Song for Raggy Boy
Yet another film about the atrocities committed against children by the Catholic Church in Ireland. This time set in an Irish-Catholic boys’ reform school in 1939, it is based on the autobiography of Patrick Galvin. It spares the viewer nothing in its documenting of physical and sexual abuse, carried out by the holy fathers and brothers in the name of Jesus Christ. Then into the boys lives comes Mr Franklin (Aiden Quinn), a lay teacher who has come hotfoot from fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Flashbacks to his experiences in Spain explain why he ends up in this hellish establishment. It would of course be unrealistic to expect the boys’ lives to change drastically with the addition of one teacher but he treats the boys like human beings and that in itself is a new experience for them. Iain Glen is chilling as Brother John, prefect of the school, in charge of discipline. His cruelty is shocking and repulsive. Appointed by the Bishop, the head of the school is powerless to stop him, and tells newcomer Franklin that he must learn to live with it. Nothing can stop the idealist Franklin from raising hope in the hearts of the boys and it is his success that ultimately leads to tragedy and deliverance. The subject is of course very topical, with the Catholic Church’s reputation for comprehensive failure in dealing with child abuse by men and women acting in its name. An epilogue to the film tells us that these reform schools were in existence in Ireland until 1984. This film will send a chill into your heart.

Directed by Aisling Walsh Ireland 2003

The Bookstore
Tunisia/2002
Arabic with subtitles in English
This is a delightful film set in a bookshop in Tunis. Jamil is the handsome stranger, recently returned from self-imposed exile in Paris. He goes to work for Tarek, a family friend who’s been running the place on his own since the death of his father. Tarek, his wife, Leila, and widowed mother, Aicha, all live in the flat above the shop. Jamil moves into what was once the old man’s study. The shop is an Aladdin’s cave of books, beautifully chaotic amid tiled walls and stained glass, a visual treat. Jamil has a calming effect on the household and becomes the confidante of each member of the house. Tarek believes he has married beneath him and that his wife will never want the same things as he does. Leila is frustrated by her husband’s refusal to move away from the bookshop (and his mother). She cannot understand how anyone who reads all the time can be so blind to the possibilities of life – “you must have read about excitement in a book sometime – otherwise what’s the point of reading?” she asks. The widow Aicha reflects on her own loveless marriage and observes the unhappiness of her son. Through a series of conversations we discover the hopes and dreams, and secrets of everyone in the house – except Jamil who like many confidantes, gives little away about himself. The use of traditional Arabic song and the extraordinary voice of Alia Sellami raise the temperature of the tale and replace dialogue at the film’s gentle conclusion.

Dir: Nawfel Saheb-Ettaba

Swimming pool
Charlotte Rampling is Sarah Morton, an English crime writer, suffering from writer’s block, who is searching for the inspiration to help her break the mould for her latest novel. In an attempt to get going again, she decamps to her publisher’s holiday house in France. But the peace she finds there is shattered by the arrival of Julie (Ludivine Sagnier), her host’s daughter, a promiscuous teenager who swans around semi-naked and brings a variety of men back to the house for noisy bouts of casual sex. Although irritated by this disturbance, the uptight English novelist is drawn to observe the girl’s amoral behaviour, and soon begins to write. The wardrobe department plays an important role in the development of Morton’s character, but the same cannot be said for Julie – most of the time she wears almost nothing. You boys will love it.

Dir: Francois Ozon; France/ 2002/ In English with some subtitles

Jolly Good Fellow
The early part of this film is a study of loneliness. The illustration of an empty life is painful. The central character has no home life, works as a temp and so is always on the move. She invents excuses to start up conversations with casual encounters, all of whom show no interest in her. To them she appears invisible. She does not matter. The bus driver ignores her when she wishes him a cheery Good Morning; the barmaid in the café where she drinks excuses herself the moment she feels an attempt at conversation coming on; the checkout girl at the local supermarket looks through her as though she weren’t there. When there is an abrupt change in her fortunes, the film seems to drift away from reality. It is too good to be true. She gets a permanent job. She passes her driving test. She falls in love. She is a success. People find her interesting. But the catalyst for this change is a brutal and unexpected event. Has she dreamt the whole thing? I can think of no other explanation.

Dir Siegrid Alnoy France 2002

> > > All of the above reviews by Josie Inwood. < < <

Still I rise. . .
Last night I heard Maya Angelou speak, sing and laugh at the Glasgow Concert Hall. The auditorium was full and not one person there could have been disappointed. “Still I rise”, her famous poem about the human spirit rising above adversity, was a theme. As a child she was raped, she stopped speaking for years after and she read every book and poem in her local Arkansas public library. An older friend told her she would never really experience the joy of poetry until she felt it passing her lips and she started to speak, then write. She hasn’t stopped. At 75, she’s tall, straight, very, very dignified and a testament to the power of the human spirit and of laughter. "I know why the caged bird sings" was the first book of her autobiography. She’s just published her fifth.

"You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I rise".

GP’s deal with dignity, or lack of it, all the time. Everyone has a story to tell, everyone has the potential for some dignity. This was also the ethos of Carol Shields, the brilliant novelist who has just died and whose belief that “there are no ordinary and extraordinary people, only extraordinary people” imbued all her work. She started her last book, “Unless”, nominated for the Booker, knowing that she had terminal cancer. Starting with the George Elliot quote, ”If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heartbeat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence”, the book is almost a mission statement for general practice. And a Festival experience that spoke of human dignity? Derevo, the Russian physical dance theatre company back in Edinburgh with another immaculate, imaginative, breathtaking performance evoking the physical, emotional and spiritual power of each individual human being. It’s only a year till the next Festival. Take your registrar to next year’s Derevo and, in the meantime, buy Carol Shields and Maya Angelou for your practice library.

> > > Review by Lesley Morrison < < <

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