La Cathedrale de Harrikrisna Anenden

Le long métrage ‘La Cathédrale’ de Harrikrisna Anenden a été montré pour la première fois hier soir dans les jardins du Centre Culturel Charles Baudelaire. Le film est inspiré d’une nouvelle écrite par son épouse Ananda Devi en 1977.

C’est un beau film qui célèbre la poésie particulière de la ville de Port-Louis et des visages qui grouillent dans ses rues. J’ai beaucoup apprécié l’esthétisme des images du cinéaste, dont c’est la première fiction. Il nous livre une belle photographie accompagnée d’une bande sonore qui utilise à fond le séga avec des classiques tels ‘Charlie’, ‘Alouda Limonade’, ‘La Riviere Tanier’.

La capitale
Si l’histoire tourne autour de Lina, une fille de soleil, avec ses rêves et ses doutes, c’est surtout la ville de Port-Louis, ses rues, ses vieilles maisons en bois et tôle, ses trottoirs, son vacarme et les corps qui y défilent (mendiants, colporteurs, jeunes cadres, businessmen, flâneurs…) qui semble en réalité être le véritable sujet du film. A tel point qu’on devrait probablement changer le titre du film pour ‘La Capitale’!

On sent d’ailleurs le regard omniprésent du photographe et du documentariste tout au long du film (Anenden a été photographe, puis réalisateur de films documentaires pour l’OMS), celui qui va à la recherche du typiquement mauricien afin d’en fixer le souvenir (le vieux Marché Central par exemple).

C’est un film qui ne manquera pas d’évoquer des souvenirs et de la nostalgie chez ceux qui ont connnu les maisons en bois avec le ‘godon’ ou ‘godam’, les volets en bois, les vieux tuyaux et la robinetterie ancienne, le lit ‘collégien’, la lessive sur roche (lave linze lor rosse), le ‘coco rapé’ (glaçons râpés)….

Bref, un cinéaste qu’il faudra surveiller. L’histoire est certes un peu mince et le corps de la belle jeune fille aurait pu être exploité de manière plus subtile (ça déhanche un peu trop à mon avis et elle est trop lisse pour être réelle) mais nous avons là les premiers pas d’un novice dans l’art de la fiction cinématographique.

L’épisode chez la guérisseuse (longaniste-traiteur) est une belle trouvaille avec de multiples travellings (de gauche à droite et vice versa) déroutants sur les deux personnages. Le feu crépitant et le fond noir qui remplit parfois le cadre lors de ces travellings créent une atmosphère de mystère et d’étouffement.

Un mot sur les acteurs
L’actrice principale, Ingrid Blackburn, est prometteuse. Elle devrait peut-être davantage intérioriser son rôle. On sent qu’elle vient d’un autre milieu que celui de son personnage; son créole en porte les traces et elle joue un peu trop de son corps. Mais les expressions faciales sont bonnes et pas ‘surfaites’ comme c’est souvent le cas à Maurice.
Le père est bien interprété par Darma Mootien. Dommage qu’on ne le voit pas plus. La mère est également bien interprétée par Geeta Mootien. Tous deux sont des personnages réalistes dont le jeu est juste. La remarque vaut aussi bien pour le marchand de glaçons.
Le jeune soupirant San, incarné par le fils du réalisateur, nous accorde une belle image qui rappelle un peu les jeunes passionnés du ‘Cercle des Poètes Disparus’ avec sa belle envolée lyrique sur Shakespeare.
Le photographe est aussi bien interprété par Yves Hermann même si la scène finale est un peu maladroite et que ses scènes de ‘poète-écrivaillon’ ne convainquent pas.

Partie officielle
Lors de la présentation officielle, Ananda Devi a été égale à elle-même avec son maniement parfait des mots et sa poésie tranquille. Son époux, le cinéaste est, lui, d’une simplicité et d’une modestie peu courantes en ce bas-monde.
Par contre, un mauvais point pour Christophe Vallée, le philosophe, qui a failli gâcher notre plaisir en nous parlant du film avant la projection. Il nous a tartiné une présentation de 5-6 pages, trop content de faire montre de sa capacité à manier la langue de Molière et à pontifier. Un vrai fat, dirait ce gentil Molière. Il y a parfois des gens qui aiment s’entendre parler sans savoir si les autres aiment les entendre.

Une image de Harrikrisna Anenden vaut bien cent heures de babillage à la Vallée…

Debate sparks hope for mature democracy

Radio Plus hosted the former PM Paul Berenger and the current Finance Minister Rama Sithanen this Saturday for a debate on the Budget speech.

This turned out, to my surprise, to be a ‘civil’ debate as none of the guests indulged in the usual futile verbal feuds we had been accustomed to. Opposing views were put forward in a sensible manner with seemingly rational arguments on each side. Of course, the divergence of views was very much present but there was, more importantly, respect for the adversary and thus respect for the audience.

Could it be that our politicians can behave in a mature way and lead the way to the formation of a mature people and democracy after all?

‘Da Vinci Code’: a foolish controversy

Recently, one of our ‘not so honourable’ members of parliament purposely asked the PM whether the ‘Da Vinci code’ film would be shown in Mauritius without any prior consultation with the Church. Clearly, he wanted it either banned or censored on the basis of not hurting religious sensibilities in Mauritius. Whatever that means!

Yesterday, the film was also at the centre of a debate on Radio One. The guests were the president of the Censorship board, a theatre owner and a priest. I heard only parts of the show but my general impression was one of beating about the bush… as is often the case here.

What these people have forgot to mention is that this is a film that, according to the critics, is not even worth watching. So, raising debates about it is in fact serving the producers’ interests: it can only arouse curiosity and have more people watch it than it deserves, thereby helping turn it into a commercial hit.

A disappointing book
Anyway, I didn’t see the movie but I did read the book. And I wasn’t particularly impressed. The first 70% are OK but the rest is absolute crap with a hasty finish and loose ends. I was very disappointed after having heard so much about it. I’d rather read Asimov or even a simple but solid Agatha Christie book. Even Harry Potter stories are much more finely written.

Immoral Bollywood
Also, to come back to the issue of how the film could have a negative influence on people (!), shouldn’t we be taking some time to look at the content of those Bollywood films that are shown on MBC early in the evening and that attract large audiences in our movie theatres? Those are full of almost-nude actresses dancing erotically with extremely voyeuristic shots! And the scenes of violence are so apalling! Plus should I mention the lack of morality and indecency of those lavish backgrounds in which those perfect bodies evolve?

And what about those very popular serials like Tulsi, Sindoor and Muneca Brava? Absolute sh..

I’m sick and tired of the hypocrisy and double standards. Our children are watching films and serials that do not help them understand and face the real world at all, that are intellectually poor and are completely immoral.

Talk about blinding the people!

Busy week on campus

It’s been a pretty busy week on the Reduit campus for the academic staff. Though students are already on holiday as exams are over, this is not our case (pauvres de nous!).
It’s been a whirlwind of marking of scripts, of placement reports and of dissertations, plus we’ve had our external examiner visiting and examiners boards as well as various talks and lectures.

I’ve attended two of those this past week, the first by our own external and the second by the Politial Science external.

Development Coms
Prof Jan Servaes (from Univ of Queensland, Australia) who talked about ‘Communication for Development and Social Change’ gave some info about the needed move from the Western ‘diffusion and adoption’ model and Lerner’s Modernisation framework to a more bottom-up participatory approach which favours indigenisation and multiculturalism.

Put simply, this means that development should involve people at grassroot level in the process… (for example in the implementation of the UN MDGs or Millenium Development Goals)

But I have some doubts regarding whether this is achievable – I fear that much of the international organisations’ money is spent at the level of bureaucracy rather than where it is most needed.

The British political system
The second talk I went to was given by Prof Paul Shelley (from LSE, UK) who elaborated on the British First Past The Post system of elections. A very interesting talk on the evolution of the system from monarchy to present day and discussions about Proportional Representation.

The clear expose helped understand the behind the scenes of political power, specially how, once they had gained access to power, the Labour Party no longer wanted PR which they had been campaigning for when they were in the opposition.

Looks like politicians are the same everywhere, isn’t it?

Talk on Communication for Devt

For those who might be interested, there’s a public lecture on ‘Mapping the new field of Communication for Development and Social Change’ this afternoon (Wednesday 14th June) at 4.30 p.m at UOM in Lecture Theatre 2.

The talk will be delivered by Prof Jan Servaes from the School of Journalism and Communication of University of Queensland, Australia. The outline of the talk reads as follows:

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More on the talk later…

On Bollywood Cinema

Prof Vijay Mishra gave an interesting talk on the critical genealogy of Bollywood Cinema at the University yesterday evening.

He provided an interesting insight into the evolution of Indian films from the mid-thirties (with the dramaturgical traditions and the classical courtesan theme) to the rise of the present Bollywood industry.

It is interesting to note that the film industry in India was given official recongition by the State only in 2000 despite the fact that the first Indian silent was released in 1913 and that India is the biggest producer of films in the world (in volume).

Vijay Mishra pointed out that there is a tension between, on the one hand, the traditional thematics dealt with in Bollywood films (e.g. family and traditions) and, on the other, the new representation modes being employed and which now focus on techno-realism and hyper-modernity. In simple terms, there is a stark contrast between those eternal traditional values and the debauche of wealth and sexual overtones in Bollywood films.

Men as objects to be looked at
I tend to think that there is a form of regression in Indian films as the courtesan theme is being extended to men also (think of Hrithik Roshan and Salman Khan exhibiting their muscles in sexy dance numbers). Whereas, in the old Bombay films, films were laden with meaningful dialogues uttered by men whilst women used to dance in a lascive manner, this is no longer the case. Men’s dialogues have been replaced by silly dance numbers as well… So that there is a form of ‘progress’ in the gender balance (women and men dance now and are both to be looked at) but the artistic and asethetical value of films has been lowered!

Mishra also highlighted the ‘diaspora effect’ in the circulation of films as many of those big hit fils (Devdas, Kal Ho Na Ho, Khabie Ghushi Khabi Gham….) are seen increasingly by non-resident Indians in the western world. Could this point towards a wave of nostalgia for their motherland? Mishra says yes, but it is no longer the same Mother India. It is a defiled version which is now being sacrificed on the altar of profitability.

Media and Politics in Mauritius

Photo of Le Mauricien 05/06/2006

The Mauritian population was given the opportunity to watch the Prime Minister’s Press Conference on television on Saturday… or should I say that they were forced to… All three local television channels of the MBC were broadcasting the conference at exactly the same time after the 7.30 p.m. news bulletin!
For those who do not have access to private channels via pay TV or satellite subscriptions, there was indeed no other choice (except that of switching off their TV set of course!)

It could be argued that this was a very important ‘moment’ and that every Mauritian citizen had the duty to listen to the PM as he gave strong indications regarding drastic decisions for our economy. And, indeed personally, I think it was important that we listen to him and his Finance Minister on the eve of budget presentation (scheduled for this Friday). Yet, simultaneous airing on the only three local channels available, that may have been a bit too much…

But to come back to the press conference, the PM did a great PR job. Of course, his Finance Minister Rama Sithanen had already tested the ground with his proposals for salary compensations which had also been aired on TV. Sithanen was great at explaining clearly the reasons why. He was also very convincing on the necessity of being more disciplined, more efficient and more productive…

The PM thus took advantage of this positive reception by the media and the population at large to announce some ‘courageous’ decisions, like closing down the DWC. But he also performed some of the age-old political antics so cherished by our local politicians, i.e. the ‘put-the-blame-on-him’ song. Mind you, the other parties did it too when they were in power…

As for the journalists, they were quite ‘soft’ and ‘nice’ to the PM. They still lack that sharpness that would allow them to put the right questions to the decision-makers, questions that would really open up worthwhile debates.

For instance, no-one dared point out to the apparent contradiction between the austerity being advocated and the fact that old age pensions had been fully restored to all + bus transport made free for all students irrespective of social class and revenue….

I’d say, this means that our politicians have progressed a lot in terms of communication strategies and their implementation but our media people still have to learn to unwind those strategies in order to get to the bottom of things.

On freedom of the press in Mauritius

Yesterday, I was one of TopFM two guests for the HardTalk show hosted by Habib Mosaheb. The other guest was Yvan Martial, a well-known experienced journalist in Mauritius. The programme’s theme was ‘Is freedom of the press threatened in Mauritius?’.
Both Ivan and myself agreed that freedom of the press is not threatened in our island. In fact, our country is ranked 34th out of 167 countries in the 2005 Press Freedom Index of Reporters Sans Frontieres (we were ranked 46th in 2004) and we are 4th on the African continent. See www.rsf.org
As I pointed out in the show, politicians (specially when they are governing the country) tend to complain a lot about the alleged lack of responsibility of the local press. Their irritation at the press is for me a good sign, a sign that we are living in a true democracy. If they were in love with the press, then I would truly be worried!
However, this does not mean that we have a perfect press in Mauritius. There are different kinds of newspapers on the market (some serious, some not) as there are different breeds of journalists (some professional, some not). Of course, ultimately it’s the readers who decide on the fate of their papers by choosing to buy or not the titles that are on offer. To my mind, the most popular papers in Mauritius enjoy a high level of credibility with the population. Sometimes, they do betray this credibility by publishing incomplete or distorted accounts of local events but on the whole, they are doing a fine job. This does not mean that they should rest on their laurels. In a world of increased openness, they too should accept being subjected to questioning just like the public figures on whom they report.
Though there has not yet been any consensus on the institution of a local Press Council or Press Complaints Commission despite Kenneth Morgan’s recommendations in 1999, it is high time that the local journalism world starts ensuring quality assurance within its own ranks instead of having government-imposed laws and regulations (like the proposed Media Commision Bill). The creation of posts of Ombudspersons (or ‘mediateurs’ in French) could be a first step…