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The Trial of Tony Blair (2007)
Could Be A Prescient Film One Day
TTOTB is a worthy satire, the type of which could never be found on American television.
Those that see Tony Blair to already be a tragic figure will probably find this film to be both darkly humorous and somewhat sad. It is not beyond the pale to believe that someday a variety of figures related to the Iraq war fiasco could someday wind up at the Hague facing a war tribunal.
The films treats both the Labour and Tory Party with equally contemptible amusement. Understandably, Tony receives the brunt of the beating. At one point a protester is seen holding a placard reading "Tony Blair = 800,000 Iraqi dead". That figure is easily reachable given the current scale of the carnage and the fact that this film takes place in 2010.
It is equally conceivable that as the killing fields of Iraq continue to gestate for a few more years, that whatever benefit of the doubt Bush and Blair are currently given for the rose-colored fantasy of bringing democracy to the Middle east, will have long since wilted. In that they took a regime that was contained, and had US air power flying over it continually for ten years enforcing a no-fly zone, only to topple a sovereign nation against the wishes of the United Nations, a logical case could certainly be made before a war tribunal.
Having unleashed the Furies resulting in hundreds of thousands of innocent deaths, not to mention turning multiple millions more into refugees...well, characters have stood before the Hague previously for a lot less.
The satire of the film derives mainly from the same faith-based morality that drove Blair to act so questionably to begin with. Here, with the walls closing in, abandoned by his former allies and facing a trial, he never can quite get a grasp on the situation he is in. Like Mr. Bush, whose faith-faith certitude never allows him to consider the folly of his ways, likewise, Mr. Blair is intellectually incapable of seeing how anyone could ignore the benevolence of his own heart, as he sent his country to war, squandering its blood, treasure and national reputation.
By the time in the film when new PM Gordon Brown comes to see him, and Blair feels sandbagged in believing that Brown too has abandoned him, Tony criticizes his belief that Brown is merely acting on orders of the White House (and current President Hillary), to which Brown responds, "I wonder who I learned that from."
A very black satirical comedy. Not any less timely than "Dr. Strangelove" which came out at a time when everyone felt the dire threat of nuclear annihilation from either the Soviets or the U.S.. Yet it is also a film that could possibly turn out to be much less satire that prescient drama depending on how events play out over the next half dozen years, the precise levels of the human carnage unleashed by Blair and Bush's geo-political experiment, as well as the international mood and tolerance come the next decade.
Marian, Again (2005)
Sadism Dressed Up As Entertainment
Have to say, I'm pretty fearless when it comes to film and telly viewing, and am anything but a prude, but I seem to be sensing a trend in much of the Brit programming that pops up in their Crimes of Passion Monday night library.
I found this "Marian" thing to verge on sadistic perversion for most of the way. Is this really what passes for "entertainment" these days? Unremitting sadism and corruption for three hours with a 60-second reprieve at the very end, just to put things right? I'm sorry, but two night's worth of atrocities does not find any kind of redemption with a minute of comeuppance at the conclusion.
At least with an old fashion slasher horror film, you know what you're getting into. Again, after a hard day of making a living, is this really what Brits look forward to as escapism...torture and sadism dressed up as "based on a true story?" Yuck.
28 Days Later... (2002)
A Ghastly Success
This zombie film is a fun little thriller, and is one of the first zombie films in a long time not to play things for laughs. While hilarious films such as RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD and BRAIN DEAD aka DEAD ALIVE certainly have their place, the trend of going for dark humor with the unstated belief that the genre was otherwise played out is aptly refuted by this no-nonsense film.
While tipping its hat to classic horror/post-Apocalyptic films such as DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS and THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL (not to mention the Romero trilogy), the film is also a distinguished benchmark in horror cinema as the first important post-9/11 fright fest. The film is amazingly prescient in that, although it was actually filmed during the summer prior to 9/11, it so accurately encompasses so many of the fears that traumatic event let loose.
It is impossible to look at the masses of photos of missing loved ones on the walls in abandoned London in this film and not be reminded of the same in the days following the World Trade Center disaster. The viral plague that is let loose on England in this film is horrifying in many other ways.
Not only is the thought of any nation as an island susceptible to a virus capable of turning humans into mad, flesh-consuming beasts horrifying in and of itself, this film works on other levels. In that the world we currently live in is one of spooky nightly news telecasts of SARS and monkey pox and seemingly new endless contagions, it is impressive how far out ahead of the curve the production of this film was.
Also, the reconstruction of the zombie mythology whereby rather than being slow, lumbering living dead, these zombies actually move about like sprinters, sometimes merely being seen as a blur, is a radical departure from what we are used to and all the more horrifying for it.
Finally, it is also incredibly heartening that Danny Boyle has recaptured his roots as viewed in SHALLOW GRAVE and hopefully forsaken crass blockbuster projects such as THE BEACH.