Mountains of the Moon (1990)

Richard Hanning Speke (Iain Glen) arrived on the coast of East Africa in 1854 with plans of exploring the dark continent.  There he met Richard Burton (Patrick Bergin), already famous for having gone on the Haj to Mecca.  Burton has planned a trek inland to find the source of the Nile and Speke is eager to go with him.  Speke brought lots of guns and ammunition, making him a welcome addition to the expedition.  They have hardly gone inland than they were attacked by tribesmen, killing most of the company.  Both seriously wounded, Burton and Speke escaped nonetheless.

The pair returned to England and sought funding for a new expedition.  In the interim, Burton met Isabel Arundell (Fiona Shaw), who proved to be a great admirer of his writing.  A torrid affair ensued.  Meanwhile, Speke was approached by Laurence Oliphant (Richard E. Grant), who wanted to both help fund the next expedition and publish the findings. Additionally, Oliphant plotted a split between Speke and Burton.  The second expedition set out in 1856.  The men explored inland from Zanzibar, reaching the shores of Lake Tanganyika in 1857.  With Burton seriously ill, only Speke could explore to the shores of Lake Victoria.  The pair returned to England in 1859 with very different ideas on what had been discovered.  Their disagreements led to a break between the two.  The next expedition was led by Speke while Burton was left on the sidelines.

There are surprises here.  Omar Sharif has a cameo as an Arab Chief.  Fiona Shaw, who most will remember as Harry Potter's shrewish Aunt Petunia Dursley, is terrific as Burton's love interest.  The two have great chemistry, allowing a fully realized love story despite being secondary to the Burton-Speke relationship.

An enjoyable movie that gives a general look at exploring Africa in the mid-nineteenth century.  No discussion of this period would be complete without Dr. Livingston (Bernard Hill).  Sure enough, he makes an appearance.  The lighthearted bit where Livingston and Burton compared scars that they have received was most entertaining.

Recommended.

The Wild Geese (1978)

Allen Faulkner (Richard Burton) arrives secretly in London to meet with Sir Edward Matherson (Stewart Granger).  Faulkner is a mercenary leader.  Some years ago, he had been retained by President Limbani to help retake his country - somewhere around Congo - from usurpers but Limbani was killed en route to their meeting.  Sir Edward reveals that Limbani is alive but not for long.  Sir Edward would like to free Limbani to secure the rights to his country's copper mines.  Faulkner gathers his core team.  There is Rafer Janders (Richard Harris), Shawn Fynn (Roger Moore), Pieter Coetzee (Hardy Kruger), and Sandy Young (Jack Watson).  They recruit 40 or so men and fly to Africa for training.  On Christmas Day, they insert via parachute to rescue Limbani and secure an airport for their extraction.  Everything goes perfectly until their extraction is canceled.  Now the fun begins.

Some things are telegraphed from the start.  When Faulkner recruits Janders, his son is introduced and a proposed vacation is mentioned.  Gee, I wonder how that will go?  It announced that he was doomed, the one character whose fate was sealed from the moment he is introduced.  Disappointing.

This is an action film in the days before flipping, spinning, double-gun shooting nonsense. Overwhelming forces really are overwhelming. Casualties are high and, in the end, it was all for nothing. Still, it was exciting getting there.

Thumbs up.

1984

Who controls the past controls the future.  Who controls the present controls the past.

The movie opens at a rally where the latest news of the unending war is reported to the masses.  During the rally, both Winston Smith (John Hurt) and O'Brien (Richard Burton) notice Julia (Suzanna Hamilton) when she flings a book at the image of Emmanuel Goldstein, enemy of the state.  Winston works in a cubicle where he alters newspaper articles, replacing people who have been 'unpersoned' with other people or rewriting reports of reductions as reports of increases.  Not surprisingly, he has doubts about the government and what he sees on the omnipresent telescreens.  He privately keeps a journal in which he expresses these doubts.  Julia initiates an affair with Winston.  Both of them know that they will eventually be caught and admit to whatever crimes the party requires them to admit but Winston asserts that he will never betray Julia.  The day comes that they are caught during one of their meetings.  Winston is tortured by O'Brien until he doubts whether 2 + 2 = 4 and also betrays Julia.  'Cured' of his thoughtcrimes, Winston is returned to society where he holds an abiding love for Big Brother.

Though familiar with the plot and storyline of Nineteen Eighty-Four, I have not read the novel and only just watched the movie.  Nothing in it surprised me and I was very much reminded of Brazil, which came out the following year.  Brazil is more fun while 1984 is just sad and depressing.  Of course, all the newspeak reminds me of trends in language, where some words become 'unwords' and new, more opaque ones replace them.  For instance, disabled became handicapped, handicapped became physically challenged, physically challenged became differently abled.  These are just euphemisms.  Government has learned to couch things in more favorable terms too.  Spending is investment, secrecy is a new standard of openness, increasing the debt is paying our bills, taxing Peter to subsidize Paul is compassion.  As the language becomes less clear, those who use it can make ambiguous claims and stand by them!  The unpersoning process has gone viral in our media-saturated society.  Say the wrong thing and the rats swarm to pick the bones clean.  No one is safe from the trolls.  Both Hillary and Bernie had to bow to the language of Black Lives Matter during the primaries.  Many have been ostracized for having the wrong opinions or using the wrong words.  Profuse apologies may stave off the frenzy but as often as not encourage more of the same.  Then there is the opening line: Who controls the past controls the future.  I have often noted how historically uninformed people are.  This ignorance is by design.  Here is just one example of a modern Winston Smith rewriting history.

 

Certainly worth watching and surprisingly applicable, which is unfortunate.