THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
04/22/22 -- Vol. 40, No. 43, Whole Number 2220

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Topics:
Correction to MOTHERLAND: FORT SALEM Review
Mini Reviews, Part 15 (BOOK OF LOVE, BELFAST,
MUNICH--THE EDGE OF WAR) (film reviews
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
MOTHERLAND: FORT SALEM (television review by Dale Skran)
(complete)
THE KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY by John Scalzi (audio book
review by Joe Karpierz)
Hugo Finalists Reviews (letter of comment by Joe Karpierz)
MOTHERLAND: FORT SALEM (letters of comment by Paul Dormer,
Gary McGath, Dorothy J. Heydt, Scott Dorsey,
Keith F. Lynch, and Tim Merrigan)
This Week's Reading (WAITING FOR GODOT) (book and drama
comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Correction to MOTHERLAND: FORT SALEM Review

Last week, I accidentally cut off Dale Skran's review of
MOTHERLAND: FORT SALEM somewhere in the middle, so the complete
review is in this week's MT VOID. [-ecl]

==================================================================

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 15 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)

Here is the fifteenth batch of mini-reviews, films taking place in
other countries:

BOOK OF LOVE: In BOOK OF LOVE, Henry (played by actor Sam Clafin),
has all of Hugh Grant's mannerisms and Maria (played by lead
actress Veronica Echegui) looks like Penelope Cruz. In fact, this
film seems assembled from pieces of other films. Henry is the
author of a very chaste book about love, and Maria is the Mexican
translator who turns it into a steamy bestseller. They meet when
he goes on a book tour in Mexico, and take an instant dislike to
each other. The film proceeds just as you would expect.

Released 02/04/22; available on Amazon Prime. Rating: low +2 (-4
to +4), or 7/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14014068/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/book_of_love_2022>

BELFAST: BELFAST is Kenneth Branagh's reminiscence of growing up in
Belfast during the Troubles. It is therefore not as light-hearted
as many childhood reminiscences are. In fact, in the first scene
we see Buddy playing with a toy sword and a shield consisting of a
garbage can lid; then violence erupts and Buddy's mother is forced
to use the shield for real to protect them from bricks being thrown
around. Religion too is both humorous and not-so-humorous. Buddy
and his sister (Protestants) discuss what names are Catholic and
what are Protestant (Liam is Catholic, William is Protestant), and
how confession works. But the violence between (some) Catholics
and (some) Protestants is very real. Buddy's family likes familiar
movies and television programs from the United States, such as HIGH
NOON and STAR TREK. In fact, after a brief aerial shot of Belfast
in color, the film reverts to black and white except for the movies
and television shows, which are in super-saturated color. Jude
Hill is excellent as Buddy, and the production design is stunning.

Released theatrically 11/12/21; available on various streaming
services. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4), or 7/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12789558/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/belfast>

MUNICH--THE EDGE OF WAR: MUNICH--THE EDGE OF WAR is not science
fiction, but as a historical drama it veers toward alternate
history. It is based on the novel by Robert Harris, who is best
known (to me, anyway) as the author of FATHERLAND, which is
definitely an alternate history. In MUNICH--THE EDGE OF WAR, the
biggest change is in Neville Chamberlain, who is portrayed, not as
being taken in by Hitler, but rather working a longer plan to
prepare Britain (and America) for the war that he knows is
inevitably coming. The rest is fairly accurate, if at times a bit
hard to follow, but obviously of interest to those who like
historical dramas.

Released 01/21/22 on Netflix streaming.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7475578/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/munich_the_edge_of_war>

[-mrl/ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: MOTHERLAND: FORT SALEM (two seasons of ten episodes/for pay
on Amazon) (television review by Dale Skran)

It's not that easy to see MOTHERLAND. It is only "free" on
something called Freeform (this seems like an online version of
ABC/Disney and is an update of the old ABC Family channel, but to
some degree defies easy characterization), and you can also pay for
it on Amazon prime. As a result, this pretty amazing series will
get only a small audience, and will probably never win any awards
simply because the SF viewing public does not know it exists, just
like the fantastic COUNTERPART is essentially unknown, or the
nearly as excellent THE ROOK. And so on. All people are watching
what is on Disney, Netflix, and Amazon prime. Some of this--like
THE WITCHER and CRACOW MONSTERS--are pretty good, but a lot of it,
e.g., THE WHEEL OF TIME, SHADOW AND BONE, etc. is of a lesser
quality.

Imagine STARSHIP TROOPERS with witches instead of powered suits,
and you have a pretty good one sentence description of MOTHERLAND.
The "military cadet" story so commonplace in the 20th century has
fallen out of favor as the military has declined in popularity. In
this genre, a young person [almost always a man] joins the
military, and goes through basic training with a few friends.
There is always one friend who is the son of a big-shot general,
another from the tough streets or rural byways, and finally one who
is gung-ho to fight, but soon discovers the reality of war. As the
story proceeds, the protagonist and his friends get pressed into
battles before they are fully trained, encounter clever spies and
saboteurs, and eventually rise in the ranks with distinction.

Well, that is what MOTHERLAND is all about with one itsy-bitsy
difference. A long time ago in Salem a powerful witch, Sarah
Alder, made a deal with the US government: Witches would fight the
wars of the United States, as long as they were allowed, in this
context, to be free to be witches. Fast forward to modern times,
and we find a world upside-down from our own. Everyone knows women
are tougher, braver, and stronger than men. Civilians both fear
and depend on the witch soldiers. The witches have used magic for
centuries to mate with many men, and to create the best possible
offspring. Their power, while not unlimited, makes them superhuman.

The witch army is not organized in platoons, but in groups of
three. It appears that one of the group is a "fixer" who can heal
wounds, one has the "sight", and the third is a weather witch. But
they all possess varying degrees of certain "canon" powers, namely:
- A shield that can shatter a spear, and presumably stop bullets
- A kinetic hammer that can punch through steel. A group of
witches can create a hammer/shield so strong that it protects
them from a truck loaded with explosives (mostly).
- To put someone to sleep by touch, and for the more powerful
witches, a roomful of people w/o touch
- A magical chemical patch, which when applied to the skin,
allows the witch to fly for a limited period of time. Thus,
the troops apply the patch and jump out of aircraft to
attack,
but they can also fly up to an aircraft as well. The patch
is
risky to use since it only lasts for a limited period of time.

The fixers can heal most military wounds so that the witch army is
relatively less impacted by injury than our real-world armies. At
one point a senior witch slits the throat of a trainee to create a
wound to practice healing. It is fairly obvious that without magic
the wound would be fatal. The "weather witches" have powers
similar to "Storm" of the X-men, with varying degrees of strength.
The "sight" can be used to detect hidden dangers, both physical and
magical.

The combination of all these abilities creates a formidable combat
unit, but in some cases, witches find themselves unable to use
their powers, and for these situations they carry the "scourge"--a
whip with a metal weight on the end. The weighted chain is said to
be the martial arts weapon that is the hardest to learn, the most
dangerous to the practitioner, and the most effective in combat.
The "scourge" is in effect a weighted chain with the weakness that
you can cut it. Each witch is trained extensively in combat with
the "scourge" and when they settle matters of honor amongst
themselves, it is with the scourge. Additionally, they are trained
extensively in hand-to-hand combat and knife fighting.