Monday 29 December 2014

2015 - The Year Ahead

As the new year approaches, it's topical to consider the overall economic and socio-political environment which will frame the following twelve months - and potentially affect lives across the globe.

Economically the international situation remains fragile: during 2014 the United States had annualised GDP growth of only 2.7% (a similar rate also applied to Australia), the European Union was 0.8%,  Japan was negative with -1.2% and China dropped to 7.3%. The US Fed ended its Quantitative Easing policy and Central banks across the world continued to warn of the need for greater debt control stringency, improved capital adequacy requirements while retaining liquidity in funding markets. The greatest concern remains that critical lessons from the GFC have not been learned and applied.

In terms of international relations and stability the United Nations and Member Nation States continue to face challenges from well organised terrorist organisations such as Islamic State (formerly ISIS, ISIL or perhaps better referred to as DAESH), Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and the Taliban operating in both Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan. The festering confrontational relationship between Israel and the Palestinians shows little progress in the immediate future nor does the unproclaimed conflict between the Russian Federation and the Ukraine. The Syrian civil war grinds on with little prospect of an immediate outcome and peace.

From an Australian perspective, the world has never looked more unsettled since the end of the Cold War and the influence/competition between the two Superpowers of that era.

The power of the World Wide Web, various mobile devices and software applications has meant the power of disruptive technologies has never been greater than when the first steam train and automobile heralded the end of horse drawn carriages and carts. Realignment and adjustment of national economies and workforces to this new order continues to present hard and difficult lessons.

Happy New Year, one can only hope.

Saturday 20 December 2014

Christmas 2014

During the second half of the 20th Century, Christmas  generally become synonymous with gift giving, Christmas trees and rampant consumer spending. In contrast, prior to the Second World War, it was a far more limited celebration which was largely confined to the middle and wealthier classes in Great Britain and Europe although there was a limited involvement for the working class. It's worth reflecting on the deeper origins of this festive season to provide a broader perspective than the current pre-season sales would otherwise project.

The word itself is derived from Middle English Cristemasse which dates back to the 11th and 12th Centuries in various uses and basically meant Christian mass. The Cristen part is derived from earlier Greek and Hebrew terms such as Khristos and Messiah (which means 'anointed'). The masse part comes from the Latin 'missa' or celebration of the Eucharist. In short it was simply a celebration of religious observance. All of the additional 'accessories' were added in later centuries with the major gift giving and large meals occurring in the late 19th and 20th Centuries.  As for the birth of Christ, on which this observance originates,  it is generally accepted by scholars and religious historians that the year Jesus was born was between a period of 7 BC and 2 BC. There is no certainty as to the exact month or day. The choice of the 25th December occurred during the 4th Century AD within the Western Christian Church and later adopted by the Eastern Church.  In most respects this makes little difference in any meaningful manner as the true value of the event is the focus on others rather than oneself. In that sense the Spirit of Christmas transcends the fixation with pre-Christmas discounts and Boxing Day Sales. Peace be with you wherever you may reside.

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Film Review - The Water Diviner - Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe as Connor searching for his surviving son - The Water Diviner
Russell Crowe's first credit as a film director (while also being one of the lead actors) is an impressive effort with The Water Diviner.  Shot on location in Australia and Turkey with a joint Australian/Turkish cast and crew, a reported $9M budget and a good interplay between backstory flashbacks juxtapositioned with current scenes, this is a technically well crafted film.

A period piece set after the conclusion of World War I and four years after the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, Australian farmer, Joshua Connor (Russell Crowe) has left his farm and travelled to Turkey to the Gallipoli battlefield in search of the remains of his three sons, believed to have been killed in action. Turkey, as the centre of the defeated Ottoman Empire, is under Allied Occupation but Connor receives little support for his quest from the British authorities in Istanbul. While staying at his hotel in the Turkish capital he is treated sympathetically by Ayshe (Olga Kurylenko) the Turkish widow of the Hotel's owner, and provided with advice how to reach Gallipoli without an official travel permit.

Connor reaches the Gallipoli shore to find an Allied Graves Unit commanded by an Australian officer (Jai Courtney) engaged in the recovery and registration of soldiers remains assisted by two liaison staff from the Turkish Army. It is at this point the story takes a twist as Major Hasan (Yilmaz Erdogan) the senior Turkish liaison officer discovers one of Connor's sons survived as a Prisoner of War and may still be alive. Connor's quest to reclaim his lost sons from the battlefield becomes a mission to rescue his surviving son as the Ottoman Empire disintegrates. Added to the mix is the growing romantic interest between Connor and the widow, Ayshe.

The Water Diviner has graphic violence due to the flashbacks of hand-to-hand combat at Gallipoli and later the invasion by Greece of Turkey's border region where Connor must travel to search for his surviving son. The film's plotline and representation is very sympathetic to the Turks and portrays the Greeks in an unflattering light which no doubt will add some controversy to an otherwise clear linear perspective. There is some inconsistency as Connor moves from grieving father to action man almost instantaneously in the later part of the film and stereotyping of some characters, most notably the British. Of note, the film is almost complimentary to Australian Director, Peter Weir's 1981 film classic 'Gallipoli'.  This is a film for cinema viewing rather than DVD or download.

Monday 8 December 2014

Film Review - Interstellar

On board the Endurance - Interstellar
Christopher Nolan's Interstellar mixes theoretical physics, strong character development and an in-depth back story with stunning visual effects to deliver a complex layered film quite distinct from many recent efforts in the science fiction genre.  A simple straight forward space exploration film this is not and with a screening time of 169 minutes it is a film which will appeal to those who would like more than dazzling CGI effects (although there are more than enough scenes with high end imagery).

The plotline of the story is set on a dying planet Earth, not too far into the future with crops failing and endless dust storms. Society has fallen back into an agrarian culture to survive with technology and space exploration abandoned. Former NASA pilot and widower, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) runs a farm with his father (John Lithgow) and his son, Tom and daughter, Murphy.  Through strange messages he discovers that NASA still exists and through the efforts of Professor John Brand (Michael Caine) is launching a mission to a worm hole which has appeared near Saturn. Probes through the worm hole have established that three potential planets for human habitation exist on the other side.  Cooper is enlisted by Professor Brand to pilot the mission shuttle with a team consisting of Brands' daughter, Amelia (Anne Hathaway) and scientists Romilly (David Gyasi) and Doyle Wes Bentley) with very quirky robots operating with almost human personality programming.

On Earth, as time relativity passes more quickly, Cooper's daughter Murphy has become an adult (Jessica Chastain) and joined Professor Brand working on an equation to launch massive space stations from Earth using gravity. All is not what it seems and Cooper and Amelia are confronted by endless challenges far away in space (including a massive black hole termed 'Gargantua') and some unexpected but devastating deception from their own colleagues.

The film was shot on locations in the United States, Canada and Iceland and theoretical physicist, Kip Thorne (a collaborator with the late renowned scientist, Carl Sagan) was the scientific consultant both with story development and visual effects. If you're familiar with terms such as worm hole, event horizon, singularity and gravitational lensing, the actual science gives the storyline a high level of gravitas.
The supermassive black hole,Gargantua, as shown in Interstellar

Saturday 6 December 2014

Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Season - Cyrano de Bergerac - Review

Cyrano de Bergerac - Richard Roxburgh
As the 2014 Sydney Theatre Company season draws to a close, it seems very appropriate that Edmond Rostand's, Cyrano de Bergerac concludes the year on a high point. This version of the play is an adaptation by Andrew Upton of the original tragicomic work by Rostand and mercifully the adjustment of dialogue does not transpose all of the script into lazy 20th Century colloquialism. There are, however the odd moments in scenes where the modern English usage is cringe worthy but these are few and far between.

Rostand's play is focused on Hercule Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, a nobleman serving as a soldier and commander in the French Army. He is a man of many talents  being a gifted duelist, swordsman, poet and musician but he has considerable self doubt due to having an extremely large nose. His romantic interest is his distant cousin, the beautiful and intellectual heiress,  Roxane, whom he has known since childhood. Unaware of his affections, Roxane has become interested in the handsome yet stupid young nobleman, Christian de Neuvillete who has enlisted as a cadet in de Bergerac's regiment. It is from this point that a grand deception takes places for the handsome Christian does not possess the written poetic and oratory skills to win Roxane's heart yet Cyrano does not believe that Roxane could love as ugly a man as believes himself to be. He thus concludes an arrangement to provide Christian with the letters and poems to win Roxane's heart reasoning that at least if she does not love him, then she will love his words spoken by Christian.

Richard Roxburgh more than ably handles the role of Cyrano de Bergerac conveying the perfect measure of the character's emotional, if somewhat, contradictory expressions of self loathing, bravado, angst and poetical romanticism. He is supported by a competent cast with Eryn Jean Norvill as Roxane, Yalin Ozucelik as Le Bret, Josh McConville as De Guiche, David Whitney as Ragueneau, Julia Zemiro as Roxane's nurse and veteran Australian actor, Bruce Spence appears as the drunkard Ligniere. Set design by STC's Alice Babidge is functional, imaginative and gives maximum focus in the performance  space to the actors. This is a professional and entertaining production to end the season.