THE MT VOID
03/24/23 -- Vol. 41, No. 39, Whole Number 2268

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Topics:
Mini Reviews, Part 17 (THREE MINUTES--A LENGTHENING,
SIDNEY, HIDDEN LETTERS, ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE
BLOODSHED) (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper
and Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE WILL TO BATTLE ("Terra Ignota" Book III) by Ada Palmer
(book review by Joe Karpierz)
This Week's Reading (UNDER THE HARROW, THE VILLAGE,
RUNNING OUT OF TIME, THE GLORY THAT WAS,
"Thessaly" series) (book and film comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)

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

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 17 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)

This is the seventeenth batch of mini-reviews, all documentaries
(note that one--HIDDEN LETTERS--is running on PBS in three days):

THREE MINUTES--A LENGTHENING: THREE MINUTES--A LENGTHENING is a
feature-length documentary based on three minutes of genuine "found
footage" taken in a Jewish town in Poland in 1938 by a man who has
emigrated to America many years earlier. And that is (almost) all
it shows, with narration and comments by the grandson of the man, a
couple of survivors of the Holocaust from that town, and Helena
Bonham-Carter.

One of the most interesting aspects of tracing the background of
people rom the town is the detective work trying to decode the
people's names from from the blurred images of the names on stores
and elsewhere in the photographs. This is a notable detective
story, as in finding who killed someone in a traditional mystery,
but instead it is bringing people back to life. It is not just a
documentary of old footage, but also a consideration of what the
footage represents, and the varied reactions we have to it.

Released to various festivals 2022. Rating: +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12017738/reference>

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

SIDNEY: SIDNEY is a fairly straightforward biography of Sidney
Poitier; its interest lies in the story of Poitier's experiences
and how they shaped his life and his work. His effect was felt not
just within the Hollywood community, but throughout the wider
society, particularly during the civil rights years.

Released on AppleTV+ streaming 23 September 2022. Rating: low +3
(-4 to +4) or 8/10

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16977750/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sidney_2022>

HIDDEN LETTERS: HIDDEN LETTERS is almost definitely going to be
confused with HIDDEN FIGURES, and it is true that both focus on
women of color who are marginalized by men. But HIDDEN FIGURES is
a narrative film about the American space program, and HIDDEN
LETTERS is a documentary about Nushu, a secret script developed by
women in China several hundred years ago. Few original Nushu
writings survive, and the documentary shows how attempts to
preserve it fall prey to attempts to make it of interest to
tourists, or to commercialize it as a brand name. Currently very
few people can read or write Nushu, and they all learned it as a
scholarly exercise rather than organically. And the both the Nushu
Museum and the Center for Nushu Cultural and Research
Administration seem to be controlled primarily by men.

The result is that we see men treating women writing Nushu as
decorative objects (explicitly commenting on their looks), and men
unveiling the sign for the Nushu Cultural Exchange Center (and
knocking it over in the process), and men pushing the idea of
having Nushu brand potatoes.

There is also a contrast between a "Princess Camp" which somehow is
supposed to be celebrating Nushu and scenes of women washing
clothes in the river, drawing water, carrying loads, etc. Whether
these are supposed to represent the only positions open to women or
not is not clear.

HIDDEN LETTERS will run on PBS on March 27, 2023.

(If you think pronouns should be straightforward, try reading a
review with the main character being a woman named "He Yanxin", He
being the family name, and hence how she is referred to. In other
words, "He is a "she/her.")

Released theatrically 09 December 2022. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4)
or 7/10

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15503562/reference>

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

ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED: ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED
is a documentary in which the style definitely gets in the way of
the content. At first it claims to be about the Sackler brouhaha the
Sacklers are mentioned for a little bit in the first five minutes
of the film from then Nan Goldin seems to be interested only in her
autobiographical accounts which are of a much lower interest value.

Released theatrically 2 December 2022. Rating: high 0 (-4 to +4)
or 5/10

Film Credits: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16977750/reference>

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

[-mrl/ecl]

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

TOPIC: THE WILL TO BATTLE ("Terra Ignota" Book III) by Ada Palmer
(copyright 2017, Tor, 352pp, trade paperback, ISBN 978-0-7653-7805)
(book review by Joe Karpierz)

Ada Palmer's "Terra Ignota" quartet hast to be one of the most
fascinating, yet frustrating, series I have ever read. It is a
rich and complex tale with interesting and well thought out
characters--just about all of whom seem to me to be unreliable in
one way or another--and the more we learn about the central
character and narrator of the tale, Mycroft Canner, the more we
know and understand that they are the most unreliable of the
bunch. Canner has more layers than an onion, and just when you
think you get to know them you find out you're wrong. The entire
story is that way as well, and that is what makes the series as a
whole, and THE WILL TO BATTLE in particular, one of the most
frustrating reads I've ever experienced.

Palmer's world building for the Earth of 2454 is magnificent.
Palmer doesn't describe the world the story takes place in.
Rather, she lets the reader learn and understand the world as the
story progresses, which lets the story move along without being
bogged down by world building details. On the flip side, the novel
is extremely dense and intricate; at least for me, THE WILL TO
BATTLE was not an easy read by any means. While I like my reading
to be challenging, THE WILL TO BATTLE pushed me to extremes that
I'm not sure I was ready for or happy with. It took me a *very*
long time to read this novel. But I was fascinated by it, and
interested in what it was saying, so much so that I was unwilling
to give up on it even though there were times I looked at it and
said "nope, I'm going to turn on the TV instead". Yes, it was a
very tough read, but it was a *good* read, and a good story.

As alluded to earlier, the story takes place in the year 2454. It
takes place over the months April through September of that year,
and is narrated--and documented--by Mycroft Canner. The world is
preparing for a war that now seems to be inevitable. Tensions are
escalating, and war could break out at any minute. The story
begins not long after the end of the previous novel, SEVEN
SURRENDERS, wherein we learned that the delicate balance of peace
was maintained by a series of strategic assassinations, called O.S.
Once the world learned that this was the case, war was
inevitable. Ockham Prospero Saneer is in prison for the
assassinations, and it is here that we learn what "terra ignota"
means. Saneer is to plead "terra ignota", the uncertainty over
whether or not the O.S. assassinations were a crime. While murders
in particular, and violence in general, is against the law, are
the assassinations that kept world peace actually a crime? That's
a good question, of course, and the outcome of that trial is just
one thing that contributes to the tensions in society and the
alliances various factions will take when the war does start.

Palmer is an historian, and teaches at the University of Chicago.
Her knowledge of history is evident throughout THE WILL TO BATTLE
and the "Terra Ignota" series as a whole. One of the most
fascinating characters is Achilles--yes, *that* Achilles--brought
to life from a small toy soldier after Bridger's suicide. Achilles
plays a central part in war preparations, helping gather resources
for both sides so they can survive the upcoming war, while at the
same time paying close attention to events to determine a) who the
sides are, and b) which side he will aid in the conflict. It is
fascinating to watch Palmer weave her knowledge of history into the
character of Achilles as well as into the preparations for war and
the use of language and style in telling the story.