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June 26, 2005

The girl in the cafe

I went away for the weekend, but something in the car's engine packed up very noisily on the way. Managed to limp the last few miles in third gear, but had to get the AA to bring me home. Looks like it's the gear box. Now I have to decide whether it is worth repairing, or whether I get back on my bike...

While away, I watched The girl in the cafe by Richard Curtis. At one level, it was a typical Curtis romantic comedy like Four Weddings, or Love Actually- except Bill Nighy played the role usually assumed by Hugh Grant. But this time, the film also had a message.

It was set around the G8 summit, and was highlighting the moral dilemmas around the decisions made by these 8 powerful men. A child dies every 3 seconds because of preventable poverty-related causes. These 8 men have the power to do something about it - to seriously change the status quo in favour of the poor. There are so many concerns and calls upon them, but the 30 000 children dying each day must be a more urgent moral imperative than simply pursuing our own prosperity.

I thought it was well done, and was pleased to see the message going out on prime-time TV. When you live around people who are struggling to provide for their families day by day, much of the political posturing, and criticism of Live 8, "Saint Bob", and stuff is really hard to listen to. There is injustice in the status quo, resulting in millions of people dying. The answer can never be charity alone, if we don't address the fundamental injustices. How can we not fight to change it? We need to recognise that for the poor to get a good deal, we need to be willing to pay a price, and that international structures and decisions should reflect this. Surely this is an expression of righteousness - to help others at our own cost. You too can send a message to the G8 leaders to tell them you want them to act for the poor.

Whatever you think of his films, Curtis, who made "The Girl in the Cafe", has not just jumped on some bandwagon. He normally takes 6 months in every 2 years to work for charity. He was also one of the founders of the British charity Comic Relief, with the associated Red Nose Day. Go here for a Time interview with Curtis, Bono, and Bob Geldof.

The BBC actually has a series of programmes about Africa at the moment, called "Africa lives on the BBC". There are some good programmes, and the website also has some useful links.

Posted by Keith at June 26, 2005 08:11 PM