Tuesday 18 August 2015

Viva Corbyn, Vive Ceylan


I haven't posted a blog in a couple of years, for various reasons: life aged 75 being altogether too enjoyable and full to spend a great deal of time looking at a small screen; age and health making the composition of online writings less attractive, etc etc. And horrific national and world events also contributing to one's general feeling of depression if not actual despair: e.g. the re-election of the British Nasty Party (Cameron, Osborne & co. with their privileged and moneyed chums); the ongoing global destruction and loss of life on all fronts (e.g. Syria, Gaza, the Mediterranean); planetary pollution of every kind; crises in Greece – austerity and desperate immigrants in swarms (copyright D. Cameron); American, Israeli and Islamist follies and barbarism and diplomatic or rulers' hypocrisy; pointless, dangerous and wasteful technological ingenuity (nuclear proliferation, drones and all sorts of evil weaponry) – you name it. 

But I'll stop ranting and just urge any disillusioned Labour voters in the (dis)United Kingdom to vote for Jeremy Corbyn, one of the few honest and fairminded socialists left in the House of Commons: I met him a few years ago and can confirm that he's a decent, principled, intelligent human being, just the person to revitalise the Labour movement. The fact that Blair, Campbell and Mandelson, all so economical with the truth, have come out so strongly against Jeremy (oh, and just today, Brown the bankers' friend, ditto), along with the other three whingeing Blairite contenders, should persuade everyone who disliked and distrusted what New Labour became, to support Corbyn, who at least has a vision of this country's future untainted by shameless capitalistic greed and self-interest.

Cut to a beautiful, humanist film – exceptional cinema, which perhaps in time will be regarded as a twentyfirst century classic: Winter Sleep, last year's Palme D'Or winner at Cannes, a Franco-Turkish production written and directed by the wonderful Turkish moviemaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Do not be put off by its length (over 3 hours!) It's faultless and inspiring: the actors seem to live their parts as they do in, say, Chekhov, and it's perfectly photographed and altogether inspiring.

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