.....incredibly benevolent force

I am supine on the floor, I feel heavy, I can smell burning sage and there is the slightly acrid taste of osha root in my mouth. Soon however, I am floating way above the earth, in space. In due course I am confronted by a dark, perfectly shaped oblong obelisk which has emerged from nowhere. It is hard-looking, wet; water runs down its surface, it is difficult to guage its size but it is probably about ten or twelve feet tall. It is similar to the icon which features in 2001 A Space Odessey.

A beautiful woman emerges from the monolith, she has long dark hair and looks like she knows everything. There is calm everywhere. She says nothing but from her look, I know there is no point in worrying about anything, ever, because I am part of something I don't begin to understand. I feel grateful but whilst I like the idea that I have been singled out, I suspect that I have been given this gift because I need it.

Death.......it's the future

This weekend's dvds were V for Vendetta and The Death of Mr Lazarescu. The former is the dystopic Wachowski Brothers (of the Matrix fame) thriller featuring a highly cheesed-off man called "V" who, dressed in a Guy Fawkes mask throughout, makes it his business to do a bit of serious boat-rocking in the dictator-led Britain of the near future.

The second is the Romanian film which won the BBC4 World Cinema award earlier this year. It would be hard to find two films which contrast in style more, as this film has an almost documentary feel, hand held cameras and a budget that probably wouldn't buy you a nice coat. Mr Lazarescu is a man in his sixties, living in a cold, filthy and anonymous apartment in Bucharest, he is not feeling well and decides to try to do something about it, initially ringing the doctor before knocking on the door of his neighbours across the landing. Slowly he gets himself nearer and nearer to a diagnosis and potential treatment. What links his interactions with the various health professionals he encounters as he tours the city's hospitals throughout the night, in the back of an ambulance, is the lack of respect he is shown, because he smells of alcohol, but also because he is old and increasingly unable to converse with anyone (due to his condition). For a long time it is only the paramedic who first arrives at his cat infested flat who fights his corner, after that.........

Meanwhile back on a set bedecked with beautiful scenery and featuring the beautiful Natalie Portman we are in full on comic book, surrealist, multi-million dollar budget familiarity. Ms Portman plays Evey Hammond, a secretary at the BTN (British TV Network) who for one reason or another finds herself aiding and abetting the enigmatic Mr V. I am not sure if it is because it is set in London but there is a bit of an "episode of the Bill" feeling about some of it. That aside, just as the Matrix does, it succeeds most effectively in getting you thinking about the human condition, particularly with regard to an increasingly controlled post 9/11 world. Within the people-power theme, there is a sub plot revealing how Evey experiences the liberation that comes with losing the fear of death. This is my favourite part of the film, and not just because NP gets her head shaved.

So there we have it, the problem is that we spend our lives under the shadow of death, our decisions hampered by it, but at the same time, in denial of it. Then, when it looms on the horizon, despite its inevitability, there are often only scant preparations made which mean that you are relieved of your dignity well in time to make you last days miserable.

There is humour in both these films. I am surprized by how my attention was held for two and a half hours of Mr Lazarescu's death; mesmeric and revealing. V for Vendetta is high paced and full of philosophy, too much for one sitting perhaps, there are a lot of words; "verily this vichy soise of verbage is most verbose" the main protagonist admits at one point. Not one to watch with someone who is alergic to aliteration.

The Death of Mr Lazarescu****
V for Vendetta****