A film review

BLOW

     Ted Demme has dared to turn into a film the life of one of the most influential drug dealers in the history of United States: Geoge Lung. To achieve this, Ted has brought to the screens "Blow", a semi-biographical story based on the book by Bruce Porter. "Blow" tells the story of George Lung, an American who turned from a small town boy into an important member of the Medellin Cocaine Cartel during the 70's and beginning of the 80´s, as well as of the people who influenced his life.

     The story takes place in different parts of Mexico, Colombia and the United States, revealing the murky side of some of its most touristic cities, as Los Angeles or Boston, right after the hippy era. George Lung (Johny Depp) is introduced as a child who realises the difficulties his family has to make ends meet, and makes the determination that he will never be a poor person. Leaving back home in Massachusetts, he settles down in California, where he starts dealing with marihuana, making his first important contacts in the world of drug trafficking, and eventually marrying his first wife (Franka Potente). While in jail, he meets Diego (Jordi Molla) one of the frontmen of the Colombian Cartel, and after that encounter, his life and business perspectives change forever.

     From the technical point of view, the late 70´s and early 80´s environment is perfectly reproduced along the film, the staged situation, the soundtrack, as well as the props, enable viewers to become fully involved in the situation the characters are faced with. The vintage camera filters are used perfectly in the varied situations, as it happens with the yellow, to show heat in the swimming pool scenes, or the white, for the moments when the protagonist is high on drugs, providing the audience with a feeling of burden and restlessness. Special effects cannot be said to be astounding, as they are not a key element to understand the story, however, the plot, a difficult subject in an autobiographical movie, is presented in a completely absorving way, and the convincing male characters are, to a great extent, responsible for this.

     Having said that, there are some aspects that should have been improved in this film. The script is not at the same level than the rest of the aspects, being unrealistic and even confusing in certain situations. Nevertheless, the worst part is that the casting director could have done a better job hiring a better actress for the female leading role instead of Penelope Cruz, who has been nominated for a Razzie Award. Her acting is extremely appalling, shouting and overacting in many scenes, contrasting with the believable performance of Franka Potente, the other female character.

     All in all, there was nothing much that could go wrong with a film based on the biography of such an interesting character. "Blow" is more than a well executed exercise of photography to tell the diary of a drug dealer, it is a collection of convincing characters and moving subplots that certainly manages to place the viewer under the skin of one of the world's most famous offenders during almost two hours.

Commenting a song

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS - TONIGHT, TONIGHT

I have selected a song from the 1995 Smashing Pumpkins' album "Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness". It was released as the second single and, although the album is said to have a conceptual framework, the song breaks the rules if we compare it to the sound and style of the rest of the playlist. 

The song starts with a very impressive rhythm that mixes bass and drums, but the number of instruments grows as the song develops. What is more striking is that the band counted with a full orchesta to give the song a richer variety of sounds, and they definitely achieved this. I must admit that sometimes the mixture of guitars, drums and orchesta, especially if we focus on the wind section, may be a bit over-the-top, however, for me the final product has something haunting that makes me want to listen to it over and over again.

To talk about the lyrics, first, I must make reference to Billy Corgan's voice, which reminds me of a mixture between a chainsaw and a cat's meow. Although it may seem something negative, this is not a bad aspect, as it gives a personal footprint that makes the lyrics sound more thought provoking than they actually are. This song encourages us to believe in ourselves, to follow what we believe in, to forget about the hypocrisies of life and to take a step forward to fulfill our dreams. I know it all may sound a bit clichéd, but trust me, by the time you hear Billy Corgan pronouncing "believe in me, as I believe in you..." at the end of the song, you will feel that you are capable of doing all that.

I have chosen to comment "Tonight, Tonight" because I first listened to it on the radio when I was 13 years old, a time when I was fascinated about discovering music coming from The U.S.A. Eventually, one day I saw on MTV the videoclip, that is based on George Meliès' "A trip to the Moon", a film I had never heard about before, but whose looks match perfectly with the dreamy environment that the song creates. I recorded the videoclip on VHS and from that moment on, it became part of my life.

Here are the lyrics, just in case you want to follow them as you listen to the song:

                                                       "Tonight, Tonight"

Time is never time at all
You can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth
And our lives are forever changed
We will never be the same
The more you change the less you feel

Believe, believe in me, believe
That life can change, that you're not stuck in vain
We're not the same, we're different tonight
Tonight, so bright
Tonight

And you know you're never sure

But you're sure you could be right
If you held yourself up to the light
And the embers never fade in your city by the lake
The place where you were born

Believe, believe in me, believe
In the resolute urgency of now
And if you believe there's not a chance tonight
Tonight, so bright
Tonight

We'll crucify the insincere tonight
We'll make things right, we'll feel it all tonight
We'll find a way to offer up the night tonight
The indescribable moments of your life tonight
The impossible is possible tonight
Believe in me as I believe in you, tonight

 

Questions on a film

THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON

1) Describe the following characters: Richard Burton, John H. Speke, Isabel Burton, Lowry.

BURTON: Adventurer and explorer that, by the time the audience meet him in the story, has already been to many places that the rest of the characters can't even imagine, just because he has the need to discover new cultures and to get involved with the inhabitants of that places.

SPEKE: At first, a puppet of the British Empire, a man younger than Burton who has no experience in that fields, apart from being a soldier in the colonies. Later on, as the story goes on, he starts to admire Burton way of living and changes his ways.  

ISABEL: A rebel lady for his time. She loves everything about Burton even before he meets him because she has been reading his books and translations. She is a very important support for her husband and would love to be a traveller as well.

LOWRY: He is a publisher who does whatever it takes to get what he wants. A person who loves taking advantage of the others and use their achievements in his own benefit. He plays a key role in the story as he is the one who creates the enmity between Burton and Speke.

2) How would you contrast Burton and Speke? What are their respective motivations to travel and explore? What is the attitude towards other cultures and peoples?

In the case of Speke, there would be two answers for this questions, one for the beginning of the story, and another that appears from the middle until the end. He shows himself cautious at the beginning, even showing some violence to the natives, as he is trying to show who is the one who rules there. Later on, this violence is proved to be fear towards these new cultures. Also, at first he is only thinking in bringing back some data for the Geographical Society, not really interested in experiencing the trip for his own sake, he just wants to finish his job and go back home. But this all changes later on as he becomes closer to Burton.

On the contrary, Burton is not only interested in finding the objective of the trip. He is a person who shows total respect to the people he encounters in his way, as he is more interested in the journey than in the destination. Due to his knowledge of other cultures, he knows how to approach tribes in order to show friendliness. He doesn't show himself as a slavehandler, as he really cares about the people that help him achieve his expeditions.

3) How does each one feel about the other? Do their feelings change in the course of the movie?

The first time they meet, during the battle they fight against the natives, Burton shows some condescension towards Speke, as he has much more experience in situations like that. However, Burton is the one who goes back to him and asks him to go together to find the sources of the Nile. As the story develops, Speke shows some personality, as well as admiration towards Burton, who also learns from Speke. They support each other to live through their experience in Africa, developing a very close relationship. Despite of that, due to the lie Lowry invents, they become enemies by the end of the story.

4) How does Burton contrast with Victorian society?

Burton can be defined as an outcast. He doesn't belong to the Victorian society because of the way he thinks towards other cultures and countries. He shows that in the way he dresses and on the way he behaves towards those who accuse him of being friend of the savages and natives. Burton had seen and experienced things that hardly ever could make him fit in a society again, either Victorian or not.

5) Why is Burton so interested in the slave medicine man? Why does he feel so miserable when he is killed?

Burton is so interested because he considers the slave medicine man a friend. Apart from that, he believes that the man has some secret inside of him, so he has the need to explore what he means with the predictions he makes through the story. Burton feels so bad because he feels responsible for bringing back the man to his old tribe, who treated him as a slave. However, he believes that by dying, the medicine man has finally found freedom.

6) Why doesn't Burton want to try to go to the lake Speke discovered while he was retained at the African Village?

Burton has experienced the horror of seeing his friend diying, and he is feeling really disappointed about the trip when Speke comes back. Now he doesn't have the need to discover the source of the Nile so badly. At the same time, Speke tells him that they don't have instruments for measuring anymore, so there is no point on repeating the same process again. Due to this, he concludes that if that lake is the source of the Nile, it cannot be proved scientifically, and decides not to go.

7) What are their divergent conceptions of the sources of the Nile? Who is right?

Speke believed that the Nile came from only one lake, the one he found at the end of the expedition. He had no measuring instruments, but he strongly believed that he had found the source. On the other hand, Burton thought that the Nile came from more that one lake, from a group of lakes, as his experience in other lake during the journey tells him. At the end Speke is the one who is right, the Nile comes from the lake he named Victoria.

8) Would you say that Burton betrays Speke? If so, why does he do it? And why does Burton react with what appears as passivity?

It is right the opposite. Speke is the one betraying Burton because of a misunderstanding. As Lowry sees that Speke wants to wait for Burton's return to tell the account of their expedition, he invents a lie that makes Speke feel betrayed, and so he does the same to Burton.

Burton himself feels disappointed at the beginning, but prefers to keep his friendship towards Speke than confronting him, that is why he seems to be passive towards the situation. Ultimately, he is convinced to have a debate to discuss the scientific facts that support Speke's theory, which results in the death of Speke.

9) When in one of the last scenes of the movie, Burton leaves the Hall of the Geographical Society, Lowry Oliphant tells him that the journals will call him murderer, that he will see to it that they write that. Burton simply replies: "It's never what they write": What does he mean?

He means that you cannot trust blindly what is written in the newspapers. At the same time, as writer, he goes further than the daily news and applies that to History or Geography books, which sometimes are written without scientific facts or deeper research, as in the case of Speke's theory of the source of the Nile.

10) What is the significance of the movie last scene?

I believe that it shows that Burton never had real anger towards Speke. He really appreciated Speke despite all the harm and smear he caused him. In fact, he is the one that remembers his face even better than the members of his family. It is a humble tribute he pays to his old friend.

11) Pay attention to Burton's final speech in front of the Geographical Society. Can we learn what real traveling is from the movie? Can we learn anything that we can apply to our own travelling?

We can learn that traveling is not only moving from point A to point B, is what happens between those to points, which helps you appreciate what you find in your destination. Following Burton's experience, without the need to go through so extreme experiences almost facing death, we can have the opportunity to enjoy a trip in a deeper way if we show respect to natives, and try to understand their way of living. This way of living goes from the language to everyday routine, and we can be simple spectators of the show or try to be part of the play, depending on how adventurous we feel.

Traveller or Tourist?

What is the difference?

Traveler or Tourist?

After reading the article from Travelbloggers, I can't help feeling identified with many of the testimonies given by the people interviewed there. This is because traveling is my hobby, as you can see in my blog, but despite of that, today I couldn't say if I am a tourist or a traveller.

The main idea I can get from the text is basically that tourists are those people who love going to a place and enjoying all the comfortabilities offered by the area they are visiting, even if it involves hiring a guide or joining a tour, while travelers are those adventurers who love going out of the beaten track to find locations that haven't been invaded by the so called tourists, and as far as it is possible, without the help of any organized tour or big group.

For me, although in an ironic tone, the best answer to the question is given by Greg Wesson, who puts himself in the place of an "avid traveler" who complains about the "stupid tourist" that is doing to him the same that he normally does to the locals. I have this opinion because I often find this type of people when I sit to rest for a while in the common room of some of the hostels I sleep in when I am on the road. I like listening to them, telling how they have spent the day mixing with the locals, or feeling good because they have been able to come back home using the public transport instead of taking a taxi. That's cool, I mean, I know the feeling you get when you do something like that, but it doesn't mean that you are better than the person that has taken a taxi or spent the day visiting museums and the main hotspots of the city.

It all depends on the way you are feeling, or on how many days you have been away from home. When you are traveling for more than one week, you have to take things differently. Some days you may feel like experiencing something new, maybe trying to have lunch in a local restaurant, eating the typical dish of the country. Perhaps the next day you are really hungry and you don't want to mess around in lunch time, so you play it safe and try to find a McDonalds, whose food tastes the same in the whole world. You are the same person, but in a different situation.

In my opinion, the idea that a traveller goes deeper than a tourist is mistaken. How can you know that your personal experience has been richer than the one from the other person? Do you really believe that for being dressed up as locals do or for eating in a restaurant that is located some blocks away from the main street nobody is going to realise you are not a foreigner that is staying there for a while? Well you may have that feeling, and if it makes you feel fine, go on, do it! You may end up meeting interesting people you won't forget, or visiting a no-go area of the city experiencing a "you-don't-want-to-be-there" situation you won't forget either. 

I am not saying that being a tourist is good and being a traveler is bad, it is that I don't really see the difference between both concepts. I would classify it in two different types of tourism, one that has more to do with leisure, and the other is more related to adventure. However, my idea or adventure traveling is related to those trips that include practicing some extreme sports, but that's a totally different story. 

A Language Immersion experience

A week in Natur-Alcalá

Arriving to Natur-Alcala Camp

The reason I am writing this post is that I have been one week away with some 2 ESO students in Alcalá de Henares, a village in the outskirts of Madrid, and I'd like to tell some of the impressions I have after this experience.

To begin with, I would like to mention that I am an English teacher in a high school in Motril, consequently I am aware of the many difficulties that students face when learning a foreign language, especially kids. Because of that, I didn't hesitate when they offered me the opportunity to go with some of my students to a Language Immersion we had been awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education, since I was really curious about the method teachers and monitors would follow during the week they would be in charge of the students.

The thing I liked the most is that, from the moment we arrived, students were required to hand over their mobile phone to the monitors, and they would let them use it half and hour a day to contact their families (after some complaints, all of them agreed). Another thing I was delighted with, was that another school was involved in the immersion, in this case, a high school from Navarra, and students would be mixed in the same dorm, which would force them to meet and talk (no matter if in Spanish or English) to different people apart from the group they daily feel comfortable with.

We were four teachers in total, and from the very beginning we were told that we only had to teach a 90 minutes lesson every evening... What about the rest of the day? We were free to do whatever we considered appropriate, which included attending lessons, wander around the farm we were living in, or even visiting Alcala de Henares or Madrid.

The first day we chose to stay in class with the monitors, who didn't use a word in Spanish, and looking at the faces of my students I though "Well, they couldn't care less", but later I realised that my presence there was distracting for them, so I decided to leave. As the day advanced, I noticed how monitors were giving students orders, making them play games or simply organizing lunch and dinner using a very simple English, so that most of them could easily follow the instructions.

The thing is that, to my surprise, by the end of the week, some of my students that normally don't say a word in English in my lessons, were eager to talk to their monitors, and to tell them more things in English apart from "good morning" or "can I go to the toilet?" However, the final proof that showed me that at least one of my students had used his time in the Language Immersion was that during our visit to Alcala de Henares Medieval Fair, he approached two German girls and, using English, convinced them to exchange emails and mobile phones.

In conclusion, I believe that the fact that native monitors became their family for 6 days was the  perfect method to make students realise the importance of learning English. As some of them said to me the last day "Now I know why I have to learn another language, to survive". I don't know it this motivation will last for very long, but by now, I am quite happy that they have lived this experience being so young.