{"id":8481,"date":"2014-04-18T17:25:49","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T21:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8481"},"modified":"2014-04-19T04:22:51","modified_gmt":"2014-04-19T08:22:51","slug":"hot-docs-2014-all-the-kings-men-and-political-iconoclasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8481","title":{"rendered":"Hot Docs 2014, All the King’s Men, and Learning a Little from History"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HotDocs2014_logo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This city is blessed with major, mid-level, and micro-film festivals, each vying for the hungry attention of movie fans. I’m not sure if the following claim still holds true (or whether it was an oft-repeated promotional concoction <\/span>on par with Toronto being \u2018the most multicultural city in the world\u2019), but years ago it was said T.O. housed ‘more filmgoers per capita.’ <\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hot Docs 2014<\/a> starts up this coming Thursday April 24, and I\u2019ll have some early reviews of films, including several that may fall below the radar of major review sites. Watch for the first set of reviews to appear early next week.<\/span><\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Twilight Time’s release of Robert Rossen\u2019s 1949 film\u00a0<\/span>All the King’s Men<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0on Blu-ray comes with perfect timing, as Toronto’s got several months to figure out which candidate can best turf the worst mayor in the city ‘s history.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"CrawfordLongFord_combo_630x300\"<\/a>

Willie Stark ————————————- Huey P. Long ——————————— Mayor Bozo<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rob Ford. You know, the infamous ‘crack smoking mayor of Toronto’ whose blighted the city & country with his on-camera antics, like the “<\/span>pussy<\/a>” incident, live on TV.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although brother \/ City Councillor Doug Ford proclaimed at Thursday night’s campaign launch<\/a>\u00a0that Rob’s run for a second term as mayor will be ‘history making,’ I’m pretty sure\u00a0political pundits & \u00a0journalists will have a more sober account of the night and Rob’s speech to his loyal bobblehead nation this weekend, especially since anything can happen leading up to election day<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most sane cities probably restrict their campaign seasons from a few weeks to a month or two, but we\u2019re a little stupid here. There is no need to extend a campaign from now to October<\/em>, because there will likely be moments of voter tune-out: the public getting tired of hearing repeated accusations, claims, proclamations, shallow promises, and scandals dragged into dreary daily media coverage, and opting to literally tune out for long periods until we’re close to October, and then<\/em> pay attention to which person they feel is best suited to lead the country’s biggest city into 2015.<\/p>\n

For the citizens of T.O., scrutinizing each eligible candidate is a must, because whether one leans left, centre, right, or feels compelled to voice approval for Mayor Bozo, you have to educate yourself and make the best choice to ensure the best candidate earns the top job.<\/p>\n

Put perhaps another way, would you rather see your major hand out<\/span> candies to kids at parades, or toss ’em in globs to the ground<\/span>, as happened in 2012 with Xmas candy canes<\/a>, and occurred with a similar lack of finesse in 2013 with Cadbury Creme Eggs?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"RobFord_CadburyCreamEggs\"<\/a>

Yup. That’s a real photo of Mayor Bozo (taken by NOW magazine) pasted onto a Cadbury Creme Egg box at work. Those are hard objects headed for the asphalt prior to human consumption.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

One could find slight parallels between our mayor and his muddy past with some of the personages in All the King\u2019s Men<\/a><\/strong>, the classic film adaptation of Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that was based on his writings about Louisiana\u2019s demagogue Governor and Senator, Huey P. Long.<\/p>\n

Now… Ford isn\u2019t in the league of Long. That’s plain obvious.<\/p>\n

Ford has built nothing<\/em>, he’s\u00a0failed<\/em> to gather any private sector financing for his civic erections (subways, subways, subways), concocted<\/em> a widely debunked <\/em>“billion dollar” tax payer savings, and has no empirical lineage to the average Joe since he benefits from a wealthy family that runs a million dollar label company operating in two countries.<\/p>\n

At one point Rob Ford and his crocodile smiling brother Doug (\u201cDougie\u201d to pundits) supported a waterfront plan to build a big mall and a giant Ferris wheel; Huey “The Kingfish” Long actually built roads, hospitals, and funded school textbooks.<\/p>\n

\"Broderick<\/a>Ford is an absolute bullshitter, whereas Long (and even his fictional counterpart Willie Stark) accomplished things which ultimately did improve Louisiana\u2019s infrastructure with some social programs.<\/p>\n

\"CrawfordLongFord_combo_630x300\"<\/a>Even if one\u2019s knowledge of Long comes from archival media coverage, it\u2019s kind of clear which one had a vision and was capable of acting and delivering vs. the one who repeats the same handful of talking points to a converted flock of niche voters wanting a Conservative candidate in a perceived sea of Lefties.<\/p>\n

There are other right and centre-right candidates in this town; people voted for Rob Ford because he was the easy choice \u2013 a simple talker in local government with a local brand name and a slapped-together image of one who ‘fights for the little guy.’<\/p>\n

In the nearly 80 years since Long\u2019s death by an assassin’s bullet, historians still wrangle over some of his good deeds \u00a0and bad behaviour; Rob Ford\u2019s legacy will be police surveillance footage of him pissing in an alley, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel in ‘a magician\u2019s suit,’ and being a liar (unless you re-ask a question correctly<\/em>, after which he may<\/em> admit fault).<\/p>\n

Unlike Huey Long, in 80 years Rob Ford will be regarded as a joke, and an unwanted infamous figure in Canadian politics only because he made international headlines as ‘the crack-smoking mayor of Toronto.’ A Toronto Star photographer neatly captured “The Bozo Stupor” in this winning entry<\/a> in the Communication Arts 55th Photo Competition.<\/p>\n

Compared to Long\u2019s accomplishments, Rob Ford’s effort to leave any notable mark is as meaningful as a faded pee stain in one of our numerous laneways.<\/p>\n

\"HueyLongPBS\"<\/a>Long’s physical accomplishments – bridges and buildings, for example – still stand, and as Ken Burns’ insightful 1985 PBS documentary <\/span>Huey Long<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0details, he could slide into the posture of a smiling buffoon, but the proof lies in the public records of Long’s savvy political maneuvering. Rob Ford’s just a full-on buffoon, and \u00a0will certainly inspire local artists to create more visual, aural, theatrical and cinematic satire; basically, citizens trying to process Mayor Bozo’s legacy on the city’s political, social, and economic culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert Rossen’s 1949 film is in many ways a cautionary tale, and remains the definitive film version in spite of Steve Zaillian’s star-studded but otherwise dud version of Warren’s novel, and whereas Sony did author a superb HD master for home video, they opted to release Zaillian’s 2006 film on Blu. It’s a sexier film, but the wrong choice for fans of the novel.<\/p>\n

\"AllTheKingsMen_1949_BR\"<\/a>Sony\u2019s missed opportunity is Twilight Time\u2019s gain (and ours), as they\u2019ve also included an isolated score track featuring Louis Gruenberg\u2019s lovely score (which is great to listen on its own).<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written a comparative film review<\/a>, since there are significant differences between Rossen\u2019s chronological adaptation and Zaillian\u2019s more faithful version of Warren’s book. Both movies feature superb talent, but one\u2019s kind of a mess.<\/p>\n

Coming shortly<\/em>: more stuff.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Head’s up on Hot Docs 2014, All the King’s Men arrives on Blu via Twilight Time, and some thoughts on Louisiana’s Huey Long and our own Mayor Bozo – Rob Ford – as the race to become Bigwig of Toronto begins in earnest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8486,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[2657,2562,2563,2650,2655,2658,102,2651,2653,2654],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/CrawfordLongFord_combo_630x300.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2cN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8481"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8516,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8481\/revisions\/8516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}