February book and film review

Welcome to this month's culture review. Only one book, but a rich harvest of movies this month. Now read on.

BOOK

BLEAK HOUSE, by Charles Dickens. Behind the struggle for the inheritance of a country estate, a noble family with a dark secret tries, but fails, to keep it under wraps. FR Leavis said that along with "Middlemarch", this was the greatest book to come out of England in the 19th century. You can see why. The characterisations are so powerful they form images in the brain that take on a life of their own, while the plot rips along like a Dan Brown thriller. Its 900 pages will keep you occupied for a while, as it did me, but boy, is it ever worth the effort.

FILMS

THE AMERICAN (2010)D- Anton Corbijn. A CIA hitman hides out in the Italian countryside after a botched assassination, then falls for local tart-with-a-heart. Does that remind you of "In Bruges" at all? Unfortunately this has nothing like the class or polish of that film. If you want to see George Clooney with his kit off, however, this one's for you.
BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (2010) D-Jonathan Liebesman. Brave yank soldiers struggle against an alien threat. Part Independence Day, part Starship Troopers, and not as good as either- this has not persevered in my memory, which is never a good sign.
CHALET GIRL (2011) D-Phil Tralli A talented female snowboarder makes her way in the Alps, but is inhibited by a traumatic past. A Brit film with a good cast and a slick script; somehow it lacks pace and follow-through. Forgettable.
TOY STORY 3 ((2010) D- Lee Unkrich. Along with Reservoir Dogs and Fargo, the first Toy Story was one of the 3 best films to come out of America in the 90s. TS2 was nearly as good, and this too keeps up the standard marvellously. The scene at the climax of the movie where the toys are threatened with incineration is tremendously affecting even for a cynical old git like me. Watch it.
LUDWIG (1972) D- Luchino Visconti. The story of Bavaria's 19th century "mad" king. Or was he? Hard work at over 3 hours, but sumptuously shot with fine attention to detail, it is always worth watching. Visconti, after all, was something of a genius in Italian cinema. This, for instance, is so much better than that other sprawling epic "The Barber of Siberia" (see last month's review) Check it, if you have the time available in your doubtless busy schedule.
ALPHAVILLE (1965) D-Jean-Luc Goddard. A private eye is determined to disrupt a grim new world where emotion has been banned in favour of "science". Absolutely sensational journey into the strange and frightening world that is the mind of JLG. Innovatory throughout, constantly putting the viewer off balance with strange plot twists and novel effects (eg going into negative printing every now and then) this quite simply is cinema at its best.
DANGEROUS METHOD(2011) D-David Cronenberg. In turn of the century Vienna, Jung meets Freud, they become friends but later fall out. Meanwhile Jung is shagging one of his more attractive patients (I guess that's the dangerous bit) Cronenberg has the kind of talent that makes most of his films worth watching, but sometimes the script lets them down. Not this time, Christopher Hampton's adaptation is brilliant, rendering this film arguably Cronenberg's best yet.
THE BLIND SIDE (2009) D- Jon Lee Hancock. Rich middle class housewife with too much time on her hands adopts a black kid with a talent for American football. Sandra Bullock, according to the values of contemporary Hollywood, did everything necessary to win the best actress Oscar for her performance. But it's of a type that doesn't really reflect reality on America's mean streets. In a way it's just as mythical as Toy Story.
BOUND FOR GLORY (1976)D- Hal Ashby. The early life of fabled American folk singer/ political activist Woody Guthrie. Hal Ashby made a series of finely observed films around this time (Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo, Coming Home) and this is no exception. However, despite the grimly authentic feel and good acting one somehow fails to connect emotionally with David Carradine's protagonist. Look out for Melinda Dillon (the blond whose son is abducted in "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind")who plays 2 completely dfferent roles in the film. There must have been a reason for this; I, however, have no idea what it might be.

A milestone reached

Yesterday I came to the end of the first draft of my memoirs. Any writer will tell you this is less than half the whole job, but it is an important moment nonetheless. It looks like the finished product will come in at around 96,000 words, which a publisher friend told me recently, is the optimal length for today's fashion.

Obviously I shall keep followers informed of progress.

Today, in ideal conditions, we drove to the Brecon Beacons and did that old favourite, Pen y Fan. From the car park to the 886 metre summit is about 4 km and 500 metres of ascent. My time today of 55 minutes was some way off my record of 45 minutes, set in 1997, but It wasn't bad. I only needed 2 oxygen breaks, both of 1 minute. As usual I pretended I was only stopping to take a picture.

We are now relaxing au sofa to watch the Scots battle the French in the 6 Nations. I have a few questions:
1. When a side scores a TRY, shouldn't it be called a SUCCESS?
2. When a TRY is CONVERTED, what is it CONVERTED to?
3. OUT ON THE FULL. What's that all about?

I don't really care though. Whatever it means, the Welsh had all the answers yesterday, and for an English Celtophile like me, that's all it needs.

Syria: the World's shame

COMMENT

There was an interesting discussion on Radio 5 the other day about the whole, terrible, Syria issue. One contributor was castigating Russia and China for refusing to endorse the UN's condemnation of Assad's mass murder, but another used wiser counsel. She invited us to recall that there is no more democratic freedom in China than in Syria; hardly surprising then, that they would be reluctant to disapprove of a repression they themselves have practised for many years. And as for Russia, wasn't Syria doing now in Homs exactly what Putin's Russia did only very recently in Grosny?

Another well informed contributor, probably better informed than the notoriously ignorant presenters on Radio 5, reminded the audience that this is not the first time Homs has been attacked. In the 1980s, Assad's father wrought terrible vengeance on its citizens for an uprising organised by the Muslim Brotherhood: over 20,000 were killed in a few short weeks.

I hear in Egypt they are seeking the death penalty for Moubarak. I say this: look out Mr Assad. It may be a long while, it may not, but I suspect time is running out before you face the same fate. The people of Syria, I am confident, will not be denied their freedom forever. I am not a supporter of capital punishment, but mass murder, if you are going to sanction it, must be the best grounds to carry out the ultimate punishment.

doctor as masseur

Having worked full time as a doctor for 38 years, you'd think I'd seen everything by now, but no. This morning a patient comes in having strained his back and, handing me a tube of arnica cream, asked me if I could massage it into his back for him. No one has ever asked me to do this before. I had already asked him if he had anyone at home sufficiently well disposed towards him that they might do the service for him, but no, his girlfriend had left him the week before (no coincidence about the back problem then)

Not being under pressure at that moment,I complied with his request. And remarkably, as I rubbed the gloop into his back I could see his muscle spasm diminishing under my fingers as I watched. Perhaps I have missed my vocation.

Those well acquainted my blog may be asking themselves why, now I am part time and only working on a Monday, why I was at work this morning. Answer: I was covering my senior partner, away on her half-term break. It's all extra pocket money, and gives me an extra reason for getting up in the morning, if I needed one (which I don't really)

Cold comfort home

The dreaded scenario for anyone who likes to keep warm in the winter: the central heating has failed completely, and taken the hot water supply out with it. The MAN he say a new boiler required and a lot of money handed over. Not a problem; I'd gladly sign over my pension to avoid having to dart from one tiny "heat island" in the house to another, while wearing several layers of cashmere sweater and a scarf. No, the prob is it won't be fixed until Tuesday, getting on for 72 hours away

One room can be kept warm with a coal-effect fire which is mainly decoration, and 2 tiny fan heaters the MAN kindly gave us before departing.

I'm pleasantly sozzled just at the moment, which is currently is mellowing my feelings. I'm not too sozzled to know I'll have to get up tomorrow morning to an icy house. Yuk...

Look on the bright side, they say. We still have running cold water, and a kettle.

Capitol dispatch

Reporting live from the Smoke on our 2nd day celebrating the girl's birthday. Yesterday we visited the Saatchi Gallery for the first time; not bad, some good German artists on display, showing that a Teutonic sense of artistic humour does exist. Then we popped round to Sandoe's book shop, almost next door and one of the best in London, where she picked up some Zola short stories, while I chose Kipling's "Plain Tales from the Hills".

In the evening, in heavy snow, we made our way to the Nat Gal to view the Leonardo exhibition: nine paintings (quite a collection, considering he only ever completed 15in his whole life) and 90-odd drawings. The pictures were of course magical, even though the Louvre, having graciously loaned their (first) version of the Madonna of the Rocks", to compare against the (2nd) version held in the Nat Gal itself, could not bring themselves to send over their most precious exhibit, the Mona Lisa, perhaps understandably. The drawings, however, many kindly lent by HMQ, were disappointing. Many were so small you had to get within 6 inches to see the detail, not an easy feat when hundreds of other people were trying to do the same thing.

This morning we went to the Museum of London, another first, checking out the nearby medieval bastion, part of London Wall.

This arvo it was "Shrek: The Musical". Not a concert of baroque classics? I hear you ask. But no. What the girl wants, the girl gets, and I approved of her choice wholeheartedly. In order to engage in modern culture one should see a West End show every once in a while. And I'm told that as far as this sort of thing goes, nobody does it better than London, as Broadway knows only too well: half the shows there on any given night are British imports...

On the whole, a very pleasant, if a bit snowy (then slushy) weekend.