The Bureau (Season 4, 2018)

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The Bureau (Season 4, 2018) – E. Rochant

At the end of Season 3, Malotru (a.k.a. Paul Lefevbre a.k.a. Guillaume Debailly played by Mathieu Kassovitz) is at loose ends, unable to reconnect with Nadia (his Syrian lover for whom he betrayed his country) or with the DGSE (who will undoubtedly arrest him for being a traitor).  The series could have ended there.  Yet in 2018, Malotru resurfaces in Moscow, the easiest place for a wanted man to hide and not be extradited back to France.  Of course, he is soon targeted for recruitment by the FSB (formerly known as the KGB).  And yet, Jeanne-Marie (now Director of the Bureau) thinks she might be able to use Malotru for their own ends to embed another agent within Centre 21, the hacker arm of the FSB (where Marina Loiseau is also now located in a relationship with a computer security pro). The Bureau is also being investigated by the DGSE’s internal affairs division, led by JJA (Mathieu Amalric) who feels that most staff need to leave due to their involvement with Malotru.  Another plot strand finds Jonas tracking down terrorists in the Middle East.  To me, Season 4 is a step back up from Season 3 (which I thought sometimes included out-of-character decision-making but in retrospect served its purpose).  But shockingly, at the end of Season 4, another major character is dead…  On to Season 5 and 2020!

Gunga Din (1939)

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Gunga Din (1939) – G. Stevens

Whoa! To watch Gunga Din (1939) in 2022 is to come face-to-face with both unrepentant imperialism and blatant racism – but the film is such a light-hearted adventure, one is tempted to ignore these things. Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. play sargeants in the British army stationed in India. Gunga Din is their Indian water-carrier.  The film splits somewhat evenly between hi-jinks involving the three leads (trying to trick Fairbanks into re-enlisting now that his tour of duty is coming to a close) and action-adventure as they encounter the Thugee cult of Kali-worshippers who aim to kill the Brits. This is a riff on the poem by Rudyard Kipling whose Din sacrifices himself for the regiment by warning them of an ambush with his bugle and dying when he attracts the attention of the baddies.  But the film really is problematic in so many ways.  Although there seem to be actual Indians among the cast, the Thugees do feature a number of actors in black-face (particularly their guru played by Eduardo Ciannelli). Mount Whitney and the Sierra Nevada range stand in for India (not surprisingly). Din himself (also played by a white actor, Sam Jaffe) is infantilised throughout – Cary Grant is particularly patronising toward him, although perhaps unconsciously so.  The film probably couldn’t be made today and the only way to watch it is with one’s critical consciousness engaged. But it’s still so damned fun (indeed Spielberg seems to have borrowed some elements for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom).