Demob Happy

Waltz With Bashir - Ari Folman
Hagai Levi, creator of the Israeli TV show ‘Be’Tipul‘ - which became in turn the inspiration for the latest HBO phenomenon, ‘In Treatment’, currently championed in the UK by The Guardian - said of Israel that “one of our problems as a nation is that in our mind we [...]

[Read more →]

Shaken, not stirred
6/10
Most of the debate surrounding Ken Loach’s 2006 Palme D’Or winner seems to be concerning the historical accuracy of the plot. Whereas I wouldn’t suggest that these arguments are unimportant, it seems most critics forgot to evaluate the actual film craft: the style, acting, use of music and camerawork etc. I’m [...]

[Read more →]

The stuff of nightmares
9/10
Jung Chang’s autobiographical story of three generations of women living through China’s tumultuous 20th century is fascinating and terrifying. Given that it is a subjective account of the key events in modern Chinese history, ‘Wild Swans‘ provides a compelling and informative narrative that brings to life complex socio-historic transformations in [...]

[Read more →]

Reading of responsibility
9/10
The Reader is a subtle, thought-provoking work that continues - but does not quite belong to - a tradition of Holocaust literature. The novel very cleverly raises questions about the nature of complicity and the boundaries of responsibility. It also examines the idea of collective ‘amnesia’ and its consquential twin, collective guilt. It [...]

[Read more →]

In the grips of drug addiction
7/10
Half Nelson tells the story of an idealistic young teacher Dan, unable to break his cycle of cocaine and crack abuse. Labouring under the delusion that he will finish an illustrated children’s book on ‘dialectics’, he teaches history at a run-down innercity school. Bringing left-wing theory into his lessons [...]

[Read more →]