Life, Death and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine

As an outsider what I see in the "Holy Land" is hate and fear bundled together with ignorance.  No solution will work until much greater trust is somehow generated.  Outsiders feel compelled to take sides, but that isn't really fair as there is plenty of blame to spread. 

The two authors of "Tomorrow is Yesterday" Hussein Agha and Robert Malley were insiders who had been involved with advising leaders on both sides and were involved with negotiations. 

They noted an American bias.  It really goes back to 1948.  President Harry Truman was uncertain if he should support the movement to create Israel.  One of his more trusted friends, a Jewish tailor from his home town in Missouri encouraged him to support.  After knowledge of the Holocaust many Americans felt guilt as they had made it difficult for Jews to immigrate to the U.S.  Some admired the gutsyness of the Jewish pioneers.  The Jewish Christian traditions inclined Americans to think of the Arabic Muslims as uncivilized.

Religious fervor was a big factor.  While suffering in their wanderings after an expulsion, some Jewish thinkers felt they needed to get back to the Holy Land and organized the Zionist movement.  A small, but powerful group of Christians were able to find in the Bible signs of the second coming of Christ that required the Jews ruling in Jerusalem.  They became a significant factor in U.S. elections.  Israeli settlers seemed to feel they were fulfilling a historical religious calling.  A Jewish group, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee also provided political support for Israel.

On the other side, the Muslims felt they were owed the whole of Palestine.  Going back to World War I they had been led to believe if they helped the British defeat the Turks they would have more freedom.  The Arabs felt they had conquered Palestine and beaten off the Crusaders and Turks and had their own religious attachment for the land. 

In 1948 the United Nations had tried to set up two independent nations, but the Arabs felt they were entitled to all the land between the sea and the river and furthermore the Jews were intruders.  The Palestinians have been criticized many times for not accepting Israeli/American attempts at compromise, but they felt cheated.  

The two authors were personally familiar with Yasser Arafat, Mamoud Abbas, Ehud Barak, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu and many others.  The American presidents felt restricted by their four year terms forcing them to rush. 

The two authors feel the two state solution has been advocated for many years and very likely to be resisted by elements on both sides.

They feel it is time to look for alternatives.  A single state giving equality to both sides with protections for minorities might work, but has a lot of resistance.  Nearby Lebanon has a constitution that is supposed to protect Muslims, Christians and Jews that worked very well until after World War II.  For awhile Jordan controlled the West Bank, but backed away from it over (among other concerns) worry of Palestinians dominating their country.  

To me the big problem was depicted in my first paragraph.  Fear and hatred need to be tamed and trust built up.  This would take more than an American presidential term.  The western world is gradually learning to live with Muslims (many escaping from Mideast turmoil).  Arab nations with oil wealth are now trying to exert international presence.  Many are open to trade with Israel.  A lot of political rhetoric in the U.S. has been about how repulsive Arabs and Muslims are and have been generating hate in American elections.

Trust is built by interconnections.  Two areas that have worked for others, are sports and arts.  Arabs/Muslims and Jews do business with one another in the rest of the world.  Western consumers are becoming fans of Muslim athletes and artists.  Education is critical and should include such things as cultural appreciation, history and logic.

Perhaps we expect too much.  Humans distrust strangers, but we function in big cities.  The world has become much more interconnected and we have mutual concerns.  Climate change affects everyone, even those who think it is a "con job."  Pollution has invaded pretty much everywhere.  All our problems could be obliterated in a nuclear war.  We would all be better off if more people would shift their focus to things that really matter.

Mobius

Lured to watch "Mobius" (2025)by the inclusion of a favorite movie actress seen in Thai films.  "Mobius" achieved 300 million views within one week of release and reached top 10 in several countries.

Science fiction built around the ability to loop through time to manipulate future events.  Several important scientists have lost their lives at a biotech company.  Ding Qi is called in and with his time looping ability is able to unravel some of the mystery and meanwhile build a relationship with one of the employees.  The mystery is deep and full of treachery.  The action is dynamic.

My interest was not the leading lady, but was an outside investor who I think appeared in 3 or 4 episodes, barely a supporting actress.  More on her later.

I no longer watch many films from China, but this one was mesmerizing.  See    http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/10/china-the-nba.html  They obviously have mastered still another business enterprise and I will give credit to some who handled this series.

Zhangmu Liu was the director with 5 directing credits and 1 for second unit directing.

Qiang Bi was the writer with 2 writing credits.

Bi Li was the cinematographer with 3 cinematography credits.

Peng Zhang was in charge of stunts.  He has 41 credits for stunts, 3 for directing and 4 for second unit directing including "Ant-Man" (2015), "Rush Hour 3" (2017) and "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings" (2021). 

Jingting Bai was the leading man.  He is very dynamic and earnest.  Jingting was active in high jump and basketball in school.  Has been a model, a singer and pianist (with his own album).  Also known as a sharp businessman establishing his own studio and agency and regularly making the Forbes list.  He has 21 acting credits and 1 for soundtrack.

Janice Man played the leading lady.  From Hong Kong she has 34 acting credits and one for the music department.

Yang Song played the owner of the biotech company.  He has 28 acting credits. 

Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying played the investor and for the most part did little until near the end.  She is from Thailand, but parents were of Thai-Chinese background.  She spoke in English and not sure, but I think Cantonese.  She has 12 acting credits including "Bad Genius" (2017), an all time favorite, "Happy Old Year" (2019), "Sleepless Society:  Insomnia" (2020) and "Hunger" (2023).   See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2018/06/bad-genius-out-of-thailand.html and http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/05/hunger-interesting-movie-from-thailand.html

I still watch numerous Mandarin language films and remember in past years that included some from the mainland.  See  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2014/08/chinese-cinema-is-peek-into-their_1.html 

"Mobius" is available subtitled on Netflix.  If you like science fiction with some action you will more than likely enjoy this series.  Any of you would find Jingting Bai an exciting new face on the international scene.

The Crisis of Canadian Democracy

Most of "The Crisis of Canadian Democracy" dissects the many serious faults in Canadian democracy with a few solutions.  The last chapter is about the crises we are facing, including Trump and why we need to change our approach to democracy to better deal with the future.  

Explaining his solutions he also admits that those who have the power to make changes know they owe their power to the present system.  It appears most Canadians are not conscious of our deficiencies and perhaps an increased awareness will be a start.  But we are running out of time. 

With a poor democratic structure we are less fit to resist Trump.  One wild speculation has been he would be satisfied with luring Alberta to join America.  Blind patriotism may not be enough.

This post cannot be a summary of all Andrew's good ideas, but hopefully will inspire some to read the book and others to be more conscious of our deficiencies.

 The Canadian Prime Minister has too much power.  As with all party leaders he has power as to who gets nominated in ridings and obviously on cabinet ministers.  Cabinet members especially, and M.P.'s are expected to go along with government positions.  He or she has the power to call an election (at their convenience).  The power of prorogue to stop opposition, very effectively done by Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau.

Andrew feels the leader should be decided by the caucus as they have the best understanding of the job and the character required.  This is not a new idea, but got lost with the lure of money making recruiting new members.

Parliament is where ideas get discussed and debated and where some local concerns can be aired, but time devoted to it is diminishing.  Parliament is where the government has to answer to the people, but when not sitting grievances pile up.  Canada has fallen behind other nations.  One reason has been elections that even once resolved Canada takes longer than most nations to resume Parliament.

Chrystia Freeland was shabbily treated, because Justin could, and this helped finally to force him to resign.  Before she got into politics a book (and some tv. appearances)got my attention http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2013/01/plutocrats-by-chrystia-freeland.html

Andrew states "Conventional management theory teaches that the greater the size of the operation, the more important it becomes to delegate authority to subordinates."  Instead the Canadian government is centralizing power.  

The Supreme Court is appointed by the Prime Ministers.  One of their roles is judicial review that now is more important because of the Charter of Rights and specifically the "notwithstanding rule."  Without allowing for exceptions to the charter it would not have been agreed upon.  Nonetheless it is subject to abuse.  The Quebec Bill 21 wants to ban religious garb such as turbans, hajibs or skullcaps from public service.  Recently I learned some in Alberta would like to place restrictions on transexuals.  The federal government is supposed to protect all citizens from prejudice.

The Senate is all appointed and subject to Prime Ministerial favoritism.  Andrew feels it should be elected, but not based on population.  Some groups have special rights, but not majority clout.  An example might be the indigenous.  My opinion, this could offset some of the power of majorities to overlook human rights.  It might also help to honor agreements that have been made to Prince Edward Island and francophone Quebec

A few points on election campaigns.  Journalists put too much emphasis on the horse race aspects.  Andrew feels they should be explaining policies and characters to help voters sort for their big decision

He also feels debates should be a bigger part of the campaign.  The networks know debates take away from profitable ad time.  The debates should be managed by a non partisan group.  Ideally held once a week on different topics and all should be bilingual.  The networks should not have any control over content or format, but obligated as part of their license agreement.

Essentially democracy means the voice of the common citizen should be heard and respected, but all votes are not equal.  To start with the size of ridings.  Canada  has a greater variance than in other countries, for example from the 2021 census, the smallest riding is in Labrador with 27,000 people while the largest is Edmonton-Wetaskiwin with more than 209,000 people meaning it takes more voters in some ridings to elect a member.  

Another serious concern is that most votes are wasted.  In our first past the post electoral system the decision is made by plurality and not majority.  In actual practice it is very normal for the minority parties to have gained more votes  than the winner, yet their votes do not count and thus their views are not represented.  Also the winner usually has unneeded votes that are also wasted.  Many voters use strategic voting meaning they vote for a secondary choice in order to lessen the chances for a disliked party.  

Proportional representation is a concept to remedy the wasted votes plus the need for strategic voting and has been found to actually increase voter turnout.  Unfortunately those in power don't like this idea as they got their power for the current system.  Still hundreds of countries have adopted a variation allowing a more realistic opinion of their voters to be reflected by their government.

Andrew also likes the idea of mandatory voting as the government is supposed to represent the whole country and not just the educated and informed.  

As Andrew points out Canada's future is full of challenges such as pandemics, climate change, Parti Quebecois, a European War, aging population and immediately Donald Trump.  The stronger our democracy the better we can weather the storms.  He also warns that the future will call for sacrifices (that might be painful).

An earlier blog regarding proportional representation:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/10/your-vote-neednt-be-wasted.html

Israel has long been used against the proportional representation concept.  In truth Jewish voters and elected representatives dominate Arabs, but nonetheless there are occasionally opportunities:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/07/is-israel-such-bad-example-for.html

Adolescence

Before even winning an Emmy award "Adolescence" (2025)  had received a lot of publicity.  I didn't know what to expect and certainly it was different.  Different in a thought provoking manner.  We are used to watching murder mysteries which despite complications generally direct us to some sort of resolution. 

"Adolescence" gives more focus to those affected by the violence beyond the victim and supposed perpetrator.  The police, school mates, a psychologist and most of all the father and mother to Jamie.

First off we see a family settling in for the night and suddenly police cars appear with protectively armed police officers, one of whom quickly breaks the door down and they come in taking standard police procedures to find out where a young boy is.  He is in bed and has guns pointed at him. He is told he is being arrested on suspicion of murder.  He is flustered and claims he didn't do anything.  The police are considerate, explaining his rights, but firmly stating he has to go with them.  When he gets out of bed one officer tells him to change his trousers as he has obviously wet his pants.

From there we go the police station where he is photographed, blood taken and a strip search.  A lawyer is provided who before getting many details tells Jamie to say, "no comment" if he is unsure.  We are shown a video where a boy is following a girl and they have some sort of confrontation and she pushes him to the ground and walks away.  He designates his father to accompany him and in a private talk says he did not do it.

On the second episode we see the two original arresting officers visit the school Jamie went to.  We encounter a close friend to the victim who is very upset and attacks another boy (a friend of Jamie's) and later the police officer chases down the friend.  The officers are led to different classrooms, but are unable to find any students or teachers willing to give any information.  After the two officers get set to leave, the one officer talks to his son who is a student at a higher grade and doesn't know Jamie very well.  But he does know teen culture and explains some of it to his father.  This was news to the police, schools and also to the creators and is a key message from the series.

In this second episode we learn the police have not found the weapon.  We are also led to believe that Kate had rejected an advance from Jamie.  

This post is not meant to be a summary of the series.  The final two episodes are more focused on some consequences.  Jamie is taken to a psychologist who claims her job is not to determine his guilt, but to learn what drives him.  He is suspicious, becomes upset and acts out.  She is professional and maintains her cool in Jamie's presence, but afterwards in private she breaks down.

The final episode is focused on the parents and his sister.  They are stressed.  Essentially this all I want to reveal.  The point of the series is how the events affect people.

 Researching the background to this series has been mind opening.  One new concept for me was one shot filming.  Each episode was filmed with no breaks.  The effect makes the viewer get closer to the action without realizing it.  The details are many and I don't understand them all, but the director, writer and many of the actors had been involved with it before.  It does require a lot of preparation with the risk that some small mishap means it has to be done all over again.

To create the experience takes a lot of talent.  Here are a few of the people. 

Phillip Barantini was the director.  He is a master of the one shot filming used for the series.  He has 12 credits for directing, 14 credits for producing and 32 as an actor including "Band of Brothers" (2001) and "Chernobyl" (2019).   See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/04/chernobyl.html

Jack Thorne was one of the creators and writers.  He studied politics at Pembroke College, Oxford.  Jack has 46 writing credits, 18 for producing and 3 for acting including "Wonder" (2017), "Help" (2021) and "Joy" (2024).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2024/11/joy-film-about-ivf.html

Stephen Graham was co-creator, writer and executive producer.  He has dyslexia and has his wife, Hannah Walker read scripts to him before approval.  He has 130 acting credits, 8 for producing and 2 for writing including "Band of Brothers" (2001), "Line of Duty"(2018-2020), "The Irishman" (2019), "Help" (2021) and "Bodies" (2023). See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/02/band-of-brothers.html

Jo Johnson was a producer.  One task for this film was to work with the parents of young actors to make sure everyone was comfortable with what they were asked to do.  He has 18 credits as director and 8 as producer including "Coronation Street" and "East Enders".

Brad Pitt, Hollywood star was an executive producer.  His children are home schooled.  He speaks fluent French.  Brad once bought the rights to the Hong Kong production of "Infernal Affairs" (2002) and ended up a producer for the adapted "The Departed" (2006).  He is banned in China for his role in "7 Years in Tibet" (1997).  Altogether he has 92 acting credits and 83 producing credits.

Hannah Walker had a cameo role as Mrs. Bailey.  She had formed a production company with her husband,  Stephen Graham in 2022 and was a producer.

The music was handled by the team of Aaron May and David Ridley.  Because of the one shot requirement they had to collaborate closely with the director and writers.  They had met at the University of Bristol, played in some of the same bands and then went their separate ways until re-uniting in  2017.  Aaron had 17 composing credits and 2 for soundtrack while David had 18 composing credits and 1 for music department.   

More on the musical collaboration.  Emilia Holliday had played Katie, the murder victim and had no lines, but when Phillip Barantini talked with learned she wanted to sing and so set her up with the two composers who liked her.  They also decided they would like a chorus and from the students at the filming location put together a choir and with Emilia adapted "Fragile" (from Sting).

Cinematography was by Matthew Lewis who has 15 cinematography credits and 15 for the camera and electrical department.  He had done one shot films before.

Ashley Walters played DI Luke Bascombe.  He was a rapper.  Ashley has 83 acting credits, 3 for directing and 4 for producing. 

 Erin Doherty played the psychologist Brioney Ariston.  She has 16 acting credits including two seasons as Princess Anne in "The Crown" (2019-2020).

Owen Cooper played Jamie.  At 15 he became the youngest male actor to win the Prime Time Emmy award for supporting actor. in a limited series.

This series brought to our attention there is a youth culture that is hidden from most outsiders and that violent crimes have an emotional impact on more than just the victims and perpetrators.  The presentation is unique and professional and resulted in 8 Prime Time Emmy Awards.

Available on Netflix.

All We Imagine As Light

 The Malayalam language has provided a disproportionate number of my favorite movies.  Totally unaware of it until I stumbled on a recommended movie and then truly stumbled on a few others and now look out for them, although admitting they have their share of ordinary films.  "All We Imagine As Light"(2024) somehow reached greater international attention than any of the others.  It received an 8 minute standing ovation and won a major prize at the Cannes Festival.  

On the surface it is a simple story, but reaches inside to quiet emotions.  The focus is on three women living in a huge diverse city of Mumbai.  The three are predominantly Malayalam speakers, but are surrounded by many other languages.  The link between the women is the hospital they work at, but at quite different functions;  one is a chief nurse, another a receptionist and the third is a cook.  

Prahba, the chief nurse had had an arranged marriage, but whose husband left to go to Germany and had ceased to write letters.  Even though approached by other men she maintained her loyalty to her husband, but felt abandoned.

Anu, the receptionist and Prabha's room mate was more open and expressive.  We are shown her dealing with a woman who was despairing about having two many children and a husband who would not consent to a vasectomy.  She snuck some contraceptive pills to her.  She had fallen in love with a Muslim man and knew her parents would be extremely upset.

Parvathy, the cook lived in a small housing unit after her husband had died.  She was being coerced by a big company that wanted that space for a big development.  She was forced out of it and went to her home village accompanied by the two other women for support.

The village is by the sea and it happens that a man is pulled out of the sea and apparently dead.  Prabha clears everyone away and with CPR is able to revive him.  A day or so later she is brought to the man as he wakes up.  For awhile she seems to think of him as her husband.  He asks how long he has been unconscious and in turn she asks him what he felt.  His description is strange, but somehow he feels everything he imagined became light.  

Anu is asked to invite Shiaz who had followed a great distance to meet the other two women.  At the end the three women feel a greater cameraderie and essentially that is the end of the movie with some viewers mystified and a few others understanding.

There are two scenes that upset a few Indian movie goers. In one scene we see Prabha changing her clothes and unnecessarily her breasts are exposed for a few seconds.  The other scene was with Anu having sex with her lover, Shiaz.

It takes a talented cast and crew to create such an award winning film.  Here are a few:

Payal Kapadia was the director and writer.  Although she does not speak Maylayalam she was able to make good use of a Malayalam writer to get the right nuance.  As a student she signed a boycott pledge with the Film Workers for Palestine.  Payal started with shorts and had one presented at Cannes and later her documentary won the Golden Eye award.  She has 6 director credits and 3 for writing.  Her mother did a painting that inspired the title. 

Julian Graff was one of the producers representing international involvement.  He represented the French.  He has 6 producer credits.

Topshe wrote the music.  Well known musician and has done many albums.  He has 1 music department credit plus one as composer and 1 as an editor.   The 9 minutes of music at the closing is very beautiful.

Ranabir Das was the cinematographer who has worked closely with Payal.  Growing up a downstairs neighbor was Anik Dutta, a well known film maker.  Ranabir has 9 cinematography credits, 2 as an editor and 2 as producer.

Clement Pinteaux was the editor.  He studied editing at La Femis film school in Paris.  He has 24 credits as editor, 6 editorial credits and directing.

Romil Modi was the casting director.  He had done 500 commercials before getting involved with films.  Romil has 29 casting credits, 3 for acting and 3 for secondary direct credit including "Budhia Singh Born to Run" (2016), "Newton" (2017) and "Lapataa Ladies" (2023) .  He was praised as the casting director for the two contenders for the Oscar foreign film nomination, "Laapataa Ladies" and "All You Can Imagine As Light" with the former prevailing.  "All We Imagine as Light" was also on a short list for France, but lost to "Emilia Perez" (2024).   See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2024/04/laapataa-ladies.html

 Kani Kusruti played Payal.  Her parents were activists and had dropped their last name to avoid discrimination.  Kani needed a last name for a school requirement and adopted Kasruti which means "mischievous" in Malayalam.  She had studied at L'Ecole International de Theatre" and went into theatre.  Kani has 47 acting credits including "Killer Soup" (2024)

Divya Prabha played Anu. She has 18 acting credits including "Take Off" (2017).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/02/take-off-brutality-in-tikrit.html 

Chhaya Kadam played Parvathy.  She once played kabbadi at the state level.  She got involved with the theatre.  Chhaya has 67 acting credits spread over Marathi, Hindi and Malayalam languages including "Budhia Singh Born to Run" (2016), "Andhahun" (2018), "Gangubai Kathiawadi" (2022) and "Laapataa Ladies" (2023).   Here is a post on "Andhahun" that Chhaya appeared in and the film had been remade into a Telegu film...http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/10/telegu-remake-opens-my-eyes.html

Hridu Haroon played Shiaz.  He has 7 acting credits.

Anand Sami played the drowning man rescued by Payal.  He was prominent in theatre.  Anand has 7 acting credits in film including "The Family Man" (2021).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/03/the-family-man.html

 Ever since I discovered films in the Malayalam language they remain a favorite source.  See  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/03/how-i-discovered-malayalam-cinema-and.html

 I saw this film on a DVD borrowed from the library with subtitles.  It also had an interesting feature with Payal Kapadia talking about her history and the film. 

As usual I have bolded the first mention of films I have seen.  If you follow the links you should be able to determine if any film is worth following up.

Beyond the Bar

Legal dramas tend to be cut and dried and certainly "Beyond the Bar" has its share, but nevertheless is entertaining and thought provoking with interesting dialogue.

It was decided romance was distracting so they held back at the beginning.  The main characters certainly had personal problems.  Hyo-min, the female lead we learn was a twin whose sister turned out deaf and had been given to an aunt who was also deaf.  When a lover found out about this he broke off their relationship.  Romance is subtle and slow to develop.

A tool for a possible romance is a dog.  Early on you will learn Seok-hoon the male lead and mentor to Hyo-min has been divorced and shares custody of a dog.  He fusses over the dog and is very concerned for its well being.

What makes the series worth viewing, is the cases and how the lawyers peel away the issues to find out what really happened.  Ethics are discussed.  A few examples follow.

A man breaks into a fertility clinic and destroys some expensive equipment.  The clinic sued him for damages, but realistically that was beyond his means.  His motive was that he had come to them before an operation with a risk of infertility.  The operation saved his life, but he did become infertile.  And later we learn that his wife was desperate to have a child that would not have a disfigurement that she got from an accident.  The back story was important for the case and Hyo-min is the one who uncovered it despite the accused client's wariness being interviewed by a woman.

In another case Seok-hoon was forced to work with a client that repelled him.  Nonetheless he is very good at getting the client out of some messy situations.  You can't help but think life is unfair when despicable people can get away with bad things.  Obviously money plays a role, but not the only one:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/08/untouchable-how-they-get-away-with-it.html  Our hero does redeem himself.

In an assisted suicide case we learn the husband had had an affair and stood to inherit her fortune.  But we and the court come to appreciate the wife was suffering and he really did love her more than some greedy relatives.

In the episode "Bystander" we learn a little of Hyo-min's history that involved watching someone being beaten up and did nothing.  One of their cases involves a similar situation and as viewers we come to appreciate what a big factor ignoring someone's suffering can be. 

Each episode brings a difficult case demanding careful analysis and moral judgments.  

Typical of Korean series there are some personal relationships among the staff as there would be to some extent with all legal teams.

Such a popular and well received series is the result of the talent and work of a number of people.

Kim Jae Hong was the creator, writer and director.  He has 3 director credits and 1 for writing.

Jang Woo-seok was the producer.  He has 47 producer credits and 1 for acting including "The Roundup" (2022) and "Rebound" (2023).

Yoo Min-ho was the music composer with 25 music credits including "When the Camellia Blooms" (2019). 

Songhwan Moon was the editor.  He has 26 editor credits and 26 for the editorial department including "When the Phone Rings" (2024-2025).   See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2025/01/when-phone-rings.html

Lee Jin-wook played Yoon Seok-hoon, the mature mentor.  He has 32 acting credits including "Miss Granny" (2014), "The Beauty Inside" (2015) and "Squid Game, Season 2" (2024).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2025/01/squid-game-season-2.html

Jung Chae-yeon played Kang Hyo-min, the new lawyer.  She has 20 acting credits including "The King's Affection" (2021).  see http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/12/the-kings-affection.html

Kim Eui-sung played a senior partner.  He has 61 acting credits including "Assassination" (2015), "Train to Busan" (2016), "Memories of the Alhambra" (2018), "Under the Queen's Umbrella" (2022) and "Trauma Code:  Heroes on Call" (2025).  see  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/04/under-queens-umbrella.html and http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2025/08/trauma-code.html

Lee Joo Yeon played a junior lawyer.  She had been in a girl band.  She has 7 acting credits including "Chocolate" (2019), "Hyena" (2020) and "Flower of Evil" (2020).   See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/10/flower-of-evil.html

If you enjoy legal drama you should find this thought provoking.  Romance is there, but you have to wait for it.  Available on Netflix dubbed and subtitled.

As usual I have bolded the first mention of films I have seen.  Some of them are among my favorite Korean films and a big part of my Korean obsession.  If you follow the links you should be able to determine if any film is worth following up.

The Future of Tourism

As more of us become more affluent one luxury in increasing demand is traveling.  It has been beneficial for many, but the author to point how some concerns.

One concern is that as an area becomes popular the locals lose control as corporations and outside companies move in.  Prices for many locally priced goods go up and locals find themselves being pushed further away.  In some cases there is significant environmental damage.

One example given was for Barcelona, one of my targets having watched a few foreign films plus the Olympics.  Now I am putting it further down my list.

Another example was Hawaii with its native culture being sidelined for a more commercially desirable image. 

Environmental concerns are the direct result of trying to squeeze more people into a sensitive area.  One trend has been with glaciers that have been promoted as something you have to see before they disappear.   Many efforts have begun to ameliorate climate change.  One long range concern is air travel and that is very complicated, but progressing.

Kerala in India is an example where locals have been given power to make decisions.  Most countries see tourism as an important economic tool.  Kerala is home to some of my favorite movies and I am glad to hear that locals offer interested tourist a chance to understand their culture.   See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/03/how-i-discovered-malayalam-cinema-and.html

The author referred to another book that impacted me, "Overbooked".  Among many good ideas that author highlighted two countries as good examples of being well managed.  France was one that honored its literary and artistic history.  Costa Rica was the other that got my attention, because their focus was on the environment with an emphasis on their unique natural assets.  At the same time they trained local people and paid them well.  They also limited numbers.  Read more  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2014/02/overbooked-and-thoughts-on-tourism.html

We have always had travelers including migrants, merchants, pilgrims and invading armies.  Tourism happened among the wealthy of Europe starting around the second half of the 18th century.  World War II heralded awareness of the world and incomes started to rise sparking an interest.  From 1950 to 2019 tourists went from 25 million per year to nearly 1.5 billion.  Then Covid drastically cut tourism with a notable drop in economic benefits.  Now the trend is upward.

One motive for tourism was to promote world peace,.  One unlikely source was Nikita Krushchev, but many others joined the pleas.  Tourism was identified in the 1960's as an industry with some countries including it in cabinet positions.

Mark Twain said "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness and many of our people need it sorely...Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things can not be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."

Traveling can be very superficial, but Paige holds out hope that as individuals we can go deeper and enjoy it a bit more.  As an example she wrote about her experiences going by herself to Saudi Arabia where fears of anti female views had been prevalent and the Kashoggi.  Afterwards reflecting outsiders view of America. 

"I now know that Saudi Arabia is a deeply flawed and beautiful place that's home to millions of diverse souls including my fun and courageous tourist guide." Thinking deeper, "I ...see my home country as a deeply flawed and beautiful place that's home to millions of diverse souls including many of my closest friends and family members.....hope the naysayers might one day visit the U.S. and see there is more to it than the politics and crises they read about in the news."

 Hoping as you contemplate what to do in your future you give some thought to traveling and how it could make your life not only more enjoyable, but also more meaningful.

As I organize this blog post my city for over 43 years, Hamilton, Ontario, is holding its biggest tourist attraction event, Supercrawl.  I look forward to it, but I am now appreciating some downsides.  It is a once a year bonanza for our local restaurants, but as part of the deal literally tons of food trucks siphon off much of the tourist dollars.  Often they are more accessible than the restaurants.  This event started as an art crawl and then music was added and many vendors showed up. There is something for most everyone, but I would feel more comfortable if more locals benefited.  Now it is a big deal with a big budget trying to balance making it a fuller experience to attract a crowd, without local entrepreneurs being missing out.

King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution Explained

The Iranian Revolution was a big surprise to many including Jimmy Carter and the Shah Reza Pahlavi.  There were clues, but they were largely ignored until it was too late.  Scott Anderson decided it was time to research the records and try to better understand it.  His research was impressively extensive.

One perspective presented Iran with a positive rising income (but unequal), good life expectancy, fair treatment for minorities including Jews, Armenians and Assyrians.  Over half a million citizens with college degrees from abroad.  Traded with Israel.  Relative freedom for Muslim women, even planning to give them the vote.

On the other hand you had a religious fundamentalist, who thought women had way too much freedom.  Khomeini also hated Jews and Bahais as well as the American government. 

How did it happen?  More than 40 years after the Iranian Revolution Scott Anderson was able to talk with many eye witnesses and uncover detailed written information.  He does a great job providing a better understanding of this globally important event with serious consequences today.

Shah Reza Pahlavi was not universally popular.  Corruption was evident and inequality was prominent.  His freedom for women and toleration of  Jews and Bahai offended many.  His secret police, SAVAK was assumed to be much more intrusive than Scott was able to prove, but nonetheless clamped down on political dissent.  The Shah was very secretive.  He would talk to generals, chosen for loyalty one on one and never as a group.  He kept knowledge of a fatal medical condition from American intelligence.   An interesting skill was he could pilot jet planes and did so.

Ancient Persians did not enslave the people they conquered and allowed them to keep their religion.  They required only a pledge of loyalty to the Kingdom.

The Brits wanted to get rid of Mohammad Mossedegh, an elected leader who wanted to nationalize their oil resources.  They negotiated with President Truman who turned down request for a coup, but Eisenhower agreed.  Shah had been requested to sign an agreement to this end, but at first refused until Kermit Roosevelt strong armed him to do so.  The U.S. government had helped engineer the coup that in 1953 forced Mossedegh out and replaced him by a more powerful Shah. 

Fundamentalists immediately developed a greater grudge against Americans.  They already felt that Americans tempted Iranians to sin and encouraged female freedom.  Khomeini was one of the more vocal critics urging death to the Satanists. 

Jimmy Carter actually wanted to develop a stronger relation with Iran recognizing they were stable in an unstable part of the world, supplied a significant amount of oil, bought a lot of American weapons and provided a better location to monitor the Soviet Union.  He successfully encouraged the Shah to modify his human rights abuses.  He felt obligated to the Shah, but paid little attention to the real situation and his staff mostly ignored Iran, until they couldn't.

Ebrahim Yazdi, was a key operative.  Born in Iran he was an Islamist with a social conscience and became very upset about the Mossadegh ouster and hated the Shah.  Although aware of the American connection he ended up upgrading his education and becoming a pharmacologist in the U.S.  Active among anti Shah groups while in America at first sought political action, but decided a fundamentalist would work better.  When Khomeini needed to find a new exile location Yazdi steered him to France where he would have a better platform allowing his bombastic sermons to have a wilder distribution. Yazdi provided translations for media while toning down Khomeini's hatred.  Noted U.S. most concerned with all the riots in Iran that Communists would take over, but they were assured not a problem.  He planned strategies to steer the military leaders to Khomeini.  He was a moderate to the end (2017) confessing he regretted his (critical) involvement with Khomeini.

Riots escalated and it was decided the Shah should leave.  Khomeini was ready to move in, but other political forces tried to form a government encouraged by the United States.

Eventually in 1989 Khomeini came to Tehran and gave his blessing to some politicians he approved of, but was in reality the final decider.  The Americans wanted the politicians in charge, but found even they bowed to Khomeini. 

When Iraq invaded Iran to take advantage of its supposed vulnerability the Iranian leadership realized they had used up much of their weaponry and needed the U.S. to re-supply them and negotiations seemed to be progressing, but suddenly collapsed.  There was speculation that Ronald Reagan's campaign team may have encouraged the delay for the hostage release.  It is known they had contact with Khomeini staff.  Scott Anderson, the author in 2023 learned of comments by prominent Republicans that indicated they had inside information the hostages would not be released until Ronald Reagan was inaugurated.  Carter's humiliation at the hands of the Iranian went right to the inauguration. 

One interesting source for this book was Michael Metrinko who had learned Farsi when working with the Peace Corps.  He learned what street Iranians thought and tried to pass it on to little avail.  Working with the U.S. Embassy he was captured with the other American workers and for awhile his Farsi abilities were hidden, but when discovered he was tortured as he was falsely thought to be with the C.I.A.  He was eventually released and when the author discovered him he was sharing his house with a few Afghan students who had escaped that conflict.

Details do matter and Scott has been a hard worker uncovering the key players and the key moves.  A blog cannot do justice to his book, but it is my hope you will check out the book itself.

Trump has found Iran to be a good enemy to use for his political goals.  An earlier view of Iran from 2022:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/10/the-iranian-dilemma.html  That was for his first term.  In his second term he has taken a more aggressive stance in line with Netanyahu's perspective.

Jimmy Carter made critical mistakes with Iran, but overall was a very decent man who did much good, but admits his biggest regret was with Iran.   http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/10/the-outlier-unfinished-presidency-of.html

An earlier book, "Lawrence in Arabia" illustrates Scott's understanding of important historical events. http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2013/12/lawrence-in-arabia.html

Stolen a book about the Sapmi nation

As a young man I recall seeing news clips about exotic Laplanders wearing colorful clothing and on skis herding reindeer.  For several years similar clips reminded me that they were found mostly in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland.  The term "indigenous" was one way to label them.

"Stolen" (2021) upends some of those ideas.  I had seen the movie and more recently read the book (that always deepens understanding).  The area is more properly labelled "Sapmi" and includes parts of Russia.  "Laplanders" is considered a slur and they prefer to be called Sami.  

The term "indigenous" is sometimes applied.  Definitions vary, but one perspective is those who identified as such, feeling they are different in culture and too often suffer discrimination.  As an outsider I believe the Sami qualify as indigenous.  Outsiders view the indigenous as primitive and strange.  We miss understanding their culture that would not only help us to better communicate with them, but also how we might benefit. 

Their status has been elevated by contact and intermixing, but the underlying dynamic is caste as they are seen as inferior beings.  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/02/caste-origins-of-our-discontents.html 

Reindeer herding is integral to their culture.  At the beginning a Sami nine year old, Elsa witnessed a familiar Swedish man kill her reindeer and threaten her.  She does report the death, but refrains from identifying the man.  We follow her as she ages.  The local Sami feel a need to be on guard against outsiders stealing or killing their reindeer.  They have adapted to modern times by using fencing and snowmobiles are ubiquitous.  

They do suffer discrimination in various manners.  They were resented for their privileges (only they have the right to kill reindeer).  The Swedish police are slow to respond to attacks on Sami or their reindeer.   A slur is to be called "Lapp" or worse "Lapp whore".  Some Sami work in factories, but are mocked for their reindeer connections.  Sami clothing is mocked.  Elsa's mother is Swedish and is frowned upon by some Sami as "rivgu". 

Elsa and her family clash with Robert Isaksson, a belligerent Swede who hurt others, but never seems to be punished for it.  There is one sympathetic policeman who wrestles with his sense of fairness and his ambition.  

We learn about a Norwegian organization, SANKS (The Sami Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Mental Health and Substance Abuse) that uses psychology and understanding of the Sami culture to help with mental health.  Elsa's brother seeks help from them.

The climax involves some moral choices and guilt feelings.  An interesting read to help understand how minorities try to fit in while maintaining their uniqueness.

After the story has been told Ann-Helen offers some suggestions for discussion.

Earlier I did a post on the film.  Check it out  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2025/02/stolen-film-on-saami-people.html

 Note the different spellings:  Sami and Saami.

You Never Know You Too Might Become A Refugee

It seems refugees have always been in the news.  Mostly we think of people fleeing persecution.  A new reason is already developing--climate change.  In reality many of those who used to make their living farming now find it more difficult to survive and seek safer countries.

"You Never Know You Too Might Become a Refugee" (2023) is set in 2043 and might be thought of as science fiction, but unfortunately it is already happening and is predicted to get worse.  The film projects that in 2030 the United Nations declares a legal justification to be a refugee is climate change and all countries must accept them.  Unfortunately some countries refuse and even make it a crime.  England is one of them.

The Isle of Grain is used as a mythical starting point.  Two adults and their daughter are being severely battered by the weather and are aware it will become increasingly more difficult to survive.  They had applied to get to England, but were unsuccessful.  They felt the situation was so desperate that they would have to take the illegal route.

They were able to get the necessary money, but that would just about wipe out their finances.  Evading the police was an ongoing concern. Finding accommodation was difficult.  The film focuses on an interview to avoid criminal prosecution.  The interviewer suggests strongly they should have stayed where they were and have broken the law.  

The situation is not really resolved as there is no happy solution.  Some refugees die in the effort to reach safety. 

The irony is that the wealthy industrial countries are most responsible for climate change, but citizens of poorer countries suffer the most.  Donald Trump is already setting up America to close borders to climate change refugees.  To start with they deny climate change exists while allowing some of their donating businesses to profit.  They already put heavier emphasis to keep out immigrants.

This film offers a message the world desperately needs to understand, so I would like to credit some of the people for this particular effort.

Two people shared the organization of the effort.  

Teo Ormond-Skeaping, the director, writer, cinematographer and editor started as photographer and has had many photo exhibits.  He has become politically active and focuses on climate change and how it effects people.  Taking part in many international climate change for climate change.  He has 4 credits as a cinematographer, 2 as a producer, 2 as a director and 1 for editing.

Since 2012 Teo has collaborated with Lena Dobrowolska, a Ph.D. researcher.  She was a director and writer for this film.

Richard Skelton composed the music.  He has been a noted album producing musician.  Richard has 12 credits for composing.

Dominic Farrow played the father.  He has 3 acting credits.

Kaara Benstead played the mother.  She has 6 acting credits, 1 for writing and 1 for directing.

Richie Campbell played the interviewer.  He 62 acting credits, 1 for assistant directing and 1 for producing.

Nick Bartlett played a people smuggler.  He has 87 acting credits including "Topsy Turvey" (1999),  "London Boulevard" (2010) and "World War Z" (2013). 

Mike Kelson played the head of a people smuggling group.  He has 108 acting credits, 2 for writing and 1 for directing.

Jack Bense played a detention center officer.  He has 47 acting credits including "Hereafter" (2010) and "Unforgotten" (2025).

Bitu Thomas played herself.    She has been in films in English, Tamil and Hindi.  Her 16 acting credits, 1 for directing and 1 for writing include "One Life" (2023).

This film is well done and has a powerful message.  I watched it on a DVD borrowed from my local library and am not aware if it is available elsewhere.

A realistic assessment of climate change and how we might deal with it... http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2024/10/intervention-earth.html

Trauma Code: Heroes on Call

"Trauma Code:  Heroes on Call" (2025) has been a big hit for Netflix.  By ten days on the streamer it had topped the charts in 17 countries and top ten in 63 countries including New Zealand, France, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, India, Japan, Egypt, Peru and Chile.   Does that mean it is any good?  Some might disagree, but I think most (if you can handle some surgical blood) would find the series well worth your while

Baek Kang-hyeok comes across as very arrogant, but talented a trauma surgeon.  He encounters stiff resistance from hospital staff.  Over time he commands team cohesion as he really is focused on helping save lives.. 

His first surgery requires a helicopter rescue  rappeling to reach the victim.   At one stage he takes over the helicopter, the first clue that his medical experience came under combat conditions

In a later episode he expresses a concern over organ donations as he has an urgent need.  A few times an organ donation is necessary for survival on the surgery table.  Baek feels families should be pleased to be able to save another human being.  He blesses those who contribute.

There is an ongoing power struggle between Baek and hospital directors that are more concerned about budgets.  Heroic and innovative measures increase Beak's credibility, but the administration is looking for any sort of malfeasance.  An ongoing battle we can see in our own backyard.

It takes a lot of people to keep your attention.  Here are a few.

Lee Do-yun was the director.  He has 2 director credits, 1 for writing and 1 for special effects.

Tae-Kang Choi was the writer with 2 writing credits.

Karim Debbagh was a producer for the Morocco segment.  He has 80 producer credit, 15 for production manager and 2 for directing including "A Hologram for the King"  (2016) and "Beirut" (2018).

Ju Ji-hoon played Baek Kang-hyeok, the lead.  He was an award winning model before getting into films.  He has 29 acting credits including "Along with the Gods:  The Two Worlds" (2017) and "Hyena" (2020).  Hyena has one of my favorite laugh inducing scenes.  Check  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/04/an-addiction-to-korean-tv-mini-series.html  Buried, but with a photo are two paragraphs on "Hyena" that mention one of my biggest laughs.  Ji-hoon has a few interesting quotes on IMDB and here is one:  "In times of borderless content sharing, it's gotten easier to observe and compare audience reactions. I find it both amusing and enriching to see how a single piece of content can set off such varied reactions depending on the cultural context of the audience."

Choo Young-woo played a protege for Baek.  He has 10 acting credits.

Shin Ha Young played a senior nurse.  She studied western painting at university and went on to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York.  She has 9 acting credits.

Yoon Kyung-ho played a staff doctor who initially did whatever he could to block Baek.  He has 85 acting credits including:  "Okja" (2017), "Itawan Class" (2020), "Vincenzo" (2021) and "Escape from Mogadishu" (2021).  see http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/04/escape-from-mogadishu-we-can-learn-to.html

Jeong Jae-kwang played a staff doctor.  He has 18 acting credits including "It's Okay not to be Okay" (2020) and "The Roundup" (2022).   See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/03/its-okay-not-to-be-okay.html

Kim Sun-young played the Minister of Health and Welfare.  She has 49 acting credits including "When the Camellia Blooms" (2019), "Crash Landing on You" (2019-2020), "Broker" (2022) and "Our Unwritten Seoul" (2025).    See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/02/crash-landing-on-you-very-addicting.html and  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2025/06/our-unwritten-seoul.html

Kim Jae-won played a military doctor.  He has 10 acting credits including "Our Blues" (2022) and "King the Land" (2023).

In some accounts "Trauma Code:  Heroes on Call" is considered a comedy and it certainly has a lot of humor, but there is life and death moments.  There is no romance.

Available subtitled and dubbed on Netflix.

As usual I have bolded the first mention of films I have seen.  The ones with links are among my favorite Korean films and a big part of my Korean obsession.  If you follow the links you should be able to determine if any film is worth following up. The bolded films were mostly above average.

A Different Kind of Power

Jacinda Ardenne is in so many ways a uniquely positive leader. She was born in Hamilton, New Zealand but her father became a sergeant and gained a position in charge of a small town police station.  She has been raised as a Mormon. 

 Her mother complaining about flyer delivery got Jacinda her first job, something my mother did for me.  

She was studying at Arizona State University at the time of 9-11.  While many were condemning all Arabs as terrorists, Jacinda asked  "Why?"  

New Zealand has an electoral system different from America or Canada.  Voting districts are decided by whoever gets the most votes.  Each voter also a chance to vote for a party.  Most often there is a disparity between the parties of winning candidates and the party preferences of the other pooled vote.  To reflect that differences other Parliamentarians are selected to better represent the will of the voters.   Their system is more democratic than ours.  A politician can be elected by winning in a district or off a party list if their party gets enough votes.  The parties negotiate to decide how decisions are to be made.

Jacinda at an early age proved to be talented and conscientious and found herself being ranked high on her Labour party list.  In her first two elections she was successful  at getting elected to Parliament on the opposition side.  After negotiations with two other parties she was able to be the Prime Minister.

Just another personal note.  During the inaugural celebrations one of the performing bands was Fat Freddy's Drop that I discovered while visiting New Zealand and still listen to them.

Notably she was the first Prime Minister to give birth while in office.  As an unwed mother it was assumed it must have resulted from an accident.  Not so,  She had become conscious that time was running out and with her supportive boyfriend Clarke Gayford she made attempts to become pregnant and consulted with infertility experts.  She had given up hope, but the day she was declared Prime Minister she learned she was pregnant. 

A crisis occurred when a terrorist killed 50 Muslims and injuring many others in Christchurch.  She visited to give comfort to the survivors and their families.  She was expecting anger and grief from an Iman, but was told he thanked the people of New Zealand for supporting his community.  

New Zealand did not have as much gun violence as many other countries, but she felt something had to be done to curb guns.  She called together the first responders who were familiar with pump action guns and asked how many were hunters and then asked them to differentiate between five and ten round guns.  They admitted for hunting ten rounds were unnecessary so the government banned the ten round version and set up a recovery program to encourage citizens turning in their 10 round pump action guns.  Jacinda also campaigned to restrict violent messages on social media with some success.

Another strategy was to not mention the name of the killer and give more emphasis to the victims.  Donald Trump called and asked why she was calling the killer a terrorist.  She pointed out that the killer was trying to spur more violence.  When Trump asked if there was anything he could do, she responded "You can show sympathy and love for all Muslim communities."  Not recorded his response, but I imagine it was silence.

Another personal note.  My cousin Linda and her husband Derek happened to be in New Zealand at the time with a pet care program that allowed them to get free room and board in return for looking after pet needs.  They had been in Christchurch about two weeks before the killing, went to a nearby community and returned about two weeks after the killing.   

The Covid pandemic caught everyone off guard, but Jessica had been monitoring developments and when it hit New Zealand had to make some difficult choices.  Lockdowns and other restrictions were part of the defense.  When vaccines became available the government did what they could to expedite distribution.  Jacinda noted the "Freedom Convoy" in Ottawa, Canada that marked resistance to vaccines.  New Zealand achieved a high rate of inoculations and were relatively safe, but with long lasting effects.  On the positive side they managed to increase life expectancy.

On the brighter side her government declared a new national holiday, Matariki , the Maori New Year.  The government had made the teaching of New Zealand history compulsory in schools.  She felt all New Zealanders had to appreciate how the country was founded and be conscious of mistakes that had been made.  Quite a contrast to Trump who wants to downgrade the horrors of slavery.

There were many ups and downs during her administration but her popularity started to decline and she became sensitive to criticism and started to think someone else could better represent the Labour Party.

A couple of instances triggered the decision to resign. During a medical exam in preparation for a trip to the Antarctic a small lump was discovered and she started to think if it was cancerous she would have to leave.  It turned out to be insignificant.  During Parliament an exchange with an opposition member led to a remark that was captured on mike where she called him "an arrogant prick."

On the other side she was feeling guilty about being a too often neglectful mother.  She decided to resign.

Her administration did many good things for New Zealand that resulted in social benefits.  One goal had been to create a capital gains tax, but was unsuccessful.  Asked many times what she hoped to accomplish as Prime Minister, one striking response was "I want people to feel {this government} that it is open, that it's listening and that it's going to bring kindness back."  She chose the word "kind" for her title.  Being Prime Minister in the best of time you have to make difficult choices.

She and Clarke did get married.

Jacinda was able to move to Boston and work on fellowships with Harvard University allowing her to interact with students on case studies.  She also is very involved with a Climate Change project led by Prince Andrew.  She endorsed Kamala Harris for U.S. President.

We need more politicians like Jacinda who are not afraid to ask "WHY?"

Another blog on Jacinda Ardern  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/03/a-better-way-to-deal-with-sick-shooters.html

A book I read awhile back helps explain a difference between America and New Zealand.  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2012/06/fairness-and-freedom-book-review.html

Graveyard

"Graveyard" (2025) merely refers to the location of the office of Special Crimes that is in the basement, a dismal place.  The Special Crimes division was set up to solve cases where women were murdered in Turkey (femicide).  Onen was selected to lead.  She is tough and persistent.

 As a team the Special Crimes encounters lots of bureaucratic obstacles and some apathy.  There is a segment of women who wear submissive/traditional hijabs and of men who are dominant.  At the same time Turkey is more modern than other Muslim countries 

Police brutality is sometimes used to get information.  There is some opposition and ultimately success comes with a mix.  Onen is a good thinker striving to find root causes. 

Istanbul is one of the larger cities in the world and is unique in that it divides between Asia and Europe, strategically located at the outlet for the Black Sea that encompasses the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Abdullah Ogoz was the director.  He has 22 directing credits, 55 for producing and 5 for writing including "Bliss" 2007).   http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2011/05/turkish-delight-in-book-and-movie-form.html

Onur Bober was a writer with 5 writing credits.

Cem Oget was a composer.  He has 44 composing credits, 21 for the music department and 7 for soundtrack. 

Ferhat Uzundag was the cinematographer.  He has 30 cinematography credits, 3 for the camera and clectrical department plus2 for directing.

Hamdi Deniz was an editor.  With 43 editor credits and 2 for the editorial department.

Birce Akalay plays, the lead Onen, in charge of the special forces.  She finished 3rd for Miss Turkey and went on to the Miss Europe contest.  Birce has been involved with sports programing and hosting.  She also teaching theatre and acting courses.  She has 22 acting credits and 1 for soundtrack.

Olgon Tokar played an aggressive police officer. He has 29 acting credits. 

 It has strong plots, very good acting and a few brutal scenes. "Graveyard" (2022) is available subtitled and dubbed on Neflix. 

 Some political context:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2025/08/how-to-lose-country.html  in which Turkey is described as a fascist country.  The series suggests there is corruption, but this Special division is trying to the right thing.  

Catalog

 We live in a society that is promoting sex role equality.  Of course not all of us have completely adopted the new life style.  "Catalog" illustrates that some men have taken their wives for granted.  

In the first few minutes we meet Amina the wife who shortly dies.  Youssef and the two children, Karima and Mansour are grieving.  The father, a workaholic, also grieving was pretty clueless about his children's needs, but learns and eventually finds a list of videos that Amina left regarding parenting.

Youssef's brother Hanify is also a very supportive soccer coach for his talented nephew, Mansour.

Amina's brother Osama, also grieving comes to live with Youssef's family.

A comical character is their landlord who suffers agoraphobia and regularly provides advice and we realize he has secrets.

You will be aware the story takes place in a Muslim country.  Ramadan is celebrated, their polite greeting are stereotypical Islamic and the occasional hijab,  Egypt is more modern than many other Muslim countries.  There seems in films at least a move towards sex role equality.

 The grieving father feels compelled to smoke, but the first video talks about how unhealthy smoking is for the children and he right away throws all his cigarettes out and no other smoking scenes occur,

A menstrual period seems to be a part of any story with a growing girl, but is handled a little differently.  Youssef is pretty clueless, but concerned.  Karima is a little irritable and uses having her first period as an excuse.  Locks herself behind her bedroom door as father wants to know what is happening.  Not sure how to explain it, but Karima calmly explains that her mother had already explained it to her--all she needs is a pad.  He says he will go to the pharmacy to get one and she follows up--you don't need to do that--just get one from mom's bottom drawer."

 It looks like at least part of it was filmed in Alexandria, Egypt.  Historical, but also modern and very beautiful on the Mediterranean. 

Although I have seen a number of Egyptian films there aren't a lot of connections.  I note some names as they are likely to show up in the future.

Khaled El Halafawy was the director with 17 directing credits.

Ayman Wattar was the writer with 13 writing credits and 7 for acting and 1 for composing.

Mohamed Farrag played Youssef.  He has 5 acting credits including  "Newton's Cradle" (2021)  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/02/newtons-cradle.html

 Khaled Kamal played the brother and a soccer coach for his nephew Mansour.  He has 44 acting credits.

Tara Emad played a sort of romance element as a teacher for Karima.  She has 34 acting credits including  least one in Bollywood. 

Riham Abdel Ghafourat played Amina, the dead wife, but is seen in her parenting videos and a few flashbacks.  She has 58 acting credits.

Retal Abdelaziz plays the daughter Karima.  This is her film debut and she had sessions with Mohamed Farrag to get the father daughter relationship comfortable.  She is very charming.

Ali El Beialy played the son Mansour and was required to display some soccer skills.  This was his second film feature.

Although there is a lot of grieving it is full of humor, but not childish.  Another series from Egypt similar in family content is "Finding Ola" (2022)  see http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2024/04/finding-ola-first-series.html

Available with dubbing and subtitles on Netflix.

The Cowboy and the Queen

"The Cowboy and the Queen" (2023) showed up at the Hamilton Public Library in DVD format bringing back a lot of memories.  Most of my life has been in cities (with one big important exception) and I really had no connection with horses.  A combination of working with newspapers and working with a cleaning product I got a chance to sell ads for a horse publication, "The Rider."

I was given an opportunity to watch a Monty Roberts demonstration near Newmarket.  I was barely conscious that most horse owners used traditional methods of "breaking" horses that did seem rough.  In my efforts to sell ads I realized that most of my horse prospects did in fact rely on traditional methods.

In "The Cowboy and the Queen" we get brief histories of both Monty Roberts and the Queen.  She lived a privileged and public life but when World War II came she was involved in the war effort.  One of the joys in her life was horses which she loved riding and later got involved with race horses.  Monty grew up with a father who was a traditional horse trainer and was also abusive. At about age 9 he substituted for Elizabeth Taylor for some horse jumping scenes in "National Velvet" (1944).  

He had been very successful at rodeo and other riding contests.  It was thought he could be groomed for movies, but he hated the idea.  He learned that horses were too often killed to create an exciting effect in a movie battle scene. 

While young he got a chance to observe wild Mustangs and it modified his thinking as he felt he understood they had their own language.  Over time he developed his own unique method of gentling horses.  Despite success he attracted strong criticism.  His father maintained that a horse has to know who is boss.  Then out of the blue he was contacted by the Queen of England.  She had read some articles about him and felt that he was likely right.  He got invited to England to demonstrate his methods.  He actually got a tough test with two big, unruly horses, but he was able to get a saddle on these horses in 22 minutes and 19 minutes.  

She was able to get him involved in a documentary.  In this case he was challenged by wild Mustangs in the wild.  This took three days to master a join-up and interestingly enough the chosen horse lived over 30 years which is well beyond normal.  He wrote a book about his experiences, "The Man Who Listens to Horses" (1996).  Talking with the Queen, Monty declared he thought his methods could be adapted for humans.  He was already helping victims of PTSD.

Near the beginning of the film Monty was shown criticizing how humans abused one another focusing on Vladimir Putin.  He found horses more amenable.

They carried on a relationship that involved Monty visiting at least once most years.  She named one of her corgi dogs, Monty that turned out to more unruly than the others.  Monty attended the Queen's funeral in 2022.

He is shown feeding some wild deer who lived near him.  Monty commented that they were more "flighty" than wild horses and you had to earn their trust which he obviously enjoyed doing.

This documentary captures how he changed training horses and how the Queen helped his efforts.  Here are some of the contributors to the film.

Andrea Blaugrund Nevins, was the director, writer and producer.  She had graduated from Harvard and went on to become a sports reporter.  She has 8 credits as a producer, 7 as a director and 5 for writing.  This was her last film before dying at age 63 in April 2025.

Graham Clark was a writer, editor and producer.  He has 4 credits for the additional crew, 3 for editor and 2 for the editorial department.  This was his first effort for producing.

Craig Richey was the composer.  He graduated from the Juilliard School of Music.  Craig has 50 composing credits,and 7 for the music department.

Watching Monty Roberts live demonstration was one of the highlights of my work.  I came to respect horses.  Unlike a dog, it would have been easy for a horse just to run away instead of being mankind's most effective transportation for centuries.  

There are a lot of little things in the documentary that helped develop the more famous things.  Very inspiring and worth watching.

Keep Sharp--Advice from Dr. Sanjay Gupta

 Sanjay Gupta is a familiar face on television.  He is friendly and articulate.  And as we learn more he is truly dedicated to improving health. He was a respected medical expert and worked at the White House as a consultant.  Sanjay was given a job at CNN just before 9-11 where he was almost alone as a medical expert for a major television network that in turn led to jobs in war zones.

It has been pointed out that people dread dementia as much if not more than cancer.  Perhaps that reflects our aging population.  Sanjay offers advice on how to reduce dementia risks and to help prolong a useful life.  All of us have been urged to lead a healthy life style from our youth, but somehow most have let things slide.  Perhaps with a fear of dementia more of us will take his advice seriously.

One patient, Sandy Halperin spells it out, "All we really are is our thoughts and our brain."

Sanjay's goal is to explain a bit about dementia, how to prevent it or at least diminish it and how to cope with it.  Five pillars are identified :  Move, Discover, Relax, Nourish and Connect. 

Move is exercise that can be as simple as walking, but ideally for many running, cycling, calisthenics, etc.  It is important to build muscle strength.  Stretching is also critical.  For Sanjay this is perhaps the most critical step to avoid dementia.

Discover something new and find a purpose.  A goal is to develop a cognitive reserve referring to what your brain can develop through education, work and other endeavors.  You should put off retirement until you find something worthy to replace that effort.  Ideal activities aim for the concept of "flow". 

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi devoted most of his science career studying what he termed "flow."  That is activities that are absorbing because they are enjoyable and meaningful.  These could be any effort, either physical or mental.  One example that has greatly diminished is reading.  Actually reading a book as opposed to reading online lends itself better to flow.  Reading fiction helps develop empathy.  It is said "...when you widen human empathy, you open the universe a little more."

Relaxing helps to release tension.   Sleep is critical allowing the brain to recycle.  Stretching was mentioned as an exercise, but is also important for relaxing and sleeping.  Forest bathing was mentioned.  Meditation is much touted.  Sanjay had met the Dalai Lama who  steered him towards what he calls Analytical Mediation that instead of focusing on a single object, focus on a problem, a topic or philosophical concern.

Another thought is to spend time thinking about the many things you should have gratitude for.  Much better than obsessing on things that upset you.

Nourish your body with healthy foods but if you stray once in awhile that could be okay.  Should cut down sugar and processed foods.  Foods he prefers for your health include fresh vegetables (especially leafy greens), whole berries (not juice), fish and seafood, nus and seeds and what he calls healthy fat (extra virgin olive oil and avocados.  A secondary list includes beans, other legumes, whole fruits, low sugar/low fat dairy, poultry and whole grains.    

Weight loss can be important.  Fat waists have been co-related to dementia.  For some who have trouble sleeping a weight loss can make it much easier.

Connections are very important.  Loneliness seems associated with dementia and of course makes life less bearable.  Keep relations with different ages, younger, older and the same as you.  Volunteering is one way of expanding your connections.  Any pet can make you feel less lonely, but such as with dog walkers become a great conversation starter.

Most of the book advises the reader how to minimize the risks of getting dementia and coping with it on yourself, bu a critical part is reserved for the caregiver.  Caregivers have a greater risk of developing dementia than the general population.  They have to deal with their own feelings of denial and guilt.  Just as important they may deal with anger, hallucinations, apathy, incontinence, wandering, etc.  A common problem is repetition of what is said by the patient.  Sanjay advises moving on to some other activity and if that doesn't work seek advice from others who have dealt with the same problem.

From a practical view finances need to be organized and legal concerns dealt with.  Someone will have to be appointed for financial decisions, but others delegated to make legal and health decisions.  Most important the principle caregiver has to give their own health and peace of mind priority.

I have tried to take much of his advice seriously.  One of my bad habits is multi tasking which I do even as I write a blog. I used to think I could pay full attention to two or more activities, but the brain was not designed that way.  Probably some of you are multi tasking as you try to figure out how much to pay attention to my words.  Some people are more adept at switching interests back and forth and retaining some value, but science has proved that the mere act of switching guarantees you lose something.  This problem is exacerbated with the multitude of electronic devices.  Distracted driving is an increasing cause of death.  A couple of times a week I ignore distractions to watch someone I respect such as Fareed Zakaria, Steve Paikin or Sanjay Guptat alk on tv.  I can no longer read a book and watch tv.  From earlier examples I still love to listen to music while eating, but recognize it is not the best way to enjoy either thing.

One of the things I agree with is that having a Purpose makes life more meaningful.  I enjoy blogging which allows me  to spreading my opinion.   One unique effort is promoting foreign films with the idea of getting more people aware of different people in the world.  The way I blog is to read, watch and listen.  Afterwards I re-read my posts to reinforce my memories--some things to be grateful for.  Some further thoughts on blogging:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/09/what-keeps-me-blogging-and-what-i-have.html

Many books have been read to boost my health, but this is the first to focus on the brain.  I am grateful for Sanjay Gupta's advice.  This blog has really skimmed his ideas and you would likely find something of personal value reading his whole book.