bamptonj

GANDHI certainly did very well. It seems to have won almost every conceivable award. Ben Kingsley does a remarkable job of inhabiting such an inspiring historical character. You'll find you could return to the film on his performance alone.

The scenes in South Africa are particularly enthralling. GANDHI has a movie of different styles: documentary, luscious travelogue, and old style drama. The parts with the western media seem oddly reminiscent to the equivalent scenes in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.

And yet, this isn't a perfect film. It feels incomplete somehow. Perhaps the divisiveness of the caste-system in bringing about unity could have been presented a bit more forcefully and the expense of the sectarian Hindu/Muslim divide.

Yet perhaps the biggest criticism must concern itself with the simple dramatic setbacks of the film. As Quentin Crisp - "though, very cleverly, the narrative begins with his assassination, we are not continuously drawn forward at an ever-increasing pace throughout the rest of the picture towards this climax. We do not know why he was killed, we were never made aware of what specific danger he was in nor from what quarter disaster would spring."

Not a particularly imaginative sequel, but perhaps lightning could never strike twice. It was nice to hear the same musical cues. Tommy Tricker isn't as engaging as portrayed in the first film. Polly Mereweather's vocals sound manifestly dubbed, and her Kiwi(?) accent doesn't jell right with her Australian(?) accented brother. Nit picking of course - but the acting is quite wooden. Where's the charm of the original? I suppose the real purpose of this film was to update the original for a new generation of kids rather than a sequel per se, but perhaps six isn't a significant gap (most prescient now in the IT age - Typical Kid: "Stamps?"). At a shorter running time than TOMMY TRICKER, they should perhaps have created a few more sub-plots and some real presence of tension/or race against the clock scenario.

This periodic reality series - screening on Network Seven - chronicles the work of Australia's Customs and Quarantine personnel in intercepting suspicious persons or goods entering through Australia's airports.

Filmed largely at Sydney Airport, each show presents a motley crew of suspicious or randomly-selected persons being subjected to an elaborative and thorough screening process. Some are puzzled, others violently indignant: some are well presented, others conspicuously disheveled and inarticulate. We see all kinds of cases: those who have innocently omitted to make certain declarations, those making attempts at mass drug imports, or visitors on 'Tourist Visas' in reality seeking to enter the country for the purposes of work.

Whether BORDER SECURITY contributes to the Australian public's fear of foreigners, or panders to stereotyped views of the typical immigrant, the viewer will have to decide for themselves. The show itself is both entertaining and informative, and portrays those devoted to protecting our borders as being very thorough, and diligently aware of the nefarious tricks incoming passengers play. (The show certainly makes you wonder how much went undetected in the days before narcotic residue machines though!)