Sunday 27 April 2014

Bletchley Park

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”

The few”. Who knows the few and why has anyone even heard of them? The reason the few were able to have even an opportunity to defeat the many is the advantage of speed – speed of response. And the ability to respond is improved if you can react before the act – to preact.[1] if you will
Bletchley Park is to be found, not surprisingly, in Bletchley (which is near Milton Keynes) and is considered to be the home of the UK's military intelligence during the Second World War. It has recently been made into a museum so that everyone can get a sense of the genius and toil that took place here.

Bletchley is fairly easy to get to from London and there is a direct train from Euston amongst other places. The park is very near the train station and is not more than 5 mins to the entrance. Bletchley Park was a country home for a stockbroker before it became the home to the military intelligence and was so chosen as it was so close to the train line .[2]. As a result, it is basically a mansion/stately home in landscaped grounds and so is quite a pleasant location (with weather that plays along, anyway).
The entry fee (£15, but also valid for 2 for 1 offer with National Rail when I went) gives entry for one year which is not too bad at all. This seems to be more and more common for paid museums and I definitely approve as it feels good value even though I imagine the percentage of people that return is vanishingly small.
After getting the tickets, we were guided to the multimedia guide area where a man gave out, with appropriate deposit, touchscreen devices and headphones[3] to access multimedia whilst on the grounds. From here, we were directed to where we could book a tour guide which was much more to my liking - so a "45 minute" tour was booked (included in price).

The tour guide was excellent and impressed on us the importance of the work performed and also gave a real sense of what it would have been like with a number of anecdotes. He also seemed to really make great play of how feminine the park would have been with many mentions of the important role women played in keeping the operation smooth and clear. It felt like the tour guide himself enjoyed giving the tour and it ran on for well over an hour. An enjoyable overrun.
Once the tour was over, we were left to our own devices which was quite good. The tour guide actually suggested that we try another tour at some time (using the annual pass) and also to return when the new block is finished which sounded pretty good. Walking around the park, there are a number of other blocks and exhibits that were not part of the tour which were great. A particularly large building (BLOCK B) showed a bit more about how the enigma code was broken and explained what other kinds of spying was taking place.
Next to the Bletchley Park exhibitions, there is also the The National Museum of Computing which is separate but loosely connected as programmable computing was somewhat connected to Turing. Oh, Turing? He was the person that helped decipher the enigma code at a worthwhile speed and is often called the father of computing, and it is essentially his work (with the help of others) that is shown here.
The National Museum of Computing is a separate museum (with separate charge) and I only went to the Colossus room, which is a recreation of the first computer - appropriately named. Again, it is a fairly small exhibit (outside of the size of the machine itself) but is improved markedly by having a human guide to talk you through the story. I found it very interesting and enjoyed it a lot. I would imagine the museum itself would also be very good.
Returning to the Bletchley Park museum again, there were some more informative exhibits in the grounds including a garage and post office. The park was fairly busy by this time and it was nice to see so many people taking an interest in the subject matter.

I would recommend a trip to the park as it is a well-presented museum with a lot of interesting back story. Without the tours, however, I can imagine that it would feel a little empty so make sure that you get on a guided tour. Everyone is given a "multimedia guide" but I really do not like these, conceptually, as it can sometimes feel like looking at a website in another place. I think there is probably a good way of using them and maybe it would work better if you look through the multimedia guide before actually walking around. I found it quite disconnected and so did not look at much of the "media" (and the control method is not to my taste anyway[3]) but the people I was with seemed to enjoy it and walking around, lots of people were peering at them as they walked.


1. Yeah, this is a made up word but I think it works pretty well. English is adaptable – prefix and root.
2. It was chosen by the military for its good links to the universities of Cambridge and Oxford as well as London. It was also not too close to London to be a target in of itself.
3. As it happens, these were ipod touch players with on ear headphones. I find iOS a little annoying to use without a "back" key and there did not appear to be hardware volume control which is actually really bad design for this type of use.

Wednesday 9 April 2014

Confessions (告白, Kokuhaku) (2011)

When something happens in your life, how accurately can you remember it? We think we can, but apparently not that well. How about when something happens in someone else’s life - that we remember less well and then we also imagine all kinds of thoughts and emotions that they were having at the time. Accurate or not, that is the basis of our justice system.
Confessions is a Japanese film by Tetsuya Nakashima starring Takako Matsu as a teacher that decides revenge is in order. Revenge for (as she sees it) the murder of her young daughter at the hands of two of her students.

The film starts with a scene in a classroom full of unruly teenagers (and unruly teenagers is not our image of the Japanese schooling[1] system) with the class teacher giving her class notice of the fact that she will leave. Her reason for leaving is that she has had enough and cannot handle working in a class where she feels that her child’s murderers are able to be without a hint of punishment or remorse - something she blames on the legal protection that minors have within society[2]. As the law will not protect society, she has decided that she will - and her method is to contaminate the milk of the two students with blood. The blood of a man with AIDS. This should not give a short life, but it will cause their deaths (she said) and give them plenty of time to reflect and show remorse. Will she get her revenge or will the children win out?

As I hope the pictures should show, the film has quite a distinctive style to it and is beautifully shot and lit. Visually, it is very clean and almost "architectural" in the simple, clean visions it shows. The shots will often be shot perpendicular to the action and with a clear framing which reminds me a little of Wes Anderson. There is also quite a lot of slow motion and the lighting, which is often unnatural, can sometimes make it look like a music video - but an excellent music video. In fact, the soundtrack is pretty interesting in itself with songs by Radiohead, The XX and Boris all very well cued in.
The structure of the story is non-linear but it does not jump about all over the place following a path with diversions - the start is the start (by and large) and the end is the end. This makes it easy enough to follow the narrative but there is enough verve within the story to keep it interesting. In terms of the "diversions", sometimes they will show the same scene from the point of view and then what you see is slightly different depending on how that person either saw it or felt it, which is kind of similar to the mid-90s classic "The Usual Suspects"[3].
The themes approached throughout the film are consistently well-developed and thought through with the vengeful teacher able to wreak much of her revenge from the sidelines just harnessing the peer pressure and bullying at any school. The two main suspects have different motivations and there are strong hints as to what made them turn that way with family life and pressure shown to be quite important. One of the characters is driven to have his genius recognised - the other just to be recognised at all. The themes involved in the film really do stretch out with a hugely relevant question about how adults should treat children - and in fact when they cease to be children. 
The film is excellent with a great concept and "in" to the film with the compelling resignation speech setting the rest of the film up expertly. It looks great and sounds great so it really does tick the boxes of visuals, sound, story and thoughtfulness. I would highly recommend this film to pretty much anyone that can handle the themes.
Here's the trailer but you really should just watch the film.

1. As I have mentioned before, the school age is regularly used in the Japanese film world in recent years.
2. I think you are meant to sympathise with the teacher throughout and that this comment on the legal protection is to have audience support - but it should be noted that anti-social crime is relatively low in Japan and also in other countries that have this type of protection as re-offending seems to be checked.
3. Or, more pertinently, Rashomon of course. I think this footnote is, by referencing a famous foreign film but linked to a better known Hollywood film, essentially having your cake and eating it. Rather than having it and just admiring it which is what you do with cake apparently.