Dum, Dum, Dum, Dum De Dum
That, you will have recognised immediately is the theme to Film Night because I have been to the pictures twice this week - oh the life I lead - and wanted to tell you about both of the movies because they are a bit off the beaten track.
The Spirit of 45
This is a Ken Loach documentary about the creation of the Welfare State after the war. No, come back, it's really interesting. When people came back from the war in 1945, they were unwilling to return to the crippling poverty and systems that they had lived under before. So they ousted Churchill (fascinating footage of him being heckled at a rally) and voted in a Labour Government and began to change things. It isn't the most balanced thing I have ever seen. It completely ignores the way that the country was when Margaret Thatcher took over. Even I remember that you couldn't bury your dead or get your rubbish collected. Also how genuinely afraid people were of the power of the unions. This sometimes seems to suggest that she broke up a happy Socialist utopia just for the benefit of eight rich people in Mayfair and I don't think it was quite like that was it? However, there is a warning about the National Health Service and the the benefits we all enjoy. Should, I think be required viewing in all classrooms.
A Late Quartet
You know, sometimes a film comes along and there are no lasers or time travel. No one gets their head sawn off or buries anyone alive. People just act. Really well. And they use that acting to tell you a story about people that is moving and makes you think and is uplifting. This is one of those films. One member of a quartet who have played together for twenty five years is diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. The film revolves around the way these people react to that. New York never looked more beautiful. Everyone is as cool as a cool thing on a very cool day and that's it really. It's enough. Highly recommended.
Go away. Eat cake. Be reassured that the film industry is not ready to jump into the handcart to hell quite yet.
'Spirit of 45' looks like a film I would enjoy- will look out for that. And btw, Dum Dum Dum Dum Dee Dum [not to be confused with Dum Di Dum Di Dum Di Dum aka the Archers] is "I wish I knew how it would feel to be free" and was popular with the US Civil Rights Movement
ReplyDeleteblessings xx
I remember 1979 also. The problem is that the two sides were so rabidly anti the other that it caused things to go much further than was necessary or [I choose to believe] than either side intended. Evidenced I think by the idea today's Tory's have of completing what she started and never quite managed to, thanks in no small part to the "Wets" and the state of the Nation, not to mention "Society" today. It is Alexis de Tocqueville's thesis that "In democracy we get the government we deserve". I would like very much for somebody to explain to me what we have done to deserve the ConDems stricures. A government of rich privileged Hurray Henry's who have no conception of what it is like to be poor and to rely on the Services that they have very "Happily" destroyed without a by your leave. People are committing suicide because they cannot afford to live within the means that "The Bedroom Tax" and sanctions of their Benefits by the DWP [at the Govt.s behest] reduce. The removal of every vestige of self-confidence and forced shame resulting from "Work Capability Assessments" by a French Company ATOS employing not [for the most part] British Medically Trained Professionals but Eastern European and other non British "Professionals", where a simple test for British Medical Staff would realise that this could be happening to their relatives and they would be less inclined to abide by the overly strict requirement to find even the most incapable as capable of working. This is as much the fault of the Unions as it is of "Maggie's Children". I would like to believe that even she would be sickened by the treatment being meted out to the most vulnerable in society by the most privileged.
ReplyDeleteAs a child my Grandmother, a very pious lady instilled in me the idea that the strong protect the weak and, something that I did not understand at the time but do now "That Meek Will Inherit The Earth" she fervently believed that. I think that she will also be sickened by what she would see if she were alive today. I attended the funeral of her son two weeks ago. All the family gathered together on the warm afternoon discussed our lives with her as children. We all remembered what it was like in that street where the sense of community that ruled there was no longer possible today. A sad commentary on what has become of this country wouldn't you agree?
I agree with what you say Lesley but the saying from [I'm not certain but I think it was/is] Galatians "As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap" suggests that the outcome of the late '70s and the follow on from the election in 1979 resulted in what is happening now. I didn't intend to write so much when I started typing and I hope that you will post it. You can edit it if you'd like. I won't be upset by that. For instance if my quotes are incorrect, I am quoting from memory.
On a lighter note, if you haven't seen the movie Quartet [A Wealth of British Acting Talent] in a comedy in a retirement home for elderly musicians centred on the quartet from Verdi's opera Rigoletto. Billy Connelly and Maggie Smith [amongst many others] are hilarious. It is certainly an antidote to the discussion above [even if there is something of my argument within the story]. I think you'll all enjoy it.
I think that, in part at least, this chap makes my case. I suspect it will sicken you as did me:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/colin-brewer-councillor-new-sick-1887780
I know it's a "Leftie" rag but they're reporting not editorialising.