Book Review: The Secret Piano (2012), by Zhu Xiao-Mei, ****

Synopsis

Zhu Xiao-Mei was born to middle-class parents in post WW II China, and her musical proficiency became clear at an early age. Taught to play the piano by her mother, she developed quickly into a prodigy, immersing herself in the work of classical masters like Bach. She was just ten years old when she began a rigorous course of study at the Beijing Conservatory, laying the groundwork for what was sure to be an extraordinary career. But in 1966, when Xiao-Mei was seventeen, the Cultural Revolution began, and life as she knew it changed forever.

One by one, her family members were scattered, sentenced to prison or labor camps. By 1969, the art schools had closed, and Xiao-Mei was on her way to a work camp in inner Mongolia, where she would spend the next five years. Life in the camp was unbearable, thanks to horrific living conditions and intensive brainwashing campaigns. Yet through it all Xiao-Mei clung to her passion for music and her sense of humor. And when the Revolution ended, it was the piano that helped her to heal.

Review

Compelling story about music, China and love. Music helped the author through terrible times in Mao's re-education camps and somehow kept her sanity in the face of protracted brain washing by the authorities. The figure of her mother is present as a fixed star that helped her steer her way amidst chaos and upheaval.

We learn curious tidbits about how the Chinese Communist musicians at the Conservatory saw Western classical music: Bach was too religious, Chopin a sentimentalist, Debussy an idealist and of course Beethoven was egoist, but somehow Mozart was OK (loc. 739 ebook)

More generally, the author takes us by the hand and shows how the Party saw the role of culture, the relationship of sons and daughters with their own parents, the deep mistrust that was instilled in their brain for anything that was not in Mao's red book.

All of the above takes part in the first part of the book, until the author leaves China. The second part is her life in the US and France as a pianist trying to make a living. This is interesting too, but it is really another book.

This is her recording of the Goldberg variations, which inspired her book more than any other piece of music.

This is where to find the book:

Live recording of Goldberg's variations performed in Leipzig at St Thomas's church, the final resting place of J.S. Bach. The DVD also contains a 1-hour documentary on Zhu's lifelong relationship with music and her special relationship with Bach. She sees Bach as a very Buddhist thinker. The 30 variations begin and end with the same melody, and it is not by chance. (In any case, hardly anything is by chance in Bach's music.) She thinks Bach wanted to indicate that the end is a new beginning. It is Bach's Christian faith about the afterlife, but it is even more so the essence of Buddhist philosophy. It is a similar view to that taken in the book "Goedel Escher Bach", which referred to the musician's work in similar terms twenty years earlier than this recording.

Shunga: sex and pleasure in Japanese art, British Museum, London 3 October 2013 – 5 January 2014

Creative sex

One can't have everything

Shunga: sex and pleasure in Japanese art

3 October 2013 – 5 January 2014

Explicit and beautifully detailed, these works, produced between 1600 and 1900, have continued to influence manga, anime and Japanese tattoo art. The exhibition sheds new light on this taboo art form within Japanese social and cultural history. Parental guidance advised for visitors under 16.

You can buy the exhibition's catalogue here:




And here is a less expensive book:




Very interesting exhibition about erotic Japanese art. It was produced as of the 17th century but was long banned in Japanese after the Meji restoration, it has recently been rediscovered.

You can watch a trailer of the exhibition here, and the curator's presentation here.

You can watch some videos here, here, here and here.

Recensione: Ombra Bianca (2013) di Cristiano Gentili, *****

Albino model in a Tanzanian blog

Sinossi


C'è un luogo nel cuore dell'Africa, dove non arrivano gli echi chiassosi del turismo, dove non ci sono resort né safari per viaggiatori in cerca di avventura, dove un giorno una giovane donna posa sulle ginocchia di un uomo europeo una neonata dai lineamenti africani ma dalla pelle bianca come il latte. Lui è un ricco proprietario di una miniera d'oro, discendente di coloni inglesi. Lei è una bambina africana albina, un'anomalia per i suoi conterranei. Entrambi lottano per sopravvivere in un ambiente ostile fino a quando, per un capriccio del destino, le loro vite s'intrecceranno in una spirale di dipendenza reciproca dove la posta in gioco è la vita stessa. È l'inizio di un'avventura in cui saranno messi a confronto amore e odio, emarginazione e riscatto, magia nera e fede. Un viaggio nell'Africa misteriosa e nei meandri delle più intime emozioni umane, sullo sfondo di una cultura strangolata da un capitalismo senza morale che affonda le sue radici nel colonialismo moderno.

Albinos in Africa, read more here.

Recensione

Questo è un romanzo ma potrebbe essere considerato un saggio. Perché, oltre a raccontare, spiega. Spiega che non c'è solo la grande Africa nera ma anche quella bianca, piccola, nascosta, ostracizzata. L'Africa bianca non è quella dei colonialisti europei o dei mercenari, neanche quella dei missionari o degli esploratori. Invece è quella degli albini Bantu, quella che siamo abituati a considerare nera. Quella di cui era orgoglioso Senghor quando parlava di "negritude".

Film review: Sliding Doors (1998), by Peter Howitt, *****

Synopsis

Having been fired from her job at a PR company, Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) runs to catch an underground train. Two storylines then unfold: in the first, Helen catches her train, meeting the charming James (John Hannah). Upon arriving home, Helen discovers her boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch) having an affair. She leaves Gerry and begins seeing James. Their relationship is placed in jeopardy, however, when Helen realizes that she is pregnant. In the second storyline, having missed her train Helen does not meet James and arrives home too late to catch Gerry. Gerry continues his affair with former girlfriend Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn), even when Helen becomes pregnant with his child.


Review

Historians, economists and many others keep asking this question. Most of the time no one really has an answer. A good degree of serendipity in life is unavoidable. And yet in this film, in the end, man reaps what man saws. This seems to be the moral of the story here. So when something goes wrong don't whine about "what if" and try and build a future instead! It is a fun story, unpredictable and a very original debut behind the camera for the director. Acting is great. This is as good as a rom-com can get.

Film review/Recensione: Finding Forrester (2000) by Gus Von Sant, ****

testo italiano in fondo

Synopsis

Talented basketball player Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) has dreams of becoming a successful writer, and finds help in the form of William Forrester (Sean Connery), a reclusive novelist who lives in his neighbourhood. The pair meet when Jamal breaks into Forrester's flat, but a warm student-teacher bond soon develops between them, with Forrester helping Jamal improve his writing and Jamal helping Forrester overcome his reclusiveness. However, when Jamal rewrites a piece of his new friend's work for a school assignment, his vindictive professor Robert Crawford (F. Murray Abraham) accuses him of plagiarism, a charge which could seriously effect his school career.


Review

Finding Forrester is a movie that is hard to categorize. I would say most of all it is about human relationship and how an open mind to the unexpected can open the heart. Agoraphobic writer Forrester had locked himself up in his apartment and basically given up on life when he meets young James Wallace, to whom he can teach a lot but from whom he picks up a new lease on life, to the point that he wants to go back to his native Scotland to die. He then relates how this was the happiest period of his life, his Sunset, which is also the title of his second and final novel he leaves on his desk, unpublished, waiting for James to write a preface.

It is also about hope in the face of seemingly unsurmountable odds, as James, a black from the Bronx destined for crime and a life in the streets, can use his intelligence, his basketball skills and not a little luck to make a real life for himself.

The movie also says a lot about life in the Bronx (though things have improved there since) and about how elite American schools are ready to close an eye on academic performance to attract athletic talent in their recruitment process.

A good line to remember:  to impress a woman, give her an unexpected gift at an unexpected time. Well we all knew that, kind of, but good reminder.

This is the next to last appearance of Connery in a film before his retirement.









Sinossi

Da una piazzetta del Bronx, dove giocano a pallacanestro, alcuni ragazzi di colore guardano le finestre di un appartamento sovrastante. Lì abita sotto falso nome un misterioso individuo che da anni non esce più di casa. Un giorno uno dei ragazzi, Jamal, accetta per sfida di andare a vedere chi c'è veramente in quella casa. Si introduce, viene scoperto, scappa ma dimentica lì lo zainetto con libri e quaderni. Intanto un esclusivo liceo di New York ha messo gli occhi su di lui e gli offre una borsa di studio, soprattutto per le sue doti nella pallacanestro. Ricevuta indietro la propria roba, Jamal si accorge che sulle cose scritte nei quaderni ci sono correzioni e giudizi. Il ragazzo, 16 anni, va nella nuova scuola, comincia gli studi e scopre che quell'individuo è William Forrester, scrittore vincitore anni prima di un Pulitzer e poi misteriosamente scomparso.

Book review: Bangkok, the story of a city (1970), by Alec Waugh, ***

Royal Thai Dynasty

Synopsis

In Bangkok, Alec Waugh has created a most fluent, truthful and affectionate portrait of the dynasty and culture which created it. Cutting through confusion and veiled mystery, he unravels the plots, coups, wars, assassinations, invasions and counter-coups of three hundred years of history as if it were this evening's street gossip. This loving description of the genius, fascination and enduring vitality of Thailand is told with Waugh's customary delight in life and sensual appreciation. The story is brought up-to-date with an afterword by Bruce Palling, former "Times" correspondent in Thailand.


Review

King Rama V Chulalongkorn (1853-1910)

This is a book mostly about the ruling dynasty of Thailand. I was a bit disappointed because I expected a history of the city of Bangkok, which this book is not, even though of course the dinasty resides in the capital. Waugh relies more on anecdotal stories and personal experience than on methodical historical research. He does infuse his narrative with a full flavor and unbound passion however, and just for this it is worth reading this volume. The reader will understand much about intrigue at the court. I would have liked to know about the people of Bangkok, their economic and social issues and the problem they have faced in their everyday life throughout history.

Bangkok Thai food cooking class

Food is an essential part of any culture, and when I travel I always make sure I taste local delicacies so as to be able to better appreciate the country that's hosting me. If you can learn a bit on how to prepare that food, instead of just eating it, all the better!

My Chinese girlfriend is usually not so keen on cooking, so she was a bit perplexed when I proposed to spend a half day with an apron around our waist, learning hot to cook Thai food. But she was game, I love her curiosity for new things.

After an internet search I opted for a half-day class at the Baipai Thai Cooking School. They promised to "introduce you to the wonderful world of Thai flavors allowing you to take your knowledge home with you so you can make authentic Thai dishes back home in your own kitchen." And they warned that their menu does not cater to vegetarians, which was fine by me.

Thai food, of course, is renown worldwide for its complexity, its lively taste and the careful blend of Indian and Chinese influences. This is not called Indochina for nothing. It can be quite spicy, but does not need to be soo spicy to be good.

I had had limited experience of eating in Thailand before. While I did try many Thai restaurants around the world, I am also aware that these usually cater to the local clientele of wherever they happen to be, often at the expense of the original recipes. This in not just true of Thai restaurants: I have tasted quite a number of inedible "Italian" dishes in many countries, until the day when I decided never again to eat Italian food outside Italy. (There have been a few exceptions to this rule and they are described in this blog!)

Our class was held at The Baipai Thai Cooking School. In their words, which I found to be accurate, it is "an ideal home-style learning environment that aims at cooking a style of Thai food that is different from most of the hotels and restaurants in Thailand".

We spent the morning learning to prepare 4 authentic Thai dishes: veggies, fish and chicken. First of all we visited their vegetable garden and learned about the spices and herbs we were about to use.

We later learned how to grate coconut meat from a nut, the fluffy white stuff that the Thais use in so many recipes.

We then moved to to their open space cooking area, where we had plenty of space and lots of equipment to implement the instructions that were imparted by the chef and her assistants.

At the end of it all, we ate the fruits of our labor together with the other course participants and were quite satisfied with the results. I am not sure I will ever even try to reproduce the results at home, but this was fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat when I am back in Thailand.

Film review: Invictus (2009), by Clint Eastwood, *****

Synopsis

What does Nelson Mandela do after becoming president of South Africa? He rejects revenge, forgives oppressors who jailed him 27 years for his fight against apartheid and finds hope of national unity in an unlikely place: the rugby field. Clint Eastwood (named 2009's Best Director by the National Board of Review) directs an uplifting film about a team and a people inspired to greatness. Morgan Freeman (NBR's Best Actor Award winner and Oscar nominee for this role) is Mandela, who asks the national rugby team captain (Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee Matt Damon) and his squad to do the impossible and win the World Cup. Prepare to be moved--and thrilled.

The Invictus Blu-ray special features include an exhaustive "picture-in-picture" option that shows background on the film's production while you're looking at the relevant section in the movie itself; comments come from members of the filmmaking team as well as some of the real-life folks involved in the true story. We also learn that the film's single most powerful scene, a visit to the cell Mandela occupied for so many years, was shot on location; a replica had been built on a sound stage to allow for greater camera movement, but Clint Eastwood wisely nixed that idea.

President Mandela hands the 1995 world cup to Springboks' captain Pienaar

Review

An essential film to understand how present-day South Africa came about in the mid-1990s. it is recommended to anyone trying to see the difference between Mandela's approach and that of other leaders in the region, who chose confrontation over cooperation after kicking out white minority rulers. Mandela gives us all a great lesson in humanity as well as shrewd politics. This film has the great merit of reminding the world of an episode that would have otherwise been forgotten.

Book review: Diving Indonesia's Bird's Head Seascape (2011), by Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock, *****

Synopsis

Home to more than 1600 fish species and three-fourths of the world's known corals, the Bird's Head Seascape, the global epicenter of marine biodiversity, is one of the world's premier dive destinations. This book is a comprehensive guide to 200+ sites where divers can observe this wondrous gathering of whale sharks, manta rays, secretive octopus and never before-seen fish. Detailed information on endemic marine life, the regions cultures, suggestions for land adventures and travel tips make this an indispensable guide for anyone traveling to this enchanted destination.

Review

This is essentially a comprehensive review of the region's dive sites, with lots of detailed data for each, such as depth, coordinates and suggested lenses for photographers. There is also a variety of info sheets on what to do and not to to, conservation, responsible tourism and life on land. Several of the many photograph are outstanding.

This is more a book to prepare a trip (there are many dive areas dovered and one has to choose) or to bring back memories afterwards. I would not necessarily recommend taking it along as it is rather heavy and, once a choice of boat is made, it is rather difficult to have any say in where the cruise leader will go anyway. Unless you have your own boat, GPS coordinates will be of little use.

Book review: Wealth and poverty of nations (1999), by David Landes, *****

Synopsis

The history of nations is a history of haves and have-nots, and as we approach the millennium, the gap between rich and poor countries is widening. In this engrossing and important new work, eminent historian David Landes explores the complex, fascinating and often startling causes of the wealth and poverty of nations. The answers are found not only in the large forces at work in economies: geography, religion, the broad swings of politics, but also in the small surprising details. In Europe, the invention of spectacles doubled the working life of skilled craftsmen, and played a prominent role in the creation of articulated machines, and in China, the failure to adopt the clock fundamentally hindered economic development.

The relief of poverty is vital to the survival of us all. As David Landes brilliantly shows, the key to future success lies in understanding the lessons the past has to teach us - lessons uniquely imparted in this groundbreaking and vital book which exemplifies narrative history at its best.


Review

Why are some nations so rich and some so poor? One usually hears a... wealth of common sense reasons which however are rather ...poor explanations! Some rich nations are big, some small, and many poor countries are also big or small. So size, in this case, does not matter. Same for natural resources: some rich nations are well endowed but many poor nations are too. Geographic location also seems pretty much irrelevant: some rich countries are in hot regions, some in cold ones. Same for poor countries.

What makes the difference, according to landes, is mostly cultural and ethical factors. A provocative and most informative book. Travelers will find many ideas in this book to understand the economy of countries around the world.

Itinerary of a diving trip to Waigeo, West Papua

This was a great trip on the Dewi Nusantara liveaboard.

You can see pictures from this trip on my Flickr.

You can read my review of a good book on this regions here on this blog.

Cooking class in Singapore at Palate Sensations

As a foodie I love trying most of the food I run into when I travel around the world. The only local delicacy I can remember ever running away from is skewered cockroaches in northern Laos. And even that, should I ever go back, is something I'd be curious to try. Anyway they say insects are the source of proteins for the future.

No such dilemmas in Singapore though. Lots of great food for any taste. This time Luca and I decided to go one step further and actually learn how to cook some local dishes. Not that we are likely to ever try and replicate them at home, though you never know. But cooking something helps you understand better what you are eating. A bit like learning to play an instrument, even at a very basic level, helps you better understand music.

Among the many options available in Singapore I chose to go for Palate Sensations, and was not disappointed. The kitchen was spotless clean (like everything in Singapore) and super equipped with the best of kitchen tools.

Even though there were only three of us they agreed to hold the class and we had lots of fun preparing savoury and sweet dishes. I personally prefer the stir-fried gastronomy in the wok to Asian sweets. We had a perfectly balanced mix of noodles, meats and seafood. At the end of it all, we ate the fruit of our hard labor in the terrace and went back to town for shopping very full and satisfied.

You can see more pictures from this trip to Singapore on my Flickr pages.




















here is a video from our great cooking teacher Shih Erh

Book review: Ah ku and Karayuki San: Prostitution in Singapore, 1870-1940 (1993), by James Francis Warren, *****

Synopsis

Among the many groups of foreign workers whose labor built Singapore in the 20th century, there may be none as marginalized in memory as the women who travelled from China and Japan to work in Singapore as prostitutes.

This definitive study sketches in the trade in women and children in Asia, and -- making innovative use of Coroner's Inquests and other records -- hones in on the details of the prostitutes' lives in the colonial city: the daily brothel routine, crises and violence, social relations, leisure, social mobility for the luckier ones, disease and death.

The result is a powerful historical account of human nature, of human relationships, of pride, prejudice, struggle and spirit. Ordinary people tumble from the pages of the records: they talk about choice of partners, love and betrayal, desperation and alienation, drawing us into their lives.

This social history is a powerful corrective to the romantic image of colonial Singapore as a city of excitement, sophistication, exotic charm and easy sex.

In the years since its original publication in 1992, this book, and its companion Rickshaw Coolie, have become an inspiration to those seeking to come to grips with Singapore's past.

This monograph shows how prostitution flourished in Singapore due to the massive influx of male migrant labourers without a corresponding increase in women immigrants. Another reason was the famine in south-east China and north-west Kyushu, which moved many families to sell their young daughters to traffickers. It describes the two brothel zones set up in Singapore. The VD epidemic that struck following the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Ordinance, as a result of agitation by Victorian moralists in England, is highlighted. As elsewhere, wishing a "problem" away did not solve it, if fact if made it worse. The second part of the text deals with events in the lives of these Chinese and Japanese prostitutes.

Review

Like in his other book on Rickshaw coolies, the author tells us about the history of Singapore around the turn of the XX century as seen by some of the most humble people living there. In particular, we are led through Singapore by the Chinese ah ku (euphemistic Cantonese for lady) and the Japanese karayuki-san (Japanese: the women who went South, to China).

These women were running away from abject poverty at home, and were prepared to take any risk to buy or bribe their way to Singapore in the hope of making a livelihood. But what awaited them in Singapore was not a promised land, but rather violence, hard work, disease, exploitation. Many died violent deaths. Most got VD.

While exploitation was rampant, the exploiters had no easy life. We understand that "to run a good brothel in Singapore around 1900 required courage, shrewd judgement of character, physical stamina on a round-the-clock basis, a decent knowledge of first aid , do-it-yourself gynecology, and skill in self-defense" (p.229)

Some however were able to make a living, pay off their debt and open a brothel of their own. A few lucky or cunning ones were even able to marry one of their clients and become ladies in the Victorian society.

More about prostitution in Singapore today can be read here, including a useful bibliography.

Film review/recensione: The Road Home (1999), by Zhang Yimou, *****

testo italiano di seguito

Synopsis

Businessman Luo Yesheng (Sun Honglei) returns home to the village of Sanhetun following the sudden death of his schoolteacher father. He finds his mother insistent that the funeral be a traditional one, with the coffin carried many miles in procession, so that the deceased will not forget his way home, hence the movie's title. But the village mayor is concerned about the expense such a send-off will incur. As he observes his mother weaving the funeral cloth, Yusheng thinks back to the early days of his parents' passionate courtship, when the 18-year-old Zhao Di (Zhang Ziyi) was swept off her feet by the newly arrived Luo Changyu (Zheng Hao).


Review

This is a film about never giving up and reconstructing lost hope in the face of seemingly impossible odds. A primary role is played by Li Bin, Di's old and blind "grandmother". She tried to dissuade Di from pursuing the teacher, considered to be too elevated in society for a simple family like hers, but gave her wholehearted support when she fell in love. When Di broke a bowl of dumplings she was taking to her loved one, grandmother had it fixed at great expense, even though it would have been cheaper to buy a new one, because THAT bowl was important to Di.

Di learned from her grandma. When a funeral cloth had to be woven for her husband's procession, it was by now old Di who insisted that the only traditional loom in the village be fixed for the purpose.

It is also an interesting film to understand the changes of China from the time of Maoist extremisms  and poverty in the 1950s to the relative freedom and much greater prosperity of the 1990s. In the film we see thinly veiled criticism of the political climate during the "anti-rightist campaign" that takes the teacher away from his school and also symbols of the new China like private cars, a poster of the film "Titanic", the importance of money. (Fundraising for the school took the old Luo out in the cold and caused his death. In previous times it would have been the government's task to find the money.)

See my selection of movies about China here on this blog.

Sinossi

Luo Yusheng, uomo d'affari che lavora in città da molti anni, torna nel luogo natale nella Cina del nord per il funerale del padre, già maestro del villaggio. L'anziana madre vuole che le antiche tradizioni per la cerimonia funebre siano mantenute e così Luo, mentre si impegna per rispettare quel desiderio, ripensa ai racconti sentiti da ragazzo sul fidanzamento dei genitori. Suo padre, Luo Changyu, arrivò nel villaggio come nuovo maestro e ben presto si innamorò di Zhao Di, che viveva con la madre cieca. La ragazza lo ricambiava e, quando tra i due sembrava avviarsi una relazione, Changyu fu richiamato in città per non meglio precisati problemi politici e i due rimasero lontani per oltre due anni. Avuto il permesso di riprendere a fare il maestro, Changyu era tornato in paese. Lui e Zhao Di, più che mai innamorati, si erano finalmente sposati e non si erano più lasciati. Ora il figlio Luo si offre di pagare le persone che, secondo la tradizione, dovranno portare a piedi la bara del padre per molte miglia, dall'ospedale al luogo del villaggio in cui sarà sepolto. Il giorno del funerale tantissimi ex alunni dell'uomo si presentano e spontaneamente si ofrono di portare la bara senza alcun compenso. Prima di tornare in città, Luo dapprima propone alla madre di andare con lui, ma lei rifiuta. Poi onora anche l'ultimo desiderio del padre e per un giorno insegna simbolicamente nella scuola del villaggio.


Recensione

Questo è un film sulla perseveranza. Un ruolo fondamentale lo svolge la "nonna": dapprima cerca di dissuadere la nipotina dal perseguire il sogno d'amore con il maestro, giudicato troppo elevato per la loro umile condizione sociale. Ma quando la giovane insiste la nonna fa di tutto per aiutarla: Di rompe una ciotola che aveva usato per portare piatti prelibati al suo amato e la nonna la fa riparare segretamente, anche se sarebbe stato più economico comprarne una nuova.

Di impara dalla nonna. Flash foward: quando serve un panno funebre per il funerale del marito, l'ormai anziana Di insiste a far riparare l'unico telaio tradizionale del villaggio per farlo a mano, anche se sarebbe stato più facile ed economico comprarne uno al negozio.

Questo è anche un film interessante per capire come è cambiata la Cina dal tempo della povertà e del maoismo estremo degli anni cinquanta fino al periodo di relativamente maggiore libertà e considerevole prosperità degli anni novanta. La critica del maoismo appare anche nell'episodio che vede il maestro portato via dal villaggio per non meglio precisati motivi politici (siamo nel periodo della repressione "anti destra" seguito alla "campagna dei cento fiori").  Si vede anche come negli anni novanta spetti all'iniziativa personale del maestro trovare i fondi (privati) per ricostruire la scuola, mentre in periodi ideologicamente più ortodossi questa sarebbe stata responsabilità della pubblica amministrazione.

Nella versione italiana, ma per qualche ragione non in quella originale sottotitolata in inglese, sono riportate alcuni frasi molto istruttive che il maestro fa imparare ai propri alunni.

Lezione 1: imparare a leggere. Lezione 2: imparare a scrivere. Lezione 3: Imparare a contare. Lezione 4: Tenere un diario (be' questo almeno lo sto facendo). Lezione 5: Imparare a conoscere il presente. Lezione 6: Imparare a conoscere il passato, perché solo così si può costruire il futuro. Lezione7: Avere rispetto per se stessi, perché solo così si può avere rispetto per gli altri.

Viaggio o vacanza?

Una vacanza (dal latino vacantia, periodo di vuoto) è un viaggio intrapreso alla ricerca di una sorta di riposo, di un’interruzione, uno svuotamento da ciò che riempie la vita di tutti i giorni. Al rientro da una vacanza si torna ad essere quelli di prima, riposati, ricaricati.

Un viaggio invece è una trasformazione, un impegno. Tornando da un viaggio si è diversi da come si era alla partenza. Viaggio (dal latino viaticum, provvista per un lungo tragitto) indica un percorso, una trasformazione. In inglese, travel ha la stessa origine etimologica di travaglio, lavoro appunto. Io viaggio per compiere percorsi, per cambiare me stesso.
 

Recensione film: La Spiaggia (1954), di Alberto Lattuada, *****

Sinossi

Anna Maria, una giovane donna che vive in una "casa chiusa", si prende una vacanza per condurre al mare la propria bimba, Caterina. Le circostanze la obbligano a prendere alloggio in un albergo di lusso, frequentato dalla ricca borghesia: ella si spaccia per vedova e il suo contegno serio e dignitoso le concilia le generali simpatie. Tutto va bene fino al giorno in cui nell'albergo prende alloggio un tale che conosce Anna Maria e sa quale sia la sua vera condizione.

Egli tenta di abbordarla con galanti proposte: respinto, si vendica rivelando ad un amico il doloroso segreto che la donna ha finora potuto custodire. Un incidente fa si che la verità venga ben presto conosciuta da tutte le ospiti dell'albergo, le quali, benchè il loro contegno sia tutt'altro che irreprensibile, si mostrano indignate e reclamano l'espulsione della pecora nera.

La sera stessa però si produce un colpo di scena: un maturo miliardario, che è il più ricco proprietario del luogo e nutre per la donna un onesto interesse, le offre il suo braccio e le fa percorrere tutta la passeggiata tra i reverenti saluti dei villeggianti. Anna Maria può ritornare a fronte alta al suo albergo.

Recensione

Questo film inizialmente mi ha annoiato: la solita storia neorealista di una poveraccia disperata e della dura vita nell'Italia del dopoguerra. Invece mi ha gradualmente appassionato mano mano che emergeva il vero fine dell'opera: denunciare l'ipocrisia, il perbenismo, l'invidia di chi non è contento della propria vita e cerca di rifarsi rovinando quella degli altri. La denuncia non è contro i ricchi ma contro quelli che vorrebbero esserlo, non ci riescono e invece di accontentarsi e godersi una vita comunque agiata, ne soffrono.

Interessante comunque vedere, attraverso la vita di spiaggia, un'Italia che non c'è più, e meno male: formalista, puritana, bigotta. Lattuada lancia anche una denuncia dell'"Italietta" che invece, purtroppo, esiste ancora sessant'anni dopo la realizzazione del film: furba, arrangiona, arrivista e arrampicatrice sociale.

Due grandi verità vengono sciorinate dal riccone del film: primo, pecunia non olet, ed il "miliardo" attira riverenza comunque e dovunque. Secondo, la vita è ingiusta, e prima i bambini se ne rendono conto, meglio è. Inutile schermarli facendogli credere che la vita sia una favola.

Grande interpretazione di Martine Carol.

Compre il DVD qui

I sold my Mercedes 500SL today

Good by to a companion of exactly eighteen years. We had a great time together but, as she approached adulthood, like many adolescents, began to give me too many problems. I will probably never again have a car like her, and I will never forget her.

Film review/recensione: Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), by Woody Allen, *****

testo italiano di seguito

Synopsis

Woody Allen writes and directs this romantic comedy drama, his fourth consecutive film to be shot outside the United States. When two young American friends, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), spend a summer in Barcelona, they both become infatuated with flamboyant artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem). Things are further complicated when Juan's emotionally unstable ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz, in an Oscar-winning performance) reappears on the scene, and chaos soon reigns as the characters become amorously entangled to varying degrees.


Review

This is a great movie in the long string of Allen productions on the meaning of life (or lack thereof) and soul searching. In my view the main point can be summarized as follows: can only unfulfilled love be romantic? Is complete, fulfilling love destined to inevitable demise? Intriguing if somewhat disconcerting. We all look for love, and there is inescapable tension in the process. That is what produces romance. Once we get there, things start to turn routine, normal, and the spark is killed. That was not the plan of course, but what was the plan? What is is that we want from life? Do we need to know? Does it matter? Not really, Allen seems to suggest. "Whatever works", the title of a previous great movie, is good for us. Better to take advantage of what life has to offer and go for it. Avoid falling into easy comfortable traps, like money and an established, conformist lifestyle, because that makes for a boring life.

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In the US and worldwide




recensione italiana

Sinossi

Vicky e Cristina sono buone amiche anche se hanno visioni completamente differenti dell'amore. Vicky è fedele all'uomo che sta per sposare e ancorata ai propri principi. Cristina invece è disinibita e continuamente alla ricerca di una passione amorosa che la sconvolga. Vicky riceve da due amici di famiglia l'offerta di trascorrere una vacanza in casa loro a Barcellona durante l'estate e propone a Cristina di accompagnarla...Ma un uomo interviene ed interferisce con i loro piani.


Recensione

Gran bel film nella lunga serie di lavori di Allen sul significato della vita (o sulla mancanza dello stesso) and sulla ricerca interiore. Per me il punto centrale del film può essere sintetizzato come segue: possibile che solo l'amore non completamente appagato possa essere romantico? L'amore pieno è destinato inevitabilmente alla decadenza? Interssante anche se decisamente sconcertante.

Tutti cerchiamo l'amore, e c'è una tensione inevitabile nel processo. Questo è ciò che produce il romanticismo. Appena otteniamo quello che cerchiamo però, le cose cominciano a cambiare, a diventare normali, routinarie, e la scintilla iniziale muore. Non è quello che ci aspettiamo naturalmente, ma ci possiamo fare qualcosa? Cosa vogliamo allora dalla vita? Che importanza ha volere qualcosa di chiaro e definito, sapere che obiettivi porsi nelle relazioni con le persone care? Allen sembra suggerire che non ha molta importanza. "Basta che funzioni", come dal titolo di un altro gran bel film del regista. Meglio approfittare di quello che la vita offre ed evitare di cadere nella trappola del perbenismo, degli standard prefabbricati, e seguire il nostro istinto. Questo è l'unico modo di rimanere vivi ed evitare la noia.

Film review: Flags of our Fathers (2006) by Clint Eastwood, ****

testo italiano di seguito

Synopsis

The film is about a photograph by James Rosenthal, one of the most famous war pictures of all times. Thematically ambitious and emotionally complex, Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers is an intimate epic with much to say about war and the nature of heroism in America. Based on the non-fiction bestseller by James Bradley (with Ron Powers), and adapted by Million Dollar Baby screenwriter Paul Haggis (Jarhead screenwriter William Broyles Jr. wrote an earlier draft that was abandoned when Eastwood signed on to direct), this isn't so much a conventional war movie as it is a thought-provoking meditation on our collective need for heroes, even at the expense of those we deem heroic.

In telling the story of the six men (five Marines, one Navy medic) who raised the American flag of victory on the battle-ravaged Japanese island of Iwo Jima on February 23rd, 1945, Eastwood takes us deep into the horror of war (in painstakingly authentic Iwo Jima battle scenes) while emphasizing how three of the surviving flag-raisers (played by Adam Beach, Ryan Phillippe, and Jesse Bradford) became reluctant celebrities – and resentful pawns in a wartime publicity campaign – after their flag-raising was immortalized by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal in the most famous photograph in military history.


Review

A typically Eastwood approach. He takes a highly unusual point of view to reveal the lesser known aspects of a very well known subject matter, in this case the flag raising photograph of the battle of Iwo Jima. Of the six men, three were killed in action a few days later. This is not a film meant to show bravery, though there is plenty of it. It is a cynical film to show how the American war propaganda machine manipulated the three survivors of the flag raising to ... raise money for war bonds. We learn how the flag itself was a coveted object of contention among politicians and military leaders. And how in the end those who were less interested in the iconic photograph were the people in it. They were there to do a job, and being in a photograph was not part of it.

Pretty amazing CGI. For example, technicians artificially reproduce the Pacific theather as a background for the rugged terrain in Iceland where the film was actually shot! You can see it's not real, but it's pretty close to look real.

Watch this film together with "Letters from Iwo Jima", also by Clint Eastwood, that tells the story of the battle from a Japanese point of view. I will review this most interesting film soon in this blog.

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Recensione

Approccio tipicamente Eastwoodiano. Clint affronta l'argomento da un punto di vista molto inusuale per rivelare gli aspetti più nascosti di una vicenda ultranota, in questo caso la celebre foto della bandiera di Iwo Jima. Dei sei uomini nella foto, tre sono morti in combattimento nei giorni successivi. La macchina della propaganda bellica americana ha manipolato gli altri tre allo scopo di raccogliere fondi per finanziare il prosieguo della guerra. (Siamo a Febbraio 1945 ed il Giappone non ha ancora nessuna intenzione di arrendersi.)

Alla fine si capisce come i sei personaggi nella foto erano i meno interessati alla foto stessa: erano a Iwo per uno scopo ben preciso, e posare in una fotografia non rientrava nei loro compiti.

Buoni effetti speciali: i tecnici hanno ricreato lo sfondo dello sbarco e lo hanno inserito dietro le montagne islandesi dove si sono svolte le riprese. Sembra quasi vero.

Consiglio di vedere questo film con "Lettere da Iwo Jima", sempre di Clint Eastwood, che racconta come quella drammatica battaglia fu vissuta dai giapponesi.

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Recensione film: La meglio gioventù (2003), di Marco Tullio Giordana, *****

Sinossi

E' la storia di due fratelli attraverso quarant'anni di vita italiana, dal 1960 a oggi. Attraverso questo piccolo nucleo di personaggi rivivono ne "La meglio gioventù" avvenimenti e luoghi cruciali della storia del nostro paese: dalla Firenze dell'alluvione alla Sicilia della lotta contro la mafia, dalle grandi partite della nazionale contro la Corea e la Germania alle canzoni che hanno fatto epoca, dalla Torino operaia degli anni settanta alla Milano degli anni ottanta, dai movimenti giovanili del terrorismo, dalla crisi degli anni novanta al tentativo di inventarsi e costruire un paese moderno.


Recensione

Sono sei ore di film, e forse ne sarebbero bastate di meno, ma è un piacere gustarsi questo semi-documentario su 40 anni di storia d'Italia. Gli attori sono bravi ma non eccellenti, il che, paradossalmente, secondo me è un pregio, perché fa apparire questo film più realistico, meno recitato. Le storie dei vari personaggi si intrecciano bene ed il ritmo è sempre incalzante.

Dal miracolo economico degli anni sessanta alle prime crisi sindacali, al terrorismo, passando per l'abolizione dei manicomi, la vittoria della Coppa del Mondo del 1982, tangentopoli e fino a ritrovare i nostri protagonisti con i capelli bianchi ed i figli che si sposano.

Credo che questo film possa essere utile soprattutto agli stranieri per capire meglio il nostro paese, magari prima di venirci in viaggio, con le sue luci, le sue ombre e le sue contraddizioni, senza romanticismi e luoghi comuni.

Recensione film: J'ai oublié de te dire... (2008), di Laurent Vinas-Raymond, ****

Synopsis

Lorsque Marie, jeune fille de 25 ans sans passé ni avenir, rencontre Jaume, un vieux monsieur, ancien champion cycliste devenu artiste peintre, c'est une grande amitié qui se lie. Grâce à lui, Marie va se découvrir une identité, qu'il est lui-même en train de perdre.


Recensione

Un film ambientato in Francia che rivela molto della natura più intima della Francia, o almeno di quello che la Francia vuol far credere di essere: romantica, attaccata alle tradizioni ed impervia alla modernizzazione ed alla commercializzazione. Nel bene e nel male. Una Francia sensibile alla campagna ed al buon vino.

Ma anche un film su come la natura umana può svilupparsi sulla base di un incontro casuale e come una persona può scoprire il meglio di se stessa tramite l'altro. Un altro che si può amare anche se non esiste neanche lontanamente la possibilità di una relazione di coppia.

Un ottimo Omar Sharif ma anche una bravissima Emilie Dequenne.

Film review: The Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005) by Byambasuren Davaa, ****

Synopsis

From the director of The Story of the Weeping Camel comes another captivatingly beautiful story of nomadic family life in the endless expanse of the Mongolian landscape. While taking a walk, six-year-old Nansaa finds a little black-and-white spotted dog in a cave along the cliffs. She names him 'Zochor' (or 'Spot' in English) and takes him home with her. But her father tells her to get rid of him because wild dogs attack the sheep. When her father goes on a long trip to the city to sell sheepskins, Nansaa keeps the little dog, who becomes her trusted companion. One day she loses track of him in the tundra and, while searching for him, encounters an old nomad woman who tells her the legend of the the cave of the yellow dog… Mongolian with English subtitles; UK Exclusive Director Interview.


Review

This film is highly instructive because it takes the viewer into the most intimate life of a nomadic Mongolian family. It is not really about a dog. There are no professional actors but a real family living its normal life. We can see the immense spaces of Mongolia and get a glimpse of its traditions. At the same time, we see how modernization is changing the country, with technology affecting kids' education, transport and the availability of information. In my vew Mongolia is changing for the better, and I don't understand those who criticize change and would like to hold on to a backward and obscure past.

Very useful to prepare a trip to Mongolia.

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The National Museum of Maldives (second visit)

Today it's my second visit to the Maldives National Museum. I came here for the first time in 2009, and I wrote about this visit in my book (in Italian) on the Maldives and in this blog. Actually I did not quite come here, as in 2009 the museum was still housed in its old premises.

The National Museum of the Maldives was inaugurated on 19 November 1952, by the Prime Mnister Mohamed Ameen Didi, in the Usgekolhu, the last remaining building of the old Sultan's palace. It was an old building, inadequate for a modern museum.

Construction of the new (current) museum began in 2007 and it was inaugurated by then president Nasheed on 25 July 2010. The new building is a donation from China.

The museum houses artifacts as well as shells and corals, symbols of the Maldivian cultural as well as natural heritage.

There is a hard to find book on sale, probably the only one about the Museum of Malé, Maldives. Printed in 2010, just after the new museum gifted from China was completed, and before the tragic events of 8 February 2012, when almost all of the pre-islamic items in the museum were destryoyed by islamic fundamentalists.

The then president Nasheed had just been deposed and a wave of fanaticism shook the capital. A group of fundamentalists broke into the Museum and destroyed everything that was associated with the rich pre-islamic culture of the islands.

The book contains short descriptions of most items on display and color pictures of many of them, including some of those destroyed, some irreparably. As such it is bound to become a rare document, even tough not all objects are represented here.

President Nasheed at the Museum inspecting
 now destroyed pre-islamic scultpure (photo by Wearetraveller.com blog)

You can contact the Museum or the Ministry of Tourism and see if they will mail the Museum's book ((2010), edited by Nasheema Mohamed and Ahmed Tholal) to you as it does not seem to be available online and at bookstores.

Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture
Heritage Department
Malé
Maldives

You can buy my book on the Maldives here (in Italian)

Film review: Not one less (1999) by Zhang Yimou, *****

Testo italiano di seguito

Wei Minzhi

Synopsis

Not One Less, Zhang Yimou's (Raise the Red Lantern) tale of an adolescent substitute teacher in a rural Chinese village, cast entirely with non-actors and shot on location, is an astute example of censorship politics. It can be difficult to bypass political censor in China, especially when education is concerned.

Taking on touchy issues with a veneer of can-do spirit and happy-ending fantasy, his film is at once rousing and eye-opening.


Review

A great film about the transformation of China since the 1990s, when money becomes more important than ideology. A small village can't afford to build a good school or hire a good teacher, or even buy enough chalk for that matter. A teenage substitute teacher displays much more economic drive than professional responsibility or political enthusiasm. Wei Minzhi is a stubborn young woman takes the initiative in working hard for her salary of 50 yuan, which she is to receive if she can fulfill one important condition...

She persuades her class to work in a brick factory to raise funds so she can go to town and search for a missing child. The kids show much more propensity to work for money than to perform in flag raising and goose stepping ideological ceremonies.

See my selection og movies on China here on this blog.




Sinossi

In un lontano villaggio della campagna cinese, dove le strutture sono modeste e il livello di vita è molto povero, il maestro Gao deve assentarsi per un mese per andare ad assistere la madre gravemente malata. Per sostituirlo il sindaco sceglie Wei, una ragazzina tredicenne senza alcuna esperienza d'insegnamento. Prima di partire, Gao raccomanda a Wei di fare in modo che nessun allievo si ritiri da scuola durante la sua assenza. Con la promessa di un compenso di cui ha molto bisogno, Wei si appresta ad affrontare un compito che però si rivela molto difficile: i bambini sono irrequieti e spesso preoccupati per le molte difficoltà che vivono in famiglia. Quasi inevitabilmente dunque una mattina il piccolo Zhang, i cui genitori sono fortemente indebitati, lascia la classe, scappa dal villaggio e va in città a cercare un lavoro. Wei non ha esitazione e decide di andare alla sua ricerca. Nel panorama urbano confuso e disordinato, Wei affronta situazioni del tutto sconosciute. Alla fine una rete televisiva viene a conoscenza della sua storia e ne fa oggetto di un servizio specifico. Zhang allora ricompare. Quando tornano al villaggio, la troupe li segue e insieme porta una serie di oggetti raccolti grazie alle donazioni. Per la scuola si aprono nuove prospettive. Intanto i bambini scrivono sulla lavagna con tanti gessetti colorati.

Recensione

Un eccellente film sulle trasformazioni della Cina a partire dagli anni novanta del XX secolo. Il denaro diventa più importante dell'ideologia. Quando il maestro della scuola di un piccolo villaggio parte per andare a trovare la madre morente, il sindaco non ha i soldi per pagare un supplente. Non ci sono soldi neanche per i gessetti per la lavagna. Con la promessa di 50 yuan viene assunta una giovanissima supplente tredicenne, motivata più dalla somma di denaro che dalla vocazione di insegnante. Ma per guadagnare i 50 yuan c'è una condizione importante che la piccola Wei deve soddisfare...

Lei ci si dedica con tutte le sue forze. Quando un alunno scappa, lei convince gli altri a lavorare qualche giorno in una fabbrica di mattoni per guadagnare il denaro necessario alla ricerca del disperso. I ragazzi sembrano più propensi a lavorare per guadagnare che a cimentarsi in marcette e cerimonie a carattere ideologico. La Cina cambia rapidamente...

Recensione: Magnitudo Emilia (2013) di Annalisa Vandelli e Luigi Ottani, ****

Sinossi

Magnitudo Emilia esprime la grandezza di un'Emilia colpita al cuore da un sisma che ha fatto tremare anche lo sguardo delle persone sulle cose, mutandolo per sempre.

La giornalista e scrittrice Annalisa Vandelli, insieme al fotoreporter Luigi Ottani, si sono posti una domanda che è allo stesso tempo una sfida: come si racconta la devastazione della propria terra e della propria gente? Gli autori rispondono così: "Questo libro vorrebbe essere un microfono della terra, dell'urlo straziante che ha interrotto le nostre abitudini. Così abbiamo lasciato che il racconto si raccontasse da sé, senza porci limiti nella ricerca e seguendo piste imprevedibili. Abbiamo lasciato che un incontro tirasse l'altro, come pure i territori e gli eventi, così da non dominare una storia ma da darle la libertà di costruirsi, di esprimersi. E da qui la struttura del libro, calcolatamente casuale (...). Questo libro non si conclude col nostro lavoro, ma comincia da esso, perché il lettore ha un ruolo fondamentale, diventa autore nel fare sue e continuare queste storie o suggestioni. E allora questo libro ha l'ambizione di creare anche identità intorno a sé, di sostenere o affiancare lo scatto d'orgoglio che emerge e che non deve essere taciuto".


Recensione

Un centinaio di fotografie in bianco e nero costituisco l'ossatura di questo commovente volume. Le foto testimoniano il coraggio e la perseveranza delle genti emiliane colpite dal sisma, ma anche il grande sforzo di solidarietà dell'Italia intera. Un libro di grande formato che rende giustizia alle fotografie, che sono accompagnate da testi ben amalgamati ed istruttuvi.

Il libro è stato presentato oggi, ad un anno dal sisma del 2012, presso la Galleria 28 di Francesca Anfosso, a Piazza di Pietra, a Roma.

Compra il libro qui oppure contatta la Galleria 28.