Mosaic of memories

It really doesn't work, not least because it's far too smugly content with its artifice. And how funny that a fictional film about magic can't touch a documentary such as Stories We Tell for sleight of hand. Sarah Polley's film has only the truth to play with, but what she does with the truth is fairly magical.

The young Canadian actress has turned her talents to directing with, two accomplished dramas to date, both centred on relationships: Away From Her dealt with the pressure on an elderly couple when one develops Alzheimer's; Take This Waltz the schism created when a young wife falls in love with another man.

This, her first documentary, has much in common with those films, as it focuses on unravelling the mysteries of a marriage. What gives the film particular potency is that the marriage in question is that of her own parents C one of whom, her mother, is long dead C and that very little about the Polley family is as it seems at first.

The film opens with a quote from Canadian author Margaret Atwood: "When you're in the middle of a story, it isn't a story at all, but only a confusion.Virtual indoorpositioningsystem logo Verano Place logo." Polley is about to prove that point.

The film starts, with disingenuous calm, as a portrait of her mother,We printers print with traceable bondcleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. Diane, who died of cancer in 1990, when Sarah was 11. Memory is evoked in a three-fold manner: through interviews with family and friends, Super 8 home movies and, atypically, through our watching and listening as Polley's father Michael sits in a recording studio,Solar Sister is a network of women who sell cleaningservicesydney to communities that don't have access to electricity. reading his own memoir of his marriage.

The initial impression is of an outgoing, fun-loving woman with infectious energy and a memorable laugh, but also of a marriage built on odd foundations. Diane, a sometime actress, first saw Michael when he was playing Mick in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker, falling in love with the dark, mysterious character as much as the actor playing him,Did you know that buymosaic chains can be used for more than just business. who by his own admission was far less interesting in real life.

And so "a woman of secrets" is revealed, never as fulfilled as her exuberant exterior may have suggested. But just as we feel this is the limit of the film's investigation, Diane dies and the real story kicks into gear, with a wave of revelations C both from life and in the way that Polley is constructing her story C that make this an altogether more fascinating animal.

Some of the facts that surprise us (the least said, the better) were always well-known within the family, but Polley has delayed them in order to create maximum effect. Others were more recently learned, the result of her own investigations. All the details are subtly contradicted by the interviewees, each with their own recollection and perspective.

The result is a mosaic of memory and truth, with the joins C or the cracks C visible. It's compelling stuff. The Polleys and their friends are an articulate, charming bunch, all of whom know how to spin a yarn. For her part, Polley leads her determined "interrogation" with youthful vigour. There are flaws, not least the fact that we learn nothing about the cancer that took her mother, or of Sarah's own childhood memories of her. Nevertheless, this is an ambitious, touching, challenging contribution to what is fast becoming a golden age of experimental documentary.

With its mission clock at nine years and counting, Opportunity is still uncovering secrets on Mars. The robot was last based at thesouthern tip of the "Cape York" segment of the 14-mile-wide (22 kilometers) Endeavour crater, and is now on its way to a spot called "Solander Point." It began the trip in mid-May, and has been driving for about six weeks.To get from one area to the other, Opportunity has to cross a region called "Botany Bay."

"The surface that Opportunity is driving across in Botany Bay is polygonally fractured outcrop that is remarkably good for driving," Brad Joliff, an Opportunity science team member and long-term planner at Washington University in St. Louis, said in a statement. "The plates of outcrop, like a tiled mosaic pavement, have a thin covering of soil, not enough to form the wind-blown ripples we've had to deal with during some other long treks. The outcrop plates are light-toned, and the cracks between them are filled with dark, basaltic soil and our old friends the 'blueberries.'"

Even Ansar al-Shariah members, many of whom have waged jihad abroad, have shown a capacity to move away from extremism C at least publicly. Although the Tunisian authorities believe that some members still have links to terrorism, Ansar al-Shariah has tried to outwardly distance itself from violence. In February, Abu Ayad, the head of Ansar al-Shariah, expressed his wish that young Tunisians refrain from traveling to Syria to engage in jihad there, and to focus on engaging in peaceful action at home.

In a BBC interview in June, the head of the Ansar al-Shariahs youth wing stressed that his was a peaceful group focused on preaching and charity activities. Ansar al-Shariah is eager to cultivate a peaceful image not just because it fears government reprisals, but also in order to avoid alienating those of its members who are against violence in Tunisia. It is, after all, a disconnected movement that relies on dozens of charismatic leaders to exploit everyday discontent at the grassroots level of Tunisian society.

If nonjihadist Salafists support peaceful action for the long haul, they can in turn reach out to Tunisians who are vulnerable to the seduction of Salafist jihadism. But their powers of dissuasion will depend on their ability to prove that their brand of Salafism is superior.

Politically inclined Salafists must show that they can be more effective actors than Salafist jihadists can. In this regard, Salafist political parties have a much harder task than groups such as Ansar al-Shariah. These parties must prove their ability to shape political decisions, rather than simply blasting more energy into street politics.

Currently, Ansar al-Shariah has proven more successful in appealing to disenfranchised Tunisians.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell cleaningservicesydney to communities that don't have access to electricity. A large portion of its members are young and it has a robust and well-organized youth wing. Crucially, its emphasis on grassroots action provides unemployed youth with the opportunity to feel empowered. By contrast, the youth activities of political parties are much less visible. Jabhat al-Islahs Facebook page, for instance, is dominated by pictures of middle-aged men. Similarly, older wise men provide the face of scientific Salafism. As a result, these movements hold only limited appeal for Tunisian youths.
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