Veterans Day brings with it thoughts of my grandfather. He served in France in World War I and sang the songs of the day to me so often and for so many years that I knew them as well as any rock and roll that was to come. YouTube, for all its resources, did not seem to have a version of "There's A Long, Long Trail A'Winding" that did justice to the yearning the troops must have felt, thinking of the homes and loved ones they might never see again. Instead, you'll get the trailer for A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT which tells some stories of that war. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, starring Audrey Tautou, it is a movie in which I become lost, for the visuals, the story itself, the fact that our "war to end all wars" turned out to be only a preamble.
For Dad, Charlie and Gertrude, Uncle Charles, for Jack and Jay and all who serve. I wish we didn't have to keep asking this of you.
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6 comments:
During the year I worked on pieces for "The Pity of War" I felt I lived with the individual participants I based my pieces on. And so today,"Remembrance Day" as it's known in England is quite poignant for me. Interesting that the "war to end all wars" was followed by the 1920 Treaty of Versailles - a peace treaty to end all peace, that culminated in WWII less than 20 years later. And here we are almost 100 years after WWI and not a day has gone by without war being waged somewhere on earth.
Erin
i wish we didnt have to keep asking this of you.
amen, sister; amen. and feeling that as profoundly as i do doesnt make the respect for those who have gone to war any less; i just dont want anyone else to have do it. period. anywhere. and no drones, either.
Erin - I thought of your "The Pity of
War" collection and knew you would have intuited their feelings as you worked. Not a day has gone by...how do they not see there is no point? xo
Susan - The respect for the soldiers is without limit, for the governments, ours in particular, not so much. Peace is not a concept, I believe it is an imperative, like love. Nothing else works. xo
Thankyou for this recommendation..I loved 'Amelie' and can't wait to curl up with this one. It looks fantastically beautiful.
Kerry - Don't you love discovering something heretofore unknown from people who created a favorite? Please enjoy. xo
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