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Los Angeles Times
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
'Washington Black' review: Hulu miniseries amplifies action from novel
Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan's 'Washington Black,' a prizewinning story of race, romance, friendship and identity set in the early 19th century, has been translated by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and Kimberly Ann Harrison into a Hulu miniseries. Unsurprisingly, it plays more like a miniseries than a novel, amplifying the action, the drama and the romance; beefing up lesser characters; drawing lines under, after all, valid points about prejudice, inequality and injustice; and dressing it up with Hollywood musical cues. Taking the show as a sometimes fantastic historical adventure, those aren't bad things, but, unlike the book, subtlety is not the series' strong suit. Written in the first person, the novel proceeds chronologically, while the series, which follows other, sometimes added characters into interpolated storylines, switches between 1830 — when our hero, George Washington Black, called Wash, is 11 years old and enslaved on a Barbados sugar plantation — and 1837, when he lives as a free young man in Halifax, Nova Scotia, drawing beautiful pictures and designing a before-its-time airship. (For the benefit of American viewers wondering why we're in Halifax, opening narration helpfully identifies it as the last stop on the Underground Railroad.) The split timeline does make Entertainment Sense. We don't have to wait around for young Wash (Eddie Karanja) to grow up into older Wash (Ernest Kingsley Jr.), and we are immediately introduced to Tanna Goff (Iola Evans), arriving from London with her father (Rupert Graves) for a 'fresh start.' (There was a scandal back in Britain.) Unbeknownst to Tanna, her father plans to marry her off to a young Canadian bigwig (Edward Bluemel), for what he believes is her own security. This is new, if very familiar, material. Advertisement Wash and Tanna meet-cute at the docks where he works, when based on her skin, he mistakes her for a servant — she's been passing for white, but he (and we) recognize her as a person of color. (Melanesian, to be exact.) In the coming days, he'll contrive to meet her here and there, until they get friendly, and friendlier. Like Wash, she'll be a voice for living free, 'to be myself, to live in my own skin.' ('We're both dreamers,' she muses. 'Can't we dream up a different world?') Coincidentally, and not unfortunately, her papa is a marine biologist, the author of a book Wash, who has a keen interest in the subject, knows well. Wash's gift for capturing the essence of living things on paper may prove useful to him. 1 2 1. Eddie Karanja plays young Wash in the series. (James Van Evers / Disney) 2. Sterling K. Brown, an executive producer, also stars. (Chris Reardon / Disney) Meanwhile, if that's the word, back in 1830, the future looks dim for young Wash under the harsh rule of plantation owner Erasmus Wilde (Julian Rhind-Tutt), a situation eased only by his beloved caring protector Big Kit (Shaunette Renée Wilson). (Ironically, the end of slavery throughout the British Empire was just around the corner.) One day, Erasmus' brother Christopher (Tom Ellis), called Titch, arrives driving a giant steam-powered tractor for no practical reason other than to announce him as a somewhat eccentric inventor, like Caractacus Pott; but it provides a point of connection between Titch and Wash, who becomes his assistant. Another character who had to leave London, Titch plans to use an island hilltop to launch his 'cloud cutter,' a flying machine that won't exist in the real world for many years but which looks cool. (Steampunk is the applicable term.) Advertisement When an incident on the island threatens to paint Wash, wrongly, as a murderer, Titch takes him up, up and away in his beautiful balloon. It's in the supercharged spirit of this adaptation that when they crash into a sailing ship, it should be full of pirates, and not merely pirates, but pirates who have stolen from the British a new sort of craft powered by a dynamo that looks heavy enough to sink it. This passage is crafted to show us a self-determined society, multiethnic and multigendered. When the pirates mutiny (bloodlessly), the new captain is a woman. They like Wash more than Titch, whom they throw in the brig, but they are nice, relatively speaking. Titch is an avowed abolitionist who won't use the sugar the plantation produces, and though we are called upon to note small hypocrisies or to question his motivations — is he trying to assuage his 19th century white liberal guilt even as he uses Wash to his own ends? — I will declare him sincere, if also a man of his time. The showrunners put him into a (very) brief debate with fierce figure from history Nat Turner (Jamie Hector), opposing Turner's militarism against Titch's less persuasive 'reason, logic and the appeal to man's better nature,' an argument suspended when Turner holds a knife to his throat. (Wash intercedes on his behalf; he is more than once his mentor's protector.) It also adds a shot of American history into this Canadian story. Sterling K. Brown, an executive producer, plays Medwin, a character much expanded from the novel, the unofficial mayor of the Black community who will swashbuckle in when a day needs to be saved. (There are bounty hunters from down south, looking for Wash; Billy Boyd, former Hobbit, is wonderfully creepy as Willard.) As to Wash, it's not enough that he's a gifted artist and scientist; the show introduces him as 'a boy brave enough to change the world.' Advertisement The novel trots the globe, from Barbados to Virginia to Nova Scotia to the Arctic to London to Morocco, and besides the hot-air balloon, includes the invention of the public aquarium. Though only four episodes of the series were available to review, photos indicate that lands of snow and sand are indeed on the itinerary (not sure about the aquarium), and as a fan of 19th century globe-trotting adventures, I do remain eager to see what the series makes of them. Kingsley and Evans, in their blossoming love story and otherwise, are good company throughout. Edugyan ends her book on a suspended chord, a note of mystery I don't imagine will be definitive enough for the filmmakers. But we shall see.
The Diplomat
21-07-2025
- Politics
- The Diplomat
Between Partnership and Primacy: Australia's Diplomatic Posture in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
Australia is acutely aware that it does not hold the same level of influence or capacity to project power in Southeast Asia as it does in the Pacific. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong recently remarked in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that Australia seeks 'a region in which no country dominates, and no country is dominated.' It is a carefully crafted formulation that is intended to resonate with ASEAN's long-standing practice of strategic modesty and non-alignment. The comment followed Wong's return for a second term as foreign minister after having visited every Pacific Islands Forum member and all of the ASEAN countries other than Myanmar. It reflects the strategic importance of both regions within Australia's foreign policy frame. Yet there is a difference in how Australia actions its strategic ambitions in Southeast Asia and in the Pacific. Australia is acutely aware that it does not hold the same level of influence or capacity to project power in Southeast Asia as it does in the Pacific. As a result, it adopts a more conciliatory posture by presenting itself as a partner in pursuit of shared goals like peace and stability, and emphasizing mutual respect, economic integration, and multilateral cooperation. In the Pacific, Australia's actions increasingly reflect the role of strategic protector. From a host of bilateral security agreements such as 2024 security agreement with Papua New Guinea to Tuvalu's 2023 climate-security deal, Australia's presence is increasingly proactive and pre-emptive. Canberra views the Pacific as both a responsibility, and a zone to be safeguarded, particularly in response to China's growing influence. The region itself is often portrayed as strategically exposed and historically entangled in aid and defense relationships. However, Australia's Pacific engagement is not uniform. Its relationships with the Melanesian states differ markedly from its posture in Micronesia, where the United States holds strategic primacy. New Zealand meanwhile maintains influence over its associates and historically, the Polynesian states. These differences reflect the region's layered colonial histories, differing national priorities and varying levels of receptivity to external powers. Given the Pacific's geographical vastness and complex political landscape, there is an unspoken understanding between these traditional powers that each will continue to maintain influence in their own areas of strategic familiarity. This arrangement does not render their involvement illegitimate, but it does make their role uneven and difficult to separate from deeper historical patterns of control. It also reveals how the vulnerabilities and choices of Pacific states continue to shape the behavior of larger powers. And it is this reality – partnership in ASEAN and strategic dominance in the Pacific – that exposes an often-overlooked opportunity: the potential for Pacific and Southeast Asian states to forge closer alignment and to maximize their collective leverage. Geographically, both regions sit at the strategic crossroads of the Indo-Pacific region. The Pacific holds vast ocean resources, critical mineral reserve, carbon sinks, and sea lanes that are vital to global supply chains and climate goals. ASEAN meanwhile, offers a dynamic market, industrial capacity, and a large labor force, all of which position it as a key engine of regional economic growth. Together the Pacific and Southeast Asia represent complementary strengths – resource-rich, demographically strong, and strategically positioned. Both regions also share a strong tradition of non-alignment, climate diplomacy, and an aversion to great-power binaries. They prefer consensus over coercion, and a preference for relationships over denial and dominance. Their instincts are cautious but not passive. Increasingly, their interests on fisheries, development, security, and even digital governance are overlapping. Yet the institutional and diplomatic ties between Pacific states and ASEAN remain thin. The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) has signed an arrangement with ASEAN in 2023, but it is largely symbolic at this stage. The underdevelopment of South-South cooperation – especially among those who are actively working to avoid great power alignment – represents a missed strategic opportunity. For the Pacific, the reasons are familiar. First, limited capacity has long constrained regional engagement let alone south-south cooperation. Second, there is still a lack of appreciation for the strategic value that Southeast Asia holds – both as partner and as a geopolitical space. As a result, there remains a default reliance on traditional partners (and China) as the first port of call. The challenge, however, is that their interests do not always align with Pacific states and this reliance can obscure alternative opportunities that are less about aid and more about aligned foreign policy and mutual strategic leverage. Like the PIF, ASEAN operates by consensus, which often limits its ability to respond swiftly or take unified positions on contentious issues. Its principle of non-interference and lack of strong enforcement mechanisms can constraint deeper cooperation or collective action, particularly in matters of security or external alignment. Ironically, this suggests the benefits of exploring other arrangements outside of both ASEAN and the PIF – including via subregional and bilateral channels. ASEAN countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, and Singapore offer promising entry points for climate, trade and diplomatic collaboration. This is not to suggest that Australia should step back. Far from it. Australia remains a critical development partner and ally. But its dual role as both protector and participant means it cannot be the only bridge between the Pacific and Asia. A triangle cannot rest securely on one leg. New Zealand too has shown similar tendencies – as seen in its freezing of aid to the Cook Islands following its strategic partnership agreement with China. This reveals how a 'family first' partner can react to limit Pacific choices that are not perceived to be in the interest of New Zealand. If Pacific regionalism is ever to exercise 'real' agency within geopolitics, it must extend its horizon and deepen its ties with Southeast Asia. Penny Wong's diplomacy may be sincere and skilled, but in the end – as in all foreign policy – it is the structure more than the sentiment that shapes the outcomes.
Sydney Morning Herald
18-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Key figure standing down in PNG's league team bid is a welcome move
The chairman of the successful bid for Papua New Guinea's new rugby league franchise faces corruption concerns because of evidence linking his company to suspect dealings, and this is a sign of the broader problems likely to confront Australia's diplomatic and sporting attempts to keep China at bay in the Pacific. An investigation by the Herald 's Nick McKenzie and Chris Barrett has unearthed evidence which raises serious questions about whether Wapu Sonk, the head of PNG's biggest company, the state-owned national oil company Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited, sought to benefit personally from dealings with a massive Chinese government company and a plot to funnel contracts to a company Sonk owns in Australia. The evidence relates to his business dealings, not the NRL bid. And although Sonk is refusing to answer questions about his transactions, some appear to run counter to Australia's strategy to stymie China's security and economic influence in PNG. Through his lawyers, Sonk has denied allegations of improper or unlawful conduct. Last December, we welcomed the joint announcement by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and PNG Prime Minister James Marape of a $600 million mega-deal for a Port Moresby-based team to enter the NRL competition and development of the sport around the Pacific as recognition of our shared past, present and future and a powerful reminder of how sports diplomacy can connect two countries. Previous Coalition governments had taken their eyes off the Pacific, allowing China to slip under our guard and sign a defence deal with the Solomon Islands. The Albanese government has since scrambled to counter China's growing influence in the Pacific with sports diplomacy. Loading But the questions over Sonk highlight that such diplomacy is a difficult balancing act: Canberra's bankrolling of the NRL in the Pacific has alarmed rugby union chiefs in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. The rugby leaders have formed new links with China amid concerns their national game could be cannibalised by a foreign taxpayer-backed rival code, and they are now appealing to the Albanese government for a piece of the action, courtesy of a $150 million injection into their national game. Generally speaking, diplomacy and corruption are also built into Melanesian cultural and traditional practices of reciprocity, with both the wantok and big man systems absorbed into the administrative system that helped establish PNG independence in 1975. The result has been that MPs and business leaders reshape power to extend an accumulation of wealth to help relatives, and one big man's corruption is another's family support. Australian governments have historically turned a blind eye to this Pacific cultural norm. Indeed, the focus of attention on the PNG/NRL deal has been mainly geopolitical, with no acknowledgement of the problems associated with supporting such an innovative and well-intentioned policy.
Scoop
17-07-2025
- Sport
- Scoop
Melanesian Showdown: Papua New Guinea And Solomon Islands Set For Historic OFC Women's Nations Cup Final
Press Release – OFC Papua New Guinea are chasing back-to-back titles after lifting their maiden trophy in 2022. Standing in their way are first-time finalists Solomon Islands, who are writing a remarkable chapter in their nations football history. The stage is set for a thrilling OFC Women's Nations Cup 2025 final, as Melanesian heavyweights Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands prepare to battle for regional glory. Papua New Guinea are chasing back-to-back titles after lifting their maiden trophy in 2022. Standing in their way are first-time finalists Solomon Islands, who are writing a remarkable chapter in their nation's football history. The defending champions booked their place in the final with a hard-fought 2-1 win over hosts Fiji, with head coach Ericson Komeng praising his team's resilience. 'We've learned a lot from that game — it was all about hard work for the girls,' said Komeng. 'There's no pressure in the team, we respect Solomon Islands. They're got great football back home, with their National League. For the PNG team, we are looking forward to playing against the Solomon Islands. 'The girls have to stay focused, we believe in teamwork and we know hard work will get us there.' Captain Ramona Padio echoed her coach's message. 'For us, Solomon Islands are a good side too. And we just have to follow our coach and work hard.' Solomon Islands reached the final after a gripping 2-1 semi-final win over Samoa, a result that sparked celebrations across the nation. Head coach Moses Toata is proud of his team's journey and the opportunity to make history. 'After winning the semi-final it was a great feeling to finally make it to the finals. In the camp, the girls are excited,' said Toata. 'To reach the finals for the Solomon Islands women's team is history for us. I believe all the girls feel the same, for all their hard work and everything they put into preparation for this team.' Captain and talisman Ileen Pegi is ready for the challenge and respectful of the opposition. 'I know PNG are fighting to defend their title, so for us, we're going to go out there and work hard. I'm just humbled and proud to have this privilege to be a leader of the team, keep inspiring them. It's history for us.' With national pride and a major title on the line, Saturday's final promises passion, intensity, and history in the making for both teams.
Scoop
17-07-2025
- Sport
- Scoop
Melanesian Showdown: Papua New Guinea And Solomon Islands Set For Historic OFC Women's Nations Cup Final
The stage is set for a thrilling OFC Women's Nations Cup 2025 final, as Melanesian heavyweights Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands prepare to battle for regional glory. Papua New Guinea are chasing back-to-back titles after lifting their maiden trophy in 2022. Standing in their way are first-time finalists Solomon Islands, who are writing a remarkable chapter in their nation's football history. The defending champions booked their place in the final with a hard-fought 2-1 win over hosts Fiji, with head coach Ericson Komeng praising his team's resilience. 'We've learned a lot from that game — it was all about hard work for the girls,' said Komeng. 'There's no pressure in the team, we respect Solomon Islands. They're got great football back home, with their National League. For the PNG team, we are looking forward to playing against the Solomon Islands. 'The girls have to stay focused, we believe in teamwork and we know hard work will get us there.' Captain Ramona Padio echoed her coach's message. 'For us, Solomon Islands are a good side too. And we just have to follow our coach and work hard.' Solomon Islands reached the final after a gripping 2-1 semi-final win over Samoa, a result that sparked celebrations across the nation. Head coach Moses Toata is proud of his team's journey and the opportunity to make history. 'After winning the semi-final it was a great feeling to finally make it to the finals. In the camp, the girls are excited,' said Toata. 'To reach the finals for the Solomon Islands women's team is history for us. I believe all the girls feel the same, for all their hard work and everything they put into preparation for this team.' Captain and talisman Ileen Pegi is ready for the challenge and respectful of the opposition. 'I know PNG are fighting to defend their title, so for us, we're going to go out there and work hard. I'm just humbled and proud to have this privilege to be a leader of the team, keep inspiring them. It's history for us." With national pride and a major title on the line, Saturday's final promises passion, intensity, and history in the making for both teams.
