Sleeping beauty as a lesson in restorative justice

I have written before about Disney's ongoing attempts to create new fairy stories: I am not wild about the idea but (...yes I know despite huge box office takings for Frozen) it can work. I am in two minds about Maleficent. Essentially it a revisionist, radical, feminist re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty where the women come out of the film far better than the men. Which, when you consider the original story, is a reasonable sort of post modern re-balancing. Of course it is a film aimed at 7 - 12 year olds...

Does it work though? The narrative is a bit clunky and some of the special effects are a bit fuzzy (an effect of having a 3D version too?). The acting is pedestrian and Angelina seems to rely upon raising her eyebrows more than she usually does... And I am curious as to why all the accents are either English, Scottish or Irish... (You can see I was distracted). There was not much of a buzz in the cinema either: very little laughing or oohaahhing from the young audience. But probably in the end, worth seeing if you are ten, and half term is getting tedious.

The leadership message? Wings are mighty helpful when is comes to assuming command? But seriously, I would say that the underlying theme is how to deal with regret. In the film we are given two starkly contrasting approaches: fail to deal with it and become ever more bitter. Or allow yourself to recognise what it is doing to you and do something about it. In other words, restore yourself by restoring the person you have harmed.

This is a key feature of restorative justice of course which is as applicable to criminal justice system as it is to the workplace. People do bad things and people make mistakes. A good leader will look for all ways in which balance can be restored. It is not always possible to find them, but it is always possible to look.

When was the last time someone really messed up? How did you respond?

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This is the thirty first of my new series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I am doing this. Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.

Best leadership movies so far

Here is a compilation of some of my film reviews so far: the best movies that contain no 'hide behind the sofa' violence (which was a request of a colleague of mine):

You can always tell you are sitting in a cinema full (mainly) of women: they laugh louder than when more men are present. And so it was with The Other Woman, which my wife & I went to see on Friday night. It is an enjoyable romcomromp with some predictable and some unpredictable comedic moments with all the actors turning in good & funny performances. It is not going to win any cinematic prizes but it is going to give a large number of women and quite a few men (including me) a good few chortles, belly laughs and guffaws: especially when the anti-hero gets his just desserts...

Tracks was one of those delightful films that I stumbled into, almost by accident, having not read any of the reviews or crits beforehand. It is beautifully humble film with no pretensions and quietly tells a moving story of a young woman who decides to trek from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean with her dog and several camels. The cinematography is understated until near the end when it explodes into a sea of colour. And not much happens in the story but there again, it kind of does...

Locke is one of the best films you are ever likely to see. It is an exquisite and sublime blend of taut editing, compelling direction, hypnotic cinematography, and incandescent acting. The script is bursting with power, emotion and aching understatement. This is a movie that you simply cannot, must not and should not miss...

I do not usually write about DVDs that I have seen but I feel compelled to blog about Hugo, which I watched yesterday afternoon, while doing my ironing. First thing I would say is that I need to watch this again without my shirts in the way. This is beautiful film, with glorious use of colour and framing. It is a marvelous and enchanting story which, like a magical mystery tour, takes you to places you could not imagine. I won't breathe a single word about what happens. This is a film to be seen and be delighted, (especially if you are film hack like me)...

I have woken to the news that Matthew McConaughey & Jared Leto have won the Oscars for Best Actor and Supporting Actor for their parts in the Dallas Buyers Club. I saw this movie a few days ago and privately predicted a win for Mr McConaughey and I am delighted that his colleague has picked up an Oscar too. The central character begins the film as a dishonest, womanising, drug taking, alcohol abusing homophobic cowboy. What makes Mr McConaughey's performance so electrifying is that you are made to love this man with all of his faults and frailities. Equally, Jared Leto is a pitch perfect blend of strength, weakness, despair, humour, vulnerability and defiance in the face of raging HIV...

I was half expecting Jeremy Kyle to feature in August: Osage County as this is a family that collect more secrets than most and express their feelings in somewhat dramatic ways. I am aware that this film has attracted some criticism for being just too darn contrived to win a set of Oscars. For me that is churlish and possibly misogynist: there are performances here by the main characters that rivet you to your cinema seat. This is a powerful movie of an extraordinary play, which will leave you spinning and catching up on the breaths you forgot to take during the film...

Wadjda is quite honestly one of the most amazing films I have ever seen.It is the first ever feature film, directed by a woman, to be made in Saudi Arabia. Yes, you read that correctly. The film tells the simple story of young girl who falls in love with a bicycle and enters a school competition to win the money needed to buy it. But that is where the simplicity ends...

Reviews of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty have been mixed. As it happens, I think it is one Ben Stiller's finest movies (he directed it too). As it is (loosely) based on the Thurber short story, it is fair to say that the narrative is pretty uncomplicated. Although the film contains some troubling contradictions (would a highly skilled skateboarder become a negative images manager?), it ends up delivering a thumping good message interspersed with comedic magic (the helicopter pilot) and some quiet moments of Zen (the leopard and the football game)...

And, each link has a take on the leadership theme within each movie.

Bass notes

Some films metaphorically trip along with a light descant rhapsody while others have a much deeper, lower and sombre range. Blue Ruin is one such movie: you know almost from the start, this is not going to end well. In fact not many good things happen in the movie at all. But this is a finely acted and directed movie with all the taught tension of a car suspension spring.

This is a film where the almost invisible past crowds in on the present, compelling people (one in particular) to follow through on a devastating plan. It portrays the chaos of violence and the desolate sadness of revenge with shuddering conviction. This is not a date night movie but it is one that you should see.

The main character is depicted as a complete 'loner' but nevertheless he knows who his friends are. Without them, his mission will fail. Leadership, especially senior leadership, is a lonely position. You may feel surrounded with people who have designs on your role, and you may be right.

But the best leaders will always know on whom they can count and on whom they would depend at their peril. Being able to distinguish one from the other is key skill for leaders.

How do you know whom you can trust?

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This is the thirtieth of my new series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I am doing this. Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.

Neighbourhood Watch

I am probably not in the demographic that Bad Neighbours (or Neighbors as it is called in the US) is aimed at, but this really is a lazy film. It felt like a rehash of Animal House, all the American Pie films & The Graduate. While the audience of teenagers and 20 somethings laughed around me, they were not guffawing. Too many of the jokes had already been trailed, some went on too long and some were just so contrived that I was left fearing for American comedy's sense of irony.

No doubt it will take many millions of pounds and dollars in its opening weekends, but it will not be bought as a treasured DVD, I predict. There was humour to be had but not exploited in the scenario on which the film is based. Not a very subtle film, devoid of pathos & replete with stereotypes.

The leadership theme within this movie is not easy to spot. But it is there. The fulcrum moment of this film is when a promise is broken. Whilst excuses can always be found by the promiser as to why a promise is broken, the promisee (as it were) will always be less understanding. This is why leaders who make promises in haste will probably come to repent at a more leisurely pace.

My first consultancy job was working for a firm called MRA International under the leadership of Mike Robson. I always admired the simple values statements that he had developed when setting up the company. One statement was simply: Do as you say you are going to do.

It is a maxim I try very hard to stick too.

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This is the twenty ninth of my new series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I am doing this. Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.

When just leadership is present

You can always tell you are sitting in a cinema full (mainly) of women: they laugh louder than when more men are present. And so it was with The Other Woman, which my wife & I went to see on Friday night. It is an enjoyable romcomromp with some predictable and some unpredictable comedic moments with all the actors turning in good & funny performances. It is not going to win any cinematic prizes but it is going to give a large number of women and quite a few men (including me) a good few chortles, belly laughs and guffaws: especially when the anti-hero gets his just desserts.

It is well directed & edited: the film slides seamlessly from one scene/set to another (including a house by the sea that my wife and I fell in love with). The story just about hangs together if you ignore the fact that the emotional reactions to the various scenarios are sublimely inappropriate & unlikely. But don't let that put you off: it's a comedy, it's a fantasy and it's good fun!

This is a film about teamwork: about three women turning their differences and conflicting interests into a purposeful and efficiently executed plan. There is even a sort of Gantt chart thrown in for good measure to indicate how each of the women are scheduled to take action. They respect and agree how to deploy each other's skills & talents in pursuit of clear and agreed aim.

And there is no leader since they are all acting in the role of leader: the leadership comes from their shared goal. Sometimes a leader needs to know when not to be a leader and just share in the joint project.

When did you last give up being a leader?

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This is the twenty eighth of my new series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I am doing this. Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.