Comments | bria: It's not easy being green part two (it's not what you think!)

bria

It's not easy being green part two (it's not what you think!)

Sep 04, 2003 22:41

I saw a green flower tonight, in a flower shop window, on my way home from the movie. Er, make that a documentary: La Machine de Morth Khmere Rouge. Rithy Panh is the name attached to it, so I assume he was the director ( Read more... )

Comments 4

S21, La Machine de mort Khmère Rouge elbowfetish September 4 2003, 20:03:38 UTC

http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2003/filmsandprogrammes/description.asp?pageID=film&id=249

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0368954/combined

It's a slightly social but mostly personal film, hardly political at all. No plot or story, just a lot of feelings and some open questions.

Visually kinda pretty. Almost peaceful, certainly not angry. Sad, but not dripping with bluntly disturbing imagery. It leaves you contemplating a visit to the S21 museum.

autosuggestion September 4 2003, 22:05:32 UTC

a few months ago i finished reading this book called eichmann in jerusalem by hannah arendt, where she writes about what she calls the 'banality of evil.' eichmann, being a german s.s. official responsible for the deportation of millions of jews, was charged with 15 crimes against the jewish people, including war crimes - but arendt's thesis was that he was just a 'normal' guy who did awful things. it was really interesting in that she writes about he just went along with everything and wasn't actually a monster but instead someone who just went along with the flow. well, i butchered it, but her points were much like yours.

it's hard - all this stuff is happening all over the place but you can only do so much. do i devote all my energy to ending the occupation in palestine, or the poverty in sierre leone? the world often seems too big to change.

[/activist burnout]

bria September 6 2003, 02:32:55 UTC

People want to think these unimaginably horrible things are outside them, far away. It's some evil person, completely unlike you or me! It couldn't touch me! Well, people who choose to follow a horrible and evil path are the same species as us. A lot of people do get caught up in evil because they're just sheep, or they're scared and will do anything to save their own lives. They're still responsible for their actions ( ... )

Being Green - the other kind anonymous October 4 2003, 15:31:27 UTC

Actually it is fairly easy being green. At least if one is into that sort of thing (political activity) it's the easiest of the lot. Ran for the Green Party of Ontario in the recent provincial election (in Barrie - just folding up my parachute now) to keep the flag up when the local guy had to drop out at the last minute. Very educational, I think it finally cured me of the last vestiges of that religion I got into back in the early 60's ( ... )