There is one thing I would not be able to get through day to day life without, if I'm stressed, people are being noisy, I'm stuck on the tube, I can't sleep, I turn to this one thing, and calmness is restored.
In my free time. I'm walking round the beautiful Miro exhibition at the Tate, and tourists are just standing chatting in front of the paintings, paying no attention to the art whatsoever.
Day to day. I want to read my book on the train, but it's too noisy.
Thank you Erik Satie, if it wasn't for your beautiful piano works I would go insane, instead you block out the noise and pain of everyday life. For this I'm eternally grateful. xx
Saturday 14 May 2011
Wednesday 11 May 2011
Shhhh. Tell No One.....
Last Saturday, I attended Secret Cinema, my second time with this theatrical experience. And I can say it was terrifying for me, but beautiful, a truly eye opening experience. It really made me think, how do people cope in situations such as these, and who is truly right?
Secret Cinema took place this time on Leake Street (famously the tunnel which Banksy decorated a few years back near Lower Marsh). We were lined up by soldiers at check points, women in white burkas running in and out of us and shouting, children playing with old fashioned toys. We got to the check point and had to hand over our 'papers' which we'd filled out earlier (or in Ed and Vanessa's case, 2 seconds before). These were then checked by army guys who were right in our faces, speaking in French. People who didn't have their papers in order were taken out the queue and told to stand with their faces to the wall, hands on heads, while a soldier screamed at them in french. We were then let through, and we walked into Algiers. Washing hung above our heads, the air was dusty, the lighting dark, it was very atmospheric. I forgot I was in a tunnel underneath Waterloo, I was in Northern Africa. We'd walked away into another world.
Walking around this underground town, there were different things to be found. In one house was the bombmaker, fixing different wires and boards together. Burka clad women ran through the streets, holding secret meetings in houses, and handing the devices to various bystanders. One of these unwitting members of the audience was then caught by the french soldiers brandishing huge guns (a little bit of a nightmare if you suffer from ligyrophobia :-s) and dragged off to the prison to be interrogated. Of course we all quickly followed.
The prison was dark and chain fencing provided a path for the viewer to walk round this area. At one end, a man hung by his hands from the ceiling, a hood over his head. Suddenly the captor makes a break for it, dashing towards the exit, but the soldier is quickly dragging him back, kicking and beating him (hopefully all acting!!). All very disturbing and real.
The event ended with us gathering in the square, with the french giving a speech about freedom, libertie.... then boom! Lights off, shouting, screaming, the rebels have set off a bomb in the square. People push through the crowds, some carrying children lying lifeless in their arms.... we're ushered through a door and into the cinema.
The film itself was The Battle of Algiers, commissioned by the Algerian government, and designed to show both sides of the conflict in 1960s Algiers. It's shot in documentary style, black and white, french with subtitles. It's very realistic, and in parts you feel you're watching actual footage of the conflict, although it is claimed that it is all actors. Not a film I would have picked out to watch, but I enjoyed it a lot. It's very controversial, and shows both the threat of the Algerians with their bombs and terrorist actions, and the torture methods of the french. Topics very close to current events. It was meant to be impartial, but I couldn't help feeling for the rebels. I personally would want to protect my country and my people, and this was what they were doing. They wanted their independence, which is understandable, just the way they went about it was wrong. Maybe sometimes, the West are all too happy to impose themselves on other nations.
I don't want to spoil the ending, but it is a shadow of recent events. The recent events and this film have made me think, and question what is going on in the World today. When is it right to torture, to terrorise, or to shoot a man dead? What examples can one side hope to bring to the other, when all is shed is blood?
We left the screening to the beautiful sound of a song by Souad Massi called the Storyteller (Raoui in arabic). All the rebel actors were standing frozen around the underground town, lit up by the lights. Rubble had been scattered around, and bits of buildings had been placed everywhere. Like the film, and the set, I felt shattered.
Secret Cinema took place this time on Leake Street (famously the tunnel which Banksy decorated a few years back near Lower Marsh). We were lined up by soldiers at check points, women in white burkas running in and out of us and shouting, children playing with old fashioned toys. We got to the check point and had to hand over our 'papers' which we'd filled out earlier (or in Ed and Vanessa's case, 2 seconds before). These were then checked by army guys who were right in our faces, speaking in French. People who didn't have their papers in order were taken out the queue and told to stand with their faces to the wall, hands on heads, while a soldier screamed at them in french. We were then let through, and we walked into Algiers. Washing hung above our heads, the air was dusty, the lighting dark, it was very atmospheric. I forgot I was in a tunnel underneath Waterloo, I was in Northern Africa. We'd walked away into another world.
Walking around this underground town, there were different things to be found. In one house was the bombmaker, fixing different wires and boards together. Burka clad women ran through the streets, holding secret meetings in houses, and handing the devices to various bystanders. One of these unwitting members of the audience was then caught by the french soldiers brandishing huge guns (a little bit of a nightmare if you suffer from ligyrophobia :-s) and dragged off to the prison to be interrogated. Of course we all quickly followed.
The prison was dark and chain fencing provided a path for the viewer to walk round this area. At one end, a man hung by his hands from the ceiling, a hood over his head. Suddenly the captor makes a break for it, dashing towards the exit, but the soldier is quickly dragging him back, kicking and beating him (hopefully all acting!!). All very disturbing and real.
The event ended with us gathering in the square, with the french giving a speech about freedom, libertie.... then boom! Lights off, shouting, screaming, the rebels have set off a bomb in the square. People push through the crowds, some carrying children lying lifeless in their arms.... we're ushered through a door and into the cinema.
The film itself was The Battle of Algiers, commissioned by the Algerian government, and designed to show both sides of the conflict in 1960s Algiers. It's shot in documentary style, black and white, french with subtitles. It's very realistic, and in parts you feel you're watching actual footage of the conflict, although it is claimed that it is all actors. Not a film I would have picked out to watch, but I enjoyed it a lot. It's very controversial, and shows both the threat of the Algerians with their bombs and terrorist actions, and the torture methods of the french. Topics very close to current events. It was meant to be impartial, but I couldn't help feeling for the rebels. I personally would want to protect my country and my people, and this was what they were doing. They wanted their independence, which is understandable, just the way they went about it was wrong. Maybe sometimes, the West are all too happy to impose themselves on other nations.
I don't want to spoil the ending, but it is a shadow of recent events. The recent events and this film have made me think, and question what is going on in the World today. When is it right to torture, to terrorise, or to shoot a man dead? What examples can one side hope to bring to the other, when all is shed is blood?
We left the screening to the beautiful sound of a song by Souad Massi called the Storyteller (Raoui in arabic). All the rebel actors were standing frozen around the underground town, lit up by the lights. Rubble had been scattered around, and bits of buildings had been placed everywhere. Like the film, and the set, I felt shattered.
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