Acta diurna

The Artist

2012-01-22T22:04:00.004-05:00

The Artist (France, 2011)
dir. Michel Hazanavicius
rating: ✶✶✶

It's an ingenious b/w reminiscence of Hollywood in transition from silent to sound film, 1927-1932, with the story of a star unwilling to change. The obvious plot, interesting at first, becomes tedious towards the end.

Estonia Sings

2012-01-13T23:34:00.003-05:00

The Singing Revolution (USA, 2006)
dir. James Tusty, Maureen Castle Tusty
rating: ✶

The documentary recounts aspects of Estonian recovery of sovereignty with the implosion of the Soviet Union. It is recounted in a breathless, patriotic style without historical nuance, and numerous crowd scenes of beautiful blond singers.

On reflection I reduced the film from two to just one star. Critics need to recognize the film for what is is: little more than ethnic propaganda.

Corporate America in Crisis

2012-01-11T10:36:00.000-05:00

The Company Men (USA, 2010)
dir. John Wells
rating: ✶✶

What happens in corporate America when executives are downsized and fired? It is masochistic to watch their comfortable socially predictable lives deteriorate with inevitable impact on families. There is one suicide in the mix, but at the end there is somehow a hopeful solution in declining America for the people we have been watching with no great interest.

Normally I don't post reviews of films that merit only two stars. However, this one is a tale for the times.

Pina

2012-01-01T16:18:00.002-05:00

Pina (Germany, 2011)
dir. Wim Wenders
rating: ✶✶✶✶✶

A riveting dance film, as much for the director's ingenious presentation, as for choreographer Pina Bausch's extraordinarily imaginative, daring theatre of movement and human emotion, it is the best movie of 2011 for me.

A number of Pina clips at YouTube are fascinating to watch, as well as a long interview (in German) with Wim Wenders. It is remarkable how in the film he communicated the essence of Pina’s work and her enigmatic sui generis personality without resorting to conventional biography. As well one learned about the amazing group of artists she assembled and loyally kept together for her Tanztheater Wuppertal over the years. Five days after she was diagnosed with cancer she died in 2009.

Tanzt, tanzt — sonst sind wir verloren
Dance, dance — otherwise we are lost

Police, Adjective

2011-12-03T11:03:00.002-05:00

Polițist, adjectiv (Roumania, 2009)
Police, Adjective
dir. Corneliu Porumboiu
rating: ✭✭✭

Even a slow policier has to have a plot with pacing, hardly apparent here. A young plainclothes officer stakes out some teenagers smoking weed, but has doubts about the law. Certainly the film has promising qualities of cinéma-vérité, but they are too casually developed, if at all.
dura lex sed lex

Sleeping Beauty

2011-11-21T11:04:00.003-05:00

Sleeping Beauty
Спящая красавица
chor. Marius Petipa (1890)
recension: Yuri Grigorovich (2011)
Bolshoi Ballet
with Svetlana Zakharova (Princess Aurore) and David Hallberg (Prince Désiré), and Artyom Ovcharenko (Bluebird)

simulcast from Moscow, 20 November 2011

It was the first ballet premiere on the newly inaugurated renovated main stage of the historic State Academic Bolshoi Theatre. A most recent and authoritative revision by Yuri Grigorovich of the company’s iconic Sleeping Beauty / Спящая красавица, it was simulcast from Moscow with stars Svetlana Zakharova (Princess Aurore) and David Hallberg (Prince Désiré). The production was of course sumptuous with Svetlana Zakharova, a paragon of poise and beauty, earning thunderous applause for a matchless rose adagio. David Hallberg, slight of stature but strong, entered stage with superb leaps and youthful ardour as amorous prince. Artyom Ovcharenko’s light and elegant Bluebird variation was memorable in the second act.

Romeo & Juliet

2011-11-18T14:42:00.006-05:00

Romeo & Juliet
chor. Alexei Ratmansky (2011)
National Ballet of Canada
with Guillaume Côté (Romeo), Elena Lobsanova (Juliet), Piotr Stanczyk (Mercutio), and Jiří Jelinek (Tybalt)

This new choreography is fully Renaissance in costuming and true to Shakespeare dramatically. Sets are often sombre and basic, making the dance all the more intense: lyrical scenes of young love, rollicking crowds in the town square, sinister ball of the Capulets, all to end tragically in the tomb. To-night’s performance (2011-11-19) with the first cast was polished, lively, and exciting. The principals fully expressed a range of emotion, from infatuation and love to frustration and despair. The choreographer ended on a quiet note of closure in an interpretation that felt fresh and incisive.

Harvard befriends Facebook

2011-11-15T13:27:00.006-05:00

Mark Zuckerberg, class of 2006 (dropped out 2004), CEO of Facebook, revisited Harvard on 7 November 2011, meeting briefly with President Drew Faust, then faculty and students. He reportedly told students to find whatever it is that they’re passionate about and follow it, if they feel that it’s right: follow your heart, and things will fall into place. Obviously it worked for him.
[Harvard Gazette, November, 2011]

His personal fortune is currently in excess of $17 billion.

Remembrance Day 2011

2011-11-12T13:06:00.005-05:00

Governor General David Johnston, Ottawa, 11-11-11
Remembrance Day is not a national holiday in Canada though banks and government offices are closed. It is a commemoration of all the country’s war dead, and more generally of all who have served, or serve, in the armed forces, past and present. In Ottawa the event at the National War Memorial is organized, not too impressively, by the Royal Canadian Legion.

On 11-11-11 the Governor General brought dignity to the scene along with the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers, along with the year’s Silver Cross Mother. Various chaplains added more solemnity (and some atrocious French accents), a female trumpeter in blue uniform tried not to flub last post and reveille, while a minute of silence at 11 a.m. was ended by the boom of ceremonial cannon. A children’s choir cheerfully and bilingually sang the royal and national anthems accompanied by a miscellaneous military band. Token soldiers stood at attention, outnumbered by militia and busloads of cadets. RCMP and Royal Military College cadets in scarlet added some typical colour to a Canadian public occasion of minimal pomp and circumstance.
The day’s numbers felt a bit mystic: 11-11-11

Irrepressible Elton

2011-11-09T10:13:00.005-05:00

Love Lies Bleeding
chor. Jean Grand-Maître (2010)
Alberta Ballet

As much a crowd pleasing musical as ballet, the piece is bright, dynamic, and at times wonderfully and appropriately homoerotic. Based on the life of Sir Elton John, it moves briskly through 14 of his songs from Bennie and the Jets to Saturday night’s alright for fighting. The staging is constantly inventive with projections and innumerable surprises, and almost more detail than can be immediately absorbed. The dance itself is strong, imaginative, and right in the fast moving sequences.

Bolshoi inaugural

2011-10-29T10:20:00.001-04:00

The remodelled, reconstructed State Academic Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (founded 1776) was inaugurated with a gala of opera and ballet on 28 October 2011. The event was not simulcast in Canada, unfortunately, but I often thought about it during the day. After 80 years of neglect the building was in danger of collapse. The present works, from foundation upward, took six years at a cost exceeding $700 million. The magnificent theatre and its artistic companies, opera and ballet, are world treasures.
www.bolshoi.ru

Spartacus

2011-10-20T10:48:00.002-04:00

Spartacus
Spartak Спартак
chor. Yuri Grigorovich (1968)

Bolshoi Ballet, in Paris (2008)
with Carlos Acosta, Aleksandr Volchkov, Nina Kaptsova, Maria Allash
Decca DVD (2009)

A legacy ballet of the Soviet era, Spartacus survives as a signature piece of the Bolshoi Ballet, a work of heroic proportions and artistic demands.The courageous but hopeless struggle of slaves against their imperial Roman masters takes on allegorical life on stage. It represents an unending challenge regardless of odds.

The present choreography, dating from 1968 now classic, communicates the message on a grand scale without losing the human dimension, a progression of scenes building logically to a tragic climax.

Carlos Acosta is admirable in the 2008 performance, but so too is Aleksandr Volchkov in the demanding role of Roman tyrant, Crassus. While women have significant roles, the ballet is primarily for men. In an interview on the Decca DVD Carlos Acosta cited Spartacus as the perfect role for him, and culmination of his career.

La Esmeralda

2011-10-10T23:20:00.000-04:00

La Esmeralda (2009 recension) was first simulcast of the Bolshoi season: bravura and virtuoso dance sans pareil with principals Maria Aleksanova and Ruslan Skvortsov, and amazing Vladislav Lantratov with Ekaterina Krysanova (Acteon and Diana sequence).

La Esmeralda Эсмеральда
chor. Jules Perrot (1844), Marius Petipa (1886, 1899), and others
recension: Yuri Burlaka, Vasily Medvedev (2009)
with Maria Aleksandrova, Ruslan Skvortsov, Ekaterina Krysanova, Denis Savin, and Vladislav Lantratov
simulcast from Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow

The White Ribbon

2011-09-29T11:12:00.003-04:00

Das weiße Band . Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (Austria/Germany, 2009)
The White Ribbon
dir. Michael Haneke
Cannes, 2009, Palme d'Or
rating: ✬✬✬

It's a grim movie set in a north German village on the eve of WWI. It is a world of its own, with predictable progression of seasons and generations, hierarchical, and socially repressive. Yet events happen from time to time that remain unexplained.

The film certainly is gripping, even disturbing to watch but, at 145 min., long, unresolved, and ultimately unsatisfying. Years later a teacher is recounting his experiences in the village. He never got to the bottom of mysterious, violent events then, and neither does the audience now.

It's a dour tale of dirty secrets and religious repression, of hypocritical adults and scary, enigmatic children. [Martin Morrow, CBC News, 14 January 2010]

Hon. Jack Layton (NDP, Toronto-Danforth), 1950-2011

2011-08-24T23:24:00.001-04:00

I am not sure that a state funeral is appropriate for leader of the opposition, but it is happening on Saturday, 27 August. The body was taken to the foyer of the House of Commons to-day to lie in state.

My friends, love is better than anger.  Hope is better than fear.  Optimism is better than despair.  So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic.  And we’ll change the world.
[last message of le bon Jack, 20 August 2011]

Certainly he was colourful, energetic, and spunky, but neverthless less than a statesman. Still, he was always a friend of gays, minorities, and underdogs, and worked to improve their condition.

NDP leadership gaffe

2011-08-06T10:12:00.004-04:00

I find it preposterous that the NDP would choose a recent member of the Bloc Québécois, still currently enrolled in separatist Québec Solidaire, to be the interim party leader. Nycole Turmel (Hull-Aylmer) may be federalist now but the past is entirely relevant. She was in the Bloc for four years, until January 2011, yet says she was always federalist.

I detest this level of political opportunism, and question the judgment of the NDP in this important matter.

Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands), Green Party leader, sees no problem with Turmel's affiliations, perhaps because of her own tergiversations. That finishes her in my eyes.

South Africa: unbalanced lives in transition

2011-07-10T11:44:00.001-04:00

Disgrace (Australia, 2008)
dir. Steve Jacobs
rating: ★★★★

With focus on a libido-driven academic egotist the film ventures into racially ambiguous, troubled post-apartheid South Africa. It is a disturbing, brutal, and frank story about intersecting lives unbalanced.

Manic Swan

2011-01-01T13:49:00.005-05:00

Black Swan (USA, 2010)
dir. Darren Aranofsky
rating: ✶✶✶

A relentless film about an artist's descent into hallucination, self-mutilation, and madness with scenes of bulimia, hysteria, lesbian fantasmes, it is a horrible imposition on the viewer and distortion of the ballet world. I hate this film that bizarrely hijacks a great classic ballet.

Mayoral farce in Toronto

2010-12-08T14:08:00.007-05:00

Toronto’s 64th mayor, Rob Ford, was inaugurated on 7 December 2010 in an eccentric, even bizarre event without precedent in the Council chambers. The mayor’s chain of office, symbol of his authority, was presented to him not by a personage such as Chief Justice or Lieutenant Governor of the province, but rather by flamboyant tv commentator, CBC’s Don Cherry of Hockey Night in Canada, noted for bigotry and unabashed redneck sentiment.

Attired in ludicrous pink Cherry took the occasion to praise his mayoral protégé and to lash out at people he would marginalize, pinkos, left-wing weirdos, and bike riders.

“Bring on the clowns”, commented Councillor Pam McConnell (Centre Rosedale, ward 28).

When the mayor inaugurates his term by turning the podium over to a mean poseur "dripping sarcasm and hatred in all his soul",✶ what does that presage for the city?
✶ see: Jack Todd, Montreal Gazette, 13 December 2010

Boris Godunov

2010-10-25T00:18:00.006-04:00

Boris Godunov
Modest Petrovich Musorgsky
1872 version, with scenes from 1869 original
Metropolitan Opera, New York
cinema broadcast in HD live, 23 October 2010
cond. Valery Gergiev
production Stephen Wadsworth
with René Pape (Boris Godunov)

I am far from being an opera buff, and found the four hours of performance a bit of an ordeal despite the wonderful voice and acting presence of bass René Pape in the title role. I was most impressed, if not moved, by the death scene of the hallucinating Tsar, and the poignant closing lament for Russia of the Holy Fool (yurodivy, sung by tenor Andrey Popov).

If the libretto was more historically accurate the opera would have lost its main premise. It is doubtful that Boris, then regent, murdered the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Dmitri.

Out of Context — for Pina

2010-10-17T11:42:00.006-04:00

Out of Context — for Pina
dir. Alain Platel (2010)
les ballets C de la B
Fleck Dance Theatre
Harbourfront, Toronto
16 October 2010

A highly intricate and ultimately brilliant piece, it flows through many transitions, with movements and sounds ranging from spastic and animal to more normal and casual, but with constant surprises. With six men and three women mostly in skivvies, sometimes covered with blankets, there are many levels of relationships, but mostly they are individuals in an uncertain continuum.

A Disappearing Number

2010-10-17T11:31:00.004-04:00

A Disappearing Number
conceived and directed by Simon McBurney (2007)
performed by Complicite *
Theatre Royal Plymouth
cinema broadcast 14 October 2010

mathematicians Srinivasa Ramanujan and Godfrey Harold Hardy collaborate in 1914 (theme)

* Théâtre de la Complicité
(original name of the experimental company)

A Disappearing Number is a decidedly clever, imaginatively experimental, but problematical and in many ways puzzling play. I was unable to get emotionally involved in what passed for a plot, with separate but intellectually intersecting individuals. I can inherently appreciate the beauty of elegant mathematical proofs, yet that hardly makes for drama to this remote observer. The play kept harping at the significance of infinity — awesome in imagination, less so on stage. Given the origin of the one genius, a fair dollop of Indian mysticism was interjected by the end of the day. It felt gratuitous.

Pirates

2010-09-20T11:55:00.004-04:00

Pirates of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean
Somali pirates at the moment are holding about 18 vessels and their crews hostage for ransom in what has become a lucrative, if dangerous activity in recent years, causing havoc in international shipping channels among the busiest in the world. The presence of 30 warships of NATO, the United States, and many associated countries has only slightly deterred the pirates who mostly are let go even after capture. In April 2009 the Russian destroyer Admiral Panteleev (above, top) captured 29 pirates and destroyed their mother ship. On 9 September 2010 24 U.S. Marines dramatically scaled a hijacked German cargo vessel and arrested the 9 pirates on board. Pirates have seized more than 30 vessels this year so far, however.

NYT archives 3, 9, 10 Sept 2010

The Census politicized and undermined

2010-08-04T14:30:00.005-04:00

With minimal consultation and little notice Canada’s national government has recklessly compromised the reliability and integrity of the quinquennial census that, since Confederation and before, has been a principal source of accurate information on the demographic, economic, and social composition of the nation. Ignoring the protests and remonstrations of statisticians, historians, genealogists, professionals of all kinds, and even major provinces, the cabinet in Ottawa has removed some questions from the key long form on dubious grounds of privacy and made remaining answers voluntary. A short form of eight questions has been maintained and still compulsory for the census scheduled for May, 2011.

At a stroke the usefulness of the exercise has been badly undermined, introducing serious doubt about the reliability of voluntary returns, and making comparisons with previous data uncertain. There seems to be total incomprehension in the Conservative cabinet of what this is all about, given the scorn and scoffing of Minister of Industry Tony Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka).

Repairing the damage as best they can will be a priority task for future government. Modern societies require more than fanciful statistics and anecdotal information to function in any sense rationally.

Arma virumque: undercurrents of violence

2009-08-24T00:15:00.004-04:00

A dozen protesters carrying arms were observed in Phoenix, AZ where President Obama was addressing the national convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars. One was carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle (illustrated above), and all were legal under Arizona law. Some days earlier weapons were observed near a presidential event in New Hampshire, another open-carry state. The Secret Service stated that armed demonstrators had "little impact on security plans for the president". The White House has been silent.
[AP, 17 August 2009]

Nothing could contrast more sharply the difference in political culture between Canada and the United States. Personally I am aghast.

Frank Rich wrote an insightful piece about the current menace of "provocateurs with guns" in yesterday's New York Times: "The guns of August". Threats against the American president have increased 400% over those against the previous incumbent.

Afghanistan: should Canada be there?

2009-08-17T12:06:00.005-04:00

When the Canadian government sent Canadian troops, inadequately prepared and poorly supported, into the cauldron of Afghanistan in 2002, it was no doubt to placate the United States for our non-participation in Iraq, and as a gesture of solidarity with NATO and UN. The cost in lives has been high. The result in the country of all Allied efforts has been problematical.

On 15 August 2009 a suicide bomber was able to pass various of levels of control at the most secure HQ ISAF * zone of Kabul, and detonate over 500 kg of explosive, killing 7 civilians outright, and injuring about 100 others, including some military.

Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of ISAF and US forces, was present nearby at a security briefing at the time of the incident, close to fortified embassies and government buildings, as well as the presidential palace. Taliban claimed credit. [The Observer, 16 August 2009]

* International Security Assistance Force

In an earlier blog, written in September, 2006, I wrote:
Meanwhile as casualties rise, an abundant crop of opium poppies still nourishes the [underground]narco-economy [of Afghanistan], corruption abounds at all levels of state, while Taliban, Al Qaeda ("the Base"), unlimited arms and money pass with impunity through the porous Pakistani frontier.
Not much has changed in the interval of three years.

Canadian casualties in the campaign to date: 127
Coalition casualties: 1315

Foreign military presence in Afghanistan: 88,000 (about 41 countries)
NATO presence: 32.000
incl. Canada 2,500
US presence (Operation Enduring Freedom): 56,000
Afghan National Army: 90,000

Parliament prorogued

2008-12-04T21:47:00.007-05:00

Facing certain defeat in the House of Commons on Monday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended Governor General Michaëlle Jean at Rideau Hall on Thursday morning, 4 December 2008 and requested prorogation of Parliament, which she granted until 26 January. His minority government thus obtained a reprieve and some breathing space, but the country was left in a precarious situation at a time of major economic crisis worldwide. The PM's manoeuvre has no precedent in Canadian parliamentary practice.

A potential coalition of opposition parties, with majority votes in the Commons, was left in limbo, furious. The nation can expect a bombardment of vicious propaganda in coming weeks as parties justify their position, and dig in their heels. The coalition may fracture long before it can come into existence. In truth, it has been deeply flawed and illusionary from inception.

Had the Governor General been courageous and refused prorogation, a ragtag combo of Liberals and NDP, with dubious Bloquiste support, would have attempted some response to the fast deteriorating economic condition of the country. Meanwhile, a bad constitutional precedent has been set.

If Her Excellency had either refused prorogation or taken the request under advisement, a furor would have erupted not unlike the fuss and rant in 1926 when Lord Byng of Vimy did not acquiesce to the prime minister of the day. In Canadian fashion she chose discretion rather than assertion. Nevertheless reserve powers of the royal prerogative remain, intact and dormant until some future crisis.

Arts in Canada under attack

2008-09-24T01:10:00.004-04:00

The Conservative government’s strong dislike of arts and culture is increasingly evident in proposed legislation that would establish subjective tests for media to receive public subsidies, and most recently in $45 million of cuts to various arts programmes, particularly those that promote Canadian culture abroad.

Liberal candidate Justin Trudeau (Montreal Papineau) and NDP leader Jack Layton have been vocal in making the cuts an issue in the election campaign, as have many cultural organizations across the country.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper can scarcely conceal his contempt for what he calls a “niche issue” promoted by well-heeled intellectual élitists, evidently of little interest to ordinary Canadians.

It is not an issue that is going to go away. As an economic activity culture represents a value as high as $85 billion in Canada. Nothing is more potent a factor in Canadian identity forged over centuries across a vast continent. It includes a myriad of activities, national and regional, ethnic and aboriginal, on-stage, in museums, schools and universities, in print, on-air and on-line. Some is commercially viable, but most requires a boost in this country more than most, given the small diverse population spread unevenly across a huge land. Philanthropy can help, but assured public subsidies remain essential for the continued healthy existence of the arts in Canada.

graphic: The Red Maple (1914), by A.Y. Jackson (of the Group of Seven)

After Beijing

2008-08-25T01:08:00.010-04:00

I watched the final closing spectacle of the Games, astonished and somewhat perplexed. No doubt the totalitarian host country surpassed itself in the quality of the event. I am distressed by unspoken political overtones. However, the athletes experienced wonderful conditions over the seventeen days of the XXIX Olympiad, and they deserve the best.

Canada’s 18 medals equal the number obtained in Barcelona 1992, less than the 22 in Atlanta 1996. The haul was 3 gold, 9 silver, and 6 bronze. The country’s support of its élite athletes is trivial, even pitiful compared to programmes in Commonwealth countries like Australia and Great Britain.

I watched quite a bit of the Olympics over the past two weeks, as much in awe of the disappointments and failures as of the successes.

In fairness, Canada's excellent standing in winter sports should be remembered. At the XX Olympic Winter Games in Turin in 2006 Canada ranked fifth with 24 medals (7 gold, 10 silver, 7 bronze). Vancouver is the venue for the XXI Games in 2010.

Fateless: Holocaust in Hungary

2008-07-17T01:16:00.005-04:00

Sorstalanság (Hungary/Germany/UK, 2005)
Eng.: Fateless
Fr.: Être sans destin
dir. Lajos Koltai
rating: ✶✶✶✶✶

The Hungarian title can also be translated Fatelessness, a mind-numbing concept in the novel and script by Nobel laureate Imre Kertész. The film remarkably combines holocaust and coming-of-age themes in the personal experience of a boy wonderfully played by Marcell Nagy. The story is as harrowing as the resolution is troubling. The cinematography is powerful and memorable throughout.

Jacob Hertzman (1981-1996)

2008-01-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

One has to be moved by the tribute of family and friends to a young boy who died just short of his fifteenth birthday after a life complicated by multiple congenital abnormalities. He was my 1st cousin 2nd removed, lived in the same city, but I never met him and hardly knew anything about him until I recently saw The Jacob Stories, a little book compiled by his mother Jill, with Elayne Freeman, and wonderfully illustrated by grandmother Florence (Toronto, 2004).

Jill wrote of her son: “Jacob was a puzzle whose pieces did not quite fit. He was an unusual combination of fierce determination and fragility. When he felt well he boldly went about the business of living.” (p.xiv)

The graphic (below) was done by Kaylee Mimron, a friend of Jacob’s at Kohai Education Centre in Toronto, a special needs school where he blossomed.

Toronto, 22 January 2008

link to technorati

2007-09-12T00:52:00.000-04:00

Technorati Profile

On the run with Jason

2007-09-11T23:18:00.000-04:00

The Bourne Ultimatum (USA, 2007)
dir. Paul Greenglass
rating: ✶✶✶

The third thriller about Jason Bourne, trained by the CIA as an “asset” (i.e. spy, covert agent, and assassin, who then cut himself loose from the company) is replete with action that kept stuntmen busier, no doubt, than star Matt Damon. He is good to excellent in the part of uncanny survivor on a dangerous quest. Chases and fights are high-powered, frequent, and incredible. Rogue CIA men are the bad guys rather than foreigners this time. But basic premisses of the plot are less intricate than in the antecedent films, so for me less interesting.

2007-07-01T23:18:00.000-04:00

Not a lot happens on Canada Day, in contrast to the grandiose events in Paris on 14 July, and patriotic ceremonial in many other countries on their national day. In Ottawa and provincial capitals the military fire a 21 gun salute. The Mounties get to show off their horses on Parliament Hill and there is an air force fly-past. Governor General and Prime Minister plus some premiers publish inspirational, quite predictable messages. There is a banal fête populaire at an improvised stage on the Hill, broadcast nationally. Across the country for a few moments the night sky is lit with fireworks. The national press is loaded with reflective articles on who we are, mostly not worth quoting. Outside the country there is scarcely a mention. This year marks 140 years since Confederation.We get a long weekend.

Quadriga (2007) by Max Streicher

2007-06-09T00:16:00.001-04:00

This afternoon I discovered four luminous gigantic horses floating in the Great Hall of Union Station, Toronto, another component of Luminato festival of the arts. This was an astonishing kinetic inflatable sculpture by Canadian Max Streicher who has been constructing pieces at venues around the world. I have so far not been able to find anything about him, except year of birth, 1958, and the fact that he is based in Toronto. The subject for me is highly mythic and powerful.

A quadriga is actually the four-horse chariot used for races in the Olympic games and sacred rites in ancient Greece, the vehicle used by gods and heroes in classical art. The four horses here, though not attached, nevertheless are in mystical union.

La Sylphide: National Ballet School, Toronto

2007-05-27T20:00:00.000-04:00

For the first time Spring Showcase consisted of a single classical work, La Sylphide in the 1836 version choreographed by August Bournonville — a challenge that senior students of the National Ballet School met with skill and enthusiasm. It was staged by Sorella Englund, formerly of the Royal Danish Ballet, who also took the cameo role of fortune teller sorceress, Madge. It was carried off at near professional level by the young cast with minimal accoutrements.

Englund's Madge, of course, seething with scheming resentment, was nonpareil and true in the role, as authentic as one could want. But the principal parts taken by students were equally accomplished and stylish. The corps de ballet in this classic white ballet, the essence of romanticism at mid-19th century, was expressively disciplined and beautiful with never a ragged or awkward line.

With five performances, the school had a new cast of student principals for each — I saw one. As the eponymus Sylph that night, faerie of air, Heather MacIsaac sweetly generated the mystery and mischief that moved the plot. But the evening’s star was Alexander Bozinoff as betrothed and enchanted farmer’s boy, James. His beautiful leaps and pirouettes in kilt, all lightness and elevation were pure examples of Bournonville style at its finest.

Opera Atelier, Orpheus and Eurydice

2007-05-04T00:09:00.000-04:00

The current production by Opera Atelier of C.W. Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, the 1774 Paris version in French of the opera, was first performed in Vienna in 1762 in Italian. The poetic retelling of a myth from Greek mythology, the genre is azione teatrale, but here straightforward and much simplified as the composer attempted to lighten the traditional, highly involved opera seria of the time. Opera Atelier, skilled in reconstruction of baroque performance, have produced a consistently clear and entertaining work, true to the original, but somewhat free in interpretation. It made for a splendid evening.

As Orpheus tenor Colin Ainsworth looked and sounded the part of heartbroken, audacious swain and prodigy dangerously venturing into the underworld to rescue his spouse. She, Eurydice, was sung by soprano Peggy Kriha Dye with suitable pathos, though her full white gown seemed somewhat anomalous in the situation. With surtitles I was able to follow the text in French, overwrought rhetoric rather tedious in the 21th century. It was rescued by the splendid interventions of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir. Gluck’s score was throughout played with distinction by Tafelmusik, conducted by Andrew Parrott.

The production was generous with dance beautifully and inventively choreographed by Jeannette Zingg, who moved in style from late baroque to early romantic, quite in the transitional spirit of Gluck’s piece itself. The artists of Atelier Ballet themselves moved stylishly and cleverly through dance sequences that advanced the story. The Dance of the Blessed Spirits with three variations was a particular delight.

Elgin Theatre, Toronto, 28 - 5 May 2007

Arma virumque: Commonwealth of Virginia

2007-04-19T00:37:00.000-04:00

In Virginia anyone older than 12 may own a rifle or shotgun. From age 18 onward it is legal to own a handgun. No permit is required, but without one the individual may purchase only one weapon a month. To carry a concealed gun a permit is required, but there is no requirement of training. Before the weapon is sold the name of the purchaser is checked against state and federal databases — convicted felons are ineligible as are mentally disturbed persons who have been treated in hospitals. There is no waiting period.

At a gun show even that check is waived. To buy a semi-automatic pistol or even a military-style assault weapon no name is required, hence no background check, and no record of sale.

Virginia's laws may seem lax, but the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence considers 32 other states even less rigorous. In 2001 about a third of U.S. households reported the possession of arms.

The student assailant at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University used two legally acquired weapons to kill 32 students and faculty on 16 April 2007: a Glock 9 mm pistol (above), and a Walther P22 semi-automatic pistol. He had been referred to an out-patient clinic to treat mental instability, so not reported to the database.

[sympatico / msn news, 18 April 2007, "Virginia massacre raises gun control questions"]

An executive order by the Governor of Virginia now makes mandatory reporting of mentally troubled patients treated in out-patient clinics, thus making them ineligible to purchase arms at stores. That is mere tinkering — 28 states do not even participate in the voluntary federal database. The New York Times refers to the "silent retreat" of legislators: "One hearing after Virginia Tech carefully focused on the need for mental health counselors on campus — certainly not saner gun controls."
[NYT, 2 May 2007]

I received the following comment from a friend who is a psychiatrist and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Canada):
The term "mentally unstable" is a vague, catch-all phrase. I often wonder what it really means and I imagine you do too. Does it fluctuate with time? Is anyone who sees a psychiatrist considered mentally unstable? Is someone with substance abuse considered mentally unstable? Does someone who has undergone a relationship breakup and harbours angry feelings qualify as unstable?
Another interesting point needs to be made. Psychiatrists feel from a careful review of evidence that they do know what risk factors exist for suicide and have some expertise (not complete) in predicting suicide risk. [On the other hand, by contrast] the American Psychiatric Association says time and time again that we do not have sufficient expertise to identify risk factors or ability to predict aggression, violence and homicide (even though this may sound counter-intuitive).

Ireland's Struggles

2007-04-08T23:33:00.000-04:00

The Wind that Shakes the Barley
(Ireland, 2006)
dir. Ken Loach
rating: *****
Festival de Cannes: Palme d’or, 2006

The film is a powerful, emotionally wrenching presentation of circumstances in rural Cork during the Irish struggle for independence (1919 – 1921) and subsequent civil war (1922 – 1923). It focuses on the lives of two brothers caught up in the struggle, superbly played by Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney. The fight was fraught with personal tragedy — the one brother wrote towards the end: “I tried not to get into this war, and did, now I try to get out, and can’t.”

The film remarkably gives one the sense of being present in the unravelling of violent events. The British occupation of Ireland was brutal, and the resistance had its own cruelties. Director Ken Loach is not one to romanticize, nor indulge in ambiguities.

Vimy 1917 — 90 years after

2007-04-07T16:53:00.000-04:00

On the morning of 9 April 1917 the four divisions of the Canadian Corps moved to take the ridge at Vimy, after days of preliminary bombardment. The task was daunting, even impossible, yet it succeeded thanks to careful preparation and the use of innovative tactics. The cost in lives was horrendous, as casualties along the static front mounted.

In 1922 France ceded 1 sq. km of Vimy Ridge and environs in Pas-de-Calais to Canada where, in 1936, the soaring national monument to the 66,000 Canadian dead in World War I was inaugurated by King Edward VIII.

On Easter Monday, 9 April 2007, the monument will be re-dedicated on the 90th anniversary of the landmark battle, by H.M. the Queen and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin will also be at the high-profile event. Thousands of Canadians, including many young, will attend. Her Excellency Governor General Michaëlle Jean will mark the day at the National War Memorial, Ottawa.

Villepin ended his elegant address with "Vive la république, vive la France!" Why did he omit "Vive le Canada!"?

Not a celebration of victory, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial solemnly commemorates the sacrifice of lives in the struggle of nations, and the grief of a young nation just coming into its own.

Rob Stewart's Sharkwater

2007-03-26T14:19:00.000-04:00

Sharkwater (Canada, 2006)
dir. Rob Stewart

Close to 100 million sharks a year are slaughtered in the seas each year, many of them for the consumption of their tasteless fins in soup. The myth is perpetuated worldwide of sharks as ruthless predators and killers, whereas in truth they are part of an essential balance of marine life.

Marine photographer Rob Stewart, still only 27, struggled five years through endless personal, financial, and artistic difficulties to create a remarkable documentary released last week in Canada, and September in the United States. Along the way he and his team experienced shark poachers, criminal intrigues, official corruption, and death threats, among other dangers, much of it in the waters of Cocos Island (Costa Rica) and the Galapagos (Ecuador).

From all reports the imagery of the film is extraordinary along with the message, and I want to see it soon.

Tangueros de Buenos Aires

2007-03-20T18:50:00.000-04:00

The origin of tango along the docks of Buenos Aires in full expansion in the 19th century is somewhat mythical, and I have not immersed myself in any of the many histories of the art. Certainly it was danced by men among themselves, cuchilleros and compadritos, in cafés and gatherings in San Telmo before the scandalous dance was discovered and adopted by high society in Argentina and Europe after World War I.

Tango is still much danced in its city of origin, and taught in many schools, though now more of a cult activity for aficionados and dance tourists.

I did get to see a show in the Centro Cultural Borges that I very much enjoyed, with six young dancers accompanied by the Carla Algeri Trio, all winners in national competition. Small of stature, Algeri is an intense, wonderful bandoneonista. At Zival’s record shop on Avenida Corrientes I purchased records in traditional style by orchestras I learned about for the first time: Carlos DiSarli, Juan D’Arienzo, and Osvaldo Pugliese, all pre-dating the changes that occurred with Astor Piazzolla and other modernists who introduced jazz and other elements that quite transformed the genre.

In contrast to other milonga dance, tango has a sad, sometimes sinister quality, charged with intense sexuality. Most of that is lost when it is put on the stage to entertain.

A new opera ballet house for Toronto

2007-01-03T14:43:00.000-05:00

Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

Inside, acoustics of the theatre are excellent, as are sight lines for the most part. Ballet looked wonderful on stage in the fall season. That is not to say it is a truly successful building. Scant attention has been paid to the movement of crowds in the corridors and lobbies — exits are slow and congested. The lunchtime open space with a tiny, precarious stairway is more suited to children than brown-bagging adults, though no doubt free entertainment is always welcome.

Christopher Hume summarized the building better than anyone, calling it an architectural dud — architects were Diamond & Schmitt. "Clad in blue-black masonry, and blank on two of its four façades, it feels more industrial than cultural, more inwardly focused than outward looking."
[Toronto Star, 30 December 2006]

Ironically, it stands across from splendid Osgoode Hall, yet hardly distinguishable from nearby hotels and banal commercial structures on the street.

Matters of Life and Death: capital punishment in the world

2006-12-30T23:24:00.000-05:00

Should the state have the right to execute a human being, for crimes of murder, treason, trafficking, mutiny, genocide, or whatever other heinous offence in law? The state's right to deny life was questioned by Milanese writer and academic Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) in his famous abolitionist treatise, Dei delitti e delle pene (Of crimes and punishments,1764), calling for rational reform in the law. His influence, directly or indirectly, led to the Leopoldine Code of 1786 in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany where, for the first time in Europe (and possibly the world) the death penalty was abolished.
In the map above, countries in blue have no death penalty. It exists in the red zones. Others either make limited use of it, or have not in practice had executions for several years. As of 1977 sixteen countries including Canada had eliminated capital punishment; by the end of 2005 the number had grown to 122 (either completely, or for the most part), while 68 countries retained it. The latter, however, include the most populous countries, so that a majority in the world live under authority that can take life.
In the United States twelve states and the District of Columbia have no death penalty, nor do numerous American territories abroad. Michigan abolished it as far back as 1846.
Canada removed the death penalty from the Criminal Code in 1976, and from the National Defence Act (where it remained for military offences, treason, and mutiny) in 1998.
Amnesty International is on record as opposed to capital punishment, along with a world-wide coalition of abolitionists who try to monitor trials for abuses of human rights.
The European Union mandates no death penalty as condition of membership.
Show trials and gruesome executions in Iraq can only enhance profound unease in that country, and elsewhere in the world. Blood vengeance by the state is not an acceptable solution in the modern world.

The Queen, Diana, affairs of state, and plausible fiction

2006-12-29T23:13:00.000-05:00

The Queen (UK, 2006)
dir. Stephen Frears
rating: ✶✶✶

Clever writing and skilful montage of news clips create an unlikely, yet reasonably successful film about the tense week in September, 1997 when the body of Diana, Princess of Wales was returned to England for burial. Diana's celebrity pop status won out in the end over protocol, and a reluctant Queen accorded the honour of state funeral to the divorced and disruptive mother of the princes. The look at what was going on behind the scenes at Balmoral and Downing Street is plausible fiction, and an excuse to consider the role of symbolic monarchy and tradition in the modern democratic state, not unsympathetically. Helen Mirren in the leading role is quite brilliant, credible, restrained and ultimately human (as well as a remarkable likeness to the original). Michael Sheen as Prime Minister Tony Blair is also excellent in his portrayal of fresh young energy in public life, with a clear sense of nation, and its swift changing dynamics (another close look-alike). Other roles are less important, occasionally muddled, and sometimes biased. Younger supernumeraries on the scene add contrast as smart-ass irreverent sceptics, and the film suggests a deeper crisis of monarchy than probably in reality occurred. Ultimately, in any case, the nation appears to overcome whatever trauma there was, with institutions and Her Majesty comfortably intact.

The History Boys

2006-12-06T23:53:00.000-05:00

The History Boys (UK, 2006)
dir. Nicholas Hytner
rating: ✶✶✶✶✶

Based on Alan Bennett's excellent 2004 play, and with the original stage cast, the engaging and well-acted film covers the story of a class of eight high-spirited, very bright boys at a grammar school in Sheffield preparing to sit entrance examinations for Oxford and Cambridge. In part a coming-of-age saga, it touches on sexuality both of students and teachers, the education system, English class structure, and the meaning of learning. It succeeds in being both comic and, at times, profoundly moving. A sub-theme on homosexuality further enhances the film's insights into the lives of students and masters alike in the evolving social context of the 1980's.

2006-11-05T16:17:00.000-05:00

The Mariinsky Ballet Company (Kirov) brought the celebrated classic to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa at the end of October, 2006, in the 1950 Konstantin Sergeyev recension, based on the 1895 original by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. Nothing was spared: four acts, several principals, full orchestra with conductor, huge corps de ballet, and tons of gorgeous scenery. At the performance I attended Odette / Odile was interpreted with sensitivity and verve by principal dancer Daria Pavlenko, an exceptionally seductive Black Swan. Unfortunately, at a moment of heightened theatre, her furious 32 fouettés ronds de jambe en tournant en dehors ended in a fall (coda of the Black Swan pas de deux) — the sublime suddenly became human! First soloist Leonid Sarafanov was an elegant, beautiful Prince Siegfried, very much a youth, but strong and precise in movement, with impressive elevation — he commanded full attention. A rare unsteadiness happened with a male dancer, but when the corps was on stage its dancing was marvellously light as well as disciplined. In this version of Swan Lake, in contrast to most, there is a happy fairy-tale ending. The Ottawa audience gave a long standing ovation with cheers.

Lewis Segal, reviewing the present tour, called the company "an imperishable achievement of Russian culture...[Despite] more than 70 years of [Soviet] government meddling, a ruinous imposed aesthetic and the resulting hack choreography, it not only sustained the highest standards but also completely reconfigured and modernized Western classicism. Where it dances, whatever it dances, greatness reigns."
[Los Angeles Times, 19 October 2006]

Afghanistan: mission impossible

2006-09-19T18:21:00.000-04:00

I am very upset by the commitment of Canada to an impossible NATO mission in Afghanistan, now projected for five or even ten years into an undetermined future. At the moment the official commitment is only until 2009, but government reiterates that Canada will not cut and run — see: PM Stephen Harper at the UN 21/9/2006, Afghan President Hammid Karzai in Ottawa, 22/9/2006.

Meanwhile as casualties rise, an abundant crop of opium poppies still nourishes the narco-economy, corruption abounds at all levels of state, while Taliban, al Qaeda ("the Base"), unlimited arms and money pass through porous frontiers with impunity.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander General James Jones (U.S.) has called for additional commitments of troops, helicopters, and transport planes for battle in the dangerous Kandahar region where Canadian forces are deployed. Canada, with 2200 troops in the country, has now pledged to increase effectives to 2500.

Afghanistan is now the source of 92% of illegal opium in the world. UN Office on Drugs and Crime 2 September 2006, reported in NYT 20 September 2006

NATO Supreme Allied Commander General James Jones (U.S.) has called for additional commitments of troops, helicopters, and transport planes for battle in the dangerous Kandahar region where Canadian forces are deployed (with British and Dutch). Canada, with 2200 troops in the country, has now pledged to increase effectives to 2500.

A Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) of 250 Canadian soldiers is working to restore the authority of the central government in Kabul, as well assisting the rebuilding of essential infrastructure. Taliban and their supporters melt away, blending into the local population in the aftermath of combat — they are virtually undetectable without help.

Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier arrived in Afghanistan on 28 September 2006 to inspect the southern sector in the aftermath of Operation Medusa vs Taliban insurgency.
CTV's Paul Workman, reporting from Kandahar, said Hillier addressed the daily challenges faced by Canadian troops. "He spoke of the difficulties in fighting the Taliban, an enemy that can blend into the villages, uses guerrilla tactics, suicide bombs and bombs buried on the side of the roads," Workman told CTV Newsnet.
"He said it's very difficult for Canadians to deal with that and you just can't go into the villages and start shooting indiscriminately."
ctv.ca news 29/9/2006

The cost to Canada of Afghanistan so far has been $2.3 billion (Sept. 2001-May 2006). Ongoing military expenditure there, in men and equipment, is enormous, a considerable drain on available resources. Another $1 billion in development aid has been pledged over the next 10 years.
ctv.ca news 22/9/2006

Public opinion of the mission expressed in numerous polls has been increasingly unfavourable. Decima Research found that 59% of respondents agreed that Canadian soldiers "are dying for a cause we cannot win", while just 34% disagreed. Results were generally similar across the country.
[current poll taken 8-18 September 2006; Toronto Star from CP, 2/10/2006]

Several deaths have been caused by so-called "friendly fire".
How well are these forces presently equipped and supported for the difficult terrain and conditions of guerrilla warfare?

A UN report has suggested links between Iraqi and Afghan guerillas. New types of bombs that are used in Iraq show up soon later in Afghanistan.
NYT, 8/10/2006

Toronto Star reporting from Kandahar:
"Two Canadian soldiers died yesterday and two were wounded in an ambush of rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire as they guarded a road that has become a prime target for insurgent attacks. ... The Canadians were attacked while patrolling an unfinished four-kilometre road to link the Panjwaii district about 20 kilometres west of Kandahar with a main highway. Soldiers in the region say there just aren't enough of them properly to clear the area of insurgents who've stepped up attacks since a major three-week offensive against the Taliban last month was declared a success by NATO. Six Canadians have died along the unfinished road or the 16-square-kilometre area around it since late September."
[TS, from CP, Reuters, 15/10/2006]

Andy Warhol: Stars, Deaths and Disasters 1962 - 1964

2006-09-11T01:54:00.000-04:00

Supernova, now at the Art Gallery of Ontario (until 22 October), is an assembly of more than twenty silkscreen images and paintings from the sixties, produced by Andy Warhol at his Factory in New York City. This is not the familiar pop-art Warhol of Campbell's soup and Brillo boxes fame. Rather it is of an artist obsessed with celebrity, glamour, sexuality, disaster, catastrophe, and inexorably death. Juxtaposed with Troy Donahue, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, and Jacqueline Kennedy are scenes of horrific actual car crashes, poisonings, and suicides, along with frequent stark imagery of the electric chair.
Essential part of the presentation is spoken commentary by David Cronenberg, and by many others — critics, actors, some of whom knew the artist and worked with him. Placed in context the multiple iconographic work and films make a surprising and disturbing impact. When John Giorno (poet) asked the artist: "What are you working on now?" — the answer was: "Death".
Projected on the walls of each room is a film, each a curiosity in its own right, including Empire (an eight-hour static, almost eery viewing of the Empire State Building), Couch (candid everyday sexuality at the Factory), and Blow Job (the sublime face of fellatio), all created in 1964.

PBS recently broadcast a four-hour study of the artist's genius:
Andy Warhol: a documentary film (USA, 2006)
dir. Ric Burns
see: "A portrait of an artist both loved and hated" (NYT, 20 September 2006)

photo: anonymous, in Blow Job (USA, 1964)