C1

What can I say about C1 If I have always wanted to join it ?
Having been part of these group has greatly enriched my life . Apart from  the vocabulary , active and passive , Grammar, and  all the academic issues  that I have studied , there are things that I would have  never learnt if I hadn´t have the professor I have had .

Learning a language means to pull off layer upon layer of its nature  until  you  penetrate its core and grasp the meaning of every single word , expression, idiom or collocation but,  to do so , you need to learn to think , to read to speak your mind and defend arguments , although those arguments have nothing to do with your ideas and convictions .

Being here has made me feel interested in matters such as politics , history or psichology . Listening to the radio in English or watching documentaries have became a habit .
When I studied 5th course, I have a great teacher , Jacqueline, She taught me how to write , and I still remenber that course as the one I learnt more,.Most of the expressions she taught us are still etched on my memory , they are "real life" things like " going with your guts, mind you, turn a blind eye to sth , you will be better off without...and so on .

In these course , as I said above, I have learnt to think among other many things.
I remenber when we watched  the first movie of the course  entittled "Mountains of the moon " .I thought that it was sad that Speake , who was a great explorer too,  would have been  shadowed by Burton who was  both a charismatic and controversial figure. Emilio also told us that Burton´s wife loved him unconditionallity  and loving like that was a great virtue because most of  us don`t have that ability . I thought  that loving someone unconditionallity was dangerous  since it can lead to a sort of emotional/psichological  dependence ,triggering internal struggles for being yourself.
I also loved " The road from Colonus " by Foster, the improvisation, working on my own , the stories that we had to tell connecting parts and characters, my blog ,and so many things that summarizing them would take me pages .
I honestly think that having been here has been a great experience , I have enjoyed every single minute and even , in my dark days , joining a lesson made my problems fade away for a while.
 I have had the exceptional privilege of having a professor like a Emilio who not only is able to teach us English , but also inculcate us love for learning and abilities for our personal life.
Thank you Emilio for everything I have learnt.,


Here is my stanza.

C1 is not only about the way the wind blows and stars align ,
or how the time stalls when you laugh or whine,
It ´s also about breaking rules and pushing the boundaries
It `s passion and action, the first stone on making a memory .

SELFPORTRAIT

 Flyaway brunette hair, which has a tendency to remain untidy, almost messy, despite my fruitless trims and attempts to give it body.

Tanned complexion from the long hours spent outdoors . Small forehead in which some fine lines are starting to be  drawn  tenuously:  lines that are nothing  but emotions lived throughout the years , expressions of hilarious moments,  sadness or uncertainties about life itself.

  Big , dark eyes framed by thick eyelashes, although shorter  than I would like to , eyes particularly prone to show tiredness from living against my body clock .

My face used to be round with chubby cheeks , which  have sharpened over the years,    leaving any trace of my childhood behind . The sun and the sea have flecked my nose and cheeks with freckles .

When I look at myself in the mirror, my reflection sometimes seems to show another woman dwelling in my own skin , shier, quieter, happier and sometimes less confident than myself .

Living in my skin , there is someone whose mood and ideas are sometimes a bit unstable , who finds inspiration from stormy writers although she loves swinging social life , who is  grumpy and impatient  maybe a bit selfish when things come out wrong and troubles crop out  ,because  at the end of the day, when time and dreams slip away  I consider acceptable to be a bit cowardly  , even commit small misdemeanors  if ,with that , you can be moderately  happy .

DISCOVERING THE POEM INSIDE YOU

Some days ago a friend told me he considered  songs as the new poetry . Serrat voiced Miguel Hernadez`s  pain and grief and as his voice raised and dropped  we also mourned Ramón Sijé´s death .
Leonard Cohen turned in poetry his bittersweet  Hallelujah and his biblical references and comparations take us to the soul of a man who has been overthrown by a earthly desires and left  alone with nothing, but a sad Hallelujah.

Some songs are poems , some just meaningless words . Music embellish poetry but poetry is still poetry without music although what you feel when you read it is bound to your inner life .  I do not read too much poetry , I am  much keen on reading novels  but  when I used to do so , either because it was compulsory or because my curiosity  I  enjoyed myself  with poems without puns of too much metaphors . I consider the coldness and indifference of someone you have loved more literary  moving  or touching  that love . Happiness or Beauty are not my cup of tea. Some years ago , I read a poem entitled "Elegy written in a County churchyard " by Thomas Gray . There is a stanza that goes " some mute inglorious Milton here may rest / some Cromwell guiltess of his country´s blood (...)  It was a poem which made me think since it  tell us about Death  I how life goes on while you from your grave comtemple that life that does not belongs to you anymore and how sometimes what makes a poet or a writer is the chance, and the person who is buried will never have the chance of showing the world how talented he could have been if someone had given that opportunity .

Writing poetry means bare your soul and baring the soul is more difficult than bare the body . All the poems imprinted on the book and read during the poetry perfomance are part of their authors inner life how they feel and life different situations , the voice of the reader , and the music during the intervals made  the atmosphere that cosy than some of us lingered for a while hoping to have a little bit more . Everything was very tidy , being at the same time natural and relaxed , and Emilio´s short  speeches acquainted us with the topics and background.

I am not either  an expert on literature or a great reader of poetry , and I believe that you like more one poem than another  is sometimes something  personal ,maybe because of your situation or maybe because of the  the way it is written , I couldn´t  exactly say  what the reason is.
"Time to go, lady Death" is the poem I would choose if I had to choose one . It is very visual and I guess she has gave words to the fury, fear and desperation that a human being can feel seeing helplessness how someone is wasting away.

The performance was great and  everyone did his best . I would like to congratulate my class mates on their staging and to thank Lola for  reading my poem so well ,impregnating it with emotion  and strength .

Medieval craftmanship at The Gate of Justice ( Alhambra)

http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2014/04/03/andalucia/1396540904_479497.html

 Restoration work at the Gate of Justice has brought to light a marquetry carved in white  marble inlaid with slate.  Both,the masonry and technique are different from the rest of the Gate. The way of  working  the slate shows great skills at carving .

Many years have gone by since the Alhambra was built and what seems incredible is that ,after all these years, the Alhambra itself, its paintings and monuments still elicits the interest of historians and art critics . Islamic vs Christian art , paintings and walls that keep secrets and whose function is still difficult to be interpret but essential for schorlars to  find new ways of approaching to the cultural heritage that Islam left in the culture of  Iberian peninsula.

A sad Goodbye to García Màrquez

This morning we woke up with the this piece of news . Although it was something expected, he suffered from Alzehimer´s , the announce has come as a surprise .
There is no much to say which haven`t been said yet since his death makes the  front pages and headlines . Presidents and ministries pay homage and the world literatura is in mourning .


Garcìa Márquez and José Saramago are my favourite authors in Spanish language , and although I am not a expert on the subject, I consider García Márquez as one of the  best  writers using the Spanish  language . It was at High School  when I  I read him  for very first time and although the reading was compulsory I finished the book the same afternoon that it fell into my hands . His words are able to create numerous feelings and landscape and to turn  the impossible and magical events into daily facts . In his work, the livings and the deads,purity and lust live together, characters are condemned to solitude because of their inability to love  , the patriarch never finishes dying and the colonel waits for an allowance which will never get.

One of the most famous García Màrquez `s quotation says "one person doesn´t die when he should but when he can" I think he should have never died , but although the human being has passed away his work will remain eternally.

Saffron against depression , purple tomatoes to prevent oxidation .

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-25885756

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2013/jul2013_A-Safer-Alternative-for-Managing-Depression_01.htm


Depression is one of the greatest evil of XXI century . According to the recent reports  , about 121 millions of people worldwide suffer from  some form of depression , ( http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/how-many-people-experience-depression), hence the use , or abuse , of antidepressants has gone up at alarming rate .


Antidepressants can be useful but they, as many other medicaments, have side effects , some of these undesirable effects are : weigh gain , anxiety , constipation or insonmia . One extremely common side effect that afflict people who is on antidepresseants  is sexual dysfunction .

Trying to avoid the adverse reactions , people and laboratories have started to seek other alternative treatments without the unwanted side effects .


( ...)Scientists randomly divided 30 depressed patients into two groups. They gave 30 milligram capsules of saffron 3 times daily to one group. The other group received 100 milligrams of Tofranil^® 3 times daily.(...)Just 6 weeks later, the saffron dose was declared to be equally as beneficial as Tofranil^® in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. Next, scientists compared the potency of saffron extract to the antidepressant Prozac^® (fluoxetine ) .


In short , saffron extract , is safer and "equally effective" against depression. Some companies have commercialized  saffron capsules mixed with  magnesium  and B6 vitamin ( both of them famous for boosting  mood and resilience to stress). Afran by Narvalpharma or Optimis by Aquilea are some of the names under which the capsules of saffron have been commercialized in Spain .






  It is time for  us to turn our attention to another issue, " Purple tomatoes to keep cáncer at bay " but still exploring the  same topic , Health .



(...)The  pigment called anthocyanin which is thought to have anti-cancer properties,
found in particularly high levels in berries such as blackberry, cranberry and chokeberry, have been shown to help significantly slow the growth of colon cancer cells. They are also thought to offer protection against cardiovascular disease and age-related degenerative diseases. (...)


People rarely eat these fruits since they are both seasonal  and  quite expensive  fruits while tomatoes are quite affordable and widely  eaten  . According to British people,  were the use and sale of   purple tomatoes to  approve , they would  boost  the quality of our ketchup and pizza and ,therefore our health .


Personally ,  I am not able to see the point in stuffing myself with  ketchup made from purple tomatoes , after a while sprinkling all my meals with it ,I don´t think the doctor gives me a clean bill of health .

What Freedom looks like to you?

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26614481








Depending on where you  live , where you were born or what your living or working  conditions are , freedom means what thing or another .


Suppose you are living under the yoke of tradition and unfair family commitments , as was  Eveline in the Dubliners , then Freedom means to be able to set free from that "asphyxiating" love moral or protection .


Were you to be ill , Freedom would be define as being healthy and being able to do things that you used to do.


You can also set free from addictions which kill your hopes .   If you live in a country devastated by the war or famine,when you free your mind and imagination there are no fences that restrict  you  from living or finding a new life.


This video shows different opinions and answers ,  from all ages ,all nationalities ,all languages.
Freedom for me is not to have timetables or  money troubles that my phone doesn´t sound and taking a plane or being somewhere very far away from your daily life.


What is freedom for you ?

British Island Accents and Dialects

When one first arrives at British Islands can feel dismayed to discover how little one understands (I, for one), or how little this or that English accent  has to with we have learnt .
 There are also differences in Grammar and vocabulary .I would  overdo if I said that what in a place can be hilarious , some miles away can trigger a riot , it is not that exaggerate , but differences exist.


Social and situational factors affect language and make it vary. When we speak to a person we can identify some features such as origen or even social status. This is called variation , and variation affects both  our situational background and , consciously , the way we react to someone speech or in order to adhere to certain social class.


There are terms which are worthy of mention : Accent and dialect.
Dialect is a language variety distinguished from other varieties by gramar and vocabulary . Standard British English is a dialect ,as are Scottish , American or Black English Vernacular.
Accent has to do with differences in pronounciation what means just a charactistic combination of  phonetic features which we connect with a particular geographical area o social background.It is a well -known fact that RP ( Received Pronuntiation ) or  Standard Southern British  English is  ,nowadays, a symbol of prestigie and it is related to upper classes , the accent of those educated in public schools and those with high incomes.


It is not my intention to entry in the complicated field of Sociolinguisics but just emphasize the fact that a particular accent can devalue or overrate  someone since it is associated to a certain status , low or high instead of paying atention to the differents changes in pronunciation and  what is even more important,that English , as all  living  languages, change over the time, it is in constant flux because people use them endlessly.
RP is not regional  or local accent but the accent that is widely regarded as symbol or correctness, and unfortunately , some people pretending to be someone more whealthy ,or educated tent to imitate it, creating just  affectation.

To finish , I would like to quote a sentence of  Oscar Wilde which can best illustrate my writing " the first thing I forgot at Oxford was my Irish accent"

 

Bibliography:

Dialect bloghttp://dialectblog.com/british-accents/
Arthur Huhges: "English accents and dialects"

Babette`s Feast ( don`t take it on a empty stomach )

 

Babette´s Feast is a film based on the story by Isak Dinesen and directed by Gabriel Axel . The movie was also the first Danish film  to win an Academy award .

The film tell us the story of two pious sisters who live in Jutland , a rather isolated village. In their youth ,  they left escape fame and love since they lived under both the  yoke of religion and an authoritarian and unfair father. Time pass by and their father passes away , as their youth does, leaving no trace. The sisters continue their father´s work devoting their life to austerity and sacrifice . One day Babette calls at their door, she is a refugee from the French civil war from which she had to flee otherwise she would have died . She serves the sister for years and the only bond she keeps with France is a lottery ticket she buys all the years . One day she wins  and she decided to prepare  a truly French dinner in honour to the sisters `father . Everybody belonging to the small sects will be there , and it  will also  be someone from the past . Babette´s prepare a sensual and tasteful dinner bathed with different table and dessert wines which  clean taste and bouquet. The textures and smells whet their appetite and loosen their tongues and spirits .

This is an amazing movie not only about food but also about art and life . All of us , without exception, are forced to make decisions during out life, leaving people in the path , sometimes gaining ,sometimes losing . The movie teaches us  that it is never late and life can be surprising in many different ways, even though  when we think happiness is outside our scope.

I highly recommend it since its understated plot makes you never lose the thread and it overlays a subtle depiction of the fears , doubts and anxieties that lurk the human soul.

Neuroplasticity : the habit of being happy

 

 

 

It was Emilio from I first heard about the term neuroplasticity . How  it can  be defined is difficult to say , maybe as the tireless capacity of our brain of learning new habits ,positive and negative ,regardless sex of age .
Most of us lead  a dull life , I don´t use dullness in the sense of dreariness but in the sense of   repetitive  monotony.( I bring this to a halt just to say that this doesn´t happen on Facebook ,over there, all of us , without exception , have found the longing happiness ) anyway ...
Googling , I have found this article about neuroplasticity

hhttp://www.refocuser.com/2009/05/neuroplasticity-your-brains-amazing-ability-to-form-new-habits/

There would probably be  hundreds more , but what it calls my attention is that if we really change our bad habits and therefore the worst of us, we are bound to  turn into the person we want to be .
 I personally , lead a strict routine which  makes me  neither happy nor unhappy , in the same way that when I used to smoke I would light a cigarette every time my favourite group sounded or   I sipped at my beer or whatever pleasant activity was that  I associated with smoking, my current habits happen just because I haven`t bothered changing them .

Were the article to be true, would I be able to replace unsatisfactory habits , stop doing things in my usual fashion and learning new ways of being happier or cleverer or making my time fully productive ?
In short , how can new habits be built and could  I create my perfect self ?

The Sailor- Boy´s Tale

The Sailor-Boy´s Tale by the Denmark author  Isak Dinesen´s , one of the most prominent voices of twentieth century, was first published in 1942 in the book entitled "Winter´s Tales" , narrated in the style of the ancient fairy tales.

 Simon is a young sailor who  travels with not fixed  destination throughout the world. Being still a boy, and moved by a  mysterious strength , he  rescues a  peregrine falcon tangled up  in the ropes of the main mast of a ship,  since then ,their fates become linked by an invisible bond.
 Two years later, Simon is coming of age and still working on boats , here, there and everywhere.  In Norway, he goes  ashore and he meets Nora by whom he is promised a kiss under condition of coming back the next day.

He befriends Ivan , a Russian sailor , who unconsciously blocked Simon´s way to the long -awaited kiss and eventually everything finish in manslaughter .Chasing by the Russian crew , he would never had managed to escape alive but for Sunniva `s help who is more than an old woman and who  his fate was linked to , as it was to the falcon .

The story is told through an omniscient narrator who , as if he were a talented storyteller , is  able to read the boy´s soul using numerous adjectives and movement in its words . Traditional elements such as the sea, adventure ,or far -off  countries  are also present and they are bound to create another kind of reality full of mystery and magic , as it shows the final spell .

Not only is the story well worth reading , but also the whole book . Its simple plot , about a boy coming of age, can be defined as a Bildungsroman , that is to say , a story of learning into adulthood since he is put to test  within unforeseeable events . As for any downside , the only one that comes to my mind is that the story leaves us eager for more .

Poverty in the land of plenty :Waterloo Food Bank and Red Cross

Since  WWII ,the UK has never been  needed  a food  aid plan.

 British citizens pay high taxes  on their income which are mostly invest in welfare benefits such as housing benefits, tax credit or income support to name but a few.
Apart from this,  The UK heads the list of the European countries that invest more money in foreign  help , but now , because of the cutbacks ,mainly in public health and welfare,  imposed by Cameron ,his austerity measures and economic downturn , many people between 50 and 6O have to turn to food banks such as Waterloo Bank http://waterloo.foodbank.org.uk/ to have the chance of eating .
Most of them live in council homes , which are not free , on little allowances  from the government , being most of them sick and  not having the possibility of working .Red Cross ha launched the first emergency aid plan for UK since WWII and it is helping Waterloo Food Bank to gather and distribute meals among the struggling  families and  people .

Another added problem  are the serious  flooding ,

  specially in  Somerset , and more rains  and storms are due next week. Many properties in Somerset have been flooded as the river burst after heavy rains. Some citizens start wondering why Britain don´t use foreign aid money to help people affected by flooding.

Some people claim to divert part of the money allocated for  helping  in oversee disasters as it is wh now  Great  Britain which  needs that money .  Brits are well-known for being globally- minded  and  generous people but Cameron policies and misunderstanding about budget are discouraging them. Brits think that the money they pay on taxes is poured into countries with corrupted regimens instead of being allocated  for fear causes.

I support this ONG

http://www.amigosdelosmayores.org/

The ONG I support is " Amigos de los mayors " . It is committed to help our elders , regardless of race, religion, sex or political ideology .

I am interested in helping  the elderly  since they have to deal with loneliness, illness  and social insolation. Most of them have mobility problems which keep them stuck at home . Aging is inevitable and having or not having children , being married or single are not factors which make us impervious to spend our last years  in loneliness .

This organization has its headquarter in Madrid but it is present in countries such as Germany, France or USA.
They organize gatherings , celebrations , parties or their volunteers visit  the elderly at home for some hours since it is focus to lessening the lack of affection and they try to made them feel alive again.

You can help making a donation because just with 20 euros a elderly  person can join a Christmas party and receive a present .
You can also help becoming volunteer . There are many reasons for doing so but the main one is that this is a project which has as central point the friendship between human beings . Becoming volunteer you will learn from people who are a piece of our  history which you cannot learn from the books , you will feel surprised by their gratitude and you became aware of the different social  realities , doing so , you  will  enrich  your  life  and will make you a  better person.

The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.”
Robert Frost

Wildlife wonders - creatures up close.

Stunning images by some of the world´s  greatest nature photographs  such as Jim Brandenburg , who has a huge understanding about using the light to create emotions, Thomas Mangelsen , or Anup Shah. One of the pictures of this photographer shows a mother tiger and her cub, the photo has a moving story behind as both tigers and the whole family were killed no longer after the photo was taken . The video lets us gaze penguins swimming at high speed , leaving a trail of bubbles , elephants of Botswana so close that you can see theirs tasks stained from the water , polar bears  in middle of nowhere contrasting  the infinite whiteness of  both ,his fur  and polar landscape with the intense red of the blood .
 Intimate and evocative insights from some of the  masters of nature photography . These pictures have been honoured with awards since they not only  shows wildlife from their camera^s  wide  angle lens but also from the passion and emotion.  


http://bbc.in/1cZvDwG

Let´s call the whole thing off

Louis Armstrong ,  and Ella Fitzgerald were the most incredible couple of jazz that history has revealed . Ella is regarded as the most important singer of jazz of the history , albeit she shone in every single style she touched . As for Louis Armstrong, apart from being one of the most charismatic and innovative figures of jazz, he was someone politically committed . He supported Martin Luther King economically . Louis Armstrong confronted Eisenhower and fought for civil rights of Afro-American citizens.
Although when Louis joined Ella, or Ella joined Louise , they recorded very famous songs such as "Cheek to Cheek" or" Dream a little dream of me " I have chosen this one as it shows the way that different words can be pronounced , it emphasises the differences in pronunciation, southern  in the case of Louis ,as metaphor for the different personalities of a couple who are not able to understand each other , thus is a good way to know more accents apart from the British or American standard ones.

Mandela and me

Mandela´s way has been the last book I have read, a book with   an awful lot of teachings which are well worth  integrating in our daily life if we want to beam proudly.

 When Mandela passed away , I just thought , " Oh, what a pity! " but after reading some biographies and this book from cover to cover  I just can praise him to the skies . It will take  decades , probably centuries until the world give us a new Mandela.. Most of the politician  just milk the system and try to get votes misleading citizens.

There are so many things to praise on  Mandela but if I had to choose one ,well ,better two, I`d choose his perseverance and capacity of forgiveness .

Some weeks   ago , something very important for me" came to a halt ", It has not finished yet ,  but without reason there are not answers , just it  happened .
 My first reaction was to make a fuss , lot of mix feelings and  words  kept going round and round in my head. You feel miserable and lonely ,they switch for  rage , jealousy and desire of revenge .They stir inside you and it is but hatred which propels you within the days .
You  fantasise about thousands of things, most of them the onset of something,   befalling to the person for whom just one word exists: coward ,  word that  used in the vernacular way  means bastard .

You think , "what goes around, comes around" but fate does not work like that (just for Paulo Coelho ). Fate is rather devious  and it does not understand about celestial justice.  It gets pleasure from creating hideous situations , hence I busied myself with wallowing in self-pity. Then, I read Mandela´s way .

Mandela  spoke about being disciplined , which, in my case , meant to move on . He also  said  there is always both , and that means that the reason behind any action is not always clear " humans are complex creatures and people have a myriad of motives" and thinking like that , teaches you that the answer is not always at hand since it can be many answers and motives that I am not able to understand . If you think like this, you are able to forgive , and doing so , you realise sadness  is a normal reaction  and the hole that a loss leaves  will be filled in and it will get smaller with the time until disappear , but it is pointless feeling jealousy or self pity as they will finish eating you up. Mandela spoke about finding your own garden , a place where you can lose yourself and find yourself and haste often leads to error and misjudgement .

In short, I have "used "Mandela as my spiritual guide to find peace, and to learn that someone like me , an impassioned and impatient doer has to  try to understand that there are times that acting less means to reap something more valuable . It is discipline what helps you to push things in your direction and learning from adversities we became stronger  and grow. It´s no use crying over split milk.

Mandela´s way : my favourite chapters

"Courage is not the absence of fear,"
This is how is entitle the first chapter of this book and one of my favourite chapters . Can bravery be learned , what is its shelter? I mean, am I brave one because my heart is brave or because it is my mind? can someone be born brave or coward because of their genes or because of deities ¨whim `, and above all ,can I learn to be brave when I could describe myself as moderately coward ?
According to Mandela, being courageous is the way we react against fear, and how we overcome it . All of us feel fear , not only to tangible things such a physical pain,  but also to intangible ones such as dying or being dumped by the love of our lives . We also feel fear in advance because of situations that haven't happened yet but we live them down to the last detail feeling sadness, pain and dread . So feeling fear is normal , we just have to learn how to deal with it . I have already started to do my bit

" See the good in others"

When we read a book , usually a not very good book, just one of those that  does not   work  beings` inner world  we discover predictable characters that in a linear and bipolar structure  the scale goes from the adjective demoniacal from the adjective angelical , both opposite . But Mandela says that humans are complex creatures and that people have a myriad of motives . Nobody is purely good or purely evil . This chapter has been very important for me because I have learnt that if we try to understand and not to  judge , ito see the good things that someone has and not just the bad  one, we will be more happier as we won´t live constantly on defensive and hence, being happier .

"Know when to say no"

There are many situations in my life that should not happen as often as they happen, one question whose only answer is no , not only  because saying no makes me brave as a fear that I have overcome but because my hear says no, and it means that it is what I want. Saying no followed by an excuse of justification is easy , saying no to someone not vey important in your life rather simple , but what about to say no to someone who is important and you know that doing so you are destroying his /her hopes , that is quite difficult but sometimes people who loves us put too much pressure on us and we have to learn to do it , false hopes lead to feel deceived ,albeit it is difficult in the long run it will avoid a heap of trouble and I would add , anxiety and gastric ulcer.

Stephen Frears vs. Ken Loach

Philomena is the new film directed by the controversial , innovate and daring director Stephen Frears (The Queen, The Deal, Dangerous Liaisons)

Philomena” is one of a number of films this year that could be submitted to the Golden Globes as either a comedy or drama, starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan and based on true events , the films tells the story of Philomena, a Irish Catholic, who was forced to give up her son to the nuns .She became pregnant when she was a teenager and sent to a convent in Ireland . She is obliged to work long hours in the laundry and later she is forced to sign a contract agreeing not to look for his son , his three years old son was sold a wealthy family for 1.ooo pounds.
When she is seventy , she meets a BBC correspondent , Martin,who becomes interested in her story and convinces her of telling her story . They travel to the States looking for her son. Martin  is atheist and cynic, Philomena is a devout  Catholic who keeps  faithful to church in spite of all the suffering and pain inflicted.

The contemporary history of Great Britain has been portrayed by Stephen Frears and Ken Loach . Both director show a gloomy and pessimist vision of Thatcher Government , a period marked by strikes, terrorism  and unemployment . Both director have focused on the working class  and its daily struggles. Ken Loach gives voice to ordinary people , those people who are not allowed to speak and nobody wants to listen to . His films are realist and portrays those aspects of life and industrialization that exist but we don´t see. If  Ken Loach´s films are labelled as social realism, Stephen Frears` films are studies of the modern Britain , his characters are varied and he portrays Britain and its citizens ,all classes of conflicts and themes. 

A example of the way that this directors tackle some controversial subject could be noticed in these two fims : "Fond Kiss"  by Ken Loach tackles a contemporary Romeo-Juliet form of love story but this time it is not the class difference but the difference of ethnicity that is the obstacle. The author tells us something that is part of Britain daily life , a society whose main feature is multiculturalism.

Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears, 2002) takes a crime-thriller narrative style on the African and Turkish asylum seeker working in a hotel who happens to get involved in a syndicate of human organ trading within London. Ken Loach´s  movies transmit a gloomy sensation that linger on some days . Some Frears ` movies make you laugh , or recognize a situation that are commonplace. Different styles and points of view to tell us a story that could happen to anyone( who was British , better said, English)

 

"12 years a Slave"

Few days ago we watched a video about slavery , it outlined its evolution throughout history ,stressing its development and length in the USA(Southern ) mostly because of economical reasons , a complex and difficult issue, that as Mandela said in the book we are currently reading, "No one is born prejudiced or racist( ..) Evil is something instilled in or taught to men by circumstances , their environment, or their upbringing (...)

All this has brought to my mind the movie " 12 years a Slave" based on the book of the same name written by Northup. The movie seems to be  one of the favourite for the Oscars and it is called to received a few  awards , according to the critics it has already swept  the Oscars. The movie is directed by Steve McQueen and starring Chiwetelu Ejiofor , as Salomon , the slave, and Brad Pitt.

Salomon Northup was a free- born African American, from New York , we was enticed with a job offer , kidnapped dragged and sold  into slavery . He worked for different owners in Louisiana and when after 12 years he regained his freedom he sued the slave traders and became active in  abolitionism . The story, the same as the book,  dwells on the brutality  harsh and inhumane treatment endured by the slaves.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10498277/12-Years-a-Slave-the-sad-song-of-Solomon-Northup.html

Background materials for Mandela

The link c BBC hard talk leads me to Wikipedia . I have been googling and I have found this link which is a interview with Mandela when he was in Britain for the Commonwealth conference . He talks about his life , love and earliest days in South Africa´s liberation struggle. I have thought that it may well be this link ...