"The Spirit of '45", the 99%, back then

The Spirit of '45

So glad to see Ken Loach back on track. "The Spirit of '45" is a moving documentary and a crystal-clear tribute to the British people that, together, were capable of leaving behind the scourge of the II World Wars, and along with the '45 Labour government rebuild the country. A new England under a new vision: a fair and united society. Tories, Republicans, Merkel fans, PP voters... all right-wing devotees, as well as Tony Blair or Zapatero nostalgics, 80-90s socialists, you should stop reading right now. This is going to give you hives (skin rash).

Loach doesn't care about the possible (obvious) criticism he has/is going to face. I assume he's got so used to the accusations of being heavily biased that he probably doesn't waste a single second to read critics opinion (who cares about the right-wing opinions anyway? we all know they are all crazy). After all, "Spirit of '45" is the next step of a director who has always had a coherent political speech, something showed in his long filmography. 

As expected as well, Loach is not interested in portraying a flamboyant, state-of-the-art documentary. He combines footage from the vast British archives with contemporary interviews, many of them people who were there and, with their answers can define how dramatic was the situation after the war, how the changes arrived with the labour government. The film is not the most dynamic, but on the other hand, is powerful and determined to get its point exposed: there's an URGENT NEED of another SPIRIT OF '45.

Co-operation, solidarity, unity, support, but also nationalisation of any economic-productive sector that was pivotal for society, and the creation of a welfare system (health, education, subsidies). Does it sound familiar to you? Yes, that's the same social protection system our despicable politicians in Europe are trying to destroy. Or the national health program Republicans from the States would qualify as evil (meaning communist, of course). Keynes against the "market law", now updated into an even more criminal version, Friedman's privatise-everything (that serves to my only benefit) law, packed with shameful speculation. Sorry, but like Loach, I have decided it makes no sense to waste my time trying to be more "polite/tolerant" with the people who are the reason of the disaster we are in now. Let's say it out loud and clear: we have enough of criminals who are there just for their own greed. 

Let's go back to the documentary then. It's so evident Loach is trying to tell us we can't give out hope today. Yes, the bastards are everywhere, and extremely powerful and the situation is extremely difficult. But was it worse than 1945? Don't think so. And then, the 99% of Great Britain decided it was time for a change, a revolution. And so came the change. Loach rediscovers history to show it's time for another revolution. That we can fight and succeed.

I personally missed the voice of young people, believing it would have been nice to confront the current generations with the memories and thoughts of the elders. Also I'm kind of dubious of the last-minute attack to Thatcher. Don't get me wrong, Thatcher can't be condemned enough, but it's kind of tricky the way it is exposed. She introduced the criminal (sorry liberal) economic policies in the country, trying to dismantle the Welfare System. But Loach doesn't take the time to explain how the monster arrived to Downing Street, and she wasn't alone. What about John Major? And Blair? Aside from that, a documentary to watch and think about it.

SCORE: 7/10

"The Ghost Writer", failed political thriller by Polanski

The Ghost Writer

An unknown writer is offered to write the memories of the former UK Prime Minister, just when he is accused of war crimes. Wow, for a while, it seems we are in front of a heavily loaded subject, miles away from the usual thriller territory. For a while.

Polanski starts "The Ghost Writer", based on the homonimus novel, with this promising subject and really suggestive atmosphere built around the place, the isolated island where Lang (Pierce Brosnan) lives and works with her wife and office staff, a sophisticated, high-class home that seems also a dungeon, where reclusion was also part of the goal. In that scenario, the ghost-writer (Ewan McGregor) has to re-write the unfinished memories of the ex-prime minister. But when the announcement from the International Criminal Court arrives announcing the investigation of the former politician, we enter into another dimension, another level. Unfortunately, the amazing potential of that premise steadily evolves into a more conventional thriller.

Because Polanski decides he is not interested in the political story anymore, just when we were more excited about how far he was willing to go in the obvious parallelisms with real former UK primer minister Tony Blair (how interesting, also necessary if you ask me, would have been seeing a fictional trial when the responsibles for war crimes in the name of the war against terrorism are judged), but what he offers us instead is a disappointing thriller, for several reasons.

The first one is that Ewan McGregor's character is really hard to believe. The whole issue (the plot) is so high-profile that is completely unbelievable than after 3 days of work he is able/allowed to get into the super-secret, deep meaning of the whole affair, even more so if his predecessor suspiciously died when he was doing these ghost-writing task. Besides, when his own life is on jeopardy, he keeps behaving in a surprisingly careless way, a struggling contradiction considering he is so meaningless in the grand scheme of things the plot has turned into. Many minor scenes (won't spoil anything), when something is revealed, a clue is founded, or some connection is discovered, are just failed attempts to let the movie flow, with poor and unrealistic results.And linked directly with that, is the second disappointment. A ridiculous, laughable, end.

Third one. I already said that Polanski decides the war crimes sub-plot is irrelevant, sadly, but the CIA sub-plot connected (google?, that's pathetic) with the personal relation taking place on the film (no spoiling again) is pretty weak, and again unbelievable, giving you the feeling the real reason of it was just for the sake of including a sexual encounter on it.

And fourth one.With so many misfires, the movie has little dynamism, and gets tiring. Overall, "The Ghost Writer" is not a total failure, I could even say that as a thriller you can forget about after watching, is a satisfaying entertainment. But after proposing so much with its initial argument, is a serious let down, with several moments on the verge to stupidity (close to his horrendous film "The Ninth Gate"). At least it compares well to the PM he is referring to. The expectations on Tony Blair's mandate were high, so was the level of disappointment after his shameful term ended.

SCORE: 4,25/10