(no subject)
I went to The Valley of Elah today with My boss, her husband, and his sister. I left the theater thinking it was mostly ok, except the end was poorly orchestrated, and too cliché. I've since done some reading on the source material that dampens my opinion. The movie is based on the story of Richard Davis, a man who was murdered by members of his unit shortly after returning from Iraq. His story is striking enough, but the filmmakers have exaggerated details that make the army, the government, and the soldiers look worse, and invented even more. At the same time they play down, or leave out entirely, details that not only add some sense to the unsatisfying ending, but would decrease the audience's negative reaction to the army.
That's not really my beef though. On the way home, we had a discussion about the movie, which became a discussion about the war and how awful it is, and the reasons why. That sounds innocent, and probably most people reading this would have joined the conversation and generally agreed with everything said. I couldn't speak, because I was furious.
I've never been to war. I don't expect I'll ever go. I have no idea what it's like and I'm the first to admit that. I know people who've been to war. One of my best friends just got back from Iraq a few months ago. He doesn't talk about the war. When he first got back I asked questions. He didn't seem to mind, but his answers were short and too the point. Not so much like he didn't want to talk about it, as he didn't regard it as very interesting. Everyone I know who's been to war, talks about war like that.
In my life, the people who talk about war, the ones that try to tell you how it really is and that I don't understand what it's like, those people have never been to war. They don't know any better. I don't particularly care what there views are. The redneck telling my it's heroic in a reverent voice and the hippy telling me it's horrible in a pitying voice are equally ignorant, and I find myself struggling to hold back anger when I'm faced with either.
I'm always frustrated when people speak passionately about divisive topics they haven't bothered to learn about, but I don't know why this particular situation is worse. Maybe it's because I feel they shouldn't be able to even fool themselves into thinking they have a clue (although I'm sure most do). Maybe I'm afraid of how much influence Hollywood has over us all. Maybe I'm the irrational one.
That's not really my beef though. On the way home, we had a discussion about the movie, which became a discussion about the war and how awful it is, and the reasons why. That sounds innocent, and probably most people reading this would have joined the conversation and generally agreed with everything said. I couldn't speak, because I was furious.
I've never been to war. I don't expect I'll ever go. I have no idea what it's like and I'm the first to admit that. I know people who've been to war. One of my best friends just got back from Iraq a few months ago. He doesn't talk about the war. When he first got back I asked questions. He didn't seem to mind, but his answers were short and too the point. Not so much like he didn't want to talk about it, as he didn't regard it as very interesting. Everyone I know who's been to war, talks about war like that.
In my life, the people who talk about war, the ones that try to tell you how it really is and that I don't understand what it's like, those people have never been to war. They don't know any better. I don't particularly care what there views are. The redneck telling my it's heroic in a reverent voice and the hippy telling me it's horrible in a pitying voice are equally ignorant, and I find myself struggling to hold back anger when I'm faced with either.
I'm always frustrated when people speak passionately about divisive topics they haven't bothered to learn about, but I don't know why this particular situation is worse. Maybe it's because I feel they shouldn't be able to even fool themselves into thinking they have a clue (although I'm sure most do). Maybe I'm afraid of how much influence Hollywood has over us all. Maybe I'm the irrational one.