Bittersweet "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"

This is a film about retired English folk becoming ex-pats by checking in to a retirement home for the "elderly and beautiful", in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Nothing like showing the British temperament than having ex-colonials experiencing the ex-colonies for the first time (except in one case of a return visit after 40 years absence following a childhood spent in Jaipur, 150 miles southwest of Delhi). We loved it!

Marigold at www.Flowers.vg

The cast was magnificent: Maggie Smith as an unreconstructed racist; her transformation during the film is heartening. Judie Dench as the narrator (through her blog), adrift without her recently deceased husband, trying to find meaning in life. Bill Nighy as a retired civil servant, struggling to come to terms with the loss of his pension investment and beleaguered by an embittered, sharp-tongued wife played to perfection by Penelope Wilton. Tom Wilkinson as a retired, gay judge who has come to find his childhood sweetheart (male). Ronald Pickup as a lonely man looking for companionship, rejected by Celia Imrie's character but finding an equally lonely and willing woman played by Diana Hardcastle. Greeting them in India were the hotel manager (Dev Patel), an affable but hopeless business man; his aggressive and prejudiced mother (Lillete Dubey), and his girlfriend (Tina Desae) who has a university degree and works at a call center.

Culture clashes are only half the story but provide a lot of laughs. Maggie won't eat anything she "can't pronounce", Celia won't stay in a room that has no door, all are terrified by a crowded bus ride, Judie pays full price at the market, many are traumatized by the dust, noise, and confusion of the busy streets. But underneath are the voices of calm: Dev assuring that everything will be "all right in the end", Tom seeing the light and the colours and happy smiles, Judie offering philosophical takes on life, and Bill acting the understated adventurer.

We asked an acquaintance of ours from India whether the film was accurately portrayed. She said yes, everything but the Dev and Tina love relationship which she said simply couldn't happen in India: no public displays of affection or going against your mother's wishes.

The idea of 'out-sourcing old age' is not new. The Japanese tried to built a retirement complex on Australia's Gold Coast in the 1980s (the Silver Columbia Project) but failed due to bad press and criticisms of exporting the aged (Merry White 2002). A couple of years ago, doctors in the British ex-pat communities of the Alicante region began to refuse patients unless they could speak Spanish.

The isolation some characters in this film felt is real, and no indication was given of visa or work visa status – two huge hurdles in moving abroad. But how many of any country are willing to sever all ties and activities with their families, neighbourhoods, and communities to try living abroad with people they have never met.  Not everyone is adventurous, but when financial needs dictate, people draw on unknown reserves. It was a very thought-provoking film while being wildly entertaining.

White, Merry Isaacs (2002) Perfectly Japanese. University of California Press.

Tea, Scones and a Film

So, back to normal (except for Scotland where they're still in Hogmanay holiday). Most people are working, but we took advantage of the reinstated "Golden Days" showing at the Gala Cinema in Durham. Since the cinema is run by the County Council, after taking over from a dead useless entertainment company, OAPs are supported in their recreational needs. (OAP stands for Old Age Pensioner – meaning anyone over 60, a politically impolite appellation if I ever saw one.)

Golden Days showings are Tuesdays at 11.30am; this week was "Mission Impossible", just what OAPs want: to be reminded that they are no longer so young and active. But the real draw is, in addition to cheap tickets, free tea or coffee and a scone (sweet or cheese) beforehand.

Sweet scone with raisins on left, cheese scone on right

Scones were unknown to me before coming to England, but we do have baking powder biscuits in America. So what's the difference? Well, I finally found two recipes to compare:

SCONES
3 cups of flour
3 tsp baking powder (or more)
1/2 tsp salt
1~2 TBSP butter
milk to mix
AND THEN add raisins (optional) and 1/4 cup sugar for sweet scones
OR 4~6 TBSP grated cheddar and 1/4 tsp cayenne for cheese scones

BAKING POWDER BISCUITS
3 cups of flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 TBSP shortening
1 cup of milk

So, scones are just baking powder biscuits with additions to make them sweet or cheesy. The biscuits themselves are savoury, to be eaten with dinner, while scones are a snack. I don't think anyone would eat a baking powder biscuit as a snack unless they were really hard up; they are dinner items.

In any case, it's pretty nice of the Durham County Council to supply scones rather than biscuits – that is British 'biscuits', i.e. 'cookies'. Are you confused now?

Library DVDs are not bad!

The Blockbuster ticket logo on its old shop,
covered with a policing sign
presumably to deter break-ins

It's probably not news to report that our nearest DVD rental shops have both gone out of business. Blockbuster: busted!

I'd subscribe to Netflix if I could, but it isn't available in the UK. Maybe in 2012, says Which magazine... Meanwhile, I go to the library and check out DVDs for 50 pence each (that's about 80 cents). And what good films I've found, mostly true stories or at least based on historic incidents:

• "The Lives of Others", a 2006 German film about a Stasi agent who becomes disillusioned with his commitment to East German politics
• "K-19 Widowmaker", a 2002 Harrison Ford film about a Soviet nuclear sub disaster off the coast of Greenland in 1961, the story only becoming known after Glasnost
• "The Last Contract", a 1997 Swedish film about the killing of Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden
• "Kinsey", a 2004 film with Liam Neeson; a biography of the sex researcher
• Not to mention "A change of seasons", which was true to life if not true

The pickings are small at the library, but so far so good and can't fault the price! Too bad, though, that councils are closing libraries all over Britain in these austere times, despite arguments that they are community centres in and of themselves, with computer classes and literacy help groups – not to mention a warm daily refuge for the homeless. We can all petition to save the libraries, but maybe we should also donate books and DVDs, so that maybe the libraries can use some of their funds to stay open instead of buying more stock. Do you have any worthy ones to donate?

Flipping the Bird, English-style

A couple nights ago, we watched a DVD of "A Change of Seasons", produced in 1980, which we had somehow missed at that time. It starred Anthony Hopkins as the philandering professor. It was fascinating to see Hopkins as a youngish man, still staid, with many of his same facial mannerisms as his older self. His Englishness came out not only in his accent but in his gestures. He used his extended third finger to push up his glasses, "flipping the bird" to the audience several times in the film.
   This gesture is commonly seen in Britain when people push up their glasses, oblivious to its American meaning of "giving the finger". Instead, the British use the backhanded V-peace-sign, called "the two finger salute", to mean the same thing; I guess it doubles the meaning of the third finger. But I can never remember which way round it goes. Think of Churchill giving the Victory sign. Then turn your hand backwards and give a back-handed peace sign (actually, Churchill sometimes got it wrong, see the Reuters blog below).  It's often hard to catch at a glimpse – you don't know whether you're being encouraged or discouraged. Anyway, I just avoid the peace sign altogether to be safe. It's like road rage. Don't incite anybody!

See more at http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2007/10/22/universal-gestures-of-understanding/,
and http://handfacts.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/v-sign-research-middle-finger-length-is-involved-in-the-effect-of-the-v-gesture/
or type in "Churchill victory sign" to Google images and laugh at a bunch!