I begin with the event of this trip and the year to date. -the film The Hurt Locker which won the British Film Academy Best film award for 2010. I originally planned to see the film at a 6pm showing at the Odeon Cinema in the Tottenham Court Road because the price was reasonable at £8 compared with the £11 required for the earlier showing at the Leicester square Odeon. There are three Odeon’s adjacent to each other-. the main Odeon used for cinema Premiers and is the Premium cinema in central London with a Royal Circle Price of £20 and no concessions. The Mezzanine is a collection of small cinema showing rooms of some 50 seats each with a television size screen above and to be avoid unless there are no alternatives, and the Odeon West End which is to one side of the square overlooking the original on the day West end Theatre Ticket booth and which has not been overtaken by a dozen similar outlets between the Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus Tube stations.
I had completed my visit to the British Music Experience at the 02 Dome earlier than anticipated and decided that I did not want to find things to do until the evening so took the Underground Jubilee line to Waterloo and the Northern from there to Leicester Square. The next showing was at ten past three which gave me a good couple of hours so I had a walk about for an hour having a look at the books shops and some of side roads between the Square and Oxford Street. The great discovery is what is happening at Tottenham Court Road station which has a mixture of memories for going back to fifty years when I met friends here going to Humph’s which became the 100 club, and at least one girl friend going to the Academy Cinema. The station is being developed six times its present size as the central London nub of the new cross London link from the East with Romford and Brentwood via Farringdon, to Paddington and London Airport and on onward to Marlow and Reading Westward. This billion pound project will not be completed until 2017. The Astoria Theatre is one of the buildings compulsory purchased and demolished. Traffic is now one way down Oxford Street to Oxford Circus.
The other development noticed on the walkabout is the growth of China town into the Haymarket and the escalation in the number of places offering chair massages and acupuncture. I discovered a quiet Wetherspoons and fancied a sausage, chips and beans meal for £3.99 only to find that because of kitchen problems there was no food and the coffee machine had broken down. However on arriving back in Leicester square I found a table at the Wetherspoons next to the Odeon Mezzanine and was pleasantly surprised when the food came quickly, comprised four sausages, was warm, well presented and tasty. I devoured a half pint of Fosters and could have easily downed a full pint. Arriving at the cinema I made the mistake of accepting a seat at the rear when offered one at the front, but at least it was an aisle seat. It was sell out show with the final seats going as the film commenced including a foreign gentleman who did not want to sit in his allotted seat next to me, much, to the consternation of those in the row behind and the usherette, so I bundled him down into the seat as the film commenced.
The Hurt Locker follows the last days of a bomb disposal unit before the end of their tour of duty in Iraq. It begins with the death of the team disposal expert and follows the approach of the replacement who had a previous tour in Afghanistan before coming to Iraq making a total of 280 devices disabled. This fact is designed to emphasise his skilled ability counterbalancing his risk taking and tendency for unilateral action, breaking contact with other members of the team who travel together in a Humvee vehicle, comprising the bomb disposal technician, a communications officer who acts as driver, and a gunner who mans the machine gun mounted on top of the vehicle and as look out during the operations.
The Humvee stands for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled vehicle which has replaced the Jeep as the core vehicle in a wide range of models used by sixty countries world wide, with the UK developing its own variation. The Afghanistan government has 4000 new models in service according to Wikipedia
At one level the film is a series of action sequences, seven of which any could have made one film, developing the central characters, their back stories and hopes for the future. In the first event the original team disposal officer is killed as he comes to the end of his tour.
In the second the new man finds that in addition to the first device disabled in the dust roadway there is a second line which leads to five devices, may have been six. In the next it is a car weighed down by devices in the boot and he has difficulty in locating the detonation point
There are several horrific realities when devices go off. The padre who accompanies them to understand what it is like, is blown up by a separate device with the first a decoy.
When called to a bomb factory, they discover the gruesome body of teenage boy where the explosive device has been embedded inside his body.
In another situation a man, the father of several children,. pleads for help, imprisoned in a frame with a timer about to expire. There is insufficient time
No newsreel, or eloquent and descriptive news writer, and no other film maker before has managed to place you inside the mind and feelings of the three men or use their eyes to see what is happening. This is not just my view but the opinion of critics by the score. You experience the fear but above all their single minded courage, and their humanity, empathy with everyone around them, despite the likelihood that the next individual helped is out to kill you and willing to kill fellow citizens and themselves in the process.
My favourite critic, James Berandineli, makes the point that this film is a thriller rather than a drama but thrills in the most positive of edge of seat ways, because you believe it is real and matters without “ the glorification of violence and bloodshed.” Within the past couple of weeks I heard the Nigel Balchin story, The Small back Room, made into a radio play and features the dismantling of a device where earlier a similar one killed the friend of the research scientist who goes out to advise and record what happens and then takes the initiative to act himself. This original post war 1940’s film had audiences riveted, clapping and cheering. There were moments in the film when I felt the whole audience was with me and no one who shared the experience will be able to look a service man or woman in the eye without wanting to know that they and their families are being provided the best pay and conditions, and are able to lead the best of lives when their period of service ends.
The second point made by James is just as important. The film has no political agenda in relation to the particular war although the soldiers have deep feelings about what they do and those determined to kill them. They are trained professionals, doing a life or death job, counting the days when their tour of duty is over and they can return to families and friends before moving on to the next challenge. Fredericke and Mary Busant for Spirituality and Practice make the point that after such an experience how can anyone return to dealing with everyday tasks in the mundane world. James has a son by a girl friend who he married and then divorced. Back home they are together, if it is possible for anyone to be together with someone who has not shared the experience, she asks him to get some breakfast cereal. He stares at the long aisle of options and grabs the first that takes his fancy, disposing devices had become an easier and more meaningful experience for him. Coping with an attention demanding child will be another matter.
The third point made is while some major and established actors are mentioned, they only have bit parts and the honours go to James Renner as James the risk taking disposal technician, Anthony Mackie as Sanborn the communications officer and Brian Geraghty as Owen Eldridge the look out cover gunner who is captured and rescued but is badly injured in the leg and sent home. The Director Kathryn Bigelow should command an Oscar as should the screenplay writer, Mark Boal, who four years previously was attached to such a squad in Bagdad.
Also noted the San Francisco Herald -one of the great war films. The Miami Herald described the film as a masterpiece. The St Louis dispatch an unforgettable film and a brilliant character study. The Christian Science Monitor missed the big point by a mile when it complains that the character of the technician is glamorised as any classic Westerner. The man, and any of those engaged in the activity are heroes of the best kind. He is not there to kill which is the usual role of the soldier o Western hero, but to save life and prevent destruction by risking his own, time and time and time and time again. Compare him to Tolstoy who ends his life a hypocrite and a clown. Rolling Stone argued that the film is for those who don’t like Iraq war movies.
It was just as well that I did not pay to visit the British Music Experience at 02 Dome in North Greenwich. I first considered buying a ticket at the time of visiting the Dome for the first time since its original function. Then when visiting for the Barber, Bilk and Ball trad concert there was a special price offer of £10. The present leaflet shows £15 for adults, £12 over 60’s and children £10. Then on Thursday evening the free London Evening standard had a voucher for a £1 entry before the end of next week. I arrived early, earlier than I had planned because of good rail connections, having to run down the walkway as the train to St Pancras pulled in, The main thoroughfare was deserted on arrival not long after the place was officially opened for the day. I made my way to coffee shop close to the entrance area and invested in a gigantic cup of Americano sitting at a table as the settees were all occupied. People began arriving about 15 mins before the scheduled time of 11 am but I quickly found they ahd come for the Michael Jackson exhibition which ended on the Sunday. Such was the interest that only about half of those waiting to get in were allowed to do so, to ensure that visitors were able to make use of the interactive components. I was able to enter the exhibition free having acquired a copy of Venue, the 02 magazine which lists the restaurants and provides information on forthcoming shows at the main and side arenas and the Vue Cinema, and fortunately noted the free entry voucher.
The exhibition occupied the top floor and is divided into exhibition rooms covering a decade or part decade and which each room constructed on the same basis. There are packed displays of memorabilia, dresses, suits, instruments, record covers and programmes. It is possible to select a number of the items on display and listen to information about them. In the middle of the area there is a table like construction with what looks like four high backed chairs. These have small screens in the back rest and headphones to listen as key figures in a music style explain something about its development. On each table three styles are listed in succession, for 1945-1950‘s, they are Jazz, Skiffle and Rock and Roll. Various photos and artefacts appear on the table as well as talking heads on the screens. There is also a large whole wall screen with world and musical events, about ten a year which you can scroll and then hear information or record clips.
This is excellent as long as you are able to use as you wish which was possible for the first 15 mins as people moved in an out, until the hordes began to arise and then it was necessary to wait not in an English queue first at the controls takes control and with the tendency for people to flit about rather than engage in serious study. There was one other exhibition area off the central concourse. This housed a variety of instruments which could be played as well as voice recording studio. In the central concourse area there is a dance area where it is possible to dance following steps on screen rather like the Wii mat. There is a large map the UK where one can locate the birthplaces of well known artists and a third interactive area where audio and visual devices of yester year are displayed and there are interactive elements. Between the side areas there are large screen on which leading artists of the period perform. One bonus is seating areas. When one is ready to leave there is a departure show in which one becomes part of an arena concert complete with strobe lighting and huge screen on three sides which snatches of performances from some of the major concerts of featuring British artists. As with most exhibitions it is difficult to absorb all the information and much will only be of interest to when a person was young and took an active interest in popular music. My main interest was the display on traditional jazz which included the programme for the Riverboat trip to Margate. Why did I not have a copy? I do not remember one being available. There was also a copy of the Ken Colyer album in my collection. Participants are given a smart ticket with a unique number which enable three tunes to be downloaded free from I Tunes as well as transferring on lone recordings made at exhibits during the visit.
The exhibition is a registered charity but clearly needs an ongoing income to maintain staff and other running costs. There are two selling areas one upstairs before entering the exhibition area and one downstairs with a separate entrance However for those making the investment, a family ticket for two adults and two children is £40. I suspect they will not feel value for money or recommend to others without the free or £1 incentive. An outing to a main concert or sporting event will costs a couple in the region of £150 for tickets, food, drink and travel.
On the way to the Travel Lodge I bought a prawn and pasta salad and some grapes as well as Pan au chocolate. I discovered that one can use the blue token given the first night when I had paid by cash as a charity contribution to one of three listed in a special box near the exit. It had been a good day.
I had completed my visit to the British Music Experience at the 02 Dome earlier than anticipated and decided that I did not want to find things to do until the evening so took the Underground Jubilee line to Waterloo and the Northern from there to Leicester Square. The next showing was at ten past three which gave me a good couple of hours so I had a walk about for an hour having a look at the books shops and some of side roads between the Square and Oxford Street. The great discovery is what is happening at Tottenham Court Road station which has a mixture of memories for going back to fifty years when I met friends here going to Humph’s which became the 100 club, and at least one girl friend going to the Academy Cinema. The station is being developed six times its present size as the central London nub of the new cross London link from the East with Romford and Brentwood via Farringdon, to Paddington and London Airport and on onward to Marlow and Reading Westward. This billion pound project will not be completed until 2017. The Astoria Theatre is one of the buildings compulsory purchased and demolished. Traffic is now one way down Oxford Street to Oxford Circus.
The other development noticed on the walkabout is the growth of China town into the Haymarket and the escalation in the number of places offering chair massages and acupuncture. I discovered a quiet Wetherspoons and fancied a sausage, chips and beans meal for £3.99 only to find that because of kitchen problems there was no food and the coffee machine had broken down. However on arriving back in Leicester square I found a table at the Wetherspoons next to the Odeon Mezzanine and was pleasantly surprised when the food came quickly, comprised four sausages, was warm, well presented and tasty. I devoured a half pint of Fosters and could have easily downed a full pint. Arriving at the cinema I made the mistake of accepting a seat at the rear when offered one at the front, but at least it was an aisle seat. It was sell out show with the final seats going as the film commenced including a foreign gentleman who did not want to sit in his allotted seat next to me, much, to the consternation of those in the row behind and the usherette, so I bundled him down into the seat as the film commenced.
The Hurt Locker follows the last days of a bomb disposal unit before the end of their tour of duty in Iraq. It begins with the death of the team disposal expert and follows the approach of the replacement who had a previous tour in Afghanistan before coming to Iraq making a total of 280 devices disabled. This fact is designed to emphasise his skilled ability counterbalancing his risk taking and tendency for unilateral action, breaking contact with other members of the team who travel together in a Humvee vehicle, comprising the bomb disposal technician, a communications officer who acts as driver, and a gunner who mans the machine gun mounted on top of the vehicle and as look out during the operations.
The Humvee stands for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled vehicle which has replaced the Jeep as the core vehicle in a wide range of models used by sixty countries world wide, with the UK developing its own variation. The Afghanistan government has 4000 new models in service according to Wikipedia
At one level the film is a series of action sequences, seven of which any could have made one film, developing the central characters, their back stories and hopes for the future. In the first event the original team disposal officer is killed as he comes to the end of his tour.
In the second the new man finds that in addition to the first device disabled in the dust roadway there is a second line which leads to five devices, may have been six. In the next it is a car weighed down by devices in the boot and he has difficulty in locating the detonation point
There are several horrific realities when devices go off. The padre who accompanies them to understand what it is like, is blown up by a separate device with the first a decoy.
When called to a bomb factory, they discover the gruesome body of teenage boy where the explosive device has been embedded inside his body.
In another situation a man, the father of several children,. pleads for help, imprisoned in a frame with a timer about to expire. There is insufficient time
No newsreel, or eloquent and descriptive news writer, and no other film maker before has managed to place you inside the mind and feelings of the three men or use their eyes to see what is happening. This is not just my view but the opinion of critics by the score. You experience the fear but above all their single minded courage, and their humanity, empathy with everyone around them, despite the likelihood that the next individual helped is out to kill you and willing to kill fellow citizens and themselves in the process.
My favourite critic, James Berandineli, makes the point that this film is a thriller rather than a drama but thrills in the most positive of edge of seat ways, because you believe it is real and matters without “ the glorification of violence and bloodshed.” Within the past couple of weeks I heard the Nigel Balchin story, The Small back Room, made into a radio play and features the dismantling of a device where earlier a similar one killed the friend of the research scientist who goes out to advise and record what happens and then takes the initiative to act himself. This original post war 1940’s film had audiences riveted, clapping and cheering. There were moments in the film when I felt the whole audience was with me and no one who shared the experience will be able to look a service man or woman in the eye without wanting to know that they and their families are being provided the best pay and conditions, and are able to lead the best of lives when their period of service ends.
The second point made by James is just as important. The film has no political agenda in relation to the particular war although the soldiers have deep feelings about what they do and those determined to kill them. They are trained professionals, doing a life or death job, counting the days when their tour of duty is over and they can return to families and friends before moving on to the next challenge. Fredericke and Mary Busant for Spirituality and Practice make the point that after such an experience how can anyone return to dealing with everyday tasks in the mundane world. James has a son by a girl friend who he married and then divorced. Back home they are together, if it is possible for anyone to be together with someone who has not shared the experience, she asks him to get some breakfast cereal. He stares at the long aisle of options and grabs the first that takes his fancy, disposing devices had become an easier and more meaningful experience for him. Coping with an attention demanding child will be another matter.
The third point made is while some major and established actors are mentioned, they only have bit parts and the honours go to James Renner as James the risk taking disposal technician, Anthony Mackie as Sanborn the communications officer and Brian Geraghty as Owen Eldridge the look out cover gunner who is captured and rescued but is badly injured in the leg and sent home. The Director Kathryn Bigelow should command an Oscar as should the screenplay writer, Mark Boal, who four years previously was attached to such a squad in Bagdad.
Also noted the San Francisco Herald -one of the great war films. The Miami Herald described the film as a masterpiece. The St Louis dispatch an unforgettable film and a brilliant character study. The Christian Science Monitor missed the big point by a mile when it complains that the character of the technician is glamorised as any classic Westerner. The man, and any of those engaged in the activity are heroes of the best kind. He is not there to kill which is the usual role of the soldier o Western hero, but to save life and prevent destruction by risking his own, time and time and time and time again. Compare him to Tolstoy who ends his life a hypocrite and a clown. Rolling Stone argued that the film is for those who don’t like Iraq war movies.
It was just as well that I did not pay to visit the British Music Experience at 02 Dome in North Greenwich. I first considered buying a ticket at the time of visiting the Dome for the first time since its original function. Then when visiting for the Barber, Bilk and Ball trad concert there was a special price offer of £10. The present leaflet shows £15 for adults, £12 over 60’s and children £10. Then on Thursday evening the free London Evening standard had a voucher for a £1 entry before the end of next week. I arrived early, earlier than I had planned because of good rail connections, having to run down the walkway as the train to St Pancras pulled in, The main thoroughfare was deserted on arrival not long after the place was officially opened for the day. I made my way to coffee shop close to the entrance area and invested in a gigantic cup of Americano sitting at a table as the settees were all occupied. People began arriving about 15 mins before the scheduled time of 11 am but I quickly found they ahd come for the Michael Jackson exhibition which ended on the Sunday. Such was the interest that only about half of those waiting to get in were allowed to do so, to ensure that visitors were able to make use of the interactive components. I was able to enter the exhibition free having acquired a copy of Venue, the 02 magazine which lists the restaurants and provides information on forthcoming shows at the main and side arenas and the Vue Cinema, and fortunately noted the free entry voucher.
The exhibition occupied the top floor and is divided into exhibition rooms covering a decade or part decade and which each room constructed on the same basis. There are packed displays of memorabilia, dresses, suits, instruments, record covers and programmes. It is possible to select a number of the items on display and listen to information about them. In the middle of the area there is a table like construction with what looks like four high backed chairs. These have small screens in the back rest and headphones to listen as key figures in a music style explain something about its development. On each table three styles are listed in succession, for 1945-1950‘s, they are Jazz, Skiffle and Rock and Roll. Various photos and artefacts appear on the table as well as talking heads on the screens. There is also a large whole wall screen with world and musical events, about ten a year which you can scroll and then hear information or record clips.
This is excellent as long as you are able to use as you wish which was possible for the first 15 mins as people moved in an out, until the hordes began to arise and then it was necessary to wait not in an English queue first at the controls takes control and with the tendency for people to flit about rather than engage in serious study. There was one other exhibition area off the central concourse. This housed a variety of instruments which could be played as well as voice recording studio. In the central concourse area there is a dance area where it is possible to dance following steps on screen rather like the Wii mat. There is a large map the UK where one can locate the birthplaces of well known artists and a third interactive area where audio and visual devices of yester year are displayed and there are interactive elements. Between the side areas there are large screen on which leading artists of the period perform. One bonus is seating areas. When one is ready to leave there is a departure show in which one becomes part of an arena concert complete with strobe lighting and huge screen on three sides which snatches of performances from some of the major concerts of featuring British artists. As with most exhibitions it is difficult to absorb all the information and much will only be of interest to when a person was young and took an active interest in popular music. My main interest was the display on traditional jazz which included the programme for the Riverboat trip to Margate. Why did I not have a copy? I do not remember one being available. There was also a copy of the Ken Colyer album in my collection. Participants are given a smart ticket with a unique number which enable three tunes to be downloaded free from I Tunes as well as transferring on lone recordings made at exhibits during the visit.
The exhibition is a registered charity but clearly needs an ongoing income to maintain staff and other running costs. There are two selling areas one upstairs before entering the exhibition area and one downstairs with a separate entrance However for those making the investment, a family ticket for two adults and two children is £40. I suspect they will not feel value for money or recommend to others without the free or £1 incentive. An outing to a main concert or sporting event will costs a couple in the region of £150 for tickets, food, drink and travel.
On the way to the Travel Lodge I bought a prawn and pasta salad and some grapes as well as Pan au chocolate. I discovered that one can use the blue token given the first night when I had paid by cash as a charity contribution to one of three listed in a special box near the exit. It had been a good day.
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