Film Review

Yannick Guerry Reviews A Good Woman

"Many a woman has a past, but I am told that she has at least a dozen, and that they all fit." This quotation, from Oscar Wilde's play Lady Windermere's Fan, could have been used as the 'tag line' for its screen adaptation retitled 'A Good Woman', released this May.

The film is set on the sumptuous Amalfi coast of Italy and in 1930s London. It follows a group of wealthy society figures, lotharios, dandies and seductresses as they wile away the summer on the Italian Riviera.

The seemingly perfect young newly-weds Lord and Lady Windermere (played by Mark Umbers and Scarlett Johansson) are the darlings of the community: Lady Windermere, an alluring ingénue, and her husband, a dashing financier.

A storm of gossip and controversy hits the coast when scandalised Mrs Erlynne (played by Helen Hunt) arrives from New York to set up camp in Amalfi. She immediately sets her sights on Lord Windermere and an apparently sordid affair ensues, much to the shock of the tourists - and to the delight of the serial gossip Contessa Lucchino.

Tom Wilkinson, playing the amiable Lord 'Tuppy', puts in a witty performance as Mrs Erlynne's suffering suitor whimsically musing on the trials of love and finding a mate: "I can resist everything except temptation." Scarlett Johansson shines as the coy Lady Windermere yet it is Helen Hunt who steals the show with a seasoned performance as the much-maligned Mrs Erlynne. Her character is the most three-dimensional of the film.

Mark Umbers, by contrast, is rather predictable and his relationship with Johansson fails to spark as it should. Milena Vukotic, playing the chatterbox Contessa provides amusing moments. The supporting cast includes English playboy Lord Darlington (played by Stephen Campbell Moore) and Diana Hardcastle as Lady Plymdale.

The most endearing feature of the film is the beautiful backdrop of the Amalfi coast, shamelessly exhibited by the cinematographer at every opportunity as though the film was a promotional video for the Italian Tourist Board.

A Good Woman is a delight to watch, the performances are sympathetic and the script is faithful enough to Wilde's original. The plot has a twist that rescues it from being entirely predictable. Ultimately Wilde would have been pleased that a hundred years after he lived, his works are still as popular as ever. In his own words: "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

Palace in the Forest

Yannick Guerry

Nestled in the midst of the dark and ancient Forest of Dean lies the small town of Cinderford.

The streets of this former coal-mining community are desolate save for the occasional gang of Burberry-capped urchins lurking outside the local Spar or Bargain Booze, and cliques of pensioners wistfully eying their surroundings. A cold wind blows, even though it is early summer.

A beam of sunlight breaks through the leaden clouds and illuminates a redbrick building, the Palace Cinema.

The Palace is Cinderford's second claim to fame - the first being the birthplace of journalist and broadcaster Jimmy Young.

This small independent cinema recently hit the local headlines when it was featured on the BBC's business makeover programme Mind Your Own Business. Mark Cunningham, the owner, was delighted at the publicity: ''It was wonderful to have our profile raised on national TV. Since the programme was aired, we've have plenty of interest in what we're doing here.''

Why all the fuss?

The Palace, known to have been in existence since 1909 at least, is one of Britain's oldest purpose-built cinemas. It still has some of its early features including its interior decoration, dating back to 1923 when it was rebuilt following a fire four years earlier. It still has its music-hall stage behind the modern screen, alluding to earlier times when the auditorium had a dual function.

Unfortunately, some of the other features have been lost. The original sloping floor and 1923 facade were victims of later refurbishment that took place after 1966 when the Palace closed down and was taken over by first the British Legion, then a nightclub and finally a rave venue, before Mr Cunningham came to the rescue in 1998.

The day-to-day running is the responsibility of Andy Lougher. Among his numerous job titles are 'confectionery vendor', 'painter and decorator', 'projectionist' and finally, 'deputy manager'. ''It's all hands on deck here'' he jovially exclaims. Andy is used to multitasking; his CV includes spells as a lab technician, caving instructor and even a miner. ''I sort of 'fell into' this job'' he says, ''Mark was looking for a general helper and I ended up running the place.''

And what of the future?

Andy takes a pragmatic view: ''These days cinema is big business. We're up against the giant multiplex chains who concentrate their efforts on getting as
many people into as many screens as possible. We don't have the resources to compete, so the strategy that many independents are adopting is to focus on enhancing the individual experience. That means having bar facilities, private bookings and a wider range of films available. The customer pays a little extra but hopefully they get a little more out of their visit.''

They have also introduced 'tea matinees'. Alan and Marie Pedley are Palace regulars: ''We only travel two miles to come here for the matinees and when we arrive we get a cup of tea thrown in. It makes such a difference having a cinema so close in a rural area like this'' says Marie.

The cinema hasn't yet gone the whole hog with diversification despite revealing plans to convert some office space into a DVD lounge which will be available for private hire. ''We're gradually making changes but I'm not sure Cinderford is ready for Champagne Soirées just yet'' laments Andy.

The Forest of Dean is slowly being regenerated as people are moving into the region, realising the natural beauty of the area and the relatively cheap house prices. The cinema is certainly a further selling point for the town, claims Andy: ''Before the Palace was re-opened, people had to travel 25 miles to the multiplex in Gloucester. Now they can catch the latest films at their doorstep.''

Star Wars Episode Three is currently their highest grossing film of the year. ''We had 62 in here yesterday and the film has already been showing for one week'' says Andy. Spectacular stuff indeed.

The Palace has been with us since the early days of British cinema and shows no signs of throwing in the towel just yet. The show goes on.

Silent Conflicts

Yannick Guerry throws light on Africa’s secret wars

The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 precipitated major shifts in the geo-political landscape of Africa. Regimes, formerly used as pawns in the ‘great game’ of the Cold War, collapsed. Dictators were toppled or propelled into power, civil wars began and countries, previously supported by one of the two superpowers, have had to fend for themselves. Many of these conflict zones receive little or no media coverage save the occasional dispatch from an intrepid reporter or local journalist trying to make a name for himself.

One hotspot that rarely features in the news is Somalia. Formerly divided between Italy, France and Britain until independence and unification in 1960, the nation, in the Horn of Africa, has suffered from civil war and lawlessness for fourteen years following the withdrawal of Soviet funding and political support in 1991. President Siad Barre, was subsequently deposed in a coup.

Somalia has been without a central government ever since. An attempt to stave off famine and bring order to the country ended in disaster when several American UN peacekeepers were massacred in the capital, Mogadishu. Operation United Shield was over. From 1995 Somalia became a battle ground between rival warlords and regional powers.

In 1991, a region of northern Somalia called Somaliland, a former British colony, split off from the rest of the country to gain ‘de facto’ independence. Although Somaliland has remained relatively stable with an elected government, its claim to independence has not been recognised by the international community.

Somaliland’s troubles are exacerbated by a territorial dispute with a neighbouring region called Puntland, which is also fighting for autonomy. The two states have been locked in a bitter struggle over the regions of Sanaag and Sool. The Puntland army, under command of the Colonel and President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, has been involved in a number of clashes over the disputed regions. Acquiring prosperous Sool and Sanaag is vital for the future for the Republic of Somaliland to become a viable independent state.

Puntland, unlike its neighbour, is not seeking complete independence but merely autonomy as part of a federated Somali nation. Named after the legendary Kingdom of Punt (which some historians believe is the land of the Queen of Sheba), Puntland was also hit by December’s tsunami but is yet to receive any foreign aid or help with reconstruction. Last year the UN estimated that 750,000 people in Somalia and Somaliland were living in “a state of chronic humanitarian need”.

The conflict may be concentrated in one small part of the world, but the ramifications are potentially far-reaching.

It has already been reported that Islamic extremists are operating in Somalia. Terror operations against Kenya have been mounted from across the Somali border to the north, and with a complete lack of state infrastructure and central government, bringing terrorists to justice is a near-impossible task. In the past, wars have been fought between Somalia and Ethiopia and there remains much emnity between the two countries with the added dimension of religion - Ethiopia is a predominantly Christian country while Somalis are Muslim – which risks sparking new skirmishes.

Somalia is not the only under-reported conflict. The world is ablaze with armed insurgencies, inter-ethnic bloodshed and gaping political sores. In Africa alone, war, or the threat of war, looms for the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, the Comoros Islands and the territory of Western Sahara. Zanzibar had been a powerful trading state before political union with mainland Tanzania. Despite its successful tourism industry, most of the island’s inhabitants still live on less than $1 a day, and there is a powerful political and military movement actively seeking greater Zanzibari autonomy and independence. The parties are currently in a tense political standoff.

Lying off Africa’s East coast, the Comoros islands should be an earthly paradise, but instead it has a history of political and ethnic violence which has led the state to near collapse following 20 coup attempts since independence from France in 1975. The islands survive almost entirely on foreign aid due to the lack of natural resources available. In 1997 two islands declared independence from the Comoros and a bloody struggle to bring them back ensued. The situation remains unresolved.

Western Sahara is a region of North-west Africa occupying 266,000 square kms with a population of roughly the same number. Until 1975, the area had been Spanish colonial territory which included Morocco. When Spain withdrew, the area was divided between Morocco and Mauritania to the South (Mauritania later withdraw its claim in 1979).

The indigenous population of Western Sahara, the Saharawi, had their demands for greater autonomy and independence ignored. In 1973, a political organisation called Polisario, representing the ‘people of the Sahara’, declared the existence of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic in the territory. Independence was refused and the group began a guerrilla campaign against Morocco that lasted until the early 1990s when a cease-fire was agreed. In the new millennium, the UN tried to broker a permanent deal that would secure sovereignty for the dessert state, but talks stalled last year amid Moroccan reticence over ‘guarantees of security’. The Western Saharan government remains in exile in Algeria along with 100,000 refugees.

It would seem that warfare is ingrained into African culture. Whilst Western Europe has experienced an unprecedented period of peace and stability since 1945, there has not been a single year without conflict in Africa during this time. The real reason lies close to home. The result of Europe’s scramble for land during the previous two centuries - and subsequent retraction from it - led to artificial divisions in the form of new countries and borders (a problem made worse by the Soviet and US courting of these fragile nations for political ends). With the constant rumblings of conflict in Africa there will be work for war correspondents for a long time to come.

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