OBAMA AND CLOONEY VS KIM JONG-UN
Whatever else you get for Christmas, you’re probably doing better than the Sony corporation who have received a festive-time bollicking from President Barrack Obama as their gift.
The President says Sony made a mistake in bowing to pressure from North Korea by pulling a their movie which sends up their leader, Kim Jong-un (pictured).
In the strongest possible language an US president can utter, Mr Obama declared: “That’s not what America is about”.
And to make matters worse for Sony, Hollywood star George Clooney (pictured) also weighed in, saying that bowing to North Korea was “insane”.The criticism has certainly had its effect, as Sony has begun muttering aloud about finding an alternative means of distribution other than in the cinema chains that were nervous about screening it.
As a courageous role model, they could do with checking out Charlie Chaplin.
As Nazi Germany was wreaking havoc on humanity, Chaplin courageously went ahead with his first talking movie, The Great Dictator.
Chaplin proceeded to make the film during the late 1930s despite pressures to abandon it from Britain where the appeasement policy towards Nazi Germany was in place.
After appeasement was overturned and Britain declared war on Nazi Germany, the pressures eased – and the movie proved highly popular in both the UK and America when it was released in 1940.
The movie’s climactic moment comes when Chaplin, dressing and acting in a Hitler-like manner, gives a surprisingly enlightened speech in a dream sequence.
I was alerted to this amazing cinematic moment by the world’s greatest geography teacher (in my experience), Rosa Kloczko (pictured), who I’m delighted to say is a regular reader of this ezine.
I was a beneficiary of Rosa’s captivating lessons in Sydney which fostered a greater understanding of the world, the desire to explore it and the importance of looking after it.
Her lessons continue – and long may they do so!
Rosa has a great sense of history, so enjoy this Charlie Chaplin clip thanks to her:
|