The Strategist

Robin Hood - sticking it to the Man

Ridley Scott's new film, "Robin Hood", is sure to be a box office hit. Why?

We're going to see loads of fighting, slashing and hacking, lots of evil bastards getting their just desserts, and plenty of hearty "roaaars" from Russell Crowe. But there's something more than brawn, blood and gore, and that is the enduring pull of the legendary outlaw and his exploits.

What is it about the Robin Hood legend that continues to grip us? The obvious answer is that the legend conveys powerful messages about social justice and "sticking it to the Man".

But do these ideas really resonate with us? Most of us are concerned with social justice only when it doesn't interfere with our consumer lifestyles.

Take oil. We cruise around in our cars and SUVs, turning a blind eye to the terrible conflict, corruption, environmental devastation, atmospheric pollution, waste of resources and poverty that is caused by oil extraction.

And most of us work in situations where we have no choice but to suck up, not stick it, to the Man. Either we need to work to feed our families. Or we want to get ahead, and this is the route to promotion and money.

Perhaps this gets us to the real appeal of Robin Hood. The outlaw symbolizes the ideal of the free man - or more precisely, the free common man - "who lives as he wishes and cannot be coerced, impeded or compelled", as the Stoic philosopher Epictetus put it. It's hard to think of another historical or mythical figure who comes close to this ideal. For one reason or another, Spartacus, William Tell and Daniel Boone don't cut it.

For most of us the idea of the free man and woman is a pleasant day-dream, something to be lived vicariously for an hour or two by watching Robin Hood. We can't all follow Robin's example, living free in the greenwood, seeing off the Sheriff of Nottingham, and eating the King's venison. 

Or can we?

"District 9" and the Zeitgeist

 

Last night I watched Peter Jackson's District 9, a sci-fi flick directed by Neill Blomkamp. Verdict? It's an off-beat and gripping story which cleverly inverts the traditional alien invasion storyline.

Here's the back story. Twenty years ago, bug-like aliens arrive on Earth in a stricken mothership. The vessel hovers above Johannesburg, South Africa, and eventually is boarded by the security forces. The aliens are confined to a shantytown which is run by the MNU corporation.

The aliens have awesome weapons, but they're not aggressive and not especially interested in Earth or its inhabitants. They just want to survive, fix the ship, and go home. Naturally MNU is concerned for the welfare of the aliens - it wants to find out how their weapons work.

District 9 is in tune with the 21st century Zeitgeist: the eclipse of the state, the slow bleed of democratic and citizenship rights, and the rising power and tyranny of non-state organizations. In the film, the government is ineffectual. A sinister private corporation has a monopoly on human-alien interaction and "research". It uses a private military force to do its dirty work. On the shantytown's streets, Nigerian gangsters are muscling in on the action.

It's just occurred to me that I haven't said anything about the plot. I'll leave you to watch it. Suffice to say, if you want to see the awesome power of the alien guns, you won't be disappointed.

Simon Mann, mercenary - the movie

Sounds like mercenary Simon Mann wasn't treated too harshly during his 15 months jail time in Equatorial Guinea's notorious Black Beach prison...

"Mann has said he 'felt like a guest … and not like a prisoner ... and there were reports he dined on wine, chicken, steak and vegetables brought in from a nearby restaurant."

"He had his own cell, exercise machine and books and was allowed regular calls home. He often had lunch with ... the Security Minister, who would bring food and wine from his hotel..."

I can't wait to see the movie. But they're gonna have to jazz it up a bit. Actually, a lot. Eating steak, sipping wine and reading Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo just won't cut it.

So, here's a couple of ideas for enhancing the plot...

Early on, prison thugs try to make Mann their bitch. He fights back with improvised weapons. That's where the steak knives and wine glasses come in handy. Along the way, Mann uses his accountancy skills to expose the money swindling scheme of the prison governor.

Later, Mann hatches a daring escape plan. It involves a wooden horse, tunnelling under the wire, and a motorbike jump to freedom. The prisoners break out but after a gunfight are recaptured. They're about to be shot when the presidential pardon comes through.

Still feels light, though. Any more ideas?

What's the best cop flick ever?

Best cop flick ever?

Tough question - there's so many great movies to choose from. Dirty Harry, LA Confidential, Hot Fuzz, Miami Vice...

But my top pick is not American or British. It's a Brazilian film, "Elite Squad", directed by José Padilha, which came out in 2007.

Based on real life, Elite Squad portrays the experiences of a captain and two rookie officers in BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion), an elite military police unit in Rio de Janeiro. Set in 1997, the film takes the viewer deep into the squalor, crime, corruption and drug warfare of Rio's favelas. There are no golden beaches in this film, no bronzed bodies relaxing on the sand at Copacabana, no fun games of beach soccer. This is intense stuff - urban warfare, fought between paramilitary police and drug gangs, in tight-packed slums.

You can't really describe BOPE as a police force. It's a commando unit, clad in black, heavily armed, and engaged in urban combat. BOPE's officers and men don't patrol a beat, investigate crimes and prosecute criminals. They live by the creed of the infantryman - close with the enemy and kill him.

Unlike Rio's ordinary police, which the film shows as slovenly, inept and utterly corrupt, BOPE prides itself on being hard, highly trained and honest. Up against merciless drug lords, BOPE commandos fight fire with fire: they infiltrate the favelas by night, shoot on sight, execute criminals, and torture to get information.

In the film, Captain Roberto Nascimento is burnt out. He's searching for someone to take over his squad so that he can retire knowing that his men are in good hands. He's found two promising rookies, Neto Gouveia and André Matias. Both joined BOPE from the ordinary police after running foul of their venal superiors. At the same time, Nascimento's been ordered to cleanse a slum of its resident drug gang so that the Pope can stay there during his visit to Rio.

The film interweaves these two stories. Along the way it exposes the corruption within the ordinary police - where police chiefs fight for control of lucrative kickbacks, precincts sell automatic weapons to drug dealers, and the cops shift corpses to other areas so that they won't have to investigate the killings. The film also takes a swipe at the hypocrisy of Rio's wealthy university students, who fuel the drug trade by smoking dope and snorting crack, while blathering on about Foucault and state repression.

Elite Squad makes you think about the future of policing in the urbanized, overcrowded and anarchic 21st century. As the authorities bleed sovereignty and cede territory to drug lords, insurgent groups and militias, will police become militarized and focused on protecting turf, resources and revenue?

Is the future of policing about making war, not enforcing the law?

Is "U571" the lamest of the lame?

"Oh boy," I thought gleefully as I sat down to watch U-571, "This is gonna be good".

U-571 is Hollywood's infamous take on a heroic episode of World War Two, the capture of a German Enigma machine. On 9 May 1941, during the Battle of the Atlantic, a Royal Navy escort group forced a German submarine, U-110, to the surface. British sailors boarded the abandoned U-boat and seized its Enigma machine and German naval codebooks. Using the machine and codebooks, the Brits broke German codes and gained priceless intelligence about Axis operations.

But wait! Surely the story could be enhanced? With noble Americans. And gunfights. And underwater torpedo battles. And evil Nazis. Yes we can! U-571 tells how brave American sailors, on a top secret mission, captured the Enigma machine in spring 1942. Yeah, twelve months after that other incident, well after the US entered the war, and no Brits in sight.

U-571 caused outrage in the UK when it came out in 2000. Hollywood couldn't understand why. No animals were harmed during the making of this production, right?

Eventually screenwriter David Ayer admitted that he didn't feel good about it. "It was a distortion," the wretched man confessed, "a mercenary decision to create this parallel history in order to drive the movie for an American audience". Perhaps Ayer belatedly realized that this travesty was akin to saying that the Canadians went ashore at Omaha, or that Brits stormed the beaches of Iwo Jima?

Aside from the porkie that gives U-571 its story, the film is not half bad. The boarding of U-571 and the depth-charging of the Americans by a German destroyer are gripping. Harvey Keitel puts in a good performance - "I'm a sea dog, need some salt air, sir". There's even a lesson on leadership. Lieutenant Tyler is too chummy with the other ranks. The captain tells him that he's not cut out to take command because he won't order men to their deaths. Then the captain drowns and Tyler's in charge. Fortunately, Tyler hardens up and orders several saps to their deaths. Everybody's happy.

OK, the film does have a few implausible moments. Actually, the film has many implausible moments. Like when the Enigma machine is dropped in the water, and Tyler dives in to save it. Or when the Americans in U-571 fight an underwater torpedo duel with the German resupply U-boat. Or when they surface the sub and fire the last torpedo to blow up the Nazi destroyer in a cataclysmic explosion.

I'm not sure if U-571 deserves the title of "lamest of the lame". It's fun to watch and a damned sight better than King Arthur. 7/10 on the lame-o-meter.

Why is "King Arthur" so lame?

I've just watched the 2004 film "King Arthur". It's loosely based on the idea that Arthur was a Roman officer (or a Romano-British aristocrat) who defended Dark Ages Britain against the invading Saxons.

Man, it's lame. Here are just three of the many reasons why...

• The film is set in Britain in 467 AD. In the film the Romans are garrisoning Britain. In real life, the Romans pulled out in 410.

• Arthur and his "Sarmatian knights" ride with stirrups. Europeans didn't start using stirrups until the 7th century AD.

• Lancelot has two swords cross-sheathed on his back. Pet hate: I loathe movies in which Dark Ages warriors and medieval knights fight like Japanese Samurai.

Oh, did I mention that the Pope is in charge of the Roman empire? That the Saxons are armed with crossbows? That the Sarmatian cavalrymen leap off their horses to fight on foot? In broken fighting, mounted warriors had the advantage over footsloggers. Why the f--- would you give up that advantage?

"Strike with chaos" - who's the best translator of Sun-tzu?

So, you haven't read Sun-tzu's The Art of War, but you'd like to. Trouble is, which translation?

I've got two translations of this ancient Chinese classic on warfare and strategy. One is by Thomas Cleary, published by Shambhala in 1988. The other is by John Minford, published by Penguin in 2003.

Cleary's translation is a dog. It is long-winded. It is dull. Avoid it.

Minford's translation is superb. It is crisp. It is poetic. Buy it - either the 2003 edition, or the Penguin Great Ideas version which is small, slim and easy to carry around. If you're a soldier, tuck it into a trouser leg pocket. If you're a suit, carry it inside your jacket.

Payoff? Next time you have to endure a business presentation or a brainstorming session, sit at the back of the room, ignore the powerpoint rangers and facilitators, pull out Minford's Sun-tzu and read him instead.

Here's how Cleary translates a passage in the first part of The Art of War: 

Draw them in with the prospect of gain,
Take them by confusion.

And this is how Minford renders the same passage:

Lure with bait
Strike with chaos.

"Strike with chaos". When I read this, I think of Caesar striking south from the Rubicon with the XIII Legion, driving Pompey to Greece, Pharsalus and destruction. Of the Mongols scything through Russia and Europe from 1238 to 1241. And of Jason Bourne, striking fear into the dark hearts of renegade CIA operatives in "The Bourne Ultimatum".

I won't labour the point. Minford's translation sings. It makes the study of war and strategy come alive. Cleary makes me yawn.

Caught my eye this week...Rupert Murdoch and madcap espionage

Here are several articles and posts that caught my eye this week:

• Banyan writes about the rise, fall and resurrection of Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim (h/t The Asia File). Anwar's rise to high office was spectacular, his fall swift and brutal. Six years in jail would finish most politicians, but Anwar has resurfaced as a threat to UMNO, Malaysia's ruling party.

• Bruce Schneier considers our gut feel for everyday risks: "Throughout our evolution, our survival depended on making reasonably accurate risk management decisions intuitively, and we're so good at it, we don't even realise we're doing it".

• The Asia File casts a skeptical eye over Rupert Murdoch's plans to start charging for online content at his newspapers. I don't know about you, but the day I have to pay to read the Times is the day that I stop reading the Times. It's just not that good.

• Having said that, I liked this Times piece on the top ten historically bogus movies. I totally agree with the choice of "U-571" as numero uno. This bullshit film cynically distorted history in an effort to pander to American audiences and make loads of money.

• In Pyongyang, Korean Central News reports that on 28 July US imperialists and the warmongers of the south Korean puppet armed forces conducted madcap aerial espionage. 

Sunday reflection: "I find your lack of faith disturbing"

Yesterday my son and I watched the original Star Wars movie. It's now called Episode IV: A New Hope, but whatever. The boy fell asleep after half an hour, but I watched it to the end.

I still recall my excitement when I first saw Stars War at the theatre in 1977. It was fresh, exciting and seemed to take sci-fi on the big screen to a new level of imagination. Thirty-two years on and the film's aged really well considering the advances in special effects since then. While parts of the film are hokey, and there's a complete absence of friction in the battle scenes, the film tells a gripping story.

My favourite Star Wars scene is the one where Darth Vader chokes the insubordinate Admiral Motti. "I find your lack of faith disturbing", Vader says sotto voce. Lamest scene? The grand ceremony on Yavin 4, when Leia gives Luke Skywalker and Han Solo chunky gold medals and an eyeful of her cleavage.

And the best Star Wars parody? Eddie Izzard's "Death Star canteen". Darth Vader tries to throw his weight around in the cafeteria, but no-one recognizes him...

"How do your weapons work?"

There's something chilling about the trailer of Peter Jackson's latest sci-fi flick, "District 9". Perhaps it's the dialogue between the human interrogator and the alien prisoner...

Human: "Why don't you just leave?"

Alien: "How can we go anywhere if you have our ship?"

Human: "How do your weapons work?"

Alien: "We mean you no harm. We just want to go home."

"How do your weapons work?" Yeah, that'd be right...

The Butterfly Hunter

I'd love to watch "Olympus Inferno", a Russian action flick about last year's Georgian war.

An entomologist travels to Georgia ... err, I mean the Republic of South Ossetia ... to film rare night butterflies. He's accompanied by a hot Russian woman journalist. To film the butterflies they use special night vision cameras. They also film nasty Georgians starting the war. The Georgians don't want to be filmed starting the war.

All hell breaks loose as the butterfly hunter become the hunted...   

   

Clausewitz "On War", Book 1: Jason Bourne and 'friction'

This post is part of the Clausewitz roundtable, an exploration of the ideas of Prussian military thinker Carl von Clausewitz, hosted at Chicago Boyz.

Last night I watched "The Bourne Ultimatum", the film about renegade assassin Jason Bourne. In the climax, CIA operative Pamela Landy is faxing a bunch of documents that expose a conspiracy within the agency. She's racing against the clock - a renegade CIA chief is about to break down the door. Just as the bad guy bursts in, pistol in hand, the last document is sent safely on its way.

If you've ever had to fax stuff in a hurry, you'll know that in real life it never works this way. The machine is turned off, or in power-saver mode. It takes its own sweet time to warm up. It's out of paper. You punch in the wrong number, or forget to dial an outside line. Then an error message appears. Finally the paper feed jams...

You get the drift. This is a simple illustration of an important concept in Clausewitz's On War, the idea of "friction". Clausewitz wrote in war, friction is an "unseen, all-pervading" element. It's about how everything can and will go wrong, how things generally don't go to plan, and how simple things are difficult to do. In theory, war should end in extremes - short duration, a single decisive battle, total destruction. In practice, friction ensures that war is prolonged, confused and fails to result in some or all of the objectives set.

Yahoo! war flicks list has zero cred

If you're a war flick aficionado check out Yahoo! top-rated war movies (thanks to YT for the heads-up).

Good to see that classics like "The Battle of Algiers", "Glory", and "The Great Escape" made the top 30. But hang on..."Von Ryan's Express", "Guns of Navarone" and "Sands of Iwo Jima" are missing from the list. That's not good.

And what sort of credibility does this list have when "The African Queen"- not a war flick - comes in at number 12, and "Braveheart" (!!!!) is placed at number two?

African Queen + Braveheart = zero cred

Blogshots

I've recently discovered the joy of Google Reader. All the posts of my favourite blogs piped into the one easy-to-read page. Brilliant!

Here are three posts that I've enjoyed reading this week.

Maverecon: "Too many cooks in Obama's economics kitchen"

Willem Buiter unravels the "Byzantine complexity of the White House economic policy-making machine".

Still, the US intelligence community, with 17 (!) federal intelligence outfits, beats the economists hands down. Check out the IC's funky homepage - "The IC - Working to Protect Freedom".

Jeff Vail (at The Oil Drum): "A resilient suburbia? (3)

A further post from Jeff on whether suburbs have a future in a post-Peak Oil world:

"it isn't realistic at present to think that we'll be able to put enough solar panels on our roofs to charge the batteries on the twin electric-Escalades sitting in our garage for the daily commute to work. I increasingly believe that suburbia can be resilient and sustainable, but not as a mere "Star-Trek" version of the present."

Antilibrary: "Nazi kitsch"

AE puts in a plug for World War Two films that are "loud and unapologetically crude such as The Dirty Dozen or Where Eagles Dare than an overwrought piece of Oscar bait."

Hear hear! For the record, my three favourite WW2 films are 'Guns of Navarone', 'Sands of Iwo Jima', and 'Von Ryan's Express'. No Oscar bait here.

Sunday reflection

 

Dreaming of Skull Island (photo: Kotare).

In the movie "King Kong", the adventurers voyage to Skull Island in the SS Venture. For the 2005 remake, director Peter Jackson bought a small ship for shooting the voyage scenes. Since then the rusting hulk has been tied up at a wharf at Miramar, New Zealand.

I took this shot of the "SS Venture" last weekend. Yesterday we endured wild stormy weather, which was not good for getting out and taking photos.

Last week I continued reading Azar Gat's War in Human Civilization, strove to finish Milton's Paradise Lost, and picked up a copy of Kerouac's On the Road. This post by Zenpundit, about nuclear powered zeppelins, caught my eye. I love airships, but prefer that they were powered by environmentally friendly sources of power.

Looking to the week ahead, there's the US presidential election. I'm confident that Barack Obama will win, and that this will be in large part due to his campaign's ground strategy. But I'm too long in the tooth to give credence to claims of epochal change. "Events are the ephemera of history," Fernand Braudel wrote, "they pass across its stage like fireflies, hardly glimpsed before they settle back into darkness and as often as not into oblivion."

If elected, Obama and Joe Biden should bring to the White House intellect and a nuanced grasp of international affairs - qualities which have been sorely lacking in the last eight years. With John "Maverick" McCain and Sarah "I can see Russia from my back window" Palin, we can expect more Bush and Cheney: destructive wars without aim or end, air strikes against civilians, and grim devastation of the natural world.

Guns and Glenlivet

Major Fincham: "I once told you Ryan, if only one gets out, it's a victory."

What better way to spend a stormy winter weekend than watching my all-time favourite war movies? Here's what I'll be viewing (with a bottle of Glenlivet at hand)...

1. Guns of Navarone
2. Sands of Iwo Jima
3. Gallipoli
4. Glory
5. Von Ryan's Express

Any other suggestions? Just not Jarhead or 300.

"Elite Squad"

José Padilha has been labelled a fascist and a communist for his film, Elite Squad. He must be doing something right.

In this article, Andrew Purcell speaks with Padilha about the film, which is based on the memoirs of two military policemen who served in Bope, Rio de Janiero's paramilitary police force. Bope, which prides itself on incorruptibility and is notorious for extreme brutality, spearheads the urban war against Rio's drug gangs and militias. It operates in a society which seems anarchic and dangerous in the extreme:

"The society that Elite Squad portrays could hardly be more rotten. Policemen swap guns for cocaine, politicians buy votes in brothels, and students set up NGOs in the slums to get close to the drug-dealers. Bope is the only hope, the antithesis of Rio's venal, incompetent police force.

The film's critics, none of whom dispute that these social problems exist, argue that [Bope captain] Nascimento's unrepentant voiceover advocates an appalling, dangerously appealing solution."

After I read Purcell's article, I thought about Cormac McCarthy's novel No Country for Old Men. The drug violence along the US-Mexico border, portrayed in the book, is disturbing, as is the idea that things fall apart gradually, almost without people noticing.

But what's really chilling about No Country for Old Men is the creeping realization that the story is set in the mid-1980s. If things were bad then, you think, what's it like now? Similarly, Elite Squad is set in 1997.

Space Grunts and Guns

Remember the film Aliens (1986) and the Colonial Marine Corps? The space grunts packed some heavy hardware, including the celebrated M41A pulse rifle.

These guys have obviously spent quite a bit of time researching the specifications of the pulse rifle and other Aliens weaponry:

"The M41A is the standard assault rifle of the Colonial Marine Corps. The M41A is a reliable, solid, but aging 10mm light automatic weapons with an underslung 30mm pump-action grenade launcher. Standard ammunition for the rifle are 10mm caseless APS rounds. The grenade launcher fires standard M40 HE type grenades, but can take any of a wide-range of loads from HEDP (M38), Baton Rounds and Chemical Rounds for anti-riot operations."

Right. I can only be thankful that when things turn to custard in TEOTWAWKI I won't be stuck with them as my buddies.

(H/T Armchair Generalist.)

Kingdom of Heaven

Sensitive new age crusaders?

Yesterday I watched, for the umpteenth time, 'Kingdom of Heaven', the Ridley Scott epic about the Crusades. The film is set in the late 12th century when the Christian principalities in the Holy Land were threatened by the Muslim armies of Saladin. Balian follows his father, Godfrey, Baron of Ibelin, on crusade. After Godfrey dies, Balian becomes baron, and when Saladin crushes the crusaders at the Battle of Hattin, Balian defends Jerusalem against him.

'Kingdom of Heaven' is one of my favourite films. Why? The story is beautifully worked, the mood is sombre, the cinematography is stunning, and the music is haunting. The film has a strong cast, including Liam Neeson, Orlando Bloom, Jeremy Irons and Edward Norton. Although fiction, the story has a footing, albeit loose, in the historical record, and the principal characters were mostly real personalities.

Beowulf, Not

Who would be crass enough to take Beowulf, the epic Anglo-Saxon poem, and turn it into a raunchy gore-splattered action flick? Perhaps the same sort of people who took Herodotus's classic account of the Battle of Thermopylae and turned it into a raunchy action-splattered gore fest known as 300? "Freedom isn't free!" indeed.

Here's the official synopsis of the film's plot (disclaimer - I didn't write the following crap passage, but got it from the film's website)...

"In the Age of Heroes comes the mightiest warrior of them all, Beowulf. After destroying the overpowering demon, Grendal, he incurs the undying wrath of the beast's ruthlessly seductive mother, who will use any means possible to ensure revenge. The ensuing epic battle resonates throughout the ages, immortalizing the name of Beowulf."

"Ruthlessly seductive" - wow! I think I know what "any means possible" will entail. After watching the trailer my reaction was "300 with snow". See if you agree with me.

On Formlessness

I trained hard, pushing myself to the edge and beyond. I went for long periods with no sleep, nor rest. I lived off the land, subsisting on what came to hand - pizza, chips, wine and whiskey. I reflected on the deep questions: which is the better film - The Bourne Identity or The Bourne Supremacy? And what was the best action scene - the sniper in the woods (Bourne 1) or the hand-to-hand fight with knives and rolled up newspapers (Bourne 2)?

I was ready, at last, to see The Bourne Ultimatum.

I was not disappointed. Ex-assassin Jason Bourne goes after renegade CIA officials. He was set up by these evil bastards in their pinstripe suits, and now they want to take him down. The plot shifts swiftly from Italy to London to Spain to Morocco to New York - to where it all began for Bourne. The action is slick, fast, enjoyable, and improbable. Bourne crosses national frontiers seamlessly. He kills an assortment of hitmen. High security buildings are no obstacle to him. The bad guys track him using the latest gizmos, but Bourne is always several steps ahead. He embodies José Raúl Capablanca's dictum, "in the endgame, don't think in terms of moves but in terms of plans".   

What I've always admired about Bourne is that he's low tech and he improvises. Bourne's opponents use fancy weapons. They track his movements with satellites, surveillance cameras and software. They travel in black SUVs and jet planes. By contrast, Bourne's hands are his weapons. He uses railway timetables and public telephones. He walks, or catches boats and trains. His adversaries use high technology; Bourne uses his brains.

He's also indirect. Read Sun-tzu's The Art of War, and most of what you read will apply to Jason Bourne:   

His form is visible, but I am formless;

I am concentrated, he is divided.

An action film needs a conspiracy, and naturally the rot in the CIA goes all the way to the top. And ultimately Bourne confronts his maker, and the deepest of all questions - "who am I?". 

Action Stations

Assassin Jason Bourne returns in 'The Bourne Ultimatum':

The movie, the rightful and triumphant conclusion to the Bourne trilogy..has Bourne back in the saddle and in hot pursuit of his former CIA paymasters. As usual the question for the amnesiac hero is still the urgent, and yet touchingly philosophical, “Who am I?”

I have to get in shape for this mission, so will be spending the weekend (with whiskey in hand) watching once more the first two films in the trilogy - 'The Bourne Identity' and 'The Bourne Supremacy'.

An Ordinary Man: Charles Upham VC and Bar

The word 'hero' is much abused these days. Our news media applies it indiscriminately to sports stars, and to celebrities - 'no-hopers masquerading as somebodies', as Otago poet Brian Turner described them.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a hero as "(1) a man noted or admired for nobility, courage, outstanding achievements (2) a great warrior." A man like Charles Upham. Stuff reports that a film is to be made about Upham, New Zealand war hero, and double winner of the Victoria Cross in World War Two.

Upham was a high country shepherd and farmer in the Southern Alps. He volunteered for active service at the outbreak of WW2, and became an infantry officer in the 2nd New Zealand Division. He won his first VC on Crete during the 20th Battalion's counter-attack against German paratroopers at Marleme on the night of 21-22 May 1941. This was grim close-quarter fighting against savage resistance and defence-in-depth, amongst a tangled landscape of villages, ditches, copses and fields. Possessed by an 'icy fury' Upham destroyed three German machine-gun posts with hand grenades, among other remarkable exploits.

Upham was awarded his second VC for his actions at El Ruweisat Ridge, North Africa, on 14-15 July 1942. Armed with a Spandau machine gun and grenades Upham led his company in a wild night of fighting as New Zealanders and Germans attacked and counter-attacked each other. The citation reads in part as follows:

"Captain Upham at once led his company in a determined attack on the two nearest strongpoints....His voice could be heard above the din of battle cheering on his men, and with heavy casualties on both sides the objective was captured. Captain Upham, during the engagements, himself destroyed a German tank and several guns and vehicles with grenades..."

Badly wounded, Upham was later captured. After several daring escape attempts he was incarcerated with other notorious 'trouble-makers' at the Colditz prison camp, from which he was liberated in April 1945. At war's end Upham returned to civilian life, farming in North Canterbury. A group of prominent citizens raised over £10,000 to purchase a farm for him, but he refused the money which was used to establish a scholarship for the sons of veterans.

Upham was an outstanding New Zealander, an inspired leader of men, and a tough, tactically adept and ruthless officer who hated the Nazis and all they stood for. He led from the front, literally, epitomizing the style of leadership that says 'do as I do, not as I say'.

He was also an old-style New Zealander: confident, modest, and stoical, who shunned publicity and talked about the deeds of others rather than his own. When the second VC was announced Upham said: "Naturally I feel some pride in this distinction, but hundreds of others have done more than I did. They could have given it to one of them".

Upham's story reminds me of Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus, an early statesman and general of the Roman Republic, who I discussed in On Leadership in Dangerous Times. Both Upham and Cincinnatus were citizen soldiers, men who farmed the land, who answered the call to duty during dangerous times, gave outstanding service and then, when their duty was done, returned to civilian life.

Later Romans regarded Cincinnatus as an exemplar of republican virtue. As New Zealanders we would do well to reflect on the example of leadership, courage and self-sacrifice that Upham provides. Upham thought of himself as ordinary man, but he was one who achieved extraordinary deeds. I sincerely hope that the film does justice to this great man.