No Man’s Land (2001)

What do you get when you stick a Bosnian and a Serb together between the front lines? Plus one Bosnian stuck on a mine? Absurdity and allegory abound in No Man’s Land, set in 1993 during the Bosnian War. Consider watching this very funny and very moving Oscar-winning, debut film from director Danis Tanovic. BTW, it beat Amelie (2001) for the best foreign film Oscar–which is saying something.

Conflict Photography

Here are amazing photography and explanations tagged as “Conflict Photography” from the New York Times.

Free Documentary Site

This is a wonderful site! You can watch documentaries ranging the spectrum of possibilities.

Steve McCurry’s Photos On Afghanistan

This is a beautiful photo essay by Steve McCurry, a worldwide photographer. It is called “Afghanistan: A Look Back.” Subscribe to his blog to get these kinds of posts by email.

Miss Saigon

I was moved by this tragic love story between a Vietnamese bargirl (Kim) and an American GI (Chris). The context is the Vietnam War and it (in part) demonstrates how f****d war and all associated with it can be. It has a beautiful, powerful musical score. Below are two songs, “The Movie in My Mind” and “Sun and Moon,” with lyrics:

[GIGI]
They are not nice, they’re mostly noise
They swear like men, they screw like boys
I know there’s nothing in their hearts
But every time I take one in my arms
It starts:
The movie in my mind
The dream they leave behind
A scene I can’t erase
And in a strong GI’s embrace
Flee this life
Flee this place
The movie plays and plays
The screen before me fills
He takes me to New York
He gives me dollar bills
Our children laugh all day
And eat too much ice cream
And life is like a dream
Dream
The dream I long to find
The movie in my mind

[KIM]
I will not cry, I will not think
I’ll do my dance, I’ll make them drink
When I make love, it won’t be me
And if they hurt me, I’ll just close my eyes

[KIM, GIRLS]
And see they are not nice, they’re mostly noise
The movie in my mind they kill like men, they die like boys
The dream that fills my head they give their cash, they keep their hearts
A man who will not kill but every night again it starts

[KIM]
Who’ll fight for me instead
He’ll keep us safe all day
So no one comes at night
To blow the dream away
Dream
The dream I have to find
The movie in my mind

[ALL GIRLS]
And in a strong GI’s embrace
Flee this life
Flee this place

[KIM]
A world that’s far away
Where life is not unkind
The movie in my mind

[KIM]
You are sunlight and I moon
Joined by the gods of fortune
Midnight and high noon
Sharing the sky
We have been blessed, you and I

[CHRIS]
You are here like a mystery
I’m from a world that’s so different
From all that you are
How in the light of one night
Did we come so far?

[KIM]
Outside day starts to dawn

[CHRIS]
Your moon still floats on high

[KIM]
The birds awake

[CHRIS]
The stars shine too

[KIM]
My hands still shake

[CHRIS]
I reach for you

[BOTH]
And we meet in the sky!

[KIM]
You are sunlight and I moon
Joined here
Bright’ning the sky
With the flame
Of love

[BOTH]
Made of
Sunlight
Moonlight

[KIM]
Tomorrow will be the full moon
I can bring friends to bless our room
With paper unicorns and perfume
If you want me to

[CHRIS]
Unicorns? sure. . .

Before We Were Free

In the short historical novel Before We Were Free, Julia Alvarez writes of the Dominican Republic in the 1960s, a tumultuous time of government secret police, the dictator el Trujillo, brave rebels fighting for justice, family, immigration, and adolescence – all from a young girl’s perspective. A good, informative, moving read that made me cry and think. It made me think of the immigrant experience in America, of what countries “resort” to (embargoes, invasions) to “help” other countries, and how (if?) it is possible to attain peace without such measures. There is always a short and/or long-term cost, to being a bystander, indirectly interfering, and directly interfering.

Here is a quote from Julia Alvarez in the “About the Author” section:

“I believe stories have this power–they enter us, they transport us, they change things inside of us invisibly, so minutely, that sometimes we’re not even aware that we come out of a great book as a different person from the person we were when we began reading it.”

Sunday Bloody Sunday

On January 30, 1972, British troops opened fire on unarmed and peaceful civilians in Derry, Ireland during a civil rights march. Riveting performance.

Miss Sarajevo