Tour of Bali, Indonesia

Fighting cocks in their cages

At 9 am we drove by a school of judo for small children. Along the road I saw people holding roosters in cages. They are fighting roosters, and although the practice is banned it remains very popular.

Lots of young people in the streets were drinking Arak (a liquor based on distilled coconut).



All over Bali, following an ancient tradition, each family house has a small temple to the gods and another to the ancestors. I will be lucky to witness an offering in a real Balinese family on another day of this trip. Each village has three temples: one to Brahma, one to Shiva and one to Vishnu.


Bali is an anomaly in Indonesia as the great majority of its population is Hindu, with only a few Muslims and Christians. This morning we set off to visit Besakih temple complex, perhaps the most important in the island. It is a huge structure on the slopes of the Gunung Agung mountain. It is a grand mixture of 20+ temples, masses of pilgrims, scores of tourists and rows of merchants who peddle anything either group would buy. A few ladies sit on the sidewalks and sell fresh and dried fruits.

As we drive around the island I note that there seems to be a lot of economic activity going on, the vibrant tourist industry of course but also construction and trade. My guide Mully tells me that the average wage for a local worker is about 80.000 Rupies (about 6 Euro at today's rate) but Javanese workers will do the job for 70.000, hence the immigration of low skilled labor from Java. This is useful of course but it also creates problems. For one thing Javanese are Muslim, so there is a huge contrast with the local Hindus. Also, they are disproportionately responsible for crimes such as theft, especially when they lose their jobs. Lots of riots as young Balinese don't want to work in the rice fields or construction but at the same time resent the influx of Javanese workers who take up these jobs. Same story as we are used to experience in Europe...

In the afternoon Luca and I do a couple of hours of white water rafting. Too bad there is no time to do more, it would be definitely worthwhile!

Later in the afternoon we visited the Royal Court house.

In the evening I ate at a local night market in Gianyar. Suckling pig is the paramount specialty of Bali, and it is not be missed for any reason!

Night market satay

Giorgio Perlasca (1910-1992): history, books, films.

Today is the twentieth anniversary of the death of Giorgio Perlasca. See his website in Italian. It is surprising to me that someone who, alone, has done so much for so many should still be relatively unknown, especially outside of Italy and perhaps Israel. Perlasca saved over five thousand Jews, far more that Schindler did with his "list" of Hollywood fame.

Anche in Italia indifferenza per la sua morte, con un funerale disertato dalle maggiori autorità politiche, anche locali. Un altro caso di come il nostro paese trascura i suoi eroi. Quelli veri, non quelli costruiti in televisione e in certi libri di storia.

Puoi comprare il box con due DVD in italiano qui




Unfortunately this film is not available in English.

Il film è tratto da materiale contenuto in questo libro:




Altri libri su Giorgio Perlasca sono disponibili qui.

Arrival in Bali, Indonesia

Uneventful flight to Bali over a necklace of Indonesian islands.

The car that is supposed to be waiting for us is not there and after a few sms Luca and I decide to rent a taxi to go to our hotel in Sanur. We'll have to overnight here before catching our domestic flight to Komodo tomorrow.

Traffic out of the airport in Denpasar is horrific. We drive bumper to bumper for almost two hours amidst unbearable pollution. A little man pulling a huge cart easily overtakes us. He is carrying I don't know how many hundreds of kilos of everything. Reminds me of rickshaw pullers of another time.

Before dinner we take a walk along the beach. Because of the tides, swimming depth can be very very far from the shore. I can't really see why one would come to Bali for its beaches, though there are plenty other reasons to. In fact, I was initially concerned this would be a much too commercialized destination. However, as I will see in the course of my visit after our diving cruise, it is not necessarily so as long as one is ready to move out of the beaten path.

The main street of Sanur is rather uninteresting: shops overflowing with junk for tourists and restaurants. We decide to dine at the Savana, attracted by the lobster on display. There are very few patrons. Too few perhaps. After they take our orders the staff, slowly, starts the charcoals to cook the lobster. It takes more than two hours before the food is on our plates! Eventually they apologize and offer a 20% discount on the bill. Oh well! Lobster was very good though.

Singapore city tour: Chinatown, Maxwell food center.

We wake up at dawn because of our jet lag, and out of our hotel window we can admire the silhouette of the iconic Marina bay Sands (MBS). After a sumptuous breakfast, we proceed to a full day tour of Singapore with Luca and our local guide.

Merlion

Singapore welcomes us with a sunny and hot day. I never have enough of this wonderful city state, a mixture of tradition and modernity that blends many cultures into a proud and vibrant society. The Chinese majority (about three quarters of the population) coexists with the Indian (Tamil) and Malay minorities and the many Western expats.

About two hundred Jewish families are known to live here, but I am told they mostly keep to themselves. It is possible to visit mosques, churches, Hindu and Buddhist temples, but our guide says it is not easy to visit the two synagogues for non Jews.

Streets are calm and clean, public transport works well and everything seems to be user friendly. The country is not really a full democracy, and limited dissent is tolerated, just, alive, especially online. Economically, the former British colony began to develop as a freeport, taking advantage of its strategic position. It then diversified into manufacturing, oil refining, finance and more recently into tourism. Tourists are also attracted by the possibility of gambling.

Politically, Singapore is tightly connected with the West and especially with the US, which keeps a discrete military presence on the island. Military cooperation with Israel is quite developed as well.

The Chinatown underground market is pulsating with trade and (for me) unusual foods, like fish bellies and pork stomach. There is ample opportunity to taste different delicacies as we work our way along the neon lit alleys of the market.. A friendly seller of more familiar bananas poses for me without a problem. In one cafè I try a drink of chestnut juice, barley and lime.

Live frogs are for sale along with many different kinds of meat and fish.


At the Maxwell food court Chinese, Indian and Malay food offer an endless wource of enjoyment for the adventurous. Here you sit casually at big round tables that you share with whoever happens to be there. You buy your food and drinks and eat at your pace. Many ladies scurry around cleaning up after you are done, and other ladies patrol the alleys selling paper tissue.

Actually you don't really have to be so adventurous. Just curious. Unlike a group of Italians whom I met. The two guys were looking around and ready to plunge into some chicken masala or pork liver, but the two ladies looked horrified and asked their men to leave and go look for some more readily recognizable food. Oh well, their choice. And their loss. We stayed and tried different stuff, including "century old egg", a darkened hard boiled egg that is kept underground for some months before being offered for consumption. Different from what we are used to, but good.

A very special egg

Of course, western symbols like McDonald's are everywhere to testify the cosmopolitan nature of this country.

Dinner at an Indian restaurant in the Esplanade. Wendy, a Chinese friend from Hong Kong, tells me how she is really worried about how the central government is slowly eroding HK's unique nature to make it conform with the mainland. In theory HK is autonomous until 2047 (fifty years after the end of British rule) but in practice she fears it might be amalgamated into the Communist system before that. On the other hand, China is changing fast as well, and it might well be that in 2047 the mainland will look more like HK today

Back to Singapore

My first flight on the huge A-380, the biggest airliner in the world. It's Lufthansa this time, they had a special deal that was impossible to turn down.


As we approach Singapore the staff handed me the immigration form. Name, date of birth etc... and then a dry statement in capital letters:

WELCOME TO SINGAPORE

WARNING

DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS UNDER SINGAPORE LAW

OK could hardly be clearer than that. Singapore had a long history of opium smoking, dating back to the XIX century when the British actually encouraged it. Opium sapped the energy of society and memories last a long time in Chinese culture, so it is not surprising that there is such a determination to stamp it out today. Of course I keep reading that drugs are readily available in Singapore, so I am not sure about just how strong a deterrent the death penalty really is in Singapore.

Changi Airport, I gave it an "excellent"

At the airport (one of the best in the world, though I prefer Hong Kong's) Luca and I are welcomed by a plethora of shops, restaurants and super clean toilets, in which the management takes great pride. By the time we are processed through customs our luggage is waiting for us on the carousels and we are off to a twenty-minute taxi ride to the hotel. The road is lined by gardens full of flowers, trees, lawns, and not one advertisement board. With very few exceptions, these are banned in Singapore, which is rather funny as this is one of the biggest shopping capitals of the world.

In the evening Luca and I join a couple of friends for a seafood dinner at the one of the many restaurants along the famed Singapore East Coast. I want to try shark fin soup. Being a conscientious diver I am absolutely against the horrible slaughter of sharks that is perpetrated each year to privide for this fare, but let me try once. It is really nothing special, I can't understand what's the big deal about it, and I won't ever have it again.

You can watch a slideshow of my trip to Singapore here

Film review: A Good year (2006), by Ridely Scott, ***

Synopsis

Director Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe--who first worked together on the Academy Award-winning Gladiator--are reunited in this romantic film, which is based on Peter Mayle's book A Year in Provence.

Crowe plays Max, a workaholic London bonds trader who doesn't know the meaning of vacation. When his uncle dies, leaving him a picturesque estate in the south of France, Max views it as an opportunity to cash in the vinery and pocket the profits. The film is reminiscent of Diane Lane's Under the Tuscan Sun in the way the scenery plays as much of a role in the film as its characters. The lush village and streaming sunlight portray Provence as an idyllic, magical place. Even Max falls under its spell. While not a particularly likeable character, especially in the early part of the film, Max also isn't a bad guy. Nothing that happens comes as much of a surprise. Still, while the film doesn't fully utilise Crowe's range of skills, the actor is charming in his role and A Good Year provides fine viewing. --Jae-Ha Kim for Amazon





Review

A feel good movie to take you to Provence for a couple of hours. Crowe is not at his best, whereas Marion Cotillard is the real star.

The moral of the story is one I share: work to live, don't live to work. The setting (ruthless London city trader sees the light and a pretty woman and turns good) is a bit trite. But then again the point the movie is trying to make is a simple one. But a strong one.

But this is also a movie about wine. You learn a bit about French wine making specifically, though American wines enter the fray when Max's cousin comes into the picture. A couple of references are made to the France-California rivalry: I would recommend watching the film "Bottle Shock" together with this one. This movie was made the same year as the rematch of the  Judgement of Paris, again won by California over France.

The ending is predictable, sort of, but with a fun twist...

Film review: Egypt, Rediscovering a Lost World (2006), BBC, ****

Synopsis

Focusing on three of the most important discoveries from the world of the ancient Egyptians, this series journeys back in time to explore Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, the Great Giovanni Belzoni's finds from the reign of Ramesses II and Jean-François Champollion's deciphering of the hieroglyphs. Join Carter, Belzoni and Champollion as they overcome immense obstacles to unlock the secrets of an as-yet undiscovered world and reveal their seminal finds. Then travel even further back, to the amazing period of Egyptian history unveiled by their astounding work.




Disc 1:
Episode 1 and 2 : Carter and Tutankhamon
Episode 3: Belzoni and Ramses, first part

Disc 2:
Episode 4: Belzoni and Ramses, second part
Episode 5 and 6: Champollion and the hieroglyphs

Disc 3:
The making of the pyramids
Extras: trailers, photo gallery, fact files, visual effects


Review

Tut Ankh Amun funeral mask, Cairo Museum

This is a fictional rendering of the life and work of the three most important discoverers of ancient Egypt. It is a comprehensive work, at least as much as can fit into three DVDs packed with action. The idea of a fictional narration instead of a pure documentary is a good one in this case, as it helps bring the characters to life. The three stories of research and discovery are interlaced with the personal lives of the three men, their strengths and weaknesses, and it all makes for an entertaining as well as instructive narration.

I am not sure why the authors chose this particular order of the episodes, in that Belzoni should come first, as his discoveries preceded the work of the two others. Carter's episodes should be the last: not only did he work a century after Belzoni and Champollion, but his subject, Tutankhamun, lived a thousand years after Ramses and the inventors of the hieroglyphs. The viewer might want to watch episodes 3 and 4 first, then 5 and 6, and finally 1 and 2.

Abu Simbel before restoration

Acting is not going to win any Oscars but that's not why one buys this set. The third "bonus" DVD on the pyramids is the worst of the three. The CGI are rather poor (more like 1990s than 2010) and the narrator's voice tries to be solemn but is just boring.

You can read my review of the book on Giovanni Belzoni by Marco Zatterin (in Italian) here on this blog.

Buy the European DVD set here:




In the US you can buy it here:

Film review: The Odd Couple (1968) by Gene Saks, *****

Synopsis

Neil Simon's beloved story about two divorced men who decide to share a New York apartment. Felix (Jack Lemmon) is fussy and fastidious to a fault. He proves that cleanliness is next to insanity. Oscar (Walter Matthau) wreaks havoc on a tidy room with the speed and thoroughness of a tornado. An enduring and endearing picture with the intelligence one usually misses in comedies.


Review

Today I have seen this great film for the first time, nearly half a century after if was made, and I had a ball. Not only is the film superfunny. Not only it keep a nice clip throughout. It is actually a pretty serious analysis of many of the most common idiosyncrasies of men. All men, or at least most men, in any country. On the one hand we just want to be left alone, but on the other hand, when we are, we resent it and look for relationships.

Also, I sympathized a lot with oscar for setting up the two girls only to see them fall for Felix, who could not care less, at least in the beginning, and ends up reaping the fruits. It happened to me so many times! (I am usually the Oscar, not the Felix, in this kind of circumstances!)

Some memorable quotes:

[When Oscar can't take it anymore and asks Felix to leave]
Felix: In other words, you're throwin' me out.
Oscar: Not in other words. Those are the perfect ones!

Felix: I think I'm crazy.
Oscar: If it makes you feel any better, I think so too.

[When Felix is very tense]
Oscar: Look at this. You're the only man in the world with clenched hair.

Film review: Chaplin blu-ray box set, *****

This is a collection of five films:

The Kid (1921) silent
A moving story of poverty and generosity.

The Gold Rush (1925) silent
Irony about greed. Poor man against poor man, in the hope of striking gold and turning the page.

The Circus (1928) silent
Love and desperation intertwined in a moving story.

Modern Times (1936) last silent film by Chaplin
A timeless classic about the dehumanization of man by machines.

The Great Dictator (1940)
Filmed as WW II was getting underway, it is a totally unveiled veiled satirical attack on Hitler and Mussolini. A movie about the need to speak up for freedom, then as now.

These are among the best masterpiecess made by Charlie Chaplin. They are timeless works, and each evokes as much emotion and humor today as it did almost a century ago.

The BD rendering is very good, even though I am not sure it justifies the expensive price tag. Perhaps a DVD set would be enough. Yet, I would still recommend this set, considering one is likely to view them again and again with undiminished pleasure.

Film review: Julie and Julia (2009), by Nora Ephron ****

Julia Child in Time magazine

Synopsis

A culinary legend provides a frustrated office worker with a new recipe for life in Julie and Julia, the true stories of how Julia Child's (Meryl Streep) life and cookbook inspired fledgling writer Julie Powell (Amy Adams) to whip up 524 recipes in 365 days and introduce a new generation to the magic of French cooking. Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada) co-stars in director Nora Ephron's delicious comedy about joy, obsession and butter. It was to be the last of her movies, as she died in 2012. Bon appetit!

Film review: Olympia (1936), by Leni Riefenstahl ***

Synopsis

A documentary of the 1936 Summer Olympic games held in Berlin.



Review

This is undoubdtedly great photography, and controversial director Riefenstahl was very innovative in her positioning of the camera, especially in the low angle. For its time, it was a masterpiece.

Today I find it a bit boring. The sequence of events is monotonous and repetitive.

Interesting to hear the British version commentator cheer for a "European" runner (who happened to be an Italian) runner when an American and a Canadian were in the lead in the 800 meters. An indication that at the time the ideological differences between fascist Italy and democratic Britain did not prevent him to voice sympathy for a fellow European when competing against an American.

Also interesting to hear him use of the term"negro" when referring to black athletes. This is of course politically incorrect today, but did not have a pejorative connotation at that time. Indeed, Martin Luther King and Leopold Senghor used the word even much later.

Funny to see swimmers as they swam "breast stroke" also with butterfly strokes, at will, as it was not differentiated at the time.

The audio in this DVD is pretty bad, could have been remastered better.

An interesting piece of history nonetheless.




Buy the US version here

Book review: Prisoner of the Japanese, by Tom Wade, *****

English prisoners freed in Japan, September 1945 (AP Photo)

Synopsis

On 15 February 1942, the Japanese captured Singapore and took 130,000 Allied prisoners of war. One of those prisoners was British Lieutenant Tom Wade. For the next three and a half years he was to suffer the indignity and hardships of captivity and the torture and brutality of his captors, first in Changi, then in Korea and finally in Tokyo.

This book is the story of those years in captivity. They were years of horror and despair, characterised by harsh treatment at the hands of sadistic guards who believed that a soldier who has surrendered has lost all humanity. At Tokyo Headquarters Camp in particular, Wade and his fellow POWs had to suffer the paranoid beatings and victimisation of Sergeant Matsuhiro Watanabe, who successfully avoided prosecution by the War Crimes Commission at the war's end.

Wade's moving account of his period of captivity is characterised by the sense of determination, hope and endurance which sustained all those who shared his experience.

Film review: Sand Pebbles (1966) by Robert Wise, ****

Synopsis
"The Sand Pebbles" tells many stories. It's the story of China, a slumbering giant that rouses itself to the cries of its people - and of the Americans who are caught in its blood awakening. It's the story of Frenchy (Richard Attenborough, passionate!), a crewman on the U.S.S. San Pablo who kidnaps his Chinese bride from the auction block. It's the story of Shirley (Candice Bergen, not her best performance here), a teacher and her first unforgettable taste of love. It's the story of Captain Collins (Richard Crenna), ready to defy anyone for his country's defense. Most of all, it's the story of Jake Holman (Steve McQueen, who does great, maybe his best ever!), a sailor who has given up trying to make peace with anything - including himself. McQueen gives what is probably the best performance of his career. It's not surprising that he, Mako and the movie were up for Oscars. Portraying a character with conflicting loyalties to friend and flag, McQueen expertly conveys the confusion that leads into his final line: "What the hell happened?" It's to his credit that we already know.

Review
A movie made at the time the Vietnam was escalating and beginning to raise questions in America. The parallel is obvious: China in the 1920s was a divided country with foreign powers meddling in its internal affairs and supporting the opposing sides of the civil war. Japan had invaded, the USSR supported the Communists, the Western powers supported the Nationalists. Western powers did not invade but had a military presence on the coast and, as this film shows, inland as well.

It is an anti-colonial film too. It shows how China, while not strictly speaking colonized, had been in fact the object of foreign interference and prevarication for many decades. Yet the film also shows the brutality of the colonialists' victims, with Chinese killing Chinese, sometimes for very little reason.

The human dimension of the film reminds me of Vietnam too. Frenchy falls in love with a Chinese woman and wants to marry her amidst many difficulties, just as it happened for many GIs in Vietnam.

The Blu-ray edition also contains interesting extra features, like an interview with the director and cut scenes, as well as a "the making of" featurette. This was before any CGI of course, so it is interesting to see how special effects were done in those days.

Film review: Pushing Hands (1992) by Ang Lee, ****

Synopsis

Mr. Chu is a recently widowed tai-chi master who moves from Beijing to New York to live with his son. Chu's American daughter-in-law, Martha, can't stand having him around the house. He finds her Western ideas on raising children and keeping a home to be curious at best. These conflicts test family bonds and Mr. Chu's highly developed sense of balance. This was the first feature as a director for Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility) and has many of the hallmarks of his later, better-known works: finely observed characters, gentle yet pointed humor, and the ability to see and understand both sides of a cultural divide. The charismatic Sihung Lung (who also starred in Lee's The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman) plays Chu with strength and understatement, but Deb Snyder is miscast in a thankless role. The title refers to a tai-chi exercise that's at the center of the film's best scene, a standoff in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant. --Geof Miller for Amazon


Review

Another great movie by Ang Lee and superb interpretation ny Sihung Lung. The eternal problem of how do deal with our elders. Difficult to keep them at home with our spouses, yet difficult to abandon them in a hospice for old people. It can be a lose-lose situation. Or it can be a win-win situation if all concerned make an effort. In the end, in this movie, the grandfather successfully blends his need to keep in touch with son and grandson, but without interfereing in their lives too much.

As always with Ang lee and Sihung Lung, food and cooking plays out all along the film. It is a healthy reminder of the central role food and eating together plays in family life in any culture. Tai chi is not a central part of this movie, and therefore I'd say the title is a bit out of context. Also, some of the fighting scenes where old Sihung Lung beats dozens of younger men while practically standing still are a bit exaggerated!

I found this movie thoroughly enjoyable and very perceptive. The movie is set in the US with a Chinese protagonist, and as such does provide insights into the problematic meeting of Western and Eastern minds, though the issues it addresses are really universal. Strongly recommended.

You can read a list of movies about China I have reviewd here on this blog.

Film review: Bottle Shock (2008) by Randal Miller, ****

Synopsis

The build-up to the famous 1976 Judgement of Paris competition between French and Californian wines. Napa Valley's Jim Barrett (Lost Highway's Bill Pullman) has been plugging away for years with minimal success. A former attorney, Barrett runs Chateau Montelena with his wayward son, Bo (Chris Pine, the Star Trek prequel's Captain Kirk), who would rather do anything than assist his stern father. Bo's co-workers include Gustavo (Six Feet Under's Freddy Rodríguez) and Sam (Transformers' Rachael Taylor), who long to produce the perfect chardonnay. Naturally, the young men compete for the favors of the beautiful blonde (the movie's least interesting angle). Across the Atlantic, Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) struggles to keep his Parisian wine shop going (cheapskate American Dennis Farina is his only regular customer). Then Spurrier conceives a contest to attract customers.


Review

While based on a true story, the film takes some liberty at embellishing the facts with romance and family feuds, but this does not detract from it being highly instructive for wine lovers.

The title is a pun: the "bottle shock" is what may ruin a wine because of vibrations and temperature variations during protracted and unprotected transportation. It is also the result of the tasting, which shocked the wine world for what a bottle of California wine was able to produce.

The competition itself should have been given more time in the movie in my view, as it was the event that justified making the movie in the first place and changed the world of wine ever since.

Also, the movie does not make it clear that the competition was only for a few varieties, ie Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvigons/Merlot blends, and as such can in no way be interpreted to be an overall match between Californian and French wines.

Finally, one can not help but notice somewhat of a pro-Californian bias in the movie, but this is perhaps inevitable given the nature of the real historical events. I would like to see a film of the 2006 rematch, which California, again, won hands down, in fact by an even greater margin.

See the book "The Judgement of Paris" which I reviewed in this blog.

Film review: Chocolat (2000), by Lasse Hallström, ****

Synopsis
Driven by fate, Vianne (Binoche) drifts into a tranquil French village with her daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol, from Ponette) in the winter of 1959. Her newly opened chocolatier is a source of attraction and fear, since Vianne's ability to revive the villagers' passions threatens to disrupt their repressive traditions. The pious mayor (Alfred Molina) sees Vianne as the enemy, and his war against her peaks with the arrival of "river rats" led by Roux (Depp), whose attraction to Vianne is immediate and reciprocal. Splendid subplots involve a battered wife (Lena Olin), a village elder (Judi Dench), and her estranged daughter (Carrie-Anne Moss), and while the film's broader strokes may be regrettable (if not for Molina's rich performance, the mayor would be a caricature), its subtleties are often sublime. Chocolat reminds you of life's simple pleasures and invites you to enjoy them. --Jeff Shannon for Amazon

Review
A drifting single mother comes to inject a healthy does of laicism and joie de vivre in a sleepy French village soaked up in bigotry. The two are at first ostracized but then, slowly, people in the village, and eventually even the strict, hypocritical and controlling mayor, are moved to see the brighter, sweeter side of life that chocolate represents. You don't have to be a chocoholic to get the point!

Binoche is simply superb throughout.

This well paced film is an invitation to free ourselves from stereotypes, and enjoy what life has to offer. I don't know if Steve Jobs ever saw this movie, but he might have said it is an exhortation to "be hungry, be foolish". Don't sit back and watch life flow past you, but look at what is new, unusual, apparently useless or even frivolous, and go for it: much good could come out for you!

Photo exhibition: Robert Capa in Verona

Today I went to see the Robert Capa photo exhibition in Verona. Organized by Magnum Photos, the historic photographic agency founded in 1947 by Robert Capa himself, the great French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson and other great photographers of that time, the Verona photo exhibition intends to pay homage to Robert Capa, one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century.

Sicilian farmer showing the way to an American soldier

Description

The Verona exhibition presents some of the crucial moments of the history of the past century, documented by Robert Capa during his many trips. Almost one hundred photogaphs are shown, all B&W, which represent a compendium of Capa's work over a quarter century.

Born in Budapest in 1913, Robert Capa (born Endre Friedman) started working as a photographer in Berlin, and soon got in contact with an important photographic agency. With the rise of Hitler Robert Capa left Berlin and followed his restless soul across Europe until the start of World War II when he decided to move to New York and started working for “Life”.

The earliest pics are the photos taken in 1932 during the Leon Trotsky conference in Copenhagen, when for the first time the violence of Stalin regime was exposed.

D-day landing in Normandy, 6 June 1944

We then move on to the Paris riots of the late 1930s. Capa then goes to war: first the Spanish civil war, then the Japanese invasion of China and finally the Second World War, where he followed the Allied landings in Sicily and then D-Day. On that fateful day he took over 500 pictures, but only a dozen or so survive because a technician screwed up the development of the rolls he sent back to England!

The exhibition in Verona also contains a display of photos showing some of Robert Capa’s friends, such as Hemingway, Faulkner, Matisse and Picasso.

We can also see photos taken in the Soviet Union in 1947, as well as the founding of Israel and finally his last photos taken in Indochina, where Robert Capa travelled to document the independence war and where he was killed in a mine field on 25th May, 1954.

Finally we see pictures of his lover Ingrid Bergman.


Review

I always loved his most quoted teaching to photographers around the world: "If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough."

He certainly did get close to the action. He risked his life in many a war theater, often at the front line, and eventually died doing so. It is then surprising that he seems to have faked the most important image of his entire career. But then, at that time he was not a famous photographer. He was trying to scrape a living and might have given in to the temptation of creating a moving image when he could not find one.

I had a conversation with the exhibition guide about the famous picture of the "death of a militiaman" or "falling soldier". She argued it is genuine, the true instant when the loyalist militiaman was shot dead by Franco's forces. The picture has been controversial for a long time, but now the majority of scholars agree it was most likely staged. Another argument is about whether or not, if the photo was indeed staged, Capa was nonetheless justified in publishing it to send a political message. In my view, he was not. There is a difference between a mock image and a fake one, as it has been argued very well in this article (in Italian).

Some disagree, like my guide today. One famous article to argue that Capa's photograph was not staged was written by Robert Whelan in 2002.

Be that as it may, Capa remains a towering figure of photography. Another of his quotes I like, and try to implement in my travels, is: "Like the people you shoot and let them know it."

You can buy books with Capa's pictures on Amazon:




Here is his autobiographical essay on his work at the front.

Book review: Delusions of Gender (2011), by Cordelia Fine, ****

Synopsis

A vehement attack on the latest pseudo-scientific claims about the differences between the sexes. Sex discrimination is supposedly a distant memory. Yet popular books, magazines and even scientific articles increasingly defend inequalities by citing immutable biological differences between the male and female brain. That's the reason, we're told, that there are so few women in science and engineering, so few men in the laundry room - different brains are just better suited to different things. Drawing on the latest research in developmental psychology, neuroscience, and social psychology, Delusions of Gender powerfully rebuts these claims, showing how old myths, dressed up in new scientific finery, are helping perpetuate the sexist status quo. Cordelia Fine, a cognitive neuroscientist with a sharp sense of humour and an intelligent sense of reality' (The Times) reveals the mind's remarkable plasticity, shows how profoundly culture influences the way we think about ourselves and, ultimately, exposes just how much of what we consider 'hardwired' is actually malleable. This startling, original and witty book shows the surprising extent to which boys and girls, men and women are made - and not born, empowering us to break free of the supposed predestination of our sex chromosomes.

Review

I found this book interesting as a further reading in my series on the eternal conundrum of man/woman relationship. This book emphasizes the environmental influence on the development of man and woman, whereas other books looked at the psychological dimension (like "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus") or at the biological evolutionary aspect (like "Why Men don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps") of the differences between genders.

Put it another way, what these books purport to be hardware differences, Fine argues are only software differences, the result of education, upbringing, societal influences. Without these external conditioning there is no scientifically measurable difference in the brains of man and woman.

In my view the theory developed in this book does not necessarily contradict those of the other, hardware oriented, books. I came away persuaded both are at work and relevant. I also came away persuaded that it does not make a whole lot of difference, for practical purposes: I believe in equal rights between the genders, and so obviously we must strive for equal opportunity. That will probably not result in equal attitudes, equal predispositions, or equal approaches to problem solving. Or maybe, in time, it will. We'll see. For the time being it is clear that the most important thing is to be aware of existing differences, whether hardware or software. Pretending they don't exist can only be harmful to man/woman relationships and counterproductive to our effort to overcome discrimination.

CD review: Lama's Chants Songs of Awa, *****

Synopsis
Marking the 10th year since this popular Buddhist chant album was first released, this reissue ups the ante by featuring an expanded format. The first disc is a re-mastered version of the original album. The second features unreleased live performances by Gyurme and keyboardists Rykiel and Loy Ehrlich between 1995 and 2001, and it's this second disc that is truly intriguing. Recorded in caves, cathedrals, concert halls and open air festivals, the quality of the recordings is excellent. Mostly chanting and occasionally doing some long tones, Gyurme's voice again seemingly embodies a mix of the human and the holy during his prayers for healing, purification, liberation and peace--he's particularly spectacular on his solo intro to "The Mantra Of Padmasambhaval." Musically, Ehrlich seamless fills out Rykiel's ambient backgrounds, and two do a fine job accentuating the drama and majesty of Gyurme's voice, only overpowering it on the opening "Sacred Words Of Liberation." This is definitely a reissue that deserves to replace the original. -- Tad Hendrickson for Amazon

Film Review: Never Say Never Again (1983), by Irvin Kershner, ***

Synopsis

Sean Connery is back for his final performance as superagent James  Bond in this high-velocity action thriller from the director of The  Empire Strikes Back. When two atomic warheads are hijacked by the evil  SPECTRE organization, Agent 007 is hurled into an explosive,  pulse-pounding race to save the world from nuclear terrorists!


Review

Well this is not the best Bond movie. But then not every Bond movie can be the best Bond movie. It's good though, despite the mixed reviews. I also found it interesting to see Kim Basinger when she was thirty years old. Being an (ex) scholar on nuclear weapons made me giggle not a little for the awkward procedures and handling of the nukes... but heck it's a movie!

A bit sad at the end of the movie to hear Connery, while kissing Kim Basinger, replying "Never again!" when an emissary of his boss asks him to go back to work as the service is not the same without him. Well so it was the final appearance of the best Bond ever!

Missing at the beginning is the traditional gun barrel sequence, as this is (the only one) not produced by Eon Productions.

Book review: The Girl in the Picture, by Denise Chong, ****

Kim Phuc and others after napalm bombing of Trang Bang. Photo by Nick Ut, AP

Kim Phuc

Today it is forty years since one of the most famous photographs of the Vietnam war was taken, by photographer Nick Ut of the Associated Press.

Synopsis

Kim Phuc was nine years old on 8 June 1972. Severely burned by napalm, she ran from her burning village and was captured on film. Denise Chong relates Kim's experience and recovery in this astonishing biography and history of America's shameful war. The photograph of Kim, seen around the world, was one of many to turn public opinion against the war in Vietnam. This is the story of how the picture came to be and also what happened to Kim after it was taken. It provides an insight into the country Vietnam became after the US army left, and explains why Kim finally had to flee to Canada, where she now lives.

You can also visit the site of the Kim Foundation.

Film review: Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), by Ivan Reitman, ****

Synopsis

Big-screen favorite Harrison Ford stars in this nonstop adventure hit about a dream vacation that turns into a hilarious tropical nightmare! A gruff, rough-hewn cargo pilot living in the islands, Quinn Harris (Ford) hates tourists ... though he's not above making a fast buck from a sharp-tongued New Yorker, Robin Monroe (sexy Anne Heche), when she's desperate for a quick flight to Tahiti! But this already uneasy relationship suddenly takes a nosedive when his weather-beaten old plane is forced down in a storm! Now, stranded together on a deserted isle, Quinn and Robin quickly discover all the perils of paradise.

Film review: I Not Stupid (2002), by Jack Neo, ****

Synopsis

Three kids in Singapore did not make it to the top of their class and attend EM3, the stream for the not best and not brightest. They have to contend with pressure from their teachers on the one hand and their parents on the other. They also get bullied by their peers. In the end, they prove to be smarter than expected...

You can read more in English and Chinese in the official website of the film and of its sequel, "I not stupid too".

Review
This highly successful film can be read at different levels. It may seem at first naive and the acting may look poor, artificial, unnatural. In fact the characters are caricatures of Singapore's people, government and business, and these are very well represented by the actor's sometimes exaggerated gestures and expressions.

Film Review: Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), by Ang Lee, ****

Synopsis

This is not a movie to see on an empty stomach. Writer-director Ang Lee's 1994 Oscar nominee tells a family story about a chef and his three daughters through the meals the chef prepares and serves his family. This touching, dryly funny story of a family coping with personal lives and the way those lives intersect with the family relationships captures a shift in generations in Taipei. The father, a famous chef who has lost his taste buds, still cooks, though he draws no pleasure from eating. His daughters, meanwhile, deal with both the disappointments and surprises of daily living and the way their adult lives compare to the expectations the widowed father had for them. A subtle, amusing--and mouth-watering--comedy of impeccable manners. --Marshall Fine

Review

I found this Taiwanese movie exhilarating. As a lover of food, I was enchanted with the preparations of elaborate Chinese dishes. This is a movie about food, about life in Taiwan and about human nature.

I also found the movie to be an interesting picture into the daily life of a family in Taiwan, a fascinating island with a profound Chinese culture but also a society that has developed in a much different way compared to the mainland.

Film review: The Wedding Banquet, (1993), by Ang Lee, ****

Synopsis
Dig in! This "funny and poignant comedy of manners" (The New York Times), directed and co-written by Oscar(r) nominee* Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility), is an absolutely delicious feast! Winner of the Berlin Film Festival's prestigious Golden Bear, The Wedding Banquet is "top-notch comedy" (Leonard Maltin)! Successful New Yorker Wai Tung and his partner Simon are blissfully happy, except for one thing: Wai Tung's conservative Taiwanese parents are determined he find a nice girl to marry! To please them and get a tax break he arranges a sham marriage to Wei Wei, a sexy go-getter in need of a green card. But when his family swoops down for the extravaganza, Wai Tung would do well to remember that at a traditional Chinese wedding banquet, sexual repression takes the night off!

Film Review: M.A.S.H. (1970), by Robert Altman, *****

Synopsis

While set in the Korean War of 1950-1953, the movie clearly addresses the question of the Vietnam war, which at the time of production was an open wound in American society. A Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is the stage for a number of witty draftees to rebel and ridicule their strict superiors. Some are young docs just out of medical school, some are city girls who have to elbow their way in a clearly male dominated Army. Altman's black humor may seem a little dated forty years later, but it is still sharp. An iconic film of American countercolture that gave birth to an immensely successful TV series. Only one actor however, Gary Burghoff interpreting Radar, made it to the TV cast.

American Cemetery and Memorial in the Ardennes

Today I visited the American Cemetery and Memorial in the Ardennes. A quiet place where several thousand Americans who died during WW II are buried. K. and I are welcomed by the deputy director (or was it commander?), a retired American military himself. A few gardeners are meticulously clipping the grass around each cross. Stars of David mark the graves of Jewish soldiers. A sobering sight.

The Summer heat does not convey the idea of what these guys experienced during their last days on this earth, while fighting in the dead of Winter in the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's last, futile and bloody offensive in December 1944. A small room displays a few paraphernalia from the war.

Definitely a recommended stop for anyone driving in the area, and absolutely worth a detour if you are not.

Film Review: Samsara (2001), by Pan Nalin, ****

Synopsis

The film was released in 2001 and remains a classic in its genre. A spiritual love-story set in the majestic landscape of Ladakh, Himalayas. Samsara is a quest; one man's struggle to find spiritual Enlightenment by renouncing the world. And one woman's struggle to keep her enlightened love and life in the world. But their destiny turns, twists and comes to a surprise ending... Written by Monsoon Films. Tashi has been raised as a Buddhist monk since age five. When he gets erotic phantasms as an adolescent, his spiritual master decides it's time to taste profane life, sending him on a journey in the real Himalayan world. Once he is told his hottest dream was real, Tashi decides to leave the monastery and marries Pema, the daughter of a rich farmer, who was actually engaged with local stone-mason Jamayang. The ex-lama soon becomes a rich land-owner himself, and makes a killing from his harvest by bringing it to the city instead of selling at half price to the local merchant Dewa, but half of his next harvest perishes in a fire, yet he comes trough and raises a bright son, Karma. After committing infidelity, contemplated for years, and as he later hears from the promiscuous Indian labourer girl, Tashi reconsiders his life... Written by KGF Vissers

Book Review: Russia in Original Photographs (1860-1920), edited by Marvin Lyons, ***

An interesting collections of photographs from pre-Communist Russia. Common people, ethnic minorities, military officers and the imperial family are all depicted here in the decades preceding the October Revolution. One can almost sense the blatant inequalities and an atmosphere of pending tragedy. All pictures are in black and white.

Some great color photos from Tsarist Russia online are visible here.

Book review: The Romanov Family Album (1982), edited by Robert Massie, ****

Review

A great book which will make you feel you are living in the imperial family of pre-revolutionary Russia. The photos are B&W, and come from the collection of a family friend of the Romanovs who took them to the United States.

Not all are good quality, the book was printed in 1982 and perhaps a better job could be done with new technology  thirty years on in digitalizing the old originals. However the grain of the pics contributes to recreate the atmosphere of the time.

The text accompanying the pictures presents a benevolent image of the imperial family. Too benevolent perhaps. But this is not the purpose of this book, which is about the photographs, and not about political interpretation of the Tsar's rule.


Buy your book here

Film Review: Lost City (2005), by Andy Garcia, ****

Synopsis
In 1958 Havana, nightclub owner Fico Fellove (Andy Garcia, who also directed) watches as political upheaval grips Batista-ruled Cuba. While his brothers join Castro's revolution, Fico refuses an offer from American gangster Meyer Lansky (Dustin Hoffman) to help turn his club into a casino and falls in love with his soon widowed sister-in-law (Ines Sastre).

The film was shot in the Dominican Republic, ironically the country batista fled to after his forces capitulated to Castro on new year's day, 1959.

Review
A good historical movie to show how right were many middle class Cubans to despise the Batista dictatorship and how wrong they were to believe that supporting Castro and Guevara would improve things much. Yet, the widespread criticism that Garcia does not show enough of the poor and destitute of pre-revolutionary Cuba is only partially mitigated by his ridicule of Batista in the first part of the movie. The title itself (translated "Adieu Cuba" in the French version) betrays a certain nostalgia by the author for the bygone days. But in the end the viewer is left with a strongly negative view of both Batista and Castro, as well as Guevara. Well deserved.

The movie is a bit long but well worth its time for it allows the viewer to savour the colors, music and atmosphere of Cuba 50 years ago. But this is perhaps due to the long script by Guillermo Cabrera Infante.

Book Review: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself, by Louise Meriwether Harriet Jacobs, ****

Synopsis

Louise Meriwether Harriet Jacobs in her narrative reveals how she refused to be victimized within her own mind, but rather chose to act instead from a steadfast conviction of her own worth....Hers is an example worth emulating even in these modern times.

Published in 1861, this was one of the first personal narratives by a slave and one of the few written by a woman. Jacobs (1813-1897) was a slave in North Carolina and suffered terribly, along with her family, at the hands of a ruthless owner. She made several failed attempts to escape before successfully making her way to freedom in the North, though it took years of hiding and slow progress. Eventually, she was reunited with her children.

Stazione ferroviaria di Cittadella (PD)

Arrivo di buon mattino alla stazione di Cittadella, provincia di Padova, per prendere un treno per Treviso. La biglietteria è chiusa, PER SEMPRE, come avvisa perentoriamente il cartello posto sulla vetrata.

Però c'è in bella vista una modernissima macchina automatica per emissione di biglietti. Anzi di "Biglietti regionali veloci". Mi avvicino con mano al portafoglio.





Però anche la macchina automatica per emissione biglietti, che peraltro accetta tutte le principali carte di credito, è fuori uso, ma almeno, forse, non per sempre: il cartello però non si impegna ad una data precisa...








Meno male che c'è il bar! Cappuccino, cornetto, scatola di sigari Toscanelli al caffè, i miei preferiti, e biglietto del treno.

Film Review: Space Tourists (2009), by Christian Frei, ***

Synopsis
Frei's film takes a humorous and laconic view of the way billionaires depart our planet earth to travel into outer space for fun. Space Tourists succeeds in surprising its audience with images and situations that have very little to do with the futuristic fantasy of space-tourism. The Swiss filmmaker sets up encounters with the least likely people imaginable: places even stranger and more unknown than outer space itself. The film investigates the emotional oscillations of an expensive enterprise and questions the meaning and boundaries of the human spirit and our hunger for adventure and discovery.

Anousheh Ansari is a billionaire who allegedly spent some twenty million dollars (expensive but, as she puts it, how do you put a price on a dream?) for a 10 day flight to the International Space Station. She explains in her own words why she did this and what her Spiritual experience was. An interesting personality, an Iranian who left her country after the revolution and became American but never forgot her cultural roots. She specifically greeted the Iranian people from space, though she was not allowed to do so in Farsi. She also wore the Iranian flag, but significantly without the Islamic writings in the white part.

Review
This film is another Frei foray into the lives and vicissitudes of the most unusual of people. Ansari is a genuine enthusiast of space, her youthful and genuine passion transpires at all times in the film. She has a child-like naivete for looking at the earth from above, but at the same time a high degree of maturity when she speaks of her travel as a symbol for women's rights, especially in the region of the world where she comes from, where women often do not receive the same opportunities that men do. A spoiled girl's whim? Perhaps, but a great adventure nonetheless. And I can say I would have done what she has done if I had had the money! Go for it Anousheh and thanks Christian Frei for bringing her to us.

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