier writes:

He is, at best, a footnote in history textbooks, little known outside a small circle of Americans with a special interest in the history of the civil rights and left-wing movements, although somewhat better known among African Americans than white Americans.

But as Dreire and others have noted, Robeson's outstanding achievements are at last being recognized. 

A range of factors are at work;

• the death of his son Paul Robeson jr who had spent his life promoting and protecting his father's reputation has focused greater attention on Robeson.
• growing interest in and recognition of Robeson's achievements and legacy, including artistic events, public forums and press and media reports (here here, here, here, here).
• the publication of Jordan Goodman's new book "Paul Robeson A Watched Man", which tells of his political awakening and political engagement and his relentless persecution by the US Government.
• the publication of "Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson, Barbara Ransby's biography of Eslanda Robeson, Paul Robeson's wife.

Here in Australia Robeson is remembered for his famous 1960 visit, which is the subject of recent historical investigation (described in this article by Ann Curthoys and this piece in The Australian), recent ABC Radio programs (here) and his famous concert on the building site of the Sydney Opera House, which at the time was under construction. 

Restoring the humanity of men and women who died in psychiatric institutions

The Lives they Left Behind is a haunting book and online exhibition that brings to life the stories of men and women institutionalized in a New York Psychiatric Hospital during the 2oth Century.

The Willard Psychiatric Centre in the state of New York operated for 126 years as  a psychiatric institution until its closure in 1995

When the Hospital closed in 1995, staff discovered 440 cases suitcases filled with the personal belongings and possessions of people detained in the institution, many of whom died there.  Many of the cases were untouched since their owners packed them decades earlier before entering the institution. The suitcases and their contents bore witness to the rich, complex lives their owners lived prior to being committed to Willard.

The discovery of the suitcases was the catalyst for a 2004 exhibition and the book The Lives They Left Behind  and online exhibition of the same name.

Many of the patients were  immigrants who had little or no family nearby. The stories contained in the book show that many people were institutionalized after an immediate crises-  health crises, a death in the family or the loss of a job, something that would rarely need lifelong institutionalization, however they were institutionalized and detained for the remainder of their lives.

Here are the gripping personal dramas of new immigrants and native-born Americans coping with a host of problems in times of war and economic hardship. The confusion following upon displacement; the rage or despair that resulted from illness, loss of loved ones or work; the experience of hearing disembodied voices were only some of the misfortunes that put them on the path to an institutionalization from which most would never escape alive. As it restores the humanity of the individuals it so poignantly evokes, The Lives They Left Behind reveals the vast historical inadequacies of a psychiatric system that has yet to heal itself.

In a similar vein, the Australian short film Maraquita explores the story of the false incarceration of an Australian women in an Australian psychiatric hospital.

The story is told by her son Tony who visits the institution where she was incarcerated for 22 years on a diagnosis of being 'mildly eccentric'. Maraquita was separated from her 5 children and subject to experimental treatment and operations without her consent.

 Tony spent 50 years of his life seeking justice for his mother.

John Ford's The Searchers: A new book about the making of the legend

John Ford's epic movie The Searchers is a film classic, often cited as one of the greatest and most influential western movies of all time.  

Ford's film is dark and complex and explores themes of racism, male emotionality, violence, individualism, family relationships, relationships between Indians and white settlers, the American character, and the opposition between the forces of progress and civilization and the frontier wilderness.

Ford's film tells the story of former Civil War veteran Ethan Hawke (played by John Wayne) who returns to Texas in mysterious circumstances. Within days of his return Hawke's brother, wife and children are killed by a roving Indian band who abduct Hawke's youngest niece.  Hawke and his adoptive part-Indian nephew spend years searching for his abducted niece

 For me The Searchers ranks as one of the greatest films of all time.

So I was particularly interested to read Brian McFarlane's review How the west was begun in the Melbourne Age of a new book about Ford's film titled The Searchers: The Making of an America Legend by Glenn Frankel (and interview with Glenn Frankel is here).

On Frankel's book McFarlane writes:

The Searchers is a film of peerless visual beauty and enormous emotional complexity. It both celebrates and interrogates the mythic qualities that had developed around America's romance with opening up the land, and scrutinises those who took it up and those they took it from. It's a film about loss and finding, and then loss again. Even the majestic setting (Monument Valley, on the Arizona-Utah border, standing in for Texas because it was Ford's favourite location) sears the eye with its beauty, and inspires a kind of terror as well.

Glenn Frankel's book tells the enthralling story that gave rise to this film. Half the book is given to exploring the daunting and often tragic history of the settlement of Texas; the other half covers Alan LeMay's 1954 novel, The Searchers, and the magisterial film that makes something new of the novel, but remains true to its core. Frankel, a journalist and editor, emerges here as an exemplary historian. He treats what is clearly contentious material, in matters of race and gender, with precision and even-handedness. 

He is impressively thorough in his research, but doesn't let it clutter his narrative. The evidence for his data is there if you want to read it, but you can trust it and simply surrender to its absorbing and terrible story.

 

The brilliance of Spike Milligan

Two sketches that capture the brilliance of comedian Spike Milligan.

In Monty Python's Life of Brian Spike appears in just one scene and says very little. But the scene is side-splittingly funny, arguably the funniest scene in the movie.

Spike plays a prophet ignored by the masses. (He is in the middle of the shot in the brown oufit). Watch his reactions to all that is going on around him. Just hilarious.

His appearance was completely unplanned. By chance, Milligan was visiting World War Two battlefields in  Tunisia, where Life of Brian was being made, and was invited to join the scene. After shooting the scene Milligan disappeared off set and could not be found for later scenes.

Here is another Spike Milligan classic- The Irish Olympics

Sam Husseini on "Lincoln" and the moral depravity of political compromise

Thoughtful and intelligent piece by Sam Husseini here and here about what he perceives as the "moral depravity" of Stephen Spielberg's highly acclaimed film Lincoln.

In talking about a scene from the film Husseini writes:

A pivotal scene is between him and Lincoln in which he pleads for Lincoln to follow his moral compass. Lincoln responds that one cannot go straight north when there is a swamp there. And there the matter was settled, as if there was no response to such an argument. Compromise was the higher calling, not actually standing for what is right, which is regarded as ineffectual or counterproductive.

Even if one were to concede that that might be what politics should be about, and I don't think that's the case, what sort of "art" exactly glorifies that while dismissing those standing boldly for what it true and just? What sort of "art" says it's the highest calling to be conniving in alleged pursuit of some higher goal? What sort of "artist" uses his talent and resources to convince the public of this message?

Husseini's argument is that Spielberg's movie glorifies the art of political compromise by diminishing and dismissing the Abolitionists who stood for what was right and just- that is the the total abolition of slavery. Husseini goes on to argue that Spielberg's film conveys the view that political compromise is in fact the the higher calling, rather than actually standing for what is right, which is portrayed as ineffectual or counterproductive.

I have not seen the movie so I am no position to test the veracity of Husseini's conclusions. But I agree with his argument that when it  comes to complex social, moral and political issues the strategy of compromise is usually portrayed as a higher calling, as a more honorable and  necessary response than standing for what is just and right.

Husseini suggests that this glorification of political compromise is precisely the moral stance taken by a great many liberals and progressives to reject criticisms of the Obama Presidency.

So to here in Australia where for decades the rule of political compromise has dominated over doing what is right and just on a whole range of public policy issues.

Artistic freedom Western Australian style

Sometimes artists and charities who take money from mining companies in Western Australia give the game away.

This story Mining Company cash creates movie making boom  appeared on the ABC TV program Stateline WA on Friday November 4 and demonstrates that the primary reason for the "philanthropic" activity of the mining industry in WA is self interest.

The message is very clear- we will sponsor you but you must not speak certain truths about the industry. In other words the mining industry buys the silence and acquiesence of those it sponsors.

Listen to the journalists and artists in the ABC story who make it very clear that with the money comes conditions and the expectation is that you must show the mining industry in a favourable light.

Show the mining industry in a less than favourable light in their eyes or speak certain truths about the industry and you can say goodbye to the sponsorship.

One interviewer put it this way:

" We can't say we want you to sponsor us but the script says you are unscrupulous swines who rape and pillage the land..... they see the first draft of the script....... they don't want the industry shown in an unfavourable light..... you don't bite the hand that feeds you".

Of course this story reflects a much larger issue- the way that the mining industry and corporations in WA are using their money and power to shape the arts and cultural industry and the charitable sector to serve their corporate interests.

This article by Rosemary Neill provides an insight into the corporate takeover of the arts and cultural industry and charitable sector in WA:

In a harbinger of this, some of the country's most powerful businesspeople have teamed up with artists and launched a new, turbo-charged arts lobby, the Chamber of Arts and Culture, aimed at developing a coherent cultural vision for WA. Among the chamber's founding members are Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Sam Walsh, prominent arts patron and businesswoman Janet Holmes a Court, former WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry boss John Langoulant, KPMG national executive director Helen Cook and former Australia Council chairwoman Margaret Seares.

An alliance of high-powered executives -- some drawn from the blokey resources and engineering sectors -- intent on proselytising for the arts is a first not just for the West but, arguably, for the nation. Walsh says this move signifies that "the state is growing; there is a need for a more creative and vibrant community and arts and culture will help us deliver that and help us attract people. I think the stars are aligned . . . we have a unique opportunity in Perth and WA's history, building on the mining boom, to work on these things." The unfailingly courteous Rio Tinto boss says the chamber has received "very strong support" from Day and federal Arts Minister Simon Crean. He stresses it is not merely an arts lobby; that it will engage with governments, the regions, schools and untapped audiences to spread the word about culture.

The genius of actor John Cazale

Godfather 2 is showing on Foxtel tonight. Al Pacino is breathtaking as he transforms into the Godfather but it is the performance of John Cazale as his older brother that always holds my attention.

 John Cazale is one of my favourite actors. In each movie he made John Cazale dazzles with performances of great humanity, integrity and intensity.

Before his premature death in 1978 aged 42, Cazale made just five movies, but all of them stand as among the iconic movies of all time. Cazale had starring roles in the Godfather; Godfather II, Dog Day Afternoon, the Conversation and The Deer Hunter. His influence upon actors such as Al Pacino, Robert De Diro and Meryl Streep was immense.

Cazale was also a legendary stage actor and at the time of his death from cancer was in a long relationship with Meryl Streep, with whom he starred in the Academy award winning movie the Deer Hunter.

A documentary on the life and work of John Cazale titled I Knew it Was You appears regularly on Foxtel and is a magnificent tribute to a fine actor. If you get the chance, watch it and marvel at the brilliance of Cazale's work and the enormous respect that his fellow actors and Directors have for him and his work.

In memory of film Director Sidney Lumet (1924-2011)

 "While the goal of all movies is to entertain, the kind of film in which I believe goes one step further. It compels the spectator to examine one facet or another of his own conscience. It stimulates thought and sets the mental juices flowing.”
Sidney Lumet

The death of American film director Sidney Lumet sees the passing of another of the great film Directors of the late 20th century. In the period from the mid 1950's through to his last film he made in 2007, aged 83 years old, Lumet directed over 40 films, some of which are recognized as among the great films of all time. Some obituaries are here, here, here, here and here

Some of his best known films include Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, 12 Angry Men, The Verdict, Network, Murder on the Orient Express, The Pawnbroker, Long Day's Journey into Night, The Hill and Prince of the City.

Lumet was renowned for his ability to coax strong performances from his actors. Think Al Pacino (Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico), John Cazale (Dog Day Afternoon), Paul Newman (The Verdict), Timothy Hutton and Amanda Plummer (Daniel),  Faye Dunaway (Network) and Peter Finch (Network).

To me Lumet was a deeply political film maker and often his films reflected a strong "leftist"  and progressive sensibility. Many of his films explored issues of injustice, the corruption of power and the courage of people forced by conscience or circumstances to take a stand against injustice and for a cause or the rights of others.

His films spoke about social and political issues and struggles of the day, including police corruption (Serpico and Prince of the City), the persecution of people for their political and personal beliefs and lifestyles ( Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Daniel), the power of institutions over ordinary people and their capacity to influence people to do evil and/or good (12 Angry Men, Network, Serpico, The Verdict), the importance of political activism and political struggles and the need for individuals to act on their conscience (Daniel, Dog Day Afternoon, Running on Empty, Serpico, 12 Angry Men), the power of social and political institutions and their failure to be accountable and the power and corruption of corporations and big business (Network, The Verdict).

Who can forget the prescient scene from Network when Peter Finch (who plays a TV anchor) meets with the CEO of the TV network who tells him that " God is ratings. God is money", a profound commentary on what the corporate media has become.

In the Pawnbroker (starring Rod Steiger) Lumet told the story of a Holocaust survivor in New York numbed and hardened against humanity by the horrors he has endured. A vicious crime on his doorstep reawakens his conscience.

In the 1988 film Running on Empty, Lumet explored the legacy of 1960's political activism, telling the story of political radicals and activists who raised a family despite spending a lifetime on the run from the FBI because of their political activism. Lumet is able to tell a story beyond politics, of families, of mothers, fathers and children and of the place of political conviction.  

But I think perhaps Lumet's finest film is one of his least known. The film Daniel (1983) was based on the novel of the same name (by E.L Doctrow) and was based on the real life story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the husband and wife executed by the US government in 1953 for allegedly giving nuclear secrets to the USSR. The film tells the story of Paul and Rochelle Isaacson, political activists and Communists sympathizers who are found guilty of selling US atomic secrets to the Soviets and executed, and the impact of their execution on their two children (played by Timothy Hutton and Amanda Plummer).

The film uses the story of Daniel (Timothy Hutton), a young graduate student during the Vietnam War who remains detached from politics of the day and his family's history of political activism and his sister (Amanda Plummer) who continues her family's political activism and directs her rage against political institutions and capitalism. The crises generated by his sister's attempted suicide and her institutionalization in a mental hospital causes Daniel to investigate the past to determine what happened to his parents.

Lumet's film is a powerful meditation on the witchunts and anti-communist hysteria that gripped the US during the 1950's, and features a fine movie score, including the songs of Paul Robeson. The film contrasts the political and social environments of the 1950's and 1960's, particularly on the left and explores some of the legacy and costs of leftist political activism and political struggles during those eras.

Haunting Korean film A Brand New life on SBS 2

On Saturday night I watched the Korean-French film A Brand New Life on SBS 2 and was reminded of the power and pathos of cinema.

This is one of the most affecting and moving films I have seen for ages, with haunting performances by the female actor who plays the 9 year old main character and the other child actors. These are remarkable performances by such a young cast.  In 2009 the film won the award for best film at the Tokyo International Film Festival and was acclaimed at Cannes, Toronto and Berlin Film festivals.

Based on the childhood experiences of Korean-French film Director Ounie Lecomte,  A Brand New Life tells the story of 9 year old Korean girl Jinhee who is abandoned by her father in a Korean orphange in 1975.

The film tells of Jinhee's struggle within the confines of the orphanage and her steadfast belief that her father will return for her. As the seasons pass we see the main character develop friendships with the other children and the orphanage staff and nuns. However, those friendships are shattered as children leave the orphanage for adoptions by overseas families. Eventually Jinhee is adopted as well, and the film closes with her arriving at an airport in the country of her adoption.

The film tells a story that is painful for many Koreans. Since the Korean War (1950-53) it is estimated that some 200,000 Korean children have been adopted in overseas countries.

Honoring those who work for a better world

 " Most of the real work on this planet is not done for profit: it’s done at home, for each other, for affection, out of idealism, and it starts with the heroic effort to sustain each helpless human being for all those years before fending for yourself becomes feasible."
Rebecca Solnit

French film Director Bertrand Tavernier's  film It All Starts Today  is a beautiful testament to the commitment and humanity of teachers (and other front line workers) who work with families and children suffering the consequences of neo-liberal market  and economic "reform". 

Like Pierre Bourdieu's  book The Weight of the World: Social Suffering in Contemporary Society  Tavernier's film documents the new forms of social suffering that characterize not just French society, but the economies and societies of the western world.

Tavernier's deeply moving film tells the story of a kindergarten teacher in an impoverished region of France struggling to educate children of families devastated by unemployment, grinding poverty, deprivation, depression and economic hardship. These are children whose families are the casualties of neo-liberal market reform and economic and corporate restructuring.

The film shows the heroics and dedication of teachers, education aides, volunteers, health workers and social welfare workers who give themselves fully and devote their lives to improving the well being of the children and families in their care. 

In France, as in Australia, they do this despite poor pay and conditions, budget cutbacks and hostility, indifference and neglect from elected officials, politicians, some government agencies and workers, business groups and those who hold power.

 In Australia we accord little respect and honor to those front line workers and volunteers who work for a better world. We forget and ignore the teachers, child care workers, teachers aides, carers, aged care and disability workers, social welfare workers, aboriginal health workers, volunteers, family support workers, refuge workers, domestic violence counselors and millions of  other front line welfare and community workers who dedicate themselves to the care and well being of others, and who through their efforts make our society and communities better places.

Instead they are usually berated and stigmatized, labeled as do-gooders and bleeding hearts, or dismissed as rent seeking, vested interests who breed dependency and a welfare mentality in people.

No, in Australia we honor soldiers who fight in imperial wars, celebrities caught in the glare of their own importance, sportsmen who are paid exorbitantly and businessmen and corporations who pursue and accumulate wealth and power at the expense of the common good.

Jim Johnson has taken up a similar theme in a recent post on his excellent blog Notes on Politics, Theory and Biography and I thank him for his insights:

"I find it obsequious and cloying to hear the radio show hosts and politicians offering a "Thank you for your service" whenever they encounter a veteran or military personnel. What about the social workers and parole officers and teachers and, yes, scientists and artists, who work in underpaid professions for years and decades in order to contribute to a better world? After all, they could be out there peddling sub-prime mortgages (or some other form of snake oil) and making real money. When was the last time you heard someone - anyone - publicly thank those folks for their service? No, instead we are taking aim at them (the teachers and parole officers are, after all members of those dastardly public sector unions) in the misguided quest for fiscal responsibility"

Waiting for Angelopoulos

"We are past and present at the same time. History is not something that happened once and was lost forever. When we ignore it we are incapable of understanding the present. How can someone comment on what's happening today without relating it to what happended yesetrday or many years ago".
Theo Angelopouos

The Australian film distribution network is not kind to those of us who are fans of the Greek film director Theo Angelopoulos, whose most recent film The Dust of Time is still not available in Australia, some two years after its European release.

Angelopoulos is not well known in Australia, although a few of his earlier films, including Ulysses Gaze, Eternity and a Day and The Travelling Players can be found on the shelves of a few specialist video stores.

The Dust of Time is the second film of an Angelopoulos trilogy (the first was the 2004 film The Weeping Meadow) which explores the sweep of 20th century history through the lives and struggles of ordinary people caught up in larger political and historical events.

These are familiar themes in Angelopoulos's films. His films speculate on the connection between the past (history) and the present, and they speak of the personal and collective wounds, experienced in the present, that have their orgins in political, military and social events of the past. He is one of a few filmakers willing to explore large historical themes and profound questions about human existence and social and political life.

His film Ulysses Gaze is for me his masterpiece. Harvey Keitel plays a Greek born American filmmaker  whose search through the Balkans for a lost film from the WWI era provides the vehicle for Angelopoulos to explore the troubled history of the Balkans, ending at the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990's. Ulysses Gaze won a number of awards at  International Film Festivals in the mid 1990's, although Angelopoulos was outraged that it failed to win the top prize at the Cannes Festival.

Whilst I await for the Australian release of The Dust of Time I can console myself by listening to the film's soundtrack by Angelopoulos's long time collaborator Eleni Karaindrou, who for two decades has scored Angelopoulos's films. Karaindrou continues with her tradition of blending traditional Greek music and instrumentation with classically inspired ensembles and symphony orchestras.

Ten of the best political documentaries in 2010

American writer and film and culture critic Michael Atkinson believes we are seeing a renaissance in activist political documentary film-making.

He argues that never before in the history of popular media have non-fiction films been so affordable to make and easy to execute and distribute. The result, Atkinson argues, has been an outstanding crop of political documentaries.

In this article published in In These Times Atkinson identifies what he believes are the best 10 political documentaries of 2010:

• Inside Job (on the financial meltdown of Wall St)
• Casino Jack and the United States of Money ( portrait of the jailed Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff)
• Countdown to Zero (about nuclear weapons)
• Gasland (about the destructive environmental, political and social impacts of deep shale natural gas drilling)
• The Most Dangerous Man in America (about Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers)
• Waiting for Armageddon (on Evangelicalism)
• Budrus (about political and community activism in a Palestinian village)
• Restropo (about life as a soldier in combat zone in Afghanistan)
• Client 9: The rise and fall of Elliot Spitzer (about the efforts by the US right to destroy an anti corporate legislator)
• The Oath (about the former bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden)

In memory of Pete Postlethwaite (1946-2011) and Giuseppe Conlon (1924-1980)

The early death of British actor Pete Postlethwaite has robbed the world of a fine actor and committed political activist. Postlethwaite was always willing to take a stand against injustice. He protested against the war in Iraq, participated in anti-poverty campaigns, advocated for environmental and social justice issues and threatened to hand back his OBE after the British Government approved the Kingsnorth coal mine.

Here in Australia Postlethwaite played an important role in highlighting injustice against Aboriginal Australians. In 2006 he was performing in a play in Perth when he learned of the story of a young Aboriginal man Louis St John Johnson who had been bashed to death on a Perth suburban street in 1992. Accompanied by Aboriginal musician Archie Roach and Aboriginal leader and activist Pat Dodson, Posthelwaite embarked on a physical and spiritual journey into the dark heart of this country searching for justice for the killing of Louis St John Johnson.

The resulting documentary Liyarn Ngarn features Postlethwaite, Archie Roach and Pat Dodson journeying through Western Australia to explore the story of Louis St John Johnson and the Aboriginal history of dispossession in Western Australia. Archie Roach's remarkable 2007 album Journey was inspired by and based on themes that emerged during the making of the documentary 

Posthelwaite's fight against injustice extended into his film roles, most notably, his role as Giusseppi Conlon in the film In The Name of the Father, the true story of the 1976 wrongful conviction of the Guildford Four and McGuire Seven by the British Government. Postlethwaite received an Oscar nomination for his dignified and haunting performance as the Irish father whose son is wrongly accused and falsely imprisoned by the British government for supposedly carrying out an IRA bombing in the UK. 

Postlethwaite's character travels to London from Belfast to to find a lawyer to assist his son, but is himself wrongly accused by the British authorities of being involved in the bombing and is imprisoned indefinitely with his son. Father and son are imprisoned together in 1976 but continued to protest their innocence.

Giuseppe Conlon died in prison in 1980 before he could clear his name. He died imprisoned for a crime despite his innocence. Eventually all those charged were vindicated and released in 1989 and received compensation from the British authorities for their wrongful imprisonment.

In memory of Pete Postlethwaite and Giuseppe Conlon I have been playing Christy Moore's remarkable tribute song for Giuseppe Conlon from his CD King Puck.

Giuseppe
by Christy Moore and Jimmy Faulkner

Everytime I go to London
I think of Giuseppe Conlon
Who left his home in Belfast
and travelled over to his son
As he said goodbye to Sarah
And took the boat to Heysham
Little did Giuseppe know
He'd never see that place again

Giuseppe was an ailing man
And every breath he drew
Into his tired lungs
He used to maintain his innocence
Behind those walls
Behind those bars
For everyday remaining in his life
Maintaining his innocence
Giuseppe Conlon, Giuseppe

Currently listening to Mark Knopfler: Piper to the End

Often the best song on a CD is the closing track. So it is with the final song on Mark Knopfler's 2009 album Get Lucky , which is titled Piper to the End. It is a wonderful song and performance. A fine, haunting, atmospheric song, beautifully performed by a cast of outstanding musicians and featuring Knopfler's very distinctive guitar work. 

The song (and the album) feature fine traditional Scottish and UK musicians including Scottish accordion craftsman Phil Cunningham and pipe and whistle player Michael McGoldrick. A number of clips of the song can be viewed on You Tube (here).

The song reminds me of the soundtrack from the magical 1983 film Local Hero which Knopfler composed and performed.

'Piper To The End,' was written in memory of Knopfler's uncle who was a piper of the 1st Battalion, Tyneside Scottish, the Black Watch, Royal Highland Regiment, who carried his pipes into action. He was killed with them at Ficheux, near Arras in May 1940, aged just 20.

 Piper to the End

lyrics courtesy Mark Knopfler

When I leave this world behind me
To another I will go
And if there are no pipes in heaven
I’ll be going down below

If friends in time be severed
Someday we will meet again
I’ll return to leave you never
Be a piper to the end

This has been a day to die for
Now the day has almost gone
Up above a choir of seabirds
Turns to face the setting sun

Now the evening dawn is calling
And all the hills are burning red
And before the night comes falling
Clouds are lined with golden thread

We watched the fires together
Shared our quarters for a while
Walked the dusty roads together
Came so many miles

This has been a day to die on
Now the day is almost done
Here the pipes will lay beside me
Silent will the battle drum

If friends in time be severed
Someday here we will meet again
I return to leave you never
Be a piper to the end

 

Be a piper to the end

The genius of actor John Cazale

The American screen and stage actor John Cazale is one of my favourite actors. In each movie he made John Cazale dazzles with performances of great humanity, integrity and intensity.

Before his premature death in 1978 aged 42, Cazale made just five movies, but all of them stand as among the iconic movies of all time. Cazale had starring roles in the Godfather & Godfather II, Dog Day Afternoon, the Conversation and The Deer Hunter. His influence upon actors such as Al Pacion, Robert De Diro and Meryl Streep was immense.

A documentary on the life and work of John Cazale titled I Knew it Was You appears regularly on Foxtel and is a magnificent tribute to a fine actor. If you get the chance, watch it and marvel at the brilliance of Cazale's work and the enormous respect that his fellow actors and Directors have for him and his work.

Films about France's dark colonial past

On Sunday night I watched the excellent French movie The Colonel on SBS. Part murder mystery, part historical drama, the film explores the dark side of France's colonial past, specifically the legacy of the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962), which led Algeria to gain its independence from France.

The Algerian War of Independence lasted 8 years and cost some 1.5 million lives. The war saw countless atrocities by both sides and the systematic use of torture and targeting of civilians by the French military and the Algerian FLN.

The Colonel is one of a growing genre of outstanding and controversial French films that explore France's colonial legacy in Algeria. Some of these have been made by French film makers born in Algeria or Northern Africa. Although the war in Algeria left a bitter legacy in France, it is only recently that films are being been made about the subject, particularly the use by the French military of systematic torture and state sanctioned murder of civilians, and the use of weapons such as napalm.

These films are important, not just because they shine the light on France's colonial project, but also because they draw a parallel between past events and modern day warfare, the legality of torture and the "war on terror".

The Colonel (2006) Written by the legendary film director Costa Gavras , The Colonel juxtaposes two related narratives- the investigation of the murder of a famous retired French army Colonel who ordered atrocities and torture in Algeria, with the story of a young army officer who served in Algeria under the Colonel's command who went missing in action during the war. His story is told through a series of letters sent to an army officer investigating the murder of the Colonel.

Days of Glory (2006) exposes the discriminatory treatment by the French military and French authorities of Algerian soldiers who fought under French command during WW2. The film contrasts the courage of the Algerian men in fighting for France with their appalling treatment during and after the war. The film prompted the French Government to award pensions to the soldiers who had been denied pensions for over 60 years.

Hidden (2007) explores the individual and collective guilt associated with France's colonial past in Algeria. The film stars French actors Daniel Auteil and Juliette Binoche as a wealthy couple whose privileged lives are unsettled by a series of mysterious videos that keep appearing in the mail. Over time the videos expose more of the past of the character played by Daniel Auteil, who is implicated in a series of events inspired by an actual occurence in 1961 when French Police carried out a massacre of Algerian civilians in the middle of Paris. The true story of the massacre and the extent of the loss of life was covered up at the time and explained away as a riot.

Intimate Enemy (2007) explores the human costs of the civil war from the perspective of French soldiers, Algerian civilians and the Algerian combatants. Set in 1959, the film explores the experiences of a French battalion and its officers fighting in rural Algeria who are sent to liquidate a local FLN commander. The film shows the brutality and torture employed by both sides and exposes French use of systematic torture and napalm. The horrific consequences of such actions for the French soldiers, the Algerian civilians and combatants, is demonstrated.

Summer of 62 (2007) is a film about the final days of the Algerian War of Independence as viewed through the eyes of an 11 year old Algerian boy (whose father is fighting against the French) and his friendship with a French boy.

Outside the Law (2010) was released at the 2010 Cannes film Festival and is yet be seen in Australia. The film tells the story of three Algerian brothers who were forced out of Algeria by the French authorities in 1925 and who then grew up in mainland France. Eventually they end up joining the Algerian Independence movement inside France and stage attacks on Police and authorities within France. The film shows a number of massacres committed by the French authorities. The film sparked protests by army veterans groups and right wing groups who were outraged by what they claimed was an unjust portrayal of the French army's actions.

Currently listening to: Townes Van Zandt

image courtesy of www.townesvanzandt.com

"Days full of rain
Sky coming down again
I get so tired of these same old blues
Same old song
Babe it won't be long
till I'll be tieing on my flyin' shoes"

The Texan singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt, who died in 1997 aged just 52 after a long struggle with mental illness and addiction, is considered by many (me included) to be one of the finest contemporary songwriters.

Despite not being well known, Townes Van Zandt is revered and admired by musicians and musical aficionados alike.

He wrote songs of such immense beauty, sadness and pathos and his songs draw from both conscious and unconscious experience and from historical and personal events. He could write songs of tragedy and sadness, like Marie, perhaps the finest song ever written about homelessness and poverty, and songs of despair and sorrow in the face of the pain and struggle of daily life, such as A Song For (which mentions my home town Perth, Australia)

He also wrote many songs that drew on his own struggle with mental illness and addiction, such as Sanitarium Blues, The Rake and The Hole.

But Townes Van Zandt also write beautiful and life affirming songs of daily life, of love, of the cycles of nature and the landscape and environment, and of his reflections on the experiences of being human.

Townes Van Zandt was one of the most evocative lyricists in contemporary music. His skill as a lyricist is rivaled only by Bob Dylan. There is a timeless poetic and deeply philosophical quality to his lyrics. His lyrics stand as poetry first, then as music. For Townes Van Zandt it was essential that songs worked as poetry first and he worked tirelessly to craft his song lyrics.

Van Zandt wrote so many fine songs. Other than Bob Dylan I know no other contemporary singer songwriter who composed so many magnificent and profound songs.

I think his finest song and one of the great songs of all time is his song Flyin Shoes. Van Zandt wrote the song about a Confederate soldier dying on the battlefield during the US Civil War Battle of Franklin. At the time he wrote the song, Van Zandt was living on a farm outside Nashville where the Battle of Franklin had been fought and he claimed that there were still signs of the battle on the farm. The song reflects his ruminations about the landscape, the battle and a dying soldier.

Lyle Lovett regularly covers the song and you can hear his live version and recorded version.

For those interested in knowing more about Townes Van Zandt there is an outstanding documentary Be Here to Love Me and a number of books, including A Deeper Blue: The Life and Music of Townes Van Zandt, as well as various websites.

Van Zandt was a compelling and charismatic, but erratic live performer, but when "on song" he could deliver performances of immense power. Here is a link to a live performance recorded 2 years before he died. Powerful stuff. Around 43 minutes into the You Tube concert clip he explains how the song Flyin' Shoes came about and then delivers a powerful live performance.

Classic comedies: Ripping Yarns, The Eric Olthwaite gang and "Golden Gordon"

Oh happy days.

Thursday this week I managed to purchase a new DVD copy of Ripping Yarns, the TV program written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame which ran on the ABC here in Australian in the late 1970's. Michael Palin plays the lead charater in each of the 9 episodes.

Ripping Yarns is one of my all time favourite TV comedies. It parodies aspects of British culture using the theme of schoolboy adventure tales. Considered a cult classic, there is now a Facebook page for fans.

My favourite episode is The Testing of Eric Olthwaite, the story of a man with a deep love of shovels, black pudding, weather and rain gauges. A man so boring that his family speak French so they don't have to talk to him. Eric forms a gang- the Eric Olthwaite Gang- that proceeds to rob banks and steals weather records. Eric becomes famous for his exploits and is elected mayor of the town.

The genius of Monty Python

Of late I have been wading through the documentary Monty Python: Almost The Truth: The Lawyers Cut. It is a blockbuster- three DVD's and 7.5 hours worth of the the history of the Pythons, from their comedic origins through to the present day. It is a reminder of the comic brilliance of the Python crew.

For me Life of Brian is their cinematic masterpiece and the Piranha Brothers, about the fictional gangland brothers Doug and Dinsdale Piranha, one of their funniest sketches.

Who can forget the exchange between the Interviewer and Stig O'Tracey.

Presenter	Another man who had his head nailed to the floor was Stig O' Tracey.
	Cut to another younger more cheerful man on sofa.
Interviewer	Stig, I've been told Dinsdale Piranha nailed your head to the floor.
Stig	No, no. Never, never. He was a smashing bloke. He used to give his mother flowers and that. He was like a brother to me.
Interviewer	But the police have film of Dinsdale actually nailing your head to the floor.
Stig	Oh yeah, well - he did that, yeah.
Interviewer	Why?
Stig	Well he had to, didn't he? I mean, be fair, there was nothing else he could do. I mean, I had transgressed the unwritten law.
Interviewer	What had you done?
Stig	Er... Well he never told me that. But he gave me his word that it was the case, and that's good enough for me with old Dinsy. I mean, he didn't want to nail my head to the floor. I had to insist. He wanted to let me off. There's nothing Dinsdale wouldn't do for you.
Interviewer	And you don't bear him any grudge?
Stig	A grudge! Old Dinsy? He was a real darling.
Interviewer	I understand he also nailed your wife's head to a coffee table. Isn't that right Mrs O' Tracey?
	Camera pans to show woman with coffee table nailed to head.
Mrs O' Tracey	Oh, no. No. No.
Stig	Yeah, well, he did do that. Yeah, yeah. He was a cruel man, but fair
	Cut back to Vince.
Interviewer	Vince, after he nailed your head to the floor, did you ever see him again
Vince	Yeah.....after that I used to go round his flat every Sunday lunchtime to apologize and we'd shake hands and then he'd nail my head to the floor
Interviewer	Every Sunday?
Vince	Yeah but he was very reasonable about it. I mean one Sunday when my parents were coming round for tea, I asked him if he'd mind very much not nailing my head to the floor that week and he agreed and just screwed my pelvis to a cake stand.
	Cut to man affixed to a coffee table and a standard lamp.
Man	He was the only friend I ever had.