Tinker, tailor

"Tinker, Tailor,
Soldier, Sailor,
Rich man, Poor man,
Beggar man, Thief,
Doctor, Lawyer,
Indian Chief".
(A.A. Milne, 1927)

**
"A tinker and a tailor, a soldier and a sailor,
Had once a doubtful strife, sir".
(William Congreve, 1695)

**
In 1974 John le Carre -his real name is David Cornwell- published his book Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy. For the last cinematographic version (2011) it has been translated in Spanish as "The mole". I cannot say I enjoyed the movie overall. The telling turned to be quite slow and intermittent to me. The characters, the costumes, the set-up are great, though; the smell of tobacco, real and thick. The cities where the action takes place, mythical and full of magic in other places are, however, as much distant and blurred to the spectator as to the protagonists of the story: a subterranean, electrifying river of tension and fear, disloyalty and loneliness consumes this world of spies, fickle as the smoke of its omnipresent cigarettes.

Gary Oldman likes his character and seems to have enjoyed the job. I agree that the cut of the movie is opposed to that of James Bond´s: no music and no glamour; life is dark and damp as a prison cell. And, indeed, the absence of women is painful and catastrophic. In addition, the pointing-out of homosexual features of some of the characters (in a cruel, all man´s world) is no gratuitous to me. (Take as examples, two suitcases stating "if there is another man, you can tell me" or, more interesting, the relationship and the fatal ending (along the tune of La Mer) of fictional characters,  Haydon and Prideaux).

Nevertheless, the rhythm made me bored. I fell asleep during the last 15 minutes -oh!-. Perhaps, the good Le Carre spy film-story, mixing up great performances, scripts and costumes with a vibrantly-told tale is the final achievement to make... Perhaps, as well, I should avoid going to the cinema after 8... .

Regarding the music, two great discoveries for me: a surprising version by Julio Iglesias of Charles Trenet´s beautiful La Mer, and the powerful music of the National Anthem of the ex-USSR (since 2000, of today´s Russia again) by Alexander Alexandrov.

Also, let me mention this by the way: the dubbing of movies should be restricted as much as possible.

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