The court of cassation decided this did not show Mr Tosi was a racist, but that he had “a deep aversion [to Roma] that was not determined by the gypsy nature of the people discriminated against, but by the facts that all the gypsies were thieves.”- 01/07/2008
Political shenanigans in Rome there, and speaking of Rome it is apparently 35 degrees there.I read this this morning, while drinking my coffee and hugging my jacket tightly around myself in a futile effort to stay warm in the cold wind and rain that is the Irish summer. Still at least we don’t have to deal with filthy Roma thieves, the gypsies encountered in Dublin can usually be dealt with easily enough, I find a swift kick to the baby is usually more than suficient .
I also saw Bladerunner last night, whatever the new version is I’m not sure I think it’s called the definitive edition? Anyway any Bladerunner in the cinema is worth it. I was late though so had to find my ticket which was craftily hidden inside a model robot advertising the new Pixar film.
I’ve seen, or at least tried to see, Bladerunner many times since I was probably about 8 so I’m pretty familiar with this film, as I assume is anyonre reading this. Since this time was my first time seeing it on the big screen I had to watch it properly. Knowing this I managed to fall into a gentle slumber three times during the first half. This is of course the only true way to watch the movie, if you’re not semi conscious up to the bit where Harrison Ford kisses Sean Young then you clearly have no appreciation of Vangelis’s haunting score.
Speaking of that scene, it’s always struck me as one of the strongest bits of the film. Ford is pretty subdued throughout and when he grabs her and pushes her against the wall the you can really feel the passion. It’s the absence of strong emotions before this that gives it the impact, Ford metaphorically grabbing the audience and sticking his metaphorical tongue down their throat, “wake up, time to die”
Having seen this film a lot when I was so young I must also say that this has probably had an impact on my own girl kissing, there are times when you have to be a man for your lady like Harrison Ford.
It’s also interesting that this emotion/passion is coming from two replicants, perhaps they are the only real life left on this dying earth? And yes I said two replicants, Ford is clearly supposed to be one even if he says he isn’t, it makes the film much more interesting if you imagine he is anyway.
So another fantastic part of Bladerunner is Rutger Haeurs speech at the end. Now apparently Haeur was inspired and wrote this 5 minutes before shooting the scene. I want the world to be like that so no argument from me. There are several different ways I’ve looked at the speech:
When I was young I didn’t understand, why does he save Deckard just to tell him this and die it makes no sense!
Then I thought, maybe he wan’t to be ‘the better man’ that is, he doesn’t want Deckard to live but he shows him this act of kindness in a ‘who are the real monsters, ah’ kind of way.
Then I thought, maybe with Daryl Hannah having been killed, oh and Daryl Hannahs performance also shows how the replicants are more ‘alive’ then the humans but nevermind, he obviously wants revenge, but then when it comes down do it. He realises, his life is esentially over, She’s dead, what use would there be in another death on this dying world? He accepts death as inevitable and sees the futility in revenge, he achieves peace in his last moments.
However I’m not sure that interpretation makes sense in the context of his running around naked like some sort of finger breaking dog so never mind.
Anyway now what I think is that, yeah, all those reasons are true to some extent, but the main thing is he just doesn’t want to be forgotten. The moments he remembers that he talks about being lost,. Isn’t that true for himself too? When he dies he’ll fade out and go like all of us, but he won’t have any family or friends to remember him, all he has is the man/replicant (“you did a real mans job” heh) who was trying to kill him. By saving him and whispering these last thoughts he will live on at least for a while. It’s very sad but also beautiful so good work Mr Haeur, why couldn’t you be in anything else good?
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