Borgen (2010 - 2013)

 Blog Rating: 8.5 out of 10

This political drama begins by recounting the negotiations that the moderate party candidate Birgitte Nyborg must carry out in the Danish parliamentary elections.

As the episodes unfold, it is possible to appreciate the skills that this politician of strong moral convictions demonstrates and that manages to enchant the voters.

Sidse Babett Knudsen as Birgitte Nyborg

Birgitte must exercise her position relying only on a fragile coalition and at the same time, live her family life.

As she advances in her political career, she will have to deal not only with her adversaries but also with her partners and advisers.

Birgitte Hjort Sorensen as Katrine Fonsmark

The various government projects will consume her to the point that she will end up passing the bill on her personal life as well.

It is also possible to appreciate a strong relationship between the government and the press, who use each other to communicate or manipulate reality according to their own interests.

Pilou Asbaek as Kasper Juul 

"Borgen" accomplishes the amazing feat of turning politics into exciting television entertainment.

The mixture of politics, media circus and family drama is staged and transmitted in a very good way.

A captivating series, well produced, with good actors and stimulating for neurons.

In Danish "Borgen" means "The Castle", which is the informal name of Christiansborg Palace
 where all three branches of Danish government reside: the Parliament, the Prime Minister's
Office, and the Supreme Court, and is often used as a figure of speech for the Danish 
government.

Michelle Bachelet denounced that the Nicolás Maduro regime murdered more than 2,000 people between January and August of this year

The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, walks with his wife, Cilia Flores; the Minister of
Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, and the head of the Strategic Operational Command of the
Armed Forces, Remigio Ceballos. The dictator and the military are identified by the UN as
responsible for crimes against humanity in Venezuela (Reuters)

Venezuela. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights presented an update on her report on the situation in Venezuela and noted that there are "high numbers of deaths of young people in marginalized neighborhoods as a result of security operations"

“I am concerned about the high numbers of deaths of young people in marginalized neighborhoods as a result of security operations. My office registered 711 deaths from June to August, reaching more than 2,000 deaths since January 2020, ”Bachelet told the Human Rights Council.

Michelle Bachelet - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

She then said that her office continues to document cases of repression in peaceful protests in Venezuela, under the "state of alarm", including arrests and deaths of protesters. "In Venezuela, restrictions on freedom of expression, the application of the Hate Law, attacks on defenders and journalists continue," he stressed.

She also denounced her concern about the stigmatizing speeches of the country's authorities, which hold those who return responsible for introducing the coronavirus into Venezuelan territory. "33% of the deaths from COVID-19 in Venezuela have been of health personnel, mainly due to the lack of protective equipment and water," she denounced.

Finally, she argued that the pandemic was added to other pre-existing emergencies, such as food. She said that the rate of acute malnutrition in children is around 15% and that some stop eating so that another family member can do so.

This update came after an International Mission commissioned by the UN to investigate the human rights situation in Venezuela once again focused on the brutality of the Venezuelan regime.

In the 21 pages, the dictator Nicolás Maduro and her defense ministers, Vladimir Padrino López; and from the Interior, Néstor Reverol, as leading figures in serious crimes committed by the country's security forces. The report offers extensive information "that shows that the State authorities -both at the presidential and ministerial levels- exercised power and supervision over the civil and military security forces, and the agencies identified as perpetrators of the violations and documented crimes."

The Mission found numerous acts of torture. In a list, she identified the nine techniques of the Chavista forces to hurt political prisoners:

- Heavy beatings.

- Suffocation with toxic substances and water.

- Stress positions.

- Prolonged confinement in solitary confinement under harsh conditions.

- Sexual and gender-based violence, including forced nudity and rape.

- Cuts and mutilations.

- Electric shocks.

- Use of drugs to induce confession.

- Psychological torture.

The report offers extensive information "that shows that the State authorities - both at the presidential and ministerial levels - exercised power and supervision over the civilian and military security forces, and the agencies identified as perpetrators of the documented violations and crimes."

“Some of these acts caused serious and / or permanent physical injury. This included the loss of sensory or motor functions, reproductive injuries, abortions, blood in the urine and broken ribs ”, explains the UN mission. The horrors of the Maduro regime, they add, also led to severe psychological trauma and depression.

In three cases investigated by the Mission, the DGCIM perpetrated acts of sexual or gender-based violence against the soldiers detained during interrogations to degrade, humiliate or punish them. “DGCIM officials of both sexes subjected people to forced nudity, sometimes for days. The male guards threatened to rape detainees with sharp objects, mainly sticks and bats, and in one case they raped a detainee. Electric shocks and blows were administered, even to the testicles ”, he details.

After the report was released, the president in charge of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, called on those who still recognize Maduro as a Venezuelan authority. “The UN Report puts Maduro at the level of the atrocious crimes committed by Gaddafi. No one can have any doubt at this time that there is a criminal regime in Venezuela, "he declared.

Source: Infobae

Enola Holmes (2020)

 Blog Rating: 7.35 out of 10

This film that is based on the book series "The Enola Holmes Mysteries" by Nancy Springer, is an entertaining adventure narrative set at the end of the 19th century. Where its protagonist (Millie Bobby Brown) shows all her talent and charisma, in a charming character who also happens to be the younger sister of the famous private investigator Sherlock Holmes.

Louis Partridge as Tewkesbury

In order to discover the reason for the mysterious disappearance of her mother, Enola, the youngest of the Holmes brothers, travels to London, where she is also investigating the dangerous conspiracy against a young marquis.

Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes

Enola Holmes mixes the mystery genre with comedy. The photography is excellent, in addition to highlighting the costumes and sets. The feminist side is exploited but in a subtle way that does not bother and serves to highlight the heroic spirit of the young protagonist.

Millie Bobby Brown as Enola Holmes

In conclusion, Enola Holmes has the potential to generate a new successful saga or television series, suitable for a young audience, seeking action, comedy and suspense.

Genre: Adventure, mystery

Country: United Kingdom

Director: Harry Bradbeer

Script: Jack Thorne

Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Helena Bonham Carter, Fiona Shaw, Adeel Akhtar, Louis Partridge, Susan Wokoma, Burn Gorman, Jay Simpson

Duration: 123 minutes

The History of Rock - The 50's

The date most commonly accepted as the creation of rock and roll is the release of the song ("We're Gonna") Rock Around The Clock "by Bill Haley and The Comets, on April 12th 1954, although dozens of previous recordings already presented one or another characteristic of what would come to be known as rock and roll.

Bill Halley - "We're gonna rock around the clock"🎵

Bill Haley

The dream of finding a white capable of singing like a black had been made by record producer Sam Phillips, from a small record company called Sun Records.

At the beginning of his career with the single "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky", then followed by "Good Rockin 'Tonight" and "I Do not Care If The Sun Don't Shine", few could believe that the Elvis Presley who was listening on the radio was a young white man. Obviously it seemed healthier to conservative and racist society accept that kind of music from a young handsome man.

Elvis Presley

Although it was created a year before, rock and roll would only come to explode definitively in 1955, largely influenced by the inclusion of "Rock Around The Clock" as opening music for the movie "Blackboard Jungle" (Seeds of Violence) about tumultuous relationships between students and teachers (an analogy to something much broader, the relationship between the establishment and the desire for change).

                                                      

Obviously the new type of music quickly became associated with the degeneration of youth, which made their fascination even greater, in an irresistible vicious cycle. And when everyone thought that nothing worse could influence American youth on such a large scale, there appears a black man, Chuck Berry, who climbs the charts with a version for the country hit "Ida Red".

Chuck Berry

Although he never got the title that could have recognized him as king of rock (usurped by white Elvis) his importance was never discussed.

Then a second black singer, Little Richard, would appear in the lists, although he was a little effeminate, with an exotic hairstyle and would sing what would become forever the best known song of rock and roll "Tutti Frutti".

Little Richard

In 1956, Elvis Presley consolidated his success with new songs such as "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Blue Suede Shoes". As a pianist, the singer who would try to match the success of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, would appear in a short time.

Jerry Lee Lewis

With a slightly different sound, more marked by the black music of origin, mainly gospel, began to appear the talent of James Brown with the almost soul "Please Please Please".

James Brown

In the meantime, the entrepreneur Tom Parker took advantage of Elvis' talent also in the cinema in the movie "The Reno Brothers", later renamed "Love Me Tender" by virtue of the great success of the song. Meanwhile, in England and with some delay, the film Blackboard Jungle took rock and roll to the United Kingdom.

With the mandatory enlistment of Elvis Presley in the armed forces in 1957, the end of rock and roll was announced for the first time. After all, what would be in this rhythm that could make it more durable than so many others like the cha-cha-cha, the rumba or the mambo?

With the entry of Elvis into the armed forces, Jerry Lee Lewis was the natural candidate for his position, rebellious, charismatic and white. "Great Balls Of Fire" quickly became the success of the year 1958.

In the case of Chuck Berry, he released two of the greatest rock classics of all time, "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Johnny B.Goode". The cute and romantic rock in turn reacts with "All I Have To Do" by the Everly Brothers and James Brown launches his first big hit, "Try Me".

The Everly Brothers

* Also you might be interested: The History of Rock - The Beginnings 

https://csachannel.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-history-of-rock.html

The Socialist Experience in Chile (Part II): I am not the President of all Chileans

The first weeks of the Popular Unity government had the euphoria of the new, shocking announcements and emotional phrases.

Everything seemed to start well, in his first press conference as Head of State, Allende stated: "I am not in this position to perform miracles, I am in this position to teach people to work on the basis of planning their economy and contributing their sacrifice and heroism in daily effort ".

In a massive act held at the National Stadium, Allende stated: "I make the phrase of Fidel Castro my own, in this government you can put your feet, but never your hands. I will be inflexible in the custody of the morality of the regime."

Interior Minister José Toha announced that the Mobile Group of Carabineros had been dissolved, as part of the 40 measures promised. Posters during the campaign featured pictures of police beating women and students.

The decree stipulated that the troops of the disappeared Mobile Group would become members of the Prefecture of Special Services. Toha told reporters: "We are sure that the policies of the popular government will make unnecessary the existence of police groups that have to confront the population.

Months later it would be the same staff of the former Mobile Group (now the Prefecture of Special Services) which, following orders, would arrive equipped with gas masks and shields to dissolve demonstrations using luma batons and tear gas.

On the other hand, children from a distant northern mountain school who had never seen the sea before, would spend two weeks in the Presidential Palace in the city of Viña del Mar.

Allende expressed his displeasure that some union leaders came to La Moneda and treated him as "Excellence." Then I declare: I am not just another president, but rather I am the first president of a popular, national and revolutionary government that opens the way to socialism. Furthermore, I am not His Excellency the President of the Republic, but rather I am the Comrade President.

In all official correspondence the expression "sir" was deleted and replaced by "comrade". Imperceptibly there was discrimination between those who could be called "comrade" and those who were "sir." Thus, little by little the Popular Unity was dividing the Chileans into two groups that would become irreconcilable: those who belonged to the Popular Unity and those who were not. The "comrades" and the "sirs".

Three months after starting his mandate, Allende declared in Valparaíso: "I am not the president of the socialist party, I am the president of the Popular Unity. Nor am I the president of all Chileans. I am not the hypocrite who says it, no. I am not. I am not the president of all Chileans.

But it was not these words that made the most bitter impression. In an interview made by the French Marxist ideologue Regis Debray and which was reproduced by the Mirista (MIR - Revolutionary Left Movement) and pro-Castro magazine Punto Final. He asked him how he had accepted the Statute of Constitutional Guarantees. Allende's response was: I accepted it as a tactical necessity to assume power. The important thing at that time was to take over the government.

His words reflected a certain political cynicism. He had accepted the statute as an indispensable requirement to obtain the presidency. He had never intended to comply.

Chilean families saw the ghost of hunger arise. Grocery stores were empty
 and modest people lined up in vain to try to get what they needed to eat.

Other events began to reveal a new phase in Allende's personality. The politician who reached the presidency was forced to do what Popular Unity determined. This was made up of 6 collectives, but there were only two strong parties: the Socialist and the Communist, which looked aggressive, although from the outside they affirmed their granite revolutionary unity.

A Senator from the Popular Unity (Alberto Jerez, from the Christian Left) confided that on one occasion he could not help but express his bitterness for the stubborn and harsh way in which socialists and communists wanted to impose their points of view on Allende. He interrupted the Popular Unity meeting in La Moneda shouting: Do you want to tell me who the hell is the President of the republic and is in charge here?

This resulted in several spectacular announcements made by Allende that were subsequently not carried out.

The total shortage of products was a reflection of reality, the economic
 chaos was suffocating Chile, while inflation grew at an impressive rate.

On December 30th, 1970, Allende spoke on the national radio and television network announcing: "Within eight days I will send a bill to Congress to nationalize all the banks."

The initiative never reached parliament.

The legal loopholes were beginning. Every law had an escape door.

With a legal subterfuge, CORFO bought the titles of the private shareholders
and the commercial banks were passed to the State. The Popular Unity
parties installed Managers and Directors in their administration.

Hence, with the current "bourgeois laws" Popular Unity could gradually establish socialism in Chile, stepping on tiptoe to prevent the jealous constitutionalists from giving the cry of alert.

In the case of the banks, why go to Congress where the Popular Unity did not have a majority? It is true that the Christian Democracy had expressed its approval, but it also spoke of banks as worker companies.

The best thing was to nationalize them all without consulting Congress. How? The law that created the Corporation for the Promotion of Production (CORFO) empowered this company to acquire shares in some companies. That provision could be used to buy shares in all banks. The day that it could have acquired half plus one of those shares without Congress passing a law; the banks would pass into the hands of the state.

CORFO, lacking its true role, dedicated itself to buying shares in all banks. These shares were not even listed on the stock market. They were offered a part in cash and the rest in bonds payable over several years.

The same system of purchase of shares of the banks, began to apply CORFO in the industries. The state was swallowing companies without the need for law.

To the 45 companies that would be nationalized, others were added, not knowing if that amount would be the final one.

But as this was very onerous, an alternative was established: to produce labor disputes that forced businessmen to sell at any price. The CUP (Popular Unity Committee) of the industry workers helped that aim.

All in all, 1971, the first year of the Popular Unity government was prosperous. Everyone earned more, everyone spent more, and lived better.

Chileans were unaware that this feast had a bitter price: they were wasting the reserves accumulated by the country for years.

The procedure used by the Popular Unity to achieve the "redistribution of income"
-according to its representatives- was the uncontrolled issuance of paper money.
This generated a rise in inflation and the appearance of the black market.

To cover the fiscal deficit and the commitments derived from the generous increases in wages and salaries, banknotes began to be printed.

The 1971 emission reached 20,000 million escudos (a million dollars at that time), which represented an increase in the emission of 132.7 percent. But the money printing machine was just working. In the last year of the Popular Unity, it would exceed that figure ten times (216,000 million escudos in eight months).

The political dividend of this artificial bonanza was that Allende, who had obtained 36.3% of the vote, saw his strength increased to 49.5% in the municipal elections. Now he was on an equal ground with the opposition.

Government of Jorge Alessandri (Right): 1958-63 
Government of Eduardo Frei (Christian Democrat): 1964-69
Government of Salvador Allende (Left): 1970-73 

That the economy collapsed, that industries died, that inflation devoured wages and salaries, was part of a strategy destined to reduce to zero that "capitalist society" and in its ruins begin to build the new socialist economy.

Another adverse factor was added: the brain drain began. In the fiscal bodies, in the companies that were nationalized, the professionals and technicians who were not from the Popular Unity were fired or had their lives made impossible, labeling them reactionaries and saboteurs.

Engineers, doctors, biochemists, biologists, civil builders, architects, had to leave Chile.

Eduardo Simián, the engineer who made the first oil spout in Chile, was given forty-eight hours to leave his post. He was immediately hired by Ecuador.

You might be interested in the first part of this article: The Socialist Experience in Chile - Part I

* Information based mainly on the work by Hernan Millas and Emilio Filippi "Anatomy of a Failure".

Chernobyl - What is the Price of the Lie ? (2019)

Blog Rating: 9.25 out of 10

On April 26th, 1986, a nuclear reactor exploded at the Chernobyl facility near the city of Pripyat. The fire in the graphite moderator of the reactor caused that the clouds that transported enormous amounts of radiation covered the area. The incident was considered by many to be the worst catastrophe in history.

At the power plant, employees try to avoid a disaster that has already begun, but in Pripyat citizens continue to live a quiet life believing they are far from the fire. One of the most spooky moments of the episode is the non-verbal scene of children playing in that snowy ash, which are actually radioactive waste.

So, why is Chernobyl so creepy? There are several factors that contribute: realism, abandonment, arrogance and the denial of those in power; their main concern is to protect their dignity before the State.

"What is the price of lies?" Brilliantly structured and supported by the admirable performances of Jared Harris, Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgård, Chernobyl is dark but has incredible power of attraction and it is written in a very good way.

Although the historical fact is known, which still today is defined as "the greatest nuclear disaster in history", every hour is more impressive than the previous one. The complex vision of the director Johan Renck and the scriptwriter Craig Mazin not only tells the facts: they dig out emotions, sensations, fears of individuals and of a whole nation.

A Soviet Union that is deeply proud and jealous of its knowledge, its discoveries, immortalized in the most paranoid period of the Cold War that is the basis of the errors that led to the Chernobyl disaster.

The series begins by showing us several characters that gravitate around the nuclear power plant that failed on April 1986: there are workers directly involved in the test, many of them without experience and without adequate information about what they are doing and directed by an arrogant and stubborn supervisor.

And then there are the government officials, who immediately decide to invent covers to keep the image of the USSR in the world dignified, arguing that nothing irreparable has happened.

Jared Harris

Jared Harris plays Valery Legasov, a leading Soviet nuclear physicist who participates in accident management and he is the first to really understand what happened and what the magnitude of the disaster is. When he realizes a piece of graphite outside the building, he realizes that the nucleus has exploded, and only after many oppositions on the part of the officials who try to affirm that it is not so serious, the green light is given to try to contain the catastrophe.

Among the officials we find Boris Shcherbina, an immense Stellan Skarsgård who does an exceptional job in the character: the pitch of voice, the posture, the appearance and the attitude of a man who little by little is convinced and realizes the severity of the accident.

Stellan Skarsgård

It is he who in the first official meeting with Gorbachov says that "The situation is stable, they told me that the level of radiation in the place is comparable to that of a chest X-ray". And he will be the first to realize that the truth is different: as Legasov says, the level of radiation at the Chernobyl plant is actually that of 4 million chest X-rays.

Initially, no one wants to accept the error simply because the dominant thought is that the Soviet Union can not make mistakes, so all the signs that lead in that direction must necessarily be false, exaggerated and alarmist.

Soviet symbols overlooking Pripyat near Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (picture by Alan Doyle)

It is the worst nuclear disaster that humanity has known, leaving behind tens of thousands of dead and sick people, with dramatic ecological, economic and political consequences. Chernobyl is now a desert place, surrounded by ghost towns, which will continue radiating for a long time. 

The miniseries recalls the horror experienced by hundreds of people and the slowness with which the authorities responded to protect the population. The worst nuclear disaster of the 20th century is the worst accident ever caused by man. 

Emily Watson

While firefighters rush to extinguish the fire that broke out after the explosion of the reactor, they do not know that they sign their death sentence. In this place, radioactivity reaches levels never registered before. Anyone who approaches the place risks his life. But nobody is aware of it, neither the firemen nor the inhabitants.

Sent to Chernobyl by Gorbachov, the duo formed by the Soviet nuclear physicist Valery Legasov (Jared Harris) and Soviet Deputy Prime Minister Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgård), to lead the Chernobyl commission of the government, which was later joined by the Belarusian nuclear physicist Ulana Khomyuk (Emily Watson), will have to find solutions to face the disaster and clarify the mystery surrounding the explosion.

Ukraine remembers victims of Chernobyl disaster

The population will be evacuated 30 hours after the explosion, 30 firefighters will perish in the acute radiation syndrome rescue operation and many more men will be sacrificed to save thousands more.

Filmed in reality in Vilnius, Lithuania, with a budget of 250 million dollars, Chernobyl resumes accurately and realistically the chronology of events, trying to reflect the disaster as accurately as possible. The responsibility of scientists and authorities, the inaction and incompetence of the latter, taking advantage of the ignorance of the population. 

Finally, to live with the weight of the guilt of thousands of aborted lives, the question arises: What is the price of lying?

When Calls the Heart (2014-)

Blog Rating: 9.25 out of 10

Elizabeth Thatcher (Erin Krakow) a young woman from a wealthy family in the city moves to a small mining town -Coal Valley- to practice for the first time as a teacher.

For her part, Abigail Stanton (Lori Loughlin), the widow of the foreman who died along with a dozen other workers in an explosion at the coal mine where they worked, will become her best friend and advisor in the hardest moments.

Lory Loughlin as Abigail Stanton

Together with the other women of Coal Valley who have just been widowed, they will have to overcome many difficulties in this town that has lost many mining husbands and children.

Pascale Hutton (as Rosemary) & Kavan Smith (as Leland Coulter)

Elizabeth enchants just about everyone in the community except Mounted Trooper Jack Thornton (Daniel Lissing), who believes Thatcher's rich dad has used his influence to favor his daughter. Over time this relationship will change and enchant the entire town.

Carter Ryan Evancic as Cody Stanton

Living in a 19th century coal city, Elizabeth will have to learn to live in a rural town without the comfort of the big city.

"When Calls the Heart" is a sentimental drama, with some cliches but very entertaining and light. It's a break from so much grim and all-too-real show. It's like a continuation of "The Little House on the Prairie" or "Anne with an E".

Andrea Brooks (as Faith Carter) and Paul Greene (as Dr Carson Shepherd)

Most of the characters are very human and caring. Whenever there is a problem, it is faced by the community until a solution is found.

Bill Avery, Abigail Stanton, Elizabeth Thatcher & Jack Thornton

The series is inspired by Janette Oke's best-selling book collection on the Canadian West, and reunites her with executive producer and director, Michael Landon Jr.

"When Calls the Heart" is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Janette Oke (born 1935). Oke, now 85, is the mother of evangelical romance novels.

Janette Oke accompanied by the cast of the series

Her first novel, "Love Comes Softly", sold an average of 500,000 copies per year for 20 years after its publication in 1979.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Country: United States

Filmed in: Vancouver, Langley and British Columbia (Canada)

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