The Professor in Erin

 

I have finally come across this an Irish Alternate History work written in 1918

cartlann.org 

I have been reading the first 4 chapters

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33098111-the-professor-in-erin

1917

 This is more like it.

I did not realize how much leather the Tommies wore. 

Sauchiehall Street is the name of a trench line 

George McKay again. This is just a coincidence- A colleague mentioned 1917 at work. 

One curious thing, seeing Adrian Scarborough as a British officer at the end broke my suspension of disbelief  I just remembered him from Gavin and Stacey. The film has a cast of British and Irish stage and screen stalwarts - Mark Strong, Mathew Doyle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth. With Richard Madden coming of his GoT fame

The plot is simple and direct. Two men are sent with an urgent message to stop a British  attack  1917 is filmed in one continuous take - Something I have not seen since that Johnny Depp movie 

I think it goes without saying that 1917 does a good job of portraying the horror of trench warfare. We see a world that is changing One Tommy rattles off a list of names of types of cherries Some sweet and some sour. He grew up on a farm with a small orchid  This is  knowledge that has faded. We see a Tommy milk a cow, to get milk. Knowledge which is now specialized 

The  2nd Devon's - One of the British Regiments seen in the film listen to a beautiful Non conformist hymn sang by one of their company 

In the skies Air planes fight. The modern world is being born and born violently. There are Indian and African origin soldiers mixed in with the Tommies. Obviously the whole world fought in the Trenches

 I think this is also to show the universality of the experience of war

It is a world of duty and camaraderie. Grief is always deflected with an order to see to ones wounds, food is shared, whiskey and smokes shared. Little moments of beauty in a world of smashed, twisted and smoky horror

A good two hours spent. 

Munich -The Edge of War

 

It is a nice period piece, and probably the most sympathetic depiction of Neville Chamberlain I have seen in my lifetime.  The parties and pubs look very inviting, everyone dressed up. No screaming speakers, Chamberlain breakfasts on boiled eggs, butter and toast. 

Chamberlain is shown as experienced politician but a warm hearted decent man . Chamberlain notes Adolf's relationship with Mussolini and plans to use that. Chamberlain speaks French to Daladier He befriends the lead character. Who is treated warmly by Great and the Good

There are some anachronisms. There seems to be a black aide in Downing Street- I wonder if this is historically accurate. There is also a presumably Anglo Indian, or Eurasian secretary. The Nazi's are constantly referred to as racist, and not racialist. I am old enough to remember people using racialist instead of racism The swearing has been noted by others.

The lead character's marriage seems to be out of time too. It feels like someone has written a divorced father and tries to fit it in 

Beyond that  Munich the Edge of War is thriller. 

Two college friends reunite to smuggle a message out of Nazi Germany Which could stop Hitler. A lot of the story is told in flash back. There is a more than a bit of Cabaret in this 

I think though it is rather more historically accurate then other films. The Gestapo SS are not hanging people on the telegraph poles yet. People remember the terror at the end of the war, not the  restraint shown at the beginning of the 1000 year Reich. So out heroes, get a kicking rather than a shooting. Himmler, is shown being greeted by Hitler, and than being dismissed rather then informed about the outcome of his meeting with Chamberlain

The film's meeting between the German resistance agent and Chamberlain, goes as you would expect it to. The German lectures Chamberlain despite being told not too, 

Herman Goering is mentioned as being seen tin a butcher shop after a meatless meal with Adolf

My problem with this film is a moral one. The German agent, becomes an Anti Nazi, after his Jewish Girlfriend is picked up in 35 and thrown into a KZL She is left as a vegetable and he can see the horror

All well and good and probably relatable 

But could we not see someone just turn on the Nazi's because they are wrong, not because they target the person he loves or himself

Anyway, a decent film. Jeremy Irons is always worth watching. 

50 years ago 30 of January

 14 Dead on the Streets of Derry

Round Up

 A happy St Brigid's day

I will return to Peru in March to spend the 17th of March with my Daughter

My brother had his birthday

My Brother in law, and my niece have been under the weather

QPR won 4-0 against reading

Birthday wishes to my friend Christopher who has returned to Disneyland

My laptop has died. It seems to short out all the time, I may try to repair it, but it is not really necessary at the moment 

It has been a long bitter laggard January. I have spent the month dry Well, from the 9th to the 6th - A 28 day month. I am however to embarrassed for want of money to splash out more this month