July 2015 book and film review

BOOKS

FLASHMAN ON THE MARCH, by George McDonald Frazer.
In this episode of the dastardly one's progress through what appears to be all the critical events of the 19th century, we find him in Abyssinia, acting as envoy to general Napier, who has been sent to sort out Emperor Theodore, who has taken a number of British hostages and is threatening to off them, maybe by throwing them off a cliff or perhaps immolating them. He hasn't made his mind up yet. Theodore is a despot's despot, and has committed atrocities that would have even the most vicious IS militant turning away and finding a quiet place to vomit. Can Flashy penetrate his security and do what, strictly unofficially, you understand, he has been told to do: place a bullet in his brain.

As this is a Flashman novel you can be sure to find the usual spicy ingredients: a sulky, gorgeous creature (often more than one) with whom Flashy can practice his famed techniques of seduction, a genuine historical context from which we are able to learn much of our country's noble imperial past, and some truly thrilling adventures which are told with pace and verve.

Auberon Waugh has said Frazer is a far better writer than Ian Fleming, which as a firm fan of the Bond books I find a bit hard to swallow, but what I have to accept is that the Flashman books are highly entertaining, skillfully constructed and represent perhaps the apex of "Airport reading". Try any of them and see for yourself.

THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, by Thomas Mann
In the early part of the 20th century, a young man travels from the "flatlands" of northern Germany to Switzerland to visit his cousin who is being treated for TB in a sanatorium in the high Alps. There he encounters not only his ailing relative but a whole collection of disparate characters who have been drawn together by their life-threatening plight, and the professionals who are dedicated to their cure. He finds himself stimulated, disgusted and entranced in turns by the inmates, one of whom he finds himself falling in love with, despite his better judgement...

I first read this wonderful book in 2005, and found an afterword written by Mann himself, who, in a rather unusual appeal, suggested that we read the book again. He did not specify whether we should re-read the book immediately, or leave an interval, so I chose the latter and left a full ten years between the first read and the re-appraisal.

The Magic Mountain is widely seen as one of the most important works of literature to come out of Germany in the 20th century, praised for its originality, skill of characterisation and intellectual power. Some see it as an allegory of the nameless forces that circled each other in the run-up to World War I, others as a deeply insightful analysis of health and illness, life and death and the human condition itself. For myself, I have never met anyone who having read it didn't rate it among the best books they'd ever read.

I share this view, which is only being cemented by the re-read. In addition to all its other wonders, as a medical man I found myself continually fascinated by the authentic medical detail, which gives a unique perspective on how TB was treated in the days before antibiotics. I'm afraid that the summary of that has to be, not very well, but then consumption, phthisis, or whatever you want to call this terrible plague, remains a major therapeutic challenge to this day, especially as the bacillus responsible for TB continues to evolve and become resistant to the treatments offered.

In conclusion, what a book!

FILMS

EX MACHINA (2014) D- Alex Garland. An internet trillionaire invites one of his brightest employees to his mountain retreat where he invites him to have a chat with his latest computer to see if it can pass the Turing Test. You know the one: if you have a conversation with something behind a screen and you can't distinguish its responses from that an intelligent human would make, then to all intents and purposes that machine is thinking, or at least performing all the tasks a human being does when it is thinking.

The computer in question appears to pass the test with ease; indeed, the internet mogul says "we're already way past that" and states his hidden agenda: that the computer comes in a rather attractive (if obviously mechanical) shape, and the real idea is to see if the employee can form an emotional relationship with a machine.

Stephen Hawking has spoken of the problems that might ensue once we start making computers that are self aware, and oh dear, our computer genius probably should have paid more attention to Hawking's remarks. Or read some of Asimov's robot stories, where, after establishing the three laws of robotics that are designed to keep all humans safe, then made a whole career out of writing stories about how those laws can go horribly wrong.
Channel 4 is currently showing their very good series Humans, which in some ways covers the same ground. Based on a series originally created in Sweden (in which, by the way, there were some explicit sex scenes, which for reasons of sheer prudery were dropped when the English version was made), it too addresses a world where self-aware machines wander the streets trying, just like us, to find a meaning to their existence. Alex Garland has made a fascinating and thought provoking film. I liked Domhnall Gleeson as the wide eyed computer nerd falling for the foxy Alicia Vikander as the thoughtful android, as well as Oscar Isaac as the hubris-laden internet mogul.
Good stuff.

THE BLADE (1995) D- Tsui Hark. 2 men work in a Chinese sword-making factory when they protect a monk being assaulted by a bunch of thugs. Badly beaten, they swear revenge, while the two men, who start out as firm friends, become enemies when one is anointed the new factory boss when the owner retires. What follows is a bewildering array of cinematic techniques, super-tight close-ups, vivid colour washes, balletic violence and lots and lots of blood.

I only saw this film 2 weeks ago and I have already forgotten some of the plot elements- no matter. What remains is a dazzling memory of the look of the film- and I'm not the only one. Numerous actioners since have borrowed heavily from the cinematography and general style of the movie- none more so than Quentin Tarantino, who lifted wholesale many of its techniques into his own films, notably the Kill Bill series.
Ground breaking stuff.

JURASSIC WORLD (2015) D- Colin Trevorrow. Oh no, they've opened another dinosaur theme park, and this time, not content with your run-of-the-mill T rexes and velociraptors, they have genetically created brand new, super dinosaurs with bigger fangs and super-claws. Can you guess how far into the movie you get before everything goes horribly wrong?

I saw the first Jurassic Park movie in 1993- loved it and thought I was witnessing the cutting edge of computer-graphiced special effects. And it didn't hurt that it was made by the film world's top, grand-scale thriller producer. This film owes a great deal to that first offering, and acknowledges it in frequent and sometimes hilarious references. All this adds a rather endearing quality to the picture, which also demonstrates how little progress has been made in computer graphics despite an intervening period of more than 20 years.

KATYN (2007)D- Andres Wajda. In September 1939 Germany invaded Poland from the west. Shortly thereafter, the Soviets invaded from the east, and as the two states had signed a non aggression pact there was an uneasy stalemate which persisted until June 1941 when Hitler ordered the invasion of Russia itself. Once they occupied the whole country, the Nazis discovered evidence of a terrible massacre committed in the Katyn forest. Anything up to 20,000 people had been murdered, doctors, lawyers, academics, the entire officer class of the Polish military: basically the cream of Polish intelligentsia.They were quick to publicise the evidence, but the Russians countered by saying that the Nazis, and not they, had committed the atrocity. And here is the heart of this film: the mystery surrounding the massacre; what was known and who knew it? It is now known, only because Gorbachev released the relevant documents in the late 1980s, that the Russians were indeed to blame. But back in the middle of WWII, who will reveal the truth, and who will find the knowledge impossible to bear?
Powerful stuff, though not for the faint hearted.

ON THE ROAD (2012) D- Walter Salles. Being the life and times of Dean Moriarty, aka Neal Cassady (Garrett Hedlund), key figure of America's 1950 "Beat Generation", who rubbed shoulders with Alan Ginsberg, Ken Kesey and most of the other players in that crazy, excessively talented cohort. If you have read Jack Kerouack's famous book, you will already be acquainted with these figures, and know that their lives, while being doubtless infinitely entertaining for them, left a swathe of disappointed, abandoned people in their wake, and this is well demonstrated in the movie. Kristen Stewart shines brightly as the muse to Moriarty and others; most of the men, however, come over as selfish, hedonistic assholes, which I have to say in the last analysis they were. I have known a few speed freaks in my time, and this is how they live: a high octane, self obsessed existence with little regard for others. In fact, the film shows all this rather well; too well in fact, as it threatens to become a little dull with its repetitive themes.

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (2014) D- Woody Allen. A famous magician devotes his  spare time to exposing fake mediums- until he comes across someone who might actually be the real deal. It doesn't hurt that she is an extremely attractive and intelligent woman. Nonetheless, he will stop at nothing to expose her as a fraud- if she is one, that is.

Woody Allen once said that when sex is good it's really good, and when it's bad, it's still pretty good. I'd say the same about his movies. When they're good (Blue Jasmine, Crimes and Misdemeanours) they aspire to genuine greatness; even when they're not so great, like this one, they're still better than most other films you'll see in any given year. Colin Firth is excellent as the wood-be debunker, and Emma Stone highly appealing as the medium who seems to know everything before anyone else.

MIRROR MIRROR (2012) D- Tarsam Singh. An evil queen (Julia Roberts) uses dark forces to keep her realm in thrall, but a beautiful young girl (Lily Collins) threatens to be rather more than a fly in her pot of cold cream. She would murder her rival, but she escapes her assassins and falls in with a gang of diminutive neer-do-wells.

Played as much for laughs as thrills, this re-working of Snow White works quite well. Roberts clearly relishes the chance of playing a super-villain, while the Seven Dwarves ((or Seven Little People as we should now refer to them) warm to their roles with great glee.
Pretty good, really.