I guess it is not really an exaggeration to say that last weekend I have witnessed two of the greatest media moments in 21st century so far, which means I went to the movie 'the Da Vinci Code', and watched the Channel Nine interview of the two trapped miners, Todd Russell and Brant Webb: 'The Great Escape'.
Just in case if you have been living in a cave all this time, the Da Vinci Code is one of the most controversial stories told, which inspired all these great debates on Christianity and conspiracy. Dan Brown wrote the novel in year 2003 and after much anticipation, the movie of the same title was made 3 years after. I read the book and really enjoyed it, despite that I know very little about religion nor art (shame on me). Guess that's the sign of a truly great story, even as ignorant as I am I still managed to fall in love with all the plots.
I was very excited before the movie came out, almost as excited as I was when the last Harry Potter book was coming out (I still cant believe Professor Dumbledor is dead!). There is probably not one movie of Tom Hanks that I didn't enjoy and Audrey Tautou (the charming girl in Amelie) seemed a perfect choice to play Sophie. Not to mention that Gandolf was playing Leigh Teabing and Gandolf is definitely one of my favourites! But when I checked out the reviews I was a bit disappointed as 80% of them were quite negative, and some even went as far as implying that it was 2 and half hours of torture.
I went anyway, and I actually really liked it. I think all the actors played really well and the movie gave me the visualisation I needed for my lack of background in arts and history. I liked how the director didn't try to milk the attraction between Robert and Sophie (they shared a kiss at the end of the book but I reckon if they did that in the movie it would have looked a bit corny). I was also impressed by the portrait of Silas the albino monk. The monk character would be easily displayed as a cold psycho assassin type but when you watch Silas you just feel really sorry for him. Generally, I think it was a very good movie experience.
Okay, and last night, the interview on Channel Nine which generated so much hype - the Great Escape. For my great international fan base out there: On 25th of April an earth quake caused a collapse in a gold mine in a small town in Tasmania called Beaconsfield, killing one miner at the point and trapped two other miners for 14 days. The two trapped miners, Todd and Brant shared a muesli bar between them for 6 days before rescuers found them alive. After they were found they had to keep on lying down in a 1 meter by 2 meter cage for another 8 days before the rescue team drilled through rocks to get to them. Last night it was the first time they told their story on national TV. The interview became so high profile as there was a bidding war among three major TV stations and Channel Nine ended up winning the bid by paying the miners $2.6 million dollars to get an exclusive interview, which makes it the most expensive program in Australian TV history.
The interview was a bit slow at the beginning also I was expecting some animation to explain where Todd and Brant were and all that but it was just interview. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed how they tried to be for each other when the other person was having a melt down. For example, Todd would say to Brant 'If you don't settle down I am going to have to give you a kiss', or how they would sing this song called the 'Gamblers' when they heard explosives blasting away near them and they feared that the rescue team was going to accidentally kill them while trying to get to them. I was a bit teary when they told how they wrote letters to their families and loved ones on their overalls in case they got killed and how they tried to be positive when they fear that the rescue team would have thought they were dead thus giving up on them. I think the reason Australians were so amazed and inspired by these two blokes were that they were not your usual 'hero' types, they were just very normal people and they showed true 'mateship' down there and after lying down for 14 days in the dark (the cage was only 1 metre tall), they walked out of the mine on their own feet.
Well, I didn't write this post to explain what happened in the Da Vinci Code and what happened in the Tasmanian gold mine. I actually want to talk about the reaction from people I saw. I was listening to the radio yesterday morning and all these people called in to say what they thought of the miner interview, a lot of them were actually saying things like 'they don't deserve the money', or 'someone should coach them to say "MY" instead of "ME" all the time' (it's an Australian thing, some people would say 'me mate' instead of 'my mate', sort of like how we say 'G'day' instead of 'How are you?'), or 'the interview was not very interesting, they didn't seem to be doing much for the 14 days' - Well, hello?! If you could only lie down in a cage in total darkness, I guess you would be tap dancing?! And yes, the money, it was $2.6 million, yes, that is a lot of money, but it is for two of them so that is like $1.3 million each, and they would have to pay their agents and I wouldn't be surprise if one third of that is gone, and then for the remained $860K, at least another 30% would have to be paid tax - so that leaves Todd and Brant around $600K each. Well yeah that is still a lot of money, and I would love to have that sort of money but these guys went to hell and almost got killed and if they get something out of this that and they can stop working as miners and pay off their home loan and take their family for a holiday, good on them! (Todd has never gone on holiday, didn't even go on honeymoon when he married his highschool sweetheart)
It was the similar feeling I got when I was reading all these reviews for the Da Vinci Code, since when did we become so harsh and so cynical? I am not sure if this is just an Australian thing but when you read the newspaper these days you feel that nothing is ever good enough for anyone anymore. No movie is good enough for us, they were either too shallow, or too commercial, or they spent too much money making it, too much action, too many twists, too dull. If you read trashy magazines, the actresses were either too fat, or too skinny, too much plastic surgery, or too much of 'letting herself go' - it is so hard being happy these days. A few years back after a bad break-up I lost quite a bit of weight and everyone was telling me how sick and exhausted I looked (my bum looked pretty damn good in Calvin Klein jeans mind you), and all those weight has been back now that I am happy, I get told how round my face look and how my belly stick out like I was 4 months pregnant. If you are easy going, people say you are a push over, and when you stand up for yourself, you are labelled a bitch. If you are very tidy, people tease you about how anal you are, and if you are the opposite, no question asked you are just sloppy! As I said, it is just too hard these days!
Anyway, enough whinging about these nothing-is-good-enough-for-them-people-are-not-good-enough-for-me. Since it is so difficult to survive lets be nice to each other. So, here is the plan: Next time you see me, please tell me that I look great and that I am glowing. I will ask you where you got your haircut cos it looks so good on you and that your outfit looks chic as. I will also tell you that I feel so lucky to have you as a friend as most people probably think I am not good enough for them and you know when I say I feel lucky to be your friend it is not even a white lie, it is a FACT.
And as long as Tom Cruise is not in it, I am going to try to like every movie I watch. I know I am trying to promote love and tolerance but that dude really gets on my nerves...
