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Showing posts with label betrayal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label betrayal. Show all posts

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

POETS UNITED - VOICE

“You have no choice. You must leave your ego on the doorstep before you enter love.” ― Kamand Kojouri

For this week’s Midweek Motif, Poets United is exploring the theme of “Voice”. Here is my offering: 

The Silent Telephone

Waiting for a promised call
By the silent telephone
While the sky rotates up above
And the stars laugh mockingly.

Waiting for the silent ‘phone to ring
Watching the clock mark time so slowly,
While the moon hides behind a cloud
And her face thankfully is obscured.

Waiting for your honeyed voice
Once more to drug me,
While my flesh pains me
Its unfeeling inertness a wound incurable.

Waiting for morning light
Waiting for the night to end
Your promised call a slender, sickly hope
Losing more of its tenuous life each passing second.

My life away from you, no life,
An empty waiting game, a vacuum;
Your call, your promised call,
How far away it seems
As endlessly I wait
By the silent telephone,
And as your voice’s drug is lacking
I face the terrors of withdrawal...
Posted by Intelliblog at 01:20 8 comments
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Thursday, 1 February 2018

POETS UNITED - MOON

“The moon is friend for the lonesome to talk to.” ― Carl Sandburg 

The poetic inspiration seems to hover like a will-o’-the-wisp, bright and distant, uncatchable if pursued. And yet if one stays put and tries not to catch it at all, it will approach and alight on one’s heart and the words will gush forth. In the past few weeks I’ve been busy with work, family, have had to overcome a swathe of problems. Writing was confined to things of science and things that were matter of fact.

Creativity it seems, thrives on misfortune, but it also thrives on the availability of time and inclination to follow a certain creative path. My creative path took me away to music, so the poet’s voice remained silent. Music sustained me, but poetry beckoned like that ignis fatuus, and I wisely chose to ignore it.  Last night the moon was blue and it was a great moon, which was eclipsed. A once in a century or two phenomenon. The poetic inspiration coincided with this week’s Poets’ United theme, which was: “Make a new poem  for the moon, using a perspective new to you.” Here is my poem: 

The Moon’s Answer 

I ask the silvery moon, as she shines white
High in the sky, making my garden bright: 
“Moon, why should I speak with you
And not with my Love? Pray, tell me, do…” 

She smiles and stays far, so wan and silent,
Her light now steely blue, and cutting – violent; 
“Oh, Moon, you see all, up on your argent throne
But you choose to stay hushed, wise, like a crone.” 

A cloud passes before her lovely face
To hide a tear perhaps, or frown efface? 
“Moon, you too are sad and make good company,
Come with me, and my lonely song accompany.” 

She winks, and off the cloud she shrugs, she smiles,
(Her ways are strange and her manner full of wiles)… 
“Speak, Moon, please answer me my earnest query:
Is my Love true to me, or is she with betrayal leery?” 

A shadow passes and moon’s countenance bloodies,
Her voice rings out and she, in now darkened night,
Replies: “Your Love’s untruth the waters muddies, 
She lies and mocks, and sows doubt and blight.”

“Oh, cruel Moon, why speak such spite incarnadine?
Your golden, uncertain silence, I preferred, ‘twas more benign…” 

The Moon eclipsed speaks hurtful truths, no dulcet lies;
But when she brightly shines, fills she with hope the velvet skies.
Posted by Intelliblog at 00:58 4 comments
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Wednesday, 20 September 2017

MIDWEEK MOVIES - GRANNY'S FUNERAL

“Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age.” - Booth Tarkington 

Granny’s Funeral (2012; “Adieu Berthe – L’enterrement de mémé”) Comedy/Drama, 100 minutes – Written and directed by Bruno Podalydès; starring Denis Podalydès, Valérie Lemercier, Isabelle Candelier. – 6.0/10

Last weekend we watched a low key, tragicomic, French film, which although agreeable didn’t really shine. It was time pleasantly spent and the film did broach some serious topics, but overall, the comic pace was jolting, the bumbling anti-hero was somewhat tiresome and the two women of his life a trifle annoying. The plot is as follows: Armand Lebrecq (Denis Podalydès) once dreamed of becoming a magician but he has become a pharmacist. He still loves his wife, Hélène (Isabelle Candelier) , but wouldn’t mind leaving her to live with Alix (Valérie Lemercier), a strong-minded woman. But should he?

One day, Armand learns that Berthe, his granny who lives in a nursing home, has just died. A little guilty of having neglected her lately, Armand finds himself busy with organising her funeral as well as having to deal with his complicated personal life. He does everything clumsily, as usual...

The basic flaw of the film is that the plot outline sounds more promising than the actual resulting film. The characters do not involve the viewer in their lives and predicaments successfully and the story with “granny’s youthful secret” is not as climactic as the writers believe it to be. Armand fails to growth and learn from his experiences and at the end of the film he is as bumbling and ineffectual (if not more so!) than at the beginning of the film.

Nevertheless the film is pleasant enough for a weekend afternoon, watching with a glass of iced tea (or perhaps something stronger, which may make the movie even more agreeable for you). Watch it if you chance upon it and you have an hour-and-a-half or so to kill, but don't go out of your way to search for it too assiduously…
Posted by Intelliblog at 15:11 0 comments
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Wednesday, 1 February 2017

POETS UNITED - FAITH


“Faith makes all things possible. Love makes all things easy.” - Dwight L. Moody

The Midweek Motif at Poets United this week is “Faith”. Here is my contribution:

Faith

My soul a hollow shell;
My heart an empty echoing place
In whose vacant chambers
Cold loneliness shuffles its steps.

My life a barren void;
My sweet dreams annulled
All hopes sublimated
In the wake of your bitter renunciation.

My spirit vacuous;
My routine existence lost
In a desert of frozen wastelands
As I attempt to cope with betrayal.

Shall I attempt trust again?
Shall I believe in seemingly ingenuous smiles?
Shall I ever be able to risk all again?
Shall I walk the tightrope of love once more?

How much more simple to wander the desert,
Trust only the promise of a certain, rapid death
As my parched heart and soul quickly dehydrate
And my lifeblood thickens, clots, solidifies.
Love is the half-remembered nightmare
That hastens me on my spiralling downward plunge
Into the pointless peregrinations
Within a vast desert in which there is no hidden oasis.
Once faith is lost, it is not easily found again.
Posted by Intelliblog at 01:05 13 comments
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Monday, 14 March 2016

MOVIE MONDAY - MALEFICENT

“Until lions write their own history, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” – African Proverb

 We watched the 2014 Robert Stromberg movie “Maleficent” at the weekend. It starred Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley and Imelda Staunton. This movie was based on the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty, especially so the 1959 Disney animated version. However, the movie is different from many other such Disney movies: It not animated (although there are quite spectacular special effects and computer generated imaging); it is not a musical (thankfully!) and it takes a slightly different tack to the conventional fairy tale in that there is a bit of grey in the tale, rather than the stark black and white of most fairy tales.

 The Maleficent of the title is of course the “evil” witch of the classic Sleeping Beauty tale and Angelina Jolie makes this her movie while playing this role. However, is Maleficent really evil? Or rather, if she is, what turned her evil? We get to see the whole story and the classic tale has a new feminist twist.

 The movie starts with Maleficent as a beautiful, pure-hearted young woman having an idyllic life growing up in a peaceful forest kingdom. One day an invading army threatens the harmony of her land. Maleficent rises to be the land’s fiercest protector, but she suffers a ruthless betrayal and her heart turns to stone. What transpires is a tale of vengeance. The way that Maleficent interacts with the young princess Aurora makes this movie one of redemption.

 The movie is difficult to classify. It isn’t really for the younger children as it is quite dark and has some disturbing images and complex themes. Yet, it really is not one that will satisfy many of the “grown-ups”. Perhaps it is a film for the adults with a young heart. The CGIs are quite spectacular and Jolie pulls all stops out to play her role with a great deal of gusto. There is quite a lot of good chemistry between Maleficent and her familiar man/crow “Diaval” (played by Sam Riley). Elle Fanning as Aurora is satisfactory, but she still has to earn some acting stars to play against the top brass of the acting world.

 Overall, we enjoyed the movie and recommend it to the young at heart who enjoy a bit of stuff and nonsense and fantasy. There is a bit of a sub-text of feminism and the reclaiming of the old fairy tale for the new-age 21st century woman, but it is kept under control and doesn’t interfere with the story too much.
Posted by Intelliblog at 19:49 0 comments
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Wednesday, 2 March 2016

POETS UNITED - A FLOWER...

“Life is the flower for which love is the honey.” - Victor Hugo

 This week, PoetsUnited gives the following directive:
Begin YOUR poem with: “A flower was offered to me,”
And I obliged:
The Flower

A flower was offered to me,
And I, used to thorns and sticks and stones and venom,
Accepted it.

A flower was offered to me,
But it was a thorny rose, which cut me deep
And I bled.

A flower was offered to me,
But it was covered in birdlime, and I stuck fast,
My wings useless.

A flower was offered to me,
But it was made of stone and in its rocky embrace
I was crushed.

A flower was offered to me,
And I breathed in deep its poisonous aroma
And was forever lost.

I offered back a wreath of flowers,
Sweet primroses, cowslips, fragrant pinks and daisies,
Innocent blossoms and herbs whose touch healed
And whose sight cheered and gladdened heart.

And my offering was taken, the flowers torn,
The fragrant herbs scattered in mud,
My gift defiled, polluted and my true love derided.

A flower was offered to me,
And I, used to thorns and sticks and stones and venom,
Accepted it,
Not knowing that in expert hands accustomed to killing,
The lethal weapon can even be but a single flower …
Posted by Intelliblog at 03:18 14 comments
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Wednesday, 6 May 2015

WORD THURSDAY - BETRAYAL

“If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.” - E.M. Forster

 Betrayal: A word for Thursday that we all have encountered and which, for some of us at least, has marked our life, changed it in some dramatic way.

 betray |biˈtrā| verb [ trans. ]
be disloyal to: His friends were shocked when he betrayed them.
• be disloyal to (one’s country, organisation, or ideology) by acting in the interests of an enemy: He could betray his country for love of money.
• treacherously inform an enemy of the existence or location of (a person or organisation): This group was betrayed by an informer.
• treacherously reveal (secrets or information): Many of those employed by diplomats betrayed secrets and sold classified documents.
• figurative - reveal the presence of; be evidence of: She drew a deep breath that betrayed her indignation.

 DERIVATIVES
betrayal |-əl| noun
betrayer |bəˌtreɪər| noun
ORIGIN Middle English : from be- [thoroughly] + obsolete tray [betray,] from Old French trair, based on Latin tradere ‘hand over.’ Compare with traitor.

 “All love the act of treason, but none the traitor love.” Plutarch remarks, and this is mostly true as people would think nothing of learning what a traitor divulges, but they condemn and despise the person that does this. To have one’s confidences betrayed, to be the victim of a betrayer of one’s secrets, the recipient of a friend’s disloyalty is one of the most miserable and distressing feelings one can feel. The closer the person is who has betrayed us, the greater the pain and anguish we experience when the betrayal is discovered.

A colleague at work who betrays us, causes perhaps the least distress as in many workplaces people have been used to a culture of competition and think nothing of stepping on others in order to advance or achieve their personal goals.

A relative who has stabbed us in the back generates a feeling of great pain, especially as we would expect love, support and comfort from members of our own family. However, many families are divided for a number of reasons, and betrayal in these situations is not uncommon.

If a person whom we have considered a friend betrays us, we feel a void within our soul where before he or she was ensconced. This is because we choose our friends and one of the reasons we befriend people is because we expect from them support and loyalty, the same that we are willing to offer in return.

Perhaps the greatest betrayal comes when we recognise in the betrayer the face of our partner. One’s wife or husband who betrays a spouse can deal the deepest wounds and generate the most heartache.

What makes someone betray another person? It would depend on the relationship between the two parties: Betrayer and betrayed.  Are we looking at friendships that have been contracted (on one side at least!) superficially? Is envy to be found lurking underneath these relationships? Is it a feeling of disgruntlement, rancour, personal gain that motivates the act of betrayal? In families betrayal often is caused by a wish for personal financial gain. Matters of inheritance can divide families and cause unbridgeable rifts. In marriages the betrayal by an unfaithful partner is the most common cause for the relationship to break down irretrievably.

In all cases, the feelings of anger, grief and loss experienced by the one who is betrayed are universal and may haunt that person for a long time. At the same time, they may be powerful stimuli for change. Changes in character are difficult to make, but changes in behaviour are more likely to be achieved. It certainly has changed me. I think that the experience has made me a stronger person, a wiser one, one who is more likely to rely more on logic than emotions as stimuli for actions. Betrayal causes the survivors to develop a harder outer shell in order to protect their inner vulnerability. I still have my soft centre, it’s just tougher to get at, now.

Have you been betrayed by a colleague, relative, friend, or partner? Did it change you?
(Image is “Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss”, from the illuminated book “Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany”, produced between 1503 and 1508).
Posted by Intelliblog at 19:20 0 comments
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Sunday, 22 February 2015

MOVIE MONDAY - THE LIVES OF OTHERS

“Courage is grace under pressure.” - Ernest Hemingway

We watched Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck 2006 excellent film “The Lives of Others” starring Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur and Thomas Thieme. The director also wrote the screenplay, which must have made this film one that is very close to his heart. This is definitely one film that is worth the 78 wins and 27 nominations for awards that it achieved, including the 2007 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

The plot has as follows: Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is an officer with the Stasi, the East German secret police. It is 1984 when Wiesler attends a play written by Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), who is considered by many to be the ultimate example of the loyal citizen and a man of letters that supports the East German Socialist regime. Wiesler has a gut feeling that Dreyman can’t be as ideal as he seems and believes surveillance is called for. The Minister of Culture (Thomas Thieme) agrees but only later does Wiesler learn that the Minister sees Wiesler as a rival and lusts after his partner and leading actress, Christa (Martina Gedeck).

Dreyman’s apartment is bugged and Wiesler is in charge of surveillance. The more time Wiesler spends listening in on them, the more involved he becomes in their lives and he comes to care about them. The once rigid Stasi officer begins to intervene in their lives, in a positive way, protecting them whenever possible. Eventually, Wiesler’s activities catch up with him and he must prove himself loyal to the regime and his superior, Lieutenant Colonel Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur)…

The film is 137 minutes long, but never did we look at the clock and it kept our interest up throughout. The acting was exceptional, the cinematography, sets, costumes and music splendid and production values wonderful. This was a stellar film in all categories. That everyone involved in its making believed in it is supported by the fact that the entire budget of the film, about 2 million dollars (1.6 million Euro), was possible only because the actors were willing to work for 20% of their customary salary.

The themes running through the movie are art (literature, music, acting, etc), and the positive effect it can have on people’s lives; conscience, and for how long we can choose ignore it; betrayal, and the way we can fall into its trap; redemption, and how we can salvage our self respect and humanity in the face of past wrongdoing. The manner in which a person may realise the error of their way and how they can actively take steps to make right their wrongs in a pivotal element in the film and is it this positive transformation of character that makes the movie a powerful one.

I would recommend this film most highly, but be warned, it is a gritty, “heavy”, confronting film that challenges viewers and exposes many of the atrocities of totalitarian regimes, highlighting the abuses of human rights and personal freedom that is inevitable in such regimes. It is a robust, substantial and absorbing film that one can sink one’s teeth into. We found it poignant, moving and extremely satisfying as both a movie and as a political statement.
Posted by Intelliblog at 17:52 2 comments
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Sunday, 8 February 2015

MOVIE MONDAY - REVENGE


“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” – Confucius

 At the weekend we watched an old film, which we were unaware of until I found it in the “specials” bin of our DVD shop. It was Tony Scott’s 1990 film “Revenge” based on the novella by Jim Harrison and starring Kevin Costner, Anthony Quinn and Madeleine Stowe. This was a film showcasing Quinn’s veteran actor talent and providing a platform for Costner to show his developing acting skills.

 Costner plays US Navy pilot Michael “Jay” Cochran who is retiring after 12 years in the service. He seems to have lost direction and wants to take some time out for himself. He plans to go and see his old friend and tennis partner Tiburon “Tibby” Mendez (Anthony Quinn) who is a powerful mob boss in Mexico. Tibby owes Jay a debt for saving his life at some point in the past. Once Jay arrives at the Mendez hacienda he meets Miryea (Madeleine Stowe) Tibby’s young and beautiful wife. Instantly attracted to one another and although initially fighting the chemistry between them, they begin an affair, which comes at a great cost.

 There is a resemblance to “The Wild Bunch” (1969) and the location shooting in Mexico contributes greatly to the atmosphere and tenseness of the plot. The themes of love and forbidden love, versus friendship and loyalty are at the base of the plot, but there are also subplots relating to corruption, conjugal relationships, motherhood and pride. Tiburon Mendez  feels he has been doubly betrayed, not only by his wife, but more importantly by his friend. Despite the fact that Cochran once saved his life, he shows no mercy for him or for his wife.

 There are many tense and some extremely violent scenes, which are enhanced by the background, the sets and the score. The score especially is a great plus and the use of Mexican music in moderation adds so much to the action. The acting is nicely understated, Costner displaying a barely restrained anger throughout the second part of the film and Anthony Quinn playing a role that seems to have been written for him as the superficially charming but totally ruthless mobster. Madeleine Stowe is cast well as the female lead and the chemistry with Costner is good. The cinematography is excellent and the camera is used well to the advantage of the leads.

 The ending of the film is one of its strengths and after Quinn and Costner “fight it out” so to speak, Costner’s scene with Stowe at the very end is both tragic and touching. There is a lot of emotion and deep feeling that manages to come out in what essentially is a very violent and grim, western-like movie. The rating for this movie in IMDB is 6.2/10, but I give it a 7.5/10. Certainly an underrated and under-appreciated movie.
Posted by Intelliblog at 17:26 0 comments
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