PANIC AT ROCK ISLAND

Australia, 2011, 95 minutes, Colour,
Grant Bowler, Zoe Cramond, Eli Kent, Vince Colosimo, Damien Walshe- Howling, Marshall Napier, Dee Smart, Jessica Tovey.
Directed by Tony Tilse.


Panic at Rock Island is a lavishly staged disaster film. The setting is Sydney Harbour, an island near the Harbour Bridge, and the staging of a rock concert which has drawn a large audience.

In the meantime, two young people (from New Zealand – there was New Zealand money in the production), have discovered a dying man in underground tunnels. When the authorities are alerted, it emerges that there is a virus on the loose, quickly contagious. A growing number of people are taken ill on the island and the police and with the meagre medical resources try to cope.

In the meantime, Jim Quinn, the medical advisor to the New South Wales government, has been in clashes with the Minister and the Premier about precautions being taken for quarantine and care about infections and their spread. He has to take charge of the investigations – which involve an expert in military matters from Vietnam (Vince Colosimo). This links in with the opening sequence in Afghanistan and a man with some kind of virus.

There are the usual political clashes. There are other family concerns, especially when the man in charge finds that his son is not studying and is on the island, and his policewoman daughter is also working there. His anxious wife also makes her way to the island despite military prevention for people moving on or off the island.

The film builds up its sense of drama, the various people who are becoming sick, the desperation of the official and the reaction of the minister and the Premier – who, ultimately, take all the credit for the happier resolution and the alleged lack of panic. There are in fact, quite a number of scenes of panic.

The twist at the end is that the virus has been produced in Sydney itself, by a government sponsored institution, for bioterrorism. The man who was seen in Afghanistan at the beginning of the film, understands the virus and has been trying to expose the makers.

At the end, the media come up with a cover story, exonerating the government and dismissing the man who made the complaints granting him as a terrorist.

Grant Bowler, a New Zealand actor who appeared in The Great Mint Swindle as well as (True Blood and is Richard Burton in thetelemovie Dick and Liz, with Lindsay Lohan), is a sturdy central character. Vince Colosimo is the military advisor who knows more than he communicates.

Steven Soderberg’s Contagion – with similar but vaster scenario was released in 2011.

1. The impact of this kind of disaster film? Audiences identifying with the situations? With the characters? With their behaviour? With the dangers, with possible solutions?

2. The Sydney setting, the harbour, the island, the Harbour Bridge and the scenic points? Atmosphere?

3. The rock concert, the choice of music – and the music played throughout the film?

4. The opening in Afghanistan, the Australians all going down the well, the tunnel, discovering the sick man? The aftermath – his return to Australia, his being cut off from the military? His knowing about the virus? His attempts to expose the situation? His own illness, in the tunnel, dying? His reputation destroyed by the government and the media at the end of the story? A bioterrorist?

5. Jim Quinn, a man of integrity, his skills as a doctor? His political arguments with the Minister, the Premier? The rock artists objecting to the quarantine examination at the beginning? The pragmatic nature of politics? Unwillingness to take risks? Unwillingness to face the facts?

6. The investigator, getting the blood from the island, identifying the virus, communicating it to Jim Quinn? The dim view of the authorities?

7. Jim and his family, his wife, a growing concern about her children on the island, the phone calls, coming into the office, facing the ban, getting a fishing boat, going to the island, knocked into the water by the speedboats? Her getting there, finding her children, Jim?

8. The children: at home, the young woman, police work, on the island, helping out? The boy, his friend, not studying, the mother’s okay to go to the island? The reaction to the virus? The friend, his behaviour, diving into the water, getting to land, being bashed by the military?

9. The the reaction of the young people, the stopping of the concert, their booing, the panic scenes? Cheering on the swimmer to the mainland, aghast at what happened to him?

10. The young New Zealanders, in the tunnel? Not wanting to communicate, the girl telling the truth? The young man, his illness, deterioration moving amongst the people, his death? Her later wanting to get the young people through the tunnel – the authorities flooding it and drowning them?

11. The behaviour of the minister, the behaviour of the Premier? Arguments with Jim? His going over their heads, banning people from leaving the island?

12. His military background, SAS? A federal advisor on terrorism? His knowing Jim? His accompanying him, finding out the truth, about the researcher, about Matthew Cross and his history? His knowing the truth about the manufacture of the virus?

13. The media, the vacuous interviewer – and her relationship with the Minister, and the shock horror ending of her having the virus?

14. The presentation of the police, their work, the doctor and his commitment, the need for avoiding infection, the issues of blood, vomiting? The doctor and his exhaustion yet helping people?

15. The plausibility of this kind of event, panic, virus – and the warning about bioterrorism?

THE SECRET AGENT

UK, 2016, 170 minutes, Colour.
Toby Jones, Vicky Mc Clure, Charlie Hamblett, Marie Critchley, Tom Goodman- Hill, Raphael Accloque, Stephen Graham, David Dawson, Tom Vaughan- Lawlor, Ian Hart, Penny Downie.
Directed by Charles Mc Dougall.

The Secret Agent is a television adaptation of the novel by Joseph Conrad, set in London in the late 19th century, the world of anarchists and espionage. It was filmed in 1936 by Alfred Hitchcock under the title, Sabotage, with Oscar Homolka and Sylvia Sidney, Hitchcock having used the title The Secret Agent for a W. Somerset Maugham story in 1935. Conrad’s novel was also adapted for the screen in 1996 by playwright Christopher Hampton with Bob Hoskins and Patricia Arquette in the central roles and a strong supporting cast including Jim Broadbent and Robin Williams.

This version was screened over three evenings in hour-long episodes.

Toby Jones portrays Verloc, the proprietor of a rather seedy shop in Soho, along with his wife, Winnie, played by Vicky Mc Clure. His wife’s mother also works in the shop as does her mentally impaired younger brother, Stevie, played by Charlie Hamblett. It is a centre for meetings of anarchists including The Professor, an explosives expert, played by Ian Hart, along with Michaelis (Tom Vaughan- Lawlor) recently freed from jail and Opison, a continental anarchist (Rafael Alcoque). The investigating police inspector is played by Stephen Graham.

Verloc has been in the pay of the Russian Embassy but has also been an informant for the government. The Russians pressurise him to set an explosion, an act of provocation. He takes Stevie along, who playfully runs with the bomb when it explodes.

The Home Secretary and the police chief are suspicious of the Russians, confront them.

There is melodrama at home when Verloc’s wife is told of the death of her brother, leading to her killing Verloc, going to Opison and attempting to flee England with him by train.

With her death and Opison going to the Russians, there is a twist as he is also in the employ of the British police.

Commentators were critical of the slowness of the production as well as whether the adaptation from Conrad was faithful or not.

1. Interest in Joseph Conrad’s novel? 19th century? London? Anarchists? The Russian Embassy and Russian intentions? The work of the British police?

2. Hitchcock’s adaptation? Christopher Hampton’s adaptation?

3. The London settings, the Soho streets, the shop, the interiors and home? The police precincts? The Russian Embassy and its lavish style? Social occasions? Greenwich, the park, the explosion? The home in Kent? The professor, the police, prison? The colour photography – and its muted and darker sequences? The musical score?

4. The character of Verloc, his background, his marriage, mother-in-law in the shop, his attitude towards Stevie? His long years in the pay of the Russians? Information to the British police? His house as the centre for anarchist meetings, the range of views? The Russians pressurising him to do a provocative action? His suggestions at the meeting? The discussions with The Professor, going to him to get the explosives?

5. The decision to go with Stevie to the country, creating the pretext for his wife, the visit to Michaelis, his not wanting to be part of the plot, sending Verloc away? Verloc going to Greenwich, with Stevie, Stevie playing the game, running with the explosive, his death, the huge crater? His body, the police taking it, the address tag from his coat?

6. The Russian Embassy, the secretary, his imperious manner, the other members of the staff, keeping Verloc waiting, interviewing him, putting the pressure on him? The attendance at social functions, encounters with the police chief, the aristocrat sponsoring Michaelis, being confronted by the police, unmasked? The role of Russia at the time?

7. The Professor, his eccentric manner, his skills with explosives, his laboratory, the credits and the making of bombs? Meetings, his views? Supplying Verloc with the explosive? His wearing the explosives on his coat? The arrest, the interrogation, in prison? His defiance – but the police getting the better of him with lesser charges and his release?

8. Michaelis, release from jail, theoretical anarchist? Going to the country to write his memoirs? The patronage? His not wanting Verloc in his house?

9. Opison, the pamphlets, the attraction to Winnie, the outing together, her going to him in desperation, the sexual attraction and encounter, getting the money, escaping to the railway, buying the tickets, taking Verloc’s money, the ticket for the ferry, his return to London, in the employ of the police, going to the Russians?

10. Winnie, the devoted wife, accepting the sleazy nature of the shop and its contents? Devoted to Verloc? Devoted to Stevie? The role of her mother, moving her mother out of the shop? Her happiness that Stevie was going out? The inspector giving her the information about his death? Her being frozen and emotionless? Listening to Verloc, his meal, his rationalisations, getting the knife, killing him? Going to Opison, the sexual attraction, interrogated at the railway station, on the train, the ticket to the ferry, on the ferry, alone, drowning herself?

11. Stevie, mentally deficient, working in the shop, his devotion, the walks with Verloc, going to Michaelis’ house, at Greenwich, his death?

12. The police chief, moving in social circles, the discussions with the Home Secretary? Reputation? The death of Verloc? The disappearance of Verloc’s wife? Working with Opison?

13. Inspector Heat, his reputation, his contacts and informants? The relationship with Verloc? With the police chief, the discussions? The explosion, the tag from the coat, the morgue? His telling the truth to Winnie? The consequences, Verloc’s death? With the police chief?

14. A strange underworld in Victorian England?

GYPSY WOMAN

UK, 2001, 84 minutes, Colour.
Jack Davenport, Neve McIntosh?, Corin Redgrave, Julian Wadham, Nick Brimble.
Directed by Sheree Folkson

Gypsy Woman is a little known and little seen film produced by the Isle of Man.

Jack Davenport is the star, Leon, a businessman who tangles with a gypsy woman, Natalie, tries to pay her off, gets caught up in her activities including the breeding of her mare, is shot at, chased, hit with Natalie’s daughter’s slingshot, gets lost in the countryside, but finally warms to Natalie, going to a luxury hotel while impersonating a famous rock star, has an encounter with Natalie who leaves, putting a note on Leon’s car, but its falling off and he thinking that she had abandoned him.

By chance, the solution comes through Leon’s daughter who has become a phone friend of Natalie’s daughter – leading him to the auction for the foal that he had helped to produce and who had been named Leon!

A light romantic comedy, running to formula and therefore predictable but pleasantly so.

1. A light romantic comedy? Formula and predictable – but with humour and charm?

2. The London settings, offices, courts, homes? Contrast with the countryside, the beauty of the scenery, the celebrations for the Gypsies, the lavish funeral and customs, the stable and horses, the open fields? Contrast with the lavish hotel? The auction for the horses? The musical score?

3. The story from Leon’s point of view? Driving, haughty, the breaking of his windscreen wiper, the encounter with Natalie at the door, the court, his company, negligence, Natalie arriving, the wife of the deceased? His reaction? At the office, discussions with the authorities, the offer of £50,000, and his pocketing some of the proceeds? His decision to find Natalie?

4. Leon, the death of his wife in a car accident, with his daughter, late for her play, the bedtime story, the phone calls while he was away?

5. In the countryside, the Gypsy boy, the drive through the mud, the funeral, his watching, the mobile phone ringing, the reaction, Mani hitting him, taking the car, his being stranded?

6. His finding Natalie, her daughter and the slingshot? With the stallion, with the mare, his involvement with the breeding? His being shot by the owner? Escaping on horseback?

7. His prejudices about the Gypsies, the discussions with Natalie, the story of her husband, her own background and education, the daughter? Her sending him off? His being lost, returning? The encounter with the police, the owner of the stallion, punching the police, escape on the horse?

8. The breaking down of his prejudices? Sympathy for Natalie? Their being chased? Going to the hotel, the luxury, the impersonation of the rockstar and the response of the staff, service, autographs? The romantic interlude, Natalie wanting more time, change in Leon?

9. Natalie’s disappearance, leaving the note, losing it with the broken windscreen wiper? His presuming that she was not interested, would marry, set up a business with Many?

10. His success with the money, not cashing the check, the taunts of his fellow workers about his lack of emotion?

11. His daughter, the phone call, the two little girls becoming friends, her information, going to find Natalie, the encounter with the Gypsy boy and more reckless driving? The auction, Leon hurrying, his bid, the threat from Mani, Natalie intervening, the £50,000?

12. And a happy ending? Leon saying his life, lack of income, with a gypsy wife, the horses, the two daughters was a nightmare – and he did not want to wake up?

L’OMBRE DU MONT- ST- MICHEL/ SHADOW OF MONT ST MICHEL

France 2010. 90 minutes, Colour.
Claire Borotra, Serge Hazanavicius, Thomas Jouannet.
Directed by Klaus Biedermann.

The Shadow of Mont St Michel is a telemovie, a murder mystery. Because it is set under the shadow of the famous monastery, cut off at times from the Normandy coast by the tides, it has become a celebrated tourist centre as well as religious centre. The continual presence of the monastery is striking, filmed at various times of the day and from various angles, the exteriors and interiors. It is certainly an attraction for tourists who watch the film.

The murder mystery seems to have all kinds of psychological repercussions with a touch of the supernatural. This is played out for most of the film – but, ultimately, it becomes a rather simple and tawdry resolution.

The film focuses on two sisters who visit Mont Saint Michel after the death of their mother. The younger sister imagines that the local mayor is her father, becomes jealous of his actual daughter. When the mayor’s daughter is found dead, suspicions are on the young woman. However, her sister (who is revealed finally as her mother) wants to prove her innocence. Two friends from her school days are on the island, one a guide, the other a doctor. The doctor comes under suspicion – especially when a rather sinister monk is also murdered. However, the death is ultimately revealed as an accident with an approach to the young woman by the guide. This makes the film more of a time passer than a serious psychological drama.

1. A film of psychology relationships? The mystery?

2. The settings, the island, the monastery, imposing beautiful, its size, dominating the countryside and the sea? The use of the monastery throughout the film? Elise’s question? Score?

3. The opening, Elise going into the water – and 30 minutes later its being shown something of a red herring?

4. Elise and Audrey? Their mothers death? Audrey and her memories of her mother being pushed the staircase the argument about who was her father? This haunting Audrey? Especially in the monastery, in the light coming from the sky – in the meeting of the cosmos with vibrations of the universe, the reality of what happened, the accidental death of her mother? Audiences believing this or not? Audrey and the revelation about the mayor, his not being her father?

5. Audrey as a character, withdrawn, struck by lightning, the hospital, amnesia? Her wanting to get away in the truck? Elise bringing her back to the centre of the street, remembering the truth? Under suspicion?

6. Elise, the background, growing up in Mont St Michel, friendship with Yann and Romain? Studies, leaving? An interpreter? Her return – and the truth about her relationship with Romain? Her being the mother of Audrey?

7. Yann, his wife, friendly, right? The tour of the monastery? His concern, help? The revelation that he had killed the young woman? The accident? The medal and the clue? Planting it? The death of the monk?

8. Romain, doctor, in love with Elise? Her leaving? The return, the relationship? His being under suspicion? The revelation of the truth?

9. The Mayor, his friendship with the girl’s mother, the implication that he was Audrey’s father? Not the truth? His own daughter, his concern, the death? His grief?

10. The daughter, friendship with Audrey, going out together, her death? The attack? The revelation of what really happened? Their trying to help Audrey?

11. The monk, his talk about the cosmos and the vibes? The medal? Confronted by Elise? His death? The police inspector, suspicions, doing his job, interrogations?

12. The melodramatic ending, two of the monastery? Yann and Audrey, the threats? Romain and his wanting to rescue the women? Audrey falling over the parapet, Elise reaching out, Romain bringing her to safety? And the happy ending?

THE IDOL

Palestine, 2015, 100 minutes, Colour.
Tawfeek Barhom, Kais Attalah.
Directed by Hany Abu -Assad.

The Idol is based on a true story, the history of Mohammed Assaf, a little boy seen in Gaza in 2005, playing with his friends, with his tomboy sister, his parents trying to keep an eye on them and their discipline – but his having a strong singing voice which the children capitalise on in raising money by singing in the streets, and then, when his sister has kidney disease, singing at various weddings and functions to raise money for her surgery.

The young boy, Kais Attalah, plays Mohammed in a very sympathetic way. He is less sympathetic when he grows older, is studying at the University but driving a taxi to raise funds. He still sings, but is an angry young man, falls out with the sympathetic coach who helped him when he was young, wants to give up singing.

An encounter with a young woman, a childhood friend of his sister when they both had kidney treatment, is a passenger in his taxi, encourages him to sing – and he makes the decision then to try for Arab Idol. He practices, reconciles with his coach, gets the support of his parents. Actual elements from his story include his getting a forged passport, smuggling himself into Egypt to go to Cairo for auditions for the show, his being too late to get a ticket, his getting a ticket from a Palestinian young man who hears him singing. He impresses the producers, goes through the auditions, goes for the various weeks of the program including filming in Beirut. He is nervous, is in contact with his family, has a panic attack, but is encouraged by the young woman and her faith in him – and he goes on to win the program.

With the announcing of the winner, the film makes a transition to the actual sequences with Mohammed Assaf – with a great deal of footage of the enthusiasm of the people of Gaza and Palestine celebrating the win and Mohammed giving international voice to their situation.

1. The true story? 21st-century story? Palestinian story? In the context of the Israeli occupation? The Arab world, Gaza, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon?

2. The atmosphere of Gaza, the initial chase of the children and racing through all the areas of Gaza city, streets, homes, buildings, vehicles, touches of prosperity, touches of oppression? The later sequences in Gaza, the streets and the ruined buildings? The border with Egypt, the tunnels, passport control? Egypt, Cairo, the lavish buildings, the auditorium? Beirut?

3. The title, popular television shows of the 21st-century, the various local Idol programs, the wide audiences, the national feeling, the glitzy style?

4. The music, Arabic songs, rhythms, lyrics, particularly distinctive?

5. The two parts of the film, the focus on Mohammed as a boy, as a teenager? The two actors and their performances?

6. Mohammed and his friends, little boys, up to mischief, playing together, Nour and her presence, the tomboy? The mother and her strictness, discipline? The role of the father?

7. Mohammed, his ability to sing, Nour and her promotion, the friends and their playing instruments? Saving the money, going to the smuggler, his promise to get the instruments, their going back, his going back on his word, bashing Mohammed? Mohammed later going to see him to get the forged passport? The role of smugglers in Palestine?

8. Singing in the street, collecting the money, the boys going on the barrels to collect the fish and selling them, pursuing the man who didn’t pay?

9. Nour, her illness, dialysis, the need for a kidney, Mohammed not compatible? Trying to raise the money, singing at functions, weddings, the many scenes of performance, the audience dancing? Mohammed and his wanting to get the money from the entrepreneur?

10. The music coach, the brass instruments, his listening to Mohammed, training him, for many years? Mohammed older, his resentments, walking out on the coach?

11. Mohammed at the University, driving the taxi, the encounter with the young girl with her kidney problems, memories of the past and his sister? Her praising his voice, asking him to sing in the taxi? Seeing her going to the hospital? His decision to go back on his word, on his animosity toward singing and the coach?

12. Discussions with his parents, their ultimate support? Going back to the coach, his encouragement, singing with passion?

13. His boyhood friend, going to the strict interpretation of Islam, that singing was immoral, his giving information and the military arrest of the musicians? Mohammed getting the passport, going to the border, hiding, the back of the truck, getting into passport control, singing and the officer letting him through, the encounter with his friend and the appeal, his being allowed into Egypt?

14. Lining up, not having a ticket, climbing into the building on the upper floors? Singing in the toilet, the encounter with the Palestinian young man, getting the ticket, his support?

15. The various auditions and performances? The effect on Mohammed? Phone calls home? Accepted on the show? The many sequences of celebration in Gaza? The political significance, for Palestinians, for Israel? For an Arab voice to be heard?

16. Continued success, going to Lebanon? His nerves, the panic attack, the hospital? The support of the judges and producers, their faith in him?

17. His performances, television? Waiting for the announcement of the winner?

18. The transition to sequences with the actual Mohammed, his win, acceptance, the consequences?

19. A morale-boosting Palestinian film, the importance of popular music, of the widespread influence of television, people united for the talent television quests?

FINDING SAINT FRANCIS

UK, 75 minutes, Colour.
Written and directed by Paul Alexander.

Finding St Francis is something that all of us like to do even when we think we know him well – there is always more to discover.

The film was produced by a British group, lay associates of the Franciscans, devoted to promoting St Francis and his spirituality. While another film version of St Francis’s life would always be welcome, there have been quite a number, notably Michael Curtiz’s Francis of Assisi from the 1960s, Franco Zeffirelli’s Brother, Sister Moon from the 1970s and several Francis films by Liliana Cavani from the 1960s to the present. Roberto Rossellini directed a film of St Francis and the legendary stories about him, called the Little Flowers of St Francis, 1951.

This film takes a different tack. It is set in a Franciscan house in the English countryside. A middle-aged man undergoing something of a personal search, arrives at the friary and encounters a group of the lay associates and friars. They are listening to a talk on St Francis by the director, Paul Alexander. He sees something in the man, discusses his situation with him and offers him the role of Francis in the forthcoming film. He accepts and, as he undertakes the role, he sees parallels with his own life.

The budget was limited but several actors and amateurs are used in the film to present the equivalent of Francis’s life but in a contemporary setting and with contemporary costumes. For the pictorial background of Assisi and the surrounding countryside as well as visits to Rome, colour sketches are used effectively. And there is the musical score.

The screenplay traces the details of Francis’s life, many of which are familiar, but which it is important and interesting to hear again: the background and the wealth of his merchant father, his French mother, his early and rather carefree life, his military service… This includes giving away his armour and horse to a needy soldier, but his father supplying substitutes.

Important for the development and for the spirituality of Francis, there are scenes where he encounters a poor man and has such a personal experience in the meeting that he falls in love with Lady Poverty. This is more than reinforced in his encounter with the leper, his appearance and stench, and the compulsion to kiss him. There is also the confrontation with his father when he strips off his clothes and leaves home for ever.

In the life of the Franciscans, there are scenes of the rebuilding of San Damiano, of other churches in Assisi, of living at the Portiuncula, and the coming of various friend s and associates who want to share his life and his poverty and charity. And the same is true of the young woman, Clare, who embraces the spirit of Francis.

Francis was something of a free spirit, becoming a deacon but never a priest, sometimes preaching effectively, sometimes reticent. At one stage, keen to meet the Muslims, he ventures to meet the leaders. But, it is in his meeting with Pope Innocent III that there is drama, the Pope wary of him, agreeing to consider the church’s approbation of the Franciscan movement, his dream of Francis supporting the collapsing church, and the approval given.

The film also highlights how Francis was not really an institutional man, having difficulties with a friar who wanted to have his own prayer book, castigating him that this was against poverty – but also falling foul of his successor, Brother Leo, who wanted structure and order in the movement.

Not every scene is as successful as the other – and it is interesting as well is distracting to see the same actor turning up in a variety of roles, from Francis’s stern father to a benign friar. And, for the performances, it is not as if many of the people are so much acting but rather, in the manner of a staged play or pageant, they are role-playing, the audience at the talk sometimes visible, and the intercutting of scenes and the talk.

In these days of Pope Francis, there has been more movement towards finding St Francis, discovering and appreciating his spirituality – and this is the kind of documentary-drama that opens up the story of Francis and would be well worth seeing and listening to in anticipation of nurse preparation for watching one of the fuller feature film versions.

FINDING SAINT FRANCIS

UK, 75 minutes, Colour.
Written and directed by Paul Alexander.

Finding St Francis is something that all of us like to do even when we think we know him well – there is always more to discover.

The film was produced by a British group, lay associates of the Franciscans, devoted to promoting St Francis and his spirituality. While another film version of St Francis’s life would always be welcome, there have been quite a number, notably Michael Curtiz’s Francis of Assisi from the 1960s, Franco Zeffirelli’s Brother, Sister Moon from the 1970s and several Francis films by Liliana Cavani from the 1960s to the present. Roberto Rossellini directed a film of St Francis and the legendary stories about him, called the Little Flowers of St Francis, 1951.

This film takes a different tack. It is set in a Franciscan house in the English countryside. A middle-aged man undergoing something of a personal search, arrives at the friary and encounters a group of the lay associates and friars. They are listening to a talk on St Francis by the director, Paul Alexander. He sees something in the man, discusses his situation with him and offers him the role of Francis in the forthcoming film. He accepts and, as he undertakes the role, he sees parallels with his own life.

The budget was limited but several actors and amateurs are used in the film to present the equivalent of Francis’s life but in a contemporary setting and with contemporary costumes. For the pictorial background of Assisi and the surrounding countryside as well as visits to Rome, colour sketches are used effectively. And there is the musical score.

The screenplay traces the details of Francis’s life, many of which are familiar, but which it is important and interesting to hear again: the background and the wealth of his merchant father, his French mother, his early and rather carefree life, his military service… This includes giving away his armour and horse to a needy soldier, but his father supplying substitutes.

Important for the development and for the spirituality of Francis, there are scenes where he encounters a poor man and has such a personal experience in the meeting that he falls in love with Lady Poverty. This is more than reinforced in his encounter with the leper, his appearance and stench, and the compulsion to kiss him. There is also the confrontation with his father when he strips off his clothes and leaves home for ever.

In the life of the Franciscans, there are scenes of the rebuilding of San Damiano, of other churches in Assisi, of living at the Portiuncula, and the coming of various friend s and associates who want to share his life and his poverty and charity. And the same is true of the young woman, Clare, who embraces the spirit of Francis.

Francis was something of a free spirit, becoming a deacon but never a priest, sometimes preaching effectively, sometimes reticent. At one stage, keen to meet the Muslims, he ventures to meet the leaders. But, it is in his meeting with Pope Innocent III that there is drama, the Pope wary of him, agreeing to consider the church’s approbation of the Franciscan movement, his dream of Francis supporting the collapsing church, and the approval given.

The film also highlights how Francis was not really an institutional man, having difficulties with a friar who wanted to have his own prayer book, castigating him that this was against poverty – but also falling foul of his successor, Brother Leo, who wanted structure and order in the movement.

Not every scene is as successful as the other – and it is interesting as well is distracting to see the same actor turning up in a variety of roles, from Francis’s stern father to a benign friar. And, for the performances, it is not as if many of the people are so much acting but rather, in the manner of a staged play or pageant, they are role-playing, the audience at the talk sometimes visible, and the intercutting of scenes and the talk.

In these days of Pope Francis, there has been more movement towards finding St Francis, discovering and appreciating his spirituality – and this is the kind of documentary-drama that opens up the story of Francis and would be well worth seeing and listening to in anticipation of nurse preparation for watching one of the fuller feature film versions.

OBSERVANCE

Australia, 2015, 90 minutes, Colour.
Lindsey Farris, Stephanie King, Brendan Cowell, Christian Willis, Benedict Hardie.
Directed by Joseph Sims- Dennett.

Observance is a small-budget Australian film featuring Lindsey Farris as something of an anonymous man, Parker, who has been given the job of surveillance of a woman in a building on the other side of the street. The structure of the film is seven days, each day nominated, with the man not having any details about why he was observing the woman but reporting by phone daily to the employer (voiced by Brendan Cowell).

The film opens with enigmatic sequences of sea and cliffs, later going back to fishing on the cliffs and a death – memories and/or dreams.

The young woman, Stephanie King, stays in her flat the whole week although visited by a mysterious man – with touches of violent confrontation.

In the meantime, in the dingy situation, Parker undergoes something of a transformation, physically and mentally, strange dreams and behaviour, the environment taking on sinister tones – until, ultimately, there is a violent confrontation between the man and the woman. Which, perhaps, was the intention of hiring Parker for surveillance.

While the production is Australian, there is a glimpse of American dollars, and all the performers speak with an American twang – a kind of mid-Pacific catering to international audiences that was a feature of a number of Australian films made during the 1970s and 1980s.

1. A small budget drama, surveillance, suspense, mysterious and enigmatic, touches of horror?

2. An Australian production, for an international audience, the accents and American twang, vague locations?

3. The city, the railway and underground, the streets, the lane, the building exteriors, the apartment and the woman’s life, the building for surveillance, dingy? Musical score?

4. The use of the images of the cliff, the sea, fishing, the brother-in-law fishing, dead? Sepia, drained of colour, the insertion into the action? The meaning?

5. The structure of the film, the seven days, each day on screen?

6. The girl, emerging from the station, going home? Her staying in the house for the week? As seen through the telescope? As seen at the window, on the balcony? Her ordinary behaviour? The arrival of the man, their interactions? Touches of violence? Her coming outside, coming into the building, curious?

7. Parker, very little background given, the visit of his brother-in-law, giving him information, his bringing supplies? Parker and his job, it being extended, the payments? The dingy setting, his blocking the windows, the whole for the telescope, the jar with the black contents, the audience seeing the rat? His being wounded, cutting his finger, the word on his back, the showers, his attempt at treatment? The effect of the days, the phone calls and his reporting? His going out, the rubbish bin? The coverings off the windows? The surveillance technology?

8. The cumulative effect of his watching, the effect on himself, his psyche? The significance of his dreams and his imagination?

9. The effect on his mental state, the black, his vomiting? Moving from reality to imagination and back? His going into the house, setting up the bugging, not being able to hear clearly what was being said?

10. The man, on the balcony, on the phone, his threats to Parker? His behaviour with the girl?

11. The build up to the climax, the girl’s rejection of her fiance? Coming to the building, the confrontation with Parker, his bashing her to death?

12. Background to the surveillance, the boss and the phone calls – the story of the businessman and discarding his mistress? His son? The employer setting up Parker – and the killing?

LOLO

France, 2015, 109 minutes, Colour.
Julie Delpy, Dany Boon, Vincent Lacoste, Karin Viard,
Directed by Julie Delpy.

Julie Delpy has had a successful career as an actress and then as a writer and as a director. She works comfortably in France as well as in the United States, having both citizenships. She came to international notice with Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise as well as in the two sequels.

This is a light-hearted film but with serious undertones.

Julie Delpy portrays a woman whose husband has left her, is successful professionally, but has a son who is emotionally dependent on her, though she does not realise this. On holiday in Biarritz with her friend, played by Karin Viard, she becomes involved with an IT expert who is more than a little on the awkward side, Dany Boon.

They begin a relationship, he moves to Paris with his IT expertise, moves in, encounters the son who seems to be friendly but all the time moves to undermine him and his relationship with his mother. This causes several embarrassing situations and a rift between the two.

There is an eventual showdown after a disaster for the IT presentation but the son has to face up to the reality of his relationship with his mother, taking too literally her saying that he was her greatest love, and having to move out to greater independence – with the couple happily reuniting.

1. A comedy with serious undertones?

2. The career of Julie Delpy, as actress, as writer, as director? Performing all three roles in this film?

3. The settings in Biarritz, the holiday atmosphere, the spa, the hotel? Jean- Rene’s world, IT? Seen as something of a Biarritz bumpkin? The contrast with Paris, the world of fashion, society? The world of IT? Homes and apartments? The apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower? The scenes in Greece? The musical score, songs?

4. The title, Lolo appearing later in the film, the focus on Violette and Jean- René? The introduction to Lolo, his age, Violette’s son?

5. Violette, her friendship with Ariane? At the spa? Violette and her tension? The conversations about sex, frank and explicit? Relationships? The invitation to the party, meeting with Jean- René and his friend? Jean- René and his cooking the barbecue, Violette’s approach, the attraction, the unlikely pairing, the instant relationship?

6. Violette, her work, at home, past relationships, her husband leaving, the lovers?

7. The portrait of Lolo, age, behaviour, artist and his work? His being at home, the couple falling on the bed, the effect on his ribs? His casual attitudes, living at home, his reaction to Jean- René, ridiculing him, yet being polite to his face? His scrapbook insulting him? His reaction to Jean- René moving in? Comments on his clothes, going shopping, yet setting him up with inappropriate clothes? The itch powder and its effect? Spiking his drink and the erratic behaviour in conversation? Helping him move, his friendship with Lulu, the question of the computer? Violette and Jean Rene setting up the paintings?

8. Violette, her enjoying the relationship with Jean- René? Taking him out, the interaction with Karl Lagerfeld? The selfie? The tensions, moods and up and downs? Her losing faith in him?

9. Jean- René, his skills, his 20 years of work, fearing the loss of the computer? The night before his presentation, the alarm clock, the earplugs, Lolo and the two women, Lolo and his spiel about Jean- René, their going into his bed, his waking up, Violette and her reaction?

10. Jean- René, late, the presentation, the collapse of the system? His aggression towards Lolo? His arrest, the interrogation? His being given 48 hours to repair the damage – and his success?

11. Lolo, his exhibition, his mother believing his every word? Abandoning Jean- René?

12. His mother finding out the truth, his concealing her notes, his scrapbook, the discussions with him, his saying that she had always said he was her greatest love, she saying that is what mothers said, his believing it, getting rid of his father, the lovers, and Jean- René?

13. His mother ordering him out, going to London, the happy reunion?

GIRLS LOST/ POJKARNA

Sweden, 2015, 106 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Alexandra Therese Keining.

Girls Lost is a film about adolescent girls, three bonding strongly together, emotions and affections, and criticised and bullied by the boys at school for being lesbian. The film offers ugly images of arrogant boys, their sexism and their violent and verbal bullying.

The three girls are confident in their friendship, are comfortable together, discover a plant and cultivate it and taste its nectar which moves the film into magical realism. When they drink, they are transformed into male versions of themselves (with female actors as the girls and male actors as their masculine forms). Appearing as male gives the girls a great freedom, acceptance by the boys, moving comfortably amongst them.

It is different for one of the girls, Kim, who is already somewhat comfortable with her male side but appreciates being a boy, appearance, attitudes, that, really, under the female surface she is a boy. She betrays the agreement between the three girls and continues to transform herself, becoming friendly with a boy, Tony, to whom she is attracted and with whom she participates in a robbery. This evokes a reaction from the other two girls, one of whom is generally in love with her.

While the film offers some reconciliation between the three girls, it does end with Kim going off to a future by herself, to find her identity.

1. A film about 14-year-olds? Adolescent situations, developing characters, identity?

2. The Swedish setting, the town, homes, school, sports fields, the woods, gathering places for gangs, robberies? The musical score?

3. The title, the focus on the girls, the focus on boys? The girls becoming boys?

4. The realism, the magic realism, the mysterious plant, cultivation, the nectar, the transformation from girls into boys? The girls behaving as boys?

5. The focus on the girls, their friendship, the abuse and being lesbian, the girls and their affection, together, being bullied by the boys, verbal abuse, physical? The activities at school, the boys blocking the way, the sporting attempts and failures? The girls hanging out together? Parents and family? The plant, cultivation? The leaves, the juice, drinking the juice?

6. The transformation of the three girls into boys? Different actors? Resemblances or not? The three as boys, being accepted as boys? Kim and Tony, the attraction, together? The reaction of Momo and Bella? Intriguing experiences? The return to themselves?

7. The importance for Kim, the initial focus on her being chased in the woods, her boyish appearance, her mother? Her life, at home, at school, the bullying? Lesbian tendencies? Or transgender? Her being comfortable being a boy? Her activities, the friendship with Tony, hanging out with him, the robbery and getting the money for the sale? Her attraction to him, swimming together, expressions of affection? His reaction – and his kissing the girl? The dilemma for Kim, going off by herself, betrayal of the friends, the nectar, Momo and her expression of love for her? The finale, going off – to what future, to what identity?

8. Momo and Bella, 14-year-old girls, sharing the experience with Kim? Momo and the lesbian affection for Kim? The experiences of the girls as boys? Feelings of betrayal by Kim?

9. Tony, friendship with Kim, his activities with the gang, stealing, getting Kim to help, the payment for the stolen goods? Using the girl? Affection for Kim, the swimming – and his reaction?

10. The other boys at school, the heartless bullying and name calling?

11. The teachers, not intervening to help the girls, amazed at Kim’s sports prowess?

12. The role of the parents and teachers – close to their children, not?