Karl Marx described capitalism as a vampire system, sucking blood from the living. US industrial corporations have done their best to confirm Marx's description. It is nearly 30 years since the Bhopal Disaster in which an explosion at a Union Carbide factory in India killed 4,000 at the time and left a legacy of up to 8,000 deaths in the aftermath. Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson absconded to the US soon after the explosion and has never spent one day in jail for his role in this, the largest massacre of people by a non-nuclear industrial company at a time of peace. Illiterate peasants of Bhopal are now suffering once again at the hands of US multinationals - they have been the innocent subjects of drug testing by US pharmaceutical companies who have given them pills and injected them without their informed consent. DATELINE investigates this scandal on SUNDAY night on SBS1 at 8.30pm.
http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/about/id/601291/n/Experimenting-on-India
Shades of Nazi death camp experiments on Jews or the notorious Tuskagee experiments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment).
SBS1 is following this with something else that would be well worth seeing - a half hour documentary unpicking the News International empire in the light of the phone hacking scandal: "MURDOCH: BREAKING THE SPELL?" at 9.30pm on SUNDAY.
Four Corners also digs the dirt on another crime of the US establishment on MONDAY night at 8.30pm (ABC1) - "THE GUANTANAMO TRAP": http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2011/07/29/3280442.htm. As the blurb says, Obama promised to shut the place down: 30 months after his inauguration it's still operating.
This, unfortunately, clashes with part 1 of "COLLISION" (ABC2, MONDAY at 8.30pm), described thus by the TV guide: "A five-part British drama that tells the story of a major road accident and a group of people who have never met, but who all share one single defining moment that will change their lives forever". Having seen it, I'd say it's one of the better drama series of recent years and keeps you guessing right to the end, as the lives of the protagonists are intertwined in many unexpected ways. A reviewer on www.imdb.com comments: "What starts as a straight forward car accident quickly turns into a story full of twists and turns as the police start to dig. [Detective] Tolin unravels a number of mysteries which involve murder, smuggling, whistle blowing and a government cover-up". Record one, watch the other, I'd say!
TUESDAY brings the enjoyable "MOTORCYCLE DIARIES" (2004) at 9.30PM on SBS2, based on the journals of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara as he journeys, as a young man, by motorcycle through South America with his best friend, Alberto Granado. It's an interesting tale that traces Guevara's radicalisation as he travels the continent, witnessing crushing poverty that contrasts so strongly with his own relatively privileged upbringing. It is to Guevara's great credit that he renounced the comforts of bourgeois life to pursue a life of revolution, but the tragedy is that his conception of revolution made no space for the self-activity of the working class who were relegated to the role of passive bystander in the course of the Cuban revolution. Cuba of course does not feature in this film but by the end of it Guevara has clearly marked himself out as a man who conceives of the people as objects to be saved rather than masters of their own destiny.
This is followed straight after by Tony Gatlif's "EXILES" (2004) at 11.40PM on SBS2. I'm a big fan of Gatlif's films - I love the way that in his films he blends wonderful music with cultures and peoples who have been marginalised and who sustain this music. Exiles features a rather unlikeable and self-absorbed couple, both born in Algeria, one to Algerian parents, one to French, but who both now live in France. They decide to travel back to Algeria, much to the initial scepticism of the first who can't understand why anyone would want to go back to such a "backward" country, and to the amazement of Algerians who are making the trip in reverse. It's a road trip with the usual disasters, misunderstandings and so forth. What absolutely makes this film for me, though, is the musical interludes, in particular the amazing final quarter of an hour in which the central female character is transported through a trance-like state brought on by rhythmic drumming and the sounds of a deep bass stringed instrument to some connection with the country and culture of her birth.
Another clash on WEDNESDAY night at 10.05pm. I haven't seen either of these, so bear that in mind! "ASSEMBLY" (2007) on SBS1 tells the story of People's Liberation Army Captain Guzidi who leads 46 men on a sniping mission to defend a vital post during the Chinese war of national liberation against Chiang Kaishek's Nationalist forces. All the men under his command are wiped out, something that is portrayed in pretty bloody detail in the first hour. The second hour shows Captain Guzidi in his fight for justice to restore the honour of the men he led in the face of bureaucratic obstruction.
"ALTIPLANO" (2009) (SBS2 at 10.05pm) has got a mixed reception. It's set in the Peruvian Andes in the mining region. The people suspect that they are being poisoned by mercury from the mine and revolt, barricading the mine. The local surgeon is caught up in the riot as the villagers take their vengeance on the mining company. So we're back where we started with this week's TV picks. Beautifully shot, exquisite music but perhaps rather slow?
Finally, Australia's first ever IRANIAN FILM FESTIVAL kicks off in BRISBANE on THURSDAY and runs through to SUNDAY. Other cities to follow. See for more information:
http://www.sbs.com.au/films/article/single/895191/Iranian-Film-Festival-Australia-2011-Armin-Miladi-interview?cid=23223 AND
http://www.iffa.net.au/
http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/about/id/601291/n/Experimenting-on-India
Shades of Nazi death camp experiments on Jews or the notorious Tuskagee experiments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment).
SBS1 is following this with something else that would be well worth seeing - a half hour documentary unpicking the News International empire in the light of the phone hacking scandal: "MURDOCH: BREAKING THE SPELL?" at 9.30pm on SUNDAY.
Four Corners also digs the dirt on another crime of the US establishment on MONDAY night at 8.30pm (ABC1) - "THE GUANTANAMO TRAP": http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2011/07/29/3280442.htm. As the blurb says, Obama promised to shut the place down: 30 months after his inauguration it's still operating.
This, unfortunately, clashes with part 1 of "COLLISION" (ABC2, MONDAY at 8.30pm), described thus by the TV guide: "A five-part British drama that tells the story of a major road accident and a group of people who have never met, but who all share one single defining moment that will change their lives forever". Having seen it, I'd say it's one of the better drama series of recent years and keeps you guessing right to the end, as the lives of the protagonists are intertwined in many unexpected ways. A reviewer on www.imdb.com comments: "What starts as a straight forward car accident quickly turns into a story full of twists and turns as the police start to dig. [Detective] Tolin unravels a number of mysteries which involve murder, smuggling, whistle blowing and a government cover-up". Record one, watch the other, I'd say!
TUESDAY brings the enjoyable "MOTORCYCLE DIARIES" (2004) at 9.30PM on SBS2, based on the journals of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara as he journeys, as a young man, by motorcycle through South America with his best friend, Alberto Granado. It's an interesting tale that traces Guevara's radicalisation as he travels the continent, witnessing crushing poverty that contrasts so strongly with his own relatively privileged upbringing. It is to Guevara's great credit that he renounced the comforts of bourgeois life to pursue a life of revolution, but the tragedy is that his conception of revolution made no space for the self-activity of the working class who were relegated to the role of passive bystander in the course of the Cuban revolution. Cuba of course does not feature in this film but by the end of it Guevara has clearly marked himself out as a man who conceives of the people as objects to be saved rather than masters of their own destiny.
This is followed straight after by Tony Gatlif's "EXILES" (2004) at 11.40PM on SBS2. I'm a big fan of Gatlif's films - I love the way that in his films he blends wonderful music with cultures and peoples who have been marginalised and who sustain this music. Exiles features a rather unlikeable and self-absorbed couple, both born in Algeria, one to Algerian parents, one to French, but who both now live in France. They decide to travel back to Algeria, much to the initial scepticism of the first who can't understand why anyone would want to go back to such a "backward" country, and to the amazement of Algerians who are making the trip in reverse. It's a road trip with the usual disasters, misunderstandings and so forth. What absolutely makes this film for me, though, is the musical interludes, in particular the amazing final quarter of an hour in which the central female character is transported through a trance-like state brought on by rhythmic drumming and the sounds of a deep bass stringed instrument to some connection with the country and culture of her birth.
Another clash on WEDNESDAY night at 10.05pm. I haven't seen either of these, so bear that in mind! "ASSEMBLY" (2007) on SBS1 tells the story of People's Liberation Army Captain Guzidi who leads 46 men on a sniping mission to defend a vital post during the Chinese war of national liberation against Chiang Kaishek's Nationalist forces. All the men under his command are wiped out, something that is portrayed in pretty bloody detail in the first hour. The second hour shows Captain Guzidi in his fight for justice to restore the honour of the men he led in the face of bureaucratic obstruction.
"ALTIPLANO" (2009) (SBS2 at 10.05pm) has got a mixed reception. It's set in the Peruvian Andes in the mining region. The people suspect that they are being poisoned by mercury from the mine and revolt, barricading the mine. The local surgeon is caught up in the riot as the villagers take their vengeance on the mining company. So we're back where we started with this week's TV picks. Beautifully shot, exquisite music but perhaps rather slow?
Finally, Australia's first ever IRANIAN FILM FESTIVAL kicks off in BRISBANE on THURSDAY and runs through to SUNDAY. Other cities to follow. See for more information:
http://www.sbs.com.au/films/article/single/895191/Iranian-Film-Festival-Australia-2011-Armin-Miladi-interview?cid=23223 AND
http://www.iffa.net.au/
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