Wednesday 15 August 2012

Running the Sahara

I rented this on Lovefilm.  It is a documentary about two americans and a taiwanese guy who ran across the Sahara, from West Africa to Egypt, taking around 100 days.  Needless to say there was a strong sense of madness behind their endeavour, given that it was very hot, there was lots of sand and sandstorms, and it was difficult to navigate.  More importantly was the question I kept asking myself:  why bother?  What will come next?  It is certainly not something that I will be putting top of my to do list for the future!

Into the abyss

I rented this on Lovefilm.  It is a documentary by the masterful Werner Herzog, about a murderer on death row in Texas, who had killed someone for the sake of a car (and not even a Citroen DS!).  The documentary profiles both the murderer and the victim, and their respective friends and family, in a slow but methodical and enthralling way, as is Herzog's style.  It has been said many times, but it is still powerful to see how people's upbringings affect the paths they take in life.

Undertow

I rented this on Lovefilm.  It is the story of a remote Peruvian fishing community, where one of the married locals, Miguel, falls in love with a visiting artist.  Said artist drowns in an accident, but comes back as a ghost, visible only to Miguel.  In order to allow the ghost to pass to the other side (?) successfully, Miguel must find his body and lay it to rest, openly admitting his love for the man in front of his deeply religious community and his pregnant wife.  Thought provoking stuff, and some nice conversation for those learning Spanish!

Indian doctor

I rented this on Lovefilm.  It was a six part TV series about an Indian doctor, Dr Sharma (played by Sanjeev Bhaskar) who moves with his wife to a sleepy Welsh village as the GP.  It is set in the 1950s, and I really like period pieces, and portraits of small communities, so it went down well with me.  The story telling is not super sophisticated, but there are some appealing local characters portrayed in it.

A love to hide

I rented this film from Lovefilm.  It is set in occupied Paris during the second world war, and tells the tale of a gay couple who take in a young jewish woman and protect her from Nazi persecution.  I found it a gentle film portraying some of the agonising decisions that had to be taken at the time, and the unforeseen consequences of actions.  The family of one of the men runs a successful local laundry, and there are various members of his family who are involved in the story, the main one being his brother.