We went to see La Question Humaine (Heartbeat Detector) yesterday evening. It was quite striking in some ways, I thought, though also hard to follow in parts. There was no hint of redemption in it - everyone was trapped in a corporate nightmare, an emotionally arid world, and it ends with the main character having a breakdown. No sign of hope there. Although I agree with the premise that putting profits above human wellbeing is a very bad idea, and I thought the story was well-presented, I'm more interested in looking for ways out of the mess we're in.

The cinema in Cluny is having a week of Middle Eastern movies, and it started off with this one, made by a Turkish-German director called Fatih Amin who is in his mid-thirties. A strong start.

The two sides that are referred to in the film's title could be the German and Turkish cultures, but they could just as well be the older and younger generations of people in families, regardless of culture or background. Or they could be life and death, for that matter. ( Read more... )

Very inspiring evening last night. Vandana Shiva made a detour here from a visit to Stockholm, together with the two filmmakers who recently made a Swedish documentary about her called "Bullshit", named after an award she was given by a group called the Liberty Institute, who claim that she is a "mouthpiece of western eco-imperialism" - interesting charge considering she's Indian!

( Read more... )