What the Dickens, Miriam!

Sit down all those who don't like the work of Miriam Margolyes. Good we can't see you. But then I can't see any gaps either. All I can see is a standing ovation. Is she the finest character actor in English or is she what?!

All this leads me, dear Reader, to direct you to this post at the blog of my friend Denis, The Nature of Robertson. Robertson is a village (population approximately 1,000) in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Miriam is a resident there. And she is an Aussie citizen. How 'bout that! All thanks to Babe.

My favourite Miriam role is in Ladies in Lavender. But I do want you to know that Miriam is touring Australia with Dickens' Women. If you saw Simon Callow bring Dickens to life when he toured Australia, then Miriam's show will make a nice book-end for you. Listen to Phillip Adams' interview here.

Just too darn hot....

It has been too hot too blog. Focussing on cooler things - and hiding out at the movies. There have been a couple of trips up to the Cameo at Belgrave. I saw Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas)and Mrs Henderson Presents.

Joyeux Noel is a true story built into a movie of heart warming schmaltz with a message. Oh that all our current batches of soldier boys would see it and recognize how terribly they can be used - not only by politicians but other powers-that-be in the ruling class. There is no doubt though just how much Germans love Christmas. From the German-speaking culture we get Christmas trees and Silent Night together with all the fun, feasting and spirituality of the season. It is well to note that the Christmas Truce of World War I (and the Americans couldn't be in this one because they hadn't yet joined in) - the fact on which the movie is based - occurred at the first Christmas and didn't happen again. In just a few months, the deaths and the manner of their occurrence in the trenches were horrendous. In the years that followed trench warfare and the hundreds of thousands of lives committeed to it became an obscenity. We try to pretend that all war, any war, that we decide is right is therefore justified - and the movie opened with this and portraying the hateridden propaganda that was let loose in France and Germany and Britain. Humanity across the globe gets itself into all sorts of messes called war - but only occasionally for good reason. But even when the reason is good what happens is not. Joyeux Noel gave an indication of the horrors of war but emphasised the hope of humanity. Our hope is in spirits embedded in ancient traditions - traditions that teach us and help us to remember what it is to be human.
Off to World War II and Mrs Henderson Presents and the Americans did eventually turn up. What can one say about Dame Judi Dench. It seems that the older she gets, the busier she is. These days she seems to be in everything. Her performance as Mrs Henderson is like a mature and well-cellared wine: to be savoured, enjoyed, and dwelt upon. She appears as a cross between The Dowager Queen Mary and the Queen Mother - at one point, complete with tiara. Mrs Henderson is a romantic, a realist, a person of her class with a sensible earthiness which brings her through an extraordinary adventure in The Windmill Theatre. This movie is a tour de force not only for Judi Dench but for Bob Hoskins. Never has he looked so handsome (even in the nude and full frontal), never has he characterized a role so well. Dench and Hoskins are evenly matched - two denizens of British film and theatre. This movie has the fun of comedy, the variety of a musical, and the drama of a wartime movie. The evocation of the Blitz brought back memories of the London bombings of 2005 and reminded me of how well the Poms do stiff-upper-lip in theatre, film, and real life.

These are two wonderful movies to put on your list if you haven't seen them yet. But just ask - wouldn't it be wonderful if we could only look at a world at war in the movies as an historic artifact?

Technorati tags: Joyeux Noel Joyeaux Noel Christmas Truce Silent Night World War I World War II Mrs Henderson Presents Dame Judi Dench Judi Dench Bob Hoskins The Windmill Theatre Blitz

Shh...don't tell anyone

Gerda, herself, and meself went to lunch to-day. In Sassafras. Gerda lives in Sassafras and we live down the mountain in Upper Gully. We went to Ripe. Ripe is in the main street of Sassafras. But you have to know where it is because it is not signed. It is deliberately not signed. If you don't know where it is you may well get lost. Plenty of us do the first time. It is kept a secret. Miss Marples - just a couple of doors up- is a tourist mecca, and justly so, where you often have to wait to be seated. Ripe doesn't want to be like that. You stumble on it, or a local lets you in on the secret, and then you feel you have discovered something very special - which you have. We had a wonderful meal complete with Yarra Valley wine - and star gazing. Russell Morris was on the terrace at the front, Sue Ann Post - who had popped over from Monbulk - on the terrace out the back. Sue Ann would like us to buy her book - so we have pictured it.