The will to survive

This is my review of Un sac de billes (Romans contemporains) (French Edition) by Joseph Joffo.

Not yet teenagers at the outbreak of World War 2, Joseph Joffo and his older brother Maurice, resilient and resourceful beyond their years, managed to keep one step ahead of Nazis and French collaborators and escape deportation. The decision to send the two boys away from Paris to cross into the "zone libre" with neither correct papers nor enough money may appear utter folly on their parents' part. Yet, the pair managed to survive this first challenge through a mixture of good luck, the kindness and humanity of strangers, and Maurice's wily realisation that, having been shown a safe path across the border for a fee, he could guide others in turn and gain a useful night's earnings.

What seemed at first like a game gradually became arduous each time, having found a safe haven, the boys had to move on. Matters reached a grim low point when they were for a while held by a band of Nazis and repeatedly questioned in an attempt to break them down to make the admission of being Jewish. As a final irony, Joseph spent the last months of the war working living and attending the Catholic mass with his employer, an ardent supporter of Pétain and the idea of a united Europe under the Germans – which, as Joffo notes, has in a way come to pass.

Even if some scenes have been embellished a little, this is an inspiring and moving tale, an excellent choice as an A Level text, since it portrays so vividly a human tragedy which should not be forgotten. It is also bursting with useful French idioms. In the final pages, the normally ebullient Joffo writes of his eventual realisation that he would not come out of the war unscathed: "they" had taken not his life, but perhaps something worse, his childhood, by killing in him the child he could have been.

I enjoyed reading the postscript to the novel, written half a century later, in which Joffo summarises his answers to questions commonly posed. For instance, in denying his Jewishness in order to save his life, was he forfeiting the right to be Jewish, as maintained by a Spanish rabbi? Tolerant and pragmatic to the end, Joffo prefers the view that a man who has renounced his faith can always reclaim it,citing Maimonidies to the effectthat the first duty of a Jew is to save his life, and if necessary deny his faith, provided he remains true to it in his heart.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars

Un sac de billes (Romans contemporains) (French Edition)

“The Missing” by Tim Gautreaux – For the love of children and steamboats

This is my review of The Missing by Tim Gautreaux.

Not to be confused with other stories bearing this title, “The Missing” refers not only to the abduction of a small girl called Lily, but also the psychological effects of family loss both on her and on Sam Simoneaux, the young French-speaking American who dedicates himself to finding her. Nicknamed “Lucky” for having landed in France off a US troopship just after the armistice which brought World War 1 to an end, Sam’s good fortune runs out when he loses his cushy job as a Louisiana department store “floor-walker” because of his failure to prevent the kidnappers from escaping with their prize. His attempts to find Lily, and to come to terms with his own past, form the core of this novel.

“The Missing” is a good “old-fashioned” yarn, in that it has a strong, straightforward plot with plenty of twists and tense or moving moments. It stands out for the quality of the writing: “…the train was pulled off the lurching ferry…., handed over to a greasy road locomotive, and proceeded west through poor, water-soaked farms into a reptile-laced swamp where virgin cypresses held up a cloud-dimmed sky……from one of the new aeroplanes the railroad would look like a flaw in a vast green carpet”.

Apart from creating this vivid sense of place, Tim Gautreaux is good on the development of Sam’s character, as he gains insights into dealing with both grief and revenge. The author must also have undertaken a phenomenal amount of research to produce the detailed descriptions of life in the 1920s on Mississippi paddlesteamer leisure cruises, where skilled black jazz musicians won over their local audiences, often cracking deep southern prejudice in the process.

If forced to criticise this impressive and absorbing novel, I would say that it is probably too long, insufficiently ruthless in rooting out superfluous, more mundane details, whilst omitting some areas of interest to the reader such as how Sam came to marry his long-suffering wife, Linda, or what befell some of the villains of the piece. I was in fact unconvinced that a strong, capable man like Sam would have found it so hard to gain employment other than working on the paddlesteamer, or that Linda would have accepted with so little complaint Sam’s long absences, in particular when he could no longer claim that they were necessary to find Lily. Some events are “told” rather than “shown” as in the case of the personalities and motivations of Lily’s captors. Also, despite some grim events, the story lapses at times into American-style corniness and slapstick punch-ups, but manages to take an unusually sophisticated approach to the issue of “revenge”. I now plan to read “The Clearing”…….

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars


The Missing
 

Compulsive viewing

This is my review of A Thousand Times Good Night [Blu-ray].

Driven by anger over injustice and the desire to make ordinary people aware of it, courageous yet impetuous, Rebecca is an internationally acclaimed war photographer. Is this fair on her longsuffering husband left to shoulder the responsibility of two daughters, or on the children themselves, the elder of whom is beginning to grasp the full extent of the risks her mother is taking? Does Rebecca get too much of a buzz out of the danger? What exactly does her work achieve, particularly when she is seriously injured in the process? These are not the kind of questions, of course, over which male war photographs are forced to agonise to the same degree.

Starting with a tense scene in which Rebecca films a young woman preparing for a suicide bomber attack, some may find the film too harrowing. Yet, it is for the most part a moving and thoughtful examination of an important current issue. The grimness is relieved by moments of humour and the beauty of the Irish coast where Rebecca's husband works – and you can't help wondering, as he does, how she can bear to swap this for the dusty mayhem of Kabul or a Kenyan refugee camp. The film presents both sides of the argument, avoids tipping over into sentimentality, and reaches an unpredictable and well-judged ending.

Juliet Binoche's acting in the main role is outstanding, and she is well-supported by those playing her often bewildered husband and children.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

A Thousand Times Good Night [Blu-ray]

Sins of the fathers

This is my review of Fall from Grace by Richard North Patterson.

Adam Blaine returns from Afghanistan for the funeral of best-selling novelist Ben, the charismatic, but cruelly manipulative father who a decade earlier drove him to leave his home in Martha's Vineyard and abandon his law studies for reasons which are not revealed until the end of this twisting yarn. In a final abuse of power, Ben has made his estranged son executor of the will which disinherits his wife Clarice and Adam's brother Teddie, leaving his estate to the beautiful former actress Carla.

The author creates an intriguing situation and a range of interesting characters, although his world of predominantly rich, gifted, boozy, somewhat two-dimensional people with a common style of speech, by turns corny or brittle, palls at times. The plot proves somewhat skimpy, and I was aware of the frequent repetition of key points, which I suppose helps to drum them in. This may be a result of North Patterson's preoccupation with legal arguments, which are in fact his strongest point. I could not help noticing sentences which are occasionally slipshod or tending towards inflamed purple prose. Despite these reservations, I found this for the most part "a good read" of the kind that gives you a guilty pleasure.

"Fall from Grace" is the second part of a trilogy about the Blaine family, although I believe it was published first. I started with "Loss of Innocence" , which portrays Ben as a talented but poor and embittered young man drawn albeit with cynicism to Clarice's world of privilege and power. I would recommend reading the series in this chronological order.

"Fall from Grace" may not be great literature, but North Patterson does this kind of dysfunctional family thriller well. I shall read the final part of the trilogy.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

Fall from Grace

Janus-faced friendship

This is my review of The Two Faces Of January [DVD].

Charming and assiduous young American tourist guide Rydal, claiming to be fluent in many languages including Greek, is not above fleecing his trusting clients, mostly female, as he shows them round Athens in the early 1960s. In turn, he is intrigued by an American couple, the eye-catching Colette and her much older husband, Chester. Since this tale is based on a book by Patricia Highsmith, a gripping noirish psychological thriller soon develops. Despite his suave appearance and love of old books, Chester’s shady past catches up with him abruptly. The attempts of the three main characters to manage the situation entangle them in a downward spiral of events, compounded by provocation, jealousy and mistrust.

An interesting aspect is the portrayal of travel fifty years ago through a wilder Greece and Crete where it was easier to conceal oneself, and the parts are well-acted. The story may have lost some of the depth of the book which I have not read, but believe contains the idea that Colette reminds Rydal of a former girlfriend. Tense and exciting, the plot shows the characters’ shifting relationships and raises questions as to their motives and feelings.

As is often the way with such dramas, I felt it lost momentum towards a somewhat disappointing ending. It was as if, after a particular climactic event, either the author or the director did not quite know where to go. Overall, it is worth watching.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars


The Two Faces Of January [DVD]

As the wind blows, you must strive to live

This is my review of Wind Rises – Double Play [Blu-ray + DVD] [Cardboard Slipcase ].

This “final” animated cartoon from the revered Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki is by turns visually striking, shocking, humorous and moving, providing an insider’s insight into Japanese culture and history in the period leading up to World War Two. It is loosely based on the life of the designer of Zero fighter planes, Jiro Horikoshi, who was determined to match Western technical expertise, but appalled by the devastation of war: he was fascinated by the birdlike speed and beauty of flight, and in the process turned a blind eye to the destructive power of bombs until it was too late. Like other geniuses whose skills have been harnessed for evil ends, it was perhaps too much to expect him not to pursue his research.

In a touch of magic realism, the young Horikoshi meets in his dreams the earlier pioneering Italian aeronautical designer Gianni Caproni, who acts as his mentor and inspiration. There are breathtaking images of a major earthquake with the ensuing fire that destroyed much of Tokyo in the early 1920s, fanciful ideas of planes, developed through painstaking research into real prototypes, and the beauty of the green countryside with sudden bursts of rain and wind.

Although long, this film is completely absorbing, as the director’s fertile imagination keeps one feasting on each scene before it vanishes. Above all, it provides a more sympathetic appreciation of the chain of events which dragged Japan into the war which destroyed it for a while, and enables one to perceive the Japanese of that time as people with real emotions and aspirations. As one watches the progress in developing planes, there lurks in the background the knowledge of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki disasters to come. Yet, the film contrives to end on a constructive note: “Le vent se lève et il faut tenter de vivre”.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars


Wind Rises – Double Play [Blu-ray + DVD] [Cardboard Slipcase ]

Soon to be neither national nor healthy?

This is my review of This May Hurt A Bit (NHB Modern Plays) by Stella Feehily.

This very topical play is a savage indictment of the UK Coalition’s reorganisation of the NHS. To regular followers of the media, the main attacks will come as no surprise: costly, top-down, cynical sell-off of services without a mandate from voters, handing over to profiteering private, often foreign companies, failing to ensure that provision is adequate and worst of all, sacrificing the post-war vision of a free service based on need, unique and revolutionary in its day.

The drama pricks our consciences with an opening polemic from Nye Bevan, then moves on to a kind of “Yes Minister” scene, in which a Sir Humphry clone gives David Cameron the form of words to fob of criticism of the proposed Act.

It is soon clear that this play is a series of sketches, with surreal touches as when Nye Bevan and Churchill gatecrash a family reunion to argue over how best to manage a health service collapsing beneath the unforeseen demands of a rapidy ageing population, or when a budgie called “Maggie” begins to talk like Margaret Thatcher.

Requiring a high level of performance, this play is by turns funny and poignant, but the polemical stance is often heavy-handed. The criticism of PFIs is devastating, but in the main the assault is too earnest and didactic, rather than subtly dramatic. Despite the inclusion of a pro-reform consultant, and stereotyped Republican American medic and his English wife who only see the faults in the NHS, there is insufficient coverage of alternative points of view with arguments to counter them effectively.

The work seems likely to date quite fast.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars

This May Hurt A Bit (NHB Modern Plays)

“Replacing an identitarian object with a real presentation of generic power”

This is my review of The Rebirth of History: Times of Riots and Uprisings by Alain Badiou.

Attracted by the apparent brevity of "The rebirth of history" (119 pages), I was interested in reading an analysis of recent uprisings such as the Arab Spring by the famous French political philosopher Badiou. I understand his desire to adopt an academic approach, and was prepared to rise to the intellectual challenge of grasping his ideas. This was made harder by what I found to be a very tortuous style, although this may have suffered in translation.

Badiou cannot be blamed for wishing to be one of the first in the field to comment on the Egyptian uprising which triggered such optimism in the early days of Tahrir Square and the fall of Mubarak. His conviction that this is a clear example of the rebirth of history has suffered a setback from the re-establishment of a repressive military regime, but it is still too early to judge the longer term outcome of the Arab Spring. However, I came to the conclusion that the essence of Badiou's thoughts on riots as such could have been summarised in an essay. He also complicates his case by straying into the vast and complex topics of nation states, communism and liberalism, citing the books he has already written on these.

He makes some interesting observations, such as that contemporary capitalism has all the features of traditional capitalism as described by Marx although he did not live to see it: concentration of capital in the hands of the global "gangsters of finance"; government leaders of all persuasions reduced to the role of "capital executives". Another example is Badiou's definition of "intervallic periods" following the collapse of a significant new "Idea" e.g. 1980-2011 when classic capitalism revived because communism had failed which he compares with 1815-50 when dissatisfaction with the French Revolution led to a revival of monarchism.

In essence, I understood him to say is that a mass uprising of a diverse group of people, although they may only be a numerical minority, occupying a clear site, may generate the enthusiasm and energy necessary to force change, improving the lot of those neglected or oppressed by the state. He remains an idealist, arguing that, in such a riot, it is enough "to want to want" subordinating "the results of action to the value of the intellectual activity itself".

My basic problem with Badiou is that I find him over-theoretical and unrealistic. He enabled me to understand better what is meant by "the withering of the state" and the rejection of representative democracy as a form of exploitation. However, his thesis that a viable, peaceful society could emerge through the power of the "Idea" taking root – his language is quasi-religious at times – seems woolly and Utopian, a luxury for an academic in his Parisian ivory tower.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars

The Rebirth of History: Times of Riots and Uprisings

Spice of life

This is my review of The Lunchbox [DVD].

I had not heard of Mumbai’s labour intensive dabbawallah system for delivering to men at work the lunch boxes often prepared by their loving wives, but a recent trip to India had made me aware of the noisy, polluted, gridlocked chaos of its urban streets. In this tale, lonely housewife Ila finds that her delicious lunches, intended to rekindle the ardour of her neglectful, workaholic husband, are somehow reaching the desk of an equally lonely insurance claims clerk on the brink of retirement. Their ensuing correspondence, made more frank and poignant by the fact that they have never met, explores both the pathos and the potential simple joys of daily life. In the process, we see and learn a good deal about life in modern India, which, beneath the film’s many comical moments seems rather sad: men grow old strap-hanging to work on overcrowded public transport, and those in work seem to have to work too hard for relatively little. Are such pleasures as mouth-watering food and colourful wedding celebrations enough to compensate for this?

Some of the plotting is a little unconvincing, but the impression of Indian life is authentic. Ritesh Batra, the director, was wise to steer clear of Bollywood romance in favour of a slower paced, lower key but moving and thoughtful film, which despite moments of sadness leaves the audience feeling positive.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars


The Lunchbox [DVD]

Automatic assumptions

This is my review of The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes.

Hugh Densmore, a young American doctor on his way to his niece's wedding in Phoenix feels obliged, against his better judgement, to pick up a teenage hitchhiker. Who knows what will befall her if he does not? She proves both an unpleasant liar and a pathetic object of pity. When local newspapers report the discovery of a young girl's body in a canal, Hugh is convinced it belongs to the hitchhiker, and that the police will soon be knocking on his door. He is fatalistic, yet also determined not to spoil the wedding and to prove his innocence.

It is not until more than fifty pages in that the author delivers a master stroke by revealing a piece of information that stopped me in my tracks. Not only does it explain Hugh's previous almost paranoid fears, but completely alters the reader's perception of the situation. I was forced to look back to see if I had misread some details, but it was clear that I had made certain assumptions and was potentially as guilty of misjudgements as some of the characters in the book.

This book is partly a psychological crime thriller in which every step is developed in forensic detail. It is also a study of life in the western states of America in the early 1960s – the baking afternoon heat and traffic jams of Phoenix, the "startling growth" of the suburbs, the abrupt change from surfaced roads to rough tracks through the semi-desert landscape of "troglodyte rocks and spire cacti". Although Dorothy Hughes can be a little shaky on the flowering of romance, she is excellent on landscapes, cold starry nights and the burgeoning fast food culture as well as deeper issues in a world of racial prejudice and criminalisation of abortion.

The sustained sense of menace and very evident risk of Densmore being unjustly ruined, combined with occasional suspicions that he may go free at the end yet turn out to be a villain after all, make this a page turner. With so much suspense, it is perhaps inevitable that the final climax is a somewhat underwhelming, but overall this gripping tale deserves its recent revival. It stands the test of time as one of the best crime novels which everyone who enjoys this genre should read.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

The Expendable Man