Film: Galileo

So many programmes, so little to watch. So I took to my film list instead. Now, trawling through, I noticed that The Life of Galileo was quite highly rated - and searching on YouTube, I found a copy. So I just watched that. Lots of famous people in it - turned out not to be the one on my list, but it did pass the time.

Based on a play by Brecht, it follows Galileo through the years between his pioneering of the new-fangled telescope to the University of Padua, where he was working at the time, and his smuggling out of his new book of scientific theories while under house arrest, decades later. So, a potted history of his scientific career, showing some experiments in between his clashes with the Church, which disagreed with his idea of the Earth rotating around the Sun. And you just didn't disagree with the Church, in those days.. not with the threat of the Inquisition hanging over you..

First thing that struck me about this version on YouTube, in retrospect, is that the initial link you follow is only good for about 1 hour and 8 minutes, after which the rest of the running time is taken up with a mish-mash of previous scenes! Luckily, I checked the comments - where someone had warned about that, and in the replies to the comment was a link to "Part 2". Which picks up where the other left off, and curiously also runs for about the same time, with nearly half an hour afterwards of mixed-up scenes from earlier.

Galileo is played by Topol - Edward Fox is the Cardinal Inquisitor, and other famous Cardinals are Sir John Gielgud, Patrick Magee, and Michael Lonsdale, who has an interest in science himself, which only proves a burden when he becomes Pope. Margaret Leighton shows up as an elderly lady at the Florentine court.

It's played quite stiffly in general, which dates it - Topol does a decent job though, portraying an enthusiastic scientist who turns into a rebellious old man by the end. The Church comes off quite badly, naturally, with a snide dismissal of fact in favour of belief and tradition. One thing did annoy me enormously - what, oh what, do we need the trio of boys for, popping up at regular intervals to sing a summary of where we are in the story? Wouldn't have annoyed me nearly as much if I'd understood more than about half of what they were singing.

What the hey, the story is enduringly interesting, and a tribute to the tenacity of scientists who propose unpopular theories.

What's on Mubi could be relevant for tomorrow, as Meetup's only offerings at the moment for that day are in person (which I can't yet get to, with travel restrictions), or on BBC's iPlayer, which I can't access from abroad. If I'm back on Mubi, the next-highest rated offering was Woman at War, an Icelandic film about a woman whose environmental activism may threaten her ability to adopt a child. But gee - they just uploaded Mulholland Drive! A David Lynch film, it stars Naomi Watts as a Hollywood ingenue who gets involved with trying to help a young woman who's been in a car crash recover her memory. And somehow, I missed seeing it.. well yes, that'll be quite acceptable!