Film it was this evening, and I had to choose from a list of three: a very long Indian one, and two I was equally ambivalent about. So I picked the one that was on closer - The Salt of the Earth, showing in the Curzon Victoria. Now, I am familiar with the Curzon being far too expensive - indeed, they're now somewhat eye-wateringly so, at £18 for a standard cinema ticket. As someone remarked when I told her, for that price you'd expect the seat to vibrate! But well, I did fancy going to somewhere close to home, so the Curzon Victoria was where I went.
The Tube to Victoria was crowded and sweaty in the heat, and I was glad to leave it. Upon exiting the station, I headed for Victoria Street, but knew not to cross straight away, as the interminable construction works have blocked the pavement at the far side, near the junction with the station. So, only cross when you can see you've passed the hoardings. Once I'd crossed, I just kept walking, and there it was, eventually, quite inconspicuous among the chrome and glass facades that line this street now.
I bought my ticket without ever considering buying anything else - I might have agreed to pay this much for the ticket, but they weren't getting any more of my money! Curzon Bloomsbury charges less for documentaries, you know.. I went straight downstairs - at least they signpost the screens well, and despite the lights still being on, I could take my seat straightaway. I'd chosen C10 (Screen 1), which turns out to be beside a pillar. And if, as was the case this evening, your only companions at the screen are seated at the other side, this means it's very private. My seat was a double, which meant plenty of space to spread out - and they're extremely comfortable Pullman seats, whose angle adjusts to how you're sitting. So I settled in.
If I'd paid more attention when I was researching this film, I'd have noticed that it's co-written, co-produced, and codirected, by Wim Wenders. And that the subject is the photographer, Sebastiao Salgado. And I'd have recognised that name. The combination of an iconic filmmaker and an iconic photographer is intoxicating, and I wouldn't have had to base my film choice on location. This really is a dream team, and I was in for a treat!
The film deals with Salgado's fascinating life, and his work. And it's completely stunning. We learn how he drifted into photography for the sheer love of it, and all the work he did in conflict zones, with refugees and so on. The photographs from this period are breathtaking. And we hear how his work in Rwanda left him completely jaded and despairing. And then we hear how, when his father died, he and his wife took over the farm in Brazil, which deforestation had left as a desert. She was the one who had the idea simply to replant it - and now it's a national park, and an example of what can be done. So his latest work - Genesis - focuses not on the misery caused by humanity, but on the beauty of creation.
Wow, what a film. Recommended for lovers of film, lovers of nature, lovers of photography - and even worth the price of admission.
Tomorrow, I'm off - for the first time in two years - to the Proms, at the Albert Hall! Prom 7, tomorrow, features Delius and Ravel, among others. I have a cheap-as-chips seat in the Gods - ironically, costing just over half what I paid for this evening's cinema ticket. Restricted view, but that's not what I'm there for. On Thursday, there are leaving drinks for yet another colleague, and on Friday I'm back to Ireland again, for the weekend..
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