Word: bal
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Reagan radiated the politics of optimism, attaching himself to the flag, bal loons and the Olympics (the summer's one really popular event). He deplored criticism of his policies as negativism. That included the press as well: in matters serious (the invasion of Grenada) and trivial, the Reagan Administration had effectively excluded the press. The President stopped holding press conferences that might embarrass him; so did George Bush. But outcries from the press against such high-handedness were muted by the discovery that the public seemed not much concerned. It is this constant sensitivity to public reactions- endemic...
...textile town 32 miles northeast of Bombay with a history of Hindu-Muslim enmity: bitter fighting between Hindu and Muslim extremists in 1970 left 150 people dead. Tensions began to rise again in Bhiwandi and other Maharashtra towns earlier this year. One specific incident came in late April when Bal Thackeray, leader of a militant, right-wing Hindu organization called Shiv Sena, gave a speech in which he reportedly maligned the Islamic faith. Muslims retaliated by garlanding a portrait of Thackeray with dirty sandals, an insult to Hindus. Next, roving gangs of Shiv Sena members armed with gasoline bombs, daggers...
...case of Le Bal, Italian director Ettore Scola's latest film, skepticism is unfortunately somewhat justified. For though the film is, in many respects, both an ingenious work of art and a profoundly telling social commentary, it is not without flaws--flaws which intermittently cause the audience to question whether the sum of the parts is ultimately worth the whole...
...abstract, Le Bal has the potential to be a successful film. Instead of recounting history through the conventional means of one family or a set of individuals, Scola charts the cultural transformations of France by observing attitudinal changes in the patrons of a ballroom from 1936 to 1983. The film opens with a random group of men and women entering the ballroom, and through an innovative and rather stylized flashback technique, comes full circle at the film's conclusion...
Because of Le Bal's unusual nature, generalizations about its overall quality are difficult to make. While the experimental technique of omitting dialogue is both intriguing and at points highly effective, it often makes the film seem nothing more than a piece of art for art's sake. That Le Bal is, both conceptually and visually, a work of art is unquestionable. That its artistic value alone merits two hours of screen time for what ought to have been a 30-minute production is something only each individual can determine...