14 生活時尚 S T Y L E WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2009 • TAIPEI TIMES

Kiefer Sutherland: just doing his job

itting in the lobby after the interview, I look entire country was looking at the US military’s behavior up and see that a man has stopped on his The most highly-paid television actor in the world talks about how in places like Abu Ghraib, I found that whole thing was a way out. “Thank you,” he’s saying to me, playing Special Agent Jack Bauer on ‘24’ has changed his life real effort to slide the blame on to something else, and I “thanks for coming by, it was good to meet wasn’t going to be a part of it.” you.” I wonder what this stranger is talking By Decca Aitkenhead If the US army is using Bauer as an excuse for abuse, Sabout. Then I realize who it is. Kiefer Sutherland looks The Guardian, London Sutherland’s indignation is understandable. But if, I ask, in real life so commonplace, so unlike a movie star, that 24s influence were demonstrably proven, would he then it’s possible not to recognize him only minutes after at Guantanamo Bay, in which military officials cited just going to tell you outright, the problem is not 24. To feel any obligation for the show to modify its depiction spending an hour in a hotel suite with him. 24 as an inspiration for early “brainstorming try and correlate from what’s happening on a television of torture? This must be a testament to his acting skills, because meetings.” Bauer, one officer admitted, show to what the military is doing in the real world, “No,” he says flatly. 24“ and 20th Century Fox and the face of Special Agent Jack Bauer is indelibly “gave people a lot of ideas.” I think that’s ridiculous.” Does he mean he Sky TV are not responsible for training the US military. recognizable to millions of 24 fans all over the world. Sutherland is a Democrat and says doesn’t believe the reports of 24’s influence? It is not our job to do. To me this is almost as absurd as Like James Bond or Jason Bourne, Bauer has become he longs for the day when Bauer’s “Well I haven’t read all those reports. But saying The Sopranos supports the mafia and by virtue less a role than a global phenomenon, a hero to everyone interrogation techniques “go back if that’s actually happening, then the of that HBO supports the mafia. Or that, you know, from Bill Clinton to Karl Rove — his popularity as to being a figment of someone’s problem that you have in the US Sex and the City is just saying ‘everybody should sleep inexhaustible as his ability to save America from ever imagination, as opposed to military is massive. If your ethics together now.’” He looks increasingly exasperated. “I more audacious terror plots. The drama series set in a mirroring things that are in the military, in your training, have never seen anyone — and I really do not believe fictional counter-terrorism unit screens on 236 channels in fact happening across is going to be counterminded by this — I have not seen an average citizen in the US or to 100 million viewers worldwide. It has won Sutherland the world.” Authenticity, a one-hour weekly television anywhere else who has watched an hour of 24 and after an Emmy nomination for every one of its six series to however, has always been show we’ve got a really big watching was struck by this uncontrollable urge to go date, and made him the most highly paid television actor central to 24’s appeal. problem.” His growl grows out and torture someone. It’s ludicrous. in the world. Just a week before heavy with contempt. “If “So when I put it like that, do you understand?” The show was devised a year before 9/11, but the US President Barack you can’t tell the difference Actually, when he puts it like that, I think he’s being uncanny prescience of its plotlines foretold the Bush Obama announced that between reality and what’s a little disingenuous. Sutherland is too intelligent not administration’s war on terror. “Whatever it takes” is he was going to close happening on a made- to know that television’s influence can be more subtle Bauer’s gravelly motto — and what it takes on 24 can be Guantanamo Bay, the up TV show, and you’re than that. 24’s creator, Joel Surnow, who has described highly violent, illegal and frequently involve torture. Why latest series opened with correlating that back to himself as a “right-wing nut job,” has certainly given the so many fans are in love with a man who tortures people the counter-terrorism how to do your job in the impression of being not unhappy if 24 impacts on public is perhaps a disturbing puzzle — but not as troubling unit disbanded, and real world, that’s a big, opinion, saying: “America wants the war on terror fought as the question that has dogged Sutherland and 24’s Bauer facing indictment big problem.” by Jack Bauer. He’s a patriot.” The Fox executive who creators for the last 18 months. Is admiration for Bauer for torture. “The world Although an executive bought the show has said candidly, “There’s definitely confined to the escapism of make-believe — or has it is changing,” Sutherland producer, Sutherland didn’t a political attitude on the show, which is that extreme had an impact on public opinion and military strategy in smiles, “and season attend the meeting with the measures are sometimes necessary for the greater good. the real world? seven deals with that. It West Point delegation, but Joel’s politics suffuse the whole show.” The essential “What Jack Bauer does is all in the context of a deals with Jack Bauer in the generals reported talking message of 24 is not just that torture can be morally television show,” Sutherland begins, very slowly and a world that’s changing to him briefly afterwards, and justifiable, but, more importantly, that it works. And in the deliberately, in the grainy register of a heavy smoker. where he is obsolete.” said he’d admitted the show’s absence of other more accurate sources of information He looks unexpectedly slight, and a little tired, but his But the charge is that “unintended consequences” in American popular culture, it’s hardly surprising if the engagement is direct and considered. “I always have life has been imitating art, worried him. “Absolute viewing public believes it. to remind people of this. We’re making a television mirroring what it saw on 24. bullshit,” Sutherland insists. Sutherland repeatedly invokes the phrase “in the program. We’re utilizing certain devices for drama. And When I put it to Sutherland, the “Absolutely. I declined context of a television program,” and stresses, “this it’s good drama. And I love this drama! As an actor I smile quickly thins, and he to meet them because I is a drama,” but there are moments when exactly have had an absolute blast doing it. You sit in a room begins to look annoyed. found it to be so deeply who is confusing TV and reality is unclear. “Jack and put a gun to a guy’s knee and say, ‘Tell me!’ Oh, you “First off, I’m manipulative. When the Bauer,” he asserts, “is to me an apolitical character.” feel so amazing after that! Really? “Well, can you tell me if Jack Bauer is a “But I know it’s not real. The other actor certainly Democrat or a Republican?” I would say he’s clearly knows it’s not real. And up until a year ago, everybody a Republican. “Absolutely not!” Sutherland flashes else knew it wasn’t real.” back triumphantly. “Not a chance.” Why not? “Because In 2007 it was reported that a delegation from I’m not a Republican, and I created the character.” West Point had visited the set of 24 to tell producers If Bauer is supposed to be pure make-believe, then that their portrayal of torture was seriously affecting surely Sutherland’s personal politics are beside the military training. Cadets love 24, a general explained, point? I get the impression that the only really “and they say, ‘If torture is wrong, what about 24?’” consistent thread in the logic of his defense A former US army interrogator told them he’d seen of 24 might be an intellectual motto of soldiers in Iraq “watch the shows, and then walk into the “Whatever it takes.” interrogation booths and do the same things they’ve just seen.” Their claims were corroborated by a book last year by Philippe Sands about interrogation techniques continued on page 15

 photo: AP

[ CD REVIEWS ]

INCREDIBAD TESTIMONY: VOL. 2, LOVE & COWARD LOVE HATE AND THEN THERE’S Universal Republic POLITICS Cryptogramophone YOU Lonely Island Soulbird Music/Universal Republic Nels Cline Majordomo India.Arie The Von Bondies

ith apologies to Debbie Harry, wine, Carlos Rossi. on India.Arie’s fourth studio album, matching bluesy vocals to Keb Mo’s once, and you might only be lulled, here again are the female background W Tairrie B, Invincible and Amanda There has been shockingly little Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics. electric guitar. but one more time and you’ll hear the singers, with their hey-nows and their Blank, the most significant white female well-meaning rap satire over the years, One of the most determinedly virtuous There’s a limit to how many self- purpose and symmetry. whoa-oh-ohs. (This time those voices rapper of all time is Natalie Portman. which makes these affectionate songs all songwriters in R ’n’ B or pop, India. help platitudes a song can bear, and it’s Rod Poole’s Gradual Ascent to belong to the bassist Leann Banks and (To Northern State and Uffie, no the more potent; here verisimilitude is Arie strives to make faith, goodness and certainly exceeded in A Beautiful Day, Heaven is the imposing accomplishment the guitarist Christy Hunt.) apology is necessary.) Based on Eazy- the joke. Ras Trent, a savage takedown positive thinking seductive, and on this with lines like, “There’s only one you/ here. It begins and ends with long The riffs are tight, but not so fresh. E’s No More ?’s, Natalie’s Rap, which of trustafarians (privileged, culture- album, working as her own co-producer Just take a moment to give thanks for zither chords, and over the 18 minutes When they don’t evoke vintage Von originated in 2006 as a Saturday Night slumming white kids), is produced by (with Dru Castro), she’s endearing even who you are.” But with a brisk, pulsating between, links together slowly evolving Bondies, they suggest the Killers or, in Live sketch written by Lonely Island the reggae legends Sly & Robbie. And the when she’s preachy. track and boundless anticipation in her figures, building and ebbing. Poole, an the case of a dramatic lead single, Pale — and appears on this comedy team’s hilarious Like a Boss, based on the Slim Testimony: Vol. 1: Love & voice, India.Arie comes close to making experimental English guitarist who lived Bride, the British band Bloc Party. first musical album, Incredibad — is Thug song of the same name, uses rap Relationship, released in 2006, delved the truisms ring true. and worked in Los Angeles and who Stollsteimer seems painfully aware savagely funny, a reputation changer for to comment on the deadening effects of into the pain of a breakup, and in was a friend of Cline’s, was murdered of his band’s restrictions, imbuing the a young actress and, most surprisingly, corporate life: Hip-hop can be a comic Psalms 23 she hints at more strife: “I’ve f the guitarist Nels Cline had joined in 2007; a piece like this seems the right album with a defensive streak. “Can you an utterly convincing revisiting of late- mode, too, Lonely Island knows. (Most been through a couple of litigations/ I the revered and more than semi- kind of homage to someone who had say a good word about us?” he pleads, 1980s Los Angeles gangster rap. It isn’t of the songs are produced by Taccone, through character assassination.” popular rock band Wilco in his early the patience to fully absorb long-form or dares, in a song called Shut Your parody; it’s a love letter. who has a keen ear for the nuances of But on most of Vol. 2 her equanimity 20s, rather than in his late 40s, he music. But then much of this record Mouth. Elsewhere he insists on forced Over the last few years the members different rap styles.) has been restored. Her lover in the might never be making solo-guitar strikes a similar tone: It sounds like apathy (“I don’t care anymore/Don’t of Lonely Island — Andy Samberg, Akiva About half of this album is a greatest- lilting Chocolate High (as portrayed albums on the side like Coward. This both an advertisement and an elegy for care anymore”) or churlish indignation Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone — have hits collection. The accompanying by her duet partner and co-writer record reflects a far-and-wide aesthetic deep listening. (“Who’s sorry?/You’re sorry”). These been responsible for writing many of DVD includes the group’s essential Musiq Soulchild) is an addictive imagination, one that’s been broadening would feel more like private sentiments the comic high points on SNL. That US SNL digital shorts, including the 2007 treat. Elsewhere her man is an ever- for a long time. he Von Bondies last released an if they weren’t all delivered as anthems. television’s grandest comedy institution Emmy-winning one, with an unprintable understanding listener in the celebratory Cline’s playing has seriously mixed T album five years ago, around the His most straightforward lyrics was rejuvenated by three white hip-hop name, which features Justin Timberlake Therapy and the ballad He Heals Me. blood, and when he records multiple time that this decade’s garage-rock arrive in the opening track, This Is kids from Berkeley, California, says a in a lewd spoof of early 1990s R ’n’ As usual most of the songs feature versions of himself on electric and revival was petering out. And while the Perfect Crime, apparently a new great deal not only about Lonely Island’s B, and the more recent megaclub India.Arie’s acoustic guitar and her acoustic guitars and about a dozen the album, Pawn Shoppe Heart, manifesto. “We are the spark/We are the deftness but also the penetration and trance-influenced song, also with an forthright but still girlish voice, with other stringed instruments, he becomes made an urgent case — its standout grit,” Stollsteimer declares, adding, “We evolution of rap culture. unprintable name. its Stevie Wonder phrasing. Acoustic exponentially more mongrelized. He single, C’mon, C’mon, had the force are the underground!” It’s a hopeful idea The first Lonely Island album, in The only place this collection falls syncopation accompanies her global does his version of John Cipollina’s of a defibrillator jolt — it also felt like for a band that no longer has any claim parts, gets hip-hop to laugh along. T- flat is in its inclusion of some pre-SNL view of poverty and survival in the wide runs and fast vibrato; he likes something destined for dismantlement. to the mainstream. And it gets more Pain is the guest on “I’m on a Boat,” a Lonely Island material. It’s funny, flamenco-tinged Ghetto and in Pearls, crying slide guitar glissandi, looped Jason Stollsteimer, a whippetlike lead hopeful still: sendup of triumphant materialism. And but no-fi and awkward. Back then which features a singer from the Ivory clumps of distortion and amplifier hum, singer and guitarist, howled his compact on Santana DVX, a celebration of a Lonely Island clearly wasn’t yet Coast, Dobet Gnahore. But the music the clashing overtone sounds of Sonic choruses as if on borrowed time. A lot of fads will come and go Carlos Santana-branded sparkling wine comfortable enough truly to poke fun, doesn’t stay folky. Long Goodbye, about Youth and the slow, deliberate, almost What then to make of Love Hate and It’s hit or miss on unpaved roads (“The sham-pan-yuh/from the man with or maybe wasn’t totally sure that it was a last tryst, grows into a power ballad monastic music of traditional Japanese Then There’s You, which mainly flogs And chances are that crowds will the bandana,” Samberg raps) produced allowed to. akin to Prince’s Purple Rain. In Better koto players. But he doesn’t let the same formula as its predecessor? grow by the indie rap satirist J-Zone, E-40 Way, India.Arie protests the response anything rest in one place. Meditative Once more we find Stollsteimer pushing To seek the sounds below. raps amusingly as Santana, though it’s ove is both bliss and panacea, to Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq and minimal as these pieces may be, a catchy anguish, and the drummer Don not as funny as E-40’s 1994 ode to cheap L while politics is a test of fortitude, and prematurely sexualized children, they’re written with rigor. Hear them Blum pounding his way to rapture. And — NY Times News Service