The movie, Forbidden Lies, has been described as gripping, irresistible, thrilling, remarkable and incredible. These are just a number of adjectives that have been applied to it by the promotional material. Remarkable perhaps. Norma Khouri has charm, good looks and style but she is incredibly irritating.
It’s actually a documentary about the “true story” in the book Forbidden Love by Norma Khouri. The book is about the horrific honour killing in Jordan of Norma’s best friend, Dalia. It turns out that this is not her real name.
The book was a runaway best seller around the world and then Australian journalist Malcolm Knox exposed it as a work of fiction. Norma went into hiding and according to the promotional material has been in hiding ever since but decided to come out and talk to the director of this movie-length documentary Forbidden Lies. It is hard to know why she made this decision.
I was kkeen to see the documentary. I use to make radio documentaries and although they don’t have a lot in common with a full-length movie, the problem of what to put in and what to leave out is a decision all directors have to make. It is also possible to slew the content to fit the hypothesis you have in mind. We see this all the time in Australia in television magazine programmes like Today Tonight and Current Affair.
What is indisputable here is that Norma Khouri is able to write a pager tuner. Thousands of people all over the world were gripped by her story. I suppose a question we could ask is whether they would have been so gripped if the book had been marketed as fiction.
During the interviews in the movie Norma refuses to answer questions and tells one lie after another and when she is found out then tells another to justify the first. I felt that director Anna Broinowskit showed great restraint in not slapping her but just occasionally her impatience showed through. At one time she pleaded with Norma to give her something that was true: some fact that that would check out.
I found all this evasion, contradiction and justification (“I’m protecting the people involved”) boring. To me it wasn’t thrilling or exciting it was dull and I found at one stage I had dropped off to sleep. I think that it is remarkable that Anna stuck with it.
This may be because I can’t find it in me to care greatly if this honour killing was true, fiction or an amalgamation of a number of such killings. Not because I’m not appalled by honour killings. I am. I am grateful that I have born into a society where women are not a possession of their family to do as they will with. This story may be written with a fictional killing at the center but there are still such killings and Forbidden Love has made many people, who may perhaps have never heard of such a thing, aware. Ultimately this story could be one more step in a path to prevent such things. Perhaps this is why I don’t care whether it’s fact or fiction and watching Norma wriggling around on the end of the interview’s questions is not particularly interesting. At the end of the film Norma Khouri was still an enigma..
It is a finely put together documentary with great camera work and the interview style is generally sympathetic and well balanced but in the end we have to ask ourselves do we need 106mins on Norma and her book. I believe that Anna succumbed to the dilemma “it took me so much time, effort and money to get this I can’t cut it out.” I am of the opinion that a great deal could have been cut and we would have ended up with the same outcome.
What makes it remarkable is that it is about one of the great publishing hoaxes of last century.
Let me know what you think.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Blogging
It’s always interesting when I check out who's entered my blog. I don’t do this very often but when I do I feel I’m on a world tour. I love it that people in Nevada and New York have accessed it. They may have given the content only a quick glance but they were there. I have visited both these place in the USA. It was a while ago but a number of mind-pictures have stayed with me so I can bring them up on my mental plasma screen.
I have had some one in Adelaide reading me off and on and in England and Hong Kong. Now there’s a place that feeds the imagination. Other places pop up from time to time. Writing a blog is largely self-indulgent and I mentioned this is my first blog, but it is also a way of connecting with a wider group of people, and becoming a citizen of the world.
Do keep accessing my site and try this one wwwstrollingplayer.blogspot.com interesting but don’t go there when you’re hungry the food is mouth watering and the photos great.
I have had some one in Adelaide reading me off and on and in England and Hong Kong. Now there’s a place that feeds the imagination. Other places pop up from time to time. Writing a blog is largely self-indulgent and I mentioned this is my first blog, but it is also a way of connecting with a wider group of people, and becoming a citizen of the world.
Do keep accessing my site and try this one wwwstrollingplayer.blogspot.com interesting but don’t go there when you’re hungry the food is mouth watering and the photos great.
Monday, September 17, 2007
After the Wedding
J and I always hope for some vicarious travel so we chose a Danish film this week. We do get some Danish crime on T V that gives an idea of life in Scandinavian but not enough to satisfy the would-be traveler. ‘After the Wedding’ is an unforgettable drama from Danish film maker Susanne Bier. And pictorially Denmark comes out reasonably well.
To begin the film gives the cinema-seat-traveller some great glimpse of the teaming masses in India. Jocob Peterson (Mads Mikkelsen) is a Danish aid worker in Indian. He is persuaded to return home to Denmark to meet with an aid benefactor Jorgan (Rolf Lassgard) who is only going to ha over the aid cheque in person..
In a sentence you could say the film was not about Jocob but Jorgan who tires to arrange everyone’s lives. Mads plays his character in a rather grim way. Perhaps he always acts like this but he has a great reluctance to smile. Very occasionally gives us a glimpse of a smile that lights up his face. Jorgan has manipulated Jocob’s return and his time in Denmark to bring him face to face with a past he has tired to forget.
I found the camera work a great irritation. The camera closes into someone’s face and enlarges their eye and perhaps the side of their nose or their mouth. We don’t need to see the enlarge pores or the larger than life eye in its wrinkled socket. In day-to-day life we don’t jam our faces so close to others that we get these views and I found it distracting. Jorgan lives in a Baronial mansion that houses the usual trophy heads on the walls and the camera zooms into the dead eyes of a buffalo or deer and delivers them to us hugely magnified – very off-putting.
The threads of this mystery are woven and tightened by Jorgan until finally the clothe and its flaws are revealed to us. It is an unusual story and the ending not in least predictable.
Even with enlarged eyes popping on and off the screen there are some very memorable moments and some shorts scenes that are likely to become mental flash backs in the days after viewing the movie. The characters do evolve and it’s a film about everyone learning something that causes them to re-evaluate who they are and where they in life.
It’s worth seeing. You may like the eyes and feel they are giving an opening to the internal struggles of the owner. I think any internal struggle the trophy heads may have had has long since gone.
To begin the film gives the cinema-seat-traveller some great glimpse of the teaming masses in India. Jocob Peterson (Mads Mikkelsen) is a Danish aid worker in Indian. He is persuaded to return home to Denmark to meet with an aid benefactor Jorgan (Rolf Lassgard) who is only going to ha over the aid cheque in person..
In a sentence you could say the film was not about Jocob but Jorgan who tires to arrange everyone’s lives. Mads plays his character in a rather grim way. Perhaps he always acts like this but he has a great reluctance to smile. Very occasionally gives us a glimpse of a smile that lights up his face. Jorgan has manipulated Jocob’s return and his time in Denmark to bring him face to face with a past he has tired to forget.
I found the camera work a great irritation. The camera closes into someone’s face and enlarges their eye and perhaps the side of their nose or their mouth. We don’t need to see the enlarge pores or the larger than life eye in its wrinkled socket. In day-to-day life we don’t jam our faces so close to others that we get these views and I found it distracting. Jorgan lives in a Baronial mansion that houses the usual trophy heads on the walls and the camera zooms into the dead eyes of a buffalo or deer and delivers them to us hugely magnified – very off-putting.
The threads of this mystery are woven and tightened by Jorgan until finally the clothe and its flaws are revealed to us. It is an unusual story and the ending not in least predictable.
Even with enlarged eyes popping on and off the screen there are some very memorable moments and some shorts scenes that are likely to become mental flash backs in the days after viewing the movie. The characters do evolve and it’s a film about everyone learning something that causes them to re-evaluate who they are and where they in life.
It’s worth seeing. You may like the eyes and feel they are giving an opening to the internal struggles of the owner. I think any internal struggle the trophy heads may have had has long since gone.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Horoscopes Again
To follow on that theme. I have read Susan Miller’s predictions for a couple of years and I have found her to be reasonably accurate. However the last few months seem to well off center
I wonder if you’ve found the same? I’m Capricorn and it may be that every other sign is dead on the mark.
I use to read my family’s too and if it looked positive I would send them a copy. My pragmatic and housebound mother said that her life was so uneventful it was difficult for any thing to apply to her. Now that I’ve written that I must go back and see if I can read the month covering her fall from her chair. That was far from uneventful.
I wonder if you’ve found the same? I’m Capricorn and it may be that every other sign is dead on the mark.
I use to read my family’s too and if it looked positive I would send them a copy. My pragmatic and housebound mother said that her life was so uneventful it was difficult for any thing to apply to her. Now that I’ve written that I must go back and see if I can read the month covering her fall from her chair. That was far from uneventful.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Horoscope - September
I haven’t written anything about this month’s horoscope. Once again it doesn’t really seem to relate to me.
Susan Miller's horoscope says nothing about a different job – new challenges and a new start. Nothing about success, nothing about a good time to make a move - although it would be too late for that. I’m committed to the move.
Once again it is all about money and not getting what is my due. As I write I see that it could perhaps apply. Getting any salary that I was owed from my other job has taken a few phone calls. I now have what I assume must be my final pay but it appears to me to be short – not enough money.
My horoscope says that there could be problems with finances over a divorce or child support or a business break down. I guess my salary would fall into that category – a job that has broken down.
Susan Miller's horoscope says nothing about a different job – new challenges and a new start. Nothing about success, nothing about a good time to make a move - although it would be too late for that. I’m committed to the move.
Once again it is all about money and not getting what is my due. As I write I see that it could perhaps apply. Getting any salary that I was owed from my other job has taken a few phone calls. I now have what I assume must be my final pay but it appears to me to be short – not enough money.
My horoscope says that there could be problems with finances over a divorce or child support or a business break down. I guess my salary would fall into that category – a job that has broken down.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
The Home Song Stories
J and I go to the movies on a regular basis and our choice of movie depends on the time it is being shown. Our time frame is between 6.15 and 6.45pm on a week night. Last week the Australian film ‘The Home Song Stories’ was on at our time. We chat about the movie over coffee but it would be good to get other opinions. I will post my thoughts on our weekly movie. Even if I don't get your thoughts it may help you to decide whether you want to see the film or not.
The Home Song Stories is the story of a Hong Kong nightclub singer who has two children and marries an Aussie sailor, Bill played by Steve Vidler. He brings them all home to his suburban brick veneer house that is inhabited by his mother. The mother is portrayed as a bigoted, sour and unhappy woman who resents the new comers and makes no effort to welcome them. We don’t find out why she is like this or in fact anything about her life and this is a pity.
Bill leaves them there while he goes back to sea. This is an obvious recipe for disaster.
The film grabbed me right at the beginning and held me as the characters pitch from one disaster to the next. I pitched with them and in the end J and I were wrung out and emotionally drained
The film is said to be the true childhood story of the director Tony Ayres. Joan Chen, who is such a pleasure to look at, plays Rose, his mother and eleven year old Joel Lok plays Tony Ayres or Tom as he is called in the film. Joel was remarkable in the part. Very expressionless most of the time but his actions conveyed all the emotion. J and I wondered afterward whether because his face showed so little emotion we projected what we thought he was feeling onto a sort of blank canvas. It’s hard to know I would have to see it again to be sure.
You do feel a sort of emptiness or desolation in the characters but this doesn’t carry through to the end because we know that things turn out surprisingly well for the two children.
This is a film for a chat around the water cooler and I hope enough people see it to make it talked about. It is easy to discuss what Rose could have and should have done but like so many of the film’s characters she was flawed. It’s also hard to take ourselves back to the mid 60’s and understand how life would have been for someone like Rose, a night club singer from Hong Kong, dumped into suburbia with no friends or support and a husband who takes off to sea again. Bill her husband is a remarkable character. He appears not to understand Rose but he is forgiving and accepting of the person she is and is ready to look after her and her children should they need him.
A great movie – go to see it if you get the chance.
The Home Song Stories is the story of a Hong Kong nightclub singer who has two children and marries an Aussie sailor, Bill played by Steve Vidler. He brings them all home to his suburban brick veneer house that is inhabited by his mother. The mother is portrayed as a bigoted, sour and unhappy woman who resents the new comers and makes no effort to welcome them. We don’t find out why she is like this or in fact anything about her life and this is a pity.
Bill leaves them there while he goes back to sea. This is an obvious recipe for disaster.
The film grabbed me right at the beginning and held me as the characters pitch from one disaster to the next. I pitched with them and in the end J and I were wrung out and emotionally drained
The film is said to be the true childhood story of the director Tony Ayres. Joan Chen, who is such a pleasure to look at, plays Rose, his mother and eleven year old Joel Lok plays Tony Ayres or Tom as he is called in the film. Joel was remarkable in the part. Very expressionless most of the time but his actions conveyed all the emotion. J and I wondered afterward whether because his face showed so little emotion we projected what we thought he was feeling onto a sort of blank canvas. It’s hard to know I would have to see it again to be sure.
You do feel a sort of emptiness or desolation in the characters but this doesn’t carry through to the end because we know that things turn out surprisingly well for the two children.
This is a film for a chat around the water cooler and I hope enough people see it to make it talked about. It is easy to discuss what Rose could have and should have done but like so many of the film’s characters she was flawed. It’s also hard to take ourselves back to the mid 60’s and understand how life would have been for someone like Rose, a night club singer from Hong Kong, dumped into suburbia with no friends or support and a husband who takes off to sea again. Bill her husband is a remarkable character. He appears not to understand Rose but he is forgiving and accepting of the person she is and is ready to look after her and her children should they need him.
A great movie – go to see it if you get the chance.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Wine glasses and watches
Time out from work and I’ve been browsing. Not at your big shopping malls but in those quirky little shops along the shopping strips.
I’m sucker for wine glasses. I love them and I know the wine tastes better when it’s drunk from a beautiful glass. This one is so like some really expensive coloured ones that I’ve seen around. The ruby colour becomes more transparent with the light and gives a beautiful glow to red wine. I’ve tried red and white but red is the one. It’s a sensual pleasure to look at, swirl the wine then take a sip. Such amazing value at $30.00
My other delight is the ladybird key holder that opens to become a watch. It is ticking away merrily and keeps excellent time. All this, including the battery, for only $11.00. The ladybird will be my talisman for the new job.
I’m sucker for wine glasses. I love them and I know the wine tastes better when it’s drunk from a beautiful glass. This one is so like some really expensive coloured ones that I’ve seen around. The ruby colour becomes more transparent with the light and gives a beautiful glow to red wine. I’ve tried red and white but red is the one. It’s a sensual pleasure to look at, swirl the wine then take a sip. Such amazing value at $30.00
My other delight is the ladybird key holder that opens to become a watch. It is ticking away merrily and keeps excellent time. All this, including the battery, for only $11.00. The ladybird will be my talisman for the new job.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Waking at 2am
I have more time - a few days off work before my new job. It’s a chance to re-charge but also to become nervous about the new job. I woke up last night and began to worry as you do in the early hours of the morning. Two or three am is when a slight rise on a flat surface takes on the form of a steep mountain.
My doubts are about whether I will be able to deliver all those things I professed to be skilled at during the job interview. This time next week I will start to find out. I start at 9.00am next Wednesday the 12th. I will have to learn a new computer programme first off. In my interview I said I didn’t see this being a problem as I had used two other Property Management Programmes in the past. At 2.00am the doubts crept in.
I had to get up and make a cup of tea and find a boring book to read. In the past I have found one way to go back to sleep in the middle of the night is to try to remember the plot line of a recent read novel or movie I’ve seen and follow it in detail. This is usually a winner and before I know it morning has arrived. Last night it took ages to drift back into sleep.
This morning things were different and I found I was looking forward to the challenge of the new programme and increasing the number of properties the companyhas under management. That was another thing that I didn’t see as a problem when I went for the interview. I’m also looking forward to the working environment. From this distance the vibes in the office feel good and people helpful and friendly.
My doubts are about whether I will be able to deliver all those things I professed to be skilled at during the job interview. This time next week I will start to find out. I start at 9.00am next Wednesday the 12th. I will have to learn a new computer programme first off. In my interview I said I didn’t see this being a problem as I had used two other Property Management Programmes in the past. At 2.00am the doubts crept in.
I had to get up and make a cup of tea and find a boring book to read. In the past I have found one way to go back to sleep in the middle of the night is to try to remember the plot line of a recent read novel or movie I’ve seen and follow it in detail. This is usually a winner and before I know it morning has arrived. Last night it took ages to drift back into sleep.
This morning things were different and I found I was looking forward to the challenge of the new programme and increasing the number of properties the companyhas under management. That was another thing that I didn’t see as a problem when I went for the interview. I’m also looking forward to the working environment. From this distance the vibes in the office feel good and people helpful and friendly.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Flat-Packs
The words ‘flat pack’ should be eliminated from our language. I have spent Sunday assembling a bookcase.
A few months ago I gave over an entire long weekend and my living room to assembling two sets of shelving from Bunnings for my shed. The second set should have been easier and quicker but it wasn’t. When I finally got them together I proudly displayed them in their new home and I found that the slightest touch caused the units to move. Someone else tightened the numerous screws for me and I now have my shed organised. The assembly of the metal was damaging to my hands and nails and I vowed not to buy a flat pack again.
This statement is easier to say than to stick by. Everything comes in a flat pack. A lot of research has shown me that a set of white books shelves is only available in a flat pack.
Ikea was my first choice but I live outside the delivery circle so delivery was going to cost more the flat pack. I measured for the car but the pack was too wide.
The ones I assembled came from Fantastic Furniture and they were maneuvered into the car and strapped into the fully reclining front seat as if they were a passenger. The quality is not great but I have finally got them assembled. Assembly has to be done on the floor. They suggest laying out each piece as if it was a jigsaw puzzle so a space had to be cleared to allow this to happen. For the rest of the day I crawled around the floor with my hammer and screwdriver. I won’t say never again but I will be very wary of anything that says ‘self-assembly”. I have booked a massage. I ache from the body contortions and I have realized that I can have two massages for the price of the Ikea delivery.
Now that I have sorted out my books I find that I need another set. The shelves look good and there is a space that is just right for a second set …………….
A few months ago I gave over an entire long weekend and my living room to assembling two sets of shelving from Bunnings for my shed. The second set should have been easier and quicker but it wasn’t. When I finally got them together I proudly displayed them in their new home and I found that the slightest touch caused the units to move. Someone else tightened the numerous screws for me and I now have my shed organised. The assembly of the metal was damaging to my hands and nails and I vowed not to buy a flat pack again.
This statement is easier to say than to stick by. Everything comes in a flat pack. A lot of research has shown me that a set of white books shelves is only available in a flat pack.
Ikea was my first choice but I live outside the delivery circle so delivery was going to cost more the flat pack. I measured for the car but the pack was too wide.
The ones I assembled came from Fantastic Furniture and they were maneuvered into the car and strapped into the fully reclining front seat as if they were a passenger. The quality is not great but I have finally got them assembled. Assembly has to be done on the floor. They suggest laying out each piece as if it was a jigsaw puzzle so a space had to be cleared to allow this to happen. For the rest of the day I crawled around the floor with my hammer and screwdriver. I won’t say never again but I will be very wary of anything that says ‘self-assembly”. I have booked a massage. I ache from the body contortions and I have realized that I can have two massages for the price of the Ikea delivery.
Now that I have sorted out my books I find that I need another set. The shelves look good and there is a space that is just right for a second set …………….
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Avalon Road
Where I live and work I always find places that become special to me. These places delight me, warm me, leave me in awe, amuse me or trigger some long forgotten memory. This photo is of Avalon Road. It warms and amuses me.
The road has a twist at one end and if you enter from the other end it appears to wind into the distance rather than to a busy thoroughfare. I don’t know the history of the road but I see it as someone’s folly and it never ceases to make me smile.
Today we live with councils that are heavy with regulations so it’s hard to imagine anyone getting permission to plant trees with such disregard for their future growth. To plant trees in the roadway today would be impossible. As you can see in the photo there is a pavement and some nature strip but these trees grow in the road pushing the surface up with their heavy roots. The other wonderful thing about this is that the council trims the trees and lets them remain. This is one of my favourite streets in Melbourne and I drive down it whenever I’m in the area.
One or other of the houses along the strip are always being renovated so during the day the place is jammed with tradesmen’s vehicles. After they leave and before the residents return to park between the trees there is a short time when the street is empty. That’s when I took the photo; just before dusk.
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