A review of the superb 1994 film “Leon”
July 22nd, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Following the success of “Nikita”, the French Luc Besson made this superb and stylish action-thriller in the English language as both writer and director.
Set in New York City, it brings together the eponymous Italian-American ‘cleaner’ aka hitman (Jean Reno who played a similar character in “Nikita”), a grizzled, brilliantly efficient operator who loves milk and his plant, and 12 year old abused American girl next door Mathilda (a remarkably assured Natalie Portman in her feature film debut), who comes to owe her life to him and wants to emulate him. Leon works for local gangster Tony (Danny Aiello) and he and Matilda are pursued by a corrupt, bloodthirsty, drug-fuelled DEA agent (Gary Oldman).
The film opens with an exciting display of Leon’s professional talents and ends with him taking on a whole battalion of heavily-armed SWAT police. Along the way, Leon and Matilda develop a kind of romance, not overtly sexual but deep and moving, each giving the other a new purpose in life. This is one of my favourite movies.
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A review of the summer blockbuster movie “The Odyssey”
July 22nd, 2026 by Roger Darlington
A budget of $250 million, 50 boats, 5,000 extras, filming at 20 locations in Greece, Italy, Morocco, Scotland, Iceland and Malta. This was always going to be a massive movie.
After the huge success of “Oppenheimer”, so excited was I in anticipation of the next film – his 13th – from Christopher Nolan, co-writer and director of “The Odyssey”, that I decided to familiarise myself with Homer’s poem of some 2,700 years ago by reading a version of it – actually Stephen Fry’s excellent and accessible interpretation – before the movie’s release. I’m so glad I did because otherwise I would have struggled with the extensive cast of characters and Nolan’s trademark mixture of timelines.
In this enormously ambitious and expensive spectacle of 173 minutes, Nolan has done an excellent job summarising and interpreting this classic text, although the start is somewhat slow and purists will be upset by the omissions (such as the island of the Lotus Eaters) and the changes (especially in the final segment). Nolan famously avoids special effects, so Cyclops and Scylla could have been rendered more effectively and the representation of Hades is poor, but the Trojan Horse is striking, the sea scenes are exciting, and the fighting sequences are thrilling.
It is a starry cast: Matt Damon as the complicated Odysseus, hero of Troy and King of Ithaca; Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope who waits 20 years for his return; Tom Holland as their son Telemachus; Zendaya (Holland’s wife) as the goddess of war Athena; Charlize Theron as the deity Calypso who keeps Odysseus on her island for seven years; and Robert Pattinson as Antinous, the leading suitor of Penelope. Hathaway and Pattinson are particular impressive.
The cinematography by the Dutch Hoyte van Hoytem and the sound by the Swedish Ludwig Göransson – both regular collaborators with Nolan – are stunning, but the dialogue (by Nolan himself) does not offer any of the sort of memorable lines that we had in “Gladiator”, a even better film set in the classic period. Essentially, “The Odyssey” – indeed like Gladiator” and many other films, books, plays and poems – is about a hero’s struggles to return home. It is worth the journey.
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A review of the 1939 classic French film “La Grande Illusion”
July 18th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
This is famous war, actually anti-war, film that has no battle scenes in it. Instead, most of the action is set in two prisoner of war camps in 1914, the first year of what was then known as the Great War or the war to end wars. The prisoners are French and the film is French, directed and co-written by Jean Renoir, son of the Impressionist painter. The main French characters are a working class man (Jean Gabin), an aristocrat (Pierre Fresnay) and a Jew (Marcel Dalio) who work together on an escape plan, while the lead German character is played by Erich von Stroheim who laments the declining power of the European nobility.
This powerful and moving film was released in 1937, when there were growing expectations that another world war was in the offing. Much of the Great War was on French soil and millions of French lost their lives, so there was a ready audience for a film that challenged the illusion of war and presented a humanist approach with the clear message that class and love are more important than nationality or language. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy banned the film and, after the German invasion of France in 1940, both occupied France and Vichy France withdrew the work in its home nation.
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A review of “Odyssey” by Stephen Fry
July 13th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
As I anticipated the 2026 blockbuster movie “The Odyssey” by Christopher Nolan, I thought that it was about time that I familiarised myself with Homer’s epic work of some 2,700 years ago. The original poem was recited from memory and eventually was set down as a work of 12,109 lines composed in ancient Greek in a form known as dactylic hexameter. There have been many translations and lots of interpretations.
A friend, who is an English teacher, recommended the 1996 translation by the American academic Robert Fagles, but I confess that I immediately felt intimidated by this tome. Instead, I decided to read a simplified 2024 version written by the British actor Stephen Fry, actually the last of four books in his series retelling the Greek myths.
There are numerous characters and many adventures in this tale of the ten-year journey of Odysseus from his victory at Troy to his waiting wife Penelope and son Telemachus on the island of Ithaca, but Fry makes an admirable fist of guiding us through the complicated cast of gods, monsters and mortals and the amazing challenges faced by the returning Greeks. Odysseus himself comes across as a complicated and conflicted character. Certainly, a great fighter and leader who is immensely brave and resourceful, but also a man who is vain, selfish, deceitful and a womaniser.
So many modern plays, novels and films make reference to, or borrow from, “The Odyssey” so, why does it continue to resonate so vividly? Fry highlights that, at its heart, it is the idea of a return home and concludes: “Whether home is a physical or a spiritual, a real or imaginary place, our journeys to find it or return to it will always remain, we can be sure, a proper subject for art, music, drama and entertainment. Homer’s Odyssey will eternally stand as the avatar and exemplar – as appropriate enough, the home of such stories.” This is why we should all have some knowledge of the work.
I can’t wait to see Nolan’s film.
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A review of the classic 1953 western “Shane”
July 13th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
This iconic western is based on a novel which, in turn, was inspired by the Johnson County War, a conflict between ranchers and homesteaders which took place in Northern Wyoming from 1889 to 1893. The film begins with the eponymous hero, clad in white buckskin, riding into view and it concludes with him riding into the distance. In between, we witness the efforts of Shane, played by Alan Ladd, to leave behind his days as a gunslinger, a forlorn hope when he finds himself siding with the homesteaders against the rancher gang who hire the sharp-shooting, black-clad Wilson (Jack Palance) to do their dirty work. As Shane declares, just before he departs: “There’s no living with a killing.”
Ably directed by George Stevens, at one level, this is a relatively familiar story of two different efforts by white immigrants to make a living in the tough frontier. At an other level, this is a more psychological examination of how a charismatic newcomer interacts with one struggling, homesteader family, resulting in the father (Van Heflin), the mother (Jean Arthur) and most especially the son (nine year old Brandon De Wilde), in different ways each falling in love with him. As the hero disappears into the sunset, young Joey shouts out: “Shane. Shane! Come back! Bye, Shane. – one of the most moving scenes in any western.
Shot in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with the purple and white Grand Teton mountains in the background, the film only won one Academy Award (that for photography) but, over the years, it has achieved an enduring, almost fairy-tale, reputation.
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A ninth five-star review for “Everyone Has A Story”
July 8th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
My latest book – available on Amazon – has just received a short but positive review: “Mr. Darlington has created a set of intriguing biographies about people he has met, by interviewing them. They are all different, but all are interesting. Superbly written.”
If you haven’t already bought a copy of the book, please consider doing so. If you have a copy, maybe you would like to gift another copy to family or friend. Thanks for your support. I promise that you won’t be disappointed.
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A review of the 1976 classic movie “Taxi Driver”
July 8th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Following “Mean Streets” (1973), this is another collaboration between director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro, both still at the beginning of their careers and both of whom went on to have stellar achievements for half a century. In this case, they had a strong script, courtesy of Paul Schrader who presents the descent into psychological hell of former marine and Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle (De Niro in intense and brilliant form), an insomniac who works nights as a New York City cab driver, despises most of what he sees, and eventually takes it upon himself to become a lone avenger, rescuing an underage prostitute (12 year old Jodie Foster).
This violent film noir has director Scorsese in a cameo slot and the support roles include Cybill Shepherd and Harvey Keitel (also in “Mean Streets”). A particularly memorable scene has a beefed-up and well-armed Travis conversing with himself in the mirror: “You talking to me?” he asks four times. He warns us: “Here is a man who would not take it anymore.” From the very beginning, the atmospheric saxophone score by Bernard Hermann creates a dark and edgy ambiance. The music was finished mere hours before his death and the film is dedicated to him.
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A review of the classic 1961 movie “West Side Story”
July 8th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
“West Side Story” was a spectacular theatre musical (when I was in Vienna, I saw a version in German!) and it was an enormous success as a film (when I first saw it at the cinema as a teenager, my girlfriend was repeatedly in tears) that won all but one of its 11 Academy Award nominations. Inspired by Shakespeare’s “Romeo And Juliet”, it centres on conflict between two rival gangs in New York City, the Puerto Rican Sharks and the Polish Jets, and the romance between members of the opposing communities: Maria (Natalie Wood) and Tony (Richard Beymer) respectively.
The casting of the film could have been more ethnically sensitive – something addressed by the 2021 remake – but the music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and choreography by Jerome Robbins are all outstanding. In so many musicals, there are a couple of songs that stand out, but almost every song in “West Side Story”is memorable. My particular favourite is “America” for its thrilling music and sharp lyrics addressing the challenges of being an immigrant in the United States.
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A review of the 1939 classic movie “The Wizard Of Oz”
July 4th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Rarely can a movie have been so troubled in production but so successful in outcome. The work had 14 writers and four directors; casting was a problem and there were on-set accidents and drunkenness; it was over schedule and over budget. And yet “Oz” was a huge success and, according to the US Library of Congress, this beloved musical is the most viewed film in cinematic history.
The source material was the 1900 book by L. Frank Baum. In the novel, the main character of Dorothy was a 10 year old girl with blonde curls but, in the film, the role finally went to 16 year old redhead Judy Garland who is a delight. The colourful cast includes Dorothy’s loveable travel companions along the Yellow Brick Road, The Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), The Tin Woodman (Jack Haley), and The Cowardly Lion (Bert Lehr), and together they eventually encounter The Wizard (Frank Morgan). We have a good witch, a bad witch, 120 ‘munchkins’ (played by an entertainment troupe called Singer’s Midgets), and Toto the male dog played by Terry a female terrier,
The movie begins in sepia black and white but, 20 minutes into the story, a door opens to a dreamland of luscious Technicolour. My favourite line – a version of which I often use when something unexpected happens – is “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more.”. I once saw Dorothy’s magic ruby slippers in the Museum of American History in Washington DC.
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The USA is 250 years old today – but how did it start?
July 4th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
In 2000, I went to see the film “The Patriot” starring Mel Gibson and I thought that the American revolution could not possibly have been that simplistic so, on a trip to Washington DC later that year, I bought a book at the National Museum of American History: “A Short History Of The American Revolution” by James L Stokesbury. He is an American who worked as a professor of history at Acadia University in Canada. His book – first published in 1991 – is a lucid account of a seminal event encompassed in just short of 300 pages.
I suppose that, for Americans, the story of the revolution is a very familiar one, taught in schools and part of the psyche. However, for someone like me – British and with no schooling whatsoever in the period – Stokesbury’s book was a revelation. I just learned so much.
For starters, I had thought of the war as a relatively intense and short-lived affair of some months. In fact, it lasted eight years (1775-1783) and involved twenty or so major battles. For much of the time, though, “the war just bumbled along” and frequently looked like “a sort of equilibrium”. It looked as if “neither side was capable of winning it and both were tired of waging it” and, five years on, it was “less a contest of physical forces than of willpower or, more correctly, staying power”. Arguably the decisive battle of the war was Yorktown in late 1781, but peace was not signed until almost two years later and the British maintained their holdings in America even longer than that. At the end of it all, “The country was militarily exhausted and financially ruined”.
I had not appreciated either how much the American War of Independence was in fact a civil war. About 50,000 Americans actively fought for the British side. Stokesbury puts it this way: “The general estimates are that perhaps a third of the population were active supporters of the Revolution or Patriots; and one third were actively for the King or Loyalists or Tories; with the other third wanting to be left alone as much as possible; or, that one quarter took either active position, and as much as one half formed the amorphous and neutral middle”. One of the dreadful features of so many civil wars is often atrocities and, in this case, both sides were guilty of brutalities.
I had certainly not understood that this so-called American war was in effect a world war. From the start, the British employed foreign units, notably some 30,000 Germans (most of them from Hesse-Cassel). For their part, the Americans sought and obtained allies from the European powers opposing the maritime strength of thalassocratic Britain. First, the old enemy France declared war on Britain; then Spain and the Netherlands came out against the British; and finally the Baltic powers – Russia, Denmark and Sweden – combined in an anti-British coalition called ‘Armed Neutrality’ and, before the war ended, Prussia, Portugal, Austria and the Two Sicilies had all joined this alliance. So, as well as America, there were major theatres of war in the West Indies, the Mediterranean, India, and the English Channel.
Through the mists of time, we tend to see history in black and white terms in which events had almost an inevitability about them. Stokesbury makes it clear that reality was much more complicated.
For a start, in spite of all the intense research of the period, so much is still unknown or unclear. We do not even know who fired the first shot of the war on 18 April 1775 at Lexington. The conduct and casualties of many of the battles are confused.
Also the supporters of independence were far from a united army battling the evil British. There was enormous conflict between the Continental Congress and the individual states – a tension which continues today – and immense rivalry over who was to command which forces with the infamous Conway cabal against George Washington. There was desertion, mutiny and even treason in the shape of Benedict Arnold. Stokesbury writes: “It is fair to say that George Washington was the one indispensable man of the American Revolution and that, without him, there were several times when the whole enterprise would probably have collapsed”.
Then there is the odd situation of New York, then – as now – the chief city of the continent. For most of the war, it was securely held by the British and the Americans could do nothing to retake it. Stokesbury explains: “The military theory of the period held that, if you took the enemy’s capital, or his major cities, he would have sense enough to make peace. But the Americans were not involved in a conventional eighteenth-century war”.
Finally, there is a tendency to think of both the outbreak of the revolution and its success as inevitable. A more sensitive handling of genuine grievances by King George III and his Ministers would have made all the difference. Canada was kept for the British and the thirteen states could have been secured as well. A more determined effort by the British at the end of the first year of the war – following the taking of New York – and world history could have been very different. If one sees the conflagration as a world war, then Britain won in four of the five theatres.
And not one mention of Mel Gibson …
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