John MacDonald (El Sordo) - www.caratacus.eu
www.soltimes.com
SOLTIMES JUNE 2012
25
REVIEW it... film review - the artist
Alqueria ‘Peña de los Jefes’
The favoured eastern side of Alqueria is the home to Los Recién Llegados the Newcomers, the wealthier of the two main groupings of the Pueblo. Fernando Rodriguez is the owner of the village’s only industry, the olive mill and undisputed leader of the Newcomers, both in ideology and wealth. He and his associates take their ease at the social club located in the tree lined Avenida del Rico. A stone carved inscription by the door reads ‘Peña de los Jefes (Sólo Los Recién Llegados)’. The bar was stocked with the finest wines, Remitroot Liquor and best single malt whiskies. The olives are not Rodriquez’s needless to say. The quality of Alquerian olives has been in decline ever since he inherited the mill from his Father. It had been a long and difficult day at Olivarera de Alqueria. Rodriguez wanted answers. The last of his major customers, La Compañía de Medicamentos de Almería, had cancelled their contract. They had utilised the olive oil to lubricate a piece of medical apparatus used in the treatment of a male geriatric condition. It was however discovered that the Alquerian oil was causing the patients to become hyperactive during treatment. This proved traumatic for patients and medical staff alike. Rodriquez had organised his usual witch-hunt, looking for an imaginary conspiracy and punishing the innocent.
Jean Dujardin, playing the famous Hollywood movie star, George Valentin is the artist, an egotistical, silent movie star with the charisma and plenty of the good lucks to attract the interest of the ladies. It’s not surprising that his accolades include best actor awards for the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Academy Awards. I love his arrogance and his acting which typifies melodrama at its best. Melodrama is one of the features that interested the French director, Michel Hazanavicius in recreating silent movies during the 1920s. The Artist highlights the superficiality of Tinsel town, the glitter and glitz of fame while it lasts. And does it last? Of course not! The silent movies were becoming tedious and dated, the directors wanted something to excite their public and of course, the public yearned for something modern and exciting. This seems to mean the end of a f lourishing career for Valentin whose stubbornness and pride lead him to reject any advancement in cinematography. He is ruined, his marriage ends, he auctions all his possessions, his material wealth and hits rock bottom. A sad demise but an inevitable one. The contrast? A beautiful and enchanting up and coming, aspiring actress, the director’s wife, Berenice Bejo who plays an ambitious and vivacious Peppy Miller whose chance meeting with Valentin and a photograph splashed on the front page of Variety with the headline: Who’s That Girl? is the catalyst needed to propel her career into orbit and attract her leading man into a romantic liaison. She has the beauty, the charisma, the charm and most importantly, the humility, a redeeming quality. Within five years their roles are reversed: she is famous and adored by the public, he is a has-been, no longer enamoured by the fickle masses, a drunkard and suicidal. The romantic link is slow in developing but once the chemistry is in place it is electrifying to watch, especially at the end. I loved the unappreciated, taken for granted valet, Clifton ( James Cromwell) for his ten years of dedication to his master without being paid a cent. That is true devotion. The other star? As an animal lover I loved Uggie, Valentin’s faithful dog who saves his master’s life after his first suicidal bid and who also entertains us throughout with his amazing tricks. An interesting film to watch with large doses of tragedy and comedy. You need to watch the film a couple of times to appreciate what a wonderful film it is, but you will, I am sure about that.
Carol Naylor - writing exclusively for the Sol Times: Naylorcl@hotmail.es
UNESCO Award For Plácido Domingo
Those of El Gente del Cerro, the Hill People who worked at the olive mill took the brunt of his paranoia. Bonuses were stopped and privileges withdrawn. The cause of the decline in business was obvious to all apart from Rodriguez himself. His ruinous love of Abyssinian Mountain Goat Shirling financed by the firm’s meagre profits and total incompetence have taken their toll. Manuela, unofficial leader of the Hill People plotted revenge. That night the ‘Peña de los Jefes (Sólo Los Recién Llegados)’ burnt down. The two factions within Alqueria manned the fire engine on alternate nights. That night by coincidence the Bomberos were Hill People. It took them two hours to travel the half a mile to the Peña. Stopping at every bar in the village and on one occasion even stopping for dinner. Invited by Nestor Clacketo the baker who coincidently was also a Hill Person. When they finally arrived a gutted shell was all that remained. Rodriquez stood black faced, holding the singed and dented remains of his goat shirling trophies rescued from the inferno. The cause of the fire was officially accidental but Rodriquez knew better. Manuela denied all knowledge though she was seen throwing brushwood into the flames while standing on an empty Jerry Can. Rodriquez thought twice when dealing with El Gente del Cerro after the night of the fire. He never again had things entirely his own way
Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo has won the UNESCO Artist of Peace award in recognition of his lifelong career in opera and his work for European heritage conservation. Domingo, who has worked in the UNESCO headquarters and is head of the Europa Nostra heritage foundation, only discovered two or three days before the award ceremony that he had been granted the prize. It was presented to him at the National Cultural Centre in Lisbon, Portugal, by its president Guilherme de Oliveira. Other Artists of the Peace to date include Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil, Bangladeshi fashion designer Bibi Russell, Cameroon-born musician Manu Dibango, Portuguese singer and actress Maria de Madeiros, Haïtian writer Frankétienne and French actress Guila Clara Kessous, among others.
Honorary doctorate for Spain’s minister of justice
Minister for Justice and former mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the university of Haifa in northern Israel. He was awarded the PhD along with eight other honorary doctors, including Australian health investigator Patrick McGorry, Nobel prizewinner in chemistry, Israel’s Dan Shechtman and Salim Joubran, the first Arab magistrate to have gained access to the Israeli Supreme Court. Ruiz-Gallardón’s award was in recognition of his work in promoting peaceful relations between the two countries. This included setting up the Sefarad-Israeli house in Madrid, to promote intercultural relations, and naming a square in the city after the Israeli prime minister Isaac Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995. Dean of the university, Aaron Ben Ze’ev, said RuizGallardón’s ‘support for multiculturalism and tolerance’ within society are ‘values shared by all faculties’ of the ‘most cosmopolitan and multi-religious’ higher education institution in Israel.