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Review: Valkyrie

There comes a point when a reviewer finds herself having to stifle her prejudices and just get on with the job, and Brian Singer’s latest blockbuster Valkyrie is one such example.

A Hollywood film with English-speaking Nazis starring the couch-jumping nutjob that is Tom Cruise? Oh, the digs that one can aim at this. Scientology and Nazism with a good dose of German campness: comedy gold. However, Valkyrie is not the sham it could have so easily become.

Valkyrie is a movie about the ‘July 20 plot’ of 1944, where Colonel von Stauffenberg and other officers attempt to overthrow Hitler’s regime. Von Stauffenberg cleverly uses Hitler’s own emergency plan to stabilise the government (known as Operation Valkyrie after Wagner’s opera Die Walküre). Operation Valkyrie is readjusted to remove those in power and cripple Hitler’s regime once Hitler has been assassinated by their planned bomb plot.

For anyone with a grasp of historical events, the ending will be familiar: Hitler survives, being saved by a badly-positioned table leg, and the revolutionaries are assassinated. What the movie does is place us in the position of knowing more than the characters: the revolutionaries only find out about Hitler’s survival hours afterwards, by which point Operation Valkyrie is clearly underway. The movie relies on surface thrills rather than intense suspense; we know what’s going to happen, yet the high drama created by Singer’s skillful directing keeps the audience on their toes, even in potentially low-action moments.

There is much to be said in this film’s favour, and the decision that the cast retain their own voices is one of them. The thought of Eddie Izzard and Tom Cruise putting on German accents in the style of The Producers could have turned this already tricky movie into a camp farce. The $75 million dollar budget is apparent in the spectacular visuals: the panoramic views of the Nazi canteen filled with fleeing Nazis is in my mind a great piece of cinematography. However, where Valkyrie benefits fro

m high-budget screen shots, it loses out on challenging film-making.
The main characters are cosy household names – Kenneth Brannagh, Bill Nighy and Eddie Izzard must be the cuddliest collection of violent German officers ever. One cannot help but wonder what the Germans would have done with the film. Mark Rothemund’s Sophie Scholl: The Last Days and Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book, are conversely both challenging and dynamic takes on resistance to Nazis. Valkyrie is a brave film concept which has finally chickened out when it comes to challenging film-making.

It is very easy for one to lapse into metaphysical bullying when the victim seems to have all the wrong characteristics – casting Tom Cruise as Colonel von Staffenberg has been compared by some journalists to ‘casting Judas as Jesus’.

Yet Cruise, for all his eccentricities and obvious flaws, is the Everyman, and there is an audience appeal in his imperfections. This actually works because the main question Valkyrie is asking of the audience is how they would react if in a position of power under a totalitarian regime. However, a vague sense of moral inadequacy is not much of a takeaway from a film. Valkyrie falls short because it scratches the surface, but fails to leave a mark.

Two stars
Release: 23rd January
Director: Bryan Singer
STARRING: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp, Eddie Izzard

Review: Milk

Around once a year, we, the cinema-going public, are presented with a Hollywood offering that is truly brilliant- a film that renews one’s faith in American cinema.
Last year we were given two, in the form of There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men and this year, we have already been given one. Out just in time for Oscar season is the new Harvey Milk biopic, directed by Gus Van Sant. A director of varying pedigree, ranging from the brilliant Affleck and Damon collaboration, Good Will Hunting to the frankly abysmal Psycho remake just a year later, Van Sant may here have placed himself amongst the very best.
Milk follows the life and political career of Harvey Milk, the first openly homosexual man to achieve public office in the United States. This film is wonderfully written, it has a moving intelligence and it is paced to perfection. A supporting cast of James Franco and Josh Brolin ensures the acting in Milk is of a consistently high standard, whilst Sean Penn offers a performance he is unlikely ever to surpass.
Penn is truly sublime. This is a performance far from the gruff, powerful masculinity of his earlier turns in Mystic River and Dead Man Walking. He seems to truly envelop the character of Harvey Milk as few actors can, at the end of the film images of Milk and Penn are paired together, and between them there is little if any difference. This is a tribute to an incredible portrayal of an incredible man. Milk is a rarity; it is a truly inspired and inspirational picture, a challenging story that is interwoven with just the right blend of elegance and humour.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I got incrediblly emotional involved with this film – but this is not just a weepy. It is a serious statement about the need for a movement for change, and, coming at a time when Proposition 8 has just been passed in California, and states across the U.S. are banning gay marriages like they’re made from Nazi gold, Milk makes an important statement about the desperate need for equality across the gay, black, and immigrant communities of America.
Having stumbled at the first hurdles of the Golden Globes, Milk might seize the recognition it deserves at the Academy Awards come February, particularly with Sean Penn pitting his wits against Hollywood’s comeback kid, Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. The fight is on. And if Penn loses, we will just have to blame the Academy’s conservatism. Because this film deserves every Oscar going. Milk is not only one of the best films of the year, it is one of the best of the decade. And January isn’t even over!

Five Stars

Release: 23rd January
Director: Gus Van Sant
STARRING: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco

 

Sometimes its better when its boring

With just two minutes to go at tonight Turf Moor exploded as Jay Rodriguez took advantage of some Gomes like keeping from Gomes’ stand-in to poke a left foot volley into the back of the net. That moment will be like almost nothing those fans have seen before. The ground was pulsating. They had pulled off the seemingly impossible; the little Championship side had pulled back a three goal deficit from a full strength Tottenham side against all odds.  Words can’t describe how great it would have felt to be in that ground. This blogger was preparing a list of all time great comebacks. All they had to do was survive extra time unscathed…

Just half an hour later, those same fans would be leaving the stadium utterly crushed. Having been just two minutes away from a dream day at Wembley they conceded not one but two late goals as their legs tired. Tottenham didn’t deserve one goal on the night never mind two. During extra time the BBC’s 606 service was inundated with Tottenham fans saying that they hoped they didn’t score because they deserved it that little.

Losing under such circumstances makes you feel about as bad as a football match can because you’ve fallen from the hights of elation to the depths of despair in the blink of an eye. On 117 minutes Burnley fans were dreaming of Wembley, on 118 the dream was crushed as Pavlyuchenko wheeled away in celebration.

The question is was it worth them climbing that mountain given how bad it feels to fall from the peak? In April last year I sat as one of only two Arsenal fans in a whole Dublin bar as Theo Walcott produced one of the greatest runs of all time to put Arsenal ahead on away goals with just 6 minutes remaining. Dancing on the table seconds later was the happiest a single moment of football has ever made me feel. Just a minute later as Kolo Toure felled Ryan Babel was the worst a single moment of football has ever made me feel. That run, like the triumphant end to Burnley’s comback tonight, deserved to win any football match. I was utterly desolate.

Wouldn’t it have just been better to have lost deservedly? A simple 2-0 reverse would leave you disappointed and down sure, but utterly gutted? Hardly. In the depths of footballing despair that moment of elation feels a lifetime away, snatched away as though it were never there.

Of course the ups and downs of football is what makes being a fan so great. To quote Robbie Williams, “you’ll never get high unless you taste the lows”. It really is better to get that close, to know how much you deserved it, but it sure as hell won’t feel like that now for the Burnley fans.

A Speech, Some History

To be sure, it was a terrific speech. But it was special, I think, because it wasn’t what we’ve seen from Obama before, and perhaps therefore not what we’d expected.

It was tough. It was, frankly, quite straight talking. Obama’s speeches can be beautiful, the language so well constructed as to seem like poetry. It was like that at times yesterday, only those moments were most often to be found in the starkest passages. I remember being particularly drawn to a line where, speaking of generations passed, he talked of their working “till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life.” It’s not pretty but it is powerful.

For much of the first half, the crowd fell silent. I felt people weren’t applauding because they were struck by the gravity of the message. It would have seemed wrong to clap a line like the one I just quoted. That, I think, was the intention of the speech. Not an applause-happy crescendo, but a tough, sober reflection for the moment; a reasoned call to rise to the challenge, as many have done before.

But that is not to say his speech was not applaudable. I think it was tremendously brave, actually. Speaking truth to power is often thought to be terribly gutsy. But working in the opposite direction is often harder, I’d argue: being the holder of power and having the courage to tell your people that all is not well in their land. Arguing that all must change, but that this change will not be easily achieved.

He didn’t hold back. Not in his assessment of the moment, of the nature of US politics, of President Bush (whose staff were reportedly annoyed by some of the not-so-subtle allusions to Katrina, to an unwillingness to take tough decisions and be held accountable). He talked fairly bleakly of the paradox of America — a nation at once so prosperous and so impoverished; with so much might and splendour but some true failings too: the healthcare network, the public education system, the crumbling infrastructure.

The first half was FDR. It was honest and painted a modest picture. It contained some of the most inauspicious language used yet by Obama and his team to define the state of the economy. It was hard truths. The second half was more JFK. The entirety of the section devoted to addressing foreign entities, “To the Muslim world”, “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit”, “To the people of poor nations”, harked back almost precisely to the words of Kennedy’s inaugural, and his message. (Interesting note: According to the analysts, that use of “Muslim” was the first use of the word in any Presidential inaugural. He also used “nonbeliever” for the first time.)

What was his big message? It was a mixture of the following two quotes:

“Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin the work of remaking America.”

And “the time has come to set aside childish things.”

The message: We must remake America, not just because this moment is tough, but because our great democracy has, in its maturity, grown complacent and begun to slip. Our politics has been too broken for too long. It’s time to wake up and get moving. And it was something like these are serious times which require serious people.

And though it seems obvious to say so, it represented an exceptional moment, even for us in Britain. The pictures out this morning of President Obama in the Oval Office, talking to his Chief of Staff, seemed unreal. Partly because, like with any inauguration, it represents an obvious yet unfamiliar change. This one was very special though. Let’s hope he lives up to his promise.

Gaza Demonstration in Oxford

Cherwell talks to those involved in the recent protest against the Israeli actions in Gaza.

Students queue for 27 hours outside Estate Agency

North Oxford Property Estate Agency, which only released its properties at 9 am on Wednesday and operates on a first come, first serve basis, saw students queuing outside the shop with sleeping bags and tents as early as 5 am on Tuesday.

Numerous students expressed anger at the current system implemented by the estate agency.

David Burgess, a Somerville first-year student, whose group had been there since 8.30 am on Tuesday, said, “It’s awful. Having a 9’o clock release date in term time doesn’t work and the videos put up on YouTube of people queuing increases the hype and makes more people queue.”

Charles Rowe, an Exeter second-year student, said, “There must be a better way of doing it…We’re suffering outside here in the cold. Our friends have been here since 10 am on Tuesday. We’re doing shifts. I’m going to be here until midnight when someone takes over.”

He explained his willingness to endure the long period of queuing, saying, “These are probably the nicest houses in Oxford, even though they are expensive. I want to have a nice third year as I have my finals.”

Several students condemned the agency’s practice of taking photographs and videos of the students as they queued, which are then put on the agency’s website.

Guy Brain, a New College student, said, “The fact that they are taking photos of people camping is humiliating and insensitive.”

Another student, Stefan Tarnowski, added, “As soon as they have a property they should release it. I find it insulting that they’re filming us and making jokes. By giving champagne to the students at the front of the queue, they’re encouraging students to queue and hyping it up.”

Some students criticised the 9 am release date of properties, for the reason that it didn’t allow them adequate time to inspect the property before agreeing
to become the tenants.

Emma Wheeler, a Worcester second-year, said, “One person has to wait in the office while the others race off to see the property. It’s a rat-race. There are so many things you have to check in the property, which can’t be done in a five minute viewing. There’s so much risk.”

Other students, while expressing annoyance at having to queue in the cold, acknowledged that there didn’t seem to be an alternative system.

Jo Holland, a Somerville student, said “We can’t think of any way to stop the queuing. We could feel the hype within college. People were panicking. We would have gone with another estate agency but North Oxford Property Services owns most of the properties, which we wanted in the area. We didn’t have much of a choice. There are so many other properties which are more expensive.”

Helena Powell, a first year Somerville student who described the queuing as “absolutely ridiculous”, conceded that “it is only a night for a year of living
in a house. It’s just about worth it.”

Robin Swailes, the office manager of the estate agency, defended their current system of operating. He said, “At one time, we would bring students in to look at the properties and they could put down their first, second and third choice. However, there were always some students who were disappointed. Five years ago, we decided a fairer and clearer way would be to operate on a first
come, first served basis.”

However, he said he was open to other proposals, stating, “If you can come up with a better system, we’ll do it. We need a workable suggestion. We don’t ask students to queue.”

He suggested that colleges should work more closely with the agency, stating that in the past the agency had worked directly with colleges such as St John’s, Lady Margret Hall and Pembroke for housing students.

He went on to refute student claims that the agency hadn’t put up all their properties on their website, stating that “all properties are on the website”. He also defended the agency’s practice of taking pictures and videos, describing it as “a tradition, which has gone on for 18 years” and as being “a bit of an event in Oxford”.

To ease the discomfort of queuing, the agency issued a voucher providing a free tea or coffee and bacon buttie or vegetarian equivalent to every student in the queue as well as stress balls to warm their hands.

However, not all students were convinced by this gesture.

One student, Laura Dowley, said, “They can see the students are really vulnerable and they hone in on it and try to butter us up with bacon butties.” She added, “They’re still increasing rent despite the recession because they
know there is a high demand from students.”

Lucien Smith, a St Benet’s Hall first-year student whose group had been queuing since 5 am on Tuesday morning and been given a bottle of champagne by the agency
for their efforts, said, “It was nice champagne. The queuing is unfortunate but we can’t think of a better way.”

Several students commented that the queuing created a negative atmosphere of competition.

James Teasdale, a first-year student, said, “Some people got aggressive, not to the point that they caused trouble. Most people are quite civil.”

Another student, David Burgess, commented, “There is a sort of camaraderie about it.”

Students criticised the colleges for not giving them sufficient warning about the need to sort out their accommodation for the next year as early as possible.

Oliver Elliott, a St Benet’s Hall first-year student, said, “There was no prior warning in the college that you have to sort out your accommodation quickly. The college system should be more involved and give more support.”

The doors of the agency were opened at 9 am on Wednesday and a member of staff stood at the door, monitoring the number of groups of students allowed in. Staff members were friendly with students, exchanging jokes.

Tim Jones, whose group was first in the queue and secured their preferred accommodation, said, “I’m knackered. I’m really happy, everything has come together in the last couple of days. We feel quite fortunate.”

Another student, Ollie Sheinwald, who secured his desired property, described himself as being “ecstatic”.

While the rest of the students waited to be let into the agency, a taxi with the logo of another property services agency, Finders Keepers Student Lettings,
parked opposite the shop with adverts of properties stuck on its windows. A staff member of North Oxford estate agency came out and proceeded to stick newspaper cuttings onto the windows to hide the adverts.

 

 

WORLD XI: GOALKEEPER

As a midfielder with the flair and guile associated with Gazza, George Best and Ginola, goalkeeping is not my strong point. I often think that managers and journalists overcomplicate goalkeeping. Talk of Reina acting as a sweeper/playmaker in Liverpool’s system, or a goalkeeper’s presence being a defining characteristic of a team is nonsense. To me a goalkeeper is, and always will be, the last kid picked to play in the playground. 

I turned my back on goalkeeping because a goalkeeper is always judged on his mistakes. Therefore, it is to Gianluigi Buffon that I give the number 1 jersey. Buffon is the nearest thing to perfection because he makes the least mistakes, claims the most crosses and can pull off the most fantastic saves. Reina is great, but too small (see Mcshane’s goal for Hull at Anfield)and his kicking can be terrible. Cech’s injury against Reading seems to have made him more error prone, making bad judgements in big matches (Czech Republic in Euro 2008). Casillas is an excellent keeper, but does not command his box with the authority of Buffon. I have not watched Cesar of Inter Milan for a prolonged period, like the others and therefore cannot judge him fully. However, from what I have seen, he has the potential to live up to Buffon’s excellence. Yet, it is only recently that he has emerged to be Brazil’s numbert one, and it is essential for goalkeepers to keep form for prolonged periods, rather than have confidence each month, like every single English keeper.

Therefore.

Jakes World XI

                                          Buffon (Juventus and Italy)

City fail in bid to ruin football for ever

After a week or so of exhilarating fantasy, us Man City fans were brought back to earth on Monday night with a crash. The MCFC delegation in Milan, led by our rather bizarre Executive Chairman Garry Cook, was to come back empty handed. The protests of hundreds of Milan fans had convinced Kaká not to leave, and the deal was off. Naturally all three parties: MCFC, AC Milan and Kaká himself sought to claim credit for calling it off. (Rather than rehash the details, I direct you to this fascinating and well-sourced piece by The Times‘ Oliver Kay).

But regardless of who exactly said what to whom and when, the winners and losers from this were clear. Silvio Berlusconi played his role to perfection – personally calling up Italian television on Monday night to announce that Kaká was staying. Manchester City looked rather silly and rather vulgar – trying to offer an unrefusable sum of money and then still walking away emptyhanded. Kaká himself was elevated to a status shared only by Paolo Maldini with fans of the Rossoneri. Unless, of course, he goes to Real Madrid in the summer.

But, in the last day or so, I’ve started to wonder whether this is so bad for City after all? On reflection, it was such a bold move, such a leap in the dark, that we cannot be too disconsolate. A team with 25 points in 21 games, and no trophies in 32 years, tried to sign one of the world’s greatest footballers for almost double the all-time transfer record. Yes, we got our fingers burnt. But the sheer audacity of it impresses me.

We learnt that while we have some way to go to convince a World Cup, Champions League and Ballon d’Or winner (Robinho has won none of those) to join us, our mountains of cash and chutzpah at least buys us a seat at the table. Our mistake may have been in aiming in slightly too high this time: not only is Kaká genuinely one for the ages – the very best of the very best – but his personal beliefs make him less like to chase Mammon quite as crudely as other footballers.

We may have to settle for Bellamy and Bridge this January, but I am sure we will back in January aiming for more top stars. Kaká, Messi and Torres may be beyond us for some time. But there are plenty of world class players just one level beneath them, for whom a quarter of a million pounds each week may be too much to turn down, protesting fans or none.

World XI: Left backs

With all five votes in and counted, we have a dramatic tie for the first place ‘Saturday 12:45 World XI’.  Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon received two votes each – Sean and myself going for Iker, Adam and Jake picking Gigi.  Kristian chose Julio Cesar.  This tie will have to be settled in the final reckoning in eighth week.

But now we must move on to the left back. The favourites are probably Phillip Lahm and Patrice Evra. But how about the charming Mr Cheryl Tweedy of “When I heard Jonathan repeat the figure of £55,000, I nearly swerved off the road” fame? Will the more cavalier writers pick Gaël Clichy? Or the fashionable ones Yuri Zhirkov? Only time will tell.

World XI: Adam’s Goalkeeper

Gianluigi Buffon once said of himself, ‘I like to think that I am a buffon, a clown, entrusted with the task of entertaining people’ and whilst his performances hardly approach comedy, they do tend to offer the grace of the trapeze artist and poise of the juggler. All would surely agree that Buffon is one of the top keepers in the world, yet surprisingly only a minority would say he is the best. I sometimes feel that Gigi is a victim of his many successes, ‘Buffon’ a name so synonymous with goalkeeping excellence that it precedes the player, people assuming he lives on past glories.

It can prove tempting to reduce player comparisons into footie-manager style face-offs; who’s got a higher rating for shot-stopping, who has a lower one for erraticism etc. But a keeper is more than his sum: a pacy forward who can finish – but is useless in all other ways – will probably still get the odd brace, yet a goalie requires everything and more. For me, a comparison between the best keepers should transcend debates as to who possesses better reflexes, communication or positioning, since the top few are all likely to excel in such regards. The margin is perhaps a more subtle one as we approach the summit of any position, yet of the greatest keepers currently playing, Gigi is probably the only one who could retire today and still be guaranteed legend-status in fifty or even a hundred years.

This Superman has been flying from post to post for so long that he can easily be taken for granted. Nor has he been helped by the state of Italian football; Juventus and Serie A have suffered over the last few years, existing beneath the shade of match-fixing scandals and hooliganism, all of which has left it easy to underestimate Buffon’s brilliance. Yet despite playing in a climate where the English and Spanish ‘products’ have been given prominence by Sky, Gigi continues to demand attention. The most imposing keeper in the world and a consistent (and loyal) presence for club and country, his success and experience is unparalleled. Despite the Bianconeri’s recent troubles, Buffon has still helped them to accumulate another four scudettos (I include the last despite supporting Inter), displaying an ability to breathe life into the often stale and ageing line-ups he has graced.

And Gigi’s international performances have followed a similar pattern. His pinnacle was of course found in Italy’s World Cup triumph three years ago, where he conceded nothing save an own goal and penalty kick on route to the Lev Yashin award for the tournament. Italy built their success defensively, arguably making Buffon a more important figure for the Azzurri than for instance (the also brilliant) Casillas is for Spain. Buffon even excelled at Euro 2008 despite having ten players in front of him who were collectively the closest thing Italy have offered to clowns. But with Abu Dhabi and their own Circus Mancximus calling, Buffon looks set to once more remain faithful to his old lady and continue in (slightly) underrated brilliance.