Easter long weekend - a great time to hit the cinema. (Isn't it always?!) This week's films are both well worth seeing. And coming up, brace yourself for an onslaught of film festivals coming your way over the next few weeks.
The Correspondent
Dir: Kriv Stenders
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© Maslow Entertainment - possibly Roxburgh's
best perf to date |
At the end of 2013 a journalist named Peter Greste (Richard Roxburgh) travelled to Cairo to fill in for a colleague for a couple of weeks. The so-called Arab Spring had started, with uprisings in various Middle Eastern countries. In Egypt, the newly-elected President, Mohammed Morsi, and his Muslim Brotherhood had been ousted by a militiary coup. As Morsi supporters were protesting on the streets of Cairo, Greste and his colleagues Mohamad Fahmy (Julian Maroun) and Baher Mohamed (Rahel Romahn) were reporting for Al Jazeera. Several hours later they were arrested by the military police, and the nightmare began. This the story of Greste's 14 months of imprisonment as he battles a ludicrously inept and corrupt judicial system, and struggles to keep himself sane. The depiction of his Cairo plight is intercut with flashbacks to an assignment he did in Mogadishu, when his co-reporter Kate Peyton was shot and killed. This constant toggling detracts from the intensity and immediacy of the Cairo story. Regardless, the depiction of the squalid prison conditions, and the almost laughable courtroom proceedings (funny if it weren't so tragic) are powerfully conveyed. Roxburgh conveys Greste's despair, hope, psychological torment and determination in one of his best performances to date. The plight of the three men is an important reminder of the constant threats to freedom of the press. The film is almost a homage to journalistic truth, reminding us at the end that, since 2005, 1700 journalists have been killed doing their job, while more than 500 are imprisoned today in 45 countries. This is an important story. 3.5 - well recommended
The Penguin Lessons
Dir: Peter Cattaneo
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© Madman - the sort of pet you can sit and
tell your troubles to! |
In 1976 Tom Michell (Steve Coogan) heads to Argentina to take a position as an English teacher in an exclusive school for the sons of wealthy families. When the military stage a coup and take over the country, the school is shut for a week, so, with fellow teacher Tapio (Bjorn Gustafsson), Tom travels to Ecuador for a week's R&R. While walking on the beach, he finds a penguin who has fallen victim to an oil slick. After cleaning the bird in his hotel room, Tom finds the hapless creature is reluctant to be put back to sea, so he takes the penguin back to the school. To date neither Tom's teaching nor his attitude have been a success, but once he introduces his feathered friend, Juan Salvador, to his students, life changes for all concerned. When this film started I feared it could run the risk of being mawkishly sentimental, but I became progressively caught up in the delightful and uplifting story, which is based upon a true memoir. Coogan is marvellous, combining his odd comic timing with his sad-sack, cynical demeanour. Jonathan Pryce is well-cast as the stuffy old headmaster, and the students all feel just right in their roles, with David Herrero as the bullied Diego a stand-out. Of course the two penguins used in the lead avian role are simply beyond cute. The political sub-plot of disappeared people in Argentina interweaves well with the main plot and its message which, though not subtle, is nevertheless so important: the need to find connection and friendship, to do the right thing, and how unexpected happenings can transform lives. For me a simply lovely film, requiring plenty of tissues!4 - highly recommended
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