'71

Have you ever been passionate about a subject that doesn’t have anything to do with your life? 
I confess I was, many times. 
Most probably, though, the worst case of all is my huge interest for the Irish Troubles.
Don’t ask me why, but since a very young age I started reading anything about the long and tiresome internal war between catholic and protestant in Northern Ireland. I believe I read every novel and seen every movie on this subject. I also have my own ideas about the best novel written about it (Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson) and the best movie made about it (Hunger by Steve McQueen). 

A couple of weeks ago, I found out there was a new movie about the Troubles and, of course, I immediately went to see it. I didn’t expect much and so, as it is often the case when expectations are low (isn’t the same in real life?), I liked it very, very much. 
I am talking about the movie ’71 by Yann Demange. 

The movie is about a 24 years old British soldier, Gary Hook, who is sent to Belfast in 1971, together with a bunch of very young comrades, to keep under control the explosive situation between catholic and protestant. Clearly enough, nobody knows, even his superiors, how to deal with this strange war. During his first mission in the earth of the catholic enclave, something goes wrong and Gary and another guy are left in the hands of the “enemies”. The other guy is shot to death, but Gary manages to escape. Alone, scared, injured, the guy can count only on himself and on his lucky star to get out of that awful and nightmarish situation. Will he be able to survive?

Compared to many movies about the Troubles, this is a very original one. First of all, this is not about a catholic guy but about a British soldier (very rare!) and, secondly, it is a real thriller (unique!). Forget about all the movies trying to explain why this war started, or movies about the real story of some catholic “martyr”. This is a pursuit movie, where the guy is chased from the beginning until the end and you, as spectator, jump on your seat every two seconds because you’re too scared or too agitated to watch another scene.
Catholic and protestant are put on the same level, here. The movie is quite smart in elucidating complex situations with simple shortcuts: yes, it is a bad war, yes, there are bastards on both sides, yes, instead of solving it, there were people willing to make it worse, and yes, too many families have been uselessly devastated. I have to say that this approach was very refreshing and at the same time even more powerful in dragging you in this unbelievable hell. 

Yann Demange, the film-maker behind this little gem, is – weirdly enough - a French chap, but he has a very British upbringing (he directed, among other things, the first season of the TV series Criminal Justice with Ben Whishaw). His mise-en-scène is beautiful, and the rhythm of the movie impeccable. The credit for such a great result surely goes also to the actor who plays Gary: British Jack O’Connell, already appreciated in Starred Up by David MacKenzie and now about to enter stardom as the main character of new Angelina Jolie’s movie, Unbroken. O'Connell carries the entire movie on his shoulders in a very convincing way. His desperate face mixed with his stubborn willing to survive win the audience’s attention and create an immediate and total identification. You suffer for him and with him from the beginning till the end, and you want him to be saved, at every cost!
In the distance, Belfast and his fires shine of a new light.
All of a sudden, I have a new film in my top five of best movies about the Irish Troubles!

J'accuse!

When I moved to Paris almost 7 years ago, I found out an amazing thing about cinemas in this town: the existence of cheap fidelity cards to see movies.
These cards allow you to go to the movies anytime you want, any moment of the week, for only 20 Euros/month. It is heaven on earth, basically.
The tricky thing was that there were two different kinds of cards: one for the cinemas of Gaumont/Pathé/MK2 circuit (plus some independent movie theatres) called Le Pass, and the other one for the cinemas of UGC circuit (plus some independent movie theatres) called UGC Illimité. 

The choice was super easily made, for me: I HATE UGC cinemas, and so I didn’t even have to think about it. The reason why I hate them, is that I think their theatres are ugly and the movies they show not very good. Few years ago, for unknown reasons (at least unknown to me), MK2 decided to quit the Gaumont/Pathé circuit to join the UGC one. It was a very sad moment. I’m a huge fan of MK2 cinemas and their movies, and so the idea that they had passed to the enemy was unbearable. I didn’t change my mind, though, and I kept my pass. The reality is, everybody is choosing the card based on where the cinemas are (meaning near the place where they work or live). In my case, I was lucky: the cinemas I prefer are placed in suitable locations and accept Le Pass.
It is really, really rare that I go to see a movie in a UGC cinema.
Yesterday night, unfortunately, I did. 
You can entirely put the blame on a man, his name is Ewan McGregor. I couldn’t see his latest movie, Perfect Sense by David Mackenzie, when it was out in cinemas a couple of weeks ago and I was about to losing it: my only chance was to go to a UGC cinema, the only one programming it at a decent time (that means not at 11 am on a Tuesday morning). My friend Manù, who has a UGC pass, accepted to come with me and so off we went, looking for the mysterious UGC Orient Express!

When you think about this name, of course you imagine something very exotic, or at least very nice. Well, FORGET ABOUT IT! The marvellous UGC Orient Express is located in the worst place of Paris: the Level -4 (!) of the AWFUL complex called Les Halles. When we arrived, we were shocked by the look of it. More than a cinema it looked like the entrance of some repellent public toilets. Everything was black and bleak. The ceiling was so low that you were afraid it was about to crush down and the space was so tight that people making the queue for tickets and people making the queue to enter into the theatre were obliged to share the same space, creating an unpleasant confusion and the sensation of being guinea pigs in a cave waiting for some weird experiments.
And I want to say something to UGC people to start: when a friend of mine wants to see a film with me, my card reserves a big discount to him/her and so he/she pays just 4 or 6 Euros (instead of 10)… but nothing like this is foreseen by the UGC card. Thanks very much, guys!
So, I spent 10 Euros to be welcomed into the most horrible space ever created by a human being and I had the stupid idea of going to the toilets as first thing. Alejandro Gonzàlez Iñárritu must have shot there some scenes of Biutiful, I swear. I can’t even describe the state of the corridor and the smell of it. When I arrived at the door of the female toilet, a woman told me she was cleaning (???!!!!) them and so I should use men ones. I was furious. I opened the door and a man was pissing in front of me. And no, he didn’t look like Ewan McGregor. Far, very far from it. When I managed to get out, I entered into another cheerful black corridor and I finally reached Salle n° 1 (what can possibly be the n° 7???). Black as well, of course. Everything was so damned cheap in that place. Manù and I hesitated: should we laugh or cry? Luckily enough, the film started, Ewan McGregor appeared on screen with his lovely beard, his sweet glaswegian accent and his chef uniform. And life was – oh - so wonderful again!

Actually, the movie wasn’t bad at all. The plot was very intriguing: a mysterious epidemic is spreading around the world and people loose step by step all the senses. It is also the moment the two main characters are falling in love with each other, so, well… it’s complicated. And also quite dark, gloomy and distressing.
When the movie was over, we thought the general atmosphere of the place was absolutely perfect to maintain intact the oppressive sensation generated by the picture.
And yes, we would have loved to loose at least one of our senses: the one of smell.
Ewan, you definitely owe me one!!!