THERE WERE MOMENTS THIS TIME THAT FELT MORE DARK AND FEARFUL
affable former politician is in Holland where in Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas (St Nicholas) has a sidekick named Zwarte Piet, or Black Pete, who usually appears as a blackface character.
Ed goes on set for a film about the character, who is said to go back centuries, and today still appears in parades across the country on December 5, the Dutch St Nicholas holiday.
“I had a sense it was going to be a challenge,” he notes. “But, actually, I had no idea there was going to be scores of these ‘Black Petes’, and they were all going to be white, and it was quite slapstick.
“Your first reaction is to recoil, and I think, intellectually, I didn’t shift from that. But, at the same time, you come to understand why it’s so hard for the majority of Dutch people who are involved in this and why it’s such a potent issue for populist politics, because (Geert) Wilders (leader of the Party for Freedom – a nationalist, right-wing political party in the Netherlands) basically says, ‘You should be proud to be Dutch’, and for Dutch people and their kids, who grew up with this, they think, ‘Well, I don’t want to not be proud of my childhood or my Christmas traditions’.”
Ed spent 20 years in politics, and is married to Labour MP Yvette Cooper. Following Jeremy
Corbyn’s decision to resign as leader of the Labour Party, four women are in the running for the top job – shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey and backbenchers Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy.
Discussing the idea of a woman heading up Labour, Ed says: “It’s not good that the Conservative Party have now had two women prime ministers, and the Labour Party is yet to have one. Because Labour has had two short-lived female leaders, but never elected, and never as prime minister. So, let’s hope.” But he won’t let on who he thinks should be leader, saying he doesn’t think there’s a front runner.
“Who Labour chooses as leader and how they do the job – and whether they do this in a way which is about not only being an effective opposition but building a mainstream alternative, which can reach into the centre ground – I think that’s going to become much, much more important.”
Travels In Euroland With Ed Balls starts on BBC2 on Thursday, January 23 at 9pm.
JUST MERCY
BASED on lawyer Bryan Stevenson’s memoir
Just Mercy: A Story Of Justice And Redemption, writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton’s courtroom drama adds a thick layer of Hollywood sheen to the true story of an Alabama pulpwood worker, who attempted to overturn his murder conviction from death row.
On November 1, 1986, the town of Monroeville, where Harper Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird, recoils from news of a violent crime in the beating heart of the community. Eighteenyear-old part-time clerk Ronda Morrison has been strangled and shot dead at Jackson Cleaners. A trial lasting a day and a half finds local man Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), known as Johnny D, guilty of the heinous act.
The conviction hinges on eyewitness evidence from Ralph Myers (Tim Blake Nelson).
Sheriff Tate (Michael Harding) publicly professes Walter’s guilt and a judge overrules the jury’s recommendation of life behind bars to hand down a death sentence. Two years later, idealistic lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Michael B Jordan) takes up
Walter’s case and braces for a hostile reception. “What you’re doing is gonna make a lot of people upset,” warns his mother. “You better be careful.”
Bryan co-founds the Equal Justice Initiative with southern firebrand Eva Ansley (Brie Larson) and visits Holman Correctional Facility, where Walter is awaiting execution.
The lawyer attempts to buoy his client’s spirits but Walter is aware of the slim chances of success against District Attorney Tommy Chapman (Rafe Spall). “You know how many people been freed from Alabama death row?” Walter sternly asks Bryan. “None... You ain’t gonna be the one to change that.”
Just Mercy is a showcase for Jordan and Foxx, who forge a compelling and moving screen partnership that energises the bloated running time.
The emotional beats of Cretton’s script are predictable but there is undeniable satisfaction when they land, accompanied by heavenly harmonies from a gospel choir on the soundtrack.