Episode 10 The Culture Show

Hello and welcome to The Culture Show from the royal adad mi. We are

talking vision Rhys and dissenters. Sculpture and Savages, Mormonism

and musicals. Coming up: blockbuster bronzes,

from creators Matt Parker. And director Oliver Stone on

Savages, his latest gory tale. First up, the Royal Academy has

crossed continents and five menia in the name of their new show, the

aim to bring together in one place, some of the planet's most

extraordinary bronze sculptures. My old friend Danny Katz has been

buying and selling sculpture for 40 years. I asked him to join me in

picking out some of the most remarkable objects from this truly

great exhibition. Beautiful bronze. From the minuture

to the monumental. Bronze has been Chericked as an -- cherished since

an antiquity. Made from a mixture of copper, tin,

zing and lead, it has cast its artistic spell down through the

ages. The exhibition is arranged theme

atically, from the ancient world to the present day.

First up on our tour is the dancing satire, recovered from the depths

of the Sicilyian sea. It's not a bad start. Could you

imagine the lucky fisherman who went out to catch his fish one day

and got that in the met. I met the fisherman and he told me that when

the figure came up, it came up headfirst out of the water, it

danced out of the water, with fish and crabs, screaming from the hole

in the head. Look at the drama in its face. Extraordinary, the way

the tension in his face is pulled back. He is in full flight, having

a go. I love the way they put it in this gallery, a dark blue gallery,

as if to suggest the sea from which it came. Look at that, like it's

taking off. We have live-off. -- Look at that, I didn't know they

had those here. Here they are three of the great monumental bronze

sculptures of the of the Florentin Renaissance. They are by a chap

Rusticci, whose work you have bought and sold. What do you think

about it? Obviously the catalogue has been written by a knowledgable

scholar, but he's wrong. These are by da Vinci. You say that quietly.

I don't say it in jest. There is only one man who could have

designed drapery like that. That's come out of a sketch book by da

Vinci. That hand out stretched. That is like da Vinci's signature.

Leonardo helped with these skull.Ures. -- sculptures. It can't

get better. It can't get better. Oh, no, look

at this, my goodness gracious. Donatello, look at him. He is your

favourite artist of all time. he is actually having fun with this.

This is the mind of a genius, a man developing an idea, a form, a shape,

this is the one object so far I photoally covered -- totally

covered. You want to take it home couldn't live with something like

this. We learn from this. What did he do with bronze that he couldn't

have done with another medium. carve this in one piece of marble

would have been impossible, but he was fascinated by the use of bronze.

He was the first man to make a full-scale individual statue.

can reinvent the whole form, you are not impressoned by the block of

marble. No, because it's more solid, it is strong letter. For those who

come to the Royal Academy and engage with this object, it is just

about enjoyment and fulfilment and happiness. It's good good for the

soul. Next to room seven which contains something a little strange.

When I first saw this, I thought Mexico? No. Is it Mexico? What is

it, ancient Viking what could it be? It says here it's English, to

ward off evil spirits. Durham cathedral. I am a bit of evil in my

dad. That's a scary bugger, look at that thing. That would scare any

bit of evil out of anyone. It's not a Gargoyle. If you look at the side,

it's got teeth like a mantra. Think of the noise that's going to make.

Clang and boom boom! I'm scared! I need a cup of tea. To calm our

spirits, we enter room 10, to look at one of the show's most

astonishing pieces. I think summing up this exhibition, with this

amazing new discovery from Bulgaria says something about the durability,

lasting process of casting in bronze, because this has been --

had this been made in stone or terracotta, it wouldn't be here

today. It's like a face, still alive. He's staring out at us with

those eyes. Did you see a photograph of the chap who

discovered this, an aged archaeologist. He would only wear

under pants, he was known as the great underpant archaeologist. If a

modern day film director was going to make a film about ancient Greece,

this would be it. This is something else. It is absolutely amazing.

think that is the pinacle of this exhibition, one of the last things,

we get this high art, high culture and it continues throughout the

whole exhibition, this great high quality of bronze. It is ever

lasting, lasts forever and it is here for us to wonder and marvel at.

It's like it was created yesterday. Extraordinary.

Bronze is at the Royal Academy until 9th December. Next something

foul mouthed, scatheingly satirical and multi-award winning. The Book

Of Mormon is a musical created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the

team behind South Park. It tells the story of two Mormon boys sent

on a mission to Africa. The show hits these shores next year but

first it's touring the US and last week saw its glittering premiere in

Hollywood. Hollywood stars are out in force

for the LA opening of The Book Of Mormon, a musical from the creators

of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The plot is take two of

these kids, white boys that grew up in a privileged, in a really nice

middle American Mormon home in Utah and we send them to, like, the most

war torn famine stricken ravaged part of Africa.

In this scene the missionaries belatedly discover the local song

has a blasphemous English transation. -- translation. Holy

moly, I said it like 13 times. we were first doing the show on

Broadway, they were saying are you ready for the bash lash lash we

thought there won't be one. We live in a same free country that allows

us to practise our religion. And it was like exactly what it really

should say. # This was the time for me to step

up, so why was I so scared. # A warlord who shoots people in

the face, what is so scary about that. The songs dictate where the

show goes. # I believe that the lord God

created the universe # I believe that he sent his only

son to die for my sins # And I believe that ancient Jews

built boats and sailed to America For a lot of people out there, in a

lot of ways a Mormon represents an American period. And it is like the

ultimate version of the overly happy-go-lucky, overly nice, trying

to pretend everything is OK, and not that bright about the actual

goings on of the world. The naive cheesy optimism that more Mondays

have is a sort of an American thing. # I am a Mormon

and a Mormon just believes The Book Of Mormon has enjoyed huge

commercial and critical success, already racking up nine Tony Awards.

The winner is The Book Of Mormon. Next year the show is heading to

London's West End, something its creators never envisaged. The fact

we are talking about coming to London is crazy. We have always

said we are 40%-ers, maybe 20%. 40% of people like our stuff but the

ones that like it really like it. The Book Of Mormon opens in London

next March. The actor Colin Firth has been busy recently, not chasing

his latest Oscar but helping to to compile a book. The People Speak

tells the story of our nation through the voices of the

dissenters and ordinary folk who took on the establishment. On

Sunday, a star studded cast assembled at London's Tabernacle to

speak the stirring words afresh. Clemency Burton-Hill went along.

I am Arthur king of the Britons. Whose castle is that? King of the

who? The Britons. What What who are the Britons? I didn't know we had a

king. We are living in a dictatorship, which working class...

Bringing class into it again. Conceived in America, the people's

speak is the brainchild of Howard Howard Zin. By traumatising

speeches and songs, the project aims to bring to life the American

story through the voices of its people. Anthony Arnove has joined

forces with Colin tpeurt to bring the idea across the pond and turn

the spotlight on to British history. In Britain we have a tradition of

being sceptical of actors who embrace causes and turn into

activists, but how important is it to get the likes of Colin Firth

involved? Colin got involved organically. He saw an American

production and was moved by it and felt these words needed to be heard

in England. I am going to be reading a a clip from Harold Pinter.

How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described

as a mass murderer and war criminal. 100,000? More than enough I would

have thought. Therefore it is just that Bush and Blair will arraigned

before the international criminal Courts of Justice.

The scope of the project is vast. Covering the movements and issues

that shaped, rocked and defined the nation, but from an individual's

perspective, reminding us that democracy is built from the bottom

up. When a man says he is free, does he mean he is wholly,

independent in thought and deed or does he mean he's not doing

anything at the moment. I am excited to be start to be part

of something that is celebrating the lunatic fringe or say what

people are thinking from the heart and we are at the beginning of the

movement, trying to get those voices not mainstream.

The great thing about Margaret Thatcher was that she left us in

absolutely no doubt. One of the things that is striking

in the book is that these things for which we take for granted now

were acts of treason when they are first pos eted and often the people

advocating for them lost their lives. Absolutely. The things we

consider as basic rights were once crimes. Nous terribly long ago.

People were tortured for them. say we are rebels, because there is

no other way open to us of obtaining redress for the

grievances, grave grievances Which? Women have. You have a powerful

moment in British history, amazing female trail brazer. I am thrilled

and honoured to be reading the speech. It's quite an empowering

moment for her. I think you just see that ferocity she had. I mean

to be a voter in the land that gave me birth or that they shall kill me.

And my challenge to the government is this: kill me or give me my

freedom. I shall force you to make that choice. Campaigning and

outspoken women feature heavily in both the book and the performance.

Virginia Woolf was one of the woman who stuck her head above the

parapet. How important is it for those words to be head by an

audience?. I am reading from her book a room of one's own, it was

written to be spoken, and when you read it to yourself, it is a very

different different thing. Off relationship to her thought and you

find yourself talk to go her in your head. When you stand up and

read it out loud, you are appealing to a collective. It is a rally, it

is a cry. It is a very thoughtful and interesting and intelligent cry

but it still becomes a rally and cry for change.

At last nick green the actor manager took pity on her, she found

herself with child by that gentleman and so who shall measure

the heat and violence of the poet's heart when caught and tangled in a

woman's body, killed herself one winter's night and lies buried at

some crossroads where the omnibuses now stop. That, more or less, is

how the story would run, I think, if a woman in Shakespeare's day had

Shakespeare's genius. It is people who stepped outside the norm of

their day, to speak on an issue where it was considered unpopular.

This is a book of people who did that and as a result of that, we

have the freedoms we do enjoy today. But there are also freedoms that

can be erode d. I believe despite the enormous odds which exist,

unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination as

citizens to redefine the real truth of our lives and our societies is a

crucial, obligation which deinvolves upon us all. It is, in

fact, mandatory. If such a determination is not embodied in

our political vision, we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly

lost to us. The dignity of man. Next tonight, director Oliver

Stone's the man behind such major movies as JFK, platoon and Natural

Born Killers. Soy say he's bold, some think he's merely obsessed by

graphic violence, but many agree he's been rather off the boil in

recent years. But does his latest film Savages mark a return to form.

Here's Mark Kermode. Oliver Stone's new film Savages is

a son and blood soaked triler from Starting as a screen writer, stone

made his mark mark directing Platoon, Born on 4th July, Nixon

and JFK and Wall Street. Why do you need to wreck this company? You are

made many films in which you have not one lead, but a selection of

leads. Tell me about the difficulties of working with an

ensemble. A pain in the ass. On Savages it was six actors, three

young people, and they are not as experienced as Benecio or John or

sell ma. They are like pupies. It is a different chemistry.

The plot of Stone's latest film follows some pop dealers as their

existence is blown apart when they refuse to join forces with a

violent mex kal drug cartel. want out of the dope business, it's

been a drag. You are making a mistake. This leads to the kidnap

of their shared girlfriend played by Blake Lively. Can you describe

sell ma high eck's character, because he has been described as a

dragon lady fill and for me she is the centre of the film. She is

speaks for herself. I wouldn't have a problem, cutting both their

throats. She was The head of a cartel but losing power in Mexico.

She's been betrayed from within and from without and she is slipping.

Universal at the beginning of the of the movie said are you sure she

is right for this movie. She doesn't seem tough enough. And I

said I know her personally, she's one tough lady. Is everything all

right? Yes, why you ask? realistic is Dell Torro's character.

He is a really evil figure, he has an extraordinary hair arrangement,

he exudes nastiness. He did some very strange things. That's your

bed, that is your toilet, that is your sink. No tooth brush? You want

to use my finger. John Travolta is a fascinating

character, he is an agent who is corrupt. In an ironic way, it is

Travolta who is the seiziest guy in the -- sleaziest guy in the whole

cast. Just a matter of time before they legalise it. I take the deal

instead of decaptation. It is a work of entertainment, but do you

think of it as a political statement?. No, I have given up on

the drug war. You have 42 years of hypocrisy going on on where the

money has gotten bigger and the drugs have got more plentiful and

more profitable. The prison system in the US has exploded because of

drugs. A huge number of inmates are people who committed victimless

crimes, like smoking grass. I don't see anything wrong with marijuana,

it's been made illegal in the US. But the federal government doesn't

agree. Does it matter to you how the film is received critically.

The interesting thing is that the reviews are divided? I didn't read

reviews. Do you never? I will in a year. I don't want to get hurt too

much, because I do. You get hurt by that stuff? Yes, I get hurt by it,

yes. I get hurt by not being understood. I like to be understood.

What can people expect from Savages. What did you get out of it.

thought you were having more fun than in the last three films you

have made because you were working a film primarily a work of

entertainment. It's not fun to make a movie, it's hard. Is it not fun?.

It's like being a quarterback on a football team and trying to get

down the field. He enjoys it after he wins.

Savages is released on Friday. Jennifer Egan won a Pulitzer Prize

for her last novel a visit for the good squad. Her latest work Black

Box was published in the United States as a series of tweets, while

here it's only being released as an E book. Gimmick or the future?

Grace Dent has been considering the matter.

Earlier this year, eager readers waited with baited breath for the

next instalment from Jennifer Egan. I love twitter. But I think that if

I had written a bestselling zeitgeisty novel like Jennifer Egan,

I would have wanted to cash in on my next novel. I wouldn't have

risked it by putting it on on twitter. I track her down in New

York and asked her why she did it? Hello. Why did you decide to

publish via twitter? You are not a big tweeter, are you? I have had a

terrible time with diviter. I thought maybe I would want to tweet,

I was interested in it, but I found I couldn't find the right attitude

or persona that made tweeting as myself feel natural, so that is the

extent of my tweeting. But my interest in twitter remains,

despite the failure at it personally. I found myself

wondering what kind of story would benefit from being read

individually in the way that they would be if it were actually

tweeted in real time. Necessary ingredients for a successful

projection, giggles, shiness, the goal is to be both irrestistible

and invisible. When you succeed, a certain sharpness will go out of

his eyes. I was looking for some kind of voice that could work in

this tweeting form, and I found myself thinking about, imagining a

female spy in the south of France, delivering bulletins about what

she's doing, not in the form of descriptions of the action, like I

did this, this happened, that seemsically sayed but in the

lessons she der derives in the action. A button is imed on your

right knee, depress twice to indicate to loved ones you are well

and thinking of them. You may send this signal only once a day. A

continuous depression of the button indicates an emergency. Do you

think twitter could be the future of the novel, or is it just a

playground for procrastinating people like me who spend too much

time on the internet?. I think the novel has always been a very ecleck

tick plexible form, few look at earlier novels. Some are really

wild, swaggering, endeavours using all kinds of discourse and bending

it to their purposes, whether it is legal discourse, letter writing,

all the the technological possibilities, they were using. It

is part of the history and the rational for the novel to grab hold

of whatever is around and bend it to its its purposes. What will the

novel look like in 20, 30 years, we have no idea. That wraps it up for

tonight. Make sure you don't miss next week's culture show when we

have a special interview with JK Rowling and exclusive readings from

The Casual Vacancy, her first aimed purely at grownups. We will leave