Seen at the wonderful Roxy Cinema in Nowra, New South Wales
Bea says: I was keen to see this as I have a professional interest in people living with long term conditions, and enjoyed the Brief History of Time television series in the ?late 90s/early 2000s. Stephen Hawking's long survival with MND, and his work, are often both discussed in the media, but his early life is not so much.
This was a great story of a marriage - in many ways the challenges that Stephen's condition presented were just part and parcel of the challenges that come with marriage, and particularly marriage in the late 60s/early 70s for women. The film is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Jane Wilde, Stephen Hawking's first wife, and covers their courtship, early married life and the birth of their children, all while Stephen's physical condition declines, his fame increases and the pressures on Jane increase leaving her little, if no, space for being her own self as well. Unsurprisingly, the marriage cracks under the strain, and the break up scenes are very well done, as are the amicable later years meetings. The early involvement of the people that both Stephen and Jane move on with is very interestingly and well done too.
Stephen's poor prognosis and worsening condition is well drawn - particularly the scene where he has come round after having a tracheotomy and the realisation that he will never speak again dawns on him. From this scene, and a few others, the film also documents the advancements in technology that have helped him so much.
A good portrayal of relationships beginning, during and ending, with the added complications of a long term condition, and genius thrown in, all with a middle-class Cambridge backdrop. Essential viewing and excellent performances from the cast.
***
Cecil says: I was very moved by this film, more than I had expected actually. I guess this maybe because really until this film, I knew little about Hawking, except that he was that clever bloke in a wheelchair with the electronic voice. I'd read none of his books, seen no TV series about him, so really knew nothing about the guy.
But this is a wonderful portrayal of his life, or as Bea says, his marriage and relationships above all.
It's hard to add much to what Bea said on this one. But I guess my own perception of degenerative diseases has been shaped by living for a while with someone who had MS, and reading the extraordinary autobiography by Jill Tweedie, who also had MND, but did not survive as long as Hawking. And I think there's something overwhelmingly powerful about how people deal with the slow progression of such illnesses (though quite how Hawking has managed just to go on and on is in itself an example to us all).
Bit of a cliché really, but it's the kind of film that makes me appreciate what I have in life.
Beautifully acted also by Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones (was trying to remember where else I've seen her, but looking back through her filmography, can only see 'Like Crazy', a 2011 movie that I don't think I rated as highly as this one).
****
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Pride
Seen at the Gerringong Pics & Flicks, Town Hall Gerringong, New South Wales
Cecil says: I'm not normally that keen on films that remind me of the 1980s, which was perhaps my least favourite decade politically. And in a sense what happened during the miners' strike hardened me in my hatred of all things Thatcherite, but also made me weary of the antics of the far left. Now a mellow, vaguely moderate leftie, I'm not keen on reminders of that divisive period of our recent history.
But Pride is fun. It's the story of a London-based lesbian and gay group numbering half a dozen or so who wanted to do their bit for the miners, but were struggling to find any miners wanting their help.
It's an interesting portrayal of the gap between traditional working class communities and the more middle class movements that grew up around single issues, and how certain individuals in those groups enabled the gap to be bridged, if very very slowly.
Sitting there in 21st century Australia (especially so close to Australia's gay capital, Sydney) it's hard to remember a time when attitudes were so entrenched that a gay person walked into a bar and half the drinkers walked out. But I guess that's how it must have been in the mid 1980s, even though it isn't THAT long ago.
Since I worked in an office that was only a few yards from Gay's the Word bookshop a few years after the miners' strike, the story felt very resonant for me, as did all the bitchy back-biting as different sections of the group broke off because the action wasn't happening the way they wanted it to.
Great performances yet again from Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton, though the whole cast seemed well suited for their roles and pulled it all off well. This was an enjoyable evening and the film well worth seeing.
I had mixed feelings, though, about the round of applause at the end from the Gerringong audience. Is it a positive sign that Thatcher's legacy is clearly one of how awful she was (even though she doesn't appear more than once in the film); or is it just easy in 2015 to clap the well-meaning losers, and just how much connection do the people of Gerringong have with miners from Wales, Yorkshire or any other community that suffered so badly during and after the strike?
Nice film, though. I'd recommend it, whether or not you have memories from the period.
****
Bea says:
I was a bit younger than Cecil during the miners' strike - at school - and Thatcher and the grey, grim streets of the UK's industrial villages, towns and cities were something I saw only on the evening news. But I was, like many people my age, surrounded by the UK music scene of that time, and everything from there seemed so, so much cooler than suburban Adelaide...
I loved the nostalgia of this film, and the bittersweet part of the story that is about young people finding out who they are and pursuing that. But it also made me feel - not in a bad way - quite old, that this time was so different to now, that young people's lives are so different now, and when the young woman in the Welsh mining town stood up to sing a traditional song, I thought "that was the last of that, that time has now passed forever" and felt so old, a different generation entirely to the young people of today.
I hope it is easier for young people today to be gay, or just "different", than it was for "Bromley" and his acquired friends. I hope there are still causes that make people want to group together, take risks and try to make the world a better place.
I felt uplifted by this film, but sweetly sad too. Bill Nighy is fantastic in everything, and this is no exception.
***
Cecil says: I'm not normally that keen on films that remind me of the 1980s, which was perhaps my least favourite decade politically. And in a sense what happened during the miners' strike hardened me in my hatred of all things Thatcherite, but also made me weary of the antics of the far left. Now a mellow, vaguely moderate leftie, I'm not keen on reminders of that divisive period of our recent history.
But Pride is fun. It's the story of a London-based lesbian and gay group numbering half a dozen or so who wanted to do their bit for the miners, but were struggling to find any miners wanting their help.
It's an interesting portrayal of the gap between traditional working class communities and the more middle class movements that grew up around single issues, and how certain individuals in those groups enabled the gap to be bridged, if very very slowly.
Sitting there in 21st century Australia (especially so close to Australia's gay capital, Sydney) it's hard to remember a time when attitudes were so entrenched that a gay person walked into a bar and half the drinkers walked out. But I guess that's how it must have been in the mid 1980s, even though it isn't THAT long ago.
Since I worked in an office that was only a few yards from Gay's the Word bookshop a few years after the miners' strike, the story felt very resonant for me, as did all the bitchy back-biting as different sections of the group broke off because the action wasn't happening the way they wanted it to.
Great performances yet again from Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton, though the whole cast seemed well suited for their roles and pulled it all off well. This was an enjoyable evening and the film well worth seeing.
I had mixed feelings, though, about the round of applause at the end from the Gerringong audience. Is it a positive sign that Thatcher's legacy is clearly one of how awful she was (even though she doesn't appear more than once in the film); or is it just easy in 2015 to clap the well-meaning losers, and just how much connection do the people of Gerringong have with miners from Wales, Yorkshire or any other community that suffered so badly during and after the strike?
Nice film, though. I'd recommend it, whether or not you have memories from the period.
****
Bea says:
I was a bit younger than Cecil during the miners' strike - at school - and Thatcher and the grey, grim streets of the UK's industrial villages, towns and cities were something I saw only on the evening news. But I was, like many people my age, surrounded by the UK music scene of that time, and everything from there seemed so, so much cooler than suburban Adelaide...
I loved the nostalgia of this film, and the bittersweet part of the story that is about young people finding out who they are and pursuing that. But it also made me feel - not in a bad way - quite old, that this time was so different to now, that young people's lives are so different now, and when the young woman in the Welsh mining town stood up to sing a traditional song, I thought "that was the last of that, that time has now passed forever" and felt so old, a different generation entirely to the young people of today.
I hope it is easier for young people today to be gay, or just "different", than it was for "Bromley" and his acquired friends. I hope there are still causes that make people want to group together, take risks and try to make the world a better place.
I felt uplifted by this film, but sweetly sad too. Bill Nighy is fantastic in everything, and this is no exception.
***
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