The difference between a hero and villain is...?

Who Are We Talking About?

He was a Catholic. He rebelled against the state because of the despicable way it was treating its people. He attempted to assassinate the head of the state and those associated with him. The attempt failed. He and his fellow conspirators were caught and executed.

Claus von Stauffenberg?

No, Guy Fawkes. The anniversary of his death in 1606 is today.

The excellent historian Michael Wood called the Gunpowder Plot 'Britain's 9/11'. Maybe he should be thinking of it as a last heroic attempt to rid England of a corrupt ruler and his regime just as occured on 20th July 1944.

The Wrestler dir. Darren Aronofsky

Bruce Springsteen provides the end credits song for The Wrestler and watching this film is rather like listening to a typical Springsteen track. The hero is a man down on his luck. Life has treated him badly; he has treated himself even worse. His marriage has broken up and he is estranged from his daughter. He has one last chance to make something of himself in the world and - even if it costs him his life - he is going to take it.

Mickey Rourke plays Randy 'The Ram' Robinson. In truth, Randy is not quite an archetypal Springsteen creation. Back in the 80s, he was a successful wrestler. Those whom the Boss sings about rarely rise to such giddy heights. But that is by-the-by because since those heady days, the Ram has abused his body with drink and drugs and slipped down the greasy wrestling pole to the point where he is killing himself daily in small town bouts against boys seeking to become men in the wrestling world of the future.

Rourke is perfectly cast as the Ram for he too has lived a fast life and, while he has a body that most men would die for, his grizzled features are a testament to the speed at which he has run. And just as the Ram still knows how to wrestle, Rourke remains a very good actor.

Rourke is the heart and soul of The Wrestler, but the importance of the support cast, script and camerawork cannot be underestimated.

Support Cast

Here, I am thinking principally of Marisa Tomei. She plays a stripper named Pam who enjoys a friendly but professional relationship with Randy. At least, to begin with. After a disastrous one drink 'date' with him, she realises how much she likes him. But can a reconciliation be effected? I have read that filming a movie sex scene can be very arduous and un-romantic. The actors are in a confined space surrounded by any number of people and their equipment. I should think, then, that trying to pole dance while wearing nothing but a g-string would be equally difficult. Tomei does very well indeed to bring believability to her role on and off the strip club stage.

Script

Evan Rachel Wood is also excellent as Randy's estranged daughter, although the one discordant note in the script is struck in her first appearance. I may well be mistaken, but I believe that Wood appears in just three scenes in the whole film:

1. Following a heart attack, Randy goes to her home to say sorry for being a bad father, only to be treated to a diatribe from Stephanie relating to his past failures. She storms away.

2. After going on a shopping trip with Pam to buy Stephanie some clothes by way of a peace offering, Randy appears outside her house again. Getting Pam to choose the clothes works. Stephanie is placated. Father and daughter go on a walk to talk about old times. Randy makes his apology and it is accepted. They agree to meet again.

3. Unfortunately, the night before the next meeting, Randy gets drunk and stoned in a bar. He wakes up two hours after he was supposed to meet Stephanie. He goes to her house to apologise, but the old barriers have returned. Stephanie throws him out of the house, telling Randy that he never wants to see him again.

The discordant note is in Stephanie's initial diatribe. Although the viewer knows that Randy is a weak, messed up man, he also believes that he is fundamentally a good one. In a sense, then, Stephanie's condemnation comes out of nowhere. It is not properly supported by our knowledge of Randy. For this reason, it is hard to have proper sympathy with Stephanie's position.

The above aside, the script of The Wrestler is tight and to the point. Every scene really seems to matter. I can't think of a higher praise to give a screenplay than this.

Camerawork

It is at times like this that I wish I knew more, alot more, about the art of film making than I do. The Wrestler was shot in a very earthy fashion as if on a no-frills camera. There is probably a proper term for this kind of film making, but I don't know it. Anyway, the 'earthy' style was wholly appropriate to the subject matter and the documentary feel of the picture.

As usual, this film review has gone on too long, and I notice that I haven't really discussed the story of the film that much. Something I would like to add before finishing, however, is the positive portrayal of wrestling, or rather, of wrestlers, that The Wrestler gives. We all know that it is sports entertainment, with the emphasis on entertainment, but I thought that the film - by highlighting the backstage camaraderie of the wrestlers and the respect that they have for each other - gave a respectful nod towards these skilled athletes/entertainers . Unfortunately, drugs are also a part of the wrestling industry, but the film does not really have much to say about them.

Finally, regarding the story. In the first paragraph I referred to Randy's last chance to make something of himself. This is represented in the film by a rematch with his arch-rival from the 80s, a wrestler known as the Ayatollah. But after his heart attack, Randy's doctor told him that if he wrestles again, he could die. Having been rejected by Stephanie, and as it seems, Pam, Randy feels he has nothing to live for. He agrees to fight the Ayatollah. Does he live? Does he die? You will have to watch the film to find out. Meanwhile, Pam is racing to the ring to try and persuade him not to enter it. She loves him after all...

The Wrestler is one of the best films I have seen in the last year. Whether or not you are a fan of the real thing, I highly recommend it.

An old friend

BBC On-Line reports:

Happy cows produce more milk, according to researchers at Newcastle University.

Cattle that are named and treated with a "more personal touch" can increase milk yields by up to 500 pints a year.

dúnadan: Hallo from a wet field somewhere in central Dorset where I am speaking to - I presume - a happy and contented cow. Although, I don't recall getting any milk from you, Gerrie, during our previous conversations.

gerrie cow: But knowledge, dúnadan, you got lots of that!

Radio 5 misrepresents the Pope & Church

Paulinus has an excellent post here on a disgraceful conversation between Nicky Campbell and Stphen D. Smith of the Holocaust Centre on Radio 5 Live. It begins with the Pope's lifting of the order of excommunication that was imposed on the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X by John Paul II in 1988 but moves on to a risible monologue by Smith on the role of the Catholic Church in 1930s Germany. According to Smith, the Catholic Church was part of the Nazi regime.

In other news, probably not reported by Campbell, Claus von Stauffenberg was a Catholic.

He remains my homeboy, Campbell and Smith do not.

On the trail of George Smiley

A while ago, at the suggestion of Our Man of the Antonii, I read John Le Carre's George Smiley trilogy: Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. Tinker, Tailor and Smiley's People are really excellent books that I heartily recommend to all and sundry. I did not enjoy Schoolboy quite as much but it was still very good.

By way of a short precis, Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy is about George Smiley's hunt for a mole within the secret service. The book is full of great espionage jargon. M from the James Bond books has become Control; MI6 is the Circus (because the offices are just off Cambridge Circus in London); there are lamplighters and scalphunters. I will explain what they are as soon as I remember! The Honourable Schoolboy focuses on Jerry Westerby, one of the minor characters from Tinker, Taylor as he travels to Hong Kong to try and force a businessman in the employ of the Chinese to come over to the British. Finally, Smiley's People tells the story of how George Smiley finally traps his arch enemy (the man behind the mole in Tinker, Taylor), Karla.

At the beginning of Smiley's People, Vladimir, a former Lithuanian secret agent for the British, arranges to meet a Circus agent on Hampstead Heath. So that they can be sure that the meeting will be safe, it is agreed that the Circus man will leave a golden pin and yellow chalk mark on the wall of a pavillion there. Unfortunately, Vladimir is killed by Soviet agents before the meeting can take place.

Reading one of the forum entry's for Smiley's People at IMDB.com the other week, I found a conversation relating to the hut. Was it still there? Someone thought not. Another said, yes, he had seen it, and even left a new pin there. So, I thought, let's see if I can find it!

On a rainy afternoon last Sunday, I set off. To be honest, although I knew roughly where the pavillion was, I did not really expect to find it. Hampstead Heath is a big place, after all. However, after one or two wrong turns and a bit of slipping and sliding on muddy inclines, I happened to look up to my right and saw this: I had previously watched the Hampstead scenes from Smiley's People and so thought to myself, that looks familiar! So, I tramped across the muddy grass to take a closer look.
In the programme, the pavillion is enclosed by corrugated walls. As you can see, they have gone now, but otherwise, not much has changed about the site. Most intriguingly, there is also this: It doesn't come out very well in the photograph, but that is a golden pin - placed there, I think, by one or the contributers to the IMDB discussion referred to above. The pin, by the way, has been inserted just above the right hand metal post (as you look at it) in the photograph above.

After staying a few minutes to soak in the scene (I didn't stay too long as there was no chalk mark to prove that the place was safe), I left the hut to rejoin the path. As I took the long range picture featured above, I saw a man in a long, black coat and hat. If the cold war was still on, I would definitely have stayed clear of his umbrella. As it was, as I packed my camera away, he had a knowing smile on his face..!

Here is the long path where I saw the black hat man and where Vladimir met his end.

Valkyrie - dir. Bryan Singer

Operation Valkyrie was a contingency plan for the preservation of law and order in Germany in the case of the death of the Fuhrer. On 20th July 1944 it was subverted by a group of rebels within the Nazi party so that it became a means whereby, following the assassination of the Fuhrer, the SS and any other pro-Hitlerite individual or faction could be rounded up and arrested before they could stop the rebels' coup. Valkyrie, the new film by Bryan Singer and starring Tom Cruise as Claus von Stauffenberg, one of the leaders of the rebel group, tells the story of the how the attempted coup unfolded and, unfortunately, failed.

Being rather partial to historical films, I was dead set on seeing Valkyrie upon its release. Even though I knew that it was a Tom Cruise vehicle, my determination was undimmed. I am glad I did so because, while no classic, Valkyrie was an surprisingly enjoyable film. Even to the point where it has made me want to find a book about the affair to read more about what happened.

Let's get the difficulties out of the first. Accents. Valkyrie features a number of British actors. For example, Kenneth Branagh as Maj.-Gen. von Tresckow, Bill Nighy as Gen. Olbricht and David Bamber as Hitler. As with Cruise, they all keep their English accents. I think this was a mistake. I have heard it suggested that this film should have been in German with English subtitles. An excellent idea, but at the very least the actors should have been asked to speak with German accents for the sake of verisimilitude.

The second difficulty was the fact that we knew going into the film that Hitler was not assassinated and so the 20th July plot would fail. Where would the tension be, therefore? Well, despite that knowledge, Valkyrie was a very tense film. I think it achieves this by sucking the viewer into the story so that he forgets about what will happen and gives himself over to what is happening in the present moment.

Valkyrie was constrained by its faithfulness to the historical detail of the Valkyrie plot. A fictional story of this nature would no doubt have had car chases, pursuits across the country and at least one of the heroes obtaining his freedom if not the freedom of Germany. Instead, upon the failure of their coup, the rebels do not even leave the government quarters from where they controlled it, before being caught.

All of the acting performances were good. David Bamber as Adolf Hitler surely had the hardest job to do: Bruno Ganz's turn as the Fuhrer was surely definitive. I felt that there was a touch of the Blofeld about Bamber's Hitler, but he remained the right side of menacing. It's hard to believe that this is the actor who played the oily Cicero in Rome. Regarding Tom Cruise, I felt that he delivered a very restrained performance as the heroic von Stauffenberg. Until the end, it was all taut, low voices. So much so that as he waited for the firing squad to shoot him, his cry of "Long Live Sacred [Holy] Germany!" came as a real shock.

As a fan of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle, it is never nice to be reminded of the way the Nazis used his music. Wagner, of course, opened the way for it to be used so with his anti-semitism. Nevertheless, when Hitler said words to the effect that National Socialism could not be understood without reference to Wagner that was unfortunate.

Valkyrie then is nuts-and-bolts film making but with more than enough in it to satisfy the viewer. Go see it.

From Hogwarts to the Lords

Well, the press is making hay with the allegation that four Labour peers were prepared to take money to 'alter the course of legislation' in the House of Lords. Today, the Sunday Times, which broke the story, released a tape recording of one of the Lords, Taylor, saying that while he would not be prepared to break the law, the rules were there for bending.

Hmm. This sounds to me like Lord Taylor was saying no more than that he would be prepared to obey the letter of the law but not the spirit. In which case, hasn't he admitted only what governments do, anyway?

That aside, I was amused to learn the name of one of the other lords involved in this so-called 'scandal'. How did they not see his bad behaviour coming?! What was his name? Here is a clue:

Cold Mountain - dir. Anthony Minghella

Starting what I hope will be an Anthony Minghella season of films, I watched Cold Mountain the other night. I haven't watched it in a long time and had forgotten how affecting it was.

The film is set in 1864 during the American civil war. Inman (Jude Law) is a confederate soldier. After being badly injured during a raid on Union positions he convalesces in a Confederate hospital. There, he receives a letter from Ada (Nicole Kidman) with whom he enjoyed a brief friendship before leaving Cold Mountain Town for the front. I should have said that outwardly they were friends because inwardly they were certainly lovers. Ada has had enough of waiting for Inman to come home. In her letter, she exhorts and pleads with him to leave the army behind and return to her.

Inman does not need to be told twice and one morning, just after daybreak, he clambers out of the hospital window and begins his long trek home. The film is the story of that journey and of the increasing danger that accompanies both it and the last days and weeks of Ada's wait.

By leaving the hospital, Inman commits an act that is as controversial as Almásy's passing of the desert maps to the German army in The English Patient. As Almásy became a traitor to the Allied cause, Inman is now a deserter from the Confederate one. As he climbs out of his bed, Inman is saluted by one of his fellow hospitals. This salute does not indicate any kind of 'official' blessing, however, rather, a fellow man's recognition that there can be reasons why desertion is a justifiable offence.

Minghella has stated that Inman is an everyman figure. When we consider his desertion, therefore, it isn't open to us to ask 'was it right for Inman to do that?' and leave the matter at that. If Inman stands for all of us then what we really must ask is 'in similar circumstances, would I be prepared to desert?'. It is a challenging question.

As Inman is everyman, Minghella has identified Ada as an idealised woman. If that was all she was, the central narrative of the film could have been very problematic. How can we care for two people who are so unreal? Fortunately, none other than Ada's clothes prevent this question from arising.

At the beginning of the film, Ada is very finely dressed. She is very much a southern belle. Following the death of her father, however, the colour drains out of her and her clothes become dark and sombre. As she starts working on the farm with Ruby (Renée Zellwegger), Ada wears trousers under her dress. The dress is finally discarded towards the end of the film so that when she is reunited with Inman, she is wearing a man's long coat and trousers. The film does go full circle, though, for in the epilogue, Ada is living happily and contedly. Inman is dead, but he lives on his daughter, so Ada has her peace.

The daughter referred to above is the fruit of Inamn and Ada's night together at the end of his quest. As it turns out, it is their only night together as he is killed by Bosie (Charlie Hunman) - one of the Home Guard which has been causing trouble for Ada and her friends throughout the film - the next day. Sex in various forms, male- and benevolent, is a feature of the film. Can we say, though, especially given Ada's Southern sensibility, that Minghella has given in to anachronism?

I don't think so. Early in the film, Ada wonders to Monroe (her father - Donald Sutherland) that she loves Inman when she only knew him for such a short time before his departure for the war. Monroe replies that although he was only married for 22 months, he and his wife loved enough to fill a lifetime. In this light, Inman and Ada's love for each other transcends time. Secondly, Inman's journey is meant as a spiritual as well as physical one. And given that Cold Mountain for him is not so much the mountain as it is Ada, when he reaches her, he has reached the zenith of his spiritual experience on earth. Thus, while you could say that Ada and Inman's sleeping together upon their reunion is in unlikely defiance of social convention, it may also be seen as a summation of their spiritual lives and thus a very sacramental moment. In that light, while it is sad that Inman is killed the next day, in a way, his death is fitting because as a character he has nowhere else to go.

Well, I mentioned Bosie earlier on. Hunman definitely gets the best line in the film. Look for his reference to 'the confidence of youth'. It is chilling. Another actor who makes an impression is Ray Winstone as the malevolent Teague. Not a trace of a cockney accent but very menacing indeed. I must also mention a sparkling cameo by Jack White of the White Stripes who was also responsible for much of the excellent Cold Mountain soundtrack.

Finally, IMDB.com tells me that there is indeed a real Cold Mountain. It is in North Carolina, not a million miles from a certain blogging priest. Albeit on the other side of the state! Still, what a privilage it must be to live in such beautiful country.

Slaying the Welsh Dragon

Harlequins 29 Scarlets 24
Harlequins fourth and last game in the pool stage of this year's Heineken Cup was at home. So, as the game was included on the Season Ticket, off I went to the train station. And, being healthy minded, I decided to walk across town to Victoria Station and the District Line. The plan was to take the underground to Richmond and walk from there to Twickenham. Healthy and, of course, cheap.

As for the walk, it was good. In Westminster, I saw a lot of rozzer activity, so presumably there was a demonstration going on somewhere. However, as I passed St. James' underground station I saw that it was closed. And there was a sign outside saying that there was no service on the District Line between Earls Court and some other station on my route to Richmond. Oh dear.

At first, I actually thought there was a reduced service on the District Line, so I continued on to Victoria only to find the truth in the form of a gate blocking the entrance to the District and Circle Line platforms. So what to do? The best answer was to get on the Victoria Line and make my way by hook and crook to Waterloo and catch a South West Trains to Twickenham. It would cost, but never mind.

The only problem here was the fact that there were so many people wanting to use the Vicky Line that the Underground and temporarily closed the platform down! It was 12:30pm and the game was due to kick off at 1:30pm. Having expended my strength on the walk, I took the decision to let the Stoop be and head off to Hampstead to watch the game at the Duke of Hamilton pub.

One bus and underground trip later, I arrived at the Duke of Ham. With few people there early on Saturday afternoon, I could even sit down and watch the game with no one's head getting in the way. Very nice.

The game. Harlequins played the Scarlets off the pitch for most of the first half. They went 0 - 3 down to the visitors, but dominated the possession and territory. So much so that after about half an hour, only 2% of the first half was played between Quins' 22 metre line and the try zone.

Harlequins' reward came in the first half - two tries, including an excellent one by George Robson when Quins outflanked the Scarlets in a manner that would have impressed any military commander.

The first half ended 15 - 3. Very satisfactory, although I have to admit that whenever the camera showed the West Stand, I did find myself looking for my seat and wondering, rather territorily, if anyone was sitting there.

The second half was, for a while, more of the same. Quins scored again. Scarlets would get the ball, lose it, and Quins would go on another sweeping attack. After fifteen minutes, however, the Welsh team finally woke up. Two tries quickly followed. Both were converted by the excellent Stephen Jones. Blimey, I thought, Harlequins aren't going to blow this, are they? In fact, they didn't. The Scarlet's storm was weathered and we even added a last try of our own to wrap the game up.

As for me, although I would much rather have been at the Stoop, watching the game first hand, I could not say that I was disappointed to be in a nice pub relatively close to home to watch Quins go through to the Quarter Finals of the Heineken Cup having guaranteed themselves home advantage with their next opponents!

Pursuit of Happyness - dir. Gabriele Muccino

Barack Obama's arrival at the White House has not been welcomed by everyone, but I am sure that while he will make any number of wrong decisions during his term(s) as president, he will make some right ones too.

What is pleasing about Obama's election, however, is the hope that it has given to many people who had felt disenchanted with politics. Who knows where it will lead them - perhaps to succeed President Obama and correct what he gets wrong and continue what he gets right.

To go back to the issue of hope, given its centrality to the Obama candidacy and now, presidency, it seems quite appropriate that this film review concerns a film that is all about it.

The film in question is Pursuit of Happyness, which I watched on DVD a few days ago. It stars Will Smith as Chris Gardner, a devoted father whose attempts to make something of his penurious life are thwarted at every turn by a mixture of bad luck and poverty.

At the start of the film, we find Gardner trudging the streets of San Francisco selling scanners to a variety of medical institutions and practices. One day, he comes across a man climbing out of a Ferrari. How did he get it? That, says the fellow, is what stockbroking can give to you. In that moment, Gardner decides that he will become a stockbroker too. It will be his way out of poverty.

The year is 1981. Gardner can't just walk into a stockbroking job. He first has to apply for an internship. But this is unpaid. Nevertheless, he goes for it. It is the last straw for his long suffering girlfriend, however, who, upon being offered a job in New York, takes it.

Gardner's bad luck manifests itself in numerous ways. He has to run away from a taxi when he realises that he does not have enough money to pay the fare (not actually his fault); he is thrown in prison overnight after not paying his parking tickets. The next morning is his internship interview and he turns up in the same rough clothes that he was wearing when he was thrown in the slammer; he gets run over during a tea break and loses a shoe. It would all be (grimly) funny if not so serious and true.

Gardner's poverty causes even greater problems. He is evicted from his flat, has to spent one night with his son in a metro lavatory and too many nights in a dosshouse; he is permanently short of money. Although, funnily enough, he still lends to those who ask for it. Well, remember the widow and her penny.

Pursuit of Happyness is told with affection for Chris Gardner and his son and a lightness of touch that softens the harsh reality of his life. Thus, even though one bad event follows another, you could not say that this is an unremittingly depressing film. In a way, especially in Gardner's love for his son, it is an uplifting one. After all, he never gives up on himself; never stops believing that he can make it; where others may have quit - he carries on.

And then there is the eucatastrophe. Gardner is not only good at his unpaid job - he is the best. He is offered it on a full time basis. The film ends here, but there is a sequel. As mentioned above, Pursuit of Happyness is based on a true story. Chris Gardner became a star stockbroker earning millions of dollars for his firm before striking out on his own. He now works as a motivational speaker. The film is based on his autobiography. On the basis of the film, it could not have happened to a better man.

Will Smith's (lack of) reaction when he is told that he has the job is great. It reminds me of Aragorn sitting on the steps of Rivendell just before the Nine set forth for the South. "Nobody knew what this moment meant for him.".

Harlequins Say Gahh!

Ulster 24 Harlequins 10A disappointing performance by Harlequins in windy conditions witnessed by myself in the slightly gentler environs of the domus antonius. The reasons why Quins lost were these:

Bad defending

Ulster's first try came when they pulled the ball out of the scrum and wrong footed Charley Amesbury.

Ulster infringements

Ulster kicked the ball out of the aforementioned scrum illegally. Unfortunately for Quins, the referee was on the other side of the scrum and the Touch Judge failed to notice it. Ulster pulled the same trick again -in front of the referee - in the second half, though thankfully it did not lead to a score.

Harlequins' indiscipline

Discipline is important at all times in a rugby match, but when you are playing away and into a very strong wind, it is all the more important. Therefore, Nick Easter's kicking the ball away from the ruck and then talking back to the referee so that the latter not only gave the penalty but marched it forward ten metres was really not on.

Nick Easter ought to know better than be so bolshy - this isn't association football, for goodness sake - but at least he didn't get sin binned: unlike Danny Care, who was sent off for the obligatory ten minutes for some offence or other. To be fair, that did not destroy Harlequins' chances of winning the game. Quite the opposite, in fact, because in those ten minutes, the only score was a Quins penalty.

The weather

Harlequins played into the wind in the first half. Ulster scored a penalty from nigh on the half way line while a Nick Evans penalty from the 22 line, closer to the middle of the pitch than not, swerved away from the goal posts right in front of them. Awful conditions the whole game.

On the plus side, Harlequins' scrum pulverised Ulster's. So much so that the home side eventually took off their lock (?) who was 'injured' meaning that from now on, we would only get uncontested scrums. If I want to watch rugby league, I will bloody well go to a rugby league match.

In the domus antonius, Our Man of the Antonii tried to deal with his increasing frustration at the way the game was going by building a book case which, once or twice and just like Quins, fell to pieces. The most mystifying moment of the game, however, was when Nick Evans was substituted just as he was about to take a penalty. What was Dean Richards thinking of? Even I thought he had lost the plot. Evans, our All-Black Fly Half was brought to Harlequins for moments such as these. Quins were 16 - 10 down and desperately needed this score to bring them within penalty / drop goal distance of Ulster. It appears, however, that the Fourth Official pushed the penalty through with the referee so that the substitution happened before the penalty was taken instead of after, as was envisaged by Richards. Thank you Mr Fourth Official.

That extraordinary moment was not the only one at Ravenhill. Midway through the second half, Ulster fans started vacating one of the stands. Blimey, I thought, if they are leaving now, they must be confident about their side winning, even though it was still 16 - 10. However, it turns out that the winds had grown so strong - gale force - that the fans had been asked to leave their seats on safety grounds.

Australia - dir. Baz Luhrmann

James Bond films aside, film titles usually tell you something about the picture that you are about to see. Australia, however, is not a biography of that country. It takes place in the late 30s and early forties and is set solely in the Northern Territories in and (in the country) around the city of Darwin.

Perhaps the co-writer and director Baz Luhrmann is referring really to the spirit of Australia. If one thinks of the spirit of Britain one probably thinks of stiff upper lips and all that. It is an outdated image, but still an alive one. Similarly, if one thinks of America, one probably thinks of a can-do attitude.

The spirit of Australia, if it is anything in this film, is closest to the American way. It is represented by Hugh Jackman's character, Drover. A drover is what he is, so if that is not his name, we never actually learn it. The important thing about him, however, is that he is a rough-and-ready man but a good one. He gets into fights but knows how to treat ladies; he can be very brusque, but unlike many (though not all) of his countrymen, he is no racist.

The spirit of Britain, as was, is most firmly represented by Nicole Kidman's character, Lady Sarah Ashley. At the start of the film, she comes to Australia all prim and proper intending to persuade her husband to sell their cattle station and return home. But when he turns up dead, she determines to complete his last job - the droving of 1500 head of cattle to Darwin so that they can be sold to the Australian army. But the other cattle baron (King Carney, played by Bryan Brown) wants to sell his cattle to the army and sends the evil Neil Fletcher (David Wenham) to stop them dead.

Australia is an epic. Unsurprisingly, it is also a romance. Despite the best efforts of Fletcher, Drover and Sarah Ashley make it with their herd to Darwin. Along the way, they fall in love amid grand vistas and ideas.

A major theme of the film is that of racism. Upon her arrival at her cattle station home, Faraway Downs, Sarah makes friends with a young aboriginal boy named Nullah (Brandon Walters). He is the son of an aboriginal mother and Neil Fletcher (who worked for Sarah's husband before his death. The source of his animosity towards Sarah is the fact that she sacks him for beating Nullah). In the Australia of the 30s - 40s, mixed race children were often taken to Church run mission schools - to turn them into civilised people. Ironically, the only time we see a mission school in action, it is represented as being a peaceful place (not unlike the the Jesuit settlements in The Mission). The controversy is the taking away of children from their families and being locked away for the colour of their skin.

Nullah narrowly escapes being taken off to a mission school several times during the film. In that time, he helps Sarah through his 'magical' gift of song. Songs are not just songs for aboriginals. Think of the Ainulindalë in The Silmarillion and you will have a better picture of their significance. Nullah, however, is not acting alone. His grandfather, a venerable aboriginal man named (although by who?) King George co-operate.

Nullah:

I have no idea what aboriginal people in Australia think of this film or the representation of their people in it. Perhaps it is very accurate, perhaps not. From my perspective, however, Australia, gave a very positive portrayal of not just them but, for all their faults, white people as well. It is not a character film - only Drover and Sarah have anything like well drawn characters - but does enough to serve the story well.

One people who do not come across well are the Japanese, but that is because we only meet them in the context of their attack on the Mission School. At the start of Australia, we have a little awkward (insofar as it is chessy) comedy. The romance soon takes over. The final part of the film is action based. Following the Japanese attack, Drover and Sarah believe each other to be dead. Will they find each other again? You can probably guess the answer!

Australia is not a challenging film. It is packed full of ideas - love, loyalty, devotion, magic, betrayal, racism etc but treats them lightly. Although it is not, as I said above, a character film, Drover and Sarah are the heart of the story and Luhrmann and his co-writers never forget that. It is cheesy in parts, but never embarrassingly so. Australia wants to lift the heart, and does so. It is an excellent film for a rainy day and I recommend it to you.

Defiance - dir. Edward Zwick

Last night, L. and I went along to the local cinema to see Defiance, the new Daniel Craig picture. Craig stars alongside Liev Scheiber as Tuvia and Zus Bielski, two brothers who escape Nazi attacks on their villages in Belarus during World War II by fleeing into the surrounding forests.

Very soon they are joined by other survivors; numbers grew even more when Tuvia Bielski helps Jews from a Belarussian ghetto to flee it. There is a parting of the ways when Liev Bielski decides he can no longer do nothing in the woods while his people are being killed and he leaves to join a Soviet sabotage unit.

Tuvia, however, does not see violence as being the way forward, and stays behind to lead the survivors. He sees the mere fact of their remaining alive as being the best revenge against the Nazis.

It is not so long before violence comes to the camp, however; while Tuvia is laid low by a bad illness, his authority is userped by Konstanty Kozlowski, who changes Tuvia's rule that everyone gets the same portion of food. Kozlowski believes that those who fight deserve more and implements this policy with force. It leads to a showdown with Tuvia.

The showdown ends with Kozlowski being shot dead. This raises an interesting question about the rule of law in situations such as Jews find themselves. Can it work? Later on, a Nazi soldier is found. In their anger for what the Nazis have done, the Jews beat him to death. He becomes, ironically enough, the sacrificial goat once sent into the wilderness by the Israelites.

Now, I speak under correction, but my understanding of Catholic doctrine is that the only circumstance under which execution can be justified is if the state is not able to hold the prisoner in jail. If this is correct, perhaps the death of the soldier was justified - although it should have been Tuvia who pulled the trigger as he was the recognised authority in the camp.

What makes the death of the Nazi so sad, however, is not just the fact of his death - all deaths are sad - but the lack of humanity it reveals in the survivors. Defiance certainly does not suggest that the Jews and Nazis are both alike but does show unflinchingly how even good people can be reduce - or reduce themselves - to barbarism.

The camerawork of Defiance is very plain. Daniel Craig is James Bond, but there is nothing of Bond in his grizzled features. All of the actors put in really good performances in this film. There is beauty to be found in the panoramic shots of the Belarussian forests.

One criticism I would have, though, is that the portrayal of the Nazis is very one sided. There is no significant Nazi character in this picture. We do see a collaborator up close, but he is killed very early on. The Nazi soldiers are bullet fodder. Who are they? Why are they there? Beyond a brief explanation at the beginning of the film, the film declines to tell us. Given that the film is (and felt) quite long, that is a shame.

Because Defiance deals with a hitherto relatively unknown and heroic aspect of World War II, it will probably be lauded by all the relevant people, but it is no more - or less - than a well put together action film. It deserves to be seen, but not because it has an especial depth to it. I don't say that Defiance is shallow, but all the film's deeper themes are subverted to the needs of the action picture. If they had to be in order to get the film made, that would be such a shame.

Anyway, I really enjoyed Defiance and very much recommend it to you. As for me, I now look forward to January's second WWII film - Valkyrie.

Alea iacta est

Rugby postponements aside it is an auspicious day - it is the 2057th anniversary of Julius Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon River. The Rubicon, somewhere in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, was the border between Italia and Cisalpine Gaul. No General was allowed to cross the Rubicon with his army. To do so was to make himself an outlaw. Thus, once Caesar crossed it, he gave himself no choice but to fight against Pompey and the Senate to the bitter end.

A Heavy Hearted Malc Writes

Harlequins vs Worcester Warriors Blubber. Postponed.

Now, I am not saying that I live an empty life or anything, but today, between 11: 30am and 7:30pm, there will be a big, black hole in it. Why? Harlequins game against Worcester Warriors has been cancelled. From the official website:

Quins v Worcester 10th Jan 099 January 2009, 4:56 pm
By Helen Bayes

Due to the a frozen pitch, the game between Harlequins and Worcester Warriors scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday 10th Jan, has been postponed.

Referee Wayne Barnes inspected the pitch at 4.30pm and deemed it unsafe for play.

Intensive work has been carried out by the Quins ground-staff to try and make the match go ahead, including hot air blowers onto the pitch and double covers to keep it warm, but it has unfortuantely not worked.

It is the first time in 12 years that a Quins game has had to be re-scheduled for a frozen pitch, and we apologise for any inconvenience this decision may cause.

The game will be rescheduled. Any match tickets that you have purchased will be valid for the re-arranged fixture, the date of which will be announced as soon as a suitable date can be found.

No refunds will be made on any tickets until the re-arranged fixture has been set.

We apologise once again for the inconvenience.

Helen Bayes, what was it like to write such sad words?!

Your vote counts

Father Longenecker's push for votes in the 2008 Weblog Awards has been really quite shameless. I have to admit, though, I am starting to enjoy his comments. In the latest, he says that he wants the 'King' of Catholic blogging overthrown. A campaign of blog & awe cannot be faraway!

I always did hate Robinson's Barley water

H/T to Iain Dale's Diary

Arthur Roche proves how much he hates Catholic Traditionalism

Here is why reading Damian Thompson's Holy Stoat blog can be very confusing. Britain's smuggest Catholic reporter ("As you know, this blog doesn't approve of passing on rumours, particularly about bishops... but all right, just this once...") has published another critical post on Bishop Arthur Roche. According to Thompson, "Liverpudlian traditionalists are worried that +Arthur may apply his diplomatic "reorganisation" skills to their troubled diocese[.]"

Liverpudlian traditionalists may be worried, but perhaps they might take heart from what a representative of the Latin Mass Society in Leeds said of the Bishop in the November 08 issue of Mass of Ages, which I have been reading:

Bishop Roche recently requested that there be a regular [Extraordinary Form] Mass each Sunday at St Joseph's, Pontefract Road, Castleford at 3.00pm and the diocesan co-ordinator, Fr Wiley has been charged with drawing up a rota of priests... As far as I know, Leeds is the only diocese in England and Wales to have a priest co-ordinator and a priest-trainer for the Old Mass.

You heard it last at the Holy Stoat.

Guess Who is On Twitter

If you look to the right, you will notice a new feature on the sidebar - Twitter! And rather than be conventional and tell you what I am up to, I have created an account in the name of Alexander the Great. Now you can thrill to random moments of the great man's life! How very pleasing!

If you would like to 'follow' Alexander's life, then you can do so by going to the Twitter website and look for 'AlexanderIII'

A long blip occurring?

Wasps 24 Harlequins 18Well, the delay in posting this score was not because Quins lost - honest. After their heroics against Stade Francais, Harlequins have lost two of their last three games. Still, at least we got a bonus point out of this one. Still, it was good to see that Director of Rugby, Dean Richards, is learning from football managers:

"You have to question how we got to that point at half time.

"There were 10 free-kicks or penalties in the scrum area and you have to question whether we -Wasps and Harlequins - are as bad as people make us out to be or whether somebody else got it wrong on the day."

Alexander in Gaza

The city of Gaza was attacked by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. It withstood his siege for two months. When it finally fell, Alexander took an unusually ruthless revenge on its ruler, the eunuch, Batis, although one that was wholly in keeping with his self-image of being a modern Achilles.

Batis was tied to the back of a chariot and dragged round the city by Alexander himself until he died. This punishment was a reflection of that which was meted out to Hector of Troy by Achilles in revenge for the former's killing of Achilles' friend Patroclus. The reflection, however, is not exact for Hector was already dead. Achilles in his fury was 'merely' desecrating the Trojan's body.

Alexander's treatment of Batis was unusual because he was normally very clement towards his defeated enemies - see how he rewarded Porus, who in 326 BC, gave him one of the toughest fights of his wars of conquest alongside the Hydaspes River in the Punjab. Porus was not only permitted to live but was given back his kingdom.

The Next Archbishop of Westminster

On the way home from work today I began thinking about what I would like to see from whoever becomes the next Archbishop of Westminster. The truth is that I don't really know because, unlike some, I don't spend my days involved in ecclesial affairs so I can't be sure what is actually needed.

Anyway, that didn't stop me from coming up with some ideas. Here they are.

I would like an Archbishop who...

1. was a little more transparent in respect of decisions that affect the faithful. The Church is not a democracy, but it would be nice to be kept in the loop sometimes. I have talked in the past about how the transferal of the various Holy Days of Obligation took place after consultation - a consultation which no one seems to have heard of until after the event.

2. talks more about the Catholic faith and just a little less about interfaith meetings and alot less about Catholics sharing churches with Anglicans and Catholic schools that teach something other than, well, the Catholic faith.

I am all for talking to other Christians but church sharing is not cool. A Catholic church is the physical manifestation of the liturgy so must be a profoundly Catholic space. Atheists and other nitwits will not like the idea of a properly Catholic school and will - despite all evidence to the contrary - insist on such places being causes of division in society. They need to get a life.

3. who takes a keen interest in the Liturgy. I have a problem with some Traditionalists in that I just don't see the obstructionism of the bishops as they do, but that may be because I don't know the full story. That notwithstanding, the fact that Masses in the Old Rite seem to be celebrated at Westminster Cathedral on a semi regular basis must count for something. That aside, an Archbishop who took an active interest in preserving the sacred character of the Mass in the New Rite would be good. We attend the sacrifice of the Word made Flesh, not a community meeting.

4. who is not only holy but really gobby as well. Winning-esque you might say. It's fun seeing Dawkins mouth of about things he knows nothing about, let's keep giving him a reason to put his foot in it.

Up with, er, Nazism?

Next dress down day at work, I am going to go into the office wearing a T Shirt that bears the image of a member of the Nazi Party.

Not only am I not going to get sacked but people will say that the T Shirt is a really cool one.

How am I going to do it?

Paulinus has the answer here.

Dawkins and the dragon of, er, fantasy. There is a reason it is called that, mate.

I receive monthly e-mails from the C. S. Lewis Society. The latest comes with a link to an interesting story from the Daily Telegraph.

Harry Potter fails to cast spell over Professor Richard Dawkins

The prominent atheist is stepping down from his post at Oxford University to write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in "anti-scientific" fairytales.

Prof Hawkins said: "The book I write next year will be a children's book on how to think about the world, science thinking contrasted with mythical thinking.

"I haven't read Harry Potter, I have read Pullman who is the other leading children's author that one might mention and I love his books. I don't know what to think about magic and fairy tales."

Prof Dawkins said he wanted to look at the effects of "bringing children up to believe in spells and wizards".

"I think it is anti-scientific – whether that has a pernicious effect, I don't know," he told More4 News.

The fact that Dawkins likes Philip Pullman's books indicates that he is not against fairy tales per se. It appears, however, that he believes that some authors (/ parents?) use fairy tales to bring their children up 'to believe in spells and wizards'. Umm... let's just say that it will be interesting to see him make good that argument. Notwithstanding the fact that there are all sorts of people with all sorts of weird and wonderful beliefs (apparently some people think that Dawkins' religious rants and ramblings are worth more than a melted down candle), I would suggest that you would be hard pressed to find anyone who things a fairy tale is in content representing something real.

Perhaps I have misread the article. Perhaps it is misrepresenting Dawkins. If you believe either is the case, please tell me, because right now I am thinking that we have the choice of Harry Potter or the potty professor and, quite frankly, I know which I would sooner spend my time with.

One idea that is quite interesting is the idea of scientific versus mythical thinking and, what I suspect Dawkins believes, the idea that they cannot coexist.

The Feast of the Epiphany Proper!

Well, what a busy day today. Up at 5am to go to the gym then, after several hours spent saving the world from an anonymous office in a little corner of London, to Corpus Christi church in Maiden Lane.

On Sunday, I referred to the 4th as being 'Epiphany Day'. It wasn't really, though; Sunday was just the Epiphany day of obligation transferred. The Feast of the Epiphany remains the sixth. So, Happy Epiphany to one and all.

To celebrate the occasion, and in keeping with the promise referred to in my Sunday post, I went to Corpus Christi to attend Mass in the Extraordinary Form. It was sung and there was incense - two excellent things that always help one to think spiritual thoughts.

Unfortunately, I did get a bit sidetracked during the Mass by trying to remember what the lace thingy that the women were wearing was called. Was it a mantle? No, that was too much like mantlepiece. Manipal? No, that was either a Roman military formation (!) or the thing that the priest was wearing over his arm. As the minutes passed, my guesses became more desperate. Mandeville, Mantua, Mantova... As you can see, I couldn't get the idea that the word began with man- out of my head. Eventually, a series of words beginning with M- crept into my thoughts. It was very entertaining until I came to the conclusion that I really ought to be concentrating on the Mass.

Before that rather obvious thought came to mind, however, I saw a blonde woman a few rows in front of me. I wondered if she was the mulier fortis, but came to the conclusion that as she was not wearing the man-thingy, it couldn't possibly be. If it had been Miss M.F., I would have been very tempted to go and ask her to tell me what the thing on her head was as I know she wears one and has referred to it in her blog. Ah ha! Maybe I could... no, I didn't; I didn't sneakily switch my mobile phone on and log on to Mulier Fortis' blog to see what it is called.

In the end, I managed to concentrate a little on the Mass and it was only when I got home and typed "what do catholic women wear on their heads" into Google that I found the answer: Mantilla! Ahhh!

A Little Cultural Collision

The Real. Rock. And. Roll

Last night I visited Camden with Our Man of the Antonii and Yo Man Jonnie to see a couple of bands play. On the underground, I read my recently purchased copy of Mass of Ages - the magazine of the Latin Mass Society. I have never read it before but can sense that I will again. In another post, I will delve a little further into the contents of the magazine, which are based upon the lectures given at the LMS's Merton College conference of last year and were most interesting. Long before I arrived in Camden, I had decided that if the gig was rubbish, I would be on the stage leading a mighty rendition of the Te Deum. Fortunately for all concerned, this proved not to be necessary.

Epiphany Day

My resolution for 2009 is to attend Mass in the Extraordinary Form a little more often. To that end, I went today to St James church, Spanish Place, in the heart of London. Just before his homily, the celebrant announced that today was the external solemnity of the feast of the Epiphany. I had no idea that a solemnity could be of one kind or another. Can someone tell me what an external solemnity means?

Stop Israel / Down With Hamas etc

Walking through town today, I came to Trafalgar Square. It was a busy place as the protesters against Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip were gathering there in preparation for their Whitehall demonstration.

Over Christmas, when I first heard on the news that Israel was bombing the Gaza Strip, I was surprised. I had heard that a ceasefire between Israel and terrorist organisation / governing body Hamas had lapsed but not that the latter had done anything to provoke Israel. I have since heard that Hamas had actually been firing rockets into Israel but it is not clear to me as to whether this was before or after the ceasefire. Oh well.

Anyway, not having any interest in the demonstration, I went on my way. In Victoria, however, I was approached by two gentlemen of the protesting sort and asked for directions to the Israeli embassy in Kensington. Well, I told them they had a walk ahead if they wanted to go there, and was asked in return why I wasn't protesting. So, I said that if I had gone to the embassy I would only have ended up supporting Israel just to annoy people. Of course, I would have done so fearlessly as I have absolutely no doubt that - the banner proclaming We Are Hamas notwithstanding - the protesters would have demonstrated their commitment to peace by listening politely to what I said before responding gently.

A toast to a master

Today is the 116th anniversary of the birth of J.R.R. Tolkien!
Here's to the professor.

New Year in Vienna

Arathorn, SisterEvs and I have just been watching the Viennese Philarmonic Orchestra's New Year's Day concert. This year's conductor was maestro Daniel Barenboim. As ever, the Strauss family of musicians took centre stage, with various waltzes, marches and polkas by members of the family being featured. The centrepiece of the occasion was, of course, Johan Strauss II's An der schönen blauen Donau which is otherwise known as The Blue Danube.

Other musicians were not excluded. Most notably, Joseph Haydn. The Viennese Philarmonic played his Symphony No. 45, which gave rise to a most excellent joke by myself.

Q: Why did the classical musician cross the road?
A: Because he had been playing Haydon's Symphony No. 45

Just on the off chance that you didn't get this splendid piece of humour I shall explain it: The No. 45 is known as the Farewell Symphony. Haydn arranged it so that when every musician finished his part, he left the stage. Finally, only one violinist (Haydn himself) would be left. The Farewell is supposed to have been a non too subtle hint to Prince Esterházy that it was now time to leave his summer palace and return to the winter one - where the families of the court musicians were waiting for their husbands! So, you see, in my joke, the side of the road that the musician starts out from is the side where the concert hall is located. He has finished his part and is going home.

My coat. Got.

1

Happy New Year everyone. This time round, I slept my way through it... almost. Retiring early, I woke up upon an hour and checked the time: 11:59:54. I clicked the radio on, heard Big Ben and switched it off again. That was enough entertainment for me.

Speaking of entertainment, I spent the earlier part of the evening revisiting U2 dvds - concerts from the All That You Can't Leave Behind and Vertigo tours. Ezair, I wish you had been here! Do you remember Twickenham?

U2 came hot on the heels of a very pleasant discovery that I made at work the other day - You Tube has a whole section dedicated to Bruce Springsteen videos. How good is that? I spent a whole lunch break listening to tracks from the Seegar Sessions album. I wonder if there is a U2ube section.