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Reviews
Sherpa (2015)
A certain Russel Bryce doesn't come out of this film very well, nor does the Nepales government.
This film was intended to be a follow up to a situation that had occurred the year prior in Everest, when there was a near riot by the Sherpas directed at climbers, due, we're told, to an increasing feeling among the Sherpa community that their skills and incredibly dangerous work was taken for granted by the climbers, the commercial companies and their government. Poorly paid, poorly insured, regularly dying - and starting to resent this. Sherpas aren't just mountaineers, they're the local people of the area, their wives, their families, their communities, desperately poor and highly reliant on foreign money from the ever increasing number of mountaineers, from which the Nepalese government take a 30% royalty, amounting to $180 million yet provide the communities with so little . This Australian documentary wanted to see what was happening and why the Sherpas might be so angry and "rebelling" after this high altitude fracas. What happened next gave the viewer an answer the film makers will never have expected. Totally tragically 16 Sherpas were killed by an ice fall in the most dangerous part of the climb, the negotiation of the Khumu Ice fall, which the climbers do twice but the Sherpas perhaps twenty times in supplying the camps. The surviving Sherpas became, naturally, very distressed, and following some very emotional meetings, decided to call off the rest of the season, at great person financial cost to themselves and their communities, but preserving their pride and respect for themselves and those that had died. But Russell Bryce's reaction was so incredibly insensitive, patronising certainly, but much worse than patronising, truly lacking humanity and compassion. HIs major concern appeared to be his commercial operation, blaming all the problems on a few young troublemakers who didn't know any better than to misbehave. This was echoed by the other foreigners, the climbers and the commercial operators, one even going to describe the angry Sherpas as "terrorists". Any Westerner, and certainly any New Zealander (Russell is one), with any sense of humanity or humility watching this documentary, the breathtaking scenery, and the literally breathtaking work of the Sherpas, would come away feeling more than a little ashamed of the attitudes that so many of our fellow Western travellers displayed in this film. Yet Russell Bryce has operated his company for twenty years; over that time he must surely have developed some sort of humane rapport with the Sherpas he employs? But it make one wonder, indeed, was that "rapport" just that of master and servant, and has he still not awoken to the fact he has made his money out of a severe imbalance in power, race and culture, that I thought might have been a bit more diluted since the long past days of the Raj, but in which view I would seem to be seriously mistaken.
Deadwater Fell (2020)
Disappointing and just depressing
I could never quite tell where this story was going or what it was trying to say. Everything about it was just a bit over the top, the emotional distress layer on with a trowel, the intrusive mood music, the lingering shots. There was no real development, and I couldn't really take to any of the characters as rounded, warm human beings. I note that it was written, produced and directed by an all female team. Is this why the two main male protagonists were both very disturbed individuals and even those males peripherally didn't have much to recommend them. The material just wasn't dramatic or engaging, and it went on too long. Just to emphasise, folks, Scotland can be moody , the weather lowering and gloomy, and it has just the same problems as any other country, but this attempt at a sort of gothic, Nordic noir perhaps did the country a bit of a disservice. Depressing without any redeeming features.
Republic of Doyle (2010)
A very pleasant hour's entertainment - rather less formulaic than many other similar shows.
I didn't know anything about this series before my wife stumbled on it on Netflix. I'm now in season 2 and watch one episode a week. The strengths of the show are the generally excellent and unforced acting, the pacing, the original, if sometimes rather far- fetched story lines, and of course the locale, St Johns, Newfoundland. Allen Hawco, as well as co-writing and co-producing the show, is one of the two main protagonists, father and son Doyle, private detectives. He's an accomplished and very good looking actor, plays the part of the son, Jake Doyle, with a nice line in comedic expression and action - there's an alertness and lightness of touch that's very appealing. His father, Malachy Doyle, Irish actor Sean McGinley, is pretty good looking too, a rather more restrained actor, with a nice line in wry asides, and the father son relationship is dealt with gentle humour and some pathos. They work really well together. Add in Jake's many love interests, first, his ex-wife (very well acted by Rachel Wilson)and then a particularly attractive policewomen , Lesley, played by Krysten Pellerin, and another rather sexy public prosecutor, and Malachy's more constant love for Rose (Lynda Boyd), the series has a backbone of developing relationships against the episodic nature of each adventure. Other characters are also well played. Des is a hapless comic foil and perhaps just too hapless/helpless for complete believability, but heck, this is crime comedy and Tinny the rebellious niece helps fill out the family dynamics.
As a somewhat jaded septuagenarian, who watches very little TV, I can thoroughly recommend this series, I've remained very impressed with the sheer entertainment value of this series, and I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with the Doyles every week. What particularly comes across to me is that the actors in the show really seem to be enjoying themselves - I suspect they would have enjoyed many good parties as the series progressed.
Silk (2011)
An excellent series - exaggerated drama, certainly, but that's entertainment
We've had, and likely always will have, lots of legal dramas, from serious and dark to outright comedy. There's lot of dramatic gold to mine in this genre. In the US - Boston Legal, LA Law, Ally McBeal, Perry Mason and many more - in the UK - Kavanagh QC, Judge John Deed, Justice, Rumpole of the Bailey, The Main Chance (that was the 1960s), Garrows Law (historical) and lots of others. It's a well worn genre with plenty of scope for human interest, convoluted and clever story telling, contemporary themes, triumph of honesty over adversity, love and darkness. Now, I'm not a lawyer, and as to the accuracy of the portrayals of the protagonists, both legal and criminal, in "Silk" I'm not one to judge. For instance, I am a doctor, and had to stop watching "House" as the episodes became ever more bizarre and a travesty of medical life and practice. I couldn't take the drama seriously enough to continue to follow the series.. However, I'd rate "Silk" pretty highly - for its high production values and truly excellent acting, along with stories of contemporary interest ( many seeming to arise from factual occurrences), with underlying themes from episode to episode of the more personal dramas in the Shoe Lane practice with it's three main protagonists - , Billy, the Machiavellian clerk who has accumulated to himself much power through his misuse of his position of trust and his self-appointed role as a sort of Godfather of the practice; Martha - the out of place northerner and female to boot, a feisty, intelligent, articulate and scrupulously honest rising legal star; her colleague Clive - superficially charming but a rather devious, emotionally unreliable and inadequate personally, but who comes over as a surprisingly sympathetic character and is actually a very good and humane barrister. Their interactions with a few less prominent other members of the firm, and with a succession of legal apprentices, makes up the rest of each week's stories. In the genre of legal dramas I'd rate "Silk" very highly indeed - it's good television, entertaining, exciting at times, humorous at others and sometimes challenging and thought provoking. What more could anyone wish for sitting in front of their TV screen for an hour? I've been watching them again recently on Netflix, and without the intrusive adverts and with its improved picture quality, the series is even better than I remember when it was first broadcast.
A Night with Handel (1997)
A wonderful excursion into Baroque sensibility and a musical treasure
This has to be my favourite music DVD. I love Handel, I consider him the composer above all for the human voice. Whether in operas or pastorales, in massive choruses, duets or solos, in oratorios, secular or religious, whether bass, baritone, contralto, soprano or castrato, he seemed to have an absolutely secure understanding of what the human voice could achieve vocally, dramatically and emotionally. That's not to suggest Bach, Mozart, Schubert or Verdi to name just a few couldn't also produce beautiful music for the voice, but Handel's sheer versatility is without peer.
This a wonderful DVD full of wonderful music. The setting is imaginative and the photography first class. The commentary is informative without being pedantic. The soloists do the music justice. The last song of the set "As Sleeps the Morn", a ravishing duet with gorgeous accompaniment, is literally spine tingling, it reduced me to tears.