Luis - Film review: 25th Hour

Last Christmas I had the chance to watch a movie that a friend had recommended to me for a long time, when we became fans of Mafia movies, specially Scorsese’s. But this time it’s my pleasure to introduce you to a movie by a very different director, starring a great cast.

“25th Hour” is one of the greatest films by independent movie-maker Spike Lee. It’s an entertaining movie, set in present-day New York which tells the story of a friendly businessman (Edward Norton) who actually is a drug dealer, specifically his whole last day of freedom before starting a prison sentence. 

He is a nice guy, as it can be seen from the very first scenes, where he appears happily with his dog, and from the way he talks with people and treats his girlfriend. However, he has friends who are bad guys, as they belong to the Russian Mafia. He should have left the business earlier, but he wished to save money and because of that he was unable to.

Someone has ratted on him and here starts the intriguing part of the movie with the other important characters: his two best friends, a broker (Barry Pepper) and a teacher (Philip Seymour Hoffman), as well as his exotic, beautiful girlfriend (Rosario Dawson). During his last day and night with them he will face the decision about his next step: whether to kill himself, become a fugitive or ‘do time’. 

Anyway, his life will never be the same and one of his friends concludes: “It’s over”. The role of his father, a retired fireman (Brian Cox), is determining; furthermore, he has a slight connection with Ground Zero (9/11) in the movie.

Equally impressive is the final sequence, when the father is supposedly driving him to prison, then talking about his son’s imaginary future life: how he runs away, meets his girlfriend and starts a family. Then the father utters the famous last words that his son will repeat to his own children: “It all came so close to never happening”.

The great strength of this movie is the impressive character of Edward Norton: his brilliant “f* word” monologue in front of the mirror gives us food for thought about both the rules in our society and corruption; the way he ends each sentence - “Fuck everyone!” - is really thought-provoking, as is usually the case in Spike Lee’s directing.

At the end of the day, we’ll believe Edward Norton’s character is more honest than these high-ups who control our lives. Not only is 25th Hour a complex, unusual film - it has no plot, it just tells a 24-hour-long story - but it also tackles real problems in society, such as which drugs should be legal or illegal or who are the greatest criminals, as well as corruption and family. A gripping must-see movie, which I hope you really enjoy!

A good post, Luis, thanks a lot! I've seen bits and pieces of the film myself but I intend to watch it in its entirety over the weekend. I deem Norton and Seymour Hoffman two of the finest American actors of their generation and I cannot emphasize how much I admire the also great Scottish actor Brian Cox, whose work, I believe, has often been underrated. 

Come on guys, keep sending more entries for our blog or indeed your comments.

Jelena: DIAN FOSSEY - Thanks to her there are still "gorillas in the mist"

“When you realize the value of all forms of life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future”. This was the last entry in the diary of Dian Fossey, one of the most prominent primatologists in the world, who spent a period of 18 years studying gorillas in the mountain forests of Rwanda. She wrote these words shortly before she was murdered in the bedroom of her cabin in Virunga Mountains, Rwanda, in late December 1985. 

Her parents had divorced when she was six. Shortly afterwards, she lost touch with her father and had a stepfather who never treated her as his own child. As a result of her difficult childhood, plagued with family problems, she suffered from personal insecurity and, in order to gain acceptance, she turned to animals, especially horses. Her idea of a professional life working with animals clashed with her stepfather’s expectations that she would finish business school, so she was left without financial support. Nevertheless, she managed to find enough money for her studies by working as either a clerk in a department store or a machinist in a factory. However, she failed her second year of pre-veterinary course in biology, so she got a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy and started to work in a hospital. Later she stated that it was her work with autistic children what helped her to bond with gorillas.

Her first encounter with wild life in Africa and gorillas was during her seven-week visit in 1963. During this journey, she met eminent British paleoanthropologist and archaeologist Louis Leakey, who did a great job in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for the protection of wildlife there. Three years later, she left her job as she got funding from Louis for her research with the mountain gorillas. She had to learn Swahili and primatology for eight months, and then, in December 1966, she went to Congo, where she spent some time with other researchers in order to observe their methods with chimpanzees and learn basic gorilla tracking. While she was doing her field study in Kabara, she learned a lot about the gorillas’ behavior and communication, which allowed her to get closer to them. Because of the complicated political situation in Congo, she was forced to go back to Rwanda and continue her study on the great apes. There she founded Karisoke Research Center, a remote camp near the Virunga volcanoes, where she spent most of her time researching and protecting endangered gorillas from extinction. 

Apart from her research work, she is well-known for her tireless fight against poaching. Poachers sell gorilla hands as delicacies, magic charms or simply to make ashtrays. Her battle grew bigger after the death of some of her favorite gorillas, which made her found Digit Fund, named in memory of Digit, her beloved gorilla, who was killed by poachers. She made the effort to raise money for anti-poaching patrols, in which she participated as well, also destroying traps, arresting poachers, burning their camps and putting pressure on government and local officials to enforce the law. She was against keeping animals in zoos just for the entertainment of the people and she criticized tourism for disturbing the natural environment of gorillas and spreading human diseases, to which the animals don´t have immunity. 

She faced many problems because Rwandan national park conservators often helped poachers; some organizations received a lot of public donations to help Fossey, but all the funds were invested in touristic projects. Officials also tried to diminish her achievements and show her as a mentally unstable and dangerous person.

Her death is a mystery. The case is still open, and there are two theories about the possible murderer. The first one is that she was killed by one of the poachers as revenge, and the other one is that some officials saw her as an obstacle to the touristic and financial exploitation of the gorillas, so somebody who was familiar with her activities was implicated, because of the way she was murdered in her house. There is also a lot of controversy around her work, which was criticized for the way she was dealing with poachers, often described as ruthless and racist. Nevertheless, her contribution to the animal world, especially the gorilla, is enormous. The resort she built is still active and continues the work she started. Gorillas in the Mist, dealing with both her scientific job and personal life, is the best-selling book about gorillas even today, 28 years after her death. 

I remember how sad I was after seeing a movie named after her book, which deals with her life and work with gorillas. I think I was 10 years old and I couldn't understand how people can be so cruel to animals and how somebody killed a woman who unselfishly dedicated her life to protecting a piece of wilderness and raising awareness about the importance of keeping the wildlife’s natural habitat untouched.

A couple of days ago, on January 16 2014 the world celebrated Dian Fossey’s 82nd birthday, and Google paid a tribute by dedicating to her its search homepage, which made me write about this incredible woman, also known by the locals as Nyirmachabelli (or "The woman who lives alone on the mountain")

Thanks Jelena for yet another fantastic post. Indeed Dian Fossey was a remarkable woman an a truly devoted naturalist, who, like some other wildlife lovers, had an untimely death. 

I asked Jelena if she would like me to embed this beautiful, enlightening National Geographic documentary I came across on YouTube, called "The Lost Film of Dian Fossey" and she agreed. Worth seeing!

Fernando: MADRID'S MARATHON 2009

I’ve been cycling since I was 18 and, about ten years ago, I started running as well. Doing sport on a daily basis makes feel good and full of energy. I must admit that running is sort of an addictive experience because, by an internal process, we liberate natural substances called endorphins, which are the direct reason why we feel good and relaxed. It is an increasing activity which attracts millions of people from around the world. As human beings we were born to run, so it is up to us to develop or not this skill. You can run whenever and wherever you want, alone or with other runners while enjoying and sharing the same feelings. At the same time it is a way of forgetting our everyday problems and finding out possible solutions to them. I have to say that my best ideas pop up into my mind while I’m running and also it is an excellent way of reflecting alone with your own thoughts. For many reasons running does have beneficial effects in both our body and our mind. 

The thing is that a colleague of mine persuaded me to take part in the capital's marathon. And running one for the first time is certainly a challenge. Therefore, I was completely aware of the target, but what worried me most were my real chances of coping with such a hard race. Nevertheless, the more I thought about the difficulties, the more determined I became to overcome them. I’m the kind of person who likes taking challenges in life, so accepting that new experience meant a stimulus indeed.

To start with, I made my own training plan and for four months before the race took place I was doing the following sessions; first day 18 km, second 10 km, third 18 km, fourth 10 km, fifth 18 km and, after that, two days of resting. Despite the fact that I did some really hard work in order to be fit, very often I asked myself the same question: “Will I be able to finish the race?“, and  sometimes while I was running I mulled over the idea. To answer this question somehow, one day my colleague Emiliano (the one who convinced me to join this adventure) came around where I was doing some stretching exercises and said “We need to test our strength and also  whether we are ready to face the race”. Consequently, we are going to do 30 km.”  It was a month and half before the race, and the idea of running this distance seemed to me reasonable and challenging at the same time. So on a cloudy morning my wife drove us to La Aldehuela de la Bóveda, and we came back to Salamanca running along the road. We did well, and, as a result, I felt a little bit more confident about the possibility of success during the big test.

April 29, 8.30 am, the critical moment had come at last. The weather was cloudy indeed but the temperature appeared to be warm. I was at the starting point at Paseo de Colón in a line of eleven thousand runners that stretched back almost into Atocha Train Station. And right now I can remember vividly how that morning I had mixed feelings about the experience I had to deal with. I was pretending to be calm; however, I felt nervous, excited and really disappointed as well because my colleague couldn’t take part in the race due to a ligament damage, precisely in that very moment when I needed his help and support. The smell of Vaseline came from the runners’ bodies; many of them were doing warm-up exercises, jumping or relaxing their muscles. I could feel the excitement, and everyone was looking forward to the start of the race. At the gunshot, the long crowded line of runners started to move slowly towards Paseo de la Castellana. To my despair, ten minutes later heavy drops of rain began to fall and, after four km under the rain, all the runners were soaking wet and running in such weather conditions can be the most unpleasant thing to do as well as extremely uncomfortable. Luckily, in the 10th km it stopped raining and immediately my spirits lifted as well as the rest of the participants’. 

For several kilometres I was running alongside a guy, so I decided to have a conversation with him. He was an   experienced runner, and therefore I told him my doubts about the race. He asked me some questions about my training, weight, lifestyle, capacity for enduring effort and so on. In the end, he simply wanted me to enjoy the race. That was what I did from the beginning, because running on the streets of Madrid without traffic is a real pleasure to those who love this fantastic city. The mood among the runners was excellent, as everyone was incredibly helpful giving advice on how to go ahead properly, how to avoid injuries, while also remembering events from other races, telling jokes or simply greeting onlookers. In this way, I continued running and talking with my new mate, who was a friendly guy and I immediately felt comfortable with. My breathing was good and my legs seemed to be all right.

In the 30th km we had to face a psychological barrier, where there is sort of a battle between your body and your mind. In this crucial moment, usually you feel worn out and it is your mind that plays the predominant role in this part of the race; this barrier is well-known to all runners as “The wall”. My excellent mate offered me some liquid energy food in order to get over “The Wall” but I refused because it was kind of heavy food that could damage my stomach. I couldn’t believe it, but I managed to get over it full of energy, and my breathing was still regular, as we went past “La Casa de Campo”. I kept drinking water during the whole race even if I weren’t thirsty, so in every provisioning post I drank part of the bottle in order to avoid dehydration. 

When we reached the 35th km, my fellow runner said: “We have seven kilometres to go, so now we are going to increase the speed a little bit. How do you feel? Are you ready to make an extra final effort?". And without thinking of the effects properly, I agreed. And we started to overtake runners, many of whom were really exhausted, some asking for medical assistance; others had stopped running and, to my astonishment, I saw a guy, wearing a white T-shirt covered with blood, who continued running with impressive determination. There were many people in the streets giving their support and encouraging us to go ahead by waving and gesturing. In the 40th Km, we got to “La Puerta de Alcalá”, so we were about to finish the challenge and very close to succeeding. I could see the joy of the runners, who were helping each other to achieve our target - at long last: to run 42 km. and 195 m. and commemorate the heroic effort of a Greek soldier called Philippides, who died after running 37 km. from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory against the Persian Army. As it happened, very near to the final point, I was able to see my wife and two daughters on the left side of the street. I was delighted so I waved at them by raising my right arm. Eventually, I could see the finishing line, and everyone increased the pace in order to get to our longed-for destination, and the very moment I crossed the line I felt a blissful man. It was like a dream come true. 

It took me 3 hours and 20 minutes to run the whole distance. I thanked my mate for his valuable help and I said goodbye to him. For me that marathon it was not only an excellent way of proving myself, but also of improving my mental strength, with really beneficial psychological effects. It was one of the things that has given me the greatest pleasure as an achievement and, above all, it was an amazing experience of endurance and perseverance, as well as discipline and effort.


Thanks Fernando! I've always looked up to long-distance runners for their effort and unwavering determination, and I still remember some truly epic scenes during the marathon event at the Olympic Games: Athletes crossing the finishing line almost agonizingly, in such physical and mental pain. You can't help but admiring them for their courage (and amazing stamina!). So I'm sure that marathon you ran in Madrid is an unforgettable memory, which makes you feel so so proud of yourself. Congrats!