SacredFacts

Flash Storytelling

A close look at my recent links would reveal a growing interest in the use of Flash to tell stories or support multimedia journalism. It can be incredibly powerful. Try these:

It's probably reasonable to ask if this is what the public wants. But whether it is or not, I'm going down the "teach yourself flash" route to see what happens...

Let me know of others you like.

In passing...

The Guardian is offering a free preview screening of the new Robert Redford film "Lions for Lambs".
The ad in G2 says it's the chance to "celebrate the theatrical release of this captivating documentary". Except it's fiction. Call me old fashioned, but that's rather an important distinction to maintain.

The War Tapes

I've just caught up with The War Tapes - an extraordinary documentary filmed by three US Guardsmen in Iraq and produced by Deborah Scranton. It is the most authentic, and indirectly sympathetic, portrayal of life on the frontline in Iraq. See the trailer here.

Even better, watch Deborah Scranton talk through how she made the film and some of her experiences afterwards at TED. IN particular how she talks about the disconnection between the experiences of the soldiers, the public and the media.

It makes me think of the lacklustre public response to our own troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Movies and the real world

I havn't read The Kite Runner in spite of multiple recommendations. But I did get invited to the movie premiere tonight. It's a compelling story of betrayal and redemption which stays with you. The film is beautifully shot - much of it in China masquerading as Afghanistan - but has an authentic feel to it. I hope it succeeds. My neighbour at the screening however was uncomfortable at how much of the recent history of failed states and world crises is being told through fiction. The Last King of Scotland being another recent and successful example among several. It seems to me as long as they are true to history and authentic in their representation using narrative to engage an audience in events they might otherwise ignore can only be a good thing.

"Che Guevara would have worn a Joe Strummer T Shirt..."

"All transmitters to Full....All receivers to Boost...This is London Calling, This is London Calling..."

The opening to Joe Strummer's BBC World Service programme between 1998 and 2002 - and heavily featured in "The Future is Unwritten" - Julien Temple's biopic. We had a private screening of it tonight for guests, friends and some BBC-ers. Joe was a fan of the World Service since he first heard it as a schoolboy in Malawi when his diplomat father was posted there.

A reminder of what he achieved, from The Clash (memories of Cardiff 1978) to The Mescaleros, with "London Calling" and the Glastonbury camp fires in between. From his uncompromising determination thirty years ago to a mellower proud father but still lancing hypocrisy and with an unwavering faith in music and people. Much missed...

RFK

I'm looking forward to the new film Bobby - about the day Robert Kennedy was assassinated. (Due for UK release Jan 26th).

I'm an RFK fan - I think he was the greater loss of the two brothers. The Kennedy charisma lives on and interestingly in this country appears to cross the political divide. I know politicians of all three main parties who are Kennedy "fans". The imperfections of course add to their appeal. The parallels between the sixties and this decade (a divisive war, major social change, the shadow of a global threat) makes it timely to revive the myths.

I recommend Evan Thomas's biography
The recordings of his speeches.

Try this famous passage:
"The gross national product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and jails for the people who break them.

"The gross national product includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles with nuclear warheads....
"And if the gross national product includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials....
"The gross national product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile"

Great political rhetoric, whether you agree with the sentiment or not...

The season of Lists and mellow reflection

It's the time of year for all those "Best of 2006" lists and, if you can't ignore them, you may as well join them. So here's mine. Just three in each category - dissenting comments are welcome.

1. Music
Ali Farka Toure - Savane
We lost him to bone cancer this year, but not before he signed off with this classic of Mali blues. In a league apart.
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
I resisted at first but finally succumbed and now see it as one of his finest.
Basement Jaxx - Crazy Itch Radio
Bursting with joy - try keeping your feet (or anything else) still to this.

2. Movies
Brokeback Mountain
I know, I know...but it's a beautifully shot, moving piece of work.
Good Night, and Good Luck
A reminder of the days when the media were the good guys.
Miami Vice
I love Michael Mann movies. It's a triumph of style over substance, but with style like this who cares.

3. Books
Reporting - David Remnick
Readers of this blog won't be surprised by this one. The closest journalism gets to art
The Lay of the Land - Richard Ford
Third instalment of the Frank Bascombe story. There's a little of us all in Frank and vice versa.
The Cold War - John Lewis Gaddis
An outstanding and concise history - in case we forget.

4. TV
Extras
Just brilliant. The David Bowie cameo is my favourite scene. Almost too painful to watch - Gervais and Merchant at their best.
The West Wing
It came to an end. We'll never know what a Santos presidency might have been like but we'll always have our memories of CJ, Josh, Toby and the gang.
The Thick of It
Not exactly a British West Wing - but beautifully observed and a lot funnier. Armando Ianucci can do no wrong in my book.

5. Theatre
Frost-Nixon
How Frost put himself on the line and extracted the closest anyone ever got to an apology for Watergate,
Rock n' Roll
Tom Stoppard on the Prague Spring, Velvet Revolution, Syd Barratt and much more.
Spamalot
I'm not a Monty Python fan, but Tim Curry's twinkling style and the overwhelming sense of fun make it a great pantomime performance.

6. Gigs
These are surprisingly mainstream for me - but there you go (or rather there I went...)

The Rolling Stones - Twickenham
They keep on, well, rolling, and after 40 years of practise know how to put on a hell of a show.
Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions - Union Chapel
Possibly the best concert I have ever seen - and I'm not even that keen on the music. A magical night.
Dave Gilmour - Mermaid Theatre
His new stuff plus Shine on You Crazy Diamond for Syd.

(BTW I fully expect the Cowboy Junkies at the Union Chapel in March to be one of the highlights of 2007. Tickets going fast)

The Power of Ideas

Thanks to Dan Hill for pointing me to the site of Errol Morris, US documentary maker. There I found this transcript of a discussion between him and British documentary maker Adam Curtis.
Morris, of course, directed The Fog of War - an extended interview with former US Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara. Curtis directed the series, The Power of Nightmares. There's common ground - both deal with the danger of false ideas becoming accepted wisdom. In The Fog of War, McNamara talks about the Tonkin Gulf incident where they wrongly thought US ships were under attack and it led to the escalation of the Vietnam war. As McNamara says in the film:

'We were wrong, but we had in our minds a mindset that led to that action and it carried such heavy costs. ...We see incorrectly or we see only half the story at times. We see what we want to believe. Belief and seeing — they are both often wrong.”

In Power of Nightmares, Curtis suggests we have misunderstood the nature of the modern terrorist threat:

“Look, you do face a terrorist threat, as is obvious from the attacks on America and more recently on my country. But you're looking in the wrong place. You’ve created this sort of phantom enemy, which is a disorganized network. When in fact what you're actually facing is an idea that springs up all over the place. You've created a notional enemy that’s driving you mad looking for it, when in fact, it’s something else entirely. And that's when I went back and tried to explain the ideas. I thought that was much more important for people to understand. Because when something that doesn’t exist becomes perceived wisdom, people tend to go slightly bonkers."

Whether you agree with it or not, it's a fascinating discussion between two brilliant documentary makers ranging across the Second World War, Cuba, Vietnam and Iraq. As Morris concludes,

History is like the weather. Themes do repeat themselves, but never in the same way.

The Insider

The Frontline Club is running a series of screenings of films about journalism and asked me if I would choose one and introduce it. An easy choice - Michael Mann's The Insider, released in 1999.
Al Pacino plays CBS 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman and Russell Crowe playsJeffrey Wigand, the tobacco industry insider who, having been sacked, decides to tell 60 minutes that the US tobacco industry have been hiding what they know about the addictive properties of tobacco and had lied to Congress. It's based on a true story, written up for Vanity Fair by Marie Brennan as The Man Who Knew Too Much. It's a movie about conscience, confidentiality, the relationship between a journalist and his source, and how news and the corporate world don't mix easily.
Some fantastic performances, including Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace. Mann's typically great shooting, lighting and editing and a strong soundtrack make it a compelling watch. It tracks CBS loss of nerve in the face of a potential law suit and how they were forced to air it by public pressure. CBS criticised the movie for fictionalising some elements of what happened. Mann clearly positions the film as the start of the loss of power and influence by the US networks. As Pacino says in the movie "What got broken here won't go back together".

I met Lowell a few years ago and asked him what it was like to be portrayed on screen by an acting legend. He said it was great because he could call up and get a table at any restaurant in Manhatten. The ony trouble was when he turned up they wouldn't let him take it as he looks nothing like Pacino!.

At the Frontline screening I met Gavin Macfadyen, now of London's Centre for Investigative Journalism, and a technical advisor on the film. He said Pacino took sometime to understand why anyone would put themselves at risk for their work - not something actors are expected to do. But it didn't stop him putting in a wonderful performance.

(Btw 60 Minutes veteran correspondent Ed Bradley died last week aged 65. Tribute here. )

Warm for the time of year

This week Frances Cairncross, Chairman of the British Association for the Advancement of Science warned that the climate is heating up and we badly need policies to help us cope. It's an issue which is finally getting real traction.

David Aaronovitch in The Times discusses the political positions on climate change and the natural scepticism some policies provoke.

The Al Gore bandwagon rolls on promoting his climate change film and book and website from Hay to Edinburgh to Sky News and around the world.

Meanwhile James Lovelock, founder of the Gaia theory, is apocalyptic in his new book, but believes nuclear power is at least part of the answer. A view shared by the government . Others fear the risks around nuclear power - not least Charles Clarke this week warning the government's energy review overlooked the risk of terrorism.

Someone told me that if the government gave low energy lightbulbs to every house in the country it would cost less per year than a nuclear power station and save more energy than one would produce. Somehow, that sounds apocryphal. Which has always been the problem with this subject. Not enough clear, firm facts on which to base choices and a lot of vested interests directing the debate.

But there seems to be unanimity now across the political spectrum that it's happening and the consequences will be truly difficult for future generations.

So I've made one choice. I'll seek to make my household carbon neutral by the end of the year. Watch for updates on progress.