Arts & Entertainment
Splendid film keeps audience enthralled
By John Payne
Senior Reporter
Irish-born actor Kenneth Branagh
recently spoke of his recent produc
tion of William Shakespeare’s “Henry
V.”
“I wanted to make a popular film
that would satisfy the Shakespearean
moyip _
***-^HREVlEW I
scholar, as well as the filmgocrs who
liked ‘Crocodile Dundee.’’’
That statement gives a good indi
cation of this impressive film as it
plays out across the screen. It is a
splendid period piece that never for
gets to be entertaining.
It’s amazing that Branagh, a rela
tively unknown actor, would want to
take on the enormous task of repris
ing Lawrence Olivier’s role -- while
making his dircctoral debut. Even
more amazing is the fact that he was
able to pull it off so beautifully.
The story begins as young Henry,
newly-crowned King of England,
prepares his royal subjects for an
invasion of France. The Archbishop
of Canterbury (Charles Kay) convinces
Henry that he has legal claim to the
French throne. When spies arc tound
among the King’s noblemen, war
ensues.
And the magnificent way that
Branagh has captured the English
army’s campaign across medieval
France makes for an enthralling movie.
But unlike Olivier’s “Henry,” Bran
agh’s is not an epic. The sets and
costumes arc not lavish, and by keep
ing this remake small in scope, his
works on much more of a personal
level than its predecessor.
Branagh has chosen to pay tribute
to the warriors, rather than glorifying
the war, and for that he should be
commended.
At one point in the story, Henry’s
ex ped i tionary forces are attack ing the
French town of Harfleur. The soldier
king cries out to the remaining French
troops that his men will leave no
woman unraped and that “every naked
infant would be pitted upon spikes”
if the troops do not surrender.
The battle scenes arc as gruesome
as those of any war picture, yet for
every moment of carnage, there arc a
dozen of poignancy.
Brief flashbacks of Henry’s life
SeeHENRY on 7
raprifii—— c^.., ot the g.^, Goldwyn Co,
A resolute Henry V, the King of England (center, Kenneth Branagh), leads England to battle.
Film’s motives hard to understand without novel
By Troy Falk
Staff Reporter
‘ Wc did everything just like grown
ups would, why didn’t it work?” snivels
Piggy. . ,
The highly advertised movie from
a novel most had to read in junior
high school is here — “Lord of the
Flics.” The opening scene depict*
the kids in the ocean attempting to
climb aboard a life raft.
One major difference between the
novel by Sir William Golding and the
movie is that the pilot lives. He is
severely wounded and has a high fever,
so he plays a passive part. His only
significant part is when he becomes
another area for Jack and Ralph to
fight over.
Balthazar Getty docs a very con
vincing job of portraying Ralph. He
shows how a compassionate young
boy is thrust into the role of leader.
The part of Jack is played by Cris
Furrh. He docs a great job of portray
ing a boy who has given in to his
personal desires of power.
Geliy and Furrh do an exceptional
job of showing the friendship be
tween Jack and Ralph deteriorating
with time and Jack’s desire to gain
control of the group.
Simon does an average job of
showing his slow transgression from
normalcy to a psychosis, which is
explained in great detail in the novel.
Granted, one docs not see him very
often. In the movie, what ultimately
docs him in is his given responsibility
of watching over the pilot.
The twins do a great job of dealing
with problems as one person. The
way they cope with problems is to
talk to each other as if talking to
themselves.
To add to Simon’s deteriorating
movip
psyche, the pilot runs away in a state
of fevered delusion. He ends up being
the monster in the woods. In the novel,
the monster is simply a figment of the
group’s paranoia.
Jack and his hunters break off to
form their own group and eventually
all of the kids follow him except
Ralph and Piggy played by Daniel
Pipoly. Piggy’s character is true to
the novel. He is fat, snobbish and
annoying, yet one feels for him.
The movie shows some of the best
use of film settings and background
music. “Lordof the Flics’ ’ was filmed
on location in Jamaica. The camera
crew really went into the jungle to
shoot some of the scenes.
One warning: There is a lot of gory
violence. It all is necessary but still
gruesome. The movie shows every
thing from the pig’s head being cut
off to pulling it on a pig pole. The one
scene of Piggy being hit on the head
with a boulder is particularly morti
fying.
The best example of the entire cast
working together is the scene in which
Jack and his hunters play the game of
catch the pig. They run around their
campfire and chase one boy and pre
tend to kill him.
As the group’s hysteria builds, they
see something running toward them
and all panic and rush out to kill it. It
was only Simon running up to tell
them the secret behind the monster.
The one complaint with “Lord of
the Flics” is there is no actual lord of
the flies that talks to Simon. Without
reading the novel, understanding the
motives and thinking behind each of
thccharaclcrs would be difficult. This
is unusual -- most movies arc a pale
reflection of the book; in this ease one
must read the book to completely
understand the movie.
“Lord of the Flics” is playing at
the Douglas 3 Theatre, 13th and F
streets.
i
Fanzines perfect outlet for angry punkers
By Bryan Peterson
Staff Reporter
Weirdo counter-culture types
have been inflicting their views on
the world as long as culture has
been with us ~ but the fanzine is a
fairly recent phenomenon, particu
larly suited to the world of photo
copiers. A sort of magazine with
no standards whatsoever.
Fanzines got pretty big in the
’60s with all the political upheaval
and surges of grungy underground
music that record labels would not
touch.
Fanzines connected people and
helped form communities which
helped case a sense of outrage and
isolation common among counter
cultural types.
Since then, fanzines have been
put out by fans of just about every
phenomenon in pop and under
ground culture: Star Trek, drugs,
comics, science fiction, short-lived
music fads - the list is endless.
And as soon as there was punk
rock, there were punk-rock fanzi
nes. The first ones, with names like
Sniffin’ Glue or Search and De
stroy, mirrored the chaos and apa
thy which marked the first days of
punkdom.
The punk fanzine is the perfect
outlet for the prototypic Angry
Young Punk. The writer or editor
can use bad words, plagiarize and
just generally be obnoxious, but it
is a fairly safe enterprise because
no one really seems to care most of
the lime.
I should know: I’ve pul one out
for over four years.
So punk is now 1S years old and
the worst has happened - it has
become an institution, its own cul
ture complete with its own subdi
visions and counter-counter-cultural
forces.
With more punk fanzines avail
able than ever, it is lime for Fifth
Column to lake a little wander
through some recent creations. What
follows is a not-so-random sam
pling of “punkzincs” 1 have
stumbled across lately.
Any column on punk fanzines
should include Maximum Rocknroll
(PO Box 288, Berkeley, Calif.
94701), one of the longest-running,
most exhaustive and consistently
good punkz.ines in the world.
MRR expanded to a 128-page
formal more than a year ago and
now sells for $2. It is an essential
vehicle of communication, ranting
and discovery for isolated punks
worldwide.
Every issue is full of “scene
reports” complete with band gos
sip and complaints about apathy
within the scene.
The ’zine opens with a lengthy
section of columns and letters which
is followed by plenty of band inter
views and an also-lcngthy review
section which covers music, vid
eos, books and, ol course, fanzi
nes.
The endless discussions concern
ing skinhead violence, whether punk
is dead, whether MRR should take
ads from racist or sexist bands and
the like get tiring, but MRR is
simply indispensable for uniting
tiny pockets of punkdom around
the world.
Where MRR has universal ap
peal (of a sort), many punkzincs
cater to a fairly restricted audi
ence. Take THE RAZOR S EDGE,
where punk and Krishna conscious
ness come together in a bed of
Karmilic slamming.
The Razor’s Edge comes out of
Brooklyn, New York (PO Box
400271, NY 11240) for $1. Issue
No. 2 (24 pages) features an inter
view with Ray Cappo of Youth of
Today, one of America’s premiere
straight-edge bands.
The concerns of this zinc go
beyond living without drugs and
alcohol: There also are vegetarian
recipes and related material, as well
as pieces on brainwashing, social
revolution and the “Prison of the
Material World.’’
Although The Razor’s Edge
borders on being little more than a
recruiting tool filled with ads for
Swami Prabhupada’s writings, the
goal of finding a meaningful life in
a materialistic, object-oriented
society seems to be a common one
among Krishnas and punks (or some
of them).
Another ’zinc which represents
the crossing of two subcultures is
the relatively new Homocorc from
San Francisco (PO Box 77731, Calif.
94107). The mosl recent (and big
gest) issue is No. 5, still for SI.
So what does a ’/.me by/for gay
punks contain? All the usual
punkzine stuff: letters, reviews,
articles, comics, classifieds and
outrageous covers - but all from a
gay perspective.
Homocore is a little heavy on its
local crowd, but its print run has
expanded into the thousands and
its readers hail from ever more
distant areas.
“You don’t have to be a homo
to read or have stuff published in
HOMOCORE_being different
at all, like straight guys who aren’t
macho shitheads, women who don’t
want to be a punk rock fashion
accessory,” reads an introduction
reprinted from the first issue.
The ’zinc, along with concert
benefits and political activism, is
only one part of crcator/cditor Tom
Jennings’ world. Jennings wrote
an article for Marian Sprouse’s book
“Threat by Example” in which he
described his bulletin board sys
tem (FidoNet) as the “world’s larg
est amateur computer network,”
one used by more than 250,000
people.
And that, from the creator of
one of the more controversial under
ground publications. But don't worry
- Homocorc is mailed in a plain
envelope “to accommodate your
oppressive environment.”
the
fifth
column
album review