What is it about Dancing on Ice that makes me so damn happy? The moment the celeb and expert twirl onto the ice, the smile starts to spread. When the music starts and they begin to chasse and twizzle without falling, I am gripped by their bravery. If a complicated lift is attempted, and the woman's face veers dangerously close to the ice in the dismount, my heart leaps. Then I am dumbstruck for about ten seconds at the sheer absurdity of what I'm viewing. And finally I shudder, laugh and emote all at the same time. It's like Strictly Come Dancing x 100. It's greatness is heightened by the ever-present possibility that someone is going to do themselves serious harm and produce a serious amount of prime-time blood; or that we might get a Nancy Kerrigan-type scenario where Gaynor Faye gets her husband to do Bonnie Langford's knees in with a hammer. Not that I want that to happen. I am brimming with admiration for the lot of them, and find the whole thing utterly life-affirming.
Going from Dancing on Ice to Rabbit-Proof Fence made it a somewhat tearful evening in the Telly Ellie household last night. Kenneth Branagh's film and TV work has been amazing in the last couple of years. Both Shackleton and Rabbit-Proof Fence are examples of completely compelling stories told completely compellingly. In fact, much of Branagh's success as a storyteller is down to the fact he knows which narratives to pick. But it wasn't just the embellished truth of three girls' cheating a horrifying regime that made this such a good film. It was cinematography which showed what a harsh, pretty, wild and unique continent Australia is; sublimely understated performances from the children; intelligent, succinct, provocative dialogue.... Just fantastic, and full of suspense, and moving. In the end, the film wasn't about the systematic kidnapping of regional Australian children by the government, it was about the hard-headed logic of a child's love for their parent, and one girl's resilience in knowing she should return her and her sister to where they should be - with their mum. I think it's a film about kids - not what "miracles" they are, far from it - but about how kids know what's right, and can always see through adults, even when they are being oppressed by them. Doris Lessing writes, "It is my belief that children are full of understanding and know as much as and more than adults, until they are about seven, when they suddenly become stupid, like adults." I bet a lot of displaced regional Australians would agree.
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