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Month: February 2017

Whatever drives you, run with us: The University of Manchester’s Purple Wave

Written by Harry Newton on . Posted in Sport.

In 2016, the University of Manchester raised over £75,000 for charity through the Great Manchester 10K. Over 1,100 staff and students took part in the run and the university beat the record for the biggest non-charity team entry into the race. This year we are aiming to top this and get 3,000 students and staff involved. The Great Run team have promised the university our very own start time and ‘Purple Wave’ if we reach this target — with all runners receiving a purple t-shirt for the run.

The money that was raised last year was split between the British Red Cross, Marie Curie and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, alongside other charities chosen by individual runners. Alumni will also be able to sign up and run with the university.

Jenny Coldham from the Sport Manchester office said “within the University of Manchester Sport Office we are very excited about the opportunity to raise money for worthwhile causes and to create a buzz within the university community. Yet again we will be running in the university purple and will be joined by our mascot ‘BarnaBee’ the bee.”

AU clubs and sport societies are welcome to join the wave as a team. The team with the most runners based on club membership will be given free tickets to the AU ball. However, even if you have never run before, this is still something to get involved with: people from all over the university will be together striving to raise money for our important charities.

If you are a University of Manchester staff member or student you can purchase your ticket for a heavily reduced price of £20 for students and £25 for staff (down from £38).

One of the charities that proceeds will go towards this year is the Equity and Merit Scholarship scheme within the university. Find out more about how to join the purple wave on our website: http://www.sport.manchester.ac.uk/fitness/manc10K/

Review: Bundobust

Written by Jennifer Sterne on . Posted in Food & Drink.

The Manchester branch of Bundobust finally opened their doors at the end of 2016, proof that the year could produce some positives.

Bundobust first opened in Leeds, a collaboration between two award-winning establishments: the restaurant Prashad, a finalist in Gordan Ramsay’s Great British Restaurant series, and The Sparrow, named by The Guardian as one of the UK’s top Craft Beer Bars.

They have quite a legacy to follow, but seem to be doing so effortlessly.

Finding this new Indian street food and craft beer bar off Piccadilly gardens was a bit of a task, with scaffolding surrounding the entrance and stairs down to its basement home — but it was well worth the few minutes it took to realise we were standing in front of it.

Once able to make my way down the stairs, I was greeted with a mess hall-styled restaurant, its décor dominated by exposed brick, bright signs, and a wonderful skylight offering a view of the rain-speckled typically Manchester scene of old brick buildings with broken windows.

Photo: Jenny Sterne

At three o’clock on a Saturday afternoon the place was bustling, the energy of the upbeat music and our lively dining partners creating a contagiously enjoyable atmosphere.

After deciding to sit at one of the long shared dining tables — if you are looking for an intimate meal then perhaps look elsewhere — we began to look through the extensive and entirely vegetarian menu.

If you are an ardent meat eater I would advise against letting this aspect put you off, especially due to the very student-friendly prices on offer.

While we waited for our food we ordered a beer snack of popcorn and mini poppadums drizzled with green chilli and garlic oil, just one example of how Bundobust can transform simple dishes — it is not often popcorn gets a mention in a food review.

One of the standout things about this restaurant is the focus they place on their drink as well as food. The house Indian witbier ‘Bombay Dazzler’ was the perfect accompaniment to our food. Brewed with coriander, ginger and cardamom, it was a highlight of the meal.

Our five small dishes of Indian street food were presented to us in disposable paper bowls, and we quickly got stuck in.

The dishes included punjabi kadhi, a warm yoghurt soup with bhaji dumplings; paneer and mushroom tikka served with a red pepper ketchup and spinach chutney; and one of the specials, pav bhaji, a deconstructed bhaji with brioche buns, all equally delicious and original, unlike any other Indian food I had ever eaten before.

A cold Bundo Chaat, a mixture of samosa pastry, chickpeas, chutney, turmeric noodles and yoghurt, complemented the spicier dishes perfectly, a nice alternative to simply ordering your average yoghurt dip.

But I have to admit, despite the wonderful reprieve this dish gave to my delicate taste-buds, the best dish of the meal has to be the okra fries, described confusingly (perhaps just for me) on the menu as ‘fried lady’s fingers’ — tip: they do not mean the cake part of tiramisu.

Coated in chickpea batter and seasoned with black pepper and mango powder, this wonderfully flavoursome side-dish was the perfect alternative to your average side of fries, yet another example of how Bundobust manage to turn a modest dish into something you can print on a T-shirt — yes, they actually print okra fries T-shirts.

When a restaurant is able to sell T-shirts with one of their dishes printed on, you know they are probably doing something right.

Bundobust Manchester
61 Piccadilly
Manchester
M1 2AQ

Randy going to Wrestlemania… outta nowhere

Written by Joe Murphy on . Posted in Sport.

All WWE were telling its fans for the months leading up to the Royal Rumble was to ‘Remember the Rumble’. After a chaotic, controversial but, on the whole, good event on Sunday, there is no danger of forgetting it.

On the Pre-show, as always, there wasn’t much to talk about in regards to surprise. The only thing was the unexpected move to put the WWE RAW tag team titles on The Club, so shortly after Cesaro and Sheamus ended the record run of The New Day only last month. With only five matches on the main show, and four hours to fill, this should have been on the main show to give Gallows and Anderson their true moment.

Charlotte v Bayley – a match that was, for me, underwhelming. It was obvious that daughter of Ric Flair; Charlotte was not going to lose considering she has now won her singles matches on pay-per-view shows the last 16 times straight. This run may come to an end in a couple of month at Wrestlemania, but was never going to happen here. As well as the lack of surprise of the result, the match was average, with both women having had better bouts in the past. A few botches made the match made it feel less special. One positive was the devastating finisher used to win the match; the ‘Natural Selection’ on the apron looked like it really hurt. Overall – DOWN.

Kevin Owens v Roman Reigns – it was a pleasant surprise to see KO retain his Universal title against the Big Dog. The match lasted an impressively long time but never got boring. Furthermore, considering how many times these two have fought in the last few months, it is testament to both wrestlers that we were entertained at all. A few nice chair spots, 3 broken tables, a surprise interference from Braun Strowman and everything Chris Jericho did from the shark cage above the ring was brilliant. The spot that topped all others thought was a frog splash from the top rope from KO putting Reigns through a table outside of the ring, simply outstanding. Overall – UP.

Neville v Rich Swann – the Geordie Neville is arguably the best heel on the roster at the moment, possibly with the exception of The Miz. He has brought live to an otherwise dead Cruiserweight division and winning the title here was fully deserved. Take nothing away from Rich Swann, he can more than hold his own in the squared circle, but the emotion and understanding of the character simply isn’t there because the cruiserweights aren’t being given enough TV time on Raw to tell their story, hence people aren’t invested. A good match here however and a lot longer than one could have hoped for. I just hope they get some big names into this division and Neville holds on to the purple belt for a good while. Overall – UP.

John Cena v AJ Styles – MATCH OF THE NIGHT. From bell to bell this was simply outstanding. Both men are extremely talented and when you couple the star power of Cena with the ability of Styles it is a match made in heaven. Can’t pick a fault in this, I was glued to the TV screen from start to finish. The result is questionable but as long as Styles gets a decent Wrestlemania match then I’m happy that Cena equalled the record of 16 World title reigns. Watch this match if you get the chance. Special mention to the kick out of Styles after the Super AA from the top rope, really had me fooled. Overall – MASSIVE UP.

Royal Rumble match – Winner Randy Orton. This is where all the controversy is coming from. Overall it was a pretty good rumble, and I would say it was a lot better than previous ones. Braun Strowman looked strong; Orton himself looked great, as did Chris Jericho, The Miz and Sami Zayn. However, with so much build up, this was a let-down. Undertaker came in to the match for barely 5 minutes, Goldberg the same and despite Lesnar looking strong to begin with, he was eliminated far too easily. Moreover, where were the special returns? Where was Samoa Joe (who has since debuted)? Where was Balor, Angle, Nakamura or anybody that would be considered shocking? Only Tye Dillenger from NXT was a welcome surprise. The Rumble has to have that element of shock and it simply didn’t. And finally, ROAN REIGNS AT NUMBER 30! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? Of all the people WWE could have chosen to be that coveted number 30 spot and they chose the world’s least popular man. In regards to the winner. I would rather they gave it to Bray Wyatt or another upcoming star, but if this gives us Bray in the main event of Wrestlemaina, I would be happy with that. Overall – DOWN

Manchester poets come an incredible third place in national Uni Slam contest

Written by Kayleigh Hicks on . Posted in Books.

As some of you may know from the team’s relentless posting on every social media website, on the 29th and 30th of January, the University of Manchester entered a student team (Roma Havers, Damani Dennisur, Alle Bloom, Liv Barnes and myself) into a national poetry championship called Uni-Slam.

It was held in DeMontfort University and after taking several photos of graffitied walls to put on our Instagram, we went in to register. After a few workshops and an underwhelming lunch from Spar, it was time for our preliminaries. After four performances each from UCL, Leicester, Dublin, and Manchester, it was announced that both the latter teams were through.

We spoke to Dublin, and naturally they wanted to go for a pint, on a Sunday, in Leicester. We eventually found a small, quiet pub full of regulars who just wanted a quiet night out, and screamed over their small talk. Obviously, we were asked to leave. Alle, only had to smell the cider and hear an Irish accent and she was inebriated, which was fun as we had another hour of preliminaries to watch.

The other team from Manchester named Salford Speaks were performing against Goldsmiths, Sheffield, and Loughborough. Despite Salford not making it through, it was clear to see that they made an impression on both the audience and the judges.

The semi-finals were at the Curve Theatre. We had a few drinks the night before, so our rehearsals were nicely accompanied by the sound of Damani dry heaving. For this half of the Semi-Finals, we were up against Exeter, Leeds, Glasgow, and Sheffield. Before our performances, I could not help but feel sick with nerves. None of our performances were similar to the groups that went before.

However, when Damani stepped on stage, he performed it completely differently anything we have ever witnessed him do. I don’t know if it was the threat of blowing chunks all over the judges or whether something was put in his drink, but Damani completely brought something new to his performance which was well needed.

Roma and Alle followed with a poem about being sisters separated due to university, which again gave a nice contrast. Liv Barnes (as seen on the BBC) performed a new poem about having walls up in a relationship, but with a twist: the character puts up walls to hide the fact that they are not a good person, at all. To finish our round, Roma performed ‘You Smell Different’ — a plea for a friend to be honest about the suffocation and abuse they suffer from in their home life.

A standout performance in the whole competition came from Sheffield — a deeply ironic piece about the best piece of poetry ever created, reminiscent of Tenacious D’s ‘Tribute’. It brought out my witch laugh, which isn’t a good thing, but a compliment regardless. We finished in first place in the Semi-Finals, with Exeter coming in second.

The other Semi-Finals saw two teams get through. Birmingham, who combined comedic poetry with interesting messages, and added performance elements such as beginning with their backs facing to the audience. And Goldsmiths, a group of five incredibly accomplished poets, did what they do best, performing incredibly high quality poetry to the audience.

The finals were at seven, and by then I had been thoroughly drained by the colander of poetry. In the final, we had Damani’s ‘Mr Pissed at Politics’ which our team has been reciting for the past few days, Roma’s ‘Blood in the Water’, a hard-hitting middle finger to distant family members, and Liv’s ‘Pubs’, in which we re-arranged the microphones to look like a bar that she stood behind. (It does not count as a prop! We were given five mic stands, nobody told us what we could and could not do with them!)

We finished off with ‘Art is Dead’ a piece featuring the whole team. It was intended to be three minutes and we finished at around the four-minute mark. We each embodied a character, I was the person who banned art, Roma was a covert rebel, Alle was a political protester, Damani was an art addict and Liv police enforcement. At the end of the day, whether we went over time or not does not matter. We had come to Uni-Slam with the message that slam poetry is a space for variety and exploration of the form. We did not come to Uni-Slam as winners, and I’ve never been in a competition, so the fact that we did not win does not mean a pig’s ear to me.

We showed everyone how Madchester does it, and we did what we wanted to do. The rules of Uni-Slam state that the time limit is three minutes with a ten second grace period, and looking back, I would not have cut anyone’s part of the group poem to fit inside that criteria. It is difficult to mark the subjectivity of poetry, so it is best to do what the fuck you want and hope people enjoy it.

The end scores were:
Spirit of the Slam – Dublin
4th – Exeter
3rd – Manchester
2nd – Birmingham
1st – Goldsmiths

Goldsmiths were incredible, and worthy winners. They featured poets Laurie Ogden (whose final poem we’re still shaken from), Tommy Sisson (award-winning international wordsmith), Sara Hirsch (2014 Hammer & Tongue finalist) and Jack Emsden, who has no Facebook page for his poetry so I can’t steal his bio from there. However, I can say that he has a cracking poem about a TV show regarding Pigeons — both unique and entertaining.

This team will be performing at Hammer & Tongue in the finals. They certainly are ones to watch.
If you’re feeling gutted that you missed such a great weekend of poetry, fear not! The teams from Manchester and Salford are running a night at 256 Bar, Fallowfield, at 7pm on the 17th of February in order to showcase all the pieces performed in the slam.

Review: Hacksaw Ridge

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Film.

Ten years after the release of the critically acclaimed Apocalypto, Mel Gibson reaffirms his position as a top director in explosive fashion with his latest picture, Hacksaw Ridge. Exploring the incredible true story of Desmond Doss, a self proclaimed ‘conscientious collaborator’, as he wrestles with both his religious beliefs and his comrades, who view those beliefs as cowardice.

The title of the feature originates from an important tactical location, nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge during the Battle of Okinawa. This is where the majority of combat scenes take place. Before any action begins, we are informed of multiple failed attempts to take the ridge, each time getting pushed back by the relentless Japanese army. Captain Glover (Sam Worthington) regards Hacksaw as the key to winning the war: “We take Hacksaw, we get Okinawa. We get Okinawa, we take Japan.”

Interestingly, the tone shifts dramatically and instantaneously when they arrive on Okinawa. There are certain parallels that can be drawn between this and Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. For instance, both have two very distinct halves. The first, a pre-war training segment where we see the protagonist battle with his will, and the second, with the characters thrown into the heart of battle. Gibson’s work however employs a melodramatic style throughout the films opening, presenting life as almost idyllic. An unfaltering love story hindered only by his veteran father, who drowns his sorrow in alcohol to the detriment of his family, played fantastically by Hugo Weaving.

On the topic of acting, there were a slew of surprisingly convincing performances. Andrew Garfield, in his second and his best religious lead of 2017, seems to have ditched the Spider-Man typecasting with this Oscar nominated display. By far the most unexpected revelation though was Vince Vaughn as the initially hostile but ultimately compassionate Sergeant Howell. Perhaps the most memorable scene involves Vaughn’s character assessing the new recruits at the barracks. Using the wit reminiscent of some of his previous comedic roles such as Wedding Crashers and Dodgeball, he attempts to break them down through well aimed character abuse.

Several times throughout the film, Gibson, like in his other films, fetishises violence. Being by far the worst offender of his catalogue, once the war begins, the slaughter is never far behind. The camera always lingers just a moment too long on the destruction, sadistically teasing the audience, even the eruption of flames from the flamethrower is alluring. This exaggerated romanticism contradicts the anti-war message the film otherwise overwhelmingly attempts to convey.

Hacksaw Ridge adopts traits common to vintage war films juxtaposed with modern special effects for the gory detail. It ends by showing interviews from Doss and those he saved, a poignant reminder that this is a true story, and the atrocities we see on screen affected real people who fought and lost their lives to protect ours.

Review: Amadeus

Written by Elise Gallagher on . Posted in Theatre.

The evening of the 2nd of February saw me take my seat, not at the National Theatre, London, but a cinema seat in Manchester’s HOME. This was a screening of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, streamed live from London brought to us by NT Live.

For those of you just as oblivious as I was when I first entered the screening, Amadeus is the story of Antonio Salieri (Lucian Msamati: Luther, Game of Thrones) a court composer and his journey with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the young prodigy (Adam Gillen) in the musical city of Vienna. Salieri grows engulfed in an obsessively jealous war between himself, God, and Mozart.

Many have had mixed opinions on Adam Gillen’s portrayal of Mozart, indeed, at times his childlike spectacles did border on the extreme, however I think this was cleverly done. The play itself is through Salieri’s eyes: the narrative, the spectacles, the characters are all illustrated and animated through and from Salieri’s memory. As the narrative moves along, the level of obsession, jealousy, and bitterness escalate in Salieri’s mind, and thus Gillen’s portrayal of Mozart seems to be predominantly highlighted by exaggerated mannerisms, faecal fantasies and a gaping mouth — they are amplified by Salieri’s hate. Only when Mozart plays does the audience see the talent, grace and majesty of what he produces. The audience are just as in awe of Mozart as Salieri is at that moment, which makes Salieri’s bitterness escalate tenfold.

There is a scene towards the end of the first act which includes the Southbank Sinfonia being conducted by Gillen’s Mozart complete with opera singers and Msamati’s Salieri crestfallen, a mere mortal below them. That, and the monologue delivered by Msamati sum up, for me, what theatre is capable of. Having lived a virtuous life and laboured incredibly hard due to his promise to God, Salieri delivers a biting and ultimately devastating monologue in which he questions his position in history and his relationship and promise with God. Being the only person capable of hearing Mozart’s talent and potential, he says that God’s voice only says one name: Mozart. “Him you’ve chosen to be our sole conduct… And my only reward, my sublime privilege is to be the sole man alive, in this time, who can clearly recognise your incarnation!” Msamati shines.

Even the name of the play, to add insult to injury, is the name of his great rival, despite Mozart not even being the main character.

The music placed itself seamlessly within the narrative, a note-perfect performance. The set was incredible and the costumes were exceptional, perfectly illustrating the characters in each state of their lives. Gillen stated that he sees Mozart as “the first in a line of innovators” and musically sees him as “radical” stating that he “would like to update that”. The minute that Gillen stepped onto the stage of Mozart you can see he is different, he stands out like a sore thumb. Flamboyant dresses in electric hues matched by the bleach blonde hair and DocMartins — a nod to music’s more recent radicals and a clever touch. Karla Crome who plays the fabulous Constanze says that Mozart is “an anarchist, socially and musically. He’s about change.” Adam Gillen’s Mozart perfectly personifies this.

I could not fault the production apart from the fact that the stream itself cut out for ten minutes part-way through the first act, the stream returned to the same scene so I can only hope that I didn’t miss too much.

Shaffer unfortunately passed away aged 90 in June, but his death marks the revival of his most popular play. Director Michael Longhurst does an exceptional job of honouring Shaffer’s memory, Longhurst’s ensemble explosion of a production comes complete with 16 actors, six singers, as well as a 20-strong Southbank Sinfonia who become fully integrated within the drama — seamlessly lacing themselves within the action. Shaffer was known for his talent of creating memorable theatrical spectacles, and Longhurst’s direction does not let his legacy down.

Interview: Izzy Gurbuz – Wellbeing Officer

Written by Jacob Nicholas on . Posted in Features.

As Wellbeing Officer, one of Izzy’s main focuses is mental health. In October, she worked with Open Mind Network to put on “a health fair outside University Place, a coffee morning and a panel discussion in the evening” for World Mental Health Day.

Last semester she worked on improving “LGBTQ accessibility to the counselling service”. “I’ve been working on getting a training day on LGBTQ issues, varying from language used to the societal prejudices that people face, for the staff there… and that should hopefully happen sometime this semester.”

This semester Izzy hopes to do the same for BAME students: “I’ll be working with some students with a professor from Psychology and the counselling service to look at currently what training is in place and what more we can do there,” she told us.

She is also working to organise mental health training for the security staff, although there is currently “a logistical issue with organising it, because the counselling service are going to deliver it to them. So, everyone’s on board, it’s another one of those things that’s ongoing in terms of getting it actually sorted and in place.”

One of Izzy’s key manifesto pledges was to expand the university counselling service, although she has had to change this slightly. “Waiting times in the counselling service are still a big issue. The university is currently looking at how they tackle that issue. So, when I was writing the manifesto I was just thinking, ‘Yeah we need more funding’ but the university are looking at doing different things such as potentially having the wellbeing support in schools strengthened.”

Her priorities now are “essentially trying to make sure that only people who need to go to the counselling service actually do, and our lower level support is strengthened in other areas. That doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about funding — I’m still hoping at least in the short term to increase funding so whilst these bigger plans are happening that gap’s still being plugged.”

Izzy also believes that “there is currently an issue around expectations” within the counselling service, and that “they are not meant to be a long-term therapy kind of treatment. Their service is meant to be maybe three appointments and it’s about setting up an action plan and doing more first line intervention, but it’s not meant to be long-term support — that’s really something the NHS is meant to be doing. And that’s really a problem as Manchester NHS services have been slashed, so people are finding it really hard to access treatment that way as well.”

Another manifesto pledge was to tackle the Food on Campus prices and end their monopoly, although she has had to change her plans on this pledge as well. “I think the biggest issue is probably the meal deals really, because we’ve seen with the new stuff in Uni Place that the quality of food has been getting better, and then perhaps the pricing isn’t such an issue. The problem is when you have to pay in excess of four pounds for a crap sandwich a drink and crisps, and that’s something I’m hoping to tackle this semester.”

And is this huge task achievable? “I think it’s very difficult, and I think lots of people have tried in previous years, and the pricing is the hardest part. But it doesn’t mean I’m not going to try, it might not work but I’m going to try my best and see what happens.”

Izzy has also aimed to increase awareness of available support in general, and has had some success. “I worked with the advice service in terms of how they advertise in the welcome week pack, so we included things like STI testing, pregnancy tests and panic alarms in the advertising that weren’t there before, so I’m hoping that’s increased peoples’ knowledge of it. I’ve also had on my part of the website the wellbeing timetables all there together, so I’m hoping that’s been useful for people to see everything all together in one place as well.”

A successful year so far then, and with a lot of changes hopefully coming through for all these issues, as well as potentially reforming the mitigating circumstances system, Izzy’s success should hopefully continue. With the elections coming up, why does Izzy think students should stand to be Wellbeing Officer?

“Wellbeing really makes an impact on pretty much everyone at university — everyone gets stressed during exams, everyone needs to be in a good place mentally to achieve academically. So I think it’s a really key area that goes through all areas of academic life!”

To see all of our interview with Izzy, head to Fuse TV’s YouTube channel.

Interview: Emma Atkins – Education Officer

Written by Jacob Nicholas on . Posted in Features.

The biggest challenge facing Emma as Education Officer is the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), which the Students’ Union is strongly against. She was not surprised by the university opting in, as “all the other universities in England are opting in as well, the only ones we know that aren’t opting in are in Scotland”.

She even admitted that there was never any chance that the university was not going to opt in, claiming that “Manchester University isn’t exactly known for putting its head above the parapet or anything.”

However, despite campaigning against the TEF last semester, Emma does not believe their work was pointless. “We were expecting this to happen but we wanted to try anyway, and have a constant dialogue with the university. We wrote a position paper and had lots of meetings and they absolutely knew our position. So now when we do the NSS [National Student Survey] boycott we’re absolutely justified in doing so because we did all this work to try and get them not to opt in, and so now we’re at loggerheads.”

The NSS boycott is now Emma’s main focus, and she aims to “have a show of discontent”, explaining that “last year 72 per cent of students in final year completed it, and we want to drop that to 62 per cent. We want to have a show of discontent around it, and also to undermine the TEF, because ultimately we want to show that the NSS is not a suitable metric for measuring teaching quality because it’s so biased, it’s inherently biased if you can show that students can affect it so easily.”

She also rejects the idea that students should deliberately sabotage the NSS rather than boycott it, arguing that “because the National Student Survey is now linked to fees, even if you do complete it, even if it’s in a negative area, then you affect the university’s ranking in the TEF. You’re still complicit in engaging with it and therefore you’re also complicit in raising fees.”

Emma emphasised the importance of the national issue: “It’s not just about Manchester anymore, it’s about the national movement, and if enough unions undermine the TEF by not filling it in, and therefore not having enough data, then that’s a bigger show, that’s a bigger signal than just sabotaging it.”

Furthermore, Emma believes that Ipsos MORI sending out the NSS earlier than expected has shown the effectiveness of the boycott. “I think it’s a sign that they’re panicking and that they’re taking the boycott quite seriously. They’ve actually gone behind the backs of the institutions and done it, which suggests that they’re not that convinced that the universities will be able to do an effective survey, because we’re boycotting, so I think it’s partly a good sign.”

She also contends that the early release shows a lack of respect for students as “it means that the survey was released when people had exams and essays and important things to concentrate on. The reason we’re launching our campaign after exams, or when exams are winding down is because we respect our students and we want them to focus on their work before actively thinking about something else.”

This focus on the TEF has partially got in the way of Emma’s ability to fulfil her other pledges, but she does not mind this, stating that “it’s a very important thing to be working on, so I’m not resenting it at all.”

Despite the huge nature of the TEF, she has managed to achieve some of her goals, “I’m going to do some life skill workshops in the part-time fair, I was going to do them all throughout the year but this TEF thing sort of overshadowed everything, and I’ve managed to introduce textbook rescue… so the library has this initiative where students can donate their old textbooks and new students can get them so they don’t have to pay so much… I’ve been running student rep workshops since September as well, which I’ve found really good, and I think it’s really important to empower student reps.”

And finally, applications are now open for next year’s Exec team, and Emma believes that running for Education Officer is a great opportunity. “You’ll get so much experience working with people, team building, communicating, writing papers… you’ll meet some great people and you’ll make some friends for life. And because the union is a charity it means you also become a trustee of a charity which is great to put on your CV too, and it means you have all these other responsibilities that no other job will give you, so run. It’s a great thing to do.”

To see all of our interview with Emma, head to Fuse TV’s YouTube channel.

And Now We Are Plastic

Written by Laura Joyce on . Posted in Arts.

And Now We Are Plastic is the first exhibition at the Whitworth to be curated by young people. The show focuses on the modern world’s relationship with technology, and the youth’s dependence on it. This is a concept that appears to be at the centre of modern literature, TV and Film which sees the evolution of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and even augmented reality.

With regard to the ever-changing technological environment with which we are faced, the Whitworth states, “As technology helps us to constantly evolve, the boundaries between our physical and digital spaces are blending, yet our ability to adapt and change remains visible in our art, marking the world we leave behind.”

Whitworth Young Contemporaries are a group of 15-25 year olds who have the chance to collaborate with emerging artists to create exhibitions of their very own. This particular exhibition was produced using various items from the Whitworth’s collection of works, including textiles and sculpture, to aid the exploration of “consumerism, technology and the selfie”.

The artwork within the exhibition explores a vast array of art across time. From early Egyptian textile, 18th century satire drawings, to 20th century works by Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, the first showing of experimental textile works by Georgina von Etzdorf, alongside contemporary artists such as Lynn Hershman Leeson, Laure Prouvost and Marc Quinn.

The inclusion of the idea of society being ‘plastic’ refers to the idea that plastic comes in many different forms, some disposable and some in the form of necessities, and plastic can also be moulded and changed, just as society can be influenced by its surroundings.

Technology in particular has had a huge impact on every generation, whether they use technology or not. Its presence is constant, ever changing, and ever evolving — just as we are.

This exhibition is certainly thought-provoking, even before seeing it, and so relevant to society today — particularly the youth of today. So many of us go from day to day with our heads in our phones that we miss the world going by. Are social media and TV taking over from the real world?

We live in the age of selfies, where getting likes on Instagram is the highlight of our day. Does this just reflect society’s constant need for approval? Maybe it’s just a reflection of our basic human desire to fit in. But where does it end? Where will our obsession with technology lead us?

It goes without saying that we will look forward to more of Whitworth Young Contemporaries’ forward-thinking in their future works.

Live: The Head and the Heart

Written by Ruth Foran on . Posted in Music.

1st February at Gorilla

8/10

The Head and the Heart, having playing in Manchester seven years ago, filled Gorilla to the brim on Wednesday night providing the audience with a warm performance from start to finish. The audience were treated to hits from all three of their albums, including their latest Sign of Light.

The band came on with a bang, belting out their hit ‘City of Angels.’ They received an excellent reception from the audience from the word ‘Go.’ Something absolutely breathtaking about this group was their ability to harmonise almost effortlessly, sounding exactly like, if not better, than their recorded album tracks. Each vocalist sang their own part with huge smiles on their faces while doing so. They looked just as happy to see the audience as we were to see them, which helped everyone to feel so welcomed by the band.

Every single member of this six-person band is immensely talented — there’s no arguing with that. They all showcased their talent through the ranges of instruments they played, each picking up a guitar, piano or percussion. Charity Rose, the only female in the group, completely complemented each song with her amazing sound from the violin. Yet what impressed me most were her vocals. Her tone differentiated from soft rasps to then grand power notes that had the crowd erupting in cheers. The drummer, Tyler Williams, despite being hidden at the back, kept catching my eye with his amazing energy, a huge beam on his face the entire show. Lead singer Josiah Johnson showed off his amazing falsetto abilities channelled with husky undertones for their track ‘Oh My Dear’.

The crowd at this gig felt homely, ranging from ages of 14 to even the likes of 50-plus, showing that this band’s music is relevant to pretty much everyone. People stood arm-in-arm, swaying to the music almost the entire time (with the exception of a few daring single dancers, waving their hands in the air.)

They thrilled the audience with crowd-pleasers such as ‘Ghosts’ and ‘All We Ever Knew’, having the crowd bopping and chanting in unison. They also had the ability to completely move the audience, saying, “Just for a moment, let’s be still” — the soft blue and emerald lights reflecting waves, having a rippling effect on everyone in the room.

To me, this band was a breath of fresh air. It was heartwarming to witness a band that even after a few years are still just as passionate about their songs. A woman on the bus home summarised their performance better than I could — “It’s when you feel you’ve finally got the right music — that’s when you know how to express it.”

That, they did.

A student life: Don’t Give a Damn

Written by Emma Shanks on . Posted in Features.

Though taking the leap to decide to go to university for most will bring some of the best years of our lives, that is not to say it doesn’t come without its issues. I spoke to one University of Manchester student taking an alternative approach to dealing with this stress which studying can cause.

What began back in the summer of 2015 for final year French and Spanish undergraduate, Bethan Turner-Harrod, as a project calling for people to be more true to themselves, has since developed into its very own online community blog: Don’t Give a Damn. The blog seeks to break down the stigma of mental health “one post at a time.”

For someone who personally lives with mental health problems, she came to the realisation that “to be myself I had to be truthful to everyone — that was what my first article was about: “Does my mental health make me who I am?”

“I’ve been through a lot of the support systems but they’re all just lacking in what they can offer, which is mainly down to funding. It was something no one was talking about and I couldn’t be quiet about it anymore.”

In light of Theresa May’s recent pledge to improve mental healthcare, which received much media attention, I asked Bethan whether she thought it actually got to the root of the issue.

“She talks about pumping money into the problem once it’s already occurred but I think more should be done for prevention. The government could do with funding things like Don’t Give a Damn — which are filling in those gaps!”

As soon as Bethan launched the website with a story about her own experience of anxiety, she received endless messages from people telling her that they felt the same way. This was the leg up she needed to drive forward what she was doing — “I felt like I’d made myself quite vulnerable but the response that I got made it a lot less daunting.”

Her key focus on Instagram, where the most mental health activism is currently taking place, sees posts varying from contributors’ pictures, to personal stories, to anonymous testimonies. She makes clear that the blog tries to avoid any presumptuous or unrealistic guidance, with the most recent examples including suggestions of plants and doodling as positive pick-me-ups for one’s mental wellbeing.

“I wanted to keep the optimistic aspect. So many mental health blogs I read online are informative but a bit too heavy. I want mine to be a bit more uplifting, not to be taken light-heartedly, but easier to read.”

One of Bethan’s fundamental focuses is highlighting the recognition of all mental health disorders, not just anxiety and depression, of which we are most aware, so as to keep readers informed that symptoms come in all shapes and sizes.

Hence equally, as much as Bethan wants Don’t Give a Damn to be for those with previous or ongoing experience, another prime target of hers are the friends and family of those living with mental health problems — “people often lose friends when trying to deal with their mental health issues, and that’s partly down to the fact that their loved ones don’t know how to support them through it.”

When asked how she strikes a balance between university work and the blog Bethan says apprehensively, “I don’t — I’ll go through spurts where I just want to post loads and my followers will rocket but then I won’t do anything for weeks and I’m just back at square one again.”

But, with the helping hand of another friend, Sarah McKeating, who helps run the Facebook and Twitter accounts, Don’t Give a Damn has big plans to advertise for more website contributors in the coming months. If you’re looking to get involved Bethan encourages anyone to just drop her a message — “you don’t have to have personally experienced mental health yourself, even if it’s that you’re just interested in expanding your own knowledge then I won’t say no to any input.”

Where from: Nottingham
Course: French and Spanish Undergraduate (BA Joint Honours)
Balance: 70 study/30 blog on a good week, but can be 80/20 with lots of work.

Best part: “The response I’ve had from other people who feel like they can finally relate to someone else.”

Worst part: “When my own mental health stops me from working on the blog — if I’m having a down day I don’t feel like telling everyone else to be happy, but that’s something I want to work on because promoting that it’s ok to feel rubbish sometimes is good too.”

Where she sees herself in 15 years: “I would like to pursue Don’t Give a Damn not as a full-time career but as something into which I can invest a lot more time. I’d like to go into schools and discuss mental health issues with teenagers, because that’s when I first started having problems, along with organising events and workshops in other cities.”

Sticking to your New Year’s resolutions

Written by Rachel Adams on . Posted in Lifestyle.

We’ve all been there — the goals that you drunkenly set on the 31st of December for the year ahead suddenly seem impossible to achieve as soon as January’s over. One of the biggest challenges facing us when we make these resolutions is how to keep them going throughout February and the rest of the year. Like any habit that we want to establish, the most important thing to remember is why we want to keep our resolutions in the first place.

Is it to improve our everyday life? To help others? To improve our productivity? Keeping that reason, whatever it is, in your mind when you think about your resolutions will help to refocus your mind and make you more determined to keep them going throughout the year.

If going to the gym is your resolution, you might find that your eagerness to see results means that you get disheartened when you don’t have the body you want by the 31st of January. Bear in mind that you’re unlikely to see results straight away — in fact, it might take a couple of months for you to start seeing progress. One of the best ways to keep your gym resolution is to find someone to go with — you can both encourage each other, and give each other motivation when it’s needed.

If you’re determined to stay organised this year, buying some new stationary could help make it easier for you to stay on top of deadlines. A diary or daily planner would help to keep everything organised by day, week, or month depending on your preference. Different coloured pens and highlighters could help to make important deadlines stand out and help you keep things organised.

If giving up alcohol or nights out form part of your resolution, try to surround yourself with like-minded people, or friends who are going to help you stick to it. Giving up alcohol doesn’t mean that you have to stay in every night — Manchester has loads of activities that don’t involve alcohol, such as The Escape Room on Chapel Street, or Black Dog Ballroom for bowling in the Northern Quarter. Speaking of the Northern Quarter, why not try out some of their independent cafés and restaurants? They cater for all different tastes at reasonable prices.

Ultimately, sticking to New Year’s resolutions is something that has to come from you. If you’re feeling like your goals are unrealistic, why not change them? There’s nothing that says that you’re not allowed to change your resolutions throughout the year if you feel like they’re not working for you.

At the same time, it’s more than ok to drop a resolution if working towards it is making you unhappy. Set realistic goals that you think you can achieve within a realistic timeframe, and you shouldn’t have any problems sticking to your New Year’s resolutions the whole year round.

Feel the love in Manchester this Valentine’s Day

Written by Megan Byrne on . Posted in Lifestyle.

Whether you’re all loved up or loving being single this Valentine’s Day, there is a multitude of things to do in our city on February 14th.  You can choose to fully embrace all the cheesy cliches, hearts and confetti of the season or opt for events which provide a real alternative.

Photo: Jayne Russell @ Flickr
  1. Power Ballad Disco at AATMA – Friday 10th February from 11pm (£6)

The perfect opportunity to purge yourself of all of your heartbreak by singing/screaming along to the likes of Cher, Aerosmith, Whitney and Mariah. This is touted by the organisers as the ‘the most depressing night of your life’ but if you love a good cheesy ballad and a laugh, this could be your perfect V day night out.

 

Photo: Mark Carline @ Flickr

2. Moonrise Kingdom at Victoria Baths – Friday 11th February (£10.50)

Wes Anderson’s sweet kitschy film about two children who fall in love and run away on a small New England island is the perfect choice for a screening in a swimming pool where you can cosy up in in deck chairs (make sure to dress warm — it gets chilly!). Lose yourself in Anderson’s gorgeous cinematography and enjoy snacks from the street food vendors who will pack out Victoria Baths.

 

Photo: jason in Manchester @Flickr

3. Fletcher Moss Botanical Gardens, Didsbury – Open every day from dawn till dusk, free entry

If Christmas has left your budget a bit tight for Valentine’s Day celebrations why not go for a romantic stroll around one of the prettiest parks the city has to offer. Just a quick trip on a Magic Bus will get you to Fletcher Moss where you can enjoy the unusual and exotic plants and escape the hustle and bustle of the city for an afternoon. If you get too chilly there’s always The Alpine Tea Room where you can grab a warm drink and bite to eat with your beau (or go solo and take a good book).

 

Photo: Manchester Student’s Union

4. Student Action Homeless Projects: Street Support — Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday 5.45 – 8.30pm

If you really want to spread the love this Valentine’s day, why not eschew the usual activities and do something to give back to the community? Street Support is a mobile soup kitchen which provides food, hot drinks, clothes, and information for people living on the streets of Manchester. The project is run by the Student Action Homeless Projects which is based on the first floor of the Students’ Union in the Student Activities Office. If you want to find out more about volunteering opportunities with the university check out find-volunteering.manchester.ac.uk.

Payet and Football Loyalty: A Response

Written by Toby Webb on . Posted in Sport.

Firstly, I would like to address the Payet situation. While I will tackle the ‘loyalty’ issue later, my initial problem is with his shameful attitude and actions. The whole fiasco has shown him to be immensely egotistical and disrespectful.

Payet’s decision to go on ‘strike’ has illustrated a new level of footballing pomposity. Let us compare him. This January, both Jose José and Leonardo Ulloa expressed the desire to move away from their respective clubs. Fonte acted with dignity, being fully dedicated to Southampton until his move to West Ham was complete.

Similarly, while Sunderland were unable to acquire Ulloa’s services, the player has since stated that he will remains dedicated to Leicester for the rest of the season. My problem with Payet was not that he showed ‘disloyalty’, it was that he was egotistical, demonstrating that he fully believed he was bigger than the club.

When it comes to the notion of ‘loyalty’ in football these days, I believe the whole concept to be archaic; footballing loyalty is an antiquated ideal that pre-dates the modern game.

However, with the speed in which he disregarded, and eventually pressured the club to end, his contract, Payet did something many people could only dream of. For most, a work contract is a binding agreement that can only be altered with months of notice. Few will ever get the luxury of being able to go on strike from their job, fully well knowing that another will become available almost simultaneously. The Payet situation was so distinct from reality. Criticism of his egotism is rightly justified, but questions over his loyalty are a desperate harkening to a past world.

Yet, I believe in the instances where loyalty still exists, praise should be given. While there should be no expectation that a player will stay at one team for any significant amount of time, they should be nevertheless praised if they accumulate years of service.

While there is no valid reason to highlight ‘disloyalty’ in this day and age, loyalty should be praised. When I think of loyalty in the current Premier League, I think of Mark Noble, Troy Deeney and Vincent Kompany, amongst others. While I completely understand why playing for a club is viewed as merely a job, it is still refreshing to see players exhibit true sentiment and devotion towards their club.

In terms of ‘loyalty’, it is clear to me that it is more prevalent amongst the lesser teams, specifically the lower reaches of the Premier League and the subsequent divisions. Given these teams have smaller budgets, there is more continuity in personnel year on year.Players are likely to be at these clubs for longer, subsequently demonstrating a level of so-called ‘loyalty’. However, the most mercantile of clubs, Chelsea and the two Manchester teams, have a large turnover of players.

While the Premier League is forever graced with new and exciting talent, the sheer volume of player turnover has had a detrimental effect on the feel of the clubs. Many Premier League teams, not just the big spenders, appear soulless: there is little continuity or continued identity.

The identity of teams can vary massively year-on-year with the high-level of player/coach change. While spending money is effectively a necessity for success these days (Leicester last season being the anomaly), the level of personnel change is producing teams that are difficult to associate and connect with.

I think the criticism players received from fans and the media for apparent disloyalty is really an expression of anger and frustration at their clubs becoming these soulless entities.

David Hockney designs special edition logo for The Sun newspaper

Written by Georgia Welch on . Posted in Arts.

In a bizarre and unprecedented move, celebrated Yorkshire-hailing artist, David Hockney, has designed a logo for a special ‘one-off’ edition of The Sun newspaper, which was displayed as the paper’s front page masthead in its February 3rd issue. The copy also featured an interview with Hockney, centred around his upcoming exhibition of unseen works at Tate Modern, opening this month. Having studied at the Royal College of Art in the early sixties, he produced a multitude of iconic works throughout that era, and Hockney is arguably one of the most seminal and well-known British pop artists of the 20th century. It is with this in mind that his decision to liaise and collaborate with The Sun, a tabloid newspaper characterised by its frequent xenophobic, homophobic and misogynistic remarks, comes as such a surprise.

The logo itself, however, simply uses the same colour scheme and typeface as can always be seen in The Sun’s logo, but accompanied by a series of crudely-drawn sun rays in the upper-left corner. This has led to a great deal of speculation as to whether Hockney’s contribution to the newspaper is all just a joke. The logo was allegedly drawn using an iPad, and when discussing his work Hockney was noted as saying: “Once I thought about the idea it didn’t take me long. The sun and The Sun. I love it.” It certainly isn’t one of his most enigmatic or complex works, and whilst we may not be able to definitively comment on whether Hockney’s contribution was genuine or simply ‘trolling’ as some suggest, we can certainly hazard a guess that it may well be a case of the latter.

 

Top 5: Album Openers

Written by Ben Lomax on . Posted in Music.

5. ‘Chloe In The Afternoon’ – St. Vincent

Whimsical synths meet staccato drumming and spiky guitar riffs in the opener to St. Vincent’s wonderfully weird third album Strange Mercy. A song that feels simultaneously as inviting as it does like staring down the twins from The Shining.

4. ‘You Want It Darker’ – Leonard Cohen

“If you are the dealer, I’m out of the game” Cohen rasps over the dark and moody opening to his final record of the same name. A standout single from last year, it’s a track that hangs heavy in the air, the greeting words to his final farewell.

3. ‘Ultralight Beam’– Kanye West

Considered by many his masterpiece, Ultralight Beam is a rather subdued, spiritual start to what is a turbulent and tumultuous album. “We were just blessed to be in the room at that time when the ultralight beam came through us” claims Kanye. Whether by design or divine inspiration, the gospel number sticks out as a highlight of an already illustrious career.

2. ‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’ – Biffy Clyro

As unapologetic and direct as its title suggests, after a minute and a half of agitated strings, odd-timed orchestral hits, and dramatic choral parts, the bare-chested, Scottish rockers explode into a bombastic rock anthem. Perfect set up to an album that stares into the face of death and the associated mental anguish, it’s a visceral, twisted, triumph of a track.

1. ‘Five Years’ – David Bowie

Even from an artist with such a long list of great opening tracks (Space Oddity, Modern Love, Changes, Young Americans etc all kicked off their respective LPs), the sauntering, laid back drum beat over Bowie’s proclamation that we only had “five years left of crying” stands out. While thankfully the world didn’t end in 1977, the idea that perhaps we might not have all that long left feels especially pertinent today.

Blood orange sorbet recipe

Written by Lily Carden on . Posted in Food & Drink.

The reason for including this recipe in a freezing February issue and not a balmy summer one is that blood oranges are currently in season. They make wonderfully tart sorbets but can only be bought in January and February. I found mine at McAlls in Church Street Markets, just above the Arndale, at 3 for £1. As you only need three per tub, not only is it an impressive dessert for your date and/or friends but it’s a cheap one too.

It takes about 12 hours in total but not much of that is active time

Place your receptacle (a big Tupperware box or clean metal roasting pan) for the sorbet in the freezer a few hours in advance.

Ingredients

125ml water

125ml sugar

6 lemons/(blood) oranges (to make 400ml juice) or 600g defrosted raspberries with a squeeze of lemon juice

Method

Place the water and sugar in a large, heavy based pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat once the syrup is clear.
For the Lemon/Orange Sorbet: Finely zest 3 of the lemons/oranges and add the zest to the sugar syrup. Using a citrus squeezer, juice all 6 and add the juice to the sugar syrup.

For the Raspberry Sorbet:

Allow the raspberries to defrost and then add them to the sugar mix, along with a squeeze of lemon juice. Blend until smooth using a stick blender, then strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Help it through by pressing the back of a spoon into it, discarding the seeds once you’ve finished.

Allow both of the sorbets to cool and then transfer them to the tub that’s been stored in the freezer. Set a timer for 30 minutes and when it goes off, use a fork to stir it or a stick blender if you have one, making sure that you get into the corners and it all gets mixed up.

Repeat this until it gets to the consistency of a slushy and then break the crystals up one last time.

Hopefully, by now it’s almost set and you can just leave it until you want to serve it (no more timers required). The whole stirring process tends to take me about 4 hours.

Pasta Carbonara Recipe

Written by Lily Carden on . Posted in Food & Drink.

Serves 2

Takes about 15 minutes to make
Ingredients:

140g dried spaghetti

100g pancetta, diced

2 medium eggs

50g grated parmesan, plus more to finish

Black pepper
Method

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Meanwhile cook the pancetta in a frying pan that is large enough to add the pasta to later. Beat the eggs and grated parmesan together in a bowl and season to taste (if the pancetta is salty then you won’t need salt, just lots of pepper, but do check first).
Once the pasta and pancetta are cooked, add 3 tablespoons of the pasta water to the frying pan before draining the pasta and adding to the frying pan. Toss to combine and take off the heat.

Pour the egg and cheese mix over the pasta and toss to coat. Leave the heat to cook the eggs for about 5 minutes, stirring often. You want the eggs to coat the pasta and thicken but not scramble. To that end you can return the pan to a very gentle heat if you need to, turning the pasta constantly, add more water if it seems very thick.
Transfer to bowls and top with more parmesan and black pepper before eating.

Get away for a weekend

Written by Jack Greeney on . Posted in Lifestyle.

As your average perennially penniless student, I’m no stranger to grand dreams of a weekend away in far-flung lands being crushed by the reality of a bank balance. The summer after my second year, however, when I travelled abroad sans parents for the first time, I discovered that hope is by no means at all lost. In fact, I now firmly believe that great travels can be had by anyone, even with the tiniest of budgets.

It doesn’t come without a little effort or extra open-mindedness in searching, though. Usually the most effective way to shrink the price involves a little bit of planning beforehand. Don’t get the wrong idea, you don’t have to turn your weekend away into an authoritarian regime, unless January 20th got the US on your itinerary. All it means is that when you start out, you should aim to be flexible about everything you do and measure up your priorities against your budget every step of the way.

The very best deals on transport in summertime always come with planning and booking early on in the year. Luckily for you it’s barely February, so I’d recommend getting to it right away if you plan on leaving as much left over in your piggy bank as possible. Exams are over and uni is as light as it’s going to get from here on out, so make use of what little extra free time you have now and you won’t regret it. Flights skyrocket in price after school terms end in July, so get in there sooner while you’re free. Exams end June 9th, so give yourself a few weeks to celebrate then get out there and see the world.

Aside from this, the most important factors of your weekend away that can be bent to trim costs are your travelling origins and destinations. Naturally, different places abroad are cheaper to get to from different airports in the UK. Plan to stick around after your exams and search cheap flights from Manchester and Liverpool airports. Stay flexible and keep your eyes peeled: Leeds sees the occasional good deal too, as does Newcastle, and if you’re willing to book a Megabus to London, Stansted Airport always has plenty of budget flights. Getting out of the UK can be an expensive affair from many places, so look a little wider and you’ll get results.

To find out exactly how to escape Britain as inexpensively as possible, I recommend Skyscanner. Rather than specific destinations, the search fields allow you to search for travel from all of one country’s airports to another’s. The ‘Everywhere’ feature works well too, allowing you to search for the cheapest flights from anywhere to, well, everywhere. Nonspecific searches allow you to quickly and easily find the best options, dates, and times, to string together a plan of how you’re going to get to and from every destination on your list. It could even open your eyes to a new destination entirely!

Squashing down flight costs and surrounding expenses is a crucial factor in ensuring the whole trip is as cheap as possible. I suggest entering into it with a mind open to all possibilities, and taking some time to search around online for which airports appear cheapest to fly from and to, in any given countries. This will help you come up with a concrete framework of flights on which to base your trip around. Get going with it all now, while everything’s still as cheap as it’s going to be. After you’ve got all that bother sorted is when the real fun starts. Good luck!

Review: Jackie

Written by Pete Stallard on . Posted in Film.

Jackie takes place in the weeks immediately following the assassination of John F. Kennedy and almost claustrophobically centres on his widow Jackie’s attempts to make sense of the tragedy that has happened and do right by her late husband. Indeed, the camera rarely leaves Portman’s fraught visage, and lets us know from the offset that this is a film both about and inhabited by the figure of Jackie Kennedy, rarely deviating from this intense focus.

The film is framed through an interview given by Jackie to a journalist eager to get his hands on the exclusive story from the former First Lady. However, Jackie is too smart for him and is keenly aware of the kind of story he wants to spin. From the off she lets him know that this will be her story and her history, and the journalist’s published article will be almost entirely the one she herself has crafted. It is a remarkable power dynamic which gives Jackie almost complete control over the narrative of the film.

What then entails is a series of flashbacks/flashpoints in which Jackie Kennedy goes about creating the myth of her husband how she sees fit, envisaging his legacy as one reminiscent of Arthurian legend. Recreated archive footage shows Jackie giving the first ever televised tour round the white house, and these moments reveal her singular, almost materialistic intent to cement her husband’s place in the pantheon of great presidents. Jackie wants the late president to be remembered in the same breath as previous titans such as Abraham Lincoln, and her uncompromising desire to memorialise her husband underpins the films best scenes; this is a woman who has just lost everything yet will bow to no one.

Portman’s Jackie is also a woman of remarkable vigour and compassion, refusing to bow to pressures, to shy away from the public eye as well as consoling her children in the way only a mother could. In one potent scene, she refuses advice to change out of her blood-spattered clothes, wishing to make her husband’s enemies realise the gravity of their crime, stepping off the plane into the public eye bearing the grim reminder of the tragedy that had occurred just hours before. This same motif of blood is then used in a later, crushingly vulnerable scene and demonstrates the films fine balance between the grief and resilience of its titular character.

However, despite the brilliance of Portman and wonderful writing from Noah Oppenheim (as well as an unnervingly sparse score from young composer Mica Levi) the middle section of the film does drag.

After the initial displays of intense, feverish grief contrasted with Jackie’s iron will and uncompromising attitude to those who would meddle in the affairs of her late husband, the film lulls, not finding enough to flesh out the intervening period between JFK’s death and the imminent funeral. Perhaps it shows a lack of empathy on my part in not being able to sustain my sorrow for this woman’s plight, but after constant scenes of chain-smoking and sorrowful conversations I noticed my sudden desire for her story to be resolved; I wanted her to just get what she wanted and be left alone to attempt to gain some modicum of normalcy back in her life.

However, the final act of the film was a glorious return to form, and showed Jackie at her most compassionate and acerbic. The funeral arrangements become her own personal crusade, and woe betide any who wish to dissolve her ‘Camelot’ myth. Her desire to do right by her husband (who she admits was not perfect) cannot be understated, and it is this singularity which drives the film and kept me in awe of this woman, an individual who I will freely admit I knew nothing about coming into the film.

Overall, the film delivers an Oscar-worthy (Oscar-bait? Cynical perhaps) performance from Portman, who imbues the character of Jackie Kennedy with enough nuance to carry the film forward and keep the audience enraptured by her. Credit should also go to Stéphane Fontaine’s camerawork, which if not focused on Jackie Kennedy’s face from the beginning of a scene will cleverly snake its way across the room and once again plant her at the centre of the chaos that surrounds the assassination. Although the pacing does suffer mid-way through the film, for anyone wanting to see a film about a neglected figure in American history, Jackie will leave you with an admiration for a woman you may well have known nothing about.

3/5