A Beautiful Love Story Disguised in Violent Action (Film: Drive, 2011)

Certainly, ‘Drive’ is a thriller. A different and unexpected type of thriller. Whoever has seen this film will remember maybe the story line, and a few action sequences, some of them extremely violent. They will remember first of all the two principal characters and their almost unreal lover story, they will remember the calm and focused look of Ryan Gosling (we never get to know the name of his character, he is just the Driver) which blurs into tenderness when he crosses the restraint smile of Irene (Carey Mulligan). One kiss followed by a violent kill, this is the only physical contact the two will ever make on screen.

 

source http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780504/

 

It may take a good 30 minutes for the viewer to decide what this film is about, but then things become clear. It is the most impossible and most beautiful love story we have seen in a while, disguised in a violent action movie. He is a stuntman, and a potential race driver who does not get to the race tracks, but races for burglars, helping them escape the location of their crimes. She is her floor neighbor, she has a kid and a husband in jail. When things seem to converge to some domestic low class drama located in the non-privileged area of Los Angeles, the husband returns from jail, gets soon into trouble, and the Driver is the only one who can potentially help him. Or drive him to his destiny. From here the second half of the film becomes one of the most violent I have seen recently on mainstream cinema, all packaged by director Nicolas Winding Refn in 70s style cinematography mixed with classic cars races.

 

(video source hollywoodstreams)

 

The sincere and straightforward acting and the day to day appearance of the main characters make the violence (and there is violence!) even more striking. And yet, the overall impression ‘Drive’ left to me was of one of the most sensible films I have seen recently, with emotion surging up from a very unexpected place. My only problem is that I am not sure to whom this film would be recommended. Action films fans may find a little bit too sentimentality here, romantic movies fans may be shocked by the violence. To all, give this film a try!

 

 

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About Architects, Love and Fate (Documentary: Incessant Visions, 2011)

As the saying goes some of my best friends are architects. Well, maybe the saying does not exactly go like this, but this is actually true, and this is not the only reason I hold in high esteem their profession. With my friends in mind I went last night to see at the Herzlya cinematheque the documentary Incessant Visions written and directed by Duki Dror and dedicated to the life and work of one of the greatest but maybe not that famous as he would have deserved architects of the 20th century Erich Mendelsohn.

 

source http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/an-architects-life-erich-mendelsohn

 

source http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/an-architects-life-erich-mendelsohn

 

Incessant Visions is by no means a dry documentary about architecture or just a biographical feature about a great architect. It is also or maybe first of all a love story. A love story about a young German Jewish architect named Erich who writes letters to his beloved girlfriend Louise (herself a gifted cellist) from the trenches of the First World War. These are not however usual letters from the trenches, they are beautiful love letters, and they include visions – visions of fantastic buildings inspired by the dunes and the hills of the unfamiliar Eastern European landscape, dreams about structures the soldier architect may build one day if he survives the nightmare.

 

(video source zvuki999)

 

Erich Mendelsohn did survive the nightmare, and back from war he married Louise and became one of the fashionable architects of Berlin after the war.

 

source http://www.architectureinberlin.com/?cat=15

 

One of the first clients after the war was Albert Einstein, who required to build in Postdam an astronomic observatory which could help prove his relativity theory. The Einstein Tower stays until today one of the most famous works of Mendelsohn, and it started from sketches made during the war.

 

source http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/287/Mendelsohn_Symposium.html

 

source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Schaubuehne_am_Lehniner_Platz_2009_IMGP1721.JPG

 

With fame came a lot of significant projects, many of them in Berlin, one being the Universum Cinema, today the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz theater which was the first big scale cinema theater in Europe. I will not say too much about the style of his works, as my architect friends may read the blog, what I heard is that it does belong to the International Style or Bauhaus, but with an evident twist in the rounded forms taking inspiration mostly from nature rather than from the artificial structures. On the other hand the concrete and steel structures are in line with the technology developed and used by most of the significant architects of the period.

 

 

(video source ateliritalia)

 

Here is a clip I found on youTube about another work of Erich Mendelsohn in Berlin, the Metal Workers Union Building. During this time his relation with Louise was not that smooth, as while he was absorbed by his work and growing fame, she got involved with the playwright and revolutionary Ernst Toller, an affair which lasted until Toller comited suicide in 1939.

 

source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:De_la_warr_front_view.jpg

 

The ascendance of the Nazis to power led quickly to Mendelsohn being deprived of his position as one of the lead architects of Germany, and soon of his right to work. He took the road of exile, with the first stop being England, Although he did not stay long, he created in England one of his major works in the Southern England coastal town of Bexhill on Sea, the De La Warr pavilion, which stays until today a landmark of the city.

 

source http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/the-daniel-wolf-building

 

The meeting with Haim Weizman, head of the Zionist movement and later the first president of the State of Israel was decisive in his decision to traval to Palestine in 1934. In 1935 he opened an architecture office in Jerusalem. During his stay here he created a little more than ten buildings, but his influence on the path taken by the architecture in Palestine and future Israel was tremendous. Among his major works here are the Hadassah hospital on Mount Scopus, the Rambam hospital in Haifa, the Anglo-Palestinian bank in Jerusalem and several buildings in the Weizman Institute complex in Rehovot, including the house of the first president and the Daniel Wolf building above.

 

(video source zvuki999)

 

With the German forces advancing in North Africa, Eric Mendelsohn feared that the German Nazis would conquer Palestine and flew in 1941 to the United States. He settled in California at Berkeley and the clip above talks about his period there. Actually only part of the filmed material here made it to the film, or at least to the version of the film that I saw yesterday.

 

source http://www.hughpearman.com/articles5/bexhill.html

 

The theme of the film is that Mendelsohn is today an almost forgotten figure, although his contribution in the history of architecture deserves higher recognition. It may have been his fate of never being at home any place he went – a Jew in Germany, too short time in Palestine to become a man of the land, and then a ‘German’ refugee in America. His dreams however, the ones he was drawing on sketches in the trenches of the first world became at least in part reality wherever he worked. “Architects think they leave something eternal. Their buildings are carved in stone and steel, but they too finally decay and vanish” wrote Louise Mendelsohn in her journal. The memory of Erich Mendelsohn has maybe a second chance with this film.

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Art in the Factory

Connecting art and factories and relating art with the working classes may seem like communist ideals, but here is one big ‘capitalist’ industrial corporation that invested in art and the results are more visible and beneficial. French car-maker Renault started in 1967 a project of forging links with some of the top artists of the time and sponsoring their work for almost two decades. The result is a valuable art collection with a specific identity, reflecting at the same time its moment in the history of the art in the second half of the 20th century, as well as the relation with the industry visible in at least part of the works without being a mandated component. For the last few years parts of the collection have travelled to different places around the world and a section of it was exposed at the Museum of Israeli Art in Ramat Gan (sorry, the Web site is only in Hebrew). It’s quite an unusual kind of exhibition for this museum which focuses almost exclusively on Israeli artists, but the exception was worth being made, and the overall idea of the show works even better because the museum building itself is a former industrial structure in what was once the periphery of Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, now on the outskirts of one of the most active business area of central Israel.

 

source http://www.renault.com/en/passionsport/la-collection-d-art-renault/pages/les-artistes-jean-dubuffet.aspx

 

Many interesting artists are present in the Renault art collection and most of them had works in the exhibition in Ramat Gan. Juan Miro whose collaboration with Renault did not last long had one but significant painting here. Three of the fantastic machineries of  Jean Tinguely were exposed.  Jean Dubuffet had several of his panels made of industrial materials in three colors (red, blue and black) present here, above is a photo of one of them named Fisto la filoche. Victor Vasarely who also re-designed the logo of the company in the 70s is present with a number of works that seem precursors of computer graphics, I could just wonder what he would have done with the technology available nowadays.

 

source http://www.robert-doisneau.com/fr/portfolio/automobiles-renault.htm

 

A separate section of the exhibition is dedicated to Robert Doisneau, one of the greatest French photographers and photojournalists (author of the famous Le baiser de l’hotel de ville). The origin of his works here are different that the rest of the collection. Doisneau started his career in 1934 at the age of 22 as an advertising photographer for Renault, and between 1934 and 1939 took many pictures reflecting the life, the work and the people who worked in the Renault factories. From this period dates Ouvriere de Renault which already reflects the empathy and the focus on human feelings that will be characteristics for many of his later and more famous works.

 

 

(video source renault)

 

For a more complete information about the collection, here is a short film about the history of the collection and the relation with the company.

 

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Carte: Ion Vianu – Apropieri

Apropieri: titlul sugereaza o privire de aproape asupra unor subiecte din sfera literara, istorica sau a ideilor. In acelasi timp, Apropieri poate sa insemne demersul de a sesiza proximitati acolo unde aparent exista numai departari.’ Asa incepe introducerea de pe coperta a patra semnata de Ion Vianu la editia publicata de Editura Polirom, 2011 a colectiei sale de eseuri si note de lectura. Un titlu cat se poate de potrivit pentru aceasta adunare originala de ganduri bazate pe trairi, lecturi si evenimente recente. Nimic nu este fortat in aceste apropieri ale departarilor aparente si de fiecare data perspectiva originala a autorului, experienta sa de viata si experienta profesionala de medic si de psihanalist adauga valoare si intaresc originalitatea care sta la baza interesului pe care cartea o trezeste in randul celor care au sansa de a-i fi cazut in mana.

 

sursa http://www.observatorcultural.ro/Apropieri*articleID_26103-articles_details.html

 

Apropieri este impartita in trei sectiuni. Primele doua sunt colectii de eseuri, cea de-a treia cuprinde apropierile propriu-zise.

 

sursa http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-cultura-4572301-ion-vianu-contaminat-virusul-occidental-necomunicarii.htm

 

Prima sectiune intitulata Eseuri in libertate debuteaza cu o reflectie asupra varstelor, a trairii si asumarii imbatranirii cu poverile si cu avantajele sale. Urmeaza un eseu politic care demonteaza mecanismele supunerii personale in regim dictatorial, pentru a continua cu o analiza a rolului poporului rus in istorie si aici facem cunostiinta cu prima dintre temele care vor reveni in volum, ca si cu perspectiva necrutatoare din care Ion Vianu caracterizeaza aberatia bolsevica, aici prin prisma scrierilor filosofului rus Berdiaev, refugiat in 1924 din Rusia si devenit din perspectiva crestina unul dintre criticii si expozatorii (putin ascultati in epoca) a celor care se petreceau in imperiul slav cazut sub dominatia necredicionsilor: ‘Bolsevismul – ramura castigatoare in Revolutie – este, dupa Berdiaev, “sinteza dintre Ivan cel Groaznic si Marx”‘ (pag. 33). Eseul principal al sectiunii este o continuare intr-un fel a acestui articol, o analiza detaliata a unei teme dostoievskiene pusa in cuvinte in romanul Idiotul ‘Frumusetea va mantui lumea’. Dostoievski este de altfel unul dintre reperele constante ale gandirii lui Ion Vianu asa cum este exprimata de acest volum si eseul ii prilejuieste scriitorului reflectii despre raportul dintre estetic si etic si despre puterea sociala a frumosului.

 

sursa http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/lucas-cranach-the-elder/the-fountain-of-youth-1546

 

Specifice acestei sectiuni sunt si repetatele referinte la opere de arta si in special la tablouri ale unor maestri de la Cranach la Picasso. O editie ilustrata a acestui eseu ar fi o delectare pentru privire si ar intari puterea textului.

 

sursa http://www.terminartors.com/artworkprofile/Holbein_the_Younger_Hans-The_Body_of_the_Dead_Christ_in_the_Tomb

 

A doua sectiune a volumului se intituleaza Psihanalitice si este sectiunea in care experienta profesionala a lui Ion Vianu vine in ajutorul analizelor sale si propune o viziune originala asupra multora dintre subiectele aduse in discutie. ‘Cum devine boala ideologie: reflectii despre romani’ propune o lectura paralela a trei ganditori care in prima jumatate a secolului 20 au incercat sa dea raspunsuri intrebarii ‘cine suntem’ din punct de vedere al identitatii culturale: D.D. Draghicescu, Emil Cioran, si Mircea Vulcanescu. Pozitiile ideologice si conceptiile politice ale celor trei sunt juxtapuse cu receptia lor in epoca si cu destinul foarte diferit al celor trei, legat insa fiecare in parte de modul in care si-au construit argumentatia. Persoana si ideologia, destinul individual fata de modul in care sunt percepute de fiecare tipologie si destinul neamului sunt aprpiate in mod original in acest eseu. Am mai retinut in aceasta sectiune ‘Romania fara Freud’ care cuprinde o scurta istorie a psihanalizei romanesti incluzand aspecte legate de rolul autorului in aceasta evolutie, dar mai ales eseul cel mai intins al sectiunii in care sunt adusi intr-o prezentare comparativa doi ganditori din prima jumatate a secolului 20 – G.G.Jung si Rene Guenon – intr-o incercare de a explica prin intermediul scrierilor lor (vizionare in anumite aspecte) elemente ale crizei lumii contemporane si ale raportului intre culturile occidentala si cea orientala (in special islamica), intre conservatorism (sau chiar regresiune inspre o tanjuita epoca de aur a valorilor morale stabile) si ideologia ‘progresista’ a occidentului.

 

sursa http://virtualmuseo.com/tag/madonna/

 

Sectiunea cea mai interesanta a cartii este cea de a treia numita ‘Portrete interioare’. Este vorba despre un mozaic de vreo 50 de articole (nu stiu daca au fost publicate deja unele dintre ele in presa) de format constant (2-3 pagini, pana la vreo 1000 de cuvinte), si care formeaza un mozaic de impresii de lectura, cugetari pe marginea unor aniversari culturale, portrete ale unor personalitati cu impact cultural si politic. Spatiul de discutie oscileaza in permanenta intre exil si Bucurestiul natal care pare a revini ca spatiu geografic de referinta si de suflet al autorului oriunde s-ar gasi fizic. Repere constante sunt Dostoievski pe care l-am mentionat deja, dar si Emil Cioran, fata de care Ion Vianu pare a simti afinitate  (poate si din cauza comunalitatii exilului) in ciuda distantarilor ideologice explicite.  Din siragul multor memorabile apropieri as mentiona notele de lectura la Nabokov, von Rezzori, Coetze, Pamiuk si la Les Bienviellantes a lui Jonathan Littell, potretele lui Beckett si Gafencu sau analiza psihologica a relatiei dintre Hannah Arendt si Heidegger (incheiata cu o fraza de o ironie taioasa, in contrapunct cu aparenta seriozitate a analizei). Inedit pentru mine este personajul lui Raymund Netzhammer, episcopul catolic al Bucurestiului din vremea regilor Carol I si Ferdinand, ca si perspectiva din care este prezentat volumul din memoriile reginei Maria care se refera la anul 1926. Scriitorul Dominique Fernandez (de la Academia Franceza) devine cel psihanalizat prin prisma raportului cu tatal sau Ramon Fernandez, comunist transformat in colaborationist, pe care academicianul nu l-a cunoscut aproape deloc, dar despre care si-a petrecut o mare parte din timp si i-a dedicat o mare parte din paginile scrise in incercarea de a intelege mecanismele aderarii acestuia la extremismele totalitare din prima jumatate a secolului 20. Cele mai emotionante mi s-au parut insa doua portrete care descriu doua femei exceptionale (si nu ma pot opri sa nu constat ca lui Ion Vianu ii reusesc parca mai bine portretizarile feminine). Una este Lena Constante, artista plastica arestata si intemnitata in 1950 pentru 11 ani, in mijlocul unei vieti care avea sa-i fie sortita sa fie indelungata si marcata in final de succese si recunoastere: ‘Un destin e o totalitate. Miezul vietii ei a fost suferinta, dar intraga ei viata nu a fost numai suferinta‘ (pag. 238). Cealalta o evoca pe Sanda Stolojan si povestea ei de iubire platonica cu Constantin Noica, relatie aflata sub semnul supravegherii continue a Securitatii in anii 70, si care se incheie cu intrebarea-verdict ‘Sa fie oare triste toate povestile de dragoste?‘  (pag. 283)

 

sursa http://sealmaiden.tumblr.com/post/364251020/pablo-picasso-blind-minotaur-guided-by-a-girl-in

 

Spatiul de referinta cultural al lui Ion Vianu este cel al formatiei clasic europeene. De cate ori se aventureaza spre frontierele cu spatii diferite este grijuliu in a ne avertiza, cum ar fi in eseul mentionat despre Rene Guenon, sau in frumoasa apropiere care se refera la un episod din Mahabharata, unde il surprindem parca glossand in stil eminescian: ‘Credinta indiana ilustrata in acest pasaj este ca anumite legi nu pot fi incalcate fara ca pedeapsa sa se abata nu numai asupra faptuitorilor, ci si asupra celor care depind de ei. O singura rotita este deranjata in mersul ei, si intreaga mecanica a Universului se corupe. Legea Naturii si legea moralei sunt identice.’ (pag. 266) Cititorul insusi trece printr-un proces de ‘apropiere’ de temele aduse in discutie si totul se petrece prin intermediul unei lecturi placute si incitand permanent la dialog si gandire.

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War of the Universes (‘Fringe’ – Season 3)

With its third season ‘Fringe’ became my uncontested preference out of the TV series choices currently offered on the not-so-small-any-longer screens. Sure, one may say that the offer is not great at this moment in time, but I need to say that Fringe does get better and better. What started like a series of investigations on scientific, retro-scientific and most often para-scientific subjects, with a triangle of heroes (father – son – platonic girlfriend) certainly too naive and too ingenuous to be true, but unfit enough to the real world in order to solve unreal mysteries developed gradually into something completely different.

 

source http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119644/

 

Comparing ‘Fringe’ with ‘The X-Files’ is one of the preferred games for critics, fans and haters. It may actually be a fact that many of the followers of Fringe are recruited from the audiences that were following agents Mulder and Scully 15 years ago, and that the relation between Peter Bishop and Olivia Dunham almost plagiarizes the sexual tension between the other FBI guy and girl. But then the universe or better say the universes where the two series happen differ radically. I believe that ‘Fringe’ owns much more to the creator of the series J.J.Abrams and it resembles more and more to his huge success ‘Lost’ although frankly speaking it did not yet reach the depth of the ocean around that island. The third season gathers and provides logic to many of the facts prepared in the first two seasons, with its story of two parallel universes which are doomed to clash because the rules of separation were at some point in time broken. It also blurs the good vs. bad system of reference, providing an ambiguity which is not deprived of a certain sense of humor. Not only is the clash of the Universes originating in actions performed by one genius scientist on this side, but also the other side politics where the Towers never fell and the Kennedy’s are presidents cannot be that bad, not to speak about the fact that the FBI was dismantled and Fringe police is the one that took its place.

 

(video source ZonaFringe)

 

For a TV series (or a film, or a book), even for a science-fiction or fantastic one, in order to be really good it must have a human dimension that the viewers or readers can identify with. To its credit, this never lacked in ‘Fringe’. When emotions are let to run the show it gets much better than when moralistic or mystic explanations are called in help. One of the best episodes of the season involves a couple of old people who have lost each of them the other in the alternate universes. He appears to her and she appears to him as ghosts, and never did a ghost stories seemed so true and so moving to me. The relation between Walter and Peter Bishop goes through the ups and downs that any relation between father and son can go for almost two seasons, to be amplified and to receive a very different perspective in the third one. Supporting characters around have each their own stories (sometimes more than one as we have the characters in this universe (‘ours’) the ones in the parallel one). One memorable such character is Phillip Broyles, acted by Lance Reddick which was also wonderful in ‘The Wire’ also in the role of the big-heart chief of the police unit. John Noble, Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv are playing the main roles in the triangle around which the whole series is being built.

 

(video source FRINGEPROMOS)

 

Can it get better? I certainly hope so. We have again a disppearance to solve in season 4, and another central character to bring back. There are certainly many science, retro-science and especially para-science mysteries waiting to be brought into light. Dr. Walter Bishop did not probably run dry on the tool-set of tricks of the 70s, and certainly not on the nostalgia or appetite for candies. The Watchers will certainly continue to play a role in making sure that the equilibrium of the universes is being preserved. And beyond all I hope that the moments of real human emotion will not be missing.

Posted in TV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Don Cherry and his Pocket Trumpet

The first jazz musician I am writing about in 2012 is Don Cherry. Mezzo TV showed in the last few weeks a video of him made in Paris in the 70s and a recorded concert from 1991, drawing my attention on a personality who left his imprint on the history of free jazz and world music.

 

source http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5668

 

Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, and much of his paying career is associated with the cornet and especially the pocket trumpet – with the latest he permanently experimented with different shapes of the instrument and sounds.

 

(video source jazzhole13)

 

Since his early 20s he was associated with Ornette Coleman, a collaboration that continued with ons and offs for several decades. Here is a recording of  Ramblin from Coleman’s album Change of the Century recorded in 1959 and released in 1960, with Cherry part of Coleman’s ensemble.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON3d89NRxB4

(video source JazzVideoGuy)

 

In the early 60s he worked with many well known musicians mostly associated with the free jazz movement, among them John Coltrane, Archie Shepp and Albert Ayler. Here he is with Sonny Rollins, Henry Grimes and Billy Higgins playing ’52nd Street Theme Live’ for the Italian TV.

 

(video source freeavantgardevideos)

 

Starting with the 70s he started to experiment in world music and fusion. From this period I found an interview and several songs recorded in 1976, again for the Italian TV

 

(video source dubom)

 

The film I saw on Mezzo was from 1991, when Cherry played in Stuttgart, several of his songs belonging to the CD Multikulti released two years earlier. Here is Peter Apfelbaum’s ‘Until The Rain Comes’ which was the song that opened the concert that I saw (or at least the part that was on the film)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNXePvT5H0s

(video source boricujazzz8)

 

 

live performance with Herbie Hancock filmed around 1986 in New Orleans

Posted in jazz | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

a thriller that deserved a better name (The Lincoln Lawyer – Matthew McConaughey, 2011)

My preferred movie critic Roger Ebert spends about half of his review of the film explaining the title of this film. I will not repeat it here in order not to spoil your pleasure of reading it. I will just say that despite Roger’s elaboration I believe that this intelligent crime movie, maybe the most intelligent of the year (and no wonder as it is bringing to screen a novel by Michael Connelly) would have deserved a better and smartest name. Or maybe the title was intended to be one more riddle for the non-American viewers? Just kidding …

 

source - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1189340/

 

It takes some time to decide whether to love or to hate Mick Haller, the Matthew McConaughey. He is a lawyer, son of a lawyer, he drinks in tune with all Californian private eyes in films and crime novels, he keeps guilty people out of jail, and sometimes innocent people in jail to avoid harsher sentences. Slowly you realize that he is not only smart and knowledgeable about the labyrinths of the system, but that he also would do the right thing eventually and he will do it in a smart way. And then his ex-wife is played by Marisa Tomei and his investigator partner by William Macey, so with two such partners on screen how can’t we end by liking him. (both Tomey and Macey are wonderful actors doing here two wonderful supporting roles.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU4ReVEemN0

(video source ClevverMovies)

 

With a well written story which succeeds to be interesting and clear to the viewers all the time, with many characters on screen that go beyond the standard typology defined by their roles and find to themselves a reason to be in the movie at the right time ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ directed by Brad Furman (at his second long feature film only) stands one step ahead of the crowd as the best crime film of the season. If you are looking for good entertainment that does not leave you with the feeling that you wasted your time by the end of the screening, this could be your pick. Now, what other good title it could get? 🙂

 

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Past Children Never Asked About (The Flat – documentary, Israel, 2011)

Arnon Goldfinger‘s most recent documentary The Flat (best documentary awards at the Jerusalem and Haifa film festivals, now shown at the cinematheques around Israel including the one in my village) starts as a typical family story. A few weeks after the director’s grandmother dies the family starts looking into the things accumulated in her Tel Aviv flat. The apartment is full of objects gathered through a full life, and as it gradually empties and light starts penetrating the shady corners, details from a hidden past start to emerge. As many other immigrants coming from Europe Gerda and Kurt Tuchler had gathered not only things from a past time and an old country, but also photos and documents of a life that brought them from the Berlin between the two wars to Palestine which was to become the State of Israel. Soon we learn that the Tuchlers seemed to be the kind of immigrants who kept not only memories and nostalgia, but a strong attraction and relationship with the old country. An intriguing story completely unknown to the third generation starts to uncover from the drawers and boxes left in the flat – photos, letters, newspapers from Nazi Germany and one of the strangest coins that ever existed, with a Magen David on one side and a swastika on the other. The Tuchlers were friends with a family of high Nazi dignitaries named von Mildenstein, they traveled with them to Palestine after the Nazis came to power and before settling here definitively, and the trip was described in details by Leopold von Mildenstein in the German press of the time under the title ‘A Nazi travels to Palestine’. Despite the fact that the story was researched and mentioned in the German and Israeli press after the war, the family knows close to nothing about it. The film describes the process of gradual discovery which is not void of surprises, as they soon learn that the Tuchlers and the Mildensteins continued their friendly relations after the war, despite the fact that von Mildenstein seemed to have been quite an important figure in the Nazi regime, and related to the fate of the Jews (he was the one who recruited Eichman and preceded him in the position of responsible of the Jewish affairs). How much the Tuchlers knew about the activities of their German friend during the war and what these really were remains in part a mystery.

 

source http://israelfilm.blogspot.com/2011/07/flat-by-arnon-goldfinger-wins.html

 

A short search on the Internet shows that Leopold von Mildenstein was not really an unknown character, and even the very popular Wikipedia dedicates him quite a detailed article, which I wonder whether Arnon Godfinger read during the investigation and making of the film. The information in Wikipedia places him after 1936 and during the war in the press bureau of the Foreign Ministry and not in Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda as Goldfinger discovered during his investigations, and mentions two books he wrote about the Middle East and published in 1938 and 1941 which are not mentioned in the film. Neither is mentioned in the film a claimed relation with the CIA, which was used by von Mildenstein to escape prosecution after the Eichman trial. This story may still have hidden secrets which I doubt will ever be fully clarified. In 1980 the British magazine History Today published an article about von Mildenstein and Tuchler’s visit to Palestine in 1933, which was followed by some anti-Zionist follow-up publications trying to emphasize the relation between the Nazi regime and the Zionist organizations who had for a few year a shared interest in planing for the German Jews emigration to Israel, before the Nazi policies towards Jews took the path that led to the Final Solution, starting with and after 1936.

 

(video source TheFlatTheFilm)

 

The film focuses on the process of gradual discovery which is for the author-director a trip in the past of his own family, a trip which will take him to Germany, to Berlin where he discovers remote relatives still living in the same area where his grandparents lived and to a series of meetings with the daughter of the Mildensteins. Dialogs between German and Jewish families who lived through the war and between their descendants are never easy, and they say a lot about how people who lived through the period relate to history, how they cope with the horrors of the war and of the Holocaust and how they passed these feelings to the coming generations. A strong similarity soon emerges, as in both families, the German one and the Jewish one, the same rule of silence seems to have been enforced, the past was kept secret and almost nothing told to the next generation. The children were raised not to ask questions, and their lives were completely disconnected from the history of their families. During Goldfinger’s inquiry and film making both families are up for painful revelations and none of the second generation is really prepared to cope with role played by the high German functionary in the Nazi regime, or with the fate of the Jewish grand-grandmother left behind in Berlin and murdered in the Holocaust. It is the third generation (of the director) who is destined to ask the questions and get part of the answers. The mystery of the Tuchlers is not fully revealed and will probably never be completely. In one of the final scenes of the film the director and his mother are looking under a pouring rain for the grave of the grand-grandfather in a Jewish cemetery in Berlin. They cannot find it, the place where it should be is covered by vegetation. The physical link with the past has completely vanished. The spiritual link of the old generation who could not tear themselves from the cultural and mentality relation with the old Europe even after the horrors of the Holocaust is the troubling secret investigated and revealed in part by this documentary.

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Godfather, the Far East version (Film: Blood and Bones – Yôichi Sai, Takeshi Kitano, 2004)

Blood and Bones is a violent epic story whose hero is a Zainichi Korean which is the name of the ethnic Koreans settled in Japan, many of them during the first half of the 20th century when Korea was under Japanese rule. Director Yoichi Sai‘s father was a Zainichi Korean, so the social medium must be well known to him. His ambitious project describes the tough life of the community through the story of the life of Joon-pyong Kim who comes as a young and hopeful immigrant before WWII to get enrolled in the Japanese army, and at the return to embark in a life of crime, violence and family abuse which sees his ascension to and decay, while confining most of the action in the space of the same street in the Korean immigrants district.

 

source http://www.asiatorrents.com

 

The ambition of the project and the breath of the epic brought me to mind the parallel to ‘The Godfather’. The combination between a family saga and the crime environment may be the same, but there is one crucial difference between Sai’s and Coppola’s films – while both characters are similarly despicable in crime, the attitudes to their families are radically different. For Coppola’s characters family values are at the highest possible level, while Sai’s character (magistrally acted by Takeshi Kitano) is a violent tyrant, causing suffering to everybody he gets in touch with, harming them physically and psychically and destroying their lives. It is almost the most perfect study in evil I have seen since Hannibal Lecter, just missing his wit and sophistication.

 

 

(video source http://www.nipponcinema.com/trailers/blood-and-bones-trailer)

 

There is a lot to appreciate in this film, starting with Kitano’s performance and that of the rest of the team, passing through the fluent story telling, and ending with the refined cinematography which uses basically the same set for the duration of the action (which spreads on many decades) marking the passing of time with small changes in colors or accessories. It is not easy to follow if you do not absorb easily violence on screen, but otherwise it is a good story and a credible cinematographic reflection of a piece in the history of Japan whose details I at least have become aware about only now.

 

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Gica Manescu – Deontologia medicala. Examinari diverse fara rost?

Gica Manescu este medic pensionar. Din experienta sa in profesie dar si ca pacient ne povesteste in aceasta noua postare pe care o impartaseste si cu cititorii blogului.

 

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Un cuvant pe care l-am auzit abia in timpul studentiei si nu la inceput. Nu i-am dat mare importanta, decat atunci cand am inceput sa profesez si sa pun  in aplicare cele ce invatasem si m-au pus pe drumul ales.

Stiam de Hippocrate, care a trait in Grecia acum 2500 de ani,  de “parintele“ meu si al tuturor medicilor. A propagat o invatatura de comportari ale medicilor intre ei si ale acestora cu pacientii. De aici e deosebirea intre general si particular.

 

source http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html

 

Medicul e obligat in exercitarea lui profesionala sa acorde oricand ajutor neprecupetit, chiar gratuit colegilor si familiei lor. El trebuie sa fie solidar cu ceilalti, atata timp cat exercita profesiunea, cu corectitudine si in timp util.

In cariera mea, m-am bucurat de ajutor si stima pentru mine si toata familia. Cu mama, la unul din Profesorii de renume din  Bucuresti,  Ionescu Sisesti, pe care nu-l cunosteam,  pentru o stare depresiva grea, la 60 de ani. Cu soacra mea, alt caz, pentru a fi operata de un profesor specialist care ma cunostea. A internat-o in rezerva pacientilor privati si a ingrijt-o. La plecare,  la intrebarea cat ii datoram, ne-a intins mana si ne-a urat sanatate. Ca si in cazul anterior.

Pentru mine, ca pacient, n-a existat un singur caz, in  care sa nu am prioritate si consideratie.

La inceputul anilor 70 am facut alia in Israel. Am  dat in afara de viitoarea partenera in viata mea de prieteni si unii cunoscuti, raspanditi prin tara.

Am dat de o limba grea pe care n-am reusit s-o stapanesc decat partial.

Dar mai dificil,  am gasit in  mediul uman inconjurator oameni cu mentalitati diferite, educatii parca neexistente, “intimitate“ neplacuta.  De multe ori, eram simplu “George“, pentru greutatea pronuntarii numelui . Ca un  fel de “ne batem pe burta”.

Am  avut noroc pentru ingrijirea sanatatii de doctorita Simovici, originara din Romania, saritoare  la nevoie si  un om bland.

Si in alte ocazii,  am gasit “romani“ cu educatia profesionala ridicata si care stiau ce e Deontologia medicala. Dau doar trei nume, ca nu-i pot uita: Dr. Wietzling, bucurestean si Dr. Keler, ardelean. La dentistica, pe Rozner, concetatean.

 

source http://www.jpmdfresno.com/Personal_History_Map.html

Nu a fost la fel cand sotia mea fusese internata in spital si la externare medicul de salon caruia m-am recomandat si rugandu-l sa-mi explice ce a scris, ca ne e mai greu cu limba si scrisul necitet. Raspunsul lui scurt dar obraznic a fost ca daca vrem explicatii de la el, sa inavatam ruseste. Mai bine era sa invete el medicina.

Tot asa s-a intamplat alta data, cand unul, plin de el  m–a “sfatuit“ sa uit limba materna si s-o invat  pe cea din tara in care traiesc. Raspunsul meu a fost simplu : “Pastreaza-ti limba materna, dar invata medicina, si greu ai sa ajungi ca mine “.

Nu de mult am  fost sfatuit de oculist sa fiu operat de cataracta la un ochi. Stim ca nu e boala, ci o opacifiere a cristalinului, lentila oculara.

 

source http://laffan.lunarpages.com/~theret3/billing.php

 

Printr-un  prieten medic la un  spital deontologia a intrat in functie, a aranjat cu cel mai bun dintre cei mai buni in cazuri similare. Am fost multumit, nu aveam nici o contributie baneasca personala. Am facut formalitatile necesare si m-am prezentat la spital (care nu e in  apropierea mea)  la sectia de oftalmolgie, in  ziua  decisa, la ora 11, pentru consultatia preoperatorie. Depusesem la secretariat toate cele cerute. Aici nu se stia nimic desi am spus cu cine am  luat legatura verbal. Aici vorbeam ca la Zidul plangerii. Dupa mai bine de o  ora,  la insistentele mele respectiva a dat de cine trebuia si mi-a facut fisa medicala.

Am asteptat langa  cabinetul indicat si cand s-a deschis usa am abordat medicul tinerel (probabil un invatacel ) m-am recomandat, i-am spus varsta si l-am rugat de o mica protectie. Raspunsul a venit prompt si clar : “Nu mica, protectie mare “. Si a fost asa de mare, cu toate insistentele mele repetate, ca  dupa ce m-a examinat,  mi-a fixat dupa doua luni o noua examinare, la alt medic cu care s-a sfatuit, vorbind in soapta. Dorea probabil sa mai ia o lectie de oftalmologie.

Operatia ar  fi avut loc prin martie – aprilie 2012.

Mi-a  intins o foaie de hartie cu toate examinarile pe care trebuie sa le fac . Unele niste aberatii. Ale plamanilor, de ex.

Dupa 3 ½ ore, pe jumatate amortit pe scaunul tare, abia am ajuns la poarta, in taxi si acasa. Am  avut timp  sa meditez fara a primi raspuns.

Oare cei doi medici de la spital si al treilea pe drum de specializare stiau de Deontologie ? Au  uitat-o? Nu-i intereseaza? Sau poate nici n-au innvatat–o. E un gol greu de umplut in practica medicala corecta si eficace.

Imi trecuse “pofta“ de spital, lipsa de consideratie si stima. Gratuitatea n-am inclus-o.

In Romania, in situatii imposibile cerute cuiva, raspunsul era proverbial  “na-ti pusca si ma c.. in slujba”.

Mi-am luat ora de consult la un  medic particular, operatia tot asa, in orasul de rezidenta.  Stiam ca daca vreau sa sed in  fata,  trebuie sa platesc.  Partea mai mare o suporta Casa anexa a Asigurarilor medicale.

Am  facut examenele medicale necesare si le-­am pus intr-o mapa.

 

source http://www.wackystock.com/id/5926

 

M-am prezentat in ziua operatiei si am fost preluat de un tanar,  un “frate“? care a bagat in dosarul  medical, toate rezultatele examinarilor mele. Pentru mine, obositoare, pentru suma alocatiilor medicale, o cheltuiala nu de neglijat.

Mi-a masurat TA, a controlat temperatura corpului si pulsul. Vorbea mai bine ruseste, dar ne-­am inteles. Interesul prim ii era sa gaseasca o camera cu chirie pentru prietena lui. Facea anestezia ochiului si a insemnat pe frunte locul potrivit.  Sarcinile le-­a indeplinit cu seriozitate si raspundere. Chiar si transportul in  scaunul cu rotile.

Medicul operator a intrat ca un  fulger, mi-a dat buna dimineata si am semnat declaratia de acceptare.

El n-avea timp sa intrebe de starea mea si nici  sa azvarle  o privire asupra foilor de hartie cu rezultatele medicale  gasite. Mie  nu imi era de folos. Toate  erau in  limite normale.  Imi facusem datoria de pacient, cum  mi s–a cerut.

Mersul benzii rulante nu poate fi  intrerupt.  Medicul, ca un robot, ajutat de altii mai mici, niste surori, a reusit sa-si faca din plin datoria si cu succes.

Ii multumesc inca odata, desi nu va citi cele scrise.

Ma gandesc la titlul celor scrise.

Mnisterul Sanatatii  aloca fonduri pentru inzestrarea unitatilor medicale cu tehnica inaintata si a farmaciilor cu tot felul de medicamente.

Oare Deontologia medicala nu ar trebui sa gaseasca la medici locul ei in recomandarea folosirii aparaturii si a prescrierei ordonantelor medicale ? Daca da si sunt executate corect,  nu ar trebui solicitantul sa le ia in seama? Nu poate fi decat un  raspuns pozitiv.

Au fost idei de a arata ceva, de care  in viitor poate isi va aminti cel competent de schimbare.

Sa lasam Legea gravitatiei sa-si faca munca ei in domeniul fizicii. Nu al medicinii si nici al politicii. Doar  Caragiale a spus, prin gura lui Catavencu, ca “Politica are legile ei, ca si Legea gravitatii“.

 

source http://www.towncentermedical.com/ophthalmology-palm-coast.html

 

Ma simt bine, imbunatatirea vederii e evidenta, am de tinut un program orar pentru tratament local prin  picaturi. Cititul e mai dificil  si-l evit, dar la computer sunt eu stapanul de cele mai multe ori.

Aveti dovada.

Gica

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