Hope you are all well.
Last week I went to Cirque du Soleil, the world famous circus from Quebec who was in Paris with its show Totem from the 25th of October to the 2nd of December.
Totem retraces the evolution of humanity from its primordial, amphibian state toward the aspiration of flight.
Here are some pictures from the main acts in Totem:
My favorite part of the show was the two acts involving Native American hoop dance (first video below), the unicycles (second video below) as well as the russian bars and the couple roller skating on a tiny round platform (third video below).
Have you seen Totem ? Did you like it ?
If you haven't, I'd really recommend going, it is truly an extraordinary show and it's absolutely worth it!
Hope you are all well. Today I'm going to talk to you about a film I watched last week which I loved.
Here is the plot:
Elizabeth Sloane is a cutthroat lobbyist who has been called to appear at a congressional hearing led by Senator Ronald Sperling to answer questions about possible violations of Senate ethics rules during her tenure at Washington D.C. lobbying firm Cole Kravitz & Waterman.
Three months and one week earlier, Sloane's firm is approached by gun manufacturing representative Bill Sanford to lead the opposition to the proposed Heaton-Harris bill that would expand background checks on gun purchases, specifically by targeting female voters. Sloane ridicules Sanford's idea and is later approached by Rodolfo Schmidt, the head of rival lobbying firm Peterson Wyatt, to instead lead the effort in support of the bill. Sloane agrees and takes most of her staff along with her, though her assistant Jane Molloy refuses to leave.
At Peterson Wyatt, Sloane selects Esme Manucharian to conduct the majority of the firm's media appearances, and they begin to make significant progress in garnering votes for the bill. Sloane confronts Esme with knowledge of her background as having survived a school shooting. Even though Esme does not want to disclose the information, Sloane reveals Esme's secret during a live television debate. Later, Esme is held up at gunpoint while leaving her office, but her attacker is shot dead by another civilian who is legally carrying a gun. Gun rights supporters capitalize on this event, which causes the Heaton-Harris bill to lose support in the Senate. This is compounded by the news of the Senate inquiry into Sloane's lobbying practices.
Returning to the congressional hearing, Senator Sperling produces a form requesting approval of overseas travel for a Senator. It was filed by a non-profit organization but completed in Sloane's handwriting, indicating she violated Senate ethics rules with her involvement, as a lobbyist, in arranging the travel. In answer to other questions, Sloane swears under oath that she has never practiced illegal wiretapping.
In her final statement at the hearing, Sloane admits she anticipated the opposition might attack her personally if Peterson Wyatt made too much progress with the Heaton-Harris bill. She reveals that she had someone (Molloy, her former assistant) secretly working for her, and that she did use a wiretap – which recorded Sen. Sperling accepting bribes from Cole Kravitz & Waterman boss George Dupont.
Ten months later, Sloane is visited by her lawyer in prison: the Heaton-Harris bill passed but at the cost of Sloane's imprisonment and career.
The film ends with Sloane being released from prison.
Text source: Wikipedia
Have you seen this movie ? Did you like it ?
Hope you are all well. Today I've decided to share with you one of my favorite movies. It is 'Les Misérables', a film that came out in 2012. It's a musical film. It is based on the novel by Victor Hugo, but if you have read the book, the story is very different.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie, especially because of the songs.
The plot of the film is the following:
In 1815, French prisoner Jean Valjean is released on parole from the Bagne of Toulon after serving nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread and trying to escape multiple times. On the outside, Valjean's anger rises as his paroled status prevents him from getting work or accommodation. He is offered shelter by the kindly Bishop of Digne, but Valjean steals his silverware. Captured by police and taken to the Bishop, Valjean is shocked when the Bishop answers he offered him the silver, telling him to use it to do something worthwhile with his life. Valjean decides to break his parole and start a new life.
Eight years later in 1823, Valjean is now a respected factory owner and mayor of Montreuil, Pas-de-Calais. He is shocked when Javert, formerly a Toulon prison guard, arrives as his new chief of police. Javert suspects Valjean's real identity when he rescues an injured worker trapped under a heavy cart. One of Valjean's workers, Fantine, is dismissed by the factory foreman upon learning she has an illegitimate daughter Cosette, whom she left to live with the greedy innkeepers, the Thénardiers, and to whom she sends all her earnings. To support her daughter, Fantine sells her hair, her teeth, becomes a prostitute and is arrested by Javert when she attacks an abusive customer. Valjean, learning who she is, rescues her and takes her to the hospital.
Valjean later learns that a man has been wrongly identified as him, and decides to reveal his true identity to the court - before returning to the dying Fantine, promising to care for Cosette. Javert arrives to arrest Valjean but he escapes, finds Cosette and pays Fantine's debts to the Thénardiers. Valjean and Cosette flee from Javert, hiding in a convent, aided by the worker Valjean rescued before.
Nine years later, Valjean has become a philanthropist and helps the poor in Paris. General Lamarque, the only government official sympathetic to the poor, dies, and a group of revolutionists called the Friends of the ABC plot to rebel against the monarchy. Marius Pontmercy, a member of the Friends, encounters Cosette and they fall in love. He asks Éponine, the Thénardiers' daughter, to help find her. They finally meet and confess their love, leaving Éponine sad as she's also in love with Marius.
Thénardier plans on robbing Valjean's house, but they are stopped by Éponine. Valjean, afraid Javert could be near, makes plans to flee to England with Cosette. Cosette leaves a letter for Marius, but Éponine finds it and hides it from him.
During Lamarque's funeral procession, the revolt begins and barricades are built across Paris. Javert pretends to be an ally to spy on the rebels but the street urchin Gavroche exposes him as a policeman. During the first skirmish against the soldiers, Éponine takes a bullet for Marius and dies in his arms, giving him Cosette's letter and confessing her love. Marius' answer to Cosette is intercepted by Valjean, who joins the revolution to guard Marius.
Valjean offers to execute Javert but actually releases him, faking his death. By dawn, the soldiers are close to ending the revolution, storming the students' barricade and executing everyone save Marius and Valjean, who escape into the sewers. Enjolras, the leader of the revolutionaries, is the last to be shot, alongside Grantaire, a cynic who joins the fight due to his devotion to Enjolras rather than hope for a better France. Thénardier comes across Valjean and the unconscious Marius, stealing the latter's ring, before pointing a way out. Valjean finds Javert waiting for him, ignoring his nemesis's threats. Javert, morally confused by the mercy of Valjean, commits suicide by throwing himself in the Seine. Marius recovers but is traumatised by the death of his friends.
Marius and Cosette are reunited but Valjean, concerned his presence would threaten their happiness, makes plans to leave and reveals his story to Marius, who promises to remain silent. Cosette and Marius marry, but the Thénardiers crash the wedding reception to try to blackmail Marius, with Thénardier saying that he witnessed Valjean carrying a murdered corpse and shows the stolen ring. Marius recognises it as his own and understands that Valjean saved him that night. Marius forces Thénardier to reveal where Valjean is before leaving with Cosette, with the Thénardiers thrown out of the wedding afterwards.
Cosette and Marius reunite with the dying Valjean at the convent. Valjean gives them letters of confession before dying peacefully, and his spirit is guided away by the spirits of Fantine and the Bishop to join the spirits of Eponine, Gavroche and the Friends of the ABC in the afterlife.
Text source: Wikipedia
My favorite songs (in the same order as they appear in the film) are:
"Look Down" "At the End of the Day" "I Dreamed a Dream" "Master of the House" "Suddenly" "Red and Black" "In My Life" "A Heart Full of Love" "On My Own" "One Day More" "Do You Hear the People Sing?" "Bring Him Home" "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"
And finally, here is a video of the actors rehearsing one of the songs, prior to the Oscars ceremony of 2013.
