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Das Leben der Anderen (The Life of Others)

The Tune of the Hero

The German title, more than the English translation, shows the significant though subtle contradiction between the terms, "life" and "others". Contradiction or may be distance; emotional distance.

It is precisely through a purely emotional language -without the usual stridencies of the genre- that the film is able to portray human isolation. And with, again, the utmost emotional precision, it exposes the absolute isolation to which individuals are condemned under a paranoid regime based on fear.

The rare combination of mainstream political acknowledgment and popular success allows the poet and the actress to dance. But they are the only ones able to display a spark of joy here -and no matter what, not even them are free of the anguishing consequences of general dread.

In this sick society the search for joy is punished, though it is still present. It is this presence what allows the film to encompass an optimistic turn. Surprisingly enough, it is nor compassion nor the commonly accepted ideal of love but only breaking the instinct of self preservation what sets certain strings of the human soul free to play the tune that allows contact, an honest contact, no matter the physical detachment, with "the other".

Now, the distance -or the contradiction- between "life" and "the other" is finally portrayed. Isolation is a natural trait -and a predictable consequence of fear- that opposes the life (or the joy) of "I" to that of the "other". The communion is brought by surrendering the ego; a basic human tune able to turn normal peasants -or even a slayer- into silent, but never again lonely, heroes.

P.S. to Amir: Should definitely encourage this film to arrive to Iran. Beware though of an intellectual analysis; only by setting aside such a discussion can the emotional language of the film be "understood".

Spain & The Democratic Game

Spain is bearing today the most ruthless clash among political extremes of her little more than 25 years Constitutional Monarchy, which, sadly enough, shows the fragility of our democratic convictions and understanding.

The harsh confrontation opposes basically right and left "isms" as well as central nationalism versus peripheral nationalisms, heated up by the issue of terrorism and by the active participation of Catholic representatives in almost every political debate (the Spanish Conference of Bishops, the higher religious committee, self-arrogated as national cultural core, intermingle the defense of nation-state union with considerations over family, education, terrorism or immigration in what has come to be a constant attack of any socialist measure).

But let me reframe a bit.

On Religion:

Taking away the laicism of our 1932 Constitution, the modern 1978 one privileges Catholicism over any other religious cult, which is translated in strong direct and indirect economical compensations as well as in an open allowance of cultural empowerment -by providing for example Catholic religious classes, teachers and priests in every public school, at hospitals, prisons, etc.

This privileged position is being menaced though due to a growing agnosticism among the population paralleled by the proliferation of different cults -mainly Muslim- that accompany a significant immigration flux. Also, the liberal (leftist) educational programs, which encourage the development of a critical capacity of pupils through the understanding of democratic concepts and the realization of their unique identities as free individuals, add up to the specific threats that the preeminent Catholic position upholds.

From here, the Catholic political stands can be well understood: Defense of limiting immigration, arguments to limit immigrant cultural expressions, confrontation with the demands of other religious groups to occupy a space at schools or in any public situation, confrontation with any educational program able to menace their own cultural views, argumentation in order to blend the concepts of Spanish Catholicism (religious status quo) and cultural heritage, etc, etc.

In any case, even though Catholicism is adding up to the noise, especially by their twisted misuse of democratic arguments, they are not the core of current confrontation.

On Terrorism:

The 11-M terrorist attack in 2004, just three days prior to national elections, can easily be traced back as one of the sparks that started it all. The right winged Partido Popular (PP), contradicting police evidence and international understanding, insisted during those three days in the negation of a radical Islamic link with the attacks, affirming that Basq terrorist group ETA was responsible for it.

Different international press agencies denounced Spanish government pressure to relate the attacks to ETA, contradicting their own information of Al Qaeda's involvement. In the mean while Spanish media divided, siding up with either one or the other theory. The consequent growing wave of popular repulse against the government was due, more than to the terrorist attack itself, to the stubbornness of the PP (and of part of the media), unable to admit Al Qaeda's responsibility, which was understood as an unacceptable lie by the populace. At the end, and though running as favorite, the PP lost the elections in favor of the socialist party (PSOE).

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The PP has not been able to swallow their electoral debacle leading from then on a campaign of harsh attacks against whatever socialist measure -including conspiracy theories in which ETA and the socialist government would be involved in the 11-M attacks-, with no other political recompense than increasing social tension and divisions.

The pick of social division was reached recently when the government allowed ETA's assassin Antonio De Juana to end at home his one year of imprisonment left, after a very much publicized hunger strike of the prisoner.

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Since the PSOE reached power, the government has been leading a negotiated end of ETA's terrorism -which is something that all previous governments, left or right winged, have tried at one point or another. The -old now- political pact by which the measures taken by any government on the matter of ETA's terrorism would be discussed but never used as political weaponry, ended up soon after PP's political draw back.

Terribly debilitated and losing by the day their scarce popular support ETA announced an indefinite cease fire. PP's opposition started then a public, derogative and very aggressive campaign denouncing (and wanting to prevent) any type of negotiation with the terrorist group. Beyond any other consideration, the PP seemed more than ever fearful of the socialist plausible political gains derived of achieving the final end of ETA's terror -which justified their frontal attack.

It is at this point that the case of De Juana (DJ) gains significance. DJ, convicted for the execrable assassination of 25 people during the eighties, had managed to legally reduce his condemn from more than 3.000 years to 18 years of imprisonment. At the time of his liberation he was kept in prison for technical reasons. DJ published then two articles in a Basq newspaper that were later used to charge him with 90 years for terrorist menaces. This condemn motivated DJ's hunger strike.

The case arrived at the Spanish Higher Court where DJ's condemn was significantly reduced to three years for general -not terrorist- menaces (he mentions 'blood' and 'Spain' in one phrase; his rather stupid articles constitute actually an angry outburst for not being liberated more than anything else). In any case, of his three years condemn he had completed two already, and his hunger strike was menacing to transform him in a sort of martyr -DJ had stated that he would either get freed or die. The government then, making use of its prerogative, decided that DJ should end his condemn in home confinement -once he is allowed to exit the hospital in which he is currently being taken care of.

The unpopular decision of the government -who is accused of liberating an assassin and of secretly trying to negotiate ETA's end- is being used up to nauseating extremes by the opposition, coinciding with the ongoing 11-M judgment and the PP unveiled accusations of ETA's (and PSOE!) involvement. Lacking either political experience or ability, the government falls to the dirty game of cross accusations with the PP, thus forcing the population to take sides for no other than emotional reasons.

The analysis, constructive discussions or the necessary reevaluation of our imprisonment policies are left aside, substituted, slowly but consistently, by propaganda bursts of either color, while witnessing a growing physical confrontation in the streets.

On Stupidity:

Not surprisingly a small town (Villaconejos; "Rabbit Town") has recently refined the concept of popular lynching when more than four hundred people managed to burn the house of a town's thug... when the thug was in prison! His wife and their old parents had to run for their life -a little bird was killed in the fire. The mob, proud of the action, invoke an old poem's cry to justify their action; "all together", they say.

It seems this is as far as we have gone into understanding the democratic game.

Around the Oscars

Gotta watch Das Leben der Anderen. And Del Toro's Labyrinth, which I haven't had the chance to watch yet. Both films seem to be fairy tales in which the evil of absolute power is portrayed; in the former as a gentle (unintentional) metaphor of what is to come for Western democracies under the self-imposed burden of global war; in the latter as a crude war of fantasy versus reality when reality is found intolerable.

The horror of Del Toro's small piece of reality is so seemingly unreal that is taken as fantasy, as an exaggeration, when not as pure exhibitionism of cruelty and madness. The actual reality of after (Spanish) civil war cruelty and madness can easily be taken thus as a casual background and not as the direct consequence of its (untold?) context; the fears and persecutions of a totalitarian regime and the paranoid surviving games peasants are forced to play within it. Del Toro's seeming inability to make his story translatable to actual terms, or to make the viewer identify himself ideally within the story, is probably due to his falling for tricks and monsters, which seem to have gained the protagonist role.

On the other side, the gray world of Florian Henckel depicts a scary, easily adaptable portrait of puppets in a play whose very activity represents the passive acceptance of horror. A passivity that "begins to crack", as Amir highlights, thus allowing the players to move away from the horror that has provoked it in the first place. The message is atemporal; the metaphor unintended. But Florian Henckel does not want to leave the viewer at a point of indefinite hope; he resolves and resumes the opened crack by giving color to the gray world: Es ist für mich. The abysmal difference among both realities arrives as a slap on the face.

But well, I never write as much about films that I have actually seen. Among those, Little Miss Sunshine is an unpretentious masterpiece that no one should miss. And Javier Fesser's short film, Binta and the great idea, is an extraordinary African tale, just a bit moralistic for picky sensibilities, but definitely worth the half an hour it takes to find out about the great idea that Binta's father carries on in a piece of paper. The link goes to the original version, in French, with Spanish subtitles (sorry about that; anyway, don't miss it if you can get it in any understandable language). The other Spanish nominated short movie, Éramos pocos (We were a few), probably even harder to find with English titles, constitutes an incredibly funny fifteen minutes shot of just three characters; a young guy, his father and his grandmother: When the mother leaves the house, tired of the tyranny of the men, they rescue grandma from a geriatric asylum and bring her home with them. The title itself is a humorous description of the movie as well as an untranslatable game of words: the familiar ironic saying "Éramos pocos y parió la abuela" -we were a few and grandmother got pregnant- may need though no further translation. Watch it -if you can.

And last, being in love as I am with Forest Whitaker -since the times of Smoke to Ghost Dog-, it is just a pity Peter O'Toole had to let go his chance of getting the gold after his impressive work in Venus; if anyone should ever want to know what acting is all about, O'Toole's interpretation is a must.

Gestures for Iran

"Internal pressure on the Iranian regime; support for proponents of democracy and human rights in Iran. There is no other answer.

There is only one thing that the outside world can do, and that is to tell the regime: 'We are serious about supporting the people who are inside Iran who are against you'. That is the only thing that will make Mr. Khamenei and everybody stand down. Because nothing else ruffles them. The only thing they are really scared of are the people themselves".

Reza Pahlavi

We, the bongobundos and the Spanish troupe we represent, support the proponents of democracy and human rights in Iran and will never compromise on any issue that is against their interest.

But words are not enough. As Reza Pahlavi has also said, "it is needed to actively look for practical ways of making those words and messages actually make a difference on the ground". While we (and hopefully you also) look for ways to make that difference, allow us this gesture. Not much, we know, but we expect it to be repeated far and wide.

ReWed

Alfonso and Maria got wedding-happy and so they came to Spain to celebrate once again. As far as it goes it seems they really enjoyed it this time, almost as much as the first one anyway.

I'll try to bring soon some impressive skiing crashes, featuring Alfi, Maria and Elisa, from our latest trip. And also some normal pictures; me and my influenza couldn't do better this afternoon. But there is some good material down there, or at least that's my perception so far -and that of my dripping nasal mucus.

Back in real life my Remington has been conveniently cleaned up and works and sounds even better than before. The same happens with Elisa -I mean, not that she has been cleaned up, you understand-; she is working harder and doing better by the day at the University.

And well, the world keeps spinning, with that nauseating effect now and then that is almost becoming familiar.

Later y'all.

the Remington & the Artisan

To write or not to write. That is not a question. At least not any more with my new 1929 Remington typewriter. Thanks to Elisa the old pleasures of techno-compositions and computer art are falling behind the pushing pulses of artisan work. Kiarostami, the Persian director, when talking about his movie 'Through the Olive Trees' (Zire Darakhtan Zeyton) affirms that "technology is a lie". And he is probably right; whenever means and ends are confounded, lies sprout.

This blog is already suffering the consequences of my falling for a machine that does not need no plug or battery, a delight I had almost forgotten. In fact, to typewrite on an old machine is like forcing oneself to compose on a different language, with a different rhythm and a distinctive thought flow. Something that I am enjoying so far as is marked by my latest silences on the web.

Sorry as I am for having abandoned this land of coincidental barbarians, I am more than happy with the intense work the Remington is pushing me into. But I am here no matter what; passion seems to have opened its doors to love, without chains or infatuation. And so, yes, this blog will survive the comeback of the artisan. As I must have said somewhere, that is not a question.

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photos by chema nieto

The Donkey Files

It is advised that the following documentary be viewed at ones own risk. Offsides&Bongobundos Productions declines any if at all responsibility for whatever harm that could result from the viewing of the aforementioned documentary. In fact, we wholeheartedly recommend you not to watch it. If you do watch it though -against our plea- do notice that whatever your moral, religious or historical stance it will be satirized within the film, and if not explicitly, you can consider it to be satirized, implicitly.

It is just a pity that the rushy script and the limited possibilities of both, the MovieMaker Digital -at digitalfilms.com- and my imagination -at sunrise, CE Time-, do not allow for a better representation of the original Donkey Chat Files, aka The Donkey Brief, aka A Persian Conspiracy, From Zoroaster to Jesus' Dark Years, aka El Viejo, el Burrito y los Reyes Magos.

Not having any answer yet from the BBC Feature & Documentary Release Team, here you have the featured presentation of The Donkey Files (the extended, revised and polished version of which we expect to present somewhat sooner or later).

Stupidity Theory

It was about time that I brought here the Stupidity Theory of Carlo Maria Cipolla. And no matter how interesting you may find this comment, do not miss the opportunity to read his incredibly funny and very revealing book "Allegro ma non troppo" (Happy but not by too much).

Here you have Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity:

1. Always and inevitably each of us underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

For Cipolla there is a fixed proportion of stupid individuals in any given population (be this a nation or any other group, as the American Association of Medical Doctors, a European Studies Class at SDSU or the Spanish Blogger Community: the percentage of stupid individuals is a constant, and always superior to the expected).

2. The probability that a given person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic possessed by that person.

This law adds up to the unpredictability of individual stupidity, for there is no clue with which to anticipate this trait.

3. A person is stupid if they cause damage to another person or group of people without experiencing personal gain, or even worse, causing damage to themselves in the process.

Here Cipolla comes up with a division of human behavior according to the check and balances of personal and social gain, classifying people in four different basic groups depending on the gains and losses that their actions produce, either to themselves or to others. With this, if the actions of someone produce personal gains while damaging others, this person would be defined as a Pillager. The further classification of Intelligent (personal gains and gains to others), Naive (personal losses and gains to others) and Stupid (personal losses and losses to others) are then easily understood.

4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the harmful potential of stupid people; they constantly forget that at any time anywhere, and in any circumstance, dealing with or associating themselves with stupid individuals invariably constitutes a costly error.

The main danger of stupid people is that while one can somehow predict the actions of a Pillager (he would always seek a personal benefit), one cannot predict in any way the actions of a Stupid guy, for he will be provoking damage to others for no reason and even if his action produces a damage to himself, and even more, no matter if the personal damage he is causing upon himself is greater than the damage he is provoking to others. As such, the underestimation of the harmful potential of stupid people, and specially the harmful potential of associating with stupid people, is a very dangerous one, for we will be suffering a damage for no imaginable reason.

And so, even though there is no clue whatsoever with which to anticipate the stupidity of anyone (no title, social status or physical trait can be used to anticipate whether anyone will be stupid), it is only their actions that can tell who is stupid, beyond reasonable doubt. And as the law implicitly states, this recognition must never be underestimated.

5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person there is.

A fundamental law that, even following from the precedent, can never be overestimated.

For a German translation of Cipolla's book: Amazon.com

Santiago's Memory

Santiago Carrillo is a nice old communist, actually retired from the political arena, who is known, among other feats, for being one of the very few who did not move from his seat the day lieutenant Tejero entered the Parliament, gun in hand, some-when back in the eighties.

That coup d'état was a failure, allowing the young Spanish democracy to keep evolving, if not stronger, at least... well, whatever, but definitely not stronger. Among the many other actions that could exemplify the growing political radicalization in Spain -and thus our growing democratic weaknesses-, the right winged opposition (which represents almost half of our population) is carrying on a campaign of accusations that end with the explicit theory of the left winged government conspiring to commit the 11-M Madrid bombings.

In a recent interview good old Carrillo comments on how much the actual right winged politicians resemble those of the thirties, prior to the civil war. And the truth is that we do not need to consider those similarities to perceive how the tension of our political dichotomy is spreading ever more violently through the population.

While the left winged in power keep jumping from topic to topic without any apparently clear direction -or so it seems-, the direction of the right winged opposition is way too clear; their lack of measure and absolute disrespect for the government are just side effects of their basic truth, this is, that only strength is to be respected. And coherently enough they intend to bring "law and order, through force if necessary"... an almost cool motto that cannot hide its resemblance with that of old and new dictators of any sign.

There are calls and different signs that hint at our democracy as a headless governance, or worse, as a monster of too many heads. And while the communists dream with a Republic of Everland, the King some others dream with looks more like a Dictator than as the Majesty that should head us all. I wonder if there is still hope beyond political parties and out dated ideologies; I wonder when will we be ready to get beyond the restraints of law and order so as to search, socially and individually, for justice, not just as a concept but as a personal action. But before the utopia of a common sense anarchy of sorts, the coherence of some civil movements can still play the role that democratic political parties seem to be underestimating; the role of leading for the people instead of just leading, or instead of leading for lies, chimeras or for a trademark.

Santiago Carrillo is a nice old communist who speaks to me at night and makes me wonder...