The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 69

Sunday B.October 1 995 the Observer Review. 11 PHILIP War iQiBes Disney's bland remake of American history pales beside Ken Loach's vivid, revivifying tale of the Spanish Civil War Pastor as Blanca with Ian Hart as David (second from left) and comrades in Land and The Spanish Chi War is a milestone in th history of socialism and it is appropriate that Ken Loach's Land arid Freedom should open in the week of Labour's annual conference. The Party's greatest Prime Minister, Clement Atflee, whose 1945 gov-ermnent transformed this country, was very proud when, during his visit to Spain in 1938, the Number One Company of the Inter-narional Brigades British Battalion was named the "Major Attlee Company'. Looking back on his experiences in Spain, George Orwell wrote; 'Even' line of serious work thai 1 have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarian and for democratic Socialism, "as I understand it'. Scripted by his regular collaborator; Jim Loach's movie is a visceral, emotional and intellectual experience, and among the finest films of the decade.

It begins in 994 with the death of Dave Carne, an octogenarian working-class Liver-. pudlian, living alone in a tower block, its hallways daubed with National Front and anti-NT- graffiti. His granddaughter, Kim, a woman in her twenties, opens a case of his mementoes -press-cuttings, photographs, letters that take her back through labour, history to the Spanish Civil War. Among the souvenirs is a handful of Spanish earth wrapped in a red neckerchief. It transpires that the unemployed David (the excellent lan Han), an idealistic member of the Communist Parry, mad his way to Spain to fight for the Loyalist cause, and (as Orwell did) found himself serving with a military group attached to POUM, the Marxist revolutionary group, inBarcelona.

With his customary flair for verisimilitude, Loach makes us feel that we are alongside Dave, rrairmg with the militia, taking pan in battles, thrilling to the- Revolutionary ideals: Rosana account of the love affair between Chief Powhatan's beautiful daughter and the English adventurer John Smith in seventeenth-century Virginia pits destructive, avaricious colonialists against loving, sharing Indians in an Edenic America green in tooth and claw. The message is a bit rich coming from Disney, an organisation founded by a vindic-. tive xenophdbe and itself the. despoiler of large. tracts of virgin land.

As always, Disney's artists fail, with non-villainous humans. Poc-ahontosiodks like a Gauguin maiden made over as a Valley Girl, and both she and Smith's faces seem bland, almost featureless. Only the racoon and the hummingbird that attend her. and Governor Ratcliffe's bulldog have any character, Russell Means, the leading Indian activist, must have thought that in agreeing to voice Powhatan he was helping to advance the Native American cause. Butthe-Chief looks like a cigar-store Indian and speaks the wooden dialogue that liberal Westerns used before the veteran director, Raoul Walsh, in his final movie A Distant Trumpet (1963), decided to dignify the Apaches by letting them speak their own lan opre in Assassins: 'Give us the disk and we'll give you your life sav's the chief heavy to Sandra Bullock in The Both movies are loaded with too much inappropriatemusic and immaculately photographed.

Assassins features Sylvester Stallone at his most solemn (Sly can't manage serious), as a principled assassin, left over from the Cold War and being challenged by a brash young hitman (outrageously overr played by Antonio Banderas) keen tb be number one. Forail the state-of-the-art computers this is a familiar Western plot dressed up as an espionage thriller, and the climac-. tic moment when a killer's hiding place is betrayed by a drop of blood falling onto the hero comes to Assassins from Puccini's Girl of the Golden West via Hawks's Rio Bra 0o. Vie Net is an updating of the paranoid conspiracyihriller with borrowings from flic lady Vanishes and other Hjtchcock -pictures. Sandra Bullock is a cute micrbchipmunk pursued by a megaJorrianiac organisation determined to take over America by controlling computer protection systems.

It'sslacWy directed, though not unentertaining, and, following a current pattern, the villain (Jeremy Northam) is English. The picture's best idea is to hint at parallels between the vinises disnipting computer systems and the Alzheimer's from which the heroine's mother suffers. years ago Gregory Nava enjoyed a certain success with lil Norte, a modest movie about two Guatemalan peasants making their way to die promised land of Califor-. nia. After die disastrous Wortd War II melodrama, A Time oj Destiny, he has returned to die Hispanic world with My Family, a sprawling saga of four generations ofM'exican Americans Irving in the barrio of East Los Angeles froth the mid-1920s to the 1980s.

Produced by FrancisCoppola, this is a corny, sentimental picture, narrat-' ed by a sailor-mmed-writer, who tells us in sub-magic realist manner about his father, an immigrant gardener, his mother, a servant woman, and his younger siblings, who variously mrn to criihe, the law, die church and the restaurant business. 'There is no greater blessing in this world than children', is the message. Most films about football are pretty poor. But 1 have fond memories of Bo Widerberg's 1974 picture Fimpen, in which a six-year-old plays for the Swedish World Cup and Cheik Doukoure's similar Le Ballon d'Or is even better. Its 12-year-old hero Bandian is an African village lad living in the backwoods of Guinea.

He's a naturally gifted soccer' player, determined to become a pro. but has never had a real hall. FRENCH and. comradeship of fellow volunteers united in opposition to fascism. Like Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Land and Freedom concentrates on one small area of the Chil War and its hero too has a gentle affair with a beautiful Spanish revo-.

lutionary fRosana Pastor). Unlike Hemingway's Robert Jordan (a character written with Gary Cooper in mind), Dave is no handsome Hollywood hero and he 'does hot die with his illusions intact. He sees his democratic militia destroyed, by Communists bent on eliminating opponents and troublesome individuals of any political hue in the interests of Stalinist realpolitik. The film's clever framing device, serves several essential functions. First, by showing everything through Dave's eyes.

Loach and Allen don't have to deal with the war in its infinite complexity. Second, the movie -can switch from incident to incident as Kim sifts through Dave's letters home. Most importantly, the flashback technique links the double learning process of grandfather and granddaughter. In Spain in 1937, David has a painful lesson that leads from naivety to maturity without making him a cynic. He retains his belief in the essential decency of working people and their right to control their own destinies, individually and as a'community.

In Liverpool in 1994, Kim learns a vivid, sobering yet revivifying lesson from her grandfather's legacy. In a moving, affirmative final scene, she reads a poem by William Morris over his grave, drops theSpanish earth onto his coffin and raises the red necker-. chief-in a salute. After Beauty and the Beast, Disney's best full-length cartoon for 50 years, the studio has been going downhill again, and Pocahontas is a poor film. This politically correct NOTES ON LIFE, to have the desired effect of dispersing the crowd, many of whom were openly distraught.

Waving hairnets, wigs, hairbrushes, hotel show er-caps, lockets attaining tufts of rheDeputy Prime Minister's hair and Union flags overprinted with the slogan 'Tarzan does it swinging, they shouted: 'Tell us the truth' and surged round the spokesman, who was knocked from his perch and suffered broken ribs and concussion in the melee. Adding to the confusion was a scrummage of photographers and television news cameramen who Jostled anxiously for shots of the fifth-floor window behind which it was believed the First Secretary lay gasping for hair. From time to time the crowd roared as a petite nurse, in full Trust House Forte uniform of starched apron, black fishnet stockings, white blouse and knee-length black skirt, was observed passing the window. Following the broadcast of the Statement on ITN's News at Ten, a stream of messengers bearing gifts, flowers and get-well messages began to "arrive at the hospital, where police struggled to clear a path for them through the mob. Most of the couriers declined to comment to reporters despite being offered money and other inducements.

There were uncorroborated claims that a funeral wreath, delivered by Interflora, bore the inscription: 'All good things come to an end. Best wishes, The Governor of Hong Kong sent a takeaway (Set Menu' 9.50 per person: crispy aromatic duck; king prawn with black bean sauce and green pepper; spare ribs in Hong Kong style; seasonal-vegetables in oyster sauce; and egg fried rice). Mr Michael Portillo, Secretary7 of State for Defence, sent a miniature canister of nerve gas. Archer was brain surgeon At 10.14pm Lord Archer appeared at the entrance to the hospital. just comefrom he said, "and I have to tell you that 1 never saw a finer head of hair.

It is freedom mock microphone, giving commentaries and conducting interviews. The village sorcerer, not his parents, encourages the lad 's vocation. The golden ball ot" the title is given him by a woman doctor at a Miklecihssans Frontieres clinic, and she helps him get to the There he's helped by a kindly dwarf, taken up by a French entrepreneur arid trained by an altruistic coach. The story, finally turns on the contest between the white businessman, who wants to send the lad to play in France, -and the black coach who wishes to develop players on their home ground. The former isn't a villain and the outcome is a surprise.

je Ballon ri'Orisbemgshown in the Barbican season 'Comedy, Mystery and Melodrama in African Cinema', complements the current. exhibition of African art at the Royal Acad- emy. Most of the movies are from former French colonies. Not one is from a Commonwealth country, which is a tribute to French film culture and a sad comment on our own. Land and Freedom (109mins, 15) Curzoi West End, London Wl and selected release; Pocahontas (81 wins, U) Odeon Leicester Square, London WC2 and general release; Assassins (125 rnins, 15) Warner West.

End, London WC2. general release: The Net mins, 12) Odeon West End, London WC2, general release; My Family (126 mins. 15)Plaza, London Wl and selected release. Le Ballon d'Or (90 mins, PG) Barbican, London EC2 and (from 17 Oct) Rilzy, London SW2 mmm amui mm LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF POWER This good-natured picture is full of interesting characters and unexpected Bandian 's best friend goes everywhere with a Hair-raising adventure in Blackpool guage with subtitles. Pocahontas is produced by one James Pentecost, which may explain why Pocahontas, after meeting an uncomprehending John Smith, is suddenly given the gift, of tongues and can understand and speak English.

The heroines of Richard Don-ner's Assassins and Irwin Winkler's The message is a bit rich coming from Disney, an organisation founded by a xenophobe and itself the despoiler of large tracts of virgin land The Net are computer geniuses in possession of disks that contain secrets for which men will kill, and both have been robbed of their identities by global conspirators. 'I want my life shrieks Julianne the Prime Minister saying 'Oh, lohnjiow only to be unceremoniously felled by a karate chop from one of the PM's bodyguards, after which he was bundled into the boot of a waiting car. PM's statement Mr Major then made a statement to the assembled media. '1 am not inconsiderably shocked aiid he said, smiling 'to learn of Mr Haseldine's condition. Oh, yes.

The -position of Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of Stateis an ancient part of our unwritten constitution and it is a position which Mr Hazelnut fills' with not inconsiderable distinction. Many lesser men, for example, Sir Godfrey Howe, have been.broken by it in the past. It is a worrying reflection of the strains attendant upon high office that the Deputy Prime Minister's hair should be falling out. My wife Norma and I send him our best wishes for a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back in harness in 1998. Thank you, And, with that, Mr Major got back into his car and sped off to shouts of 'Get yer underpants out' and 'Tarzan for King' from die enraged crowd Westminster sceptical The notion that the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State has been attacked by the mange has been received sceptically in the Palace of Westminster (writes our Political Editor), 'it's not the fact of the hair loss that I said one of Mr Heseltine's ex-Cabinet colleagues who did not wish to be named, 'because we have all seen the tell-tale signs.

Everywhere Michael has been recently, people have been finding tufts of blond hair lying about on partially-chewed carpets. But if you ask me, that hair didn't fall it was Those on the opposite side of the political fence are more explicit. 'Ever since that business with the said the outspoken Denis BO Blackpool, Sunday Stunned Conservative Party Conference delegates last night gathered outside Blackpool Metropolitan Independent Trust House Forte Hospital following an official announcement that Mr Michael Heseltine. Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State, had been admitted for an emergency hair transplant.Ten-sion had been rising all day in the bars, and tea lounges of conference hotels as delegates, many of them earing twinsets and cravats, discussed frenzied tabloid speculation about Mr Heseltine's condition. Hospital managers, concerned that the crush of people outside the building was impeding emergency access to the casualty wing, issued the following press statement at 9.45pm local time.

'The Rt Hon Michael Dibdin. Heseltine, MP, Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State, was admitted to the Trichologica Ward of Blackpool Metropolitan Independent Trust House Forte Hospital at 3.15pm today, Saturday 7 October, for tests. Following extensive follicular exam-ination and computer enhancement of images produced by the hospital's new whole head scanner, a severe attack of the mange was diagnosed; A team of surgeons led by Professor Siegfried Sassoon decided to operate immediately to restore Mr Heseltine's vital hair function. The operation successful and the patient is now in post-operative care, wtiere his condition is described as satisfactory. Ir Heseltine has been visited by the chief executive of the hospital's chaplaincy division, the Rev Jay Philip Spens, NfBA, who is on hand to provide religious goods and services.

Mrs Anne Heseltine is with her husband andhas requested that their privacy be Frenzied mob This statement, which was read by a hospital spokesman perched on a photographer's step-ladder, failed Skinhead, MP for Ballsover, 'every-" body's known that Heseltine was off his trolley'. Mr Skinhead points to the fact, elicited in a written answer to a parliamentary question, that since Mr Heseltine's return to the Cabinet, official expenditure on carpets in the Ti (where he was President of the Board of Trade)and Downing Street has gone up tenfold. 'What's happening to all these asks Mr Skinhead. 'I'll tell you: they're being chewed, that's what. And now he's started pulling his hair out, you mark my Friends of Mr Heseltine are quick to point out that he has an excitable temperament and has been under a lot of strain lately.

'It's probably his Welsh drawled one permanent secretary who has worked with him in the past. 'Chap can't see a china shop without barging into it Remember that business with the flak-jacket at Molesworth? Then there's the story that he is now demanding to be addressed as "Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of And now he starts foaming at the mouth when the European Court of Human Rights finds against the Government on theGibraltar (Mr Heseltine described the court's verdict as an 'incomprehensible, ludicrous and extraordinary' one which ignored 'the delicate situation in Northern Ireland today'.) Stop press Blackpool, Sunday; Mr Michael Heseltine, Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State today denounced the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Professor Seamus Heaney. It was, he said, 'incomprehensible', ludicrous and extraordinary that, the Swedish judges have chosen to honour a notorious nationalist sympathiser at this delicate time in the Peace Process. The Fpreign Secretary will be summoning the Swedish ambassador to justify this extraordinary, MrMidiaelHeseitineis62. HO COMPETITION Mr Major got back into his car and sped off, to shouts of Tarzan for King' from the crowd in terrific shape, When asked what he knew about hair.

Lord Archer replied that he had once been a brain surgeon and, as such, had often had to shave patients' heads before drilling holes in theirskulls. 'And I can tell he snapped, 'that when you do that, you really get to know whether a chap's thatch is the genuine Asked where he was going next, the millionaire novelist replied, 'I'm off to see the Prime Minister, who has asked me to bring him up to speed on Michael's At this point the Prime Minister's armoured Daimler swept into the hospital grounds, accompanied by' a detachment of the SASclingingto the running boards of a fleet of specially-adapted black Range Rovers. Lord Archer- was momentarily thrown, but recovered quickly and bounded down the steps towards.