Tom's TV picks, week beginning 27 November

by Tom Bramble on Saturday, 26 November 2011 at 19:39

 

Two things worth watching on Sunday night.

8.30pm on SBS1: The Promise: part 1 of a new series. Here's the blurb that outlines the basic story: "Just as 18-year-old Londoner Erin sets off to spend summer in Israel with her best friend, Eliza, she unearths an old diary belonging to her sick grandfather, Len. Intrigued by the life of this old man she barely knows, she takes the diary with her and is stunned to learn of his part in the post-WWII British peacekeeping force in what was then Palestine. Left to her own devices when Eliza begins national service in the Israeli army, Erin witnesses the complexities of life, for both Jews and Arabs, in this troubled land."

So, shades of Ken Loach's "Land and Freedom" in the basic plot device. The plus points: the series shows how Israel was born in violence and how that violence is maintained today. For those who don't know much about the Israeli colonial project it will be quite an eye-opener. And the Zionists hate it, which is always a good recommendation. Wikipedia records that: "A press attaché at the Israeli embassy in London condemned the drama to The Jewish Chronicle as the worst example of anti-Israel propaganda he had ever seen on television, saying it "created a new category of hostility towards Israel"".

The downside: it's a British production and seriously underplays the role of the British in facilitating the Zionist project in the 1930s and 1940s - quite an historical distortion in that respect. And, as the blurb suggests, despite the ranting of the Zionists, it does at times tie itself in knots trying to present a "balanced" view. But it gets better as the series progresses, the compulsory romantic interlude notwithstanding.

12.10am on SBS1: Ae Fond Kiss: speaking of Ken Loach, any Loach film, even a bad one, is better than most. And this is by no means bad. Indeed, it's rather good: "Sparks fly in Glasgow's south side when Casim, a young Muslim, falls in love with Roisin, an Irish Catholic. Casim's parents try their hardest to make him marry the girl they have chosen for him back in Pakistan, but Casim and Roisin are devoted to each other and determined to stay together." A small-scale, intimate film that shows decent people trying to overcome family prejudices that in turn are born out of the wider crucible of colonialism and racism. Even though one barracks for the couple, you are also invited to understand why it is that the Pakistani family are so set against their son marrying "out" of the community. 

Wednesday 9pm on ABC1: The Thick of It: The best political satire on TV in an extended one-hour special. Pitch black comedy.

On Friday night there are two programmes both worth watching and both at 9.30pm:

ABC2 is screening Fear of a Brown Planet: 75 minutes of incisive comedy which skewers racism in Australia, while SBS2 is showing The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey a film featuring the hero of the Indian revolt of 1857 who leads his men in a courageous fight against the corrupt and exploitative East India Company. This is British colonialism as it really was: "dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt", as Karl Marx described the rise of capitalism.

Tom's TV picks week beginning 20 November

Tom's TV picks week beginning 20 November

Slim pickings this week. After Sunday's documentary on Daniel Ellsberg (The Most Dangerous Man in America), I can really only suggest two picks this week:

Tuesday 22 November at 10.05pm on SBS1: The Pipe
"A compelling documentary film four years in the making, The Pipe tells the story of the small Rossport community which has taken on the might of Shell Oil and the Irish State. The discovery of gas off this remote coastal village has led to the most dramatic clash of cultures in modern Ireland. The rights of farmers over their fields, and of fishermen to their fishing grounds, has come in direct conflict with one of the world's most powerful oil companies. When the citizens look to their State to protect their rights, they find that the government has put Shell's right to lay a pipeline over their own. Already 5 locals have spent 94 days in jail rather than let the proposed Shell pipeline cross their lands. This once tranquil area is engulfed in turmoil, as huge numbers of police drafted in. Normal policing has broken down following baton charges, surveillance, arrests, and a hunger strike by a local schoolteacher...".

And, possibly this:

Thursday 24 November at 7.30pm on SBS2: Trails from the East: Syria and Jordan: the Great Enemy
Part 10 of a series of 13 documentaries from Holland exploring nations and cultures in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Blurb says: "In "The Great Enemy", the train ride goes from the Iraqi-Syrian border to Aleppo, Syria. From there the train continues to Damascus and Amman (Jordan), until Aqaba, bordering Israel. This episode explores how travellers manage their relationship with their enemies, Israel and America. One traveller claims he does not want to be seen as a terrorist, while the train conductor praises Palestinian suicide bombers. Outside of the train we meet Rana Husseini, a Jordanian journalist, who questions honor killings in her country and is therefore often accused of being pro-American". Hmmm...

There's also the regulars (Pride and Prejudice tonight, Sunday, on ABC1 at 10.35pm; The Killing on Wednesday night on ABC2 at 8.30pm; Friday Night Lights on, yes, Friday night, also on ABC2 at 8.30pm). And, for a bit of light relief, Tampopo (Japan, 1985) (Monday at 10.30pm on SBS2).

Tom's TV picks week beginning 13 November

Thursday at 1.30pm (SBS1): "The Coca Cola Case": unions and lawyers take on the big American corporation and try to bring it to book for its appalling abuse of workers' rights at its operations around the world. A one-hour Canadian documentary.

Thursday at 11.10pm (SBS2): "Once you're born, you can no longer hide" (Italy, 2005): A touching film about a young Italian boy, Sandro, who is forced to confront the reality of his privileged existence when he encounters refugees trying to get into Italy. One review says, and I concur: "The basic plot sounds like it could be tedious--a boy from a wealthy industrialist family who is thought drowned is saved by a refugee boat. He becomes especially close to a Romanian brother and sister and in many ways ties his own fate to theirs. The film is so beautifully directed--subtle, never obvious, not belabored or sentimental--that it feels as much like it is observed so much as created for the screen."

Saturday at 1pm (SBS1): "Black Music: An American Revolution", Part 2 of this documentary takes the story from the civil rights era to gangsta rap and overproduced R&B; in my view, from treasure to trash, though I know some comrades will strongly disagree!

Saturday night: two very different films...

At 9.30pm, SBS2 is screening "Crossed Tracks" ("Roman de Gare") (France, 2007), a Hitchcockian thriller directed by noted French film director Claude Lelouch. Haven't seen this, but here's the blurb: "The successful novelist Judith Ralitzer is interrogated in the police station about the disappearance of her ghost-writer. A serial-killer escapes from a prison in Paris. A missing school teacher leaves his wife and children. In the road, the annoying and stressed hairdresser Hughette is left in a gas station by her fiancé Paul while driving to the poor farm of her family in the country. A mysterious man offers a ride to her and she invites him to assume the identity of Paul during 24 hours to not disappoint her mother. Who might be the unknown man and what is real and what is fiction?"

At 10.50pm over on ABC2, you can see"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) by Frank Capra. One of the best known and loved films of the 20th century. Heart-tugging small-town populism as Everyman George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, reviews the impact of his life on his community. As he does so he discovers that his actions over the years, although seemingly relatively inconsequential at the time, have lifted up everyone in the town, except dastardly Moneybags Mr Potter who is out to wreck the town for his own selfish pecuniary motives. The film is an ode to human decency and is one movie everyone should see at least once in their lives. Difficult to believe that the director was a registered Republican! See this for some interesting background on one of Hollywood's best 20th century directors: http://www.crossleft.org/node/6547

Tom's TV picks week beginning 6 November

Tom's TV picks week beginning 6 November

by Tom Bramble on Tuesday, 08 November 2011 at 16:43

 

Three picks dealing with racism and anti-racism, one just a damn good police procedural...

Tuesday at 8.30pm (SBS1): "Breaking into Europe": a documentary detailing the struggle by migrants and refugees to bust Europe's racist immigration laws and find a way into the UK. The blurb says "In a ground-breaking assignment, two reporters set out to follow the journeys that these migrants take along the most popular and dangerous routes to the UK". If you liked that wonderful French movie "Welcome" (http://www.welcomemovie.com.au/) this could be worth watching.

Wednesday at 8.30pm (SBS2): "The Killing". We're now on Episode 2 of this great 20-part Danish series about cops trying to track down the killer of a 19 year old student. Here's the blurb: "The body of the missing student is found in an abandoned car, and details of her suffering are uncovered. Suspicion falls on local politician Troels Hartmann when it is found that the car is registered to his campaign office. Detective Inspector Sarah Lund keeps postponing her departure, and tension arises between her and her new partner as they investigate the connection to city hall." Plenty of political skullduggery, red herrings and twists and turns keep you involved right the way through the series. It's on repeat so if you missed it first time, don't miss it second time around. Series 2 is shortly to be screened in the UK so with luck SBS will screen that following Series 1.

Friday at 8.30pm (ABC2): "Friday Night Lights". I recommended this last time but it's suddenly taken an interesting turn with the Black members of the Texas school football team, the Dillon Panthers, rebelling against their racist coach. Hitherto quite unpolitical player "Smash" Williams emerges as a leader.

Saturday at 1pm (SBS1): "Black Music: An American (r)evolution". Episode 1 (of two), entitled "We Shall Overcome", traces the history of Black music in the States from early Negro spirituals through to the civil rights era.

Tom's TV picks week beginning 30 October

Not much on this week, but here's a few selections.

Sunday
10.30pm: Pride and Prejudice (1995) on ABC1. The best, if you haven't already seen it two or three times. And even if you have, I hope you'll agree it's worth another round, with part 1 starting tonight. Beautifully acted, beautifully scripted and with a first-class wise and witty heroine, Lizzy Bennett.

Monday
10.30pm: The Blue Kite (1993) on SBS2: A Chinese family survive the hardships of life in Beijing from 1953 to the Cultural Revolution in 1968 as the Communist Government sought to crash industrialise the country and suppress the rights of the working class. Banned in China. A humanist sentiment pervades the film.

Tuesday
10pm: Gaddafi: Our Best Enemy on SBS1: a documentary which traces how Gaddafi was rehabilitated by the West as he became a useful "asset" to the West in the War on Terror and control over the region's oil supplies. Tony Blair and Condoleezza Rice get skewered.

Friday
8.30pm: Friday Night Lights on ABC2: the fortunes of the local football team dominate life in small town Texas in this long-running series (it's been on weekly since August, but you can quickly catch up with the basic story). Rather more involving than your average story about football jocks, the characters are all well developed, the businessmen are venal, the players are a pretty mixed bunch and are all dealing with tricky family issues as well. It doesn't set the world on fire but it's a good use of 45 minutes on a Friday night.

Tom's TV picks week beginning 23 October

Just a quick, cut down version as too busy to do much more, but some things definitely worth catching in the next week:

Sunday 8.30pm SBS1: Dateline has a feature on the Syrian revolt, followed immediately afterwards by:

Sunday 9.30pm SBS 1: "My Lai": documentary on massacre in Vietnam when US troops wiped out an entire village. Remember this when you hear the US crowing about bringing freedom to Libya.

Monday 8.30pm ABC1: 4 Corners: feature on Australia's brutal refugee detention centres. An inside look.

Thursday 8.30pm SBS2: "China Blue": documentary about conditions of Chinese factory workers.

Saturday 10.20pm SBS1: "Hunger": film about Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands. Harrowing but demonstration of indomitable spirit of the hunger strikers in their campaign for political prisoner status

Tom's TV picks w/b 11 September

Cologne following Allied bombing raid in 1944.

What else to say, it's been "all 9/11, all the channels, all the time" on TV lately and of course today will be no exception. As a welcome counterpoint to this 9/11 media/political necrophilia (attaining satisfaction from the bodies of the dead), SBS1 is screening THE BOMBING OF GERMANY on FRIDAY night at 8.30pm. Although the blurb suggests that this documentary will tie itself up in liberal knots judging the morals of the industrial-scale massacres of German civilians by US bombing raids in World War II, and although it is extremely unlikely that SBS programmers have scheduled this documentary for this purpose, it will at least serve as a reminder that Al Qaeda did not invent the use of aeroplanes as a means to inflict carnage on innocents.

It's a big week for programmes about the War on Terror and not just the obvious 9/11 features. On TUESDAY night at 8.30pm SBS1 is showing WIKI SECRETS, a documentary about Bradley Manning and the mass leaking of US military secrets last year. SATURDAY night (10.15pm) has the same channel showing the film SECRETS OF STATE (2009), a thriller depicting the abuses of the French secret service, the DGSE, in its hunt for "terrorists". I'm a bit torn by this film. It depicts the kind of abuses engaged in by the French secret service, the DGSE, in its hunt for terrorists. The French anti-terrorist apparatus is shown to be highly amoral and an enemy of basic human rights, both of its own agents and also its victims. It's also got a gripping story line. But it doesn't really question the underlying motives of the French state and indeed, at the film's finish the director appears even to justify these abuses in the name of "whatever it takes". So, be warned.

And then there are two films that explore the effects of ideological conditioning similar to that to which we have been exposed in saturation doses over the past ten years. First, on WEDNESDAY night at 10.05pm, SBS1 is showing THE WAVE (2008), a German movie that explores how easily fascistic "groupthink" can operate in a classroom context. The movie is based on a real-life 1967 experiment by Californian teacher Ron Jones who got students to role-play a microcosm of a fascist state in class over several days before having to cancel the experiment abruptly as it got completely out of hand. More on this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave. The same totalitarian conformism is also evident in Danish film DELIVER US FROM EVIL (2009) on SATURDAY night on SBS2 at 9.30pm. A small-town neo-Nazi successfully blames a refugee for the death of an elderly resident and mobilises the wrath of the townsfolk against him.

Finally, for something completely different, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) is showing on ABC2 on SATURDAY night at 8.30pm. A remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954), it's lighter in tone and considerably shorter but doesn't suffer much in being so. A Western, in which seven unlikely characters all operating with mixed and usually quite selfish motives band together to save a town. Fair doses of cool humour and glimpses of human frailty amongst the tough guys keep it humming along. I suppose if you look at it critically you could say that it has a liberal imperialist tone to it (terrorised Mexican villagers ask an American gunslinger to save them from a heinous bandit when in fact the main danger Mexicans faced was the US itself which stole one third of their land mass in the 19th century) but I'm willing to put this aside in favour of its many virtues.

Not a vintage week then, by any means, but some stuff worth catching amidst all the 9/11 militaristic tub-thumping.