Books - The War Is Dead, Long Live the War - Bosnia: The Reckoning by Ed Vulliamy

Star rating - 10/10

Some books we read for pleasure and amusement, and some to gain insight and knowledge. Some books we feel we should read, but there are some books that we simply must read. Journalist Ed Vulliamy's harrowing and jaw dropping account of the aftermath of the Bosnian War at a distance of twenty years after is such a book.

Vulliamy tellingly compares the Bosnian context to the response of the German nation to its own shameful Nazi past, with its collective awareness of what was done, and fierce determination to remember the full horror of Hitler's 'Final Solution' for the Jewish people. Concentration camps are preserved for posterity so that future generations can bear witness to the full evil of what happened, and hopefully to help such unthinkable atrocities and barbarism from ever recurring. The rest of the world also helped with the process of rehabilitation, barely fifteen years after the end of World War II The Beatles were performing in Hamburg, and Germany has emerged as a strong and democratic nation. 

This is all in stark contrast to the same period following the Bosnian conflict. And although this book is about events after the war, they cannot be recounted without making reference, in shocking detail, to some of the bone chillingly sadistic and cruel episodes which took place during it. Nazi style concentration camps sprung up, in a Western European nation which not long before had hosted the Winter Olympics, to house the 'ethnically cleansed' Bosnian Muslims after their houses were burned down and many of their number were slaughtered. Vulliamy reveals in great detail, from his own personal experience during the conflict, how the outside world at best ignored the existence of these camps, and at worst colluded in covering them up.

Rape and torture of horrific kinds were routinely committed, and many of the prisoners were forced to commit unspeakable acts on each other for the amusement of their captors. Genocide is not a word to be used lightly, but there is no other way to describe the actions of the Serbian army under President Slobodan Milošević and his henchman General Radovan Karadžić.

And all the more shocking is the failure to come to terms with what was done, despite war crimes trials in The Hague. Today Bosnian Muslims cannot grieve at national shrines and try to come to terms with what was done to them. There are no monuments - the Serbians won't agree to them being built, and anyway many of the more barbarous acts are denied, despite the evidence of thousands of Bosnian Muslim bodies being painstakingly sifted through to be able to give their remaining families some way of mourning them. And woman have to face their rapists across the street every day, either having served a short term in jail, or many going unpunished for their crimes.

But aside from these frankly deeply depressing realities, the stories of the people that Vulliamy has come to know are brilliant reminders of how such conflict touches families and individuals, as well as nations. One particularly heart-warming detail is that of the Manchester City star striker Edin Džeko, who is nothing short of a Bosnian national hero for his fierce pride in his nation and refusal to adopt citizenship of other much more glamorous footballing nations when he had the chance. As a City fan myself, it is pleasing to know that some of our pampered stars have principles and loyalty that have nothing to do with riches, and that such qualities cannot be bought. 

Vulliamy's own part in helping to publicise the existence of the concentration camps, and in acting as a witness in The Hague is distinguished and to be applauded. As is his determination to continue to make the world sit up and take note of what is still happening today through this brilliant and brave book. It frankly demands to be read.

Gigs - I Am Kloot - Ramsbottom Festival

Star rating - 9/10

Call me hopelessly biased but I haven't enjoyed a gig so much since the last time I saw I Am Kloot perform live at the Deer Shed Festival last summer. John Bramwell and co were on top form at the wonderful Ramsbottom Festival and treated the adoring crowd to some of the gems from their back catalogue such as  From Your Favourite Sky; Same Deep Water as Me; and Northern Skies. 

A nice solo rendition of No Fear of Falling made a lovely sandwich filling between the beautiful ballads and insightful lyrics of this supremely talented band. And of course the crowd delighting favourites of Proof and Twist also featured. 

But come on Johnny boy let's have some of the new stuff that we know you have recorded and are tantalisingly close to releasing - well we will just have to wait until next year for that particular box of delights. But JB was on top form with his songs about drinking and disaster - and would we want them any other way? I think not. 

And a word about the festival itself - it was an absolute delight. No mud, nice cricket pavilion, proper inside warm toilets, and happy happy punters. A good set from The Leisure Society was a nice warm up for the main event. But the night belonged firmly to the all conquering Kloot. Bravo (again!)

Theatre - The Country Wife - The Royal Exchange

Star rating - 8/10

I always find it fascinating to see how popular culture is a product of the time it is created in, and there is no better example of such an influence than Restoration comedy. After the barren years of the Puritans, who banned stage plays, and the influence of the extravagant French on the English courtiers, who fled there before the monarchy was restored under Charles II, it is not surprising that writers like William Wycherley wanted to let their hair down with bawdy comedies. 

The Royal Exchange is currently doing a brilliant revival of his The Country Wife; a riotous comedy considered so lewd it was not performed for over 200 years. But its outrageous humour and double dealing feels right up to date and had this modern audience in fits of hysterical laughter (or was that just me?) 

The plot centres around Mr Horner (the clue is in the name) who persuades his fellow gentlemen that he is impotent, thus gaining unrivalled access to their wives to have his wicked way with - much to their delight. In particular he targets the naive country wife of the play's title of Jack Pinchwife. Margery is as green as they come, with hilarious results. Felix Scott is great as the duplicitous but delightful Mr Horner, and Amy Morgan plays the rural innocent to perfect effect.

But the show is stolen completely, as it was in other recent Exchange productions of both Charley's Aunt and Lady Windermere's Fan by the excellent, outrageous Oliver Gomm as Mr Sparkish. He is one of the best comic actors I have ever seen, and has the audience in fits of laughter in every scene he features in. He is pure comedy gold and a delight to watch.

The play takes a slightly darker turn in the second half but is no less entertaining for that. This is a thoroughly entertaining play and a great production in the hands of director Polly Findlay.The Puritans would be suitably horrified I am sure.

Film - Anna Karenina - directed by Joe Wright

Star rating - 8/10

It's a brave director that takes on the might of Tolstoy, with so many earlier adaptations to serve as comparisons. My own favourite is the BBC TV series from 1977 that had me glued to the sofa for weeks - no mean feat for a teenager. Nicola Pagett's beautiful, dignified and brave Anna will always be the one for me. And Tolstoy's classic novel is one of my all time favourite reads - and one of the only books I have invested enough time in to read it on several occasions. So no pressure on this Joe Wright directed production then.

The unusual setting for many of the scenes of a theatre was apparently  forced on the director due to lack of budget for big location shots. It works in a splendid Baz Luhrmann kind of way for much of the film, but just sometimes appears a bit too clever and pleased with itself to totally convince. Keira Knightly, not one of my favourite actresses to say the least, does well in the role of Anna, whose behaviour in leaving her staid bureaucrat husband for a dashing cavalry officer in pre revolutionary Russia shocked polite society.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is perfect as Count Vronsky, Anna's lover - all charm,  insistence and passion, and very beautiful to cast your eyes over for the duration, it has to be said. Jude Law as her tedious, undemonstrative but wronged husband is a little miscast. He feels too young and not quite boring enough in fact for the role. And although I can't quite put my finger on which bit of the chemistry was lacking, the three leads didn't arouse my emotions like they should have done. 

But the sets and costumes are simply sumptuous. The fur hat against dashing blizzards look is certainly one to look out for and flatters Knightly's undoubtedly handsome features. And obviously a film adaptation cannot really do justice to some of the main themes of the book - the idealist philosophy of Levin; the pull between countryside and city representing the old order and the new. Levin and Kitty's own romantic side story gives a nice counterpoint to the main affair of the heart. So by all means enjoy this gorgeous production, but if you are feeling like being particularly kind to yourself, go on and read the devastatingly brilliant Tolstoy original afterwards too.

Books - The Collini Case - by Ferdinand Von Schirach

Star rating - 8/10

German author Ferdinand Von Schirach combines his own experience of the legal profession, with his family's shady Nazi past in his new novel The Collini Case. His fictional lawyer, Caspar Leinen, is young, newly qualified, and somewhat unwilling to take on the defence case for a man who admits to a brutal murder of an elderly industrialist in a Berlin luxury hotel bedroom. He is pitted against a distinguished old silver fox of a prosecuting council - Professor Richard Mattinger. 

Another complicating factor is that his now dead friend's sister Johanna is adamant that he should not defend the accused, Fabrizio Collini, as the murder victim is her grandfather. A native Italian, Collini has lived a rather uneventful life since coming to Germany in the 1950s, working in the Mercedes factory and living in the same apartment block since then. 

Leinen's task is made all the more difficult as Collini will not disclose his motive for the crime to him before the trial begins. And an added complication is that he and Johanna are a lot more to each other than just old friends. 

This novel is fast paced and gripping, with the shameful history of Germany's Nazi past bringing up many ghosts. It reads well in translation, with great characterisation, and gives a fascinating window on how a country deals with a past it would be easier to forget. Except of course that the past is never really buried. Excellent stuff - a great short one sitting crime read. And credit to Von Schirach, who is not afraid of laying bare his own grandfather's history in the Nazi Youth in this very public way.