'THE DUKE' MOVIE
EXPLORES A HEIST OF ART THAT WILL STEAL YOUR HEART
We are reporting from Venice Film Festival today where two of the films I wrote about before received praise this week.
THE DUKE, with
Jim Broadbent and
Helen Mirren, has aired at Bienalle this week, lauded as
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| The Duke will hit UK cinemas this November |
very moving and heartwarming, and will arrive into cinemas in November. In this fun true story, he plays a man who made the headlines in 1961 after Goya’s painting of the Duke of Wellington was stolen from the National Gallery in London.
The Roger Michell Movie Is Set
in 1961, when Kempton Bunton
(
Jim Broadbent), a 60 year old taxi driver, stole Goya's portrait of the
Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in
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| The incident was, and still is, the only art theft in National Gallery's history |
London. He sent ransom
notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the
government invested more in care for the elderly. What
 |
| Kempton's
heist was inspired by his fierce belief that war widows and old-age
pensioners should not be forced to pay the BBC licence fee. |
happened next
became the stuff of legend. An uplifting true story about a good man who
set out to change the world and managed to save his marriage.
Matthew
Goode and
Fionn Whitehead also star.
'THE FURNACE' MOVIE
DEPICTS AUSTRALIAN GOLDRUSH
Also praised this week at the Lido, was another period set movie, this time an Australian Western
THE FURNACE in which
David Wenham plays a thief who joins forces with an Afghan cameleer.
Roderick Mackay's debut
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| David Wenham and Ahmed Malek play the lead roles in The Furnace |
feature was applauded for depicting a wonderful mix of cultures in the 19th century Australia and beautiful desert landscapes vistas which dominate the movie.
What's The Story About?
Set during Western Australia's early gold rush in the 1890s, the film
revolves around an Afghan cameleer (
Ahmed Malek, thousands of
cameleers were imported by The Crown in the mid 19th century to
transport goods across the
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| The film was shot around Mount Magnet in Australia's Midwest |
inhospitable country. They developed a
kinship with the Aborigines to find better routes) and a bushman (
David
Wenham) racing to melt down gold
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| The film does not have a cinematic release date yet |
bars at a secret furnace while being
pursued by a police sergeant! The richness of different cultures and
religions in the film is seen also in the fact that the characters
speak English, Pashto and the local Yamatji Badimia language.
Quite a few to choose from. The gold rush movies are always interesting.
ReplyDeleteThey most usually are.
DeleteThe way the world treats the elderly gets me very upset. It scares me to think that it will only be worse for us when we get to those ages. Whenever my husband has to do work in the nursing homes, he comes home telling me tales that make me sick. Anyways, I'm all in on the first one!
ReplyDeleteSome cultures are really nasty towards the elderly. That being said, the elderly can often be nasty towards the society too LOL It is usually them that vote for tyrants and villains in elections.
DeleteI would choose to watch The Furnace because of the unique location of the film setting.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways the location reminds me of an The Indiana Jones movie.
Yes, with much less adventure LOL
DeleteYes, that art theft case is very famous! Looking forward to the movie!
ReplyDeleteI hear it is very lovely and positive.
DeleteMy sister used to work in a nursing home when she was training to be a nurse. Oh, the horrible stories of how those poor residents were treated still breaks my heart. I hope I die before I have to go into one. They overfill and under staff them here so residents don't get the care they need. I have a friend who has Muscular Dystrophy and is in a nursing home, but he's only in his early 50's. He's been dropped, broken bones, things stolen by the workers there. It's just awful!
ReplyDeleteDa horror! We are mostly poor here so the people who end up in homes are very rare, but during corona, for example, there wasn't a nursing or geriatrics home which wasn't highly infected, some even had all of them ill and nobody was punished.
DeleteMy mother was in a nursing home for over a year due to her multiple sclerosis. She befriended a physical therapist there that dedicated all her time to getting my mom out of there. They were the same age and bonded. I remember the day I got married, the physical therapist came to the church cried seeing my mom walk down the aisle.
ReplyDeleteTheresa's right. They are horrid places that should be burned to the ground. One story that stuck with me is this one. A woman was almost raped in the nursing home. She screamed bloody murder for help. No one came because everyone screams for help, but the maintenance man did answer her calls. He chased the guy away. After escalating this story all the way up the corporate ladder in the nursing home, she was given a cane to use to defend herself. This woman couldn't walk and was bed ridden. It is a true story because I was dating the maintenance man that went to her aide and my mother was there.
Some of the good ones work there because they are really caring persons who live to share support, care and love with others.
DeleteGot a cane, and that's all from them? Oh, lord...