Finally had the chance to watch this French-Belgian-Moroccan co-production, and wasn’t disappointed. The film tells the story of a contingent of North Africans who fight for the liberation of France in the Second World War. The plot and psychological environment is quite interesting as they are quite patriotic for a homeland they have never seen (a scene of them singing the Marseillaise and the Song of the Africans is quite stinging), but are still treated like second-class citizens.
It is very refreshing to watch a WWII movie that doesn’t follow the typical American conventions, that’s for sure, even if I really like Saving Private Ryan.
Even if it is geographically and culturally quite close to Helsinki, visiting Stockholm is always an interesting experience. The city is much more cosmopolitan, people are generally more fashionable, and the riksvensk accent sounds quite peculiar to somebody used to the way Swedish is spoken across the Baltic. Always a pleasure to visit, especially now that there is a good Mexican taquería very close to downtown (they even sell corn tortillas!).
I have been involved in two initiatives lately, Finndiversity and the EVA Expat Forum, where professionals of foreign and local extraction come together and discuss what are the challenges faced by this community and what actions can be taken to bring it forward. While a good start (in the sense that this section of society is finally starting to get organised), there is still a very long way to go.
For starters, we are showing that an immigrant is not necessarily a refugee nor on the dole, as is so often claimed here.
2000 km southeast and 30°C warmer than the previous location: Main square of Mérida, Yucatán.Sunset over the pool in Celestún, Yucatán.
Flamingoes in close-up in Celestún, Yucatán
5 km of virgin beaches in Celestún, Yucatán.
The only not so nice detail was when on meeting some people I hadn’t seen in a long time I realised that the crab mentality seems to be alive and well in certain sectors of society. Shame, but hey, what can you do. 😉 Overall it was great and I cannot wait to be back again, if only for holidays.
As my previous post detailed, I spent a great holiday in Mexico, catching up with friends and especially family. We spent a week in Mexico City, then 6 days in the Copper Canyon trail and a few days in Mérida and the natural reserve of Celestún before having to return to the winter wonderland. I was struck by the enormous variety of landscapes and peoples living in the country where I was born, even if I knew it in theory. As usual, pictures say it better (if you want to see more than these, they’re all here).
The winter sky sometimes seems to take a life of its own.Copper Canyon: Barranca de Urique from Cerro del Gallego in Chihuahua state. The largest of 32 federal entities in Mexico, Chihuahua is bigger than many European countries, e.g. the United Kingdom.Deep view of Copper Canyon in DivisaderoCopper Canyon panorama from DivisaderoCopper Canyon detail
Copper Canyon: Piedra Volada or why would anyone get so close to a loose rock?
The rarámuri (tarahumara) peoples live in the area, and many sell their handcrafts to the tourists. I earned some brownie points by thanking them in their own language ("Chirigüeraba").It also snows in parts of Mexico, you know? Creel, ChihuahuaThis is not a Finnish lake, but Lago Arareco in Chihuahua state.Cusarare waterfall, Chihuahua.
