Tag: war
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Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant: A masterfully manipulative war thriller
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant follows US Army Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim). After an ambush, Ahmed goes to Herculean lengths to save Kinley’s life. When Kinley learns that Ahmed and his family were not given safe passage to America as promised, he must repay…
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Sisu: Doing His Finnish Duty to the Dullest Extent
Storyline via IMDB: During the last desperate days of WWII, a solitary prospector (Jorma Tommila) crosses paths with Nazis on a scorched-earth retreat in northern Finland. When the Nazis steal his gold, they quickly discover that they have just tangled with no ordinary miner. While there is no direct translation for the Finnish word “sisu”,…
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All Quiet on the Western Front: Getting Beyond 1917
Plot via IMDB A young German soldier’s terrifying experiences and distress on the western front during World War I. All Quiet on the Western Front, Germany’s official Oscar submission, echoes not only its Erich Maria Remarque source novel, but Sam Mendes, 1917, another World War I film. This is the first German language version of…
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To Know Guernica Is to Fall
He saw Guernica in front of him and knew what falling was in all its gray grace and white horror. “Jesus, how they huddle together like close trees in a savage wind,” he thought, noticing his phlegm falling into the acid of his stomach. By the time he left the museum dusk…
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We Need to Look Longer
The eye feels the light, the lens knows the truth:The children silentunder a blue tarpamongst the rubble— their little backpacks still on their backs offering the hope they still might stand upthen, the beat—and the realization that will never happen.You want to look awayyet you can’t. You must look closer.You must look for longer.Again and…
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The History of the Stone from David’s Sling
Five smooth stones David culled from Elah’s brook, Shepherd knowing dense ones to fit sling’s crook. He released the first on Goliath’s shright the giant falling back dead with the smite. Goliath gazing into David’s eyes felt his blade render head for David’s prize. Head held high, high and tight, in David’s…
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Veteran Day
The stars on the flag started falling off when Private Walker returned home to Tennessee after six months of being in country in Afghanistan. – At Camp Leatherneck on the treadmill he folded five points to pentagrams, imagined fireworks nova his welcome back. – The flag rarely flapped in the arid silence of base camp.…
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Napalm Girl
Little did they know little Napalm Girl that while your skin seared and your cry became the shriek of war that in fiery, fiery Dresden would you find your finest burst after 50 years of dropping peace bombs. – The genuine scream of a child will change the world. – Note: A poem based on…