The Zeitgeist Tapes

This month, prompted by events in Ukraine, Emma and Steve watched Katyń - the 2007 Polish film about the massacre in the Katyń Forest.

Heartbreaking and bleak this film depicts strong violence and touches on extremely difficult topics. It also looks at the horrors of war crimes and the distortion of truth in propaganda.

To donate to the Red Cross appeal for Ukrainian relief please go here.

To see details of, and buy tickets for, Emma's play Triggered, please go here. 

This month, Emma and Steve watched the 1963 classic The Manchurian Candidate - and loved it! 

The superb cast, tight script and conspiracy heavy, but ironic plot have so much to say to a modern audience. 

This month, Steve and Emma watched popular Netflix comedy Don't Look Up. Starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Jennifer Lawrence, this obvious climate change allegory asks why we aren't acting against the obvious. 

But is it asking the right questions and/or challenging the right people? 

This month, Emma and Steve look at G.B.H. Alan Bleasdale's seven-part fictional account of a city council infiltrated by a Trotskyist group and the man who stands up to them. What starts as a political drama descends into conspiracy theory. But it still has a lot to say about the debates the left are still having with itself today. 

The Founder is based on the true story of how McDonalds became the behemoth it is today. It focuses not on the McDonald brothers - who invented the Speed-E system that revolutionised 'fast food' but on Ray Kroc - the man who franchised the idea to millions. 

Released in 2016, this film encapsulates the tensions between Main Street and Wall Street - which was a dominant political narrative of that year's election

This month, Steve and Emma look at 70s political assassination thriller The Parallax View. While it underperformed in terms of box office, it has had a lasting effect and stands as a classic of the paranoid genre. Even if at times it does look like an episode of Dukes of Hazard.

The brainwashing scene can be watched here.

Tickets for Emma's play, No Cure for Love can be bought here. 

This month, Emma and Steve are looking at the David Hare play The Absence of War. Originally set in 1993 (after extraordinary access to the Labour campaign of 1992) the play echoes many themes still discussed by the Labour Party today. 

Tickets for Emma's play can be bought here: https://app.lineupnow.com/event/no-cure-for-love-camden-fringe?fbclid=IwAR2-qZFd6FHUvbsAnx_dsGGRd2wqj4_TtvbBCwz4w8VLkLUoT9xLipkXNw4

Emma and Steve finally discuss The West Wing. We use the double episode 20 Hours in America but take in as much of the show as can be covered in under an hour. 

Links: 

Tom Hanks Philadelphia acceptance speech: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBuDMEpUc8k

Lin Manuel Miranda 'What's Next' rap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TTD5-3fuZE

Emma Burnell: The West Wing was wonderful. But you're still not Josh Lyman. 
https://medium.com/@emmaburnell/the-west-wing-was-wonderful-but-youre-still-not-josh-lyman-feeed759ae6d

For international Women's Day, Emma and Steve discuss the feminist classic The Stepford Wives. A chillingly dark comedy horror about what men really want from women. 

We're back! 

This month Emma and Steve look at the 1936 French film The Crime of Monsieur Lange. This morality tale from French auteur Jean Renoir divided us on some of the interpretations of characters. But the film is pacey and enjoyable and ahead of its time in many aspects of sex, gender roles and the evils of capitalists.