Charlie Wilson's War

Probably more aptly titled 'A Demonstration of the Law of Unintended Consequences'. The movie stars Tom Hanks (impersonating a young Robert Vaughan in his 'Man from U.N.C.L.E' period), Julia Roberts as a surprising born-again Christian Republican socialite and Philip Seymour Hoffman with a bravura performance as a C.I.A. agent. Tom Hanks is the eponymous Charlie Wilson, a Congressman for an obscure Texan district, who is an unorthodox politician to say the least. Whilst enjoying a relaxing Las Vegas hot tub he suddenly gets converted to the notion of helping the Islamic resistance in Afghanistan to oust the Soviet invaders. Through his membership of an influential House committee and with the assistance of Roberts' Joanne Herring he sets up a bizarre alliance of Israeli arms dealers, Egypt, Saudi and Pakistani governments and covertly supplies the predecessors of the Taliban to destroy the soviet army, and despite the opposition of the mainstream US security forces. In many ways this is a surprisingly funny film - with plenty of one liners and ludicrous scenes - made more incredible because this is a film based on fact. The irony is, of course, that once the Russian army withdrew, so was the aid from the American government - so no reconstruction, no support for democracy, and the necessary vacuum that has resulted in the Afghans suffering two decades of conflict. Rating 8/10

Films of 2007

I'm going to give my top ten films of 2007 - from those I went to see. They aren't really in any particular order of merit.

The Queen; Notes On A Scandal; Letters from Iwo Jima; The Illusionist; Days of Glory; Mr Bean's Holiday; The Lives of Others; Die Hard 4.0; La Vie En Rose; Les Chansons D'Amour; Tell No One.

Lust, Caution

This is a remarkably brutal film from director Ang Lee, who returns to Shanghai for this tale of conspiracy and collaboration during the time of the Japanese occupation in the 1930s and 40s. The movie opens with conspirator resistance fighter Wong Chia Chi giving the coded message to alert the assassination team plotting to kill the chief of the secret police - a leading Chinese collaborator Mr Yee. The film then goes back to four years earlier when the plot had begun. Wong Chia Chi is being used as bait to entrap Mr Yee, she becomes his mistress and what follows is shocking, fascinating, appalling and moving in turn. Ang Lee is a remarkable director and here he is exploring (expertly) the brutalisation of people. Mr Yee sees (and does) terrible things in his work and Wong Chia Chi exploits this to enwrap him in a relationship that is all consuming, violent and overwhelming. I can't say that this film is enjoyable, but it is thought provoking and full of suspense and emotion. Some of the scenes of violent sado-masochistic sex can only be termed pornographic, but somehow essential to the tale. Rating 7/10

Films at Christmas

So what do you reckon is the 'must see' film at Christmas?

My choice is:

Les Chansons D'Amour

If you go extremely regularly to the movies it can sometimes be a little hit and miss - occasionally a film turns out to be a real dud, and every now and then you stumble across a gem, totally unexpectedly. I was pleasantly surprised by this very typically French film. To say it is quirky would be an understatement - more appropriately it could be termed bizarre. The central character Ismail is having some kind of relationship with two women. The two women are also having some kind of thing with each other. The three regularly share the same bed. One of the girls shares the details of her unususual lifestyle with her family - who are fascinated, but not disapproving. The girl then suddenly dies and Ismail is devastated. The second girl, meanwhile has found a boyfriend of her own, whose brother then develops a crush on Ismail, and they end up in bed together. Ismail then veers away from the boy, but the film ends with the two men wrapped in each others arms on the balcony of Ismail's flat. Oh, and the characters regularly burst into song - as a seemingly natural alternative to normal conversation. I'd rate this 8/10

The Darjeeling Limited

I'm not sure what to make of this film. I was clearly in the right mood to see this kind of light movie which has totally nothing to say about anything, except the vacuous nature of most Americans' lives. Can it really be true though that the mind of your average American is truly empty of any kind of feeling for the cultures to be found in other countries?

My companion at this film was so bored he fell asleep, and hated the parts he remembered with a passion. I on the other hand laughed throughout.

The film is about three brothers who go to India to 'find themselves' and meet their mother who (quite naturally) has become a nun in a monastery in the foothills of the Himalayas. The joke of course is that these three brothers appear totally unalike, and have absolutely no intention of finding themselves spiritually - it would appear that the affluent life, treating others badly, ignoring the needs or feelings of others suits them just fine. They board a train to cross India and stop off at various places - in one case to see 'the most spiritual temple in the East' and end up buying a snake, enormously expensive shoes, and other bric a brac without gaining anything spiritual from the visit. OK this isn't great cinema, but it is full of good one line gags (the first part which involves one of the brothers in a hotel room in Paris being surprised by his former girlfriend is a joy). I'd rate it 6/10 - my companion probably 0/0.

Brick Lane

This dramatisation of the bestseller first novel by Monica Ali is far more successful than many adaptations. It keeps pretty closely to the storyline of the book and gets under the skin of the central characters. The film tells the tale of a bride of 17 brought to East London to marry a man she has never met, with whom she has little in common, and finds that the London she has come to is hardly a better life than the one she left in Bangladesh. The flashbacks to her childhood are always bright and colourful - she is laughing and smiling with her sister - the scenes in London are gloomy in comparison. The sense of isolation is tangible. The film concentrates on the period leading up to the events on 9/11, and the child bride, now 16 years into her marriage gradually comes to discover the possibility of a different kind of life with Karim, the westernised British born Bengali who supplies her with the clothes for her to sew, in a vain attempt to supplement the meagre family income. Her husband, is naturally pretty useless in most ways. Despite his claims to the contrary his life is a failure, and he possesses Micawber like confidence that 'something will come up'. In many ways this is a moving, thought provoking tale, with much to say about human relationships - and tentatively examines the confusion within an immigrant community under pressure - and how those tensions resolve themselves in different ways. Rating: 7/10