pathways, DECEMBER 2008
books:P.Negri: A RetrospectiveHuman Rights Overboard: Seeking Asylum in Australia
films to be released on December 26Frost/Nixon reviewed by Jim MurphyIl Ya Plus Longtemps Que Je TAime reviewed by Fr Peter Malone MSCSlumdog Millionaire reviewed reviewed by Peter W. Sheehan
P. Negri: A Retrospective
compiled and edited by Justin Emery and Randall Lindstrom
2008
$35, plus $5 postage
"The meaning of a work of art is always discovered in the aesthetic encounter. That is where you come in. Enjoy the lines, the shapes, the colours. Float around them. Grow angry, sing with joy, remember lost loves, bask in the warmth of the new and, above all, laugh. For the world is a sorry place without a chuckle." P.N.The Blessed Sacrament Congregation recently released a book entitled P. Negri: A Retrospective, compiled and edited by Justin Emery and Randall Lindstrom.
It is a beautiful monograph celebrating a lifetime of paintings, created by Fr Patrick Negri SSS, who entered the Blessed Sacrament Congregation at 16 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1960. His ministry included radio work, retreat giving, provincial administration and teaching. He painted in his free time.In 1984, after suffering a slight stroke, he undertook further studies in the United States, achieving a Master of Theology Degree at Jesuit Theological College, Berkeley, California, and in 1990, a Doctor of Theology Degree at the Graduate Theological Union, also at Berkeley. His doctoral thesis dealt with the spiritual significance of the art of the Abstract Expressionists.
On his return to Australia, as well as teaching at Yarra Theological Union, the Diocesan Pastoral Centre and Melbourne College of Divinity, he continued to paint more confidently in the abstract style and has exhibited regularly. He has also been Congregational Leader.
The 152-page, soft bound book features 190 full-colour images, as well as writings by the artist, his twin brother, Michael, and others who have observed and commented on his works. It is an exciting and worthy volume for all of those who know Fr Pat, or who just appreciate fine art.
Mail order to Christine Sartori, PO Box 229, Kew East, VIC 3102 or email CSartori@blessedsacrament.com.au
Human Rights Overboard: Seeking Asylum in Australia
by Linda Briskman, Susie Latham and Chris Goddard,with a foreword by Julian BurnsideScribe Press, 2008reviewed by Susan Harris Rimmer, President of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights for A Just Australia
If I let my inner dictator loose, every person in Australia would be forced to read this book, while listening to the Paul Kelly song "I get a little emotional sometimes".
Human Rights Overboard is essentially a collection of the oral testimony and written submissions from the People's Inquiry into Detention, established by the Australian Council of Heads of Schools of Social Work in 2005. The Inquiry was partly in response to the Cornelia Rau affair, whose harrowing story begins the book.
By 2005, a lot of work had been done on the problems inherent in Australia's system of immigration detention by Federal Parliamentary Committees, the UN Human Rights Committee, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, psychological and medical literature, NGOs and in particular the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. We d already come a long way from when I first started out in refugee advocacy for the churches in 2000 and not even SBS would run a story on children in detention.
We knew, even by then in 2000 when the numbers were swelling, that mandatory detention was inherently and irredeemably problematic, and ultimately irreconcilable with basic human rights and respect for human dignity.We knew mandatory detention had the propensity to result in arbitrary detention, which then took an unacceptable psychological toll on a vulnerable community. We knew the use of private contractors to administer detention centres led to problems with accountability and transparency. Those of us who regularly visited detention facilities in Australia and Nauru saw and reported systemic cruelty and damaged humans on all sides of the fence.
By 2005, Australia was facing international embarrassment and condemnation on the world stage. By 2005, research had shown the availability of more effective and cheaper alternative models, which would still ensure the integrity of the migration system.
I knew then, before I read this book, that in, that our system of detention from 1994 until now, was 'something systematically rotten'. This was how Waleed Aly phrased his reaction to HRO in the Australian Literary Review and it is spot on. I knew it. I believe we all should have known it. But I cried anyway. I needed to hear the tale of the whole, we always need to hear the actual words of those who suffered, and we will need to reflect on where it all went wrong for years to come. It is also very important to record the many Australians who participated in this Inquiry, who stood up for these people, advocated on their behalf, criticised the system, visited people, wrote letters, engaged with individual cases and policy reform. I am proud of the many lawyers who tried their best to put the case for complying with Australia s obligations under international law and the most basic principles of justice that relate to detention.
But in my view, looking back, it was expressions of shared humanity, not legal argument or policy papers, that eventually swung opinion polls and politics. It was the social workers, in my view. Their emphasis on the lived experiences of individuals and families is a language that can get buried in the words spoken in Parliament and courts. I congratulate the Australian Council of Heads of Schools of Social Work and the authors of this book, and on their continuing work on so many issues of preserving human dignity in our communities.
There is still a long way to go in the reform process before we can genuinely say 'never again' in relation to immigration detention. Many people are still detained who are not asylum-seekers and their rights must be upheld.
I was proud to be present in the ANU Law Library audience to hear Minister Chris Evans announce the changes to policy in broad terms. There are still elements of the old policy, like excision, to be grappled with, and uncertainty about how some issues will play out on the ground. There is excellent chronological description of policy changes in this book, and an equally excellent description of how all the various elements of law and government policy affected these individuals so adversely. Those laws are largely still on the books. The Department is seen as largely resisting the cultural change prescribed in the Palmer Report.
The people described in HRO are now what advocates call the 'legacy caseload' and there are still many more scenes to play out in the resolution of their situations.
This book serves as a reminder to us to put dignity and humanity at the centre of our work now on immigration reform, and to stay strong.
starring Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon and Oliver Plattdirected by Ron Howardrated M (coarse language) 121 minsUniversal
Peter Morgan's play Frost/Nixon was a big success on the West End stage and later on Broadway. Michael Sheen (so memorable as Tony Blair in the film The Queen, also written by Morgan) won plaudits on both sides of the Atlantic for his performance as TV interviewer David Frost, and Frank Langella won a Tony Award for his portrayal of disgraced US President Richard M. Nixon in the New York production.
Director Ron Howard wisely reunites Sheen and Langella for his film version, which hews closely to the form and style of the play but has the immeasurable advantage of close-ups. In the cat-and-mouse encounter between the playboy interviewer and the cagey politician the cameras are tight on the faces, and the actors really have to perform under that sort of intense scrutiny. They are exceptional and, particularly in the case of Langella, Oscar night has to be looking good.
The excellent script is more than just a selection of the best bits from the long interviews (four, 90-minute telecasts) that drew record ratings for a news programme in the USwhen they were aired in 1977. The transcripts are factual, but the rest probably belongs in the world of faction as it examines how the interviews came about, the wheeling and dealing process, including Nixon's fondness for the dollar and the behind-the-scenes tensions as the taping sessions were not going as Frost and his television associates had hoped.
According to Morgan, Frost had sold the interviews confident that he would extract from Nixon a "full, no-holds-barred confession" that he had betrayed his office. The crafty President, on the other hand, felt sure he could win any battle of wits with lightweight Frost and use the programs to reinstate himself with the American public.
Around these issues Peter Morgan has woven a splendid entertainment with a surprising amount of humour and more than a little drama. Both Frost and Nixon recognise the importance of the interviews - Frost to vindicate his skills as an interviewer by getting the ex-President to confess his wrongdoing and Nixon to redeem himself.
"The limelight can only shine on one of us," says Nixon as they prepare to begin the final interview. "And for the other it'll be the wilderness, with nothing and no one for company but those voices ringing in our head."
The film makes good use of news footage from the archives and even uses some of the actors speaking in character direct to camera to reinforce the documentary feel of a film that brings comparatively recent political history to vibrant life.
You won't need to be a political beast to find it engrossing.
Jim Murphy is an associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film &Broadcasting.
Il Ya Plus Longtemps Que Je TAime
(I've loved you so long)
starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylbersteindirected by Philippe Claudelrated M (mature themes) 112 minsPalace
Highly recommended for audiences who appreciate a strong human drama, it is insightfully written, powerfully acted and impeccably crafted. If anyone has wondered about the screen presence and acting ability of Kristin Scott Thomas, then this performance should persuade them of her talent.Novelist Philippe Claudel has created a screenplay with autobiographical elements but focuses on the relationship between two sisters. The older, Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) has been absent for 15 years. The younger sister, Leah (Elsa Zylberstein), a professor, married with two adopted Vietnamese daughters, welcomes her sister back. The relationship between the sisters as they confront the past and try to build their love again is intensely moving.
The supporting cast is rich in characters.
This is the story of a woman in mid-life, burdened by extraordinary suffering and trauma, being urged to come alive again through a supportive family and an opportunity for healing. It is the kind of film the French do so well.
Fr Peter Malone MSC directs the film desk of SIGNIS: the World Association of Catholic Communicators, and is an associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting.
Slumdog Millionaire
starring Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, and Irrfan Khandirected by Danny Boylerated MA15+ (strong themes and violence) 120 minsVillage
This film won the audience award in the recent Toronto Film Festival and it is a delight.
Danny Boyle, who gave us Trainspotting, directs this equally energetic movie, which is set in the city of Mumbai, the commercial capital of India.
Following a script written by Simon Beaufoy, and based on a novel, Q and A by Vikas Swarup, the film tells the story of an 18-year old orphan Indian, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), who was a former street child from Mumbai and who now aims for the jackpot on "Kaun Banega Crorepati," the popular Hindi version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"While one question away from 20 million rupees, the game show's host, Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor), who has become suspicious of Jamal for answering every question successfully and performing against every expectation, turns him over to the police on suspicion of fraud.
This is an imaginatively constructed movie, which literally teams with vitality and energy. The film graphically illustrates the gap between the poverty and wealth within India and is extraordinary in the attention to detail that lies at the core of Boyle's intelligent direction.
It is a film about the social mobility of India, its poverty, and its criminal corruption.
The camera work by Anthony Dod Mantle is outstanding; and the pace of the editing by Chris Dickens is equally good. This is a movie that is firmly and vitally connected with place and the rousing dance number in Bollywood-style that celebrates the movie's exuberance at its end depicts the soaring of the spirit that affects the movie throughout.
The acting in the film is uniformly excellent.
Ultimately, the film is a fairy tale. It is about fulfilment and dreaming rather than about harshness and reality. The final scenes of the poor in India , wanting Jamal to win what they haven't got, are very moving and make for penetrating social comment.
Combining darkness, squalour and romance, this movie has an infectious idealism about it, which blends together humanity and dignity with much sadness and pain. It is one of the great releases of 2008.
Peter W. Sheehan is an associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.
for extended reviews of these films and detailed reviews of other Australian releases, including Australia and Quantum of Solace, click here
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