Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris”

Jul 17, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

They say life is what you make it. But life has its ugly moments when regrets and angst take over as you watch how history merges into the present.
It was Tom Dalgetty who wrote a few years back in a letter to the press that Walter Rodney was wrong in opposing and weakening the rule of President Burnham. Dalgetty was looking back and comparing the past with the present.
Dalgetty’s judgement was based on what he saw in that comparison. It is a journey many of us who were involved in anti-dictatorship politics have taken and it has left us bewildered at the vagaries of life. Of three famous names which were made victims of the vagaries and vicissitudes of life, only one is alive today to laugh at how strange and mysterious the world is, and how changing times can leave a person psychologically destroyed.
In 1895, one of Europe’s talented playwrights and poets was destroyed after being charged with sodomy in the UK.
Oscar Wilde was jailed for two years then ostracized after his release. Sickness in jail and financial want ruined him. He died a broken soul in exile in France.
Today, many countries in the world have legalized homosexual marriage. In the 21st century, some of the world’s most celebrated names admit to being homosexuals. Today, Wilde’s grandchildren must be wondering how cruel life has been to their grandfather.
D. H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” was banned from publication in his home country, the UK. When Penguin Books Ltd. did print it in 1960, the company was charged under the Obscenity Act. When you read what is contained in that book and what is written in today’s literature, then Lawrence appears as an angel. You would laugh if anyone tells you in 2011 that “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” has obscene parts.
In 1972, one of cinema’s phenomenal directors, the Italian Bernardo Bertolucci, made a movie with one of cinema’s most talent actors, Marlon Brando. “Last Tango in Paris” was frowned upon by many countries for pornographic content.
Bertolucci suffered a harsh fate in Italy. His film was banned, he was put on trial, sentenced to four months (suspended) and had his civil liberties revoked for five years.
Today, “Last Tango in Paris” is a joke if one is going to talk about pornographic content in movies, including some of Hollywood’s blockbusters. Bertolucci had the last laugh. He received the most prestigious award this year at the Cannes Film festival, for his creative talent. “Last Tango in Paris” is now regarded as a classic film.
Life indeed moves in inscrutable ways. One cannot help but reflect on Dalgetty’s judgement – Walter Rodney was wrong to fight down President Burnham.
Burnham in Dalgetty’s mind was far above the venalities and cruelties that characterize the exercise of power since 2009. So when he looked at the arena today, he cries out loudly as to why the WPA had to confront President Burnham.
After all, for so many Guyanese, Burnham is a little, incompetent boy scout when you examine the political landscape today. Life was harsh to Wilde, Lawrence, Bertolucci and Burnham.
There can be no doubt about it – Burnham must be turning in his mausoleum in the Botanical Gardens. When you think of what he was criticized for and what passes for democracy in Guyana at the moment, Burnham’s denunciation of all those who fought him down reverberates throughout this land.
When Burnham coughed too heartily, the opposition made a fuss about his heath. When Burnham showed loud vexation, he was condemned for conduct unbecoming. If Burnham made a speech and used a Latin phrase to denounce the opposition, there would follow a picket on the street. If Burnham threatened a public servant, the Bar Association would have a writ in court. If Burnham insulted a journalist, the media would send a protest to the regional body asking for a press release.
Look at Guyana today. An advisor exports dolphins illegally; a Permanent Secretary signs over fifty bogus duty free letters; a bogus marriage lasted almost ten years; a cocaine baron ran a death squad; a Minister cannot get an American visa to travel to do his Cabinet duties; the Police Commissioner had his visa problems too; the Auditor-General Report points to hundreds of millions of dollars that went astray and perhaps ended up in Switzerland; a little girl is given money and a house lot after being deflowered at Pradoville One; a rape victim identifies the big-wig in the SUV.
Canada saved her by offering refugee status. A Hindu priest cannot resist under-age girls.

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Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris”

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