LOCATIONS & FORMS OF POWER: A MIND MAP

LOCATIONS & FORMS OF POWER: A MIND MAP

              

MILITARY POWER

The film shows us the lives of some American soldiers in Iraq. We can see their control routine, how they live in their camps and in the check points. The film is shot by one of the soldiers( the Latino), with a little portable camera. We see daily life.

  At one moment the squadron participates in a raid. They went into a local house with the supposotion that inside they will find terrorist information. They take the father of the family prisoner and some papers too, as if it was imformation.

 Then one day, whensome of them were drunk. They decided, without mutual agreement, to enter again into that house to "have some fun". What they really wanted was to rape the woman. We can see the rape scene, and also we know that, after raping the woman, they kill all the family and burn the bodies.

  Here we can see perfectly the issue that deals with the notion of power. These soldiers made a clear abuse of their power. And the most important thing is that no one do something to punish their abuse.Only one of the soldiers made a video on internet to confess what they did, and to help the others  of his squad to become awareness of the fault that they made.

 This abuse of military power, is usual in war. But it's a really big abuse. First they entered in a ramdom house to find terrorist information, as it was sure that they will find something there. And, they raped a woman and killed a family just for "fun". They did something without the military permission and out side the law and moral or ethic rules. Finally they burn the bodies. This is a big insult toward de Arabic world but also in all types of society.

They are criminals not soldiers, and be a soldier don't allow you to do what you want, you can't abuse your power as we see in the film.

Twenty years ago, Brian De Palma made one of the finest films about the American experience of the Vietnam War. Now, with conflict still continuing in Iraq, he has made in Redacted the most controversial picture about that conflict. It has attracted more abusive internet messages, many charging him with treason, than it has sold tickets in American cinemas.

During the Vietnam War, there were a number of convictions for crimes committed by soldiers against civilians. The most famous cases were the incident in November 1966 when a five-man patrol led by a sergeant abducted, raped and murdered a young Vietnamese woman, an event memorably related by Daniel Lang in a 1969 New Yorker article called 'Casualties of War', and the My Lai massacre of March 1968.
At the time, Hollywood averted its gaze from such things. My Lai was obliquely referred to in two political westerns of the time, Ralph Nelson's Soldier Blue and Arthur Penn's Little Big Man, both featuring the slaughter of unprotected women and children by the US cavalry. But Casualties of War had to wait nearly 20 years to reach the screen, directed by De Palma from a script by David Rabe, a Vietnam veteran and author of an important trilogy of plays on the war.
Coming a decade after Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter and other films in the first wave of Vietnam pictures, Casualties of War, following closely the facts established by Daniel Lang, is classically constructed in three acts. In the first, we see through the eyes of the newly arrived Private Eriksson the inadequacy of leadership, the ignorance, demoralisation, drug-taking and xenophobia of the GIs. In the second act, there's the atrocity witnessed by Eriksson out on patrol. The third act sees Eriksson faced with terrible choices of desertion, keeping his silence or informing on his comrades. It's De Palma's best, most balanced and considered picture.
Redacted is a fictionalised version of a genuine event in Iraq, the gang rape of a 14-year-old girl in Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad, and her murder, along with her parents and sister, which have resulted in court martials and heavy sentences. Scripted by De Palma, there is a similar three-act structure - introducing the characters, the revenge motive drawn on for the killing of a revered sergeant, the rape and murders, and the aftermath in which the witness, a middle-class soldier, McCoy, is consumed by guilt.
The setting is now Samarra, which allows De Palma to have one of the soldiers reading Appointment in Samarra, John O'Hara's classic Thirties novel, the story of a middle-class American meeting his tragic destiny in small-town Pennsylvania, which takes its title from an ancient Arabian Nights tale of an encounter with fate in Baghdad quoted in Maugham's play Sheppey
A direct connection between the two films occurs when a homicidal bully forces McCoy, the weak liberal conscience of Redacted, to repeat the sentence: 'What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas.' The rather stronger Eriksson in Casualties of War is told: 'What happens in the field stays in the field.'
In 1989, De Palma thought he was helping his fellow countrymen understand the brutalising effect war can have on those entering into it with the most sincerely patriotic motives. Seeing how little effect he and others had had, and how few moral and historic lessons Vietnam had taught his fellow Americans, he has set out in Redacted to abandon conventional narrative methods. He tells his story in a way that emphasises the inadequacy of the messengers and the way they have been cowed and suborned by government. Somewhat earnestly, he uses 'redaction', a term mostly employed in academic and publishing circles meaning to revise, edit, abridge or otherwise prepare for publication, to mean the way the world is variously mediated and censored for the edification and education of the general public, and how some people attempt to subvert this process.
Thus, Redacted has nine or 10 different narrative elements, each with its own aim, agenda and texture. The first is a video diary, kept by Hispanic soldier Private Salazar, who aims to use it to gain admission to the University of Southern California Film School. The second is a solemn documentary on the US role in Iraq credited to two fictitious French intellectuals.
Then there are two newsreels, one in Arabic, the other in English; CCTV footage; official army tapes made by a psychiatrist and military lawyers; propaganda films (one of a brutal hostage execution) shot to be used on insurgent websites; messages between soldiers and their families on computers; and agitational and confessional material on blogs.
Somewhere here - or in between - lies the truth. I was reminded of the documentary crime novels written by Dennis Wheatley in the Thirties that took the form of dossiers containing letters, police memorandums, scene-of-the-crime photographs and bits of evidence.
Redacted is a brave and provocative film. But it is a lesser thing than Casualties of War and less effective than Nick Broomfield's The Battle for Haditha, also shot on location in Jordan, which recreates a similar incident from different points of view. Broomfield's picture is technically messier and gains authenticity by using non-professionals who actually fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. The little-known actors in Redacted cannot draw on combat experience for scenes involving improvisation and De Palma's liking for technical polish makes his film look cold and altogether too smooth.
               (Philip French, The observer, sunday 16 March 2008)

SYSTEM OF A DOWN- BOOM!!

                                            BOOM!!      SYSTEM OF A DOWN

Ive been walking through your streets,
Where all your money's earning,
Where all your building's crying,
And clueless neckties working,
Revolving fake lawn houses,
Housing all your fears,
Desensitized by TV,
Overbearing advertising,
God of consumerism,
And all your crooked pictures,
Looking good, mirrorism,
Filtering information,
For the public eye,
Designed for profiteering,
Your neighbor, what a guy. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM,
Every time you drop the bomb,
You kill the god your child has born.
BOOM, BOOM,BOOM, BOOM Modern globalization,
Coupled with condemnations,
Unnecessary death,
Matador corporations,
Puppeting your frustrations,
With the blinded flag,
Manufacturing consent
Is the name of the game,
The bottom line is money,
Nobody gives a fuck f***.
4000 hungry children die per hour,
from starvation,
while billions spent on bombs,
create death showers. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM,
Every time you drop the bomb,
You kill the god your child has born.
BOOM, BOOM,BOOM, BOOM
BOOM/BOOM/BOOM/BOOM/BOOM/BOOM/BOOM
Why,why,why,why must we kill,kill,kill,kill,
our own,own,own,own kind??
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM,
Every time you drop the bomb,
You kill the god your child has born.
BOOM, BOOM,BOOM, BOOM
BOOM/BOOM/BOOM/BOOM/BOOM/BOOM/BOOM/BOOM
Every time you drop the bomb.

PETER GABRIEL - Don't Give Up (1986)

COVER ARTWORK

VIDEO

you can see the correction here and here

 

PETER GABRIEL'S LYRICS

"Don't Give Up"

In this proud land we grew up strong
We were wanted all along
I was taught to fight, taught to win
I never thought I could fail

No fight left or so it seems
I am a man whose dreams have all deserted
I've changed my face, I've changed my name
But no one wants you when you lose

Don't give up
'cos you have friends
Don't give up
You're not beaten yet
Don't give up
I know you can make it good

Though I saw it all around
Never thought I could be affected
Thought that we'd be the last to go
It is so strange the way things turn

Drove the night toward my home
The place that I was born, on the lakeside
As daylight broke, I saw the earth
The trees had burned down to the ground

Don't give up
You still have us
Don't give up
We don't need much of anything
Don't give up
'cause somewhere there's a place
Where we belong

Rest your head
You worry too much
It's going to be alright
When times get rough
You can fall back on us
Don't give up
Please don't give up

Got to walk out of here
I can't take anymore
Gonna stand on that bridge
Keep my eyes down below
Whatever may come
And whatever may go
That river's flowing
That river's flowing

Moved on to another town
Tried hard to settle down
For every job, so many men
So many men no-one needs

Don't give up
'cause you have friends
Don't give up
You're not the only one
Don't give up
No reason to be ashamed
Don't give up
You still have us
Don't give up now
We're proud of who you are
Don't give up
You know it's never been easy
Don't give up
'cause I believe there's a place
There's a place where we belong

 

CREATIVE WRITING

Shooting Script  for Peter Gabriel's 'Don't Give Up' Video                   31/01/2013

 

OVER BLACK:

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

The first notes of the song sound.

FADE IN:

1. EXT. FACTORY IN  THE OUTSKIRTS OF A BIG CITY (DETROIT) - MORNING

 

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

Verse 1

 

PAN SHOT of a busy street, followed by TILT UP toward the top of high-rise towers (skyscrapers) and TILT DOWN to ZOOM FORWARD on factory workers noisily walking out of their work in an automobile plant.

They seem tired but full of pride and energy despite their night shift.

Then, CLOSE UP on the face of one man in the crowd. He looks young and enthusiastic.

ZOOM BACKWARD to show  the man walking on, now framed in a FULL SHOT.

Then, TRACKING SHOT, following the man who is walking away at a brisk pace, waving goodbye to his workmates with a broad smile on his face These people obviously stick together.

He is now seen in a LONG SHOT.

 

DISSOLVE TO BLACK & WHITE

 

2. INT. APARTMENT - MORNING

 

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

Verse 2

 

FULL SHOT of a man who is sitting at home, sipping a cup of coffee. He is the same man as the one viewed earlier but he looks older and depressed.

CLOSE UP on the man's gloomy face.

PAN TO THE RIGHT: A song is playing on an old radio transistor.

CUT TO COLOR

 

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

Chorus

3. EXT. STREET - SUNNY DAY

The man is seen in a FULL SHOT talking to friends. The conversation is lively and the group (both men and women) walk into a bar.

DISSOLVE TO BLACK & WHITE

 

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

Verse 3

 

4. EXT. EMPTY STREET - RAINY DAY

LONG SHOT of a group of men lining up in front of what looks like a job center. ZOOM FORWARD to focus on the face of the same man standing in line. He looks ashamed and despondent.

 

CUT TO:

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

Verse 4

5. EXT. ROAD - NIGHT

The man is driving at night. He is about to reach his destination,  a house on the lakeside barely visible in the distance.

 

 

 

CUT TO:

6: INT. CAR - EARLY MORNING

The man is looking at something outside. He looks stunned. EXTREME CLOSE UP on the man's eyes.

Then REVERSE SHOT: he was staring at the scorched earth which seems to have replaced a little wood which stood near the house and where he used to play as a kid. The house looks shabby, rundown, maybe even abandoned. There is nothing left of his roots.

 

CUT TO COLOR

 

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

Chorus

 

7. INT. APARTMENT - AFTERNOON

MEDIUM SHOT of the man and his wife at home. The woman is talking. She seems to be comforting her husband, stroking his hair.

CLOSE SHOT of the man who rests his head against her, as if he needed a shoulder to cry on.

Then, PAN SHOT TO THE RIGHT as two kids run into the drawing room to kiss and  hug their parents (SLOW MOTION).

LOW-ANGLE SHOT of the man who suddenly picks up a newspaper and sighs deeply.

He stands up and says 'OK'.

He then turns his back on his family and walks out of the room.

DISSOLVE TO BLACK & WHITE

 

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

Verse 5

8..EXT. STREET -  EVENING

FULL SHOT of the man as he walks down the street, then strolls along a river.

CLOSE UP on the man's face, followed by ZOOM OUT to show the man now standing on a bridge, looking down at the river.  

P.O.V. SHOT: the man is staring intently at the black foam-flecked water below, as if he was about to jump and commit suicide.

HIGH-ANGLE SHOT + TRACKING IN of the man walking across the bridge  while the river keeps flowing.

 

 

CUT TO:

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

Verse 6

 

9 .INT. SMALL TOWN - DAYS LATER

MEDIUM-CLOSE SHOT of the man standing at a counter, begging to be hired but the employer shakes his head.

PAN SHOT of the man as he walks out of the place.

 

 

CUT TO:

10. EXT. STREET - MOMENTS LATER

LONG SHOT of the man trying his luck in yet another job agency we see him walking into but he soon walks out, his head bent.

 

CUT TO COLOR

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

Chorus

11. INT. APARTMENT - MORNING

FULL SHOT of a group of people, among whom the man's wife and kids.

They seem to be celebrating someone's birthday. The atmosphere is joyful and the man seems to be having fun.

EXTREME CLOSE UP on his eyes in which there is a glimmer of hope at last.

He now seems seem more cheerful than ever before and kisses his wife before hugging his two kids.

                                                                                                                                                                         

 

FADE OUT



 

Barton Fink is a 1991 American film, written, directed, and produced by the Coen brothers. Set in 1941, it stars John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City playwright who is hired to write scripts for a movie studio in Hollywood, and John Goodman as Charlie, the insurance salesman who lives next door at the run-down Hotel Earle. Barton Fink is a troubled New York playwright obsessed with bringing his new idea of "Theater of the Common Man" to the producers he loves to hate. After his first budding success his agent convinces him to travel to Los Angeles to write for Capital Pictures. When he arrives he checks into the dark Hotel Earle and meets with Capital Pictures President Jack Lipnick, who tells him of the movie he's writing: a B-Movie wrestling picture for Wallace Beery. Fink travels back to his hotel room to begin, but when he arrives he types one sentence and then falls into the horror of writer's block. He tries getting help from his neighbor, "Common Man" Charlie Meadows; famed writer Mayhew; Mayhew's girlfriend Audrey and producer Ben Geisler. But as Fink drifts further away from his script strange things start happening, and eventually two detectives show up at his door...

The coen brothers :

Joel David Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen^[ (born September 21, 1957) known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. Their films include Blood Simple, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, and True Grit. The brothers write, direct and produce their films jointly, although until recently Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing. They often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes.

John Turturro:

John Michael Turturro (born February 28, 1957) is an Italian-American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing(1989), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Quiz Show (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and the Transformers film series. He has appeared in over sixty films, and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, Adam Sandler and Spike Lee.

John Goodman :

John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne (1988–1997) for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for providing the voice of Sully in Monsters, Inc. As a film actor, he has frequently collaborated with the Coen Brothers, including in Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

R.E.M- Every Day Is Yours To Win

R.E.M- Every Day Is Yours To Win

Two contrasting reviews of this record  

I-At last! R.E.M. have come up with an album to compare with their 'greats' of the past. Brand loyalty can come at a price, and R.E.M. have tested my patience with a series of disappointing albums, 'Accelerate' promised much but in reality just offered 4 or 5 good tracks and some really poor tracks also.
'Collapse Into Now' in many ways offers a similar style to 'Accelerate' but 12 of the 12 tracks hit the mark. I am not ready (yet!) to heap too much praise, but this could prove to be a truly great R.E.M. album. I guess my low expectations, might lead me to over state the quality of this album, but I need to go back to albums such as 'Up' and 'Reveal' to hear equivalent quality (and I hold both of these albums in very high esteem).
What is particularly impressive about 'Collapse Into Now' is the combination between the gentle and the more rocky tracks. This album flows beautifully and will probably satisfy all R.E.M. fans who have stuck with them over the disappointments of recent years.
So if you are hesitating in respect to this latest album, get out there now and buy your copy!

PS: This was indeed the final R.E.M. album, at least they went out on a positive note!! 

II- REM's creative decline in the last decade coincided with the loss of drummer Bill Berry and their apparent need to make more keyboardy and acoustic albums, rather than the elemental rock that made them such a 1980s/90s force. However, Collapse Into Now continues the return to form of 2008's Accelerate by rewinding to their old classics to relocate their mojo. The sublime Uberlin sounds a bit like Drive; magisterial opener Discoverer vaguely echoes Disturbance at the Heron House – and so on. Michael Stipe is even enjoying making wilfully enigmatic lyrics again ("I feel like an alligator coming up the escalator", anybody?) and there are some outstanding songs in the sincere, Katrina-aftermath ballad Oh My Heart and plangent Walk It Back. Collapse Into Now isn't groundbreaking, but feeling comfortable in their old skin has produced REM's best effort in years.

                                                      Short biography

R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's unclear vocals. R.E.M. released its first single, "Radio Free Europe", in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. The single was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, the band's first release on I.R.S. Records. In 1983, the group released its critically acclaimed debut album, Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years through subsequent releases, constant touring, and the support of college radio. Following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit in 1987 with the single "The One I Love". The group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide.
By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience broad mainstream success, R.E.M. was viewed by subsequent acts such as Nirvana and Pavement as a pioneer of the genre and released its two most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), which veered from the band's established sound. R.E.M.'s 1994 release, Monster, was a return to a more rock-oriented sound. The band began its first tour in six years to support the album; the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three band members. In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract in history. The following year, Bill Berry left the band, while Buck, Mills, and Stipe continued the group as a trio. Through some changes in musical style, the band continued its career into the next decade with mixed critical and commercial success. In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. R.E.M. disbanded in September 2011, announcing the split on its website.

   Honestly, I dont like this song because is not the type of music that touch me  but I must say that the video  is quite funny and original and the message of the song is positive and encouraging. I'm not saying that this is bad music so i dont want te see coments like "If you dont like them you are nothing" or other offensive stuff. I think that the music is to corny, sweet, like " a cherry pie". The melodies are really simple, 4 open chords played with the guitar. There's to much keyboards  and also is a really repetitive melody. The drummer must by Ringo Star because the 3.30 minutes of the song he's playing the same slow rhythm, no fills, no bridges, no nothing, just an eternal ostinato. Also I think that they use a lot of sinthesizer and other electronic effects that try to hide the mediocrity of hte melody.

The lyrics arent good, just the chorus has a good message and is the heart of the song. "Every day is yours to win" is a good message, more in these days that societies are suffering depresion, mostly young people. The singularity of the message is to show that each one of us has a talent or a special quality that makes us amazing, uniques and "heros". it's a very positive and encouraging message. You must profit each day and became your own hero. 

the video also shows a message, thanks to new technologie we can became heros in the internet and be famous or maybe live thanks to internet. REM try to show that each one of us can enter by the Big Door in the celebrity world. There are few cases of people with their own chanel in youtube and the are famous beacause the have some especial qualities that make them funny or intrasting.

So I think that the message is:  we must find our talent to became our hero and also thanks to internet we can became the hero of a lot of people arond the world. That's the meaning of "win".