Italian playwright Ugo Betti once penned an observation about fate and destiny that fits the mesmerising films Mal and I wached on the long weekend - that soulful Indian film Before Rain and the powerul story Doubt and a film which David Stratten gave five stars on the weekend Gran Torino, an exchange at the barber captures my Iceberg club manners so well ;-). We wonder but in the end there is always a certain peace in being what one really is, in being that completely. The condemned man has that joy.
Benefit Of Doubt and the Melting-Plot Class Six Decades of Dream and Hope but little reinforment
Sixty years ago, a document of fewer than 1700 words (even less than the Charter 77 of Vaclav Havel fame, gave birth to a dream. As I observed the celebrations and the articles marking the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, I ponder on this Revolution within the context of "world historical revolutions". Like revolutions, the declaration's words are inspiring. The challenge is enforcement. Words to Honor at Latitude East!
The Uiversal Declaratin of Human Rights proclaimed by UN in Dec 1948, the year Lidka was born, envisioned a world that respected the dignity of every human beings.However as we know these days only the executives know what dignity stands for at work, the rest of us a powerless slaves to rules and more rules. One of the articles 26.1 states that everyone has the right to education. Directed by Laurent Cantet, the film Class follows a year in the life of a French schoolteacher working in a tough multi-cultural section of Paris. Based on a best-selling autobiographical novel by François Begaudeau, who plays the main character, "The Class" is brought alive by the performances of the non-professional actors playing the students. One of the hottest films of the year was watched by John and Patricia Azarias who each speak eight languages. Bob and Helena Carr who also have interest in education were also at the Paddignton Verona cinema on Australia Day or the New Year of the Ox (I see you've brought home a kangaroo). However, I am not sure how good Carr's French really is and whether the reference of students disliking politicians was fully appreciated by the ex pollies in the crowd.
Laurent Cantet cast real students and teachers in The Class, his piercing docudrama about a melting-pot middle school in Paris. The French director was convinced it was the only way to make the movie realistic. They say what they really mean ...
So many young professional actors are artificial. Also, I wanted to improvise and I thought it would be easier to do with actual students. The head of “The Class” is played by Francois Begaudeau, whose autobiographical novel about his teaching experience inspired Cantet to make the film. Begaudeau, who co-wrote the screenplay, is a youthful teacher challenging his restless students to think, read and write in a rough environment that’s not exactly conducive to learning. Laurent Cantet’s realist movie exceeds two hours and remains confined to the four cold war type multicultural walls of a school ... "The Class" ("Entre les Murs")We wanted to capture the energy and unpredictability
The film reflects issues that society has to face, even if it doesn’t want to look at them. How can school help integrate children into society? How do children relate to adults? How do you build a community with people from so many different backgrounds?
• At Cannes, “The Class” was the first French film to win the Palme d’Or in 21 years Fleshing out the characters; [ wiki sky; Mark Thomas, a regular on the British comedy circuit, has a keen eye for the absurdities of modern life: and what could be more absurd than a globalised economy which provides rich people and powerful corporations with an opt out card marked TAX HAVENS . Cull bankers, invade Jersey . . a cutting edge agenda for 2009 ]
• • With the economy close to actually starting to shrink, the former governor of the Reserve Bank has pinned the blame for the financial turmoil on executives who took excessive risks to secure multi-million dollar bonuses Huge executive bonuses broke economy ; Mullenweg's WordPress has become the No. 2 blogging platform behind Google's Blogger, signing up 10,000 new bloggers daily. WordPress creator Mullenweg is many bloggers' best friend ;
• • • Agency analyst Russell Tice shed new light on the Bush administration's warrantless domestic spying last week when he told MSNBC that the NSA blended credit card transaction records with wiretap data to keep tabs on thousands of Americans NSA Whistleblower: Grill the CEOs on Illegal Spying
Coda: At the iceberg on Australia multicultural flags flew above the Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Japanese, Ausie teams. The Ausie teamand Scottish teams won - Appreciations to Penni and familia who let me swim with the tyre and hopelessly falling off surf board - but at trivia Mal and I did help ;-) Ravisi is north from the iceberg!