Mark Anderson Writes

  Fight Club is 1999 movie that has entered the zeitgeist. More than two decades after its release it is still being talked about and quoted. I had never watched this movie so I decided to give it a watch and I was intrigued for most of the movie. I wondered what would happen next. Then it all fell apart for me as it was revealed that Tyler Durden didn't even exist. What a cop out by the writer! You have led the viewer on a wild goose chase only to reveal that the goose doesn't even exist. Finding out the unnamed narrator was just seeing things and talking to himself made me lose interest in the movie. Thereafter I lost any connection with Edward Norton character. Fight Club to me is just about a westerner who has everything whining about how life has no meaning. There are people in the third world starving to death and Fight Club is about a man who is suffering from boredom. And perhaps that is what is wrong with the western world. The rich have everything and have to invent...

  Carlito's Way is overrated and badly written in my opinion. The movie does not deserve 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. It begins by showing Carlito, the character played by Pacino getting shot. The whole flashback technique does not work because right away the suspense is gone. You know within five minutes Carlito is not going to make it. So when in the end Carlito is inevitably killed the viewer has seen it coming a mile away.  Secondly Carlito's Way is way too long. The long scenes with Carlito and his love interest stretch way too long.  Carlito's monologue in the court room is way too long and unnecessary. The movie should have been done in one and half hours but drags on for two unnecessary long hours. Carlito's Way cannot be compared to Scarface or the Godfather in any way shape or form. If I was the writer for Carlito's Way I would have scrapped the opening scene of Carlito getting shot thereby leaving the viewer in suspense. However, I did like the plot twi...

  A mural of Lobengula and Nehanda The Ndebele and Shona are two tribes who live in present day Zimbabwe. They have had a controversial history that may include a genocide known as gukurahundi. The Shonas claim that the Ndebeles are colonisers no different from the Rhodesians. The Shonas claim the Ndebeles ran away from Shaka in Zululand, came to Zimbabwe and stole Shona women and cattle and killed thousands f Shona people. Shonas further accuse the Ndebele and Lobengula in particular of selling away the country to the white man for a packet of sugar. Today Shonas are fond of threatening to unleash Gukurahundi part 2 and revel in telling Ndebeles to go back to KwaZulu Natal. On the other hand the Ndebeles accuse the Shonas of being the colonialists who came from Burundi and only arrived in the land in the 1700s. There is a book written about this theory called the Rebirth of Bukalanga written by Ndzimu Emmanuel. Here is the link  https://kalanga.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/...

  Among the Matabele is a short book written by Reverend David Carnegie. It was published in 1894. For anyone interested in precolonial Zimbabwe this is a very interesting read. It gives an account of life among the Matabele before the advent of European colonialism. To read this book is to delve into a world untouched by Christianity and modernity. And what is great about this 136 page work of non-fiction is that you can download it for free here  https://archive.org/details/amongmatabele00carn/page/n5/mode/2up The Matabele were a proud warrior nation founded by Mzilikazi, a renegade from Zululand who was once a general under Shaka Zulu before they parted ways. 300 Matabele warriors, women and children led by Mzilikazi journeyed north, fighting the tribes they met along the way, gathering the defeated and building a mighty nation. They settled in what is today Pretoria before clashing with the Boers and coming out second best. Then they travelled north again and finally sett...

  Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi before their execution Mbuya Nehanda aka Charwe Nyakasikana is a legendary figure in Zimbabwe history. According to oral tradition she was instrumental in the first Chimurenga war which saw the native Shona people rise up against the British settlers in the wars of 1896 to 1897. Black Zimbabweans call the uprising the first Chimurenga, Ndebeles call it the Umvukile and Rhodesians call it the Rebellion. The various names show how one event can be distorted and miscontsrued and used for political mileage by people. Let us begin with how Mbuya Nehanda is perceived by her supporters.  Zanu pf the largely Shona based political party has lionised Mbuya Nehanda. She is like the Zimbabwean Boudica or the Shona Joan of Arc. Nehanda was apparently a spirit medium whose real name was Charwe Nyakasikana and she was possessed by the spirit of Nehanda. She encouraged and led the people to rise up against the white settlers. She told the warriors that if the...

  I remember watching The Sopranos and hearing Tony Soprano talk about how The Art of War was useful to him and more helpful than The Prince by Machiavelli. Paulie Walnuts called Sun Tzu the Chinese Machiavelli. So I decided to read the Art of War myself and boy oh boy, was I disappointed. If you arent a soldier or general fighting on horseback or in the Medieval Age I dont see how this book can be of any use. It is really is the Art of War and only deals with matters of warfare. In my opinion if you want to climb the corporate ladder or steal a girl from her boyfriend the Art of War is not for you. Art of War is about preparing for war, battle strategies, foraging for food, which terrain to fight on, how to fight with a large army and how to fight with a small army, how to utilise spies etc. But as far as I am concerned it is not helpful to a civilian who is not involved in warfare. Sure, there are few useful quotes from Art of War like the ones below but all in all I didnt find t...

  Everyone and their mother has heard of the book The Prince by Machiavelli. It is a classic written in the 1500s. I had always heard about the book. It is quoted in books and movies and is apparently the Bible of politics and power. So I decided to give it a read. On the positive side, it is a very short read. You can finish it in a few days if you are lazy or you have other things to do. Machiavelli is a good writer and the prose flows well. I am not sure how it feels reading it in 16th century Italian but in English it is very easy to understand. There is no need to keep your dictionary at hand when reading it because it is quite simple and straightforward. On the other hand, I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting to read the about the dark arts of politicking. Yes, the book gives advice on how to take and use power, but it is far from malevolent. Machiavelli doesnt necessary give instructions on how to be the next Stalin or Hitler.  In fact he encourages a leader to be ...

The 1998 film Sliding Doors starring Gwyneth Paltrow is one of my favourite films of all time. It is such a unique and deep film it is criminal how it got 65% on Rotten Tomatoes. It should have gotten 95% in my opinion. It is a story about how a moment in time can alter one's destiny. The main character Helen played by the beautiful Gwyneth misses her train and that draws into two separate story lines that play out in the movie. Why is there no Sliding Doors 2, Sliding Doors 3, 4, 5 etc? The idea of missing a train, bus, flight, ship can be made into other stories, movies and tv shows where a character ends up in two or three different storylines and different endings to a movie. The writer Peter Howitt is literally sitting on a gold mine. Or perhaps the world prefers super hero movies to well thought out and deep movies that get people thinking. If I had a billion dollars I would finance Sliding Doors 2 where a character preferably played by Amy Adams misses a flight and that ch...

  The Oscar winning film Parasite is  a great film and not only is it entertaining but it is also very deep and philosophical. Though it came out in 2019 I am embarrassed to have only watched it recently in 2024. I must have been living under rock. And anyone who has not seen it should drop whatever they are doing and watch Parasite. Here is the problem I have with Parasite. There are no parasites in the film. It is a film about a poor family who connive their way into the good graces of a rich family in order to... work for them. Though it is a great movie to call Kim Ki-taek parasites is an injustice. They do honest work for the most part. In the beginning, yes they use other people's wife but at the same time they actually fold pizza boxes for a living and that is not parasitical. Later on the father becomes a driver, the mother a house cleaner, the son and daughter become tutors. In what way are they parasites? Even the rich family Park family are not parasites. The fathe...

 After a long time of waiting I finally got my hands on the book Nkomo, the Story of my life. And I must say I was not disappointed. The first chapter grabs the reader by the eyeballs. It begins with Nkomo's escape from the newly dependent Zimbabwe as he is pursued by his political enemies. It is ironic, how the country he had fought for, now turns on him. He reminded me of Snowball in Animal Farm and Trotsky in the USSR.  After getting you hooked by the action packed first chapter, Nkomo goes back in time and begins narrating his personal life before politics. He talks about his upbringing, his parents and family life. He also delves into the racial politics of the day. In one chapter he explains how whites evicted the black people from their land and how they had to move elsewhere. Nkomo talks about how education was very important to his parents and for a time he wanted to be a traditional doctor but his parents talked him out of it. The boy Joshua Nkomo becomes a man, he ...

 Some time ago I read and finished the book Travel and Adventure in South-East Africa by the legendary Frederick Selous. It is a must read for anyone interested in Africa, especially, precolonial Africa. It is a very big book, over 500 pages, but dont let that deter you. The book is impossible to put down. Why? Selous gives the most vivid accounts of his hunting expeditions and his relationships with the Africans. As I read the book I could almost smell, taste and see Africa in its untamed form before colonialism. Selous is a legend in Rhodesian lore. He is the man who the Selous Scouts, a Rhodesian military outfit is named after. He is the man who led the Pioneer Column as it made its way from South Africa to Mount Hampden. He is the man who gave Mount Darwin and Mount Hampden their names. He is the man who chose where Fort Victoria city nowadays Masvingo would be built. He was an adventurer like Indiana Jones, a fearless wanderer and a man's man. He is what Tony Soprano would ca...