Author: Connie Wilson Page 10 of 161

Biographical Information

Connie (Corcoran) Wilson graduated from the University of Iowa and earned a Master’s degree from Western Illinois University, with additional study at Northern Illinois, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Chicago. She taught writing at six Iowa/Illinois colleges and wrote for five newspapers and 7 blogs. Her stories and interviews have appeared online and in print and her work has won prizes from “Whim’s Place Flash Fiction," “Writer’s Digest” (Screenplay), E-Lit award for 3 works, Illinois Women's Press Association Silver Feather awards, Pinnacle award (NABE) and recommendations for the Bram Stoker award. She is the author of 4 nonfiction published books, 4 short story collections, 1 novel and there are 2 novels ready for publication (the trilogy beginning with "The Color of Evil.") She reviewed film and books for the Quad City Times (Davenport, Iowa) for 12 years and wrote humor columns and conducted interviews for the (Moline, Illinois) Daily Dispatch.

“Lions of Mesopotamia” World Premieres at SXSW 2024

By Connie Wilson

On March 9, 2024

In Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Pop Culture, Texas

Director of “Lions of Mesopotamia,” Lucian Read, one of the very best—if not THE best— documentaries at SXSW 2024.

One of the more riveting World Premieres of a documentary at SXSW was “Lions of Mesopotamia,” directed by Lucian Read. The film screened on Saturday, March 9^th, at 7:15 at SXSW. It outlines the victory of the Iraqi National Soccer Team at the Asia Cup in 2007, a win over Saudi, Arabia.

THE GOOD

More importantly, the win is referred to as “the Miracle of 2007.” It was definitely on a par with the U.S. hockey team Miracle on Ice victory over Russia in 1980. That was a tremendous and unexpected sports victory, but it didn’t take place against the backdrop of both an 8-long war (between Iran and Iraq) nor the March 20, 2003 invasion of Baghdad by George W. Bush. Civil insurrection then befell the war-torn country.

Iraqi National Team members, 2007.

Players from the original team speak about the overthrow of Saddam Hussein as we see the effect of the U.S. bombing (“Shock and awe”) of Baghdad. As the President of Jupiter Entertainment, which produced the film, Patrick Reardon said of the Iraqi team’s defeat of Saudi, Arabia in the Asia Cup Finals, “It’s quite possibly the most incredible heartfelt sports story that very few know.”

The players themselves describe how football (soccer) was “an escape in life for the Iraqi people.” As one commentator says, “Other than that, what else is there to make the Iraqi people happy?” One player describes how, after sanctions were imposed on the country by the U.S., he and his family had, literally, only one shirt to wear. It was worn by the player to his practices, by his sister to work, etc. It was the only shirt they owned. He says, simply, “Football was all I had…We were sanctioned, tormented and starving.”

There is some history of the vicious treatment of the national team members by Saddam Hussein’s son, Uday, who once made the team play soccer with a ball made of concrete, as punishment for not winning. The players describe receiving 10 lashes for a bad pass, 20 lashes for a yellow flag, being locked in “the red room” if their play was not up to the dictator’s standards.

Bombing of Baghdad, 2003.

Mashat Akram, a mid-fielder, is quoted, as are other players like Arwa Damon, Hawar Mullah Mohammed and their revered coach, Ammo Baba— a national figure in the sport who begged the occupying U.S. forces to give the country back its soccer field. The field had become a parking lot for U.S. tanks. U.S. envoy J. Paul Bremer did return the use of the soccer field to the Iraqi players. The result was a national team made up of Sunni, Shia and Kurdish players, the sons of sworn enemies battling in a bloody war, uniting their country in its darkest hour.

As the players relate, they were initially happy to see Saddam’s regime fall: “We wanted freedom, but we lost security.” Chaos reigned in the city, with blatant kidnappings, especially of soccer idols. Many players left the country as a result, but the team that was put together at the last minute and had only about 16 days to prepare under a new coach (he was only given a 40 day contract) felt that: “We all believed that the team was a symbol that the nation could follow.” After the regime fell, sectarian violence broke out in a civil war that caused the deaths of many. The players were almost ready to stop playing, due to the violence that occurred during celebrations of their victories. A mother who had lost a young son to violence sent the message, “I will not accept condolences for my son until the Iraqi team brings the cup home.”

That spurred the team on to victory. It reminded Iraqis that they are better together than apart. As one former player said, “The goal sparked joy in wounded Iraq.”

THE BAD

Tearing down of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003.

There really is no “bad” to point out. It’s a tremendous film, emotional and inspiring. The footage of the fall of Baghdad is historic, including the infamous pulling down of the statue of Saddam Hussein. Eleven soccer players came together to heal their country when diplomats could not achieve unity.

Special mention should be made of the music (Mark Bartels and Jace Blayton), an underlying current of tension, culminating in a rap song that is part in English, part in the native tongue. The ending with a participant breaking down in tears over the import of the Asia Cup historic win is touching. The cinematographer (Adam Carboni) and editor (Lucas Harger) have done a great job in helping bring Director Lucian Read’s little-known story to the screen.

CONCLUSION

See “Lions of Mesopotamia” when it inevitably sells to a streaming service. It’s great! If you’re also a soccer fan, you’ll enjoy it even more. The historic significance should not be downplayed. It shows how George W. Bush’s decision to take us to war on two fronts during his terms in office did not help the U.S. win friends and influence people. As one participant says, “It’s horribly painful what’s happening in this country.” Many lessons can be learned about the need to stand united as a people, and not allow any country to devolve into destructive sectarian violence.

“Secret Mall Apartment” World Premieres @ SXSW 2024

By Connie Wilson

On March 9, 2024

In Uncategorized

Director Jeremy Workman.

Jeremy Workman, the filmmaker responsible for the Grand Prize Winner for Best Documentary at SXSW in 2021 with “Lily Topples the World” (now streaming on MAX) returns to SXSW 2024 with “Secret Mall Apartment.” His 2018 documentary “The World Before Your Feet” about Matt Green’s nomadic journey through New York City was interesting and eccentric. This third film, executive produced by Jesse Eisenberg, lives up to the last two, both of which were interesting and well-done.

How Jeremy lands on such unique projects would be an interesting question. How did he learn about the 8 Rhode Island young people—all artists—who found a forgotten 750 square foot space within a 3 and ½ million square foot mall? How did the young friends manage to turn it into a dusty living space/clubhouse that they occupied undetected for four years?

In the press notes, Workman notes that he learned of the project in Athens, Greece, while talking to an interesting fellow who turned out to be the Secret Mall Apartment Mastermind Michael Townsend. Until now, only Michael Townsend’s name had been attached to the secret mall apartment, but now the other participants emerge. They are an interesting, extremely well-educated, intelligent group that we can only hope represent the youth of 2003, now grown to middle age.

BACKGROUND

Providence Place Mall.

The news that Providence, Rhode Island was going to build a mega-mall was not well-received by many of the locals. The feeling was that the mall had been built for rich people and the money it cost could have been used to help improve and restore the less-well-off sections of the city. There were well-publicized fights to “save Eagle Square” and headlines like “Artists Fight to Hold the Fort,” meaning Fort Thunder, where artists and young people had settled.

Most of those artists and many others found themselves losing their space when gentrification and the mall project purchased their neighborhoods cheaply. The mall was not even designed with any entrances to the East, where minorities and others lived. The August, 1999 opening was not celebrated with joy, but with much resentment from many of the city’s residents.

Providence Place Mall.

Of the 8 artists who joined Michael Townsend in infiltrating the mall and creating their own club house space, none had their names revealed at the time of the discovery of the underground project in 2007. The mall opened in August of 1999. Adrianne Valdez Young, Michael’s wife at the time, says that she first suggested trying to turn the odd space into a sort of silent protest against what had happened to them and many other citizens of Providence in the wake of big developers. But it was definitely Michael Townsend who was the creative spark and visionary that held the troupe together and directed its progress.

When the group was finally discovered, in 2007, four years after they first began making the secret mall apartment, only Michael received any jail time. He spent one night in jail, was given 6 months probation, and told to pay court costs and restitution fees. Michael brought about his own downfall when he took a friend to the secret room during daylight hours, a strict no-no.

MALL MISCREANTS

Michael Townsend and his 7 secret mall apartment friends.

The Mall Rats, Michael Townsend, ringleader, on far right.The other members of the troupe who helped smuggle 4,000 to 5,000 pounds of cinder block into the location in order to build a wall and carried furniture up a steep staircase to render it habitable followed Michael. They were Colin Bliss, James J.A. Mercer, Andrew Oesch, Greta Scheing, Jay Zehngebot and Emily Ustach. (And, of course, Andrea and Michael).

They called the 750 square feet forgotten area “the nowhere space” and described it as “totally Tomb Raider.” In order to get electricity, they used an extension cord that had to be dropped to the first floor. The space was incredibly dark, cold in the winter and hot in the summer, with dusty concrete walls that the team put up themselves. They filmed themselves undertaking this difficult and illegal project with a low-resolution Pentax camera small enough to fit in an Altoids tin can.

Why? How?

RINGLEADER

The secret mall apartment.

The why can be answered by looking closely at ring-leader Michael Townsend. The child of a military family who moved to 8 different places before the age of 7 (starting with Vista, California 1971-1975) Michael is “all about involving people in a collaborative process of art.” Michael is the kind of young man that you hope your son will grow up to be—although perhaps with a better-paying day job. His philosophy? “You have an opportunity to use the skills that you have to do something good.” The projects for good that Michael instigated included working for 15 years for Special Care, a facility with 14 autism cases and many cerebral palsy victims. Michael’s special kind of art could be used therapeutically.

MICHAEL’S ART

What special kind of art? Something called “tape art,” which uses colored tape to create pictures on walls of the children’s hospital rooms. Michael also organized the Secret Mall Apartment team to go to Oklahoma City to create an Optimism Mural on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. He and his fellow artists also conducted a 5-year project to memorialize the first responders and police and firefighters who died on 9/11. An early project that he constructed beneath a city bridge involved mannequins suspended by wire(s), most of the dummies reclining on couch-like furniture. The installation was so well-hidden that one admirer shared that she spent a long time trying to find her way to it through various underground tunnels and sewers, without success. In other words, nearly all of Michael’s art work is transient and impermanent.

Michael Townsend, Secret Mall Apartment Mastermind.

Michael Townsend from Secret Mall Apartment.

Michael’s brother, Brady, shared that Michael was always a creative soul who wanted to make art, teach art, have a positive effect on other people through art. To Michael, life is art and art is life. Said Michael, “For me, there’s no line between life and art.” When a friend is asked to describe Michael, she said, “He is a creative mind trying to express itself in every possible way.”

The interviewer responded, “Isn’t that art?” An astute observation.

Another thing that comes through loud and clear regarding Michael is that he has an amazing sense of humor. A very articulate young person, he is shown addressing the Providence city council about their plans to build the mall at the very outset. Later, when the mall clubhouse exists, he remarks that a “gigantic achievement” would be if they could find a way to get mail inside the mall. Then the unnecessary junk mail sent to him FROM the mall could be sent TO the mall. This is manageable, because there is a mail drop service within the huge structure.

HOW DID THEY DO IT?

Moving furniture up the stairs to the secret mall apartment.

Secret Mall Apartment, SXSW, 2024.

The contortions and lengths to which the team went to (a) fix up the space and (b) avoid detection while fixing and utilizing the space are interesting and amusing. One way to gain access to their haven was through a first-floor bathroom and a small tunnel. Transporting the 72 cinder blocks into the space is documented. A “private entrance” was used but the team had to shimmy under a wire fence, and used milk bottles to ostensibly keep from being cut up by the wire on the bottom of the fence. When they were once accosted by mall guards (due to alarms going off (“a psychological deterrent, but apparently nothing else”) they said their excuses prevailed because “we were surrounded by the shield of white privilege.” Watching the male members of the troupe carry various pieces of furniture up the steep stairs in order to have a couch, a table and chairs, a breakfront, and even a waffle-maker was funny, but also astounding.

Entering the Secret Mall Apartment via the 1st floor bathroom

Secret Mall Apartment at SXSW 2024.

Secret Mall Apartment entry for cinder block project.

Secret Mall Apartment, 2024 SXS

Michael feels no sense of “stealing” anything from the mall, because, as he says, within “the belly of the beast” the troupe were like “a barnacle on a whale,” not hurting it in any way. The owners of the mall might feel differently and consider that debatable. They banned Michael from the mall in perpetuity.

The real kicker to this four-year-long weird saga of protest and refuge that the space represented is that the mall, like many others in the country following the pandemic, nearly defaulted on its payments in 2022. As a result of their financial difficulties, the owners of the mall are considering retooling the gargantuan monster mall into residential spaces.

What an ironic ending to a terrific film! Try it; you’ll like it.

“An Army of Women” Profiles Sexual Assault in Austin, Texas on SXSW Opening Night

By Connie Wilson

On March 8, 2024

In Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Movies, Politics, Pop Culture, Reviews, Texas

Director of “An Army of Women” Julie Lunde Lillesaeter.

Norwegian director Julie Lillesaeter has directed a documentary about 3 Austin (Texas) women attempting to seek justice for their rapes or sexual assaults. Ultimately, the 3—Amy, Marina, and Hanna—join 12 other women in a groundbreaking federal class-action lawsuit. It is the first lawsuit to argue that sexual assault isn’t prosecuted enough, primarily because it is a crime that predominantly affects women. The plaintiffs also made clear that they were frequently not believed, despite proof that one perpetrator went on to assault 5 other people after raping one of the victims.

Three, in particular are highlighted: including Mary Reyes and Marina Garrett. Lawyers Jennifer Ecklund and Elizabeth Myers charged, in the original 2018 lawsuit, violations of survivors’ Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The women are shown addressing the Austin City Council about the failure to prosecute their cases in a timely fashion. One of the women had been fighting for justice for 15 years, since 2008. Their rallying cry: “We’re here to force change in a system that seems to be incontrovertibly broken.”

At the time, Norwegian director Julie Lunde Lillesaeter was living in Austin. It was 2019. She told Sarah Marloff (Austin Chronicle) “I was really shocked. I was naively thinking that when assaults happen, there’s a system in place to handle it properly, and make sure it doesn’t happen again. :When I learned about the lawsuit, I realized the system is really failing spectacularly. And there doesn’t seem like anyone in charge wants to fix it.”

THE GOOD

Lillesaeter felt the cause was worthwhile and that the David versus Goliath elements would spark European interest. She said, “I think it’s really hopeful, as serious as it is. It’s a sort of a story that show you can change systems. Even if it’s an Austin story, it feels very relevant no matter where you are.” The documentary has already sold in Germany, France and the Scandinavian countries.

Ultimately, the women persist and change the system, winning these concessions:

Enhanced training for police department and prosecutors.
Adding staff to the Austin Police Department sex crimes unit.
Notification of survivors about progress in ongoing cases.
Creation of a soft interview room.
Releasing data to the public about cases involving sexual assault.
Survivor involvement in policy decisions.

Each plaintiff in the case got $75,000 with $100,000 toward legal fees, and $4,670,000 was assigned for policy improvements.

The women’s group also targeted then District Attorney Margaret Moore and helped elect current Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza (who is currently running for re-election.)

THE BAD

“An Army of Women” at SXSW highlights failures in the Austin, Texas, system for prosecuting sex offenders.

The film is slow-moving. It primarily takes place in courtrooms and the 84 minutes move very slowly. Since that is the point of the lawsuit, perhaps that is appropriate.

When one of the women, Marina, was awarded $20,000 after years of struggle in courtrooms, she seemed extremely excited about how much money she would be receiving. Marina’s story involved her drinking on 6^th Street and being dragged into an alley and raped against her will. She said that the police did not believe her.

Even one of the lawyers said that she felt the amount ultimately awarded Marina was “pretty disappointing from a messaging standpoint,” despite the fact that Marina was exulting, saying, “I am so excited about the settlement.”

It seems clear that the Austin Police Department fell down on the job. The plaintiffs had high hopes that the new Travis County District Attorney (Jose Garza) would be a better listener and would do more in office to prosecute sexual assault than his female predecessor had done. (Recent ads during this primary election season run by Garza’s Republican opponents suggest failure(s) on Garza’s part in this department, but that would be standard operating procedure in elections.)

One of the plaintiffs (Hanna Senko) used a pseudonym at the outset of the film, calling herself Amy Smith, Victim #1. By the end of the film, she is willing to use her real name. Her case involved being drugged and date-raped by a man she knew. Difficult to know what the reasoning was for initially concealing her true identity. Marina Garrett, by contrast, began advocating for change back in 2016 when the city’s rape kit backlog made headlines. Several members of the Austin City Council also apologized to the women for how they had been not been believed and how long it had taken for justice to be achieved. Receiving an apology from the city was important to the women plaintiffs.

CONCLUSION

One reason the film seemed so long is that the subject matter is unwieldy. As Director Lillesaeter acknowledged, shaping the story into a concise narrative was a challenge. She said, “There’s so much more that could have been said…When you make a film like this, you have to make choices.”

It’s an important fight and it took too long a time for the long-suffering women to triumph, but the pace of this film also took too long a time.

“7 Beats Per Minute” At SXSW on March 8th, 2024: Cinematically Gorgeous

By Connie Wilson

On March 8, 2024

In Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews

7 Beats Per Minute (Canada)

The documentary “7 Beats Per Minute,” helmed by Canadian/Chinese/Mongol director Yuqi Kang screened at SXSW on March 8^th, Friday. The director of “A Little Wisdom,” which was named the Best Canadian Feature and is available on Amazon Prime, has done a cinematically gorgeous job with this World Premiere.

The documentary tracks Chinese freediver Jessea Lu (Lu Wenjie) as she attempts to break the world record in freediving. Jessea Lu has won 15 Gold Medals in international competition. She seems to have a compulsion to go deeper and force herself “so close to death and close to the abyss.” Freediving seems less a sport than a compulsion to risk death. Jessea Lu trains herself to hold her breath for long periods of time and, during her world dive attempt, blacks out and is unconscious for nearly 8 minutes after reaching the surface. Her near-death experience causes her to return to the scene of what she later refers to as her “rebirth” in the Bahamas at the Blue Hole.

Every frame of this story of freedivers is like a stroll through a world class exhibit of paintings/photographs. The gorgeous cinematography is by a team of cinematographers (including underwater photography) supervised by Kalina Bertin and Alex Lampron. Filmmaker Yugi Kang followed Jessea Lu for five years. They became close. Yuqi seems to be trying to get Jessea Lu to answer the question, “What is this need to go deeper?”Jessea Lu’s near-death experience causes her to return to the scene of what she later refers to as her “rebirth” in the Bahamas at the Blue Hole.

THE GOOD

“7 Beats Per Minute” at SXSW.

The images in this documentary are phenomenally beautiful. They are absolutely striking. Whether it is Jessea Lu standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean or the moon through a dark, cloudy sky, every image is beautifully shot and framed. Visually, it is a gorgeous film. The original music (Frannie Holder, Mario Sevigny, Lauren Belec) and sound design (Sasha Ratcliffe) contribute to the film’s appeal with whale-like noises.

The question of what compels Jessea Lu to dive ever deeper is answered somewhat by her response that she feels the existence of herself shrinking when in the water. In the water she feels safe and content. She especially feels that way when surrounded by the safety divers who accompany a freediver to the surface. These safety divers saved her life in 2018 at the Blue Hole in the Bahamas.

THE BAD

There are characters who wander into frame and speak. There is no identification of who “Francesca” is. “Kirk” is onscreen making several questionable pronouncements, yet not really very well identified, either. We eventually figure out that Kirk runs the school to train safety divers.

Kirk makes several remarks that seem tenuous at best.

For one, he says that the critical point of hypoxia is getting to the surface, but, because of the safety divers, “it’s not having to worry about your safety.”

WHAT?

Just a few minutes later the dialogue onscreen (subtitles) remarks that “the tension is heavy and contagious” and that “fear is magnified.” Another Kirk pronouncement is “It’s absolutely a mental game.” I would agree that the diver’s mental state contributes to success or failure, but not breathing is much more a physical game than a mental game. The body fights for oxygen. During a deep dive like these, the diver feels that he/she is suffocating. That is physical, and not a “game” at all.

So, the gorgeous photography is breathtakingly beautiful. The attention to the details of who is speaking at any given moment: less impressive.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL

Jessea Lu and Yuqi Kang in “7 Beats Per Minute” at SXSW on March 8, 2024.

Naturally, the near-death dive in 2018 is the climactic high point of the film, providing its most dramatic moments. I found it odd that, after Jessea Lu nearly dies during her attempt at breaking the world record and lies there, on deck, unconscious for nearly 8 minutes, the film later shows the team celebrating that day as her “rebirth.”

Jessea Lu even changed her birth date on her social media platforms to reflect the day she almost died in the Bahamas. Jessea Lu operates much differently than I do in memorializing days when bad things happened to her. I have blocked out the exact dates of my parents’ deaths, because it is so painful to remember. Jessea Lu has embraced the date on which she almost died and celebrates it. We can argue that she DID live and, therefore, it is a happy day for her, but is it really?

Because Yuqi, the filmmaker, is constantly probing to find out what makes Jessea Lu tick, we learn much, much more about her potential motives for freediving. Jessea Lu recounts a first suicide attempt at the age of six.

Her mother and father split when she was young. Her mother told Jessea Lu when she was eight, that she would be better off if Jessea Lu were dead. Words that describe Jessea Lu are “lonely” and “heartbroken.” Jessea Lu says “I was always miserable growing up.” She describes verbal and physical attacks as a youngster and received no physical intimacy from her mother in the form of hugs, etc. Keep in mind that Jessea Lu is the product of China’s “one child” policy years, when boys were much preferred. Jessea Lu is describing a broken soul. She wants and needs someone to fill that void from her childhood. She wants to be able to do whatever she wants to do with someone 100% devoted to protecting her life.

It is this deep desire for autonomy, plus someone checking on her, someone in her corner, that motivates Jessea Lu. She convinces filmmaker Yuqi Kang to become her safety diver and dive with her in an out-of-the-way spot near the Blue Hole, out of competition. Yuqi will later question whether a line has been crossed between director and subject, saying, “I’m here to support you, but at some point it becomes too much.” The tone of voice reveals that there is (as we say in the U.S.) “trouble in River City.”

Much of the conflict within the film focuses on the relationship between the diver (Jessea Lu) and the filmmaker (Yuqi Kang). Yuqi says, “Perhaps I have become an intruder, emotionally stuck in a dark place…I feel stuck, but I move forward with Jessea Lu because we are a team.”

CONCLUSION

The film is so beautiful in its gorgeous imagery that the question of Jessea Lu’s emotional status doesn’t immediately emerge. We see Jessea Lu presented as a national TV star on Go Fighting, which is streamed to 10 million Chinese viewers, and celebrates Jessea Lu’s status as a Freediving Goddess.

Jessea Lu says that her goal in freediving (which she did not take up as a sport until the age of 30) is “to help myself have a more enjoyable life.” To survive her early psychological abuse, she learned to focus on surviving and not allowing her mother’s hurtful remarks to damage her—(although it obviously has). Yuqi has followed Jessea Lu’s exploits for 5 years. (It would be interesting to see whether the duo still have a friendship/partnership in 5 years’ time and, if so, what it is like.)

At film’s end, Jessea Lu (who says she has not seen her family members back in Changzhou, China for years) receives a message from her mother that acknowledge that “home should not be a war zone.” Jessea Lu has a PhD in Pharmacology, but she seems to need a Significant Other in her life. She lays out “20 years of the struggle in my heart” and frightens us with talk of how the ocean, like the amniotic fluid that sustains a child before birth, might be “beckoning forgotten children to return.”

But, by film’s end, she expresses a desire to “connect to the force of life,” to let “the natural flow of life force” dominate her future.

We wish her well as this outstanding 1 hour and 40 minute documentary concludes.

“Tired of Winning” by Jonathan Karl Tells It Like It Is

By Connie Wilson

On February 19, 2024

In Books, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, News, Politics

Excerpts from “Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party,” by Jonathan Karl of ABC News:

Jonathan Karl of ABC News

“He lacks any shred of human decency, humility, or caring,” a former White House official wrote of Trump, the man he had served for more than a year. “He is morally bankrupt, breathtakingly dishonest, lethally incompetent, and stunningly ignorant of virtually anything related to governing, history, geography, human events or world affairs. He is a traitor and a malignancy in our nation and represents a clear and present danger to our democracy and the rule of law.” (p. 263, Jonathan Karl, CBS Political Affairs Reporter)

“Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party” by Jonathan Karl of ABC News.

“Two and a half years after January 6th, the man whom many of the rioters said was ultimately responsible for the carnage seemed on the way to finally being held accountable…He faces a maximum of 55 years in prison—the maximum in the documents case is higher—but because Trump stands accused of betraying the very oath of office he hopes to take once again. The charges include defrauding the United States and depriving Americans of their right to have their votes count—a right central to the meaning of democracy.” (p. 269)

“President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it.” (Mitch McConnell on Feb. 13, 2021.)

“Remnants of the Trump era will be a strange reminder of how Trump operated—his disregard for history and for the law—in this case, the Presidential Records Act of 1978—says that official presidential records are the property of the American people, not of any individual, not even a president. Trump destroyed some of them, others he took home to Mar-a-Lago as if they were personal souvenirs of his time as commander in chief. Fortunately for future historians—and current criminal investigators—many of the documents he attempted to pilfer were returned, and many of those he tried to destroy were gathered, taped back together, and preserved by government employees attempting to comply with a law their boss had no intention of following.” (p. 272).

The MITT ROMNEY IS A TOTAL LOSER napkin: “One of the more unusual documents now under seal at the National Archives is a paper napkin from Air Force One. The napkin—the existence of which has never been made public—is hardly a state secret, but it reveals much more than the words written on it by Donald Trump with a Black sharpie: MITT ROMNEY IS A TOTAL LOSER.” We don’t know the exact content of this presidential musing—or even the date it was retrieved—or why Trump chose to scrawl those words on a napkin. Did he write it after Romney became the only Republican to vote to convict him in his first impeachment trial? Or when Romney became one of seven Republicans to vote to impeach him in his second impeachment trial? Or maybe it was after Romney and his wife, Ann, congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on winning the 2020 election. “We know both of them as people of good will and admirable character,” Senator Romney said in a statement issued minutes after Biden and Harris were projected as winners of the election. “We pray that God may bless them in the days and years ahead.”

Trump had called Romney a loser many times, but the context of the words scrawled on the napkin—TOTAL LOSER—were different than those he blurted out on Twitter or during speeches. The napkin was a private note, probably one he had written to himself, and an indication Trump had Romney on his mind, and perhaps a reflection of the obsession with the man who won the Republican nomination four years before Trump did. Of course, the note wasn’t completely wrong—Romney, like Trump, was a loser. Both men had lost a presidential election. But, unlike Trump, Romney took his loss with grace and dignity. He did what Trump would never do. He congratulated his opponent—Barack Obama—and put the country above himself, offering words of support to the man who had defeated him.

Sam Houston, 1859–1861

SAM HOUSTON STORY: Sam Houston, the former Governor of Tennessee, battlefield hero, and founding father of Texas independence. Houston was the first president of the Independent Republic of Texas, the first senator from the state of Texas and one of the most independent, unique, popular, forceful and dramatic individuals ever to enter the Senate chamber. Houston put all of that on the line beginning with a vote he took in the Senate in 1854 against what would become the Kansas-Nebraska Act. To Houston’s fellow Democrats, it was a must-pass bill, a test of Southern unity and survival. Houston saw the bill for what it was—a way to reopen the the issue of expanding slavery that would set America on a path to civil war. Not a single Senate Democrat joined him in voting against it...His stand against Southern secession was so forceful, Houston received a few votes to be Abraham Lincoln’s vice president. He traveled around his state to make what had become a very unpopular case for Texas to remain in the Union. While he was campaigning in the city of Waco, a bomb exploded behind the hotel he was staying in—an unsuccessful attempt to either kill or intimidate him. He survived the bombing, but he lost the battle. And when Texas officially seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy, Houston was once again defeated, removed from office after he refused to take the oath of the new Confederate state of Texas. Sam Houston was far from perfect, but at the end of his life, he stood up to the madness of his own party—and the madness of his own constituents. Despite the steep personal price he paid, his place in history was secure—and it started with a vote, an act of political courage—made inside the Senate Chamber.” (p. 279).

“Trump’s betrayal shows just how vulnerable our democracy is and how much it depends on people who are in positions of responsibility to act responsibly.” (p. 281).

“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed (January 6th) was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” (Liz Cheney, R, Wyoming, while heading the January 6th Commission.) (p. 285).

Of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump the second time, the vote of Representative Tom Rice of South Carolina to impeach was among the most surprising. Rice’s reason for voting to impeach, articulated in Jonathan Karl’s book: “When Trump watched the Capitol, the People’s House, being sacked, when he watched the Capitol Police officers being beaten for those three or four hours and he lifted not one finger or did one thing to stop it—I was livid then and I’m livid today about it.” (p. 285)

How DJT Was Groomed By Russia; The Tragic End of Alexei Navalny

By Connie Wilson

On February 17, 2024

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Uncategorized

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXSVsfARLdk

“Suncoast” Screens at Sundance 2024

By Connie Wilson

On February 9, 2024

In Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews

“Suncoast’s” writer/director, Laura Chinn, had a brother, Max, who suffered from cancer. He ended up in the same hospice facility as Terri Schiavo, who died in 2005, and Ms. Chinn, in her directorial debut, dedicated the film to her late brother.

“Suncoast” was the first of the eight Sundance films I watched. It held particular significance for me, because I had also used the Terri Schiavo case as a plot background for the third novel in my series “The Color of Evil.” As such, I had to look up all the particulars of this “right to life” case that stretched from 1998 to 2005. Terri, who cardiac arrested at age 26, ended up in the hospice facility in Pinellas Park, Florida and the entire drama played out on the national scene with 14 different court cases and judgments involved, going all the way up to the President of the United States (George W. Bush).

THE GOOD

Suncoast

The best thing about the largely autobiographical story was the acting. Laura Linney portrays Kristine, the mother of Nico Parker. Woody Harrelson has a role as an activist who is protesting attempts to remove the feeding tube of the brain dead Schiavo. There were 14 different court actions and many protests in the streets outside the facility.

The acting by all concerned is excellent. Nico Parker, who portrayed Pedro Pascal’s daughter Sarah in “the Last of Us,” won the film the Sundance U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance. She was extraordinary amongst an outstanding cast.

In addition to the euthanasia/right to die theme, the film does a good job of portraying the difficulties that beset lead Nico Parker as Doris, when she attempt to live the life of a normal teenager. Her mother (Laura Linney) seems to expect more from the teenager in terms of caring for her invalid brother. Doris (Nico Parker) is simply trying hard to have a more balanced, normal teenage experience in the midst of terrible tragedy. The film is a real tear-jerker.

THE BAD

Laura Linney.

The character portrayed by Laura Linney comes off as very authoritarian and somewhat manipulative, especially when she tells her daughter that her brother is dying that very night at a time when the young girl is at a party that resembles Prom. Of course this brings out the sister’s guilt and she rushes to the hospice, only to learn that her mother overstated the situation. Later, her mother apologizes, but it is a really insensitive and unloving thing for her mother (Kristine) to have done. Only a truly great actress could have made this character halfway human, as her behavior in regards to her healthy daughter seemed extremely destructive at times.

Woody Harrelson’s character of Paul Warren was similarly negative at times. His entire character seemed extraneous, to me, added simply to beef up a plot theme. Most of us who have daughters in this age range would warn our teenaged daughters about associating with a strange guy who shows up at a hospice as a protester. It’s the old “danger/stranger” thing. It didn’t make much sense that, when Kristine (Laura Linney) learns about the random friendship that has sprung up between her underage daughter and this stranger from out of town, she doesn’t inquire further and warn Doris about being too trusting of the stranger. I found the brief scene in the restaurant where Doris introduces her mother to Paul to be strange and unrealistic (and wanted the two to interact).

Other reviews have bemoaned the opportunity to put two such fine actors onscreen at the same time. Having met Laura Linney in Chicago the year (2007) she and Philip Seymour Hoffman co-starred in “The Savages” I agree that finding a way to have these two talents share the screen and exchange dialogue would have been a welcome addition to the plot (and probably would have improved the dialogue). On the bright side, there is a great scene where the police insist that Kristine must move along in her car. Linney was great during this exchange, but the writing elsewhere was not as good as the actors saying the lines. The cast really saved the film at many points.

The thing that detracts from the film, of course, is the entire downer theme. It’s a solemn, serious topic, sensitively treated and could serve as a good lesson in what not to do for a parent who finds himself or herself in this extremely difficult situation (while raising one healthy teenaged child while caring for a terminally ill teenager.) It is precisely this horrible predicament that keeps us from totally turning on the Laura Linney character of Kristine. Without an outstanding actress like Laura Linney in the part, the characterization of the mother could have come off much more poorly.

CONCLUSION

It was an impressive Sundance debut directorial debut for the fledgling director and newcomer Nico Parker, daughter of Thandie Newton, did a fine job as the lead actress, with able support from Laura Linney and Woody Harrelson. There are several excellent supporting performances from the young actors/actresses portraying her school friends as well. “Suncoast” begins streaming on Hulu on February 9th, Friday. It’s a tear-jerker but a well-done one.

“Porcelain War” Is Documentary Grand Jury Winner at Sundance, 2024

By Connie Wilson

On February 5, 2024

In Local, Movies, Music, News, Politics, Reviews

“Porcelain War” won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance 2024 and added to the ever-proliferating number of documentaries that are coming out of the horrific Russia/Ukraine War. The front-runner for an Oscar in the upcoming Academy Awards is “20 Days in Mariupol” from Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov. The “Porcelain War” is a joint project from Brendan Bellomo of the United States and Slava Leontyev, shooting inside Ukraine. Close friend Andrey Stefanov served as cameraman for the sequences within Ukraine and he and Slava deserve great admiration for their courage and resolve under pressure.

Having just seen “20 Days at Mariupol,” comparisons, for me, were inescapable. Plus, I am currently mid-way through a course at the University of Texas that traces Putin’s rise to power, leading to today’s invasion of Ukraine and the war that has dragged on since February 2022.

Both films show the “before” and “after” of a beautiful country now reduced to rubble. In the case of Mariupol (available on most major platforms and a “must see”) we see the city of Mariupol before it is totally ravaged by the Russians. The Writer/Director of “20 Days at Mariupol,” a Ukrainian AP reporter, chose to stay on with the troops and depict the true horrors of those left behind, including the young boy who was shooting baskets outdoors when a missile blew off his legs, ultimately killing him. The blood and grief mirror the scenes in Gaza that are horrifying in their brutality.

“Porcelain War” uses the metaphor of porcelain, which, as the film drives home relentlessly is this:

“Ukraine is like porcelain — easy to break, but impossible to destroy.”

This is because the Ukrainian participants we become acquainted with are artists who work in porcelain.

The United States director, Brendan Bellomo, won a student Academy Award when he was a student at NYU and his expertise is quite evident here.

THE BAD

Cast of “Porcelain War,” including co-directors (front) and Frodo, the dog..

For me, it is the very slickness of the porcelain metaphor and the well-done visual effects in “Porcelain War” that detract when compared with the effect that the raw footage of “20 Days in Mariupol” evokes. There is somewhat a looking away from the horrors of war a bit more in “Porcelain War” than in the shorter “20 Days in Mariupol” film. In “Porcelain War” we see idyllic footage of Ukrainian artists Slava, Anya, and Andrey coping with life in a war zone but also surrounded by great beauty. As “Variety” said in its review, “An accomplished visual effects supervisor whose credits include the 2012 Sundance smash ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild,’ Bellomo is attuned to the jolting sensations of combat both on the ground and above it.” It is precisely the excellence of Bellomo’s visual work in depicting the porcelain figures that takes away slightly from the less polished, but more visceral power of the shorter film (“20 Days in Mariupol.”) The porcelain work is beautiful and delicate. I, for one, wanted more of the brutal truth of war in Ukraine, to help me understand and process this latest aggression.

We do learn about the history of Russia’s land grab of Crimea in 2014. Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for promises of non-aggression from Russia, but those promises were bogus. Russia has a long history of not living up to its word. Putin seized Crimea in 2014 and collaborating director Slava Leontyev lived in Crimea at the time. He moved to Ukraine and he and others began re-establishing the military that they had abandoned when they believed Russia’s promises. So, for the past 10 years there has been an attempt to re-establish some kind of defense system for Ukraine, and Slava—who was present at Sundance along with Frodo, the dog in the film— has been instrumental in that effort, as we see.

A recent “New York Times” article speculated on the outcome of the Ukraine/Russia conflict. It said the Russian defense of parts of Ukraine it now occupies currently seems impenetrable. The war, it said, is beginning to resemble the WWI stalemate during which neither side seemed able to advance and the human toll inexorably rose. The article stated that Ukraine has lost 20% of its area and wants ALL of its country back. The odds of that happening (on Russia’s part) don’t seem good. With the Republican support for Ukraine seemingly mired in political gamesmanship that might re-install a leader who seems to think emulating Putin is a good thing, can we assume that our technical support and weaponry, that allowed Ukraine early in the fight to score some impressive wins, will continue after the November election if Trump were to win?

United States financial aid and expertise is necessary for Ukraine to move forward; there was a mention in the article of the potential firing of the Ukrainian Minister of Defense by Zelenskyy. If he IS fired, he was said to be the chief rival who might run against Zelenskyy. If Russia is feeling the crunch and would agree to settlement talks, said the article, it would almost certainly be predicated on Ukraine not joining NATO or other such groups. Meanwhile, Russia recruits from prison and will march those men forward to certain death simply to find out where their adversaries are concealed. The brutality of the Russian troops is legendary. The firsthand accounts of what has occurred are absolutely sickening; that, too, is not likely to improve over time.

Nobody trusts Putin to honor agreements he makes. The general feeling that would come from such a “settlement” would be anger that so many Ukrainians have given so much only to potentially be given back only a portion of their native land with conditions on how they might best defend themselves against future Russian aggression. The odds for the West and for democracy and for Europe are very large if you accept the premise that Putin will never stop his characteristic aggressive behavior and his dream of re-establishing the USSR as a Super Power. And, although Putin is 71, is a successor likely to be a change for the better? (Unlikely).

Ukraine’s largest military aid partner since the start of the war, the United States, has committed a total of €71.4 billion in aid to Ukraine when also considering financial and humanitarian support. Martin Armstrong on “Statista” (Dec. 13,2023) had these figures of support for Ukraine:

“Thanks chiefly to the €77.1 billion in pledged financial aid, European Union institutions are the largest aid donors to Ukraine. This is based on data from the IfW Kiel Ukraine Support Tracker which currently covers the period January 24, 2022 to October 31, 2023.

But will U.S. aid continue if Donald J. Trump is elected? And if Biden remains president, can he successfully negotiate continued support with the current GOP House and with the Senate’s current iteration?

All of these considerations enter into election year 2024. The analogy of porcelain (“Easy to break, but impossible to destroy”) may weaken in its appropriateness with the conflagration dragging on.

THE GOOD

Slava Leonytev is shown holding Frodo, the dog, with the cast of "Porcelain War."

Entire cast of “Porcelain War,” many of them direct from Ukraine.

Slava Leontyev became a weapons expert and has been training other civilians in how to load and fire weapons, in preparation for the war that Ukraine feared was coming. As one of the characters says, alluding to Russia’s history of aggression against the nations that broke away, “After 400 years we’re going to finally take care of it.” From watching Slava at work as a Ukrainian defense officer we get a better understanding of the reality of the current war.

The action in “Porcelain War” is centered in Kharkiv, which is 25 miles from the Russian border. In “Porcelain War,” we get to see the nuts-and-bolts of fighting the war in Ukraine. The emphasis on drone use is shown. We see “ordinary people in extraordinary situations” learning to fire weapons. We don’t see as much of the blood and guts and heartbreaking grief as in “20 Days in Mariupol,” but the horror of war is ubiquitous, emphasizing the message.

One line in the film is “Because of the invasion, we lost the substance of our lives.” Another analogy is that refugees are like snails without their shells. As Anya and Sonya are sent to Lithuania for their safety, their parents describe what an ordeal it was to get the girls out of the country by way of Poland. It reminded me of London residents, during the Blitz, sending their children to the countryside to protect them. As the family says, “What is absolutely predictable is death.” We see face-time chats between the family members. The Ukraine residents feel that, “We’re fighting against evil. This is a historic opportunity to destroy aggressors.” The script adds, “It will keep pushing until it reaches you.”

The music is particularly effective. It is a fevered, clattering score from DakhaBrakha, a self-described “ethnic chaos” band based in Kyiv. The musical refrain is “A time to laugh, a time to cry. A time to live. A time to die.”

This film gives us a focused look at how the local populace, with aid from the United States and the European Union, is responding to Russian aggression. As Slava says, “Crimea ended in the blink of an eye, and we retreated to Ukraine.” At another point, as the struggle drags on, the line is “Armageddon is happening in Bakhmut.”

The drone group, decorated by the local artists, is dubbed “Saigon.” The reference to that Vietnamese city seems to be a nod to the effective guerilla fighting that the local populace employed against a super power.

CONCLUSION:

This is a film that is well worth watching. I would suggest viewing “20 Days in Mariupol” at the same time. One will give a very polished look at the Ukraine/Russia war; the other is more visceral, but both are terrific.

The Eagles with Steely Dan in Austin at the Moody Center on Feb. 3, 2024

By Connie Wilson

On February 4, 2024

In Local, Music, News, Pop Culture, Texas

“Little Death” Screens at Sundance, 2024

By Connie Wilson

On February 3, 2024

In Local, Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews

“Little Death” won the NEXT innovator award at Sundance, 2024. I was attracted to this film by the fact that Protozoa Pictures was involved (Darren Aranofsky) and that it had David Schwimmer, Gaby Hoffman, Jenna Malone and Seth Green among the cast members. The director was Jack Begert, who co-wrote it with Dani Goffstein. Another executive producer was Andy Cohen.

The synopsis described the film this way: “A middle-aged filmmaker on the verge of a breakthrough. Two kids in search of a lost backpack. A small dog a long way from home.”

That description of the film’s plot didn’t pin down the story much, and the actual unfolding of the plot was only minimally helpful. There is a young girl who has had her car hijacked and must seek help. There is David Schwimmer (the frustrated filmmaker) who is trying hard to get a green light for his film project. It’s not a particularly tight, well-written, or thoughtful script.

In a conference, the Powers-That-Be at the studio tell screenwriter Martin (David Schwimmer) that he should consider changing the gender of his lead character, [who, it should be noted, is largely autobiographical.] Martin is understandably reluctant to change the sex of his lead character from male to female, but, in a meeting with the studio Big Whigs, he becomes convinced that it will be easy to simply change “Dan” to “Danielle. It’s a deal-breaker. So, he complies.

This means that, halfway through the film, the audience loses David Schwimmer as the lead actor because he is replaced by Gaby Hoffman, who started her film career in 1989’s “Field of Dreams” as the young Karen Kinsella. There is no explanation of this sudden loss, other than Gaby’s appearance.

I found it interesting to see the male character morph into a female lead without so much as a word of explanation, and I was not put off by the visual effects that bothered one other critic, who said this: “The performances were messy and their characters are really unlikeable and aggravating in the worst way. Each character comes close to wanting to pull your hair out of your head levels.
Begert approach on the humor is poor, the editing and musical choices are annoying, and the dialogue is forced, unfunny, and poorly constructed. There are some really awful visual presentations and animations throughout. To top it off, the animations were AI-generated which honestly is a major slap on the face for independent filmmakers and artists. It’s insulting that Sundance allowed this movie to come into the festival.”

Well. That certainly is one point of view.

I do agree that the film seems, overall, poorly organized. The plot is random and doesn’t tie together well. The “visual effects” that this anonymous critic mentions (no name is attached on the IMDB.com page) were primitive when one considers that Protozoa was behind the film.

Cinematography was by Christopher Ripley.

Overall, I was sad to see Schwimmer go, as the lead, to be replaced by Gaby Hoffman. It wasn’t my favorite film of the eight I am reviewing, and it had problems, but I’m more accepting of it than Mr. Anonymous Reviewer.