Interesting movies of late

Having decided to take a relaxing weekend off, I was able to enjoy three interesting movies. The first, an independent Irish film called The Mapmaker. It was actually pretty well done for a small-scale production. Because it was filmed and produced in Ireland, the story (which was about a mapmaker who stumbles on the body of a man near the Irish-UK border) had an extra dose of authenticity. Yesterday I had the opportunity to watch Rendition, a movie Roger Ebert praised highly, about a man mistaken for a terrorist. The movie wasn't exactly pleasant, but it was well done and did a great job at examining the practice of "enhanced interrogation". Perhaps the most disturbing moment of the movie was when the suspect, after being tortured in various brutal ways, gave a confession and a list of names. The local thugs (the suspect had been extradited to an unknown Middle-Eastern country) and the CIA were elated, but were quickly disappointed by the news that the names were for the players of a soccer team the suspect had played on. It was disturbing to see how someone could slowly be broken down and degraded until he/she is willing to confess to anything. The final movie, Gone Baby Gone, was a film adaption of the novel from Dennis's Lehane's fabulous Patrick Kenzies serious (I still think about "A Drink Before the War" every once and a while. This movie could have so easily evolved into a stupid, superficial action flick, but it didn't. The actors did a superb job, the characters they played were complex, multi-dimensional and engaging. The plot held plenty of surprises (that were actually surprising) and had a ending that was both satisfying and insightful. I'm also relaxing while enjoying reading C. S. Harris's debut novel, What Angels Fear, about a British aristocrat on the run from the law (in early nineteenth century England) for a murder he didn't commit. The protagonist is a bit too good to be true, but the narrative and setting make it worth reading.

Masterpiece Theater's take on Othello

I happened across Masterpiece Theater's modern-day take on Othello. It was quite different than what I expected. The atmosphere of tragedy and impending doom saturated the whole story. Christopher Eccleston did a skin-crawling, very creepy portrayal of Jago.  The story was strong and well-paced, but the creepiness did get to me a bit. I'm reading Othello, the original version, for one of my classes. I'm enjoying it more now that I've really started to get into it.

I'm also reading Triple, one of Ken Follett's older thrillers. It was published in 1979, well after his career started, but for some reason I'm not enjoying it all that much. It's funny because I've enjoyed all the other thrillers I've read by Follett (from throughout his career). Maybe it's because I'm tired or the constant academic readings/assignments are finally getting to me.