“In the same way literature offers us the opportunity to escape the two most pressing forms of bondage in our normal existence: time and ego. Emotionally and intellectually , literature dissolves the rules of time and beckons us toward Periclean Athens, Czarist Russia, Elizabethan England, and a thousand other moments of the past. By lengthening our sense of time, it saves us from the maddening urgencies of our present”.
RKS Literature: from Peter Carey’s Short Story “A Letter to Our Son”
“The obstetrician’s statement was not of course categorical and not everyone who has cancer dies, but Alison was, at that instant confronting the fear that we fear most. When the doctor said those words, it was like a dream or nightmare. I heard them said. And when we hugged each other-when the doctor had gone-we pressed our bodies together as we had done before, and if there were tears on our cheeks, there had been tears on our cheeks before. I kissed your mother’s eyes. Her hair was wet with tears. I smoothed her hair on her forehead. My own eyes were swimming. She said, “All right, how are we going to get through all of this? “
Peter Carey “A Letter to our Son”
RKS Literature Passage of the Day: Isabel Allende’s Short Story “Two Words”
“The day Belisa Crepusculario found out that words fly about loose, with no master, and that anyone with a little cunning can catch them and start a trade. She reflected on her own situation, and realized that, other than becoming a prostitute in a rich man’s kitchen, there were few jobs that she could do. Selling words seemed to her to be a decent alternative. From that moment she worked at that profession and never took on another. At first she offered her wares without suspecting that words could be written in other places than newspapers. When she became aware of this, she worked out the infinite projections of her business, paid a priest 20 pesos to teach her to read and write, and with the three pesos left over from her savings bought herself a dictionary. She perused it from A to Z and then threw it into the sea, because she had no intention of swindling her clients with prepackaged words.”
Isabel Allende “Two Words”
RKS Film: “Young Plato”: A Catalyst for My Past and Maybe For Yours Too?
OK so a few minutes ago you saw a documentary on sharks. Wow! But you are solely an observer, aren’t you? If you were a researcher or a diver assisting in marine biology research you might have a far different view of the shark documentary to John Q. Public. Be patient… working into the theme!
OK we have a dynamo primary school principal Kevin McArevey who we will call Kevin. Kevin is the principal of Holy Cross Primary School for Boys in Northern Belfast.
Yes, I have been in 1970’s Belfast and a week prior to my arrival was a particularly bloody one. When hitching into Belfast at the Northern Ireland border I witnessed, in Newry, an explosion in which a bomb hid in the raincoat of an IRA operative exploded prematurely leaving a grisly mess. Crowds of screaming protestors rushed by me (safely in a car) as rubber bullets whizzed by. And my driver giving me a hearty welcome to Northern Ireland and me responding to his question about what I will say if they ask me about my religion and I say I am a Jew in which case he says both Catholics and Protestants will kill you. Life is complicated in Northern Ireland. Arrive in Belfast but the only accommodation is The Royal Belfast and I get taken up to the room by a bellboy who excuses himself and does search of my knapsack, dinner down the street at a simple diner but scoffing down a burger and shake the plate glass window shatters sending glass all over me, then to post office the next day, British patrol vehicles, a body search at the post office but they fail to find my knife, gotta get the hell out of this hell.
Belfast is a stark and depressing place full of walls separating Catholics and Protestants. They politely refer to them as “interfaces”.
So the great conflict in Northern Ireland may have settled somewhat but hostility which still remains always simmering. So Kevin introduces philosophy to the young lads and as he explains it to them simply they lap it up. They discuss anger, internet bullying, violence, anxiety, time travel and for me a priceless mindfulness moment as he asks the boys to close their eyes and think about nothing. In a simplistic format that is the key to mindfulness which is you are alone with nothing except your breath. Sounds flaky…..just try it. The goal is to teach the students to rationalize and think for themselves.
Getting more meandering here, and enjoying it if you watch this documentary you certainly must think what your primary school experience was like? Kevin offers his students a caring, empathetic, respectful yet all within the boundaries of discipline where care is taken to explain to offenders instead of simply striking out and punishing. Did your school “officials” ever listen to you? Most likely if you are in the boomer cadre they administered “corporal punishment” often the strap and in my case being smashed in the rump with a cut-off goalie stick. Many a tear of pain and humiliation. Now that’s education!
Kevin and his team are not school administrators but guardians of the development of children into respectful adults. You violate the rules you may be “thrown in the jug” and in the worst case handed a suspension but you are given a detailed explanation of why and the option to discuss. Better than being bashed on the ass without any chance to defend yourself.
Kevin loves his Elvis which seems a bit out of place in Belfast but as the documentary illustrates there is hope for the next generation with guidance by Kevin and his staff.
“Young Plato” opens in New York on September 30th. It has played in major documentary festivals throughout the globe so if you have not seen it is coming your way!
You may see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/710806747
The Directors are Neasa Ní Chianáín and Declan McGrath.
RKS Film Rating 93/100.
“Virus # 26 Director’s Cut : Chapter 20 Lessons Learnt from the COVIDs: Sick Seniors Get Slammed in Long Term Care”
COVID found many victims amongst elderly long-term care “residents” so many so it virtually culled these “residents”. The worst hit were in privately run senior’s residences and long-term care facilities. The profit motive and proper senior’s care were not a good fit. As more of these facilities were inspected a whole raft of shocking stories emerged. Residents abused. Residents excessively drugged. Rotten and mouldy food. Poor cleanliness. Residents not bathed. Residents in soiled clothes for days. Rampant bed sores. And in many countries this had been the norm for years. I admired the Swedish system of integrating seniors into the community by improving at care home. Unfortunately in North America long term care homes were more prisons than compassionate and caring institutions. Just look at the forcible confinement of long-term care residents and prohibition of family visits in the name of “protective isolation”. Inmates in prisons had more rights!
Workers at these facilities were so poorly paid they had to take multiple jobs setting them up to become super spreaders in an environment where the COVIDs were an invitation to the pearly gates.
These horrific conditions were the subject of countless exposés for over 40 years and political promises to reform the management of these facilities abounded but talk was cheap and action was too expensive. So many wonderful seniors needlessly died and the result other than grief for many families and disgust of the general population was a commission of inquiry about long term care in Ontario after the COVIDs. I sat on this commission because of my voluntary work at these facilities. So we developed a set of recommendations most of which were common sense and not costly fixes but our Ontario government clapped and applauded but forgot. Bankrupt governments have so little to offer medical and social reform causing so many of us simply to cry and ask God to forgive us and mourn the loss of so many valuable souls.
Seniors have so much wisdom and experience to offer us but ageism and a tight budget and in some cases the profit motive shunted aside a rich vein of our cultural life. There were some that said the high mortality rate for seniors was a merciful act of Darwinism. Yes I think there was some truth to that as so many of these seniors, particularly those with debilitating illnesses, were suffering terribly and kept alive through modern pharmacology living a meagre and horrific existence but if you have worked with seniors like I have beneath that suffering and illness is a person fighting to survive and to politely ignore their death as “the fittest survive” doesn’t cut mustard. I think sometimes it was not the COVIDs that killed them but negligent management and regulation of long-term care and senior’s facilities. If there was any good to come out of this bad it was that bereaved and outraged families litigated against the privately operated facilities and basically shut them down globally with governments taking over their management so that in effect they became hospitals. Of course we know how well governments manage hospitals!
Photo: Robert Tuomi
“Travels to a Different Time” : March 2002: Cancun Mexico; Off to Chichen Itza and Tulum Again
This is third trip to Chichen Itza, the second time for Alexandra but Andrew’s first visit. The trip by bus with a guide will cost $300 CDN. The bus picked us up at the hotel at 08:30 and we arrived there some two and half hours later in steaming jungle heat. A few tawdry souvenir stands operated by aggressive vendors. One gets the impression tourists are nothing but a source of cash. One dollar only they holler! The highlight was the Temple of Kukulkan which I climbed up with Andrew and held his hand as we descended the narrow and steep stairs. One misjudgement and you are severely injured if not killed. This visit they have a rope you can hold going both up and down. It seems so easy climbing up but down is another story. There were a few terrified gringos inching downwards. Our guide left us an hour to wonder around so we saw the Temple of the Warriors. What remains unearthed in the jungle? The conquering Spaniards were not shy to remove stones from temples to build their colonial dream. We spent some 4 hours in the ruins which is about all us pasty gringos can tolerate in the blistering heat and humidity. A short trip on the bus to a tourist buffet serving mediocre food but like the last visit the Mayan turkey dish was excellent. Us tourists were treated to a traditional Mayan dance performance. I feel my gringoism is being rubbed in my face! In Europe you can disguise yourself somewhat but here in Mexico gringos stick out like a sore thumb. But putting pride aside tourism does create employment and revenue but what money ends up in the hands of poor Mexicans is questionable. Poor Alex and Andrew had tummy troubles the following day but thank God no Montezuma!
Off to Tulum again for a 47 km $32 taxi ride. As usual an absolutely stunning view of the coast with beautiful sandy beaches and turquoise ocean. My God there is now a Subway franchise at the gates of Tulum. The type of progress best ignored.
RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: David Nicholls “One Day ”
“But not that much joy, and this year it seems that every time she leaves the house some new infant is being jammed in her face. She feels the same dread as when someone produces a brick sized pile of their holiday snaps; great that you had a nice time, but what’s that got to do with me? To this end, Emma has a fascinated-face that she puts on when a friend tells her about the miseries of labour, what drugs were used, whether they caved and went for the epidural, the agony, the joy.”
David Nicholls “One Day”: Vintage Contemporaries 2009
“Travels to a Different Time”: March 2002 Cancun Mexico: The “Quaint Fishing Village” of Puerto Adventuras
I recall at the briefing from the tour company rep at the hotel there is a quaint fishing village within walking distance of the hotel. What is quaint is a matter of opinion and when it is uttered by a tour company representative is it as meaningful as discussing the honesty of the former vice president of the United States Spiro Agnew! So we walked to this quaint fishing village one afternoon but so much for quaint as it was nothing but a collection of high end condos and a marina full of Gringo sailboats and yachts. There were almost no people about and it was like a ghost town. There was one ultra luxury hotel. There were a few deep-sea fishing boats and 7 restaurants with North American high end eatery prices. Out of place was a dolphin pen where you could spend $120 USD to swim with the Dolphins. I am a tourist but not a stupid one promoting cruelty to aquatic life. If you were thinking that Ernest Hemingway might be here pounding down tequila and writing “The Old Man and the Sea” he didn’t like what he saw and departed decades ago! If this is a quaint fishing village I swear I have not been drinking mescal!
RKS Film: “When Flowers are Not Silent”: No Need for a Ukraine in Belarus at Least not Yet
What is worse than an autocrat shoving repression down the throats of the population? It is an autocrat ruling within a weakened regime that becomes even more repressive to hang on to power. Such is the story of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenka who maintained power in what is widely regarded as a rigged election in 2020. Belarusians who grasped for independence as the USSR crumbled did not take kindly to a reversion to Stalinism (by Lukashenka) that claimed over 300,000 victims.
When the Putin autocracy crumbles Belarus is what will be his last stand. He will have to be overly vicious and repressive to cling to power as Lukashenka presently does.
Last year I reviewed a film “Courage” that documented the repression in Belarus primarily through the eyes of members of a theatre group. “When Flowers are Not Silent” adds a further dimension to Belarusian repression as it is told through the eyes of mostly women who see their sons and daughters, husbands and boyfriends murdered, tortured and beaten by security forces.
If you are familiar with repressive regimes the current Belarus game is not new but worthy of a refresher! If you are not so politically savvy then this documentary will be an eye opener for what to expect when an autocrat quickly loses legitimacy. As the Berlin Wall fell so will Lukashenka.
So what does an autocrat do when on the ropes?
- Employ brutal riot police
- Torture
- Rape
- Murder
- Kidnap
- Intimidate
- Ignore the rule of law
- Seek help and legitimacy of fellow tyrants such as Tsar Putin
- Extract forced confessions
The documentary lets the victims of repression speak. Listen.
The documentary won as Best Documentary at the 38th Warzaw International Film Festival. It is directed by Andrei Kutsila.
If the shit hits the fan in Belarus will Tsar Putin and his tattered and discredited army make a move to “liberate” Belarus?
You can see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/701072086
The documentary opens in Canada on August 28th.
RKS Film Rating 89/100.
RKS Film: “The Territory”: A Glum Portrait of the Disappearing Amazonian Rain Forest
“The Territory” focuses on a tiny band of indigenous aboriginals the Uru-eu-wau-wau in the Brazilian Amazonian rain forest. Numbering less than 200 they are surrounded by “invaders” poor Brazilians desperate for a plot of land with no regard to indigenous land rights. They steal, slash and burn and then spray with insecticide. Then agribusiness replaces them. The “invaders” certainly have support from President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil who in his last election campaign promised there would not be another inch of indigenous reserves granted. Indigenous Affairs is understaffed and powerless and fatalistically says there is nothing they can do to stem the invasion and theft of indigenous lands.
So the Uru create a media team to document their demise. Quite frankly one is left with the impression in a couple of decades they will be but anecdotes in Amazonian rainforest history. Brazilians overall seem to resent indigenous people and the indigenous populations would appear to have more political support outside of Brazil than in it. Yes there are environmentalists in Brazil but they are threatened and intimidated. There are independent journalists as well but they do not seem much of a persuasive force.
I have seen a few similarly themed documentaries dealing with the threatened decimation and extinction of indigenous populations in Peru, Brazil, Canada (“Returning Home”), the Philippines and for the most part it is sort of a good guy bad guy scenario with the good guys, the indigenous population being the sole focus of the films but here we get up and close with the land invaders. Poor Brazilians tenaciously at any cost trying to claim land so they can deforest it, build homes, spray insecticides, and grow crops. They are the modern cowboys stealing land and destroying it for their needs. They are there “to liberate” the land and put it to use. Ignorant and crude as they may be the exploration of their mentality of desperation gives this documentary a great credibility and depth. And getting off topic the First Nations of Canada are in many respects facing the same fate as the Uru and historically they were driven out of their lands by settlers who were no better than the invaders of the Amazonian rainforest. As one invader states doesn’t the Bible say that people are meant to take the land and multiply. Of course, did the Bible not say thou shalt not steal!
What weapons do the Uru have? Drones and cameras to document the invaders on their territory. They also have initiated vigilante patrols and conduct citizen arrests and burn down invader’s shanties on their territory. One senses violence will be exerted against them by the majority invaders that surround them. In fact a 33-year-old Uru land protector is found at the side of the road beaten to death. International media may help but so far it has failed to stop the decimation of the Amazonian rainforest by farmers, cattle ranchers, agri-business, loggers and hydro-electric projects. The fact that the documentary is a National Geographic Film gives the Uru people an international audience but the final curtain may already be closing.
Brazilian greed, poverty and desperation unchecked by political forces spells the end of the Amazonian rainforest. Inevitable sadness.
In Canada the documentary has played in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal and there is the possibility of additional screenings and VOD release.
Directed by Alex Pritz.
RKS Film Rating 91/100.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 