RKS 2024 Film: “Occupied City”: Amsterdam Yesterday and Today: A Bloody Chapter in its History

Director and writer Steve McQueen has crafted a solid and very long historical documentary based on wife Bianca Stigter’s “Atlas of an Occupied City, Amsterdam 1940-1945”.

In the Second World War German forces occupied Amsterdam and slowly but methodically drew the noose around the necks of its Jewish population. Some 60,000-80,000 of Amsterdam’s Jews were deported with a mere 5,000 returning.

The deportations were not immediate but increased in intensity in 1942. Jews, political opponents of the Dutch puppet government, communists and Roma amongst others were harassed, beaten, murdered, executed and humiliated and the film excels in setting forth countless examples of repression and genocide primarily by filming in over 130 locations in Amsterdam each with a dispassionate if not hypnotic narration (by Melanie Hyams) about the fate of the residents of many of those locations. Through the stories the brutal mechanics of the working of a genocide are painfully revealed. For example, there were bounty hunters for Jews. Sex between Jews and “Aryans” was punishable by death.

There is no archival footage here just building after building in COVID era Amsterdam. Life goes on in the midst of the chilling narration and COVID protests. It is factual based narration showing no emotion. The stories recounted contain all the emotion in a “neutral way” of the viewer. The present-day backdrop causes one to reflect that normal life of pre-occupied Amsterdam was quickly extinguished as it could be tomorrow. Liberty, freedom and democracy are often tenuous. Would the climate change/anti-racist/COVID demonstrations have been permitted in occupied Amsterdam!

On the topic of COVID interpret the repression of anti-lockdown protests, no mask shaming, incessant governmentally announced “health measures”, mandated virtual events such as funerals and weddings, curfews, vaccine bullying, police drones, water cannons and dogs used against protesters. Forget the nature of societal protest and focus on the mechanisms of repression. Iron control of the fascists replaced by attempted iron control by governments for “public health reasons”. I’ll let you interpret the COVID tinged part of the film but I suspect it is in this documentary for a reason.

Be forewarned almost 4 ½ hours in length with a 15-minute intermission. If you are not a history buff then you can be an Amsterdam tourist exploring the city.

Theatrical release start in Canada on 26April2024 in Toronto.

You can watch the trailer here https://www.imdb.com/video/vi4157523737/?ref_=tt_vi_i_1

RKS 2024 Film Rating 90/100.

RKS 2024 Wine: A Field Blend from Russian River: Groggy and Sluggish?

My experience with field blend is a Portuguese one. Once upon a time grapes were grapes and wine was wine. Different grapes could be planted willy nilly in the vineyard. Harvest them and you got a bit of this and that grape. Another type of field blend is where two or more different grape varieties are growing in separate parcels in the same field but then upon harvest are crushed, macerated and fermented together. Perhaps one can say the wine is blended in the field as opposed to being blended in the winery.

In this case we have a biodynamic “Field Blend” from Frey Vineyards at the headwaters of the Russian River in Mendocino County. The label and the Frey website do not indicate what grapes were in the field blend. My guess is Syrah (peppery), Zinfandel (spice) and Cabernet Sauvignon (blueberry)?

Aroma: Black cherry and blueberry predominate. A bit of a low rider or can I say aromatics point to a sluggish and slow wine. Nothing clear and precise.

Palate: Blunt and thick tasting. Cherry, blueberry, licorice and a bit of a spice and pepper to it. Sleepy tannins with some gentle acidity. Short finish. This wine detests room temperature and needs a bit of a chill to wake it up.

Personality: Sleeping Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Food Match: Most pasta sauces made with field tomatoes and their acidity would love this wine.

Cellarbility: No more sleep time needed for this groggy wine.

Price: $30 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 87/100.Wine Align 86.

( Frey Biodynamic 2021 Field Blend, Mendocino, Frey Vineyards Ltd, Redwood Valley, California, 750 mL, 13.7%).

RKS Literature: The Solution to America’s Drug Problem (William S. Burroughs)

“If you wish to alter or annihilate a pyramid of numbers in a serial relation, you alter or remove the bottom number. If we wish to annihilate the junk problem we start with the bottom of the pyramid: Addict in the Street and stop tilting quixotically for the “higher-ups” so called. All of whom are immediately replaceable. The addict in the street who must have junk to live is the one irreplaceable factor in the junk equation. When there are no more addicts to buy junk there will be no junk traffic. As long as junk need exists, someone will service it.”

William S. Burroughs, “Naked Lunch”, 1959. 

RKS Literature: A Less Than Efficient Court System (William S. Burroughs)

“The County Clerk has his office in a huge red brick building known as the Old Court House. Civil cases are, in fact tried there, the proceeding inexorably dragging out until the contestants die or abandon litigation. This is due to the vast number of records pertaining to absolutely everything, all filed in the wrong place so that no one but the County Clerk and his staff of assistants can find them, and he often spends years in the search. In fact, he is still looking for material relative to a damage suit that was settled in 1910. Large sections of the Old Court House have fallen in ruins, the others are highly dangerous owing to frequent cave-ins. The County Clerk assigns the more dangerous missions to his assistants, many of whom have lost their lives in the service. In 1912 two hundred and seven assistants were trapped in a collapse of the North-by-North-East Wing.”

William S. Burroughs, “Naked Lunch”, 1959.

RKS 2024 Wine: Can Christopher Michael Save Face with Its Chardonnay

The Christopher Michael 2022 Pinot Noir I recently sampled limped in, as vacant faced as it was, with a 73/100. My retail contacts agreed and suggested their Chardonnay and Pinot Gris would fare better. Is that correct?

So why not try the Christopher Michael 2021 Chardonnay?

Aroma: Apple, pear, cantaloupe with some scant butterscotch and peach. If there is any oak here and I it is certainly not new oak but neutral oak but more likely stainless steel. Unfortunately, their website fails to provide a technical sheet. Bad manners may bring bad impressions.

Palate: No strong descriptor notes and that is not necessarily bad. We are drinking the pure Chardonnay. Apple, peach and some mango. Controlled acidity. Short finish.

Personality: I am mild mannered and authentic quite unlike just about all American politicians these days.

Food Match: Arugula, toasted pine nut, garlic and Azorean canned tuna served over bucatini topped with Balderson’s 2-year-old Canadian cheddar.

Cellarbility: Drink by 2025-year end.

Price: $ 21 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 88/100.Wine Align 88. (Ah the blessing of synchronicity!).

(Christopher Michael 2021 Chardonnay, Washington, Christopher Michael Wines, Tualatin, Oregon, 750 mL, 13%).

RKS 2024 FILM: HOT DOCS 2024:“My Sextortion Diary” (Todo Lo Cubre la Sol): A Currency of Threats and Humiliation

Patricia Franquesa, a Spanish filmmaker, meets her ex-boyfriend at a restaurant in Madrid for lunch. Her laptop is stolen by two men as is visible on security camera footage. She reports the matter to the Madrid police. Two months later a hacker informs her three “compromising pictures” on her laptop will be distributed to all those on her contact list unless $2,400 USD (BITCOIN) is paid.

Patricia informs her contacts that her laptop was stolen and the blackmailing hacker may be contacting them with the explicit photos and if so the e-mail should not be opened but not deleted as it may be used for evidence.

Patricia refuses to pay the ransom and the hacker continues off and on with threats as after all the threat is the weapon and the longer the resistance the more desperate the extorter may get and the less currency the threat has. After all sextortion’s currency is the threat secured by fear of humiliation of the victim.

The police in Madrid and Barcelona dutifully take reports but are not making any progress due to a lack of interest or resources. The two thieves are arrested but the hacker is still at large.

Patricia acts as a sleuth and makes progress in finding the IP address of the hacker (in Spain) which VPN has obfuscated but still can prove somewhat useful. Then the hacker makes a beginner’s mistake narrowing down the list of suspects. The mystery deepens when a full security video emerges with a third man at the scene of the theft talking to the two thieves and signalling them to steal the laptop. At this point my strong suspicions as to who the hacker is are bolstered. Considering the fact the hacker knew Patricia was just returning from vacation is a mistake on the hacker’s part exposing a personal connection. Additionally, why has the hacker spent so much time and effort for a paltry $2,400 ransom. It is beginning to sound like a very personal matter perhaps amounting to revenge. 

Patricia defeats the hacker through a bold and unexpected manoeuvre and then makes this documentary about her unpleasant experience. You might want to say for all the anxiety and stress suffered Patricia has her revenge on the hacker.

The documentary throws out a few statistics about sextortion and its true extent is probably greater than published statistics as many of its victims remain silent fearing embarrassment and humiliation if they do so. It assumes even more pernicious dimensions when directed toward adolescents as can be witnessed by the death of Amanda Todd in Canada recently committing suicide in desperation after being sextorted.

The film concludes with an old radio broadcast describing the potential terror of nuclear destruction. Sextortion may have a destructive nuclear effect on its victims.

Screens at HOT DOCS 27/29April2024.

RKS 2024 Film Rating: 86/100.

RKS 2024 Film: HOT DOCS: “Back to Riaño” (Vuelta a Riaño): Spanish Destruction and Relocation all for Nothing

“Back to Riaño”, a film by Miriam Martin, is one of the four films showing in the Hot Docs Made in Spain Shorts Programme screening on 3May2024. It is a case study in government waste and arrogant stupidity.

The locality of Riaño had nine 14th century villages destroyed in order to construct a dam that was supposed to provide irrigation and hydro electricity but proved to be a useless governmental infrastructure project (some pockets no doubt were lined) and made operational hours before an EU environmental directive would have halted the operation of the dam and required the area to be restored to its original condition.

Fierce opposition to the project by inhabitants brought crushing repression by the army.

The story is told in between segments of a major Spanish bike race which is cut into by footage of the repression, interviews with inhabitants facing relocation, footage showing pre demolition beauty of both architecture and topography and actual demolitions. The bike riders glide through the beautiful locality (what’s left of it) oblivious to history as their goal is to win as was the socialist government’s aim to defeat all opposition and proceed with the construction. Simultaneously real and surreal.

RKS 2024 Film Rating: 85/100.

RKS 2024 Wine: Morgon: Classy Name: Good Beaujolais?

I have always thought Morgon was a classy name. When I was a wee tadpole in Montreal there once was a classy department store called Morgon’s. Morgon’s stores were eventually purchased by the Hudson’s Bay. Enough reminiscing. We try a Domaine Laurent Gauthier Morgon.

Aroma:  Cheerful and light black cherry. That’s all folks and it is fine with me.

Palate: More of that lightish black cherry initially but it gains in intensity making the wine richer than its aromatics suggest. A nifty little updraft of spice on the medium finish. Smooth with some mellowish tannins. A certain purity to the wine due to its sustainability?

Personality: I am a simple, straightforward and friendly wine.

Food Match: The smooth tannins here make it an interesting match with grilled Irish organic salmon.

Cellarbility: Drinking beautifully now through 2025.

Price: $22.95 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 92/100. Jamessuckling.com 91.

(Domaine Laurent Gauthier Grand Cras Morgon, Beaujolais Cru, AC Morgan, Laurent Gauthier, Ville Morgon, France, 750 mL, 13.5%).

RKS 2024 Film: HOT DOCS 2024: “Aqueronte”: A Mystical Voyage of Light, Sound and Images for Your Imagination

“Aqueronte”, a film by Manuel Muñoz Rivas, is one of the four films showing in the Hot Docs Made in Spain Shorts Programme screening on 3May2024. Despite the fact it is not a documentary short it is a short of a mystical voyage of light, sound and images your mind can journey on with.

A destination to where?

A group of passengers of various types and ages travel on a ferry with their cars on a journey that seems of endless duration. It departs in the darkness and ends in the darkness. Snippets of conversations including several on death and grave illness add to the mystery. Some children speak of Charon and another puts coins in his eyes as is the custom with the deceased in many countries. Ancient Greeks put coins in the eyes of the deceased to ensure Charon, receiving full payment, ferried them to their after-death destination. Should they not pay they would be stranded in between the world of the living and dead. One of the children on the ferry queries where Charon is taking them.

The passengers arrive in the dark at their destination. What that destination is best left to your imagination. There is no spoon feeding of the viewer here.

Rivas speaks of the film, “When I first approached the location where later I would shoot my film “Aqueronte”, the river Guadalquivir and more specifically the ferry boat that crosses it, I was struck by the aesthetic characteristics of the scene. Everything that I identify as defining elements of cinema was there: movement, faces, bodies, landscape,
sound atmospheres, light and shadow, reverie, the visible and the latent force of the invisible… all present in the raw material with which to shape fragments of time and space.
Because ultimately that is what we filmmakers do: compose with fragments of time and fragments of space.“

You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqZ9W8MZibU

RKS 2024 Film Rating: 92/100.

RKS 2024 Wine: McManis 2022 Petite Sirah: Berlin Wall of Blackberry: Bland? Predictable? Reliable? Uninspiring? Consumer Friendly? Cali Conundrum

It is not common to encounter a Petite Sirah as a single varietal wine. It produces tannic wines with a savoury and almost meaty character and dense blackberry fruit making it a useful blender but if the tannins are carefully managed it can make an age worthy and supple wine on its lonesome.

Aroma: Wow almost a Berlin Wall of blackberry!

Palate: Solid and full-bodied oozing with blackberry, smoked meat and just a bit of milk chocolate. The tannins are well managed here and almost minimal as well as the acids. A long finish. An example of that please everyone smooth California red inoffensive to no one.

Personality: I am a big brute without a plethora of muscle popping out of my shirt. I have been neutered.

Food Match: Roast lamb full of garlic which you have placed in the slits you have made in the meat.

Cellarbility: Drink until the end of 2026 as it will soften a bit more but it is already mighty supple.

Price: $23 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 86/100.

(McManis Family Vineyards 2022 Petite Sirah, AVA Lodi, McManis Family Vineyards, Ripon California 13.5%, 750 mL).