Harold Pinter's Ultimate Betrayal I'li Be Mission

Tuesday, MARCH 15, 1983 The Tech PAGE 9 - %Ir-1. -g--cs - C --CBBC~·rt' L -pbs---ICbBB Harold Pinter's ultimate betrayal know its origins. Since we don't see Jerry place. The opening segment with Jerry and and Emma's initial mutual admissions of Emma talking in the cafe lasts for about their love for one another until the end of fifteen mninutes. Even at that early stage, the picture, all dramatic tension is lost. We the viewer starts to get restless, hoping for don't care about the relationship between some variation or some action. The result- the two lovers because we don't know how ing experience is not unlike watching a or why it started until too late. We cannot play - a scene ends, the lights dim, an- completely side with Robert, either, since other scene starts, it ends, and so on. Be- it turns out that he has been having an af- trajvl is so self-conscious about its style fair himself, an affair with a person whom, and structure that the audience is never al- II for some reason, we never get to meet. lowed to forget that it's watching a movie; ai Emma's shock at her husband's disloyalty, therefore, we never get involved in the sto- i therefore, is never completely realized. As ry. i a result of this backwards telling of the I feel a bit guilty at panning a film that story, the audience is left somewhat con- has so much talent and potential going for fused, waiting for a wave of emotion it, so I should note that "Betrayal" is mar- which never comes. ginally worth attending for the perfor- Betrayal also suffers froin a problem mances of Kingsley, Irons. and Hodge, common to movie adaptations of plays: it and for the attempt at originality in film- looks too much like a play to succeed as a making, which is commendable if not movie. The picture is a series of flashbacks completely successful. spanning nine years, which results in a Returning to that aforementioned bottle presentation of seven or eight scenes with of wine I propose a toast. Here's to hoping two or three people sitting around talking that all the people who were a part of this Betrayal, starring Ben Kingsley, Jeremy lovers' purchase of a flat in which to en- about themselves. After a while, the scenes film will reunite to make another movie- Irons, and PatriciaHodge. Directedby Da- gage in their illicit activities, and the first become so redundant in structure that we remembering the center next time. Cheers. vid Jones. Screenplay by Harold Pinter. A encounter. start to lose interest in what is taking " Michael C. Magras 20th Century-Fox International Classics Ben Kingsley plays Robert, a book pub- Release. Now showing at the Nickelodeon lisher who must deal with the unfaithful- Theatre. ness of his wife Emmna (a character named Betrayal is an interesting yet frustrating in homage to Flaubert's Madame Bovary, movie. The picture oozes with elegance no doubt), played by newcomer4 Patricia and grandeur, from the lush photography Hodge. Jeremy Irons is the debon-air Jerry, to the stylish direction to the fine acting to who has been Robert's best chum since the sets and dialogue that are deliciously their college days and has become quite British. Yet this film needs something chummy with Robert's wife as well. All more. What should have been a carafe of three stars are fine performers and display exquisite wine winds up as a bottle of flat their acting abilities admirably. Kingsley club soda, Instead of being a croissant, the underplays his character effectively, pre- picture is more like a doughnut - lacking a senting to us a man who is experiencing center. great inner torment due to the loss of his Harold Pinter's Betrayal, based on his wife's loyalty. Hodge radiates a sultriness successful stage play, is a me'nage a trois that is both sensual and sophisticated, and tale with a twist. Rather than,leading us Irons succeeds admirably in breathing life from the beginning of an illicit affair to an into a rather poorly written character. emotional denouement, this story begins Despite this extraordinary acting ensem- with the lovers dining at a caf6 two years ble, the Film ultimately fails to leave ainy after they terminated their romance. The powerful dramatic impact on its audience. story's ending occurs nine years earlier The whole purpose of the story 'seems to with the gentleman's initial admission to be to analyze what made these characters his best friend's wife that he is in love with betray one another: more generally, the her. What we get in this movie are the tra- film tries to be a psychological study of ditional ingredients of a love triangle human nature as it attempts to figure out played back for us in reverse order: the what prompts people to behave. in certain break-up, the husband's learning of how ways. In order to understand the reasons his wife and friend have betrayed him, the for such behavior, however, we must first I'lI be mission you one thing was evident during Saturday's Mission of Burma at the Bradford Hotel performance, it was how much the band Ballroom, Saturday, March 12. enjoyed performing for an audience. Saturday was a day for pilgrimages. Fueled by the enthusiastic crowd, Burma Boston's serious artists and art lovers tore through a set of old and new favorites flocked to Laurie Anderson's performances with unmatched ferocity, rendering the at Berklee, and Boston's music fans, both hardcore posturings of the opening band the hardcore and the curious, flocked to (the Proletariat) utterly useless. Every tune the Bradford Hotel to bid farewell to a lo- was delivered as the intense personal state- cal legend. Mission of Burma made its last ment it was meant to be, with bassist/vo- Boston appearance, playing an incendiary calist Clint Conley pushing himself to the final set to an audience that had only re- edge of exhaustion during each number. cently begun to appreciate the band's pro- What makes Burma's sound unique is digious talent. an uncharacteristic approach to song An element of Mission of Burma's structure. Their songs don't utilize distinct sound - the sheer, enveloping volume - melodies, but instead rely on rhythmic tex- is responsible for the breakup. Years of tures and sheer drive. What differentiates unprotected exposure to loud music have this approach from loud, fast, three-chord afflicted guitarist/vocalist Roger Miller punk/hardcore is the complexity of the with tinnitus (constant ringing in his ears), sound generated, due in part to Miller's se- a condition ear protection cannot remedy. rious theoretical training. Miller started wearing rifle range earmuffs All of the individual elements of Mis- when the condition worsened, but bones sion of Burma merged into a perfect whole can still conduct sound, exacerbating the on Saturday: Miller literally attacked his ringing. Since Miller tunes pianos for a guitar, extracting from it a vast array of living - the band's income isn't sufficient sounds, supported by Conley's driving to support its members - it has become bass playing and Peter Prescott's fluid vital that he stop playing before the tinnyi- drumming. Soundman Martin Swope was tus further interferes with his otherwise on hand to add his tape manipulations to normal hearing. the mix, producing voices when no one It is unlikely Mission of Burma will con- sang or adding extra voices to produce a tinue solely as a recording band. Their re- chorus-like effect. Swope also took the cord label, Ace of Hearts, is a small, inde- stage briefly for one number, where he pendent company that relies on perfor- strapped on a guitar and jioned Miller in mances and tours for promotion of new creat;ing a shf.mmerintg wad of chlr ds. releases. Constant touring brought Bur- Most upsetting about the final perfor- ma's first album, vs., to national attention: mance was the feeling that most of the au- vs. was chosen as one of the year's best re- dience would not have attended the show cords in The Village Voice's critic's poll. if it had not been the band's last, attending Live performances have always been es- that one only because it seemed to be sential to Burma's songwriting process. thething to do. Had more people support- The band's. predilection for experimenta- ed Mission of Burma during its short-lived tion is well founded: A live performance carreer, they might have been assured of often provides the definitive rendition of a continuing as a studio-only unit. The ulti- new song, something that cann-ot be mate sadness lies not in the death of an- equalled with any number of rehearsals. other Boston band, but in the trendmon- The members of Mission of Burma are gering ignorance Of genuine talent. Once not sure they would want to continue again, we have learned too late. without the benefit playing in public. If David Shaw.

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