Author Archive: Peter Jakobsen
The Peninsular War
Further undermining Wellington's faith in the Spanish - Battle of Castalla (by Jean-Charles Langlois)
(by Charles Esdale) We can be thankful that Napoleon, like that chap Hitler, ridiculously over-extended himself. Exhibit ‘A’ is the seven year war on the Iberian Peninsula, which ruined Spain (and Portugal) for decades and created a schism there that lingers today. It also, fortunately, hived off necessary men, arms and resources that weakened the French Emperor’s efforts to subjugate the continent. This comprehensive book, based on old as well as up-to-date and diverse sources, offers a complete overview of the bloody campaign, the struggles of the various Fields Marshal and in particular the intricate politics. It is dense but…
Continue Reading →Robert De Niro’s Waiting
"You talkin' to me?"
Yes, he’s waiting…for a decent script or at least a decent role. Unfortunately, however, he is not lazy, which means that De Niro has made almost 100 films (and we must admit to not having seen all of them). Great film stars manage to accumulate half a dozen classics in their careers and on this scale, Bob is right up there…but what a waste of talent most of the time, and particularly lately. Actors apparently have to eat and have a nervous imperative to keep working while the luck holds, but there is something a bit sad about the number of…
Continue Reading →Glengarry Glen Ross
"We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know first prize is a Cadillac Elderado...3rd prize is you're fired."
(Written by David Mamet) (Dir. James Foley) (1992) The sales staff get the leads, such as they are. They go out on sits, when (in various guises) they descend on the unsuspecting and try to sell them what sounds very much like swampland. The salesmen are driven less by greed and more by fear because as the motivational guy has just confirmed, failure to close the deal is death. This film of Mamet’s play is stagy (of course), but with top-shelf power acting (by Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Alec Baldwin and Jonathon Pryce), it amounts to…
Continue Reading →Cry Jailolo
Oz Asia Festival, “Cry Jailolo” (Dunstan Playhouse, Festival Theatre, Adelaide) (24/9/15) Jailolo, part of the Indonesian archipelago, has coughed-up a troupe of seven fit young men who (choreographed by Eko Supriyanto) present a genuinely novel dance sequence based on indigenous tribal myth from North Malaku, with modern overtones of environmental threat to a pristine local environment. Sinuous, mesmerizing, ephemeral and fluid, involving moves that are both new and alien, this is an interpretation that intrigues and engages lovers of dance and agnostics alike. Their unusual motion, use of light and shade, stillness, subtle use of hand and foot for percussion, and sense of space,…
Continue Reading →Morality Tales
It’s one of the oldest plots: to grab the gold, you must renounce love. Here is a sprinkling of morality tales on film. The Box If you pick up the box that landed on your doorstep, open the button unit and push the button, you will receive one million dollars (tax free, and at early 1970s values in real terms) but at the precise moment of pushing the button, somewhere, someone you don’t know will be killed. Woo Hoo! Give us that box! Many might not believe in the veracity of this bizarre offer but when a gentleman like the one played by Frank…
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