Suppose you are in the turbulent time period of the 1960’s – 1970’s when various colonial ruled countries in Africa were reaching their independence. There were many different influences working in the countries at that point of time, the Soviet Union was trying to get regimes to be in its favor. Many of these countries were mineral rich, and there was a fight to get the rulers of the country in favor of companies so that they could get advantages of the mineral rights that were being awarded by these countries. It was not unheard of that a country’s Government could be deposed off in a coup, although using mercenaries was not unheard of. As is normal with Forsyth, his novel is based on a lot of detailed research, enough that people who were in this line of business were astounded by the accuracy of these details.

In fact, there is a lot of buzz that the country that Forsyth refers to as Zangaro was actually the country of Equatorial Guinea; the book is supposed to be atleast partly based upon Forsyth’s time as a reported in the Biafran War between Biafra and Nigeria, and in fact, as a part of researching this story, Forsyth was researching how to attempt a coup against the Government of Equatorial Guinea, and it was supposed to cost a ridiculously small sum of a quarter of a million dollars. There is a lot of speculation that there was an actual coup attempt against the Government that was spoiled by Spain.
The book draws mixed reviews, with many people praising the depth of description of the details; however, there was also criticism that there were too many details or preparation and not enough action. The story is about a British mining tycoon learning of a hot discovery of the priceless metal, platinum, in the Central African republic of Zangaro. However, the ruler is leaning towards the Soviet Union, who in turn decide to give him a KGB guard and also send in their own survey team. At the same time, the British tycoon Sir James Manson hires a mercenary, Carlo Alfred Thomas “Cat” Shannon, who had left Zangaro earlier after the side he was supporting failed. They decide to plan an operation in which they will kill the current leader, Jean Kimba, and replace him with their own man. The rest of the story is about the execution of the plan, and how it meets with its challenges.

Isaac Asimov wrote a huge amount of science fiction over the years, and is known for many of his books such as the Empire Series, and most famously for the Foundation Series. The 3 main Foundation books were the ‘Foundation’, ‘Foundation and Empire’, and ‘Second Foundation’. It was later, in order to try and fill more details, that Asimov wrote more books for the Foundation, that include books that were both prequels and sequels. The last such book that he wrote was called ‘Forward the Foundation’, and was released in 1993, a year after Asimov died. Forward the Foundation was a sequel to ‘Prelude to Foundation’, carrying on with the story of Seldon’s search for how to develop the story of psycho-history.

In end of Prelude to the Foundation, Hari Seldon learns that Otto Demerzel, the powerful advisor to the Emperor ‘Cleon 1′ is actually a robot. He solicits Demerzel’s help for continuing the research into psychohistory, and Forward the Foundation continues into that effort, and is meant to show 4 different time stages in Seldon’s life. The novel starts 8 years from the end of Prelude to Foundation, as Seldon gets more involved in politics, helping Otto fight off attempts, and then moves a further 10 years down the line. Demerzel has vanished, and Seldon is now First Minister. However, after the assassination of Cleon 1, Seldon slowly starts losing his family members. His wife, Dors, is killed when trying to save him from an assassination attempt, his adopted son (the 12 year he met in Prelude to Foundation) dies elsewhere in another violent act, his assistant Yugo Amaryl dies of over-work, and it is left to Seldon and his grand-daughter Wanda to try and set a process in place to guide events when Seldon is no more. And so starts the story of 2 different Foundations, one of the physical base, and the other, a society of mentalics.

El Cid, the legendary hero of Spain was a real person named Don Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar ((c. 1040, Vivar, near Burgos – July 10, 1099, Valencia)). He lived around 1035 A.D. Although he spent much of his time fighting on the side of the Moors, he became identified as the best incarnation of the true Castilian Christian spirit. His name came from the Arabic “sayyid” meaning “lord” or “chief.” He was a nobleman, who was educated in the royal court of Castile, and was one of the leading warriors of Alfonso VI against the Moors. He is considered the national hero of Spain.
As is expected, a movie made on such a hero is always made more romantic than reality, with acts of heroism and valor magnified, and when the movie has such actors such as Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren, the movie seems much more romanticized than the original. The movie was released in 1961 and earned 3 Oscar nominations, but was unable to win any Oscars.

The movie was directed by Anthony Mann, and was shot primarily on location in Spain (including the historic castles of Belmonte (Cuenca) and Peñíscola (Castellón)), with a smaller number of scenes being shot in Rome. The movie used real swords during the shooting, so you would expect that the action scenes needed a much better control and thorough safety measures.
El Cid was part of an aristocratic family, but not very powerful or high in the Spanish royal court. However, he became famous as a man who was a warrior at the same time as he was a peacemaker, willing to spare enemies if they swore their allegiance to his king. This was a time when there were many royals, with many of these royals fighting for power, and fighting for the throne. And this was also a time when the Moors were fighting for gaining space in Spain, in their quest to introduce the power of Islam inside Spain.
He was to fight back charges of treason, and eventually loses favor at the royal court, becoming a mercenary when his king Alfonso abandons him. He even fights on the side of the Moors, but eventually comes back to support his king when he is called back. He also came to command much more influence among the common people, earning their respect, and forming his own army composed of both Christians and Moors, forming his own fiefdom comprising the city of Valencia and its neighboring regions.
The book had some great scenes, such as the fight between two single warriors to get control of the city, which was a great fight. Shooting on location imparted some incredible majesty and splendor to the movie.

The Battleship Potemkin is a classic Russian movie, released in 1925. It is a silent movie, also known by another name ‘he Battleship Potyomkin’ as well as by the Russian name of ‘Bronyenosyets Potyomkin’. The movie was directed by Sergei Eisenstein, and was based on the real life story of the actual crew of the Russian naval ship of the same name during 1905, oppressed by the naval officers of the Tsarist regime that was ruling Russia around that time.
The movie has been so famous that the history of the ship is defined more by the movie rather than by history books. The movie was famous also for its graphic violence (not seen in movies of that time) as well as to be a propaganda movie to get sympathy for the crew of the ship. This attempt worked so well on viewers that the Nazi propaganda spinner, Joseph Goebbels, was very admiring of the movie for its attempt to sell a political story in a simple yet powerful way.

The zeal of the movie director to sway audiences imparted a revolutionary approach that caused the movie to run afoul of sensors in many countries, with the movie either banned or scenes cut; it was only over a period of time that the movie was restored with cut sections to audiences all over. The movie had some classic scenes, but the most striking was the scene of the Czar’s Cossack soldiers marching down steps (the Odessa steps) and firing into the crowd of civilians who had come to watch the ship arrive.
The movie takes the true story of the rebellion on board the Russian naval ship Battleship Potemkin in the year 2005. There was discontent against the oppressive officers of the Tzar, and there was a plan to have an uprising. However, the uprising was started earlier on the battle-ship when the sailors protested against having to eat maggot infested meat that the ship’s officers and doctor had certified as being fit for human consumption. This was the first element of the movie, with the movie being essentially divided into 5 parts:
1. Men and maggots
2. Drama at the harbour: The sailors rise up and their leader, Vakulynchuk, is killed
3. A dead man calls for Justice: The civilians at Odessa mourn the dead
4. The massacre of civilians at Odessa where the Czar’s soldiers kill the civilians on the steps
5. “The Rendez-Vous with a Squadron where the squadron joins the sailors instead of crushing them
After the mutiny, the sailors go different ways. The ones who returned or were induced to return were executed or jailed, and the others went to different countries such as Romania, Argentina and Ireland.