World Book and Copyright Day 2019

A character created by Ernest Hemingway in Fiesta. The Sun Also Rises said that “you can´t run away from yourself” and I guess that that´s true but I also suppose that, at least, you can run away from your everyday reality because sometimes, it is good and necessary to do so. How can you do that? Just by being engrossed in a good story depicted by a book or a film: walking into a library or walking into a cinema enables you to travel to faraway places or to different ages or just to present-day but different realities. Thanks to the stories that we read in books and thanks to the stories that we watch on the big screen – a screen which is getting smaller each day for lots of people – we learn about other people, we suffer with other people, we cry and we laugh with other people and by doing so we also learn about ourselves. Today, we mark “World Book and Copyright Day 2019” and therefore, we can´t forget that many of the films that we usually watch are based on books, books whose stories were first read by readers, books who appealed to film-directors and turned into new stories, so what would the art of cinema do without the valuable help of literature?

Today, even if it is not like me to do so, I feel like making a recommendation: The Aftermath, a film which has been recently released and whose plot is based on a novel by the Welsh writer Rhidian Brook. The story is set in post-war Germany and tells us about the heavy toll that war takes on people, irrespective of who the “winners” might be. Even if life goes on, the consequences of the war are devastating and the people involved in that war conflict find it really difficult to come to terms with their new lives.  The Aftermath focuses on those consequences and on the lives of the people in 1946 Hamburg and at the same time, it makes us reflect on the ideas of forgiveness and remorse and the redeeming effect of love. 

 This year, "World Book and Copyright Day" will celebrate literature and reading while focusing   particularly on the importance of enhancing and protecting Indigenous languages.

                                             Make the most of this BOOK DAY!!

Strong female characters

I suppose that this year can be regarded as a turning point in matters related to women. Women have raised their voices all over the world but especially in western countries so that 21^st century attitudes and  behaviours can be called into question. Because even if we live in technologically advanced societies which change  at an incredible rate every day and which seem to make our lives easier, the truth is that there are still essential matters that are unresolved for all of us as human beings and for us as women. This year, movements like the #Me Too movement or the protests and demonstrations that have been held in lots of countries are only a few examples of women´s reactions against the type of societies where we live, societies which make a great deal of demands on women as citizens but societies which deprive women of basic rights and guarantees at times. That´s why, I´m happy to see strong female characters on the big screen.It may as well be a coincidence since obviously these characters are not just the result of this very precise moment in history but they have characteristics that we all admire and because of that we enjoy watching them as the leading characters of a good story.

Claire Foy plays the part of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl in the Spider´s Web. The role had been played previously by Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara in the other films based on the Millennium saga.

I hope you´re enjoying a good Christmas and I wish you a

 very happy New year.