 Square Eyes
Television Reviews
Movie of the week, Baraka, ABC, Tues, 10.55pm
This is a stunning visual meditation on humanity, containing no dialogue, just a series of moments, set to music, sometimes juxtaposed with the beauty of nature, trying to find some sense and the interconnectedness in a chaotic world. Director Ron Frick was cinematographer on the classic Koyaanisqatsi, and this smorgasbord of exoticism can be breathtaking, but also heartbreaking. In 90 minutes, it crosses 24 countries, showing the horrible beauty in the burning Kuwaiti oil fields, to forest people being dispossessed as the jungle is chewed up by loggers. It leaves you wondering why we're so keen to stuff up this planet.
Suicide Hijackers, SBS, Sat, 7.30pm
The question is still why? And how did diligent students like Mohamed Atta turn into such cold-blooded fundamentalist lunatics. This portrait of three of the S11 hijackers, including Atta, still leaves most of the people who knew him scratching their heads.
The World Game, SBS, Sun, noon
Les Murray offers 150 minutes of roundball gossip, games and other guff, to remind us that the rest of the planet doesn't give a stuff about the Bulldogs salary breach or whose wife Wayne Carey is with.
Austin Powers: the Spy who Shagged Me, NBN, Sun, 8.30pm
After the ghoulish orgy of tragedy this week, a moment's stupidity is in order (and no I'm not referring to Prime's 007 festival). Mike Myers' spoof of 60s spy movies has plenty of in-jokes for the movie buffs, although it's a patchy effort. Dr Evil has flogged Our Hero's mojo (in pre-Viagra days this is serious), and he's keen to get it back. It's dumb, crude and brainless - not that different to a real 007 movie really - but funny, with a half decent cast including Robert Wagner, Rob Lowe, Heather Graham, Michael York and Liz Hurley.
The World is Not Enough, Prime, Sun, 8.30pm
Neither is Pierce Brosnan as the latest incarnation of 007. Judi Dench tries to give a tired old formula some cred as a feminist M, and dear old Desmond Llewelyn swangsongs as Q. But you know - gratuitous shagging, over-the-top action and bad puns.
Terminator 2, Ten, Sun, 8.30pm
Linda Hamilton, sporting a body that looks like it's enjoyed Big Arnie's steroid cupboard once too often, tries to blast her way through assorted special effects as she tries to protect her saviour son from Arnie's nemesis, a melting metal copper terminator. It's a good action thriller, but somewhat soul-less.
Koenig's Sphere, SBS, Sun, 9.45pm
Bavarian sculptor Fritz Koenig's work often deals with death and destruction. He made The Sphere, set between the World Trade Centre towers, which was never meant to have those connotations. It survived S11. Now it is a monument to those who perished. This doco, featuring Koenig, has a palpable sadness and distress that is a powerful metaphor for all that has happened.
Great Expectations, ABC, Sun, 12.40am
This 1947 version of the Dickens classic by David Lean, starring John Mills as Pip, remains the finest yet made.
Storm in a D-Cup, ABC, Tues, 8.30pm
Two rival gangs of Gold Coast meter maids are locked in a vicious battle laced with violence and litigation. This is a funny but deadly serious story, which also reveals a lot about the changing face of the tourist destination.
Search for the Afghan Girl, ABC, Thurs, 10pm
In the mid-80s, National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry took the most extraordinary, haunting photo of a young Afghani girl with piercing green eyes, in a Pakistani refugee camp (see nothing has changed in decades). 17 years later, he attempts to track her down. It's an interesting detective story that also offers a stark contrast with the war-torn news reports.
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