Culture

  • Not playing with fire

    Burnt by the Sun Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov Screening at the 42nd Sydney Film Festival State Theatre, June 9-24 Reviewed by Peter Boyle As a hero of the Red Army in the civil war, Colonel Sergue‹ Petrovitch Kotov lived comfortably and

  • Loud silences and abusive families

    Loud silences and abusive families Spanking the Monkey Opening in Sydney June 1 and Melbourne June 9 Previewed by Lou Stanley The film is well directed and at points quite funny, but the most disturbing aspect is the audience's response

  • Taking up where World War II left off

    Taking up where World War II left off The Secrets of Porton Down The Cutting Edge, SBS TV Tuesday, June 6 8.30pm (8pm SA) Reviewed by Sean Moysey World War II produced some horrible weapons: napalm, nuclear bombs, guided rockets, fire

  • I bandaged my wound, dried my eyes

    Ding Zilin is the mother of Chiang Jielian, a 17-year-old student who was among the hundreds massacred in Tienanmen Square six years ago, on June 4, 1989. Chinese officials branded the pro-democracy protests "counter-revolutionary" and claimed that

  • 'Four fifths of the world cannot be wrong'

    World Music: The Rough Guide Rough Guides/Penguin Books, 1994 720pp., $29.95 (pb) Reviewed by Norm Dixon This moderately priced brick of a book is a godsend for anybody interested in beginning the addictive journey of exploration through

  • Thinking it over at the health farm

    Trim, Taut and Terrific Written by Nick Hughes and Ian Farr Junction Theatre, Thebarton (Adelaide), until June 10 Reviewed by Sophia Villis and Anthony Thirlwall Trim, Taut and Terrific is exactly that. It's musical theatre that neatly

  • A moving tale, told in music

    A moving tale, told in music Oh My God I'm Black! Devised by Maryanne Sam, Irine Vela and Patricia Cornelius Performed by Maryanne Sam and Irine Vela Budinski's Theatre, Carlton, until June 10 Reviewed by Bronwen Beechey Melbourne

  • 'Tricontinental' is back

    'Tricontinental' is backAfter approximately four years without being published, as a result of Cuba's severe economic crisis, Tricontinental magazine is once again poised for circulation on a quarterly basis.

  • The politics and profits of addiction

    The Nicotine War The Cutting Edge, SBS TV, Wednesday May 31, 9.30pm (8 in SA) Previewed by Lisa Macdonald Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known. Despite this, in the US, tobacco is defined as an agricultural product and so

  • A paper for the 'true believers'?

    The Labor National Herald: This is undoubtedly what the true believers have been waiting for. It is, sort of, what the headline on the cover of the first issue proclaims — "the first national Labor paper". A memo from

  • A look at the US ultraright

    The Aryan Nation: A Cross to Burn SBS TV Monday, May 29, 11.55pm (11.25 in SA) Reviewed by Norm Dixon This short report, produced for a Utah news program, kicks off a week of programs on SBS that look into racist and far right groups and

  • Pioneers of Australian feminism

    Votes For Women: The Australian Story By Kirsten Lees Allen and Unwin, 1995. $24.95(pb) Reviewed by Bernie Brian The next time Paul Keating promotes his minimalist republic with little or no change to the Constitution, we should remind him