Sully

In January 2009 Captain Chesley Sullenberger (otherwise known as Sully) crash landed US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River after colliding with a flock of birds which knocked out both engines just thirty seconds after take-off. Incredibly the aircraft stayed afloat long enough for all 155 people on board to be rescued amidst very cold conditions.

From the moment the plane lost power there were only 208 seconds before it crashed. That’s not a lot of time to work with if you want to make a film. So director Clint Eastwood mainly focusses on the aftermath as Sully (Tom Hanks) deals with the resulting media attention and then, along with his co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles (Aaron Eckhart), faces goes the National Transportation Safety Board who are investigating the incident. Although Eastwood also struggles to make a story out of that.

Oddly the investigation seems to take place immediately after the incident and we don’t even see Sully go home to his wife, Lorraine (Laura Linney), who we never actually see without a telephone attached to her ear. Neither she nor Sully seem very fazed by the fact he’d just been involved in a place crash.

The flight was bound from New York's LaGuardia Airport for Charlotte and the investigation asks whether the plane could have made it back to LaGuardia or to nearby Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Flight simulations allege that the plane could have successfully landed at both LaGuardia and Teterboro.

Sully however disputes this and argues that the ‘human element’ needs to be taken into consideration. This causes an immediate sea change in the investigation as if they’d never thought of something so bleedingly obvious. 35 seconds human reaction time is then allocated, the simulations are rerun, the planes crash and now Sully can officially be declared a hero. I’m sure it didn’t quite happen like that.

There is nothing particularly wrong with the film except that there isn't really a story here to tell. I’m also sure the NTSB’s investigation was more to ascertain the cause of the accident and to ensure it wouldn’t happen again rather than the total witch hunt against Sully as is portrayed here.

The crash landing into the Hudson was the story but they seemed to go out of their way not to make a disaster movie which is fair enough, we have had more than enough of them. Instead the story is so flimsy that the film wraps up in 90 minutes and that’s after they have needlessly shown the whole crash landing sequence twice.

I didn't know that much about this story beforehand so I went in hoping for more insight but didn’t learnt much. However there are some nice shots of the real Chesley Sullenberger at the end as they show film of the flight's reunion.

Snowden

Snowden tells the story of the events that led Edward Snowden to becoming one of the most wanted men in the world.

Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was a computer expert who got his dream job with the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). As a strong believer in his country it was the perfect job for him, helping to track the spies and terrorists that wish to cause damage to this country.

The film tracks his rise through the ranks of the intelligence community from his military service, his stationing in Geneva and Japan, then finally his employment with the NSA (National Security Agency) in Hawaii. Where they have a facility that is right out of any James Bond film.

At first he loves he job but then his conscience started bothering him when he discovers that besides spying on other countries and terrorist organizations around the world, the government also has a massive espionage network in place in the USA itself. In fact twice as much data is being taken from the USA as it is from Russia.

What's mind-blowing is the sheer scope of everything the surveillance program comprised. How the NSA can link up computer to computer and therefore person to person using all their available technological devices. If you believe it, and this film is telling you believe it, then it is chilling. So do what Snowden does and always put a sticking plaster over your laptop’s webcam when you’re having sex with your girlfriend.

 

His girlfriend is Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley) and she is alongside him all the way, being shunted all around the world, yet she has little idea what he is up to most of the time and naturally he can’t tell her.

She stays impressively by his side throughout even he downloads evidence of the surveillance program and flies to Hong Kong with it. It is from a hotel there that much of the story is told in flashbacks as he reveals all to documentary filmmaker Laura Poitros (Melissa Leo) and journalists Glenn Greenwald (Zachary Quinto) and Ewan MacAskill (Tom Wilkinson) of The Guardian.

When they publish his revelations he has to go on the run and winds up at Moscow International Airport, where he becomes a fugitive charged under the Espionage Act for revealing classified information. The government and the media initially portrayed him as a spy but as everyone took in the information he had revealed public opinion generally swung behind him but the government’s stance remains the same and he remains in Russia, although not at the airport, to this day.

It’s a very well made film, informative and riveting which keeps you engaged and more importantly gets you thinking. It’s also well acted and well directed by Oliver Stone, a man well known for his critiques of the American government. Consequently the film perhaps does try a little too hard to paint Snowden as a hero but then, perhaps he was.

A United Kingdom

A United Kingdom is set in post-war 1940s London and based on the true story of Seretse Khama, the heir to the throne of Botswana or Bechuanaland as it was then.

The events portrayed in the film are factual but not that well known in the UK. I personally knew little of this story before watching the film but I do now. I do love a good education.

Khama (David Oyelowo) is over in London studying while waiting to take over as leader in his own country. He inherited the rule as a young boy but his uncle is ruling as regent until he is old enough to take over.

It is while he is in London that he meets every day young lass Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), the daughter of a salesman, at a church dance that oddly seems only to attract black African men and white British women. The Daily Mail would have had a field day.

He and Ruth hit it off, fall in love and marry. All rather quickly. We've seen a couple of films with instance romances recently.

Naturally this mixed race marriage is going to raise a few eyebrows and being shunned by her father (Nicholas Lyndhurst) turns out to be the least of their worries as she moves to Botswana with her man, not quite knowing what she's getting herself into.

When they arrive in his homeland, his choice of queen does not go down that well with the locals, with his uncle or indeed the British government whose protectorate Botswana is currently under. They all refuse to accept her and call for Khama to either give up his new bride or to give up his country.

Khama then seems to win over his people with his ‘I love my people’ speech but this does not work with the British government who are in hoc to the South African government, who are in the process of implementing their policy of apartheid. Naturally the prospect of a black leader in a neighbouring country marrying a white woman does not sit well with them.

The film takes us back and forth between a drab post-war England and bright sunny Botswana as it documents the political struggle that ensues. Prime Minister Clement Attlee exiles Khama from his own country leaving his newly pregnant wife marooned there where she actually makes a decent fist of being queen-elect and eventually wins over the people of Botswana.

There is hope when Winston Churchill, the leader of the Opposition, promises to reverse Attlee’s decision were he to win the forthcoming General Election. However, when he does, he changes his mind and takes an even harder line than Attlee did.

A solution comes in the form of diamonds. When there are discovered in the territory they belong to the people under a Protectorate but if they were a colony, as they British government wanted them to be, they wouldn’t have.

This knowledge enables Karma to reconcile with his uncle and they agree that he should he a renounced the throne allowing him and his wife to return to the country as private citizens while setting the country on a path to independence. Independence which is fulfilled in 1966 when Karma himself becomes the first democratically elected president of the Botswana. Their son is now the current President.

It’s a decent, if unspectacular film, which seems to be at least accurate in the majority of its historical detail which is rare these days. Well worth a look.