In the months after 9/11, the intelligence community is on high alert to make sure that another Mohammed Atta doesn’t slip through its fingers, which means the police and other above-board keepers of the peace are out to make showy arrests to keep the peace and to reassure the public.įor Bachmann, this kind of grandstanding is far too shortsighted “It takes a minnow to catch a barracuda, and a barracuda to catch a shark.” “I don’t fish,” huffs a government higher-up in reply, but for Bachmann, the low-level flunkies need to be kept on the street as informants and as bait to attract much bigger seafood. Hoffman stars as grizzled German spymaster Günther Bachmann, who runs an off-the-books agency in Hamburg that engages in activities that no government wants to acknowledge. Not unlike the recent film version of le Carré’s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” - as well as Corbijn’s earlier movies, of course - “Most Wanted” can often be a chilly bit of business, but it’s no less gripping for its emotional distance, thanks mostly to a superb cast led by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. See video: Philip Seymour Hoffman Kidnaps Rachel McAdams for National Security in ‘A Most Wanted Man’ Trailer (Video) That’s a concept that works for screenwriter Andrew Bovell (“Lantana,” “Head On”) and director Anton Corbijn (“The American,” “Control”) in their big-screen adaptation of John le Carré’s “A Most Wanted Man.” There are a lot of characters and events for the audience to process and digest, but all the while it’s the film’s theme that sneaks up and overtakes the plot, making for a powerful climax.
Produced by aptly titled, Pivot Pictures, Lion Spy is well worth a viewing.As we’ve learned from countless novels, movies, and TV shows over the years, the great spies glean information by distracting their marks with one narrative, all the while subtly weaving a separate, hidden agenda.
Yet this is a story that needs to be told and Rogue Rubin has risked her life in the telling of it. There are many more revelations in Lion Spy and footage that is both shocking and deeply disturbing on so many levels. Whilst on a hunt with a well known game hunter, Rogue is almost apologetic for, “loving the experience of living in the African bush and waking up at 5am to watch the sunrise.” When finally the leader of the hunt trusted her enough to allow her to join the others, all men, she discovered that much of the shooting was done from a truck. This means that many animals will die a slow and painful death. Many of these hunters, who come to South Africa, specifically for game hunting, are not even experienced marksmen and need to be trained up by the experts first. When they arrive at their safari headquarters they are treated to such exotic dishes as zebra fillet or even zebra lasagne for breakfast, as often these animals are used as practice targets before moving on to the main trophy kill – the king of the jungle, the lion. Trophy hunters, she explained, come from all over the world to hunt. Rogue was even invited to one of these lion farms and introduced to adorable baby lion cubs, bred and then sold, to be hunted. Many explain that all they are doing is culling the lion population for the good of all.
Disguised as a pro big game hunter and videographer, Rogue set out to expose the secrets and lies of game hunters presenting themselves as legitimate managers of wildlife parks, dedicated to conservation. “How could I ignore this? There is one defining loyalty in everyone’s lives and this was mine,” said Rogue.
Share BY RENEE DALLOW With rhino’s on the verge of extinction and a similar fate about to befall the 20,000 lions left in Africa, Australian filmmaker, Rogue Rubin, decided that urgent action needed to be taken.