An elliptical, moving film about a cruel murder and the agonizing road a family takes to get past its effects, Beyond Hatred is a fine kind of documentary that doesn't feel for a second like it has to follow the rules and is all the stronger for it. Director Olivier Meyrou begins by telling the story of Fran�ois Chenu, a 29-year-old gay man who in 2002 happened across a trio of skinheads in a park in Reims, France, looking for an Arab to bash. Spotting Fran�ois, they demand to know if he's gay, he responds proudly in the affirmative and bravely tells them what cowards they are. For not denying his nature and illustrating theirs, Fran�ois was killed. Two years later, the skinheads are about to go on trial and Fran�ois's family is a miserable wreck, still trying to wrap their heads around the death.
Meyrou doesn't come at his story head-on, preferring instead to loop around it and circle in, denying us the easy escape of the crime-trial-resolution paradigm. It's a film of cycles and repetitions, where the Chenu family -- pensive, tear-prone, and chain-smoking -- seems forever trapped in the crime. As the trial looms, they appear stuck and unsure how to proceed, unable to forgive but equally unwilling to go on hating. One of them refers to their post-murder life as "the hatred on which you rebuild yourself." The trial itself is never shown, though Meyrou includes copious footage of the lawyers involved as they discuss the case (one of the skinheads' defense lawyers is particularly fascinating, being an Arab himself). The facts come out piecemeal, parceled out like bits of bread sprinkled on a darkening trail and leaving viewers to pick their way along.
Needless to say, this isn't an easy film: Meyrou's preferred approach is the long take, for instance parking a camera at the spot of Fran�ois's death (now peaceful, with joggers) while an off-screen voice tells details of the case. It all has a cumulatively lulling effect, if a nightmare could ever be described so.
Throughout all this we never get to know Fran�ois. The unwitting victim whose death started all this, he remains a mystery, no warm recollections by family, no poring over old family albums, no bringing the beloved son back to life in a mother's loving words. It's a divisive tactic, given the particularly senseless manner of his death, and the bravery he showed amidst it -- Fran�ois seems like the kind of man you would want to get to know, even in retrospect, via a movie screen. By withholding the memories, keeping us from getting to know Fran�ois, or even his killers (never shown), Meyrou is making a conscious choice, and a smart one. Just as Fran�ois's family is fumbling in the dark, wanting to get past it all and even feeling some sympathy for the killers (much is made of their miserable childhoods and despicable parents) but not knowing how ("You can understand but not always excuse"), so too viewers are stranded, just like any person who has lost a loved one. Beyond Hatred provides most of the facts but no answers, showing instead the dead, thousand-yard stare of a long-grieving mother, which is closer to the heart of the matter than any artificial sense of "closure" could ever be.
Aka Au-del� de la haine.
Considering the past.
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Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Beyond Hatred - 5/20/2008
Led Zeppelin - Mccallums Father Gave Page Bowguitar Idea
LED ZEPPELIN star JIMMY PAGE owes his legendary bow and guitar sound to actor DAVID MCCALLUM's father.
The rocker admits the idea of play guitar with a violin bow was proposed to him in the studio by MCCallum Sr, a classically trained violinist.
Page tells Rolling Stone magazine, "String players would keep to themselves, but this guy was quite friendly.
"He said to me one day... 'Have you ever tried bowing the guitar?' I said it wouldn't work - the strings aren't arched over the guitar, the way they are on a violin.
"He said, 'Have a go.' He gave me a bow. I tried it and realised there was something in it."
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Spielberg leaves his Olympics post
In a statement, Spielberg said the Sudanese government shouldered the bulk of responsibility for the crimes in Darfur, but said China should be doing more to end the human suffering there.
Actress Mia Farrow, who had been pressing the director to end his involvement with this year's games, said his decision sent the right sort of message to Beijing.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington is quoted in the New York Times as saying that the Darfur issue was neither an internal issue for China nor was it caused by China.
The spokesman is also quoted as saying that it was completely unreasonable, irresponsible and unfair to link the two as one.
Lamat
Artist: Lamat
Genre(s):
Trance: Psychedelic
Discography:
Fearless
Year: 2007
Tracks: 9
Master Control
Year: 2005
Tracks: 6
Joss Stone - Stone Takes 44 Million Paycheque
Soul star JOSS STONE banked a salary of more than $4.4 million (GBP2.2 million) in 2007, paying herself the generous sum from her company profits despite a decline in takings.
The You Had Me singer, 21, owns Joss Limited, a firm that deals with revenue from her music publishing and concerts.
New figures published on Wednesday (25Jun08) show Joss Limited's profits down from $958,510 (GBP479,255) in the previous tax year to $549,752 (GBP274,876) in 2007.
However, Stone's profits from publishing rights and performance fees have risen from $3.2 million (GBP1.6 million) to $6.2 million (GBP3.1 million) in the past year.
But the falling profit margin doesn't appear to have affected Stone's paycheque - she appears to have paid herself a huge $3.2 million plus a further $1.29 million (GBP648,500) in dividends for a year's work.
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Bloody Dead and Sexy
Artist: Bloody Dead and Sexy
Genre(s):
Pop
Discography:
Narcotic Room bonus cd
Year: 2005
Tracks: 5
Paint It Red
Year: 2003
Tracks: 14
Mint Royale score number one single
Miley Cyrus 'Hurt And Embarrassed' Over Vanity Fair Photos
The 15-year-old singer was snapped topless, wearing just a bedsheet, by celebrity photographer Annie Leibowitz for the magazine's June issue.
The photo provoked outrage - and Cyrus is still reeling from the public outcry about the candid photos.
Having weathered the storm, the Hannah Montana star admits she made a mistake in stripping off for Vanity Fair: "It still hurts when I think about it. I was embarrassed... but also it's, like, every career thing that I do can't be perfect, and sometimes my decisions are wrong."
But she's confident die-hard fans have forgiven her, and will learn to love her for her faults as well as her successes.
Cyrus adds, "I don't think people will look at me any differently because they're like, 'You know what, I'm going to do stupid stuff too, and I'm going to make mistakes, and that's fine.'"
Prabodhi
Artist: Prabodhi
Genre(s):
New Age
Other
Discography:
![Heaven on Earth [Musikkassette]](http://img.mp3fiesta.com/covers/78/7828/alb_129108_th.jpg)
Heaven on Earth [Musikkassette]
Year: 1991
Tracks: 4
Heaven On Earth
Year: 1991
Tracks: 4
Muktinath - A Mystical Place In The Himalaya
Year:
Tracks: 9
Britney Spears Suicide Attempts 'Exposed' In New Book
Sun setting on the CD era
When the first compact disc came off the line in Hanover in the summer of 1982 � either a Stauss symphony or The Visitor by Abba (no one seems to remember) � Germany was still divided in two. So were our choices when it came to recorded music. Some preferred the cassette, which had been introduced 18 years earlier and was enjoying a boom, thanks to a new thing called the Sony Walkman. But most people stuck with the vinyl record.
The 331/3 RPM LP was introduced by Columbia Records on June 21, 1948. RCA � intent on launching a Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD-type format war � countered the following February with the 7-inch single. Together, they reigned as the kings of the formats until that Strauss (or Abba) CD was pressed more than three decades later. Pre-recorded cassettes disappeared. Singles and LPs were pushed to the back walls where their rack space shrunk to almost nothing.
Meanwhile, the music industry became wildly profitable as people dumped their vinyl and re-purchased their collections on CD. Anyone remember HMV�s no-hassle CD return policy? Or their �buy 10 and get one free� loyalty card? (Really!)
But now it�s the compact disc�s turn to fade away. Many people will say it was doomed by the Internet and downloading but the truth is the CD began to die the moment that Strauss (or Abba) CD was made back in 1982. Once there was an unprotected digital format that could be flawlessly and endlessly copied, its fate was sealed. CD burners began to appear as standard equipment in computers in the 1990s � well, who hasn�t ripped and burned a custom CD? And once you had a perfect digital copy in your machine, all we needed was something like Napster to get us sharing our music with people we didn�t know.
Today, the world�s largest music retailer is iTunes while the former No. 1, Wal-Mart, has signalled that it will be stocking fewer CDs. A recent report predicts that digital downloads will blow past CDs by sometime in 2010. Over the next three years, the Canadian market for CDs will drop by 50 per cent. That�s more than $250 million.
And as for vinyl records? Sales are up 36 per cent this year. Go figure.
By the way, thanks for your input on last week�s column on new musical terms. Read what people suggested in my Music Geek blog today at www.ongoinghistory.com.
� The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on stations across Canada. Read the Music Geek blog at www.ongoinghistory.com
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Terminator 3 - Terminator Star Weds On Family Farm
TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES star KRISTANNA LOKEN has wed the son of late artist KEN DANBY.
The actress, who was previously linked romantically to Bloodrayne co-star Michelle Rodriguez after speaking candidly about her bisexuality in gay publication The Advocate, exchanged vows with Noah Dalton Danby at her family's Love Apple Farm in upstate New York last month (10May08).
Wedding photos taken by the bride's friend Barry J. Holmes and posted on LiveJournal.com show Loken dancing with her new husband and sporting a strange floral headdress.
Reporting on the big day on her website KristannaLoken.net, the actress recalls arriving at the wedding ceremony with her father in his 1971 Buick Riviera, which was the same car that brought baby Kristanna home from the hospital after she was born.
The unconventional orchard nuptials ended with the release of monarch butterflies.
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