I'm not a huge fan of Blithe. He irritates (irrigates? xD) me, and I wish he could have shown some more initiative instead of whimpering at the bottom of a foxhole.
I don't exactly like Blithe, but I sympathise with him, because god knows I'd do the same in his situation.
Still, from what I know about what really happened, Blithe was kind of hard done by in this series. The real Blithe didn't die in 1948 but lived to marry and raise a family. He also served in Korea, so he can't have been too unnerved by warfare.
I wonder if the self-consciously arty way this episode was made is linked to the certain ... heavinesss of symbolism and "moral of the story" it has. I think it's quite noticeable here. Blithe's problems, which were based on the observations of several people including Winters, was used to make him the sounding board and stand in for three philosophies of war, expressed by Welsh, Speirs and Winters, the three being "too hot", "too cold" and "just right".
A lot of the shot constructions have heavy symbolism: the sign Blithe's head rests against in the aid station makes it look like a halo of stars, and again at the end, his bandages look like a medieval nun's wimple and he has the transfixed gaze of a mystic, with the hand in repose over his heart; tipped or knocked-over crucifixes everywhere; the way the three leaders keep materializing out of thin air from Bithe's POV.
A lot of the shot constructions have heavy symbolism: the sign Blithe's head rests against in the aid station makes it look like a halo of stars, and again at the end, his bandages look like a medieval nun's wimple and he has the transfixed gaze of a mystic, with the hand in repose over his heart; tipped or knocked-over crucifixes everywhere; the way the three leaders keep materializing out of thin air from Bithe's POV.
That's amazing that you figured that out. :D I just thought it was arty filmmaking.
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Still, from what I know about what really happened, Blithe was kind of hard done by in this series. The real Blithe didn't die in 1948 but lived to marry and raise a family. He also served in Korea, so he can't have been too unnerved by warfare.
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A lot of the shot constructions have heavy symbolism: the sign Blithe's head rests against in the aid station makes it look like a halo of stars, and again at the end, his bandages look like a medieval nun's wimple and he has the transfixed gaze of a mystic, with the hand in repose over his heart; tipped or knocked-over crucifixes everywhere; the way the three leaders keep materializing out of thin air from Bithe's POV.
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That's amazing that you figured that out. :D I just thought it was arty filmmaking.
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