| Saturday, 17 March 2007 |
| letters from iwo jima |
Okay, so my last entry was really dark and angsty. Re-reading it now makes me wonder what drug I ate on thursday night to make me so emo over going to sentosa.
But anyway, I still did go to sentosa yesterday, and tried to have as much fun as I could possibly have playing beach stuff. You know, the usual dirty and sweaty games like volleyball and a bit of frisbee and stuff. But I got tired so quickly I just couldn't stand it, and spent my last hour there or so just sitting down, playing cards and just stoning. But I love stoning at beaches, so really, no harm done. Haha.
Still had fun though, with my OG and all. It was CK's birthday yesterday, so we had cake and stuff, and the rest of the guys tried to throw him into the sea. Haha. I didn't bring extra stuff to change, plus I was having an outing later that day, so I wisely stood back to just watch the whole proceedings, taking the cake as an added protection. Hehe.
After that, went to meet my dear old 2nd SigBN army buddies again. Everytime I meet them for stuff, its always the usual few of us, plus a few other 'special guests' who change from time to time.
Anyway, apart from the usual peeps like wilson, xiaohui and vincent, there were jiayen and kaiming with his girlfriend as well! Was quite happy to see them, especially kaiming, cause he was one of the few people I was close to in signals, but also the only one that I haven't seen for the longest time! Haha. He is still as amusing as ever... reminds me of the Count from Sesame Street. Hahaha. Anyway, good to see him after such a long time.
 So the whole bunch of us went to watch the movie 'Letters From Iwo Jima'. Oh man, I've been wanting to catch it after watching 'Flags of Our Fathers', finally caught it today!
I love war flicks, because they show us what the real face of humanity looks like. The true nature of humanity, always shows itself only in utmost times of adversity. Be it the ugly side of humanity, the brutal nature of it all; Or the beautiful side of it, the inspiring stories of camaraderie and brotherhood that are endless in times of war.
Lets face it, war is a horrible, horrible thing. We say that all the time, but the fact is none of us have ever lived long enough to even come remotely close to experiencing one in our lifetime.
But it is important that we read, we watch, we learn from the experiences of the past. Its important that we read, we watch, we experience the brutality of it. So that we can learn from it, learn from it all and do our utmost best to prevent it from ever happening again.
'Letters' is a tragic movie. Nothing is worse in war, then to know that the battle you are fighting, is one that is a hopeless cause, one that is destined for defeat. Yet to be faced with the prospect of having to fight on and on, to keep up the pretence of having to fight on for something so ludicrous as 'glory, honour and country', to just keep fighting an enemy that you know you can never defeat, has to be so tortuous on not only the body, but the mind and soul as well.
Its just saddening, just so tragic. It was tough watching the characters in the movie face the whole notion of death so differently.
Some just gave in to madness, and in an unbelievably brutal scene, committed suicide in an almost ritualistic fashion, blowing their own bodies apart with grenades. Others gave in to fear, and chose the path of surrender, only to be (in a scene that filled me with anger) nonchalantly murdered by two irresponsible Marines.
Others gave in to despair, and ultimately just gave up completely, allowing themselves to wallow in their tortured state of mind, unable to find the glorious death that they so zealously seek. Yet others gave in to fate and honour, and died what was ultimately, a tragic but fitting death; quiet heroics under tragic circumstances.
I think its important always to look at things from both sides of the coin. There are always two sides to everything, and I am glad that Clint Eastwood made 'Letters' as a complementary piece to 'Fathers'. Watching both movies, two remarkably different movies, on the same war, the same battle, the same historic event, but so different in the stories that they were trying to tell, yet so similar in the lessons they were trying to teach.
You learn things from both movies, that you can never learn just by watching one of them. You need to see the war from the American's perspective, and you need to see the war from the Japanese point-of-view.
Both were fighting a war for a reason that is neither right nor wrong. The Americans, to liberate the East from what they viewed as oppression. The Japanese, to defend their homeland against what they viewed as intrusion. Both thought that they were right.
And because of a clash of ideals and cultural misunderstandings, because of a lack of communication and understanding, small differences become huge obstacles to peace, and the path to war was taken instead. And 'til this day, its still the same thing really, nothing much has changed.
War is meaningless.
If only we could look pass our differences, if only we could come to a common understanding, things wouldn't have turned out the way it had been.Labels: emo, movie |
posted by voldemort33 @ 00:32  |
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