Two absolute must-sees in a double-header on Thursday night:
At 10pm, SBS1 is screening Dirty Pretty Things (2002), a film which lifts the lid on the precarious existence of the hundreds of thousands of "illegal immigrants" who keep British industry, in this case hospitality, ticking over. Despite their contribution, they are harassed at every turn by heartless immigration officials, which helps of course to keep wages low and the workers scared. But in this case the workers begin to overcome their fear and take a stand. Great acting by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Okonedo (who turned up recently in The Slap) and even Audrey Tatou who shows in this that she can do more than light and frothy. Sergi Lopez adds to his list of menacing roles as the evil hotel manager who is involved in a very dark scheme to exploit the hapless migrant workers.
Followed immediately afterwards by:
The Colonel (2006) (11.45pm, SBS1) in which a senior French military officer's brutal deeds in Algeria during its war of independence are exposed many years later. Blurb says: "A "Reformed Colonel" is found dead in Paris, a couple of decades after Algeria's struggle for independence was won from France. Lieutenant Galois is assigned the investigation of this murder. She receives the diary of Lieutenent Guy Rossi who served under The Colonel in Algeria in 1956, and has been reported as missing in action since 1957. The revelations found in Rossi's diary go far beyond The Colonel's actions in Algeria, and give an insight on how dirty Algeria's War for Independence really was." Directed by Costa Gavras, which is always an indicator of quality.
And, for something completely different on Friday night, the rarely-screened (and only recently rediscovered after having disappeared for decades) Wake in Fright (renamed "Outback" in international release) (1971) on ABC2 on Friday at 9.30pm. A teacher wanders into an Outback Australian town intending just to stay the night. Instead, he is quickly drawn into the town's life centred on drinking to excess, brawls and 'roo hunting. Dark black drama. An excellent antidote to the romanticisation of the Australian bush which has been a central theme of Australian nationalism since the days of Henry Lawson and The Bulletin and which continues to this day with rubbish like Baz Luhrman's Australia or pretty much any tourism promo you care to mention.
At 10pm, SBS1 is screening Dirty Pretty Things (2002), a film which lifts the lid on the precarious existence of the hundreds of thousands of "illegal immigrants" who keep British industry, in this case hospitality, ticking over. Despite their contribution, they are harassed at every turn by heartless immigration officials, which helps of course to keep wages low and the workers scared. But in this case the workers begin to overcome their fear and take a stand. Great acting by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Okonedo (who turned up recently in The Slap) and even Audrey Tatou who shows in this that she can do more than light and frothy. Sergi Lopez adds to his list of menacing roles as the evil hotel manager who is involved in a very dark scheme to exploit the hapless migrant workers.
Followed immediately afterwards by:
The Colonel (2006) (11.45pm, SBS1) in which a senior French military officer's brutal deeds in Algeria during its war of independence are exposed many years later. Blurb says: "A "Reformed Colonel" is found dead in Paris, a couple of decades after Algeria's struggle for independence was won from France. Lieutenant Galois is assigned the investigation of this murder. She receives the diary of Lieutenent Guy Rossi who served under The Colonel in Algeria in 1956, and has been reported as missing in action since 1957. The revelations found in Rossi's diary go far beyond The Colonel's actions in Algeria, and give an insight on how dirty Algeria's War for Independence really was." Directed by Costa Gavras, which is always an indicator of quality.
And, for something completely different on Friday night, the rarely-screened (and only recently rediscovered after having disappeared for decades) Wake in Fright (renamed "Outback" in international release) (1971) on ABC2 on Friday at 9.30pm. A teacher wanders into an Outback Australian town intending just to stay the night. Instead, he is quickly drawn into the town's life centred on drinking to excess, brawls and 'roo hunting. Dark black drama. An excellent antidote to the romanticisation of the Australian bush which has been a central theme of Australian nationalism since the days of Henry Lawson and The Bulletin and which continues to this day with rubbish like Baz Luhrman's Australia or pretty much any tourism promo you care to mention.
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