Last Resort

Tanya, Artiom and Alfie.

Following last weeks Love Film disaster Amer (2009) this weeks was back on track. Following his debut film for Shane Meadows Room for Romeo Brass (1999) Paddy Considine appeared in Last Resort (2000), which proved to be the first of two films for Polish born director Pawel Pawlikowski, the second was My Summer of Love (2004) which explored the relationship between two young women from different classes and backgrounds Considine played working class Mona’s (Natalie Press) brother who became a born again Christian while serving a prison term. The film also starred Emily Blunt as the upper middle class Tamsin and went on to win the Alexandra Korda Award for Best British Film at the BAFTA’s.

In Last Resort twenty something Tanya (Dina Korzun) arrives from Moscow with her 10 year-old son Artiom (Artiom Strelnikov) expecting to be met by her English fiancé to start a new life. When he does not turn up they claim political asylum and are confined to a holding area called Stonehaven, a bleak seaside resort, while the authorities consider their fate. Meanwhile Artyom strikes up a friendship with the manager of a local amusement arcade Alfie (Considine) who also gets cheap cigarettes and phone cards for the immigrants. Tanya, attempting to raise money to escape to confines of Stonehaven, gets a job making titillating movies for a local porn king played be the real life pornographer known as Ben Dover. She soon realises that this employment is not for her. To make matters even more complicated a loving relationship gradually develops between Tanya and Alfie.

Pawlikowski film is much more than a sad love story that’s destined to go nowhere. It deals with the thorny issue of asylum in Britain from the migrants prospective. The rather unwelcome look of a midwinter seaside resort, the grey sky and the grey cold looking sea emphasise the hopelessness of the migrant’s situation. Filmed in Margate in the winter months the movie was not originally intended for a theatrical release and was shown on TV but did get a limited run in a small amount of art-house cinemas. All three main leads greatly enhance the enjoyment of the story by making their characters totally believable. Another British movie I would highly recommend for those that enjoy uncompromising realism.

The Fighter

Micky Ward.

Despite its important role within British culture, sport has never been nearly as prominent in British movie’s as it has in Hollywood. We seem unable to produce a successful film about our national sport: football, I think The Arsenal Stadium Mystery  (1939) probably qualifies along with The Damned United (2009), and maybe Bend it Like Beckham (2002) or Fever Pitch (1997) or perhaps a drama loosely linked to the sport like Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric does? Admittedly there some very good British sports films including Lindsay Andersons This Sporting Life (1963) a story about Rugby League football which was based on the novel by a former professional rugby league footballer David Storey who also adapted the screen play which gave it a great deal of authenticity. Another is Chariots of Fire (1981) which tells the fact based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics, Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice. A film that was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four including Best Picture.

When we look to America it would appear they include any number of sporting activities into movies. For example Pool: The Hustler (1961) and its follow up The Colour of Money (1986). Baseball: The Kevin Costner films Bull Durham (1988) and Field of Dreams (1989) Golf: Caddyshack (1980) and Tin Cup (1986) Horseracing: Seabiscuit (2003) Skiing and Bobsleigh: Downhill Racer (1969) and Cool Running (1993) Ice Hockey: The Paul Newman comedy Slap Shot (1977) National Football League: Blind Side (2009) for which Sandra Bullock won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Motor Racing: Days of Thunder (1990) and Le Mans (1971) starring Steve McQueen and considered to be the most historically realistic representation in the history of motor racing. Wrestling: Mickey Rourke won a BAFTA for Best Leading Actor in 2009’s The Wrestler. If we include bowling then what better film than the Coen Brothers masterpiece The Big Lebowski (1989). But I would warrant an opinion that the best sports films have involved boxing in the story line.

From drama to biopics, boxing has been a subject that movies lovers and critics alike seem to have a great affinity for. The movies are generally a metaphor for the social struggle and for life it self. The best known is probably Martin Scorsese’s ultra violent Raging Bull (1980) certainly one of the best pictures of the eighties. It’s a complex portrait of the self-hating world champion Jake La Motta, a role that brought an Oscar for Robert De Niro who put on weight to play the boxer in decline. The fights are said to be the most brutal ever filmed. This role matched De Niro’s brilliant portrayal of Travis Bickle in Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) that has just been re-released and should be in the next RBC programme. Other great pugilistic masterpieces are Robert Rossen (The Hustler) 1947 Body and Soul; it starred John Garfield, one of the great actors of his generation as a corrupt fighter and uses boxing to indict capitalism and the distortions of the American dream. A lot of people connected with this film ended up on Hollywood anti-communist blacklist. Incidentally the fight scenes were shot on roller skates!  The Set-Up (1949) directed by Robert Wise (West Side Story Co-director (1961), The Sound of Music (1965)) has the great Robert Ryan as a washed up fighter trying to regain his self-respect while his manager has done a deal with some local gangster believing that he will lose his next fight Champion (1949) directed by Von Ryan’s Express (1965) director Mark Robson, it starred Kirk Douglas as an ambitious fighter mixed up with corruption.  Then of course we have Rocky (1976), which won three Oscars including best picture, and spawned five sequels.   Although there have been fewer boxing movies in recent years there have been some of note including Ali (2001) the biographical film, directed by Michael Mann, about the boxing icon Muhammad Ali from 1964 to 1974 including his capture of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston and the George Foreman fight in 1974 documented in the film When We Were Kings (1996). Inspired by another real life fighter James J. Braddock Ron Howard directed Cinderella Man (2005) with Russell Crow playing the boxer. One of my own personnel favourite is Million Dollar Baby (2004) directed by and starring Clint Eastwood in the tale of a 32 year-old women determined to become a great boxer.  Which brings us to tonight’s film. 

Dicky Alice and Micky.

Directed by David O Russell (I Heart Huckabee’s (2004)) The Fighter (2010) is a biographical drama that centres on the life of professional welterweight “Irish” Micky Ward with all the ups and downs, and hopes and disappointments normally associated with a boxer’s life but mainly centres on his dysfunctional family. As well as Ward there’s his older half brother Dicky Eklund a crack head living off the memory of the night he floored Sugar Ray Leonard and now attempting to train his younger brother. There are also seven sisters and Micky's father but mother Alice dominates the family. Mark Wahlberg dedicated over four years of training to obtain the physique to convincingly play Ward. Christian Bale is the older brother another role he had to lose weight for as he did in The Machinist (2003) and Rescue Dawn (2007) but a role that won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Melissa Leo, whose breakthrough film role was in the 2003 film 21 Grams and she was previously nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in the exceptional Frozen River (2008), plays Alice, mother to both fighters and the seven sisters. She collected an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this role. Amy Adams (Junebug 2005, Doubt 2008) plays Micky Wards love interest, a tough sexy bar maid who’s not afraid to stand up to Alice.  Time Warner Sports Illustrated dubbed the film ‘the best sports movie of the decade’ while Philip French described this as an ‘actors film’.

It certainly was an actor’s film with great performances from every one involved; Christian Bale and Melissa Leo deserved their Oscars for Best Supporting Actor and Actress respectively but the greatest revelation was Mark Wahlberg, whose early private life must of helped in what is his best performance to date other than possibly The Departed (2006). I was not sure if the title of the film referred to the boxing or the in-fighting within the family something that set this film apart from other movies in the same genre. But the highlight for me had to be the fight scenes, beautifully choreographed and shoot, wonderfully exciting completely mesmerising this viewer who was very nearly shouting verbal support for Ward during the screening. I can honestly say this was a very enjoyable evenings entertainment made even better by a slice of delicious chocolate cake! 

Armadillo

As close to war as you can get.

Last weeks RBC Film Club “after film discussion” was far more enjoyable than the film.  Armadillo (2010) is a very heavy going Danish documentary film about the Danish military on duty in Afghanistan. It follows a group of soldiers on their first mission in Helmand Province. The film open’s with the young combatants saying an emotional farewell to their families, from there we move to a farewell party that involved naked ladies! The soldiers are then assigned a six-month tour at the Armadillo military base in Helmund province. The director Janus Metz and cameraman Lars Shree, at times with great risk to their own wellbeing, alternate between the boredom inflicted on the soldiers by long periods of inactivity and the obvious dangers of going out on patrol.  While on one such patrol the Taliban are encountered and eliminated with the use of hand grenades and gunfire. We are treated to scenes of very dead Afghans and it was this incident that generated considerable controversy in Denmark with an independent investigation conducted to decide if the rules of engagement had been broken.

The film is from the prospective of the soldiers who openly and honestly discuss their part in the killings. “As close to war as you can get” reads the tag line on the poster which is a apt description of this film and it certainly comes across more like a feature film than a documentary including the way its been edited, the use of slow motion and the somewhat dramatic score. Its nearest comparison is another highly regarded documentary, Sebastian Junger and the late Tom Hetherington’s Restrepo (2010), which follows an American infantry unit in Afghanistan’s remote Korengal Valley, although the shot of helicopter gunships does bring to mind Apocalypse Now (1979).

A strange thing happened at the end of the screening on Monday night, as the final credits rolled to there close not one single member of the audience moved out of their seat, almost as if they were transfixed, but if my feelings were anything to go by it was a numbing sense of the futility of war that engulfed us.

Amer

I don’t mean to boast when I say that usually my choices from Love Film are a success, I don’t know about you, but sometimes I like to experiment with a film that sound interesting that I know very little about. Well this week I came unstuck!

Movie Poster.

The synopsis for Amer (2009) seemed quite promising. It’s a French language “thriller’’ written and directed by Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani for their debut feature. The film is divided into three linked segments involving symbolic events in the life of the same main character, Ana, at different ages. In the first we see a very young girl in a large house where her grandfather is at first seen to be dead and then not so! An old shrouded women, performing some very bizarre acts, turns out to be the child’s grandmother. Her parents are seen making love in another room in the house. I have no idea what any of this represents and by this time my wife had left the room completely bored.  In the second segment Ana is know a teenager and we see her wondering around a small village collecting the messages with her mother looking very sultry and alluring but doing very little else. This section represents the awakening of her sexual power over the opposite sex. All very nice to look at and very well shoot but not very exciting.  The final segment finds Ana as an adult women returning to the house featured in the first piece where a razor-wielding maniac stalks her. Lots of extreme close up shoots of gory razor slashing all filmed in an erotic fashion.  This is the best of the three, certainly an interesting watch. It was described in the Time Out review as the shower scene in ‘Psycho’ played over feature length. The film has been described as homage to the film genre that was based on the gialli novels of the 1960’s and 70’s and adapted in to movies by the likes of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. But unless you favour avant-garde experimental type filmmaking I’d give this one a miss.

Attack the Block

Movie Poster.

Philip French called it ‘the best British horror movie for some while’ Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block (2011) is the most entertaining piece of nonsense I’ve seen for a very long time. It starts with Sam (Jodie Whittaker) leaving the Oval underground station at Kennington South London after a late shift at the hospital, its firework night. During her short journey to her home on the local Wyndham Tower estate where she lives in a tower block, five mixed race hoodies mug her. While the gang is carrying out this horrendous crime a large fiery object falls from the sky laying waste a parked car. Sam manages to escape the attention of the hoodies while the youths set about and kill a creature they suspect to be an alien. More gorilla-like creatures’ fall to earth in what looks like an invasion, which begs the question why, are alien’s from a far away place invading a South London tower block? Soon it’s all out war as the films great tag line suggests “Inner City Vs. Outer Space” Who will rule the turf when the dust finally settles?

Yet another great debut from a British director who puts a inventive spin to the horror genre (see also Gareth Edwards Monsters (2010)) Cornish has previously worked as a writer on Steven Spielberg and Peter Jacksons TinTin due in 2015. Besides Jodie Whittaker and Nick Frost who plays Ron whose council flat includes an ultra-secure cannabis factory, the film is populated by some young non-professional first time actors who perform Cornish’s and Frost’s humorous dialogue with great panache, although they probably now their own vernacular better than most people?

Moses deliberates.

Sam (Jodie Whittaker)

It’s quite strange how you take these bad boys to heart, that is the strength of film, Cornish’s film does not judge or dictate to his audience but there are some nice touches where you realise the humanity buried inside what you originally thought were just nondescript thugs. Sam, at first the victim, is forced by circumstances to join forces with the crew, she discovers that the main man Moses, played with a lot of class by John Boyega, is really just a young boy with a Spiderman duvet cover. The distrust of authorities is inbred, shown when Moses announces that the alien invasion, in his opinion, is a government sponsored plot to wipe out London’s black population. (I wouldn’t put anything passed this government!)

There’s never a dull moment in this action packed sci-fi comedy drama and along with Richard Ayoade’s Submarine (2010) or Chris Morris’s Four Lions (2010) or even Steve McQueen’s Hunger (2008) it shows a lot of promise for Britain’s up and coming non-traditional modern directorial school. Again I can’t wait to see where Mr Cornish will go from here? As an aside, the US distributers are concerned that American audiences, and some probable nearer home, may not understand the South London accents or the hoodie terminology and they may have to provide subtitles, as long as they don’t spoil the complete movie by dubbing the soundtrack as they did when Bill Forsyth’s That Sinking Feeling (1980) was released on DVD completely ruining his film.

Submarine

The young lovers.

Robert Burns Theatre presented a British coming of age comedy drama for Monday night’s Film Club, which makes a nice change from the rather serious film diet of late. Richard Ayoade, the Whipps Cross (that’s East London) born comedian, is best known for his TV work including The Mighty Boosh and the It Crowd as well as music videos for the likes of Artic Monkeys and Kasabian Submarine (2010) is his first feature film which he adapted for the screen from Joe Dunthorne’s 2008 novel of the same name.

Dad's not looking his best!

Oliver Tate has two vital matters to attend to. Firstly he must get a girlfriend and loose his virginity, certainly an important issue for a 15 year-old schoolboy. Secondly, but no less significant, he would like to save his parents marriage who, according to Oliver’s “dimmer switch” theory, have not had sex for seven months. He suspects that his mother Jill is having an affair with an old flame, Graham Purvis, who has returned to his home town as a spiritual guru with an attractive Asian girlfriend in tow and a love nest in the back of a Transit van. Mean while Oliver’s father Lloyd is in the depths of a depression.

A rather nasty display of bullying impresses potential girlfriend Jordana whom Oliver has set his heart on and they become an item. Oliver may look a nerd, sporting his duffel coat and briefcase, but the boy obviously has hidden depths? Although not the most romantic of girlfriend’s Jordana seems just the girl for our protagonist, she has a fondness for matches and setting fire to things, for example a skip full of rubbish, a bicycle, other peoples leg hairs and even her dog gets a Viking funeral.

Mum's looking for some spiritual guidance. 

The film stars Craig Roberts as Oliver, with Yasmin Page (The Sarah Jane Adventures) appearing as Jordana Bevan. Oliver’s parents are played by the extremely talented Sally Hawkins, who we recently saw in Made in Dagenham(2010) with the English born Australian actor Noah Taylor (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou 2004) as the father. The wonderful Paddy Considine, who can normally be found collaborating with Mr Shane Meadows, portrays our new age hippy Graham Purvis.  

Supposedly set in Swansea, but mostly filmed in Barry made famous by the TV series Gavin and Stacy, its story is timeless but has been placed in the mid 1980’s still to a certain extent an age of naivety and is related entirely from Oliver’s prospective. Original songs were written and sung by Artic Monkeys front man Alex Turner. Probably not the best British movie your ever see but it’s a entertainingly funny and honest piece of cinema, a very promising start for Richard Ayoade, it will be interesting to see where he goes from here.

Trailer.

James Pickering’s Birthday Bash 2011

Not many people know that you can hire your local cinema for a private function? That’s just what James Pickering’s family did for his 18^th birthday. The Robert Burns Film Theatre was open on Sunday afternoon for friends and family not only to saviour the gorgeous sexton blake but to have butchers hook at two of James favourite Stevie Nicks, Although James did look a little friar tucked on the account of two many Don Revie’s the night before.  

The first item on the agenda was the 1998 British crime drama Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels directed by Guy Ritchie, his debut feature film, and produced by Matthew Vaughn who went on to direct, amongst others, Layer Cake (2004) Stardust (2007) and the highly successful Kick-Ass (2010) This film, whose main lead was Jason Flemyng, introduced actors Jason Stratham, Nick Moran and Dexter Fletcher to a worldwide audience as well as introducing Vinnie Jones, formally a member of the Crazy Gang at Wimbledon, to a new career as a film star. It tells the story of four East End lads who plan to get rich at all costs but when Eddy (Moran) gambles away all the lads Becks and Posh at a card game and comes away owing half a million quid to the local villain, known fondly as Hatchet Harry. Aware that there going to have to honour this debt or loose certain parts of their anatomy the boys arrange to intercept a shipment of drugs. From then on in all hell breaks loose. I must admit I had forgotten how good this movie was, certainly the best thing Guy Ritchie has done, great banter, great laughs and a brilliant soundtrack. Can’t rhubarb crumble about this one son?

The second film of the afternoon was the 2009 Indian comedy 3 Idiots a film I have previously commented on but I must admit that I found the characters far more irritating especially the Tony Curtis look alike Aamir Khan who played Rancho. But out of respect to my host I sat through the very long 164 minutes again!! But a great afternoon all the same and I would like to thank Pat, Steve and James for inviting us along and making us feel so welcome.

3 Idiots.

I expect more from my cinema than Monday nights RBC Film Club showing of the Hindi movie 3 Idiots (2009) Its not vintage cinema that comes to mind but that dreadful mid sixties TV series The Monkees (1966-1968) which in turn was a cheap shot by the Americans at imitating Richard Lester’s Beatles films A Hard Days Night (1964) and Help (1995), America did not succeed nor did Monday nights film with its unsophisticated humour barely raising a smile, for me. It was far far too long, had an over simplified plot, repetitive scenes (if Virus was shaved just one more time?) and was film full of nothing. Even one Bollywood movie a year would be too much for this poor sensitive soul, I’m just going to have to watch some more Ken Loach to get me over this bad dream of a film.

We Are What We Are

Sunday roast any one?

I suppose must of us will go to some lengths to make sure we provide food for our loved ones. Mexican born director and writer Jorge Michel Grau debut feature film We Are What We Are (2010) shown as part of the Dumfries Film Festival 2011, takes this most basic obligation to extreme lengths.

Strong willed Sabina.

In the pre-credit sequence we see a middle-aged man in a shopping mall, he’s obviously in extreme agony, he’s vomiting some strange dark liquid, he collapses to the floor and he dies. Within seconds two men drag him off and the vomit is cleaned away, almost as though he has never existed! Who was this rather bedraggled person? We soon find out that he has left a widow, two sons and a daughter, destitute. The devastated family is confronted not only with their loss but also with a terrible challenge - how are they to survive? This rather dysfunctional family have always existed on a diet of human flesh consumed in some bloody ritual ceremony and the father, God rest his soul, has always provided their meal which to date has consisted of social outcasts like prostitutes, easy prey whilst plying there trade on the streets of Mexico City.

Now that their breadwinner has gone what will they do, who will become head of the family? Will it be Alfredo (Francisco Barreiro) the withdrawn somewhat reserved son, or will it be his hot headed brother Julian (Alan Chávez) perhaps the strong willed Sabina (Paulina Gaitán) could take charge or maybe their viciously brutal mother Patricia (Carmen Beato)? But the only thing that’s certain is without human meat the family will die.

Laced with very dark humor this “social realism” horror movie deals with family disintegration, social deprivation and violence and its relationship within the family unit. Grau attempts to reflect anarchic social and economic problems of present day Mexico suggesting that a cannibal family can stay hidden in the heart of a big bustling but anonymous modern day city. The gore element is never over done, most of which takes place behind a defused plastic curtain. The muted cinematography adds to the overall mood of the story with a relentless soundtrack of ticking clocks! Shocking, but strangely moving we cannot help but empathies with this emotional troubled family, do we all not feed of off one another?

What the Swedish movie Let the Right One In (2008) did for the vampire movie We Are What We Are does for the cannibalistic horror film, a highly believable adult versions of the genres.  An inspired evenings viewing chosen by the RBC’s Young Programmers, thank you for the opportunity to see this very engaging movie.

Note: 18 year old Alan Chavez who plays Julian, was shot dead in a gun battle with police outside a shopping mall: real life urban violence!

 http://brianmatthews60.blogspot.com

Lunch Hour

The junior executive takes an interest in the girls work.

British cinema of the 1960’s is amongst my favourite period for British movies, I love the nostalgia it invokes and a new DVD release from that period is always appreciated. BFI Flipside is a DVD label dedicated to great British cinema and its latest offering, Lunch Hour (1963), is very welcome. The film is based on a play by John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey) and directed by James Hill who is best known for his documentaries and short films as well as directing 1965’s Born Free and the 1971 version of Black Beauty starring Mark Lester. Set in a pre swinging London it stars Shirley Ann Field, (The Damned (1963)) who plays a young designer just out of art school, who is starting an affair with a married junior executive at the wallpaper factory where there both employed. Robert Stephens who appeared in other great 60’s movies including The Small World of Sammy Lee (1963) and of course A Taste of Honey (1961) where he plays Dora Bryans “fancy man”, plays the part of the junior executive  

This wonderfully acted story focuses on an illicit lunch-hour spent in a seedy hotel room where the tension and the sexual conflict between the two gradually reaches a crescendo with things not turning out as expected! The black and white transfer by the BFI shows Wolfgang Suschitzky cinematography at its best. Highly recommended for film lovers that appreciate British movies of this period.

Norwegian Wood

Japanese Film Poster.

The story begins in the late 1960’s and follows a student Watanabe Toru, played by Death Note actor Matsuyama Kenichi, as he moves to Tokyo to start University leaving behind Naoko, Babel (2007) nominated actress and model Kikuchi Rinko, the girlfriend of his best friend who for no apparent reason committed suicide. Two years later, after a chance encounter Watanabe visits Naoko and sleeps with her, but any escalation of their relationship is halted when she is sent to a sanatorium in the countryside because of her deteriorating mental state due to the earlier suicide and thereafter refuses to see him. After a string of casual encounters he starts a romance with a pretty emotionally uncomplicated student named Midori, played by American born Mizuhara Kiko in her debut film, but this relationship founders as he finds himself unable to forget Naoko. When he finally visits Naoko again at the sanatorium, this encounter prompts intense soul searching and confessions leading ultimately to tragedy!

It took several years of negotiations between Vietnamese/French director Tran Anh Hung and Haruki Murakami author of the novel adapted for Trans latest screen offering Norwegian Wood (2010). The reason these negotiations were so protracted was that two of his novels had been previously adapted and it has been reported that he was not happy with them; especially the 1980 film Hear the Wind Sing. The other movie was Tony Takitani (2005) (see link below), which I feel is similar in tone to Norwegian Wood.

Watanabe and Naoko

The script for this nostalgic story of loss and sexuality was firstly written in French than translated into English for the directors dealings with Murakami who provided extra dialogue especially for the film and then finally into Japanese for the cast, a language that Tran does not speak!

The movie is beautiful to look at, lovingly filmed by Mark Lee Ping-Bing who did the same for In The Mood For Love (2000), wonderful colours and visual detail. The musical score is by Jonny Greenwood a member of the English alternative rock band Radiohead who also did the score for There Will Be Blood (2007). My only criticism is that the film can be a little measured at times but I think a second viewing would probably help with a better understanding of a quite deep and meaningful story.

http://brianmatthews60.blogspot.com/search/label/Tony Takitani

The Stoning of Soraya M

Instrument of Torture.

American born film director Cyrus Nowrasteh saw his movie The Stoning of Soraya (2008) as part of a worldwide battle against prejudice and injustice, a good deal of the time affecting women. The powerful, moving and horrifying events depicted in this film give us privileged westerners a chance, as awful as it is, to witness the reality of a public execution by stoning.

The film is based on Freidoune Sahebjam 1990 book La Femme Lapiee. Soraya Manutchehris husband Ali was an ambitious man, prone to fits of rage. He wanted a way out of his marriage in order to marry a 14-year-old girl but did not want to support two families or return Soraya’s dowry.  At the request of the village Soraya began cooking for a recently widowed man and his mentally retarded son. Ali found a way to achieve his goal by accusing his wife of adultery, a crime in Iran that warrants a death sentence. Abetted by corrupt village authorities this innocent woman was convicted, buried up to her waist and stoned to death by the village which included Ali, his two young sons and Soraya’s father.

Soraya goes to her death.

It was when the French/Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam car broke down near a small rural village in 1986 that a local woman Zahra approached him insisting that he relate the barbaric story of her niece to the outside world.

The execution is a truly horrifying watch and the film can’t be classed as entertainment but it does highlight in a very forthright way the violations that to this day still take place in various parts of the world. I include below a section from the press notes that were released along with the film which you may interesting.

The powerful events depicted in THE STONING OF SORAYA M. are likely to inspire audiences to want to learn more about the issues of stoning, honor killings and the persecution of women around the world. As the first film drama to offer a stirring and eye-opening glimpse into the reality of public stoning’s, THE STONING OF SORAYA M. has been embraced by advocates for human and women’s rights as a way to raise consciousness about the plight of women at risk of abuse, injustice and death in legal systems stacked against them.

Stoning is perhaps the most ancient form of execution, one that has been referred to throughout the historical record, and carried out by member of many different religions in antiquity. In contemporary times, it has been associated with countries of the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa that follow Sharia law, which proposes stoning as a punishment for such offenses as illicit sex and infidelity. (While stoning is more often used against women, men are also still publicly stoned for offenses including adultery and homosexuality.) In some countries, stoning remains part of the official penal code, while in others authorities turn a blind eye to stoning as a local practice. In all cases, the United Nations considers stoning a form of torture.

13 year-old being stoned to death.

In 2002, the United States Congress condemned execution by stoning, noting, “women around the world continue to be disproportionately targeted for discriminatory, inhuman and cruel punishments.” Yet, with too little attention focused on these cases, shocking stories continue to mirror that of Soraya M. in the movie. For example, in 2008, a 13 year-old Somali girl was stoned by 50 men in front of a crowd of 1000 – for the crime of having been raped. The BBC reported that the girl begged for her life, pleading “don’t kill me, don’t kill me” before being buried in a hole up to her neck. The BBC report continues: “According to Amnesty International, nurses were sent to check during the stoning whether the victim was still alive. They removed her from the ground and declared that she was, before she was replaced so the stoning could continue.”

A number of organizations are deeply committed to the fight for the fair and humane treatment of women under all legal systems, including such international groups as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Additional web resources include:

The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women: www.stop-stoning.org

The International Campaign Against Honour Killings: www.stophonourkillings.com

The International Committee Against Stoning: www.stopstonningnow.com

Stop Stoning Forever (an Iran-based Group): www.meydaan.com/english/default.aspx

KAFA (Lebanese-based Women’s Advocacy): www.kafa.org.lb/advoc1.html

The Network Against Honour Related Violence: www.minheder.nu

Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan: www.rawa.org

Walkabout

John Barry in 1971.

Following what looked like to be a very entertaining Festival Film Quiz The Robert Burns Centre Film Club screened Walkabout (1971) to commemorate the death of one of the most prolific and distinguished names in British and international cinema for his film music. John Barry died from a heart attack on the 30^th January 2011 aged 77. His main claim to fame was for the work he done on twelve James Bond movies making him highly influential on the musical style and the general ambience of the Bond films. During his career he won five Academy Awards, two for Born Free (1966) one for The Lion in Winter (1968), Out of Africa (1985) and Dances with Wolves (1990) as well as numerous BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards and how could we ever forget the theme to Juke Box Jury (BBC 1959 – 1967)? His haunting score for tonight’s film again influences the overall atmosphere of the movie.

Not quite Railway Children!

English filmmaker Nicolas Roeg spent a lot of time behind the camera before he finally turned to directing and it certainly shows on his first solo directorial debut, beautifully composed and photographed with superb use of colour (his first film Performance (1970) was co-directed with Donald Cammell). It tells a story that pulsates with desire, a rite of passage involving two children cast adrift in the harsh but  stunning Australian outback.  Their father commits suicide leaving them to fend for them selves. Wondering lost in the wilderness; they meet a young aborigine boy on his “walkabout” a time apart from the tribe when he must commune with nature. From this chance meeting develops a sensual relationship between “the Girl” played by the deliberately sexualised Jenny Agutter, and the “Black Boy” David Gulpilil, who went on to appear in many Australian films including Baz Luhrmanns Australia (2008). Roeg also used his son Luc to play “White Boy” The film was based on a novel of the same name by Vance Marshall, English playwright Edward Bond, a man instrumental in the abolition of Theatre censorship in the UK, adapted the screenplay.

Walkabout is a good example of Nicolas Roeg’s directing style, with its use of flashbacks and the cut up technique that deliberately avoids straight lines in his stories and assumes that the viewer’s have the intelligence to work it out. He puts typical English people in un-English settings, casting them adrift from their normal habitat. This is a movie that will mean different things to different people, as Roeg does not provide conclusions. My take would be the dark mystery of communication; well I’m entitled to my opinion!

Of Gods and Men

Tibhirine Monastery

The picturesque Atlas Mountains can be seen from the Our Lady of Atlas monastery near the village of Tibhirine, this beautiful setting hides the horrors that took place there during the night of the 26^th March 1996 when seven monks were shot and beheaded, their bodies have never been recovered. No one was ever found guilty of the crime; the killers have never being found. During this period a civil war was raging between the Islamist Gia and the Military. The murder not only shocked the local populace but the whole of France. 14 years after the incident Of Gods and Men (2010) tells the story of the monks stand against terrorism and their determination to stay in Algeria amongst the people they served and grew to love.

The Monks.

Set in the North African Mountains, eight Christian monks live in harmony and peace with their Muslim neighbours providing free medical treatment, clothing and advice. When an Islamic fundamentalist group massacres a crew of foreign workers, fear sweeps through the region. The army offers protection, but the monks refuse. The film concentrates on the debate between the courageous monks as to whether they should stay or leave the monastery.

Directed by Xavier Beauvois, better known for acting roles including Female Agents (2008) and Villa Amalia (2009), it was winner of the Grand July Prize at last years Cannes Film Festival. Lots of the background information about individual monks came from the their relatives and was transcribed in to a screenplay by Etienne Comer. Some great French actors the best known being Lambert Wilson who plays the aptly named Brother Christian, Michael Lonsdale is the medic Luc and Olivier Rabourdin plays Brother Christopher populate the film. 

An attentive portrait of the Cistercian monks threatened by terrorists in Algeria. A very accomplished and sensitive film, slow moving and heart breaking. The movie offers no real reason for the treatment of the monks who are seen at the end of the movie calmly walking to their demise accompanied by their perpetrators. Maybe a lesson in commitment for us all?

The Arbor

Film Poster.

Clio Barnards first feature film The Arbor (2010) is the story of the working class Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar (1961 – 1990) best known for Rita, Sue and Bob Too an autobiographical drama about the sexual adventures of two teenage girls which was adapted into a movie in 1986 directed by Alan Clarke. Dunbar lived in a rundown council estate in Bradford Yorkshire. At the age of 15 while still at school she was encouraged to write her first play also called The Arbor after Brafferton Arbor, a street where her family lived.

Andrea Dunbar was a single mum with three children by three different men and Clio Barnards film highlights her strained relationship with her eldest daughter Lorraine, a heroin addict who in 2007 was convicted of manslaughter for causing the death of her own child by gross neglect, which was the only mixed race child living in prime BNP territory. She blamed her problems on her upbringing and how her mother’s heavy drinking affected the sibling’s lives. 

The film uses actors performing lip-synching to pre-recorded interviews with Andrea, her family and friends. It’s a technique known as verbatim theatre a process the director said in an interview “to create a deliberate gap between reality and representation or at least make you aware of the gap”.  Dunbar died of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 29 in a pub called The Beacon. The film raises the social issues introduced in her writings with all its raw emotions. Most striking parts of this “documentary” are the ones performed in the grounds of the Buttershaw estate surrounded by today’s tenants.  The movie is uncomfortably realistic and certainly not a comfortable watch, but well worth the effort.