Tom's TV picks w/b 11 July 2011

Last week's "Leaky Boat" documentary about the Tampa crisis of 2001 did a great job in highlighting the way in which the Howard government exploited refugees to save its own political skin in the run up to the election of that year. Howard, Ruddock and Reith were willing to see refugees drown and to endanger Navy personnel in order to whip up racist sentiment towards refugees. Good on Able Seaman Bec Lynd who was able through her own dealing with refugees in peril on the high seas to see through the "terrorist scare" that the Government was promoting and who, along with her other comrades in the RAN, helped blow apart the "children overboard" scandal which Howard and Reith had concocted and which was accepted without questioning by Beazley & Co.

So we know what to expect with this week's 4 Corners "The invasion of Lampedusa" on **MONDAY** at 8.30pm (ABC1). Politicians playing political football with refugees' lives. This time, tens of thousands of refugees from Libya and Tunisia wash up on the Italian island of Lampedusa. The islanders are left to cope with the influx on their own and, not surprisingly, get ticked off. Enter Berlusconi, along with Marine Le Pen, both looking to save, in Berlusconi's case, or boost in Le Pen's case, their politicial careers by bashing refugees and calling for tighter "border control". Watch it and get angry:

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2011/s3263523.htm

The hidden story of the "refugee crisis" of the past decade has been how people can resist the racist crap promoted by governments and media and take a stand in support of refugees. Nothing new about this. SBS2 on **WEDNESDAY** at 10.40pm is running "Divided we Fall" the Oscar-nominated 2000 movie about an "ordinary couple" risking their lives in German-occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II to hide a Jewish friend in their home, thereby putting at risk not just themselves but their families and their entire community. Basic humanity and a sense of solidarity trump Government vindictiveness and violence. Great, uplifting movie.

One movie that may not have any particularly obvious politicial "message" this week but which nonetheless should be of interest to those opposing the ongoing War on Terror is "Son of a Lion" (2007) (**WEDNESDAY** 9pm on SBS2, immediately before "Divided we Fall"). This is about a father-son relationship set in a Pashtun village in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, on the Afghanistan border. Australian director (yes, really) Benjamin Gilmour said "Considering all we seem to get in the news is anti-Pashtun, those involved in Son of a Lion saw the making of this film as a way of showing the world a slice of life in the tribal belt. In the midst of intense Pakistani propaganda on one side and Taliban propaganda on the other, the Pashtuns are clutching at opportunities to regain ground for the culture on the verge of its obliteration."

Finally (but not chronologically) on **MONDAY** at 10.30pm on SBS2 there's the Akira Kurosawa classic "Throne of Blood" (1957) - Macbeth done Noh-theatre style. Lots of rolling fog, cobwebs, dark premonitions and bloody ambition. And did I mention spirits? One of Kurosawa's best - may be hard going at first, but stick with it if you think that this might be your cup of tea.