Sunday, September 6, 2020

VENICE 2020: JIM BROADBENT, HELEN MIRREN SHINE IN THE DUKE ART HEIST DRAMEDY, DAVID WENHAM, AHMED MALEK IN 19TH CENTURY AUSTRALIAN WESTERN THE FURNACE

     '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
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
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
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
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
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.

12 comments:

  1. Quite a few to choose from. The gold rush movies are always interesting.

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  2. The 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!

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    1. Some 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.

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  3. I would choose to watch The Furnace because of the unique location of the film setting.

    In some ways the location reminds me of an The Indiana Jones movie.

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  4. Yes, that art theft case is very famous! Looking forward to the movie!

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  5. My 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!

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    Replies
    1. Da 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.

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  6. My 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.

    Theresa'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.

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    Replies
    1. Some of the good ones work there because they are really caring persons who live to share support, care and love with others.
      Got a cane, and that's all from them? Oh, lord...

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