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Newsnight Review, 14 November, 2008

Len Freeman | 13:42 UK time, Friday, 14 November 2008

Here's with details of .

On Review at 11pm I'll be joined by , and to discuss fiction forged from antiquity, the recent past and the present.

Body of Lies
Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio in Body of LiesInternational cultural conflict has been a pressing concern for director Ridley Scott who, after Black Hawk Down and Kingdom Of Heaven, returns with a third film in which Western forces do battle with a Muslim foe. I'll be asking Ridley Scott whether he intended Body of Lies - which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a CIA agent in the Middle East and Russell Crowe as his Washington handler - as the final part of a trilogy. And I'll be asking our panel whether 'geopolitical thriller' is a contradiction in terms. Watch a clip and read more on Body of Lies .

Gethsemane
is another artist who likes to get his teeth into the big issue. In the 90s his 'state of the nation' plays tackled the Church, the judiciary and the Labour Party. More recently he's borrowed real-life characters and phrases to discuss railway privatisation and the war in Iraq. His latest play Gethsemane is about political fundraising and the betrayal of ideals. There's a rock-fan prime minister, a Cabinet member whose husband is up to his neck in dodgy deals abroad, and a party fundraiser who made his money in the music biz. It may all sound familiar but according to David Hare Gethsemane is a work of "pure fiction". Yeah, right. There's more on Hare's Gethsemane .

Babylon
It was once the greatest city in the world, a towering metropolis in which spectacular gardens may (or may not) have hung. After the invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam, the ruins of Babylon were turned into a military base, incised with deep trenches. The desecration of one of the original wonders of the world is a sad coda to a series of amazing historical and mythical tales retold at the . Read more about the Babylon exhibition .

Survivors
Survivors logoIn the early 1970s, just as I'd stopped hiding behind the sofa when Dr Who came on, along came another scary television thriller from the pen of Timelord writer . Survivors imagined a deadly plague wiping out most of the world's population. Now there's a contemporary take on the scenario, a series in which flu results in more than a shiver and a sniffle. More on the new Survivors .

Hope you can join us at 11pm.

John

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    Talking of lies:

    Three US helicopters attacked a site within Syria and killed children, etc.

    The USA "leaked" an announcement that they had "got" a man wanted for smuggling people into Iraq.

    However, that man did not appear on the Syrian list of casulties and the USA has never made an attributable, official announcement concerning the action.

    Will the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ just let this item die?

  • Comment number 2.

    why do we keep having the same right-wing nuts on like Aaranovitch and Michael Gove to discuss theatre and film? Why not Ken Loach and people from a more left leaning perspective that have at least 'done a bit' The Beeb is so predictable in their 'safe' contributors and after the Ross&Brand fiasco they will retreat even more into their shell and the cutting edge will dissed for another five years. It may be safe viewing but it makes you change channels.

  • Comment number 3.

    leftieoddbod (#2) Because it's just "luftgebaude" and "luftgebaude" is very popular with debtors (see credit crisis; see sex differences).

  • Comment number 4.

    2. At 11:36am on 15 Nov 2008, leftieoddbod
    It may be safe viewing but it makes you change channels.

    You could always decline to pay the licence fee in protest. Money talks.

    Oddly, not a suggestion made too often to those unhappy for other reasons of viewing satisfaction, where 'not watching' seems as far as it goes. Why, I can't imagine.

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