Movie Review: Dirty Pretty Things

First, let me begin by saying this: the movie is not about smut. The title is slightly misleading. So, if you were hoping it was risqué, you will be very disappointed.

Now that is out of the way, let us move on.

The movie poses a number of interesting questions, the most serious one being perhaps, “if you are an illegal alien in a country and you witness a crime, how do you go about reporting?” Another question might be concerned with, “how far are you willing to go to fulfill your dreams?” A third question involves risk, “should I risk my legal status to help someone illegal?”

I would guess these questions arise frequently within the United States. Our movie takes place in London, in a West London hotel. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays, Okwe, an illegal Nigerian immigrant (aside: Firefly fans will know him as the “Operative”) who discovers a human heart in a toilet. Audrey Tautou plays, Senay, a legal Turkish Muslim immigrant (aside: Da Vinci Code fans will know her as Agent Sophie Neveu) and Okwe’s roommate.

What happens subsequent to finding the heart in the toilet opens us to the world of danger in which many legal and illegal people find themselves living. Smart, intelligent people can become victimized through their legal status within a country. Native citizens can act immorally or unethically while illegals try to act ethically and morally.

Many scenes are disturbing to watch, and should be. These scenes are not contrived to communicate a message; these scenes play themselves out in the real world everyday, around the world, wherever desperate people connect with people willing to capitalize on that desperation. Movies like this help bring that point home.

Obviously, I recommend this movie.

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Don't Judge a Fruit by its Peel

Geography is intrinsic to life. Like economics, in that everything has an associated cost, evidence of geography at work can be found in seemingly mundane stuff, like bananas.

When we dive further, say "pull the peel away," a much richer story of space and time is revealed. And that is the case with the bananas that United States citizens eat everyday.

Mr. Koeppel relates a compelling story, full of mystery, intrigue, conspiracy, romance, and death - all related to the banana. Okay, the romance part may be a little bit of a leap, until one considers that the banana is THE most popular fruit on the planet. Humans, and many other vertebrates, invertebrates, and microbes of all types, love the banana.

The fascinating part of the story of the banana deals most with the unseen enemys of the banana. The Cavendish of today, the banana found at Kroger, and stores across the United States, is threatened by a fungus. The predecessor to the Cavendish, the Gros Michel, was rendered extinct by the Panama Disease, the same disease that threatens to exterminate our beloved Cavendish.

Koeppel's telling of the development of our modern-day Cavendish begins almost at the dawn of time; well, with Adam and Eve, anyway. Koeppel takes us on a geographical journey, from Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, to Central and South America, and finally to the United States and Europe. We Americans tend to be very unimaginative when it comes to the banana and its uses. Across the globe, the banana is seen as a valuable, if not essential, food stuff.

Koeppel hits all the right spots with this book. An Easy-to-read, interesting, fact-filled, historical and geographic tome, his book illustrates the geography of the world's favorite fruit.

Read this book!