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Post by ronturner on Jan 12, 2014 9:31:25 GMT 1
Being avid movie fans, we go to the cinema quite a lot, sometimes taking pot luck on what we get.
Last night it was "The long walk to Liberty".. the movie about Mandela.
My pre conception was that it would be a soppy, hero worship diatribe about a revered terrorist who became President.
In fact I found it to be a well written, well directed and wonderfully acted film which at times was very moving.
One of the best bits was the shot of an immaculate DC-3 landing at Robyn Island with Madela and his co conspirators.
It reaffirmed my view that a DC-3 will be one of the first things I buy when I win the lottery jackpot.
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Post by Biggles on Jan 13, 2014 21:47:10 GMT 1
I have heard it is a good film and as you say moving.
One question, a film like this and others made by a supporter of Mandela, does it have the ability to alter the perception of history for the youth who take history lessons from films and You Tube ?
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Post by viscount on Jan 14, 2014 0:00:14 GMT 1
In reply to Biggles's thoughts on the perceptions of history gained by the younger generation from feature films. My (very likely, our) generation gained their knowledge of WWII from 'Where Eagles Dare', 'Dambusters', '633 Squadron', 'Battle of Britain' and the numerous John Wayne wins the war single handed with the US Marines in the Pacific features! A generation later got their perceptions of WWII from 'Battle of the Bulge', 'Mosquito Squadron', 'Desperate Dozen', 'Tora, Tora, Tora', while even more recent generation from the dreadful football game PoW film, 'Saving Private Ryan' and the CGI exadurated 'Pearl Harbour'. In some cases hardly accurate representations of the events portrayed. Difficult to get away from the truism "history is written by the victor", or should that be "history is re-written by Hollywood"?
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Post by Biggles on Jan 14, 2014 2:14:40 GMT 1
I have to disagree viscount with that, I for one and I suspect most sensibly educated people who are not in the flush of youth did not gain History information from any of the films mentioned, as I hope the youth of today do not take as fact the depiction of so called fact from films like those mentioned. Having said that school teachers now are of the age to believe the Hollywood hype and many of them have no real grip on historical fact let alone pass it on to those most of who are not interested.
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Post by ronturner on Jan 14, 2014 9:48:13 GMT 1
I was a poor history student at school, not helped by having a crap history teacher. I became interested later in life, actually partly inspired by my friends John and Janet (Not the ones with Pat the dog) when as a foursome we went off visiting places and they seemed to know so much about the reasons for places, castles, people, often explained in an interesting and humorous way. That's why they were good school teachers I suppose. It then became natural to pick up a book on a subject and enjoy it When my work took me all over the world I was presented with an ideal opportunity to see places first hand, and find out more but without doubt a lot of my knowledge comes from film and TV.
This process works in revers too! By that I mean TV and films inspire me to seek out and read more about those events. In this respect the internet is a blessing but books have become my favourite. Its taken me a long time to get here.
I cannot claim therefore that my knowledge is purist or complete but because I am interested in politics, events get retained in my memory.
As for the Mandela film it follows a true path according to what I remember being reported at the time(And you know what we have said on this forum about the accuracy of reporting....) I remember Sharpville and I remember the reports of Winnie Mandela being involved in murder. All of these events are covered in the film. I knew little of the details of bombing campaign in which Mandela was involved, other than it took place, so I presume that the film accurately portrays it.
As a footnote, I was reading a book about flying in Africa when I came across another book called "West with the Night". An autobiography of Beryl Markham a girl who grew up in Kenya to become a horse trainer and first woman pilot in those parts. From this book I have learned much about events in the 20s and 30s in that part of the world and enjoyed the tales of flying in and out of rough strips in her Avro Avian. I good read if you are not already aware of it.
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Post by johnoakes on Jan 15, 2014 9:15:44 GMT 1
Time to come over for a top up.LOL
You are becoming quite a literary expert with your quotations from TS Eliot--not with a bang etc.
Fly over this summer or we will descend upon you lapin et al.LOL
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