Went to see Ron Howard's Frost-Nixon on Wednesday. The Frost-Nixon interviews are now legendary in political broadcasting. I've never seen them all, but I have seen bits and bobs. It's difficult now to understand why they were so important at the time, and how deeply the USA felt the betrayal of President Nixon, but I think this film did a good job of addressing these issues. Michael Sheen is one of my favourite actors; he has played many biographical parts now (Tony Blair in The Queen - also Ron Howard; Kenneth Williams in Fantabulosa!) and, although he never physically resembles the person he is playing, he has a remarkable ability to assimilate their physical habits: twitches, raised eyebrows, hand gestures. It was somewhat unnerving, too, to be looking at Michael Sheen, and to hear David Frost's voice! Frank Langella was wonderful as President Nixon and fully deserves his Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Frost-Nixon is an understated film that is beautifully acted and directed. There were moments when the entire audience were collectively holding their breath - an experience I haven't had for a long time in the cinema. It makes me wish that I had seen the original theatre production.
Watching the BBC news yesterday evening, I felt somewhat bemused by the acceleration of events connected to the global economic crisis. Demonstrations in Paris were turning violent and attracting hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets. The French are exercising their democratic right to make their voices heard in protest against Sarkozy's policies of pumping huge amounts of taxpayers' money into failing banks, whilst at the same time not holding those responsible for the slump to account. And over here in the UK? We sit at home, drinking tea, muttering that someone really should do something about the Labour government, whose policies are near-identical. Jobs are being shed daily and there is a real sense of fear outside. Walking along the high street is a chastening experience, as empty shop after empty shop closes its doors for good. This is certainly not a good time to be looking for a job!
Of course, this morning's news told of various groups of industrial workers coming out on wildcat strikes across the UK. This is not a protest against govermental economic policy as such; rather, it is the concern that what jobs there are, are being given to non-UK residents (presumeably for reasons of cost-cutting). I was a very young child in the eighties, but I do remember TV news pictures of panic-stricken and angry men coming out on strike, especially in Scotland, Wales and the north of England. The pictures I saw this morning on the news were disturbingly similar. What is different now, however, is the rallying call of 'UK jobs for UK citizens': I worry that this could be a tipping point into a BNP nightmare. And of course, we musn't forget that this is not a BNP slogan, but a Labour soundbite from one of Mr. Brown's speeches in 2007...
Of all the blogs I follow, Bookwitch is my favourite. I always save it until last, because I know that whatever is written will be interesting and entertaining. Today's entry was no exception: the witch wrote about her love of Joan Aiken's The Wolves of Willoughby Chase series. I read this books avidly as a child and I think I may now pick them all up at the weekend from my parents' house and have a comfortable few days of reacquainting myself with Simon, Dido Twite and the rest!
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