Free Men (Film Review)

Free Men looks at a rarely explored aspect of World War 2, that of the involvement of the Muslim community in the French resistance. 

Younus is a naive, apolitical, non-religious Muslim Algerian immigrant in Paris at the beginning of the Second World War. When he is found out as a black marketeer, the collaborationist police force him to spy on the Paris Mosque. However the more he comes into contact with the religious Moslem community, the more he is drawn into their work in the French resistance (which included hiding Jews in the cellars and giving them false papers). He makes friends with Salim a brilliant Algerian singer, who as a Jew is being protected by the Mosque which has given him false papers.

Much of the film centres round historic characters (Salim the singer and Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit the head of the mosque, who was later awarded for his role in the French resistance) giving insights into an often overlooked aspect of a period of European history that can otherwise feel as though it has been over-documented.

I found this film fascinating but lacking in tension and drama. Younus is far too taciturn to make for a good central character, particularly as so much of the film revolved around conversation. As this character is entirely fictional there seems little justification for his lack of words, which greatly impeded any sense of character development.

As ever, coloured text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more. 

Robert Mugabe - What Happened? (Film review)

When I lived in Malawi in 1990-92, I taught in a national girls secondary school. It was well resourced and staffed, housed in a handsome building with twenty four hour electricity and running water and  Flamboyant trees in the courtyards. The students were made up of the brightest girls in the country, the daughters of the richest people in the country and the daughters of the party faithful. Although being a national school it was better resourced than most, secondary schools across Malawi were relatively well resourced.

Only ten percent of the population in Malawi at that time attended secondary school and many who did had to wait until their late teens to start doing so. Everyone who attended secondary school needed to pay for it.

In nearby Zimbabwe, the secondary schools were basic, mostly lacking running water or electricity. However, Zimbabwe at that time offered free secondary school education to everyone in the country.

In the first 15 or so years in the life of the country from 1980 when minority ruled Rhodesia became majority ruled Zimbabwe , it was in many ways an African success story with universal education and health care and significant investment in farming. Large landowners who owned huge areas of land were encouraged to sell their land to the government to redistribute amongst landless farmers. (It wasn't perfect though, there was, during that time period, civil unrest in the Matabeleland area which lead to massacres).

So what went wrong to make the land of corruption, poverty and violence that is now Zimbabwe?

Robert Mugabe - What Happened? is a sobering portrait of the freedom fighter turned international statesman turned power-crazed tyrant that is Robert Mugabe and the disastrous effect he has ultimately had on the country. It's a very useful guide to the history of the country since its foundation and a heart breaking documentary on how so much potential can be lost through mismanagement, greed and brutality.

It was particularly interesting to follow how the issue of land redistribution, an election promise at the start of majority rule, has dominated so much of the history of the country. At first handled sensitively it was then ignored, then became an issue of international disagreement and ultimately lead to forced evictions and murders of large landowners.

(The soundtrack to this film is wonderful, much of it played on instruments made from recycled materials.)

As ever, coloured text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.

Just published

I'm delighted that my poem Family Tree is up on Snake Oil Cure today! You can read it here. (Today, that link takes you directly to my poem, but it looks as though, from tomorrow onwards, you may need to scroll down to reach my poem).

I'm also delighted  that two of my haiku are included in the Sketchbook haiku thread on the theme of brides and weddings. More haiku are being added all the time, so be sure to check back or send your own in (details on the Sketchbook website).

Giveaway Winner!

 The winner of the My Memories Digital Software Giveaway is Roadbunner! Could you send me your email address so I can send you your promo code for the software? (For those of you haven't visited Roadbunner's blog, it's well worth checking out if you're a runner or if you like bunnies.)

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway! 

And whether you won or not, in fact even if you didn't enter, My Memories are offering all readers of this blog (even if you never comment!) your very own Share the Memories code giving you a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!)

Just use this code  STMMMS4293  in the checkout to claim your discount!

As ever, coloured text contains hyperlinks that t ake you to other websites where you can find out more.

Parliamentary Shadows

I'm not a huge fan of the Scottish Parliament building, I have to admit (the entrance lobby is so dull and gloomy like a cave and many of the meeting rooms have pillars built in front of the windows so there's not enough natural light and what about all those branches of bamboo over the windows, again blocking out the natural light. But anyway, I did notice some nice shadows there today as we walked home from a nice wander round Arthur's Seat (which I'll blog about on Crafty Green Poet tomorrow).

for Shadow Shot Sunday



and don't forget I'm doing a digital scrap-booking giveaway over on Crafty Green Poet!

As ever, coloured text contains hyperlinks that will take you to other webpages where you can find out more!

Digital Scrapbooking Giveaway Now on Crafty Green Poet

If you're into digital scrapbooking, you may be interested in this giveaway on Crafty Green Poet.

And whether you win or not, My Memories are offering all readers of this blog your very own Share the Memories code giving you a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!)

 

 Just use this code  STMMMS4293  in the checkout to claim your discount!

Now on Etsy

Those of you who also read Crafty Green Poet will know that I've set up a shop on Etsy. It's unsurprisingly called craftygreenpoet. 

The shop will ultimately focus on crafting supplies, but there will be some items handmade from re-purposed and up-cycled materials and the occasional vintage item. So far, to give a flavour of the range, I've listed: a vintage African print dress; some vintage floral fabric; a beautiful piece of sea glass ideal for making into a pendant and a handmade chopstick bag. Today I added these stunning Uzbek trousers! You can see them all if you visit the shop!

I'll be slowly adding more items to the shop over the next week or so, so do pop over very so often to see what's new!

Read me while you can at 24project

I'm delighted to have a poem at the 24project, a wonderful 'pop-up' literary magazine. It's being edited today (starting from midnight last night until midnight tonight) and will be online for one week only after that. There's a wonderful selection of poetry, fiction and photos on there already and you can see my poem here.

As ever, coloured text contains hyperlinks that take you to other websites where you can find out more

DJ Physics

When you go to a Science Festival, maybe your first thought isn't that you'll end up dancing! However that has been one of my strong reactions to this years events at Edinburgh International Science Festival! I've already reviewed Emotion in Motion and last night I went along to DJ Physics.

I used to go clubbing regularly and was always fascinated by what the DJs were doing with the music but never enough to actually think about it too much, all my attention being given to dancing. So I was fascinated to finally get a chance to see what does go on in the DJ booth, both in terms of the practicalities and the science.

Martin Archer is a DJ and academic physicist who promised to make us all into expert DJs by the end of his presentation. I doubt I could now take over in my favourite club, but it certainly was a very entertaining event. There was lots of music to demonstrate how to skillfully move from one track into the next (and demonstrations on how not to do it). There was also a demonstration of how sound moving through a gas filled tube can cause flames to dance to the music, which was probably the highlight of an excellent event.


Martin Archer claims that DJs are puppet masters, manipulating the crowd to enjoy themselves, keep the dance-floor filled and the atmosphere upbeat. He shared his secrets of how all this works, though I'm guessing there would be more to it than that, to really become a successful club DJ.

Disclaimer: Clicket gave me the ticket for this event.

As ever, coloured text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.

Emotion in Motion

I'm just back from a lively session on dance and psychology at the Edinburgh International Science Festival. If you read my Crafty Green Poet blog regularly you'll know that I'll be blogging the festival for Clicket on their blog. I'm also blogging about selected events on my own blogs. You can for instance read about Saturday's Edinburgh Enlightenment Exchange here and here and also about the Science on a Plate exhibition organised by the Edible Gardening Project at the Royal Botanic Gardens, here.

Today's session featured dance psychologist Dr Peter Lovatt and choreographer Ruth Mills with the members of the Dance House Community Company from Glasgow. Using a mixture of video, live dance and audience participation they explored the ability of dance to communicate emotions. A very lively event that had all the audience dancing!