#page eight

[mortalis-comic-archives]

Mortalis

PAGE EIGHT

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[dontcxckitup]

Ralph Fiennes Page Eight

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

Pro-Israel people often talk about a tendency amongst anti-Israel people in the West to try to slough off things they don't like about Western culture onto Israel, like portraying Israel as being the epitome of structural racism, apartheid, etc., or the repeated charge that police exchange programs with Israel are bad because Israeli cops will teach American cops to be racist which is...quite the statement. More recently, there's been a tendency amongst those who oppose the current Iran war to portray Israel as having forced or coerced the US into the war, and indeed that it is a "War for Israel", despite the US doing a fair amount of the damage (including apparently the infamous Minab school bombing) and Donald Trump et al seeming pretty enthusiastic about it all.

Anyways, I randomly was watching this British thriller from 2011 that literally gets Israel in trouble to distract from something bad the US (and the UK prime minister) did. It's called "Page Eight," and it's part of a trilogy of BBC TV films starring Bill Nighy as an MI5 officer named Johnny Worricker (hence why the trilogy is called the "Worricker Trilogy"). The titular Page Eight is part of a document that Worricker's boss and best friend (Michael Gambon) assembles that reveals that the UK prime minister (Ralph Fiennes) was aware of US black sites where they tortured people for information about the War on Terror. Most of the movie is Worricker trying to figure out what to do with this document.

However, Worricker's next door neighbor is a woman (played by Rachel Wiesz- interesting that they picked a Jewish actress for this role) whose brother had been killed in the West Bank in a Rachel Corrie situation (he had been protesting a house demolition to build the separation wall through the house, and apparently had been killed while waving a white flag). As part of the plot Worricker gets his hands on the Shabak report that says that it had in fact not been a justified shooting, and as part of his negotiations with the Prime Minister's stooges, he agrees to not leak the report about the black sites if they leak the Shabak report. So the movie ends with him covering up American war crimes (which the UK prime minister is a party to) in order to draw attention to an Israeli war crime. Something about it really didn't feel great to me, I gotta say.

Granted, this is just the first of three movies, so I'm sure the later films will call that shit out (more the "covering up for US/UK war crimes", less the "using Israel as a distraction target), but it still bugged me

[jya2026]

The Lamentation of Christ, by Giotto di Bondone

Year 1305.

I'm not the biggest fan of all of Giotto work, my favorite of his is the one with the hill on the back of the painting (anyone know the painting i'm talking about ?)

but giotto style is still blessed by gods : magnificent, out of this world, one of the most beautiful painters of Early Italian renaissance.

If you have the chance to go visit and see giotto work in Italy, it's really worth the trip alone. AND you get to eat well, pizzas, pasta, etc etc

and the italians too ! :)

[ralphfiennes-world]

Rewind Day - "Page Eight" (2011)

OVERVIEW

Part of the BBC's Worricker Trilogy.

Directed by David Hare.

Nominated for 1 award at the 2012 Golden Globe Awards and the 2012 British Academy Television Awards, and nominated for 2 awards and won 1 at the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards.

CAST

Bill Nighy as Johnny Worricker, MI5 analyst

Rachel Weisz as Nancy Pierpan, political activist

Michael Gambon as Benedict Baron, Director General of MI5

Judy Davis as Jill Tankard, MI5 officer collaborating with the Prime Minister

Tom Hughes as Ralph Wilson, private investigator and Jill Tankard's son

Felicity Jones as Julianne Worricker, Johnny's daughter

Ralph Fiennes as Alec Beasley, Prime Minister

FUN FACTS

Ralph worked with several costars on other projects, including Felicity Jones in The Invisible Woman and Cemetery Junction; Rachel Weisz in Sunshine and The Constant Gardner; Bill Nighy, also in The Constant Gardner; and Michael Gambon in the Harry Potter films.

Page Eight managed to garner 3.56 million viewers when it premiered on the BBC2 on the 28th August 2011.

David Hare and Ralph would later collaborate on The White Crow (2018), with Ralph directing and David screenwriting.

[emmynominees]

judy davis as jill tankard in page eight

primetime emmy award nominee for outstanding supporting actress in a limited series or movie

[lovetgr76]

[ambitions-of-an-eccedentesiast]

and off he goes!

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