Avuncular American

From Dirty Dick's Christian Spa and Good Eats

My friend Dick, happily retired in Florida's Gulf coast, does provide the Good Eats (although you might have to cook some yourself), but the Christian part is definitely tongue in cheek.  He's one of the tidiest bachelors around, so the "Dirty Dick" part is there just for color, though it does sound properly rakish and piratical.   He was a Navy man before he became a diplomat and eventually my first boss in the Foreign Service.

Those days are past, and we spend much of our time applying our honed analytical skills - sorry, but Evaluation Report language always manages to creep in... trying to get our heads around the matter of the State of the United States.  It's a lifelong task.

We were blissfully enjoying a beer and Cheap Eeetz alongside the marina when a wide screen TV on the wall announced the mass killing at Fort Hood ("the largest active duty armored post in the United States Armed Services") Texas.  When we read the caption naming the alleged shooter, we knew it boded ill for a whole host of reasons.  Yet another "senseless killing" as they say, the work of a possibly deranged individual.  A Lone Star Shooter.  But because the suspect has a name that resonates from here to the Middle East, and because his victims were soldiers in a place where they shouldn't have been under fire, he won't be "just another" mass murderer.

Nidal Malik Hasan's apparent infiltration of personal weapons onto the base has to cause concern for the hundreds of other military installations scattered across the country, and across the world.  "We will increase our security presence here in the coming days" said base commander Lieutenant General Robert Cone.  Well, of course they will, but the deed is done, and no amount of posting Humvees with 50 caliber machine guns trained at the gates will screen murderous intent in the minds of soldiers who might "go Postal."

Do you know how many private cars pass through the gates of just this one base - population 50,000 or so - daily?  Sure, they can double and triple check ID, pull some suspicious sergeants and potentially mad majors over and have them open up the trunk, but a determined killer will easily stow a few handguns and plenty of ammunition wherever he pleases.  It's what's in the mind, not what's under the hood.

Read today's Bob Herbert, himself a Vietnam era vet and consistent in his recognition of the extreme stress that upwards of a decade of wars has put on the US military.  Herbert reminds us that stress is not just a minor irritant in the context of repeated exposure to war zones.  There is not one iota of an excuse for this insane act's perpetrator, but Herbert reminds us that "we haven’t heard a lot about the scores of suicides at that same base — the highest of any U.S. military installation — since the invasion of Iraq in 2003."

This mass murder, like the many before it, unleashes the perennial battle over gun control, or rather the lack thereof, in the United States.  The same arguments for and against will be trotted out with numbing effect.  It's unfortunate that there are ultra-stressed out individuals, whether soldiers or civilians, but why oh why do we make it so easy for them to act out their impulses?  "Guns Don't Kill People; People Kill People" read the NRA bumper stickers.  Perhaps, but a potential mass murderer armed with, say, a kitchen knife he just grabbed on impulse might be a tad less lethal than one armed with an automatic weapon and endless ammo clips.

But at Dirty Dick's Christian Spa and Fine Foods, we don't indulge in pie-in-the-sky.  Just add Fort Hood to the list - Columbine, University of Texas, Virginia Tech - shake your head, and hit the remote control.  There are, apparently, other priorities.  To be continued...

Getting To Know Barack Obama

He wasn't physically there last night, but Barack Obama was very ably "introduced" to the members of Democrats Abroad Belgium (DAB) by one of our number, John-Paul Bernbach, who joined the Obama bandwagon as soon as the Illinois Senator announced his bid for the White House.  The room was filled by those of us who took a bit more time to rally to the cause, and JP's presentation, I hope, will also have provided lingering Clinton supporters in the room ample reason to justify their jumping on board.

Though people availed themselves of the good Belgian beer at the hotel bar, it wasn't a "victory party," and there was no gloating or untoward triumphalism evident over the events of last week.  DAB Chairwoman Faustina Mercado-Sandoval set the tone with a very appropriate Hillary Clinton quote from last Saturday's concession speech:

So I want to say to my supporters: When you hear people saying or think to yourself, If only, or, What if, I say, please, don't go there. Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward.  Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been. We have to work together for what still can be. And that is why I will work my heart out to make sure that Senator Obama is our next president.

With that conciliatory admonition from Senator Clinton, we Democrats in Belgium set to learning more about our candidate.  And JP Bernbach did not disappoint.

It reminded me of the Boy Scout motto: "Barack Obama is: Pragmatic, Non-Ideological, an Organizer, a Real-Politic politician, etc."  JP did well to remind us of these aspects of our candidate, since there's a danger in his being (rightfully) renowned solely for his oratory.  There's a lot of senatorial substance behind the way with words, as we heard last night.  And years of experience in politics, at local, state, and now Federal levels.

Naturally for a group of expatriated Americans, the audience was best informed on foreign policy issues (interestingly, at the very time we were discussing international issues in Brussels, back in the US both Democratic and Republican candidates were concentrating on economic themes, which may have more resonance with voters).  There was concern over the Bush Administration's apparent desire to use "Status of Forces Agreement" negotiations in Iraq to form a secret "strategic alliance" that would complicate withdrawal plans for an Obama Administration.  It was no surprise that Americans in Brussels, home to NATO and the EU, would be more aware than many Americans of national security issues and relations with our European allies.  Several work with US military personnel, and pointed out that the military vote is not a shoo-in for McCain.  As Mark Benjamin noted in Salon a couple of months ago, at the height of the "3:00 AM" excitement:

Clinton has now turned the debate about commander-in-chief readiness into a contest of résumés. And the conventional wisdom is that John McCain -- ex-fighter pilot, former POW and war hero -- wins.  But that's not necessarily the case, say senior military officials and political analysts. In interviews with Salon this week, several experienced military officers said McCain draws mixed reviews among military leaders, and they expressed serious doubts about whether McCain has the right temperament to be the next president and commander in chief. Some expressed more confidence in Obama, citing his temperament as an asset.

As long as Obama's calm temperament does not come across as aloofness, this may be an important ace up his sleeve in matters military and beyond.

Given the rampant speculation last week about Vice Presidential possibilities, we might have expected more Obama-Clinton ticket promoters in yesterday's crowd.  Not really.  The consensus seemed to be that a Clinton VP slot would load down the Obama campaign with problematic baggage, especially on the "Whither Bill?" question.  There was more interest in a potential Clinton Supreme Court future (for life...) especially since, as JP pointed out, she has a long way to go in the Senate before amassing sufficient seniority for leadership positions.

I think we were very well served to have been treated to a "Getting To Know" evening, scheduled weeks before Barack Obama in fact became the uncontested Democratic candidate.  JP's encyclopedic knowledge of Obama mirrors that of longtime Obama friend Cass R. Sunstein, whose article in the London Independent a few months back is the best one-page summary of the man who could be President:

The Obama we know is no rhetorician; he shines because of his problem-solving abilities, his creativity and his attention to detail. In recent weeks, his speaking talents, and the increasingly cult-like atmosphere that surrounds him, have led people to wonder whether there is substance behind the eloquent plea for "change" – whether the soaring phrases might disguise a kind of emptiness and vagueness. But nothing could be further from the truth. He is most comfortable in the domain of policy and detail.  From knowing Obama for many years, I have no doubts about his ability to lead. He knows a great deal, and he is a quick learner. Even better, he knows what he does not know, and there is no question that he would assemble an accomplished, experienced team of advisers. His brilliant administration of his own campaign provides helpful evidence here.

JP Bernbach has not had the benefit of Sunstein's years of proximity to Obama, but I think that his reading of the man is as accurate.  In all, it was a very nice follow up to last week's cessation-of-hostilities in the Democratic camp, and a great kickoff for the general election campaign to come.  

"L'exception européenne" - In Praise Of Cultural Protectionism

American diplomats are expected to promote American commerce, in all its forms.  I always enjoyed "showing the flag" at openings of American films, and once met a favorite director, Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame) at a retrospective featuring his excellent "Twelve Monkeys."  But American insistence on allowing completely free reign to Hollywood - which, last time I checked, had no problem in selling its wares throughout the world - has always bothered my conscience.

Since I'm no longer a serving diplomat (that sounds a bit like "I'm no longer a practicing priest"), I can say what I want.  Which is: I'm all in favor of Europe subsidizing its film industry, and putting money behind projects that would otherwise be lost in the marketplace scramble for dollars.

While not ignoring blockbuster American productions, we find ourselves reveling in Brussels' truly worldwide selection of films.  Some of the independent, non-cineplex theaters here are part of a Europe-and-beyond (it stretches across the Mediterranean) network of cinemas, Europa Cinemas.  Thanks to funding from European Union programs like MEDIA and Eurimages, we get to see lots of films that don't fit the Hollywood star vehicle, shoot 'em up, mode.

Don't get me wrong: not everything American is bad (we jumped at the chance to see the Coen Brothers' latest, "No Country For Old Men"), and not everything French or European is good.  But the "cultural exception" argument is, I believe, the only way to fight a homogenization of cinematic storytelling.  "The Death of French Culture," a Time Magazine piece last year that got the attention of the French press, poked fun at the excesses of French fears of American influence:

France has led the charge for a "cultural exception" that would allow governments to keep out foreign entertainment products while subsidizing their own. French officials, who believe such protectionism is essential for saving cultural diversity from the Hollywood juggernaut, once condemned Steven Spielberg's 1993 Jurassic Park as a "threat to French identity." They succeeded in enshrining the "cultural exception" concept in a 2005 UNESCO agreement, and regularly fight for it in international trade negotiations.

Somehow France has survived Spielberg's dinosaurs and other existential threats, but the sensitivity is perhaps justified.  In recent years, the Bush Administration has been preoccupied with its wars, and what focus there has been on the screen has been to push its "strategic communication" messages of war on terror, etc.  Bush has been no friend to Hollywood, and the feeling is mutual.  But what of a future Democratic administration?

"Hollywood Starry-Eyed For Obama," reads the Variety article on the Senator's successful fund raising efforts.  Barack Obama has sworn off "lobbyist" money for his campaign, but simply keeping a distance from registered lobbyists, though laudable, while continuing to accept money from their industry sponsors won't reassure anyone.  Will Hollywood demand its quid pro quo come next year?  European film patrons, be on your guard.

"Stellet Licht" - A Shimmering Silent Light

To watch Stellet Licht (released in the English-speaking world as "Silent Light," or in the Hispanic world of Mexican director Carlos Reygadas, "Luz Silenciosa") with pleasure, you have to:

• Be able to watch a camera shot for as long as it takes the sun to rise;
• Accept the idea that a Mexican film can be almost devoid of Spanish dialog;
• Be attentive to the background sounds as much as the visuals;
• Accept the idea that Mennonites can commit adultery within their community;
• Tolerate the notion that an award-winning film can feature not only non-stars, but complete unknowns.

If you are capable of the above, then prepare for a treat with this film out of the great plains of Chihuahua.  Already, reviews confirm Cannes' 2007 Jury Award, with lines like "prayer-like visuals," or "masterpiece," or "'Ordet' (a 1955 rural life classic by Dane Carl Dreyer, to which Leonard Maltin has awarded ****) has found its Mexican reincarnation."

(Photo Source: Bac Films)

It's reassuring (or should be to American Mennonites, who may not yet have had a chance to see the film) that the London Mennonite Centre's homepage shows the film's official British-release poster, along with this excerpt from a review:

"The award-winning film, Silent Light, is a wonderful, profound and moving film about the spiritual crisis of a Mennonite farmer in Mexico who is having an affair. Filmed entirely in a Mennonite community and using only Mennonite non-actors, Silent Light is a slow-paced, beautiful and sensitive portrayal of Mennonite life in Mexico." — Vic Thiessen

I just hope that American Mennonites are not offended by the theme of adultery, which, as we know, has been around since, well, Biblical times.  I grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania, which has longstanding and large Mennonite (sometimes referred to - perhaps not geographically or religiously accurately - as "Pennsylvania Dutch") population.  I remember the community as appearing socially conservative (family, "plainness" in all senses, including dress) though this Q & A from the London Mennonite Centre gives fuller background:

Who are the Mennonites?

 

Mennonites are Christians who love Jesus, follow his teaching, live in the forgiveness he made possible, and experience the power he gives through the Holy Spirit to transform their lives. In particular, Mennonites derive from a part of the Reformation known as Anabaptists or 'the radical reformation'. Discipleship, mutual support, following Jesus' hard teaching on loving enemies and concern for justice and right living have been particularly important for Mennonites. Read about Dirk Willems, an Anabaptist who loved his enemy and paid with his life.

Mennonites take their name from a priest, Menno Simons, who spent much of the 16th century travelling the Netherlands, preaching, teaching and encouraging other Anabaptists, and by God's grace escaped arrest from both Protestant and Roman Catholic authorities.

Reygadas captures how such a community still lives in 21st century Mexico in his film.  I didn't even realize the significance at first when several scenes show visitors arriving unannounced, and people called away from a dinner table to greet someone at the door.  Well, of course - if you don't have telephones, you're always going to have to just "stop by."  The particular community depicted - we are told by the film's publicity material that there are more than 100,000 Mennonites in northern Mexico - has adapted to other aspects of modern life (cars and pickup trucks, combines, and hospitals).  The pervasive "silence" is reinforced by a script that has the characters only utter the strict minimum, and always in a completely credible monotone.

I've enthused enough; please just go and see the film.  It's like watching paint dry (and I mean this in a positive sense - just check the official website, and be sure to click on "English" for a stunning still shot from the film's opening sequence).

Happy Candlemas - Or Groundhog Day, To My Fellow Pennsylvanians

(Photo source: BBC)

Actually where we are right now - Brittany, specifically Finistere, the "end of the earth" - it's "Chandeleur" or Candlemas.  No sign of groundhogs here, but with clear skies and lots of shadows, it looks like winter is not anywhere near over yet.  We're going off to a neat place for some crepes tonight by candlelight (the tradition for Chandeleur, plus the rest of the year in Brittany, even when there's no particular occasion to commemorate) and some storytelling.  The place is an improbable bookstore in the middle of a forest, and it's an appropriate place to commune with the Celtic spirits of inland Brittany, where there are probably as many "lutins" as Ireland has leprechauns.

Back in my native Pennsylvania, the people of Punxsutawney PA are keeping a lookout for Phil, the immortal groundhog.  In Quebec, they also mark "Le jour de la marmotte" ("Big Lebowski" fans will remember The Marmot).  Apparently the practice started here in Europe, but it was bears, not groundhogs/marmots that checked out their shadows.  I can see why the good burghers of Punxsutawney chose a cute and sleepy groundhog for their ceremony - no point in stirring a bear to see if he's still hibernating.

But since Candlemas has religious roots too, let's give that part of the story, thanks to the BBC:

Candlemas commemorates the ritual purification of Mary, 40 days after the birth of her son Jesus. This day also marks the ritual presentation of the baby Jesus to God in the Temple at Jerusalem.

On Candlemas night, many people place lighted candles in their windows at home.
Like some other Christian festivals, Candlemas draws some of its elements from Paganism.
In pre-Christian times, it was the festival of light. This ancient festival marked the mid point of winter, half way between the winter solstice (shortest day) and the spring equinox.

I can't think of a better place than rural Brittany, on a starlit night, to contemplate this mix of Paganism, Christianity, marmottes and crepes.  Happy Candlemas Night!

Happy Birthday, Monsieur le Président

(Photo Source: IMDB)

No, today is SOTU day in the United States.

But in France, it is the President's birthday - Nicolas Sarkozy is 53 today.

It's not a holiday, but there has been some fun.  At the President's expense, mostly.  France Inter - for Americans, this nationwide radio station has some aspects of the Stateside NPR - had a cute rendition of Marylin Monroe's public ode to JFK, with inevitable references to current girlfriend singer Carla Bruni's guitar-strumming.

This injection of the personal into French media coverage of their head of state has been one of the recurring themes in the half-year since Sarkozy's election in summer 2007.  One of the best summaries of the resulting desarroi in French media and political circles has been "Love and Politics" in The New Yorker by veteran Sarkozy-watcher Adam Gopnik

What distinguishes the ballad of Carla and Nicolas from similar tales is that this time the media is not trying to pry into the private life of a public man; this time, a public man is trying desperately to parade his private life in front of the media. Sarkozy not only performed for the press, welcoming photographers along as he and Bruni holidayed in Egypt and walked on the beach in what used to be called bathing costumes; he insists, to everyone’s embarrassment, on talking about their bonheur and their approaching marriage at press conferences. This is not tacit complicity, of the Princess Di-and-the-tabloids kind; it is Presidential leadership. Sarkozy wants people to think about his sex life, in the way that Bill Clinton didn’t want people thinking about his.

There is no shortage of serious subjects in France these days:

• The world's biggest banking fraud/loss at Societe Generale
• The first elections (municipal) since the 2007 Sarkozy presidential and parliamentary victories
• Presidential visits abroad, most recently to India

These topics are covered, sure.  But many people are convinced that just when news starts getting dicey for the Presidential palace, out comes some photo op involving the President and his friend.  Or some hint at forthcoming news, like rumors of an incipient wedding.  The difference, as Gopnik shows, is that it is Sarkozy who usually is the source.

Just don't try to go too far, though, in referring to the Prez and his squeeze.  Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline, is being threatened with a Presidential lawsuit for its advertising campaign using a photo of the loving couple, with references to flying Ryanair to bring the "whole family to the wedding."

It is one thing for Sarkozy to oppose an Irish capitalist capitalizing on his love affair.  It is quite another to use Presidential influence to suppress the press.  Today, the latest in a long line of episodes of quasi-censorship: "Direct 8," a newish private TV channel owned by Sarkozy friend Vincent Bollore (whose private yacht was the scene of the very first Sarko-show with former wife Cecilia just after the election victory) canceled a show entitled "Sarkozy et les femmes."   Noblesse oblige.

Earlier, there have been several incidents of a similar nature involving the print media:  Sarko buddy Arnaud Lagardere, publisher of Paris Match, fires the editor when Sarkozy was still Minister of Interior, for an early eruption of lese majeste; a flurry of recent books about the former - and very short-lived - French First Lady, Cecilia, some of which were held up; and a mostly silly episode of airbrushed love handles during the Presidential visit to New Hampshire last year.   

Adam Gopnik again on the good old days:

Those who loved the dignity and the sporadic secrecy and the sudden intimacies of traditional French civilization are bound to long for the days when President Mitterrand would go on long walks alone to old bookstores, and then make love to his mistress on the way home to his wife, patting his love children on the head while making sonorous pronouncements about life and destiny. The ballad of President Bling-Bling and Carla Bruni is a reminder of a deep and permanent truth, which the French once knew better than anyone: there are worse things in this world than a little organized hypocrisy.

So, happy birthday, Mr. President, but let's resolve to see, read, and hear a bit less on your private life in your 54th year, and hope that you get back to business.

Mr. President: Give Marion Jones a "Scooter" Get-Out-of-Jail Pass

This is what Judge Kenneth M. Karas said Friday of his decision to send former track and field star Marion Jones to jail for six months:

"I want people to think twice before lying,” Karas said. “I want to make them realize no one is above the law."

Ms. Jones had been found guilty of perjury, of lying to federal agents.

This is what former White House Spokesman Tony Snow said of President George W. Bush's commutation of the jail sentence for former Presidential Assistant (and Chief of Staff to Vice President Richard Cheney) Lewis "Scooter" Libby:

"He [President Bush] thought any jail time was excessive. He did not see fit to have Scooter Libby taken to jail."

The AP wire of July 3, 2007 noted that Snow told

reporters at a White House briefing that even with Bush's decision, Libby has a felony conviction on his record, two years probation, a $250,000 fine and probable loss of his legal career. "So this is hardly a slap on the wrist," Snow said. "It is a very severe penalty."

Readers will recall that Mr. Libby's perjury conviction was in connection with the disclosure of the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame - the underlying crime that in fact was never prosecuted.  His perjury was what got him convicted and sentenced to jail; his White House protectors were so eager to avoid his spilling the beans on the genesis of the underlying crime that he was kept away from jail.

Ms. Jones' actual use of performance-enhancing drugs, the underlying "crime" for which she has already forfeited Olympic Gold Medals, was not the central issue in the trial.  Like the Libby trial, it was the perjury that was adjudicated.

Unlike "Scooter" Libby, Marion Jones apparently does not have a sugar daddy.  Though she is a mother of four year old and seven month old sons, Judge Karas indicated that he was not moved by the prospect of their separation from their mother.  On the other hand, President Bush said that Libby's "wife and young children have suffered immensely" from Libby's trial and the prospect of imprisonment (full text of commutation here).

Mr. Bush, please consider the following:

Black Americans land in prison at six times the rate of white Americans, according to a new study from the Sentencing Project.

Just as you would not want the world to think that Mr. Libby was given preferential treatment because of his White House connections, you should not want the world to assume that Ms. Jones is getting jail time because of her skin color.  Please issue a commutation, and be assured that you would be doing the right thing.

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Election Day (In America)

Today, Thursday 27 December, is election day in Kenya.  Why Thursday?  Why not Sunday, as it is done in large parts of the world?  In Kenya, Thursday is not the first day of the weekend either, like it is in Algeria and other predominately Muslim countries - and where it is the preferred day for elections.

I guess Kenya's choice of Thursday is akin to the choice of Tuesday in the United States: random.  Nothing in the US Constitution or the Declaration of Independence sets out Tuesdays as any more significant than Wednesday or any other weekday.  The main purpose of Tuesday as election day in the US is that it is NOT SUNDAY.

In these days of 24/7, 7/7, year-round shopping, some Americans may wonder why voting on Sunday would be the Devil's Work?  Well you might ask, since it appears that the seat of Christendom (or at least Catholicism), Rome, has been practicing voting on Sunday for ages.  That's also the case for other mainly Christian countries, and even those where the state religion is Communism.

If the people who make money when you shop at their malls on Sundays can pocket their profits and still go to church with a clear conscience, how is it that the essential ingredient of democracy - voting - cannot be accomplished in America on Sundays, when most people have all day off?  Maybe it's because the people who don't want you to vote - the same people who oppose "motor-voter" registration, who insist on 80 pound unwaxed paper to complete applications, and other more sinister voter suppression tactics - see Tuesday voting as a way of keeping the US turnout among the lowest in the world.

Americans tend to think that their voting systems (whether computerized or otherwise) are world class, but that's maybe because so little attention is paid to the mechanics of elections in other countries.  Even countries where ballots are slipped into boxes - the norm in many extremely democratic countries - somehow manage to have very clean elections, where costs are a fraction of those in the United States.

Who ever decreed that the American Presidential elections begin years before the deed in November 2008?  That every time you turn on CNN there's another debate?  That "Meet the Press" and other Sunday news talk shows can only - boringly, repetitively - feature candidates or talking heads discussing candidates?  And that this whole laborious process costs more than the GNP of many countries?

In the aftermath of the 2000 "Supreme Court" election, when George W. Bush squeaked into the White House, hanging chads weren't the only problem with American democracy.  There were incidents of disinformation disseminated in certain communities (African American, Hispanic) to confuse potential voters into missing the election.  In the 2004 Bush-Kerry race, Congressman John Conyers's book-length investigation into electoral malpractice went nowhere in terms of follow up, though Conyers is still vigilant on continuing electoral shenanigans.  The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE, of which the US is a member) sent observers to the US in 2004 - the first time in the organization's history.

So next time American voters are forced to take off time from work to vote (will their bosses let them?) or arrive too late at a polling station after work on Tuesday, they should give a little thought to how it's done in the rest of the world.  Making sure Americans can actually vote, and that their votes can be counted, would seem to be more important than scheduling "debates" every other week.

100 Years: The Golden Years in France

Now that I'm back with my trusty QWERTY keyboard, I can resume blogging.  For the last few days, other than checking email, the AZERTY keys at our relatives' home allowed hunting and pecking, not much more.  We've been in France, in the lovely Anjou region north of the Loire, where my wife's Aunt Marguerite - "Tante Guite" - has just celebrated her centenary.

Tante Guite had, until very recently, been living at home, a little rented row house in a slate mining suburb of Angers.  She'd been able to do so mostly because of a pretty good (extraordinary, when compared to the American system) medico-social support system, which included a hot meal brought to her daily, health visits for essential treatment and medications, and an emergency link "hot button."

Now that she's no longer able to get around without a wheelchair, she's in a public/private retirement home adjacent to the Loire.  Wednesday's birthday party brought a few local journalists and dignitaries, and of course family members from France (and us).  Tante Guite, bless her, still loves reading, so there were additions to her library, which is mostly history of her native Brittany and the Anjou, where she spent equal halves of her long life.

Tante Guite, who's also been a widow for half her life, grew up as World War I was devastating more distant parts of northern and eastern France.  Her village in Brittany was not spared, nor was her family; the "Monument aux Morts" in her village includes the name of her uncle, killed in the first weeks of the war somewhere in Belgium.  Tante Guite, a schoolgirl at the time, remembers soldiers coming home, and of course the Armistice and 14 July celebrations afterward, when the triumphant French Army was considered invincible.  She was a wife and mother when Brittany was occupied by the Germans in WW II, and enthralls her audience with details on life under foreign occupation.

At the retirement home, she is among the most lucid in a group that is mostly ladies - all younger than her.  France is grappling with an aging population, though its tradition of social solidarity gives it flexibility that is sometimes hard to come by in societies like the US.  The home's staff of nurses, aides, and others are civil servants.  Tante Guite's relatively modest survivor's pension and other benefits go toward her upkeep, and she is expected to deplete her life's savings.  Eventually, her children (the law even extends responsibility to grandchildren) will be expected to make up the difference.

Seeing Tante Guite and her fellow residents at the home gave us all food for thought on extreme old age.  Our hosts and favorite French cousins, Marie-Josee and Michel, live in a cozy house a few kilometers away from Tante Guite, but know that they won't always be able to negotiate the stairs or semi-rural living.  We live in an apartment in Brussels, but will always have to deal with the oddities of expatriation (different health insurance systems, different currencies, etc.).  And wherever we are, at least one of us will always be a foreigner.  Tante Guite, who has survived wars, occupation, widowhood, and privation has managed to stay dignified at her advanced age.  Who could ask for anything more?

"Vier Minuten" - Prison Drama With a Few Differences

Okay, we don't just watch seemingly obscure films that you've never heard of.  We also watch big films that hit the box office charts.  But what's the point of my reviewing "American Gangster" or "The Departed," when you have probably seen them weeks or months before they make it beyond the anglophone world?  Whereas if I do mini reviews of "Vier Minuten," or "Alexandra," or "Auf der anderen Seite," or "Tuya's Marriage," then you the reader get to put them on your must-see list and hope that they make it to an "art house" cinema near you one day.  According to IMDB, "Vier Minuten" is scheduled for UK release in February 2008; no date for US release visible.

I won't try to list all the awards and nominations for "Vier Minuten," since IMDB does such a good job of it.  In our estimation, the awards are justified, especially in the strong performances of the two female leads, Monica Bleibtreu and Hannah Herzsprung.  The elderly Frau Kruger (Bleibtreu) seems to have been in the prison forever - at least since the days when it was a makeshift hospital during World War II - though she's not a prisoner (at least not in the juridical sense).  She gives piano lessons to prisoners, a motley group of drugged-out, suicidal, violent misfits, probably motivated by nothing more than getting out of their cells for their keyboard drills.

Until Jenny (Herzprung) appears, that is.  It's clear that she has a kind of virtuosity, though the severe looking Frau Kruger disapproves of Jenny's taste for "Negro Music."  Indeed, Frau Kruger is timeless: her clothing, gray hair in a bun, utilitarian glasses, and taste for Schumann, all put her in a kind of time warp.  It's not terribly important when or where the film takes place, though it has a gray industrial atmospheric look of 1980s (East?) Germany.

Frau Kruger knows that Jenny is special, and invests much - in fact, everything, including what's left of her career - in nurturing Jenny's talent.  But it's no easy task, as Jenny has much to be angry about.  She lashes out at everyone, and makes a couple of unfortunate enemies - usually a bad idea in prison.  All the while, we get glimpses of Frau Kruger's youth, when another young woman is the object of her affections.  Does modern-day Jenny remind the aging spinster of her youth?

Another thing that is not so important, but inevitably enters into web searches, categorizations, and pigeon-holing: "Vier Minuten" has been featured at Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals in Paris and Oslo.  But you could probably also do a Google search for films about piano music, and "Four Minutes" would pop up too.  Director Chris Kraus has a longstanding interest in music, the legacy of Nazism, and the gay world (he wrote "The Einstein of Sex... the story of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a German Jew, who as a physician established the field of sexology, and fought militantly against German anti-sodomy laws in the late 19th century, up to the rise of the Third Reich in the mid 1930s").

With a director as apt as Kraus, and a film with music at it core, you can expect a topnotch soundtrack.  There is, of course, Frau Kruger's beloved Schumann, and Jenny's "Negro Music" (as Frau Kruger dismisses it) runs the gamut from North African rai to the heavy metal played by two lovable, bearlike ex-cons who help Frau Kruger move her piano around.  If you liked the eclectic soundtrack of "Babel," you're sure to like the music in "Vier Minuten."

Photo source: Cinenews.be.