Author picks his top films to inspire optimism and hope
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Portchester-born fantasy writer Neil Gaiman says the coronavirus pandemic has made him realise how ‘fragile’ the world is. The author said that civilisation ‘can break so easily and it can break for any of us’.
Gaiman, 60, who is a goodwill ambassador for UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, was speaking as he unveiled a list of films aiming to spread hope amid the pandemic.
He told the PA news agency: ‘Looking at civilisation, especially in these Covid days… it is so fragile.’
Gaiman said he never stops ‘being aware that this can go away’.
He said that on a trip to a Jordanian refugee camp he met people from Syria who ‘had worked in corner shops, they had sold insurance, they had worked in car showrooms.’
The American Gods writer added: ‘Whether we have a place to live in or not, we are all dealing with a world of Covid-19 and that Covid-19 world that we are in is awful.
‘The vulnerable are more vulnerable than ever.’
Gaiman has worked with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro to comprise a list of six ‘films of hope’ for UNHCR.
Del Toro has won numerous awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for 2017's The Shape of Water.
The list aims to help film fans stay positive amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Shawshank Redemption, Tampopo, It’s A Wonderful Life, Brazil, The Wizard Of Oz and the 1946 Jean Cocteau rendition of Beauty And The Beast were included on their list.
Gaiman said the film watchlist idea is ‘marvellous’, adding: ‘It is so easy to be hopeless.
‘We are in a world right now in which everybody is having an awful time.
‘There are very few people who are not affected by this, whether your family or friends are dying, whether you are losing your job, whether you are watching friends and loved ones losing their jobs or whatever.
‘It is really difficult.’
Actresses Cate Blanchett, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Gugu Mbatha-Raw have previously revealed their watchlist of uplifting films for the UNHCR.
The series is available on IMDb’s What to Watch page.
Back in 2013, a road next to the Canoe Lake in Southsea was named after his then latest novel – The Ocean at The End of The Lane.
Early in the pandemic, Gaiman sparked criticism when he admitted travelling 11,000 miles from New Zealand, where he lived with is wife Amanda, to Scotland.
He wrote on his blog in May how he travelled to Scotland so he could ‘isolate easily' after he and Amanda agreed they ‘needed to give each other some space'.
He described how he flew ‘masked and gloved' from Auckland Airport to Los Angeles (LAX) and then on to London before borrowing a friend's car and driving north to Skye. Only essential journeys were permitted under lockdown rules in Scotland at the time.
Ian Blackford, MP for Skye, said: ‘Can I just remind anyone else thinking of coming to the Highlands this is against the regulations. To come from the other end of the planet is gobsmacking.’
Gaiman later published an apology on his website.
We are all dealing with a world of Covid-19 and that world is awful